Universal Studios: What can we expect from a potential UK theme park?
The prospect of a Universal theme park opening in the UK has got fans very excited indeed.
After financial records and public documents suggesting something was afoot were found by industry news site Orlando Park Stop, the company confirmed the plans in a statement to Sky News.
Universal Destinations & Experiences – which, like Sky, is owned by US company Comcast – said it had acquired land in Bedford and was “at the early stages of exploring its feasibility for a potential park and resort at this site”.
Let’s have a look at what could be in the works.
Why would Universal come to the UK?
The UK can certainly put on a good summer, but its theme parks mostly stay shut during the autumn and winter as nights grow long and the weather takes a turn.
But the likes of Legoland, Thorpe Park, Chessington, and Alton Towers are still popular, drawing millions of visitors every year and giving Brits the perfect opportunity to enjoy one of our favourite past times: standing in queues.
Add in the success of similar attractions like the Harry Potter studio tour in Hertfordshire, and it’s easy to see why Universal would be eyeing up the UK.
More than half of the country’s population live within two hours of the Bedford site, which is 45 minutes from London and easily accessible from Luton airport.
Universal has been expanding aggressively since the pandemic, with fresh attractions at its long-popular US and Japanese destinations, a whole new park in Beijing in 2021, and another in Florida in 2025.
The UK isn’t quite as reliably sunny as Orlando…
What should we expect based on its other parks?
Given this would be its first park in the UK, it would likely be a full-scale Universal.
They typically host a mix of high-speed outdoor rollercoasters and more immersive dark rides.
Beijing may be a good point of reference, as more of the attractions are indoors due to weather concerns.
That park and Japan’s also show how Universal looks to cater to specific markets with its ride choices. The former heavily features the Kung-Fu Panda films, while the latter has a large Nintendo area.
It begs the question as to what franchises and characters might be picked for a British audience.
Universal has built some great coasters – but would have heated competition from Thorpe Park and Alton Towers
Well, what might we get?
Harry Potter seems an obvious choice given its British roots and popularity at Universal’s Hollywood, Florida, and Japan parks, though the Hertfordshire tour may make things more complicated.
The outlet that broke news of the UK park, Orlando Park Stop, suggests Paddington and James Bond may get their own attractions (Universal did distribute the last 007 film, No Time To Die).
There have also been long-standing rumours in the industry that Universal wants – and may already have – the theme park rights for Lord Of The Rings.
It could make the UK a fitting home, given season two of Amazon’s TV show is being filmed here.
It might also be worth looking at the ill-fated London Resort theme park project in north Kent, which was first announced over a decade ago and has never come to fruition.
That was being billed as the UK’s answer to Universal and Disneyland, boasting rides based on UK pop culture like Doctor Who and Wallace And Gromit. Maybe Universal could pick up the pieces?
Harry Potter is a lynchpin of Universal’s parks
When will it arrive?
Universal has said “it will be many months before we are ready to make a decision to proceed”, let alone get permission and start work.
The studio also has several irons in the fire already.
The 2025 Florida project, dubbed Epic Universe, is set to be its largest theme park yet. It’s also working on smaller locations for Texas and Las Vegas for beyond that date.
Should the UK park happen, its likely scale means we probably won’t see anything built until the late 2020s or 2030.
Entertainment
Gregg Wallace: Over half of allegations against MasterChef presenter substantiated, including one of unwanted physical contact
An investigation into Gregg Wallace’s “inappropriate behaviour” on MasterChef has found that more than half of the allegations against him have been substantiated, including one of “unwanted physical contact”.
MasterChef’s production company Banijay UK shared a summary of its report into historical allegations of misconduct against the 60-year-old presenter, carried out by independent law firm Lewis Silkin over seven months.
The report also said the number of sustained allegations made Wallace’s return to MasterChef “untenable”.
The investigation heard evidence from 78 witnesses, including 41 complainants.
There were 83 allegations against Wallace, and 45 of them were substantiated. All were related to MasterChef.
While the majority of the substantiated allegations related to inappropriate sexual language and humour, a smaller number of allegations of other inappropriate language and being in a state of undress were also substantiated.
One allegation of unwanted physical contact was substantiated.
Nearly all the allegations against Wallace were related to behaviour which is said to have occurred between 2005 and 2018, with just one substantiated allegation taking place post-2018.
Wallace and Anne-Marie Sterpini in 2014
Ahead of the publication of the summary, Wallace had said he had been “cleared of the most serious and sensational accusations” made against him.
Additionally, the report summary found that there were also 10 standalone allegations about other people between 2012 and 2018/2019, two of which were substantiated. Those people were not named in the summary.
The investigation found that complaints had previously been raised with the production company between 2005 and 2024.
Gregg Wallace on MasterChef. Pic: BBC/ Shine TV 2024
While the report flagged inadequate reporting procedures prior to 2016, when Endemol merged with Shine ahead of Banijay acquiring Endemol Shine in 2020, it said there were significant improvements to HR processes and training after 2016.
While the investigation said some formal action was taken by the BBC in 2017, it also noted the corporation held no information regarding concerns raised over Wallace centrally, resulting in issues being addressed as a first offence.
Sky News has tried to contact Gregg Wallace for contact today.
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