Thing is, this is quite old news. I first became aware of this about fifteen years ago in regards to BSG's spinoff Caprica, which did have a higher budget than BSG itself because Caprica featured a lot more location shooting than BSG, which was with rare exceptions almost exclusively filmed within a studio. In more recent times, take Andor, which did have a higher budget than other Star Wars shows on Disney+ mostly because Andor did actual location shooting as opposed to the others, which used the VR wall instead.I’m basing it on Who past, and things like Sarah Connor Chronicles, the cost of sets etc. (the Sun bit is a joke though xD)
If you own a studio (and the Beeb must still have some…) then you can save money by going studio only, rather than a mix.
I suppose I haven’t taken into account the shift in how location filming is done these days versus the old days, and the more usual approach versus indie film making and some of the styles that were popular twenty years ago. XD
(Catering? There’s the cafe and pub.. Loos? There’s the cafe and pub. Transport? There’s the train station, and if you”re lucky we’ll share a minicab…)
When TV shows do do regular location shooting, it's usually to the same location simply because it's easily accessible from the studio the show is based in and/or it's a location everyone uses and has facilities set up to accommodate production crews, like all the Stargate shows (plus other Vancouver productions) filming in that same pine forest all the time or various Star Trek shows always going to Vazquez Rocks or Classic Doctor Who's love of rock quarries. Even then, if they can film in a studio instead of going to even these locations, the bean counters always prefer they do so. Which is also a contributing factor in why the VR Walls have gone in circulation.
And as alluded to above, the (presumably joking) suggestions you've provided to lower the costs of location filming would run afoul of the various labor unions who have to be adhered to in order to ensure a peaceful production. Indeed, one of the contributing factors in why location shooting was cheaper in the days of Classic Who than today was because Classic Who predated those unions going on strike to get those guarantees in place.
