Iconic Tuas TV World set for demolition in 2024
Once the cornerstone of local period dramas, Singapore's Tuas TV World is slated for demolition in 2024, marking the end of an era in the city-state's television history.
SINGAPORE — The Tuas Television (TV) World, once situated at the end of Tuas, is scheduled for demolition by the second quarter of 2024. The site was used as the production venue for local period dramas in the nineties, formerly used by the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (SBC), which was privatised into the Television Corporation Of Singapore (TCS) and is now known as Mediacorp. Tuas TV World, occupying a land area of 6.6 hectares – about the size of four football fields – was constructed in 1990. Designed to resemble Singapore of the fifties and sixties, the site was erected at an estimated cost of S$35 million. The premises housed structures resembling an old cinema, railway station, fire station, church, mansions, and traditional shophouses. Three main streets traversed around these buildings, and a man-made river was also constructed for filming purposes.
Regrettably, after a decade of operations, the cost of maintaining the facility became prohibitive, particularly as the demand for period dramas declined post the 1990s. While once a thriving film set, TV World was eventually outpaced by modern production costs and demands. In 2002, the Singapore Police Force repurposed the area as a training ground, renaming it the Tuas Training Village. The facility was used by various police units for a range of training purposes, including public order incidents, public security, forensic investigations, and scenario-based exercises. However, training ceased in 2009 in preparation for the return of the site to the state.
