Category: Drama

Alan Plater on Land of Green Ginger

Untitled from pebblemill on Vimeo.

This clip of writer Alan Plater talking about ‘Land of Green Ginger’ is taken from David Rose’s ‘My Journey Together’ lecture.  The copyright remains David Rose’s.

The Play for Today ‘Land of Green Ginger’ was transmitted in 1973. It follows a young woman, Sally, played by Gwen Taylor, as she returns to her home town of Hull for the weekend. She and Mike, her trawlerman boyfriend, played by John Flanagan, have to make decisions about their future. However he is reluctant to give up the dangerous life of a fisherman, and she wants to pursue her career in London.  The drama also featured Jean Heywood as Mrs Brown, Michael Elwyn as Reynolds and Ivy Cawood as Mrs Thurlow.

The drama was produced by David Rose and directed by Brian Parker.  Mike Williams was the DOP, and the film was edited by Henry Fowler.

‘White Lady’ – 1987

Photograph copyright of Willoughby Gullachsen, no reproduction without permission.

The photograph features, left to right, William Hartley 1st A.D., David Rudkin, writer and director, and Al Barnett, costume.

‘White Lady’ was written and directed by David Rudkin, it told the story of a divorcee: Gil, who struggles to bring up his two daughters on his own. However hard he tries he cannot escape the all encompassing power of the White Lady, a symbol of the chemicals used in British food production.

The film was produced at Pebble Mill by Carol Parks and featured: Cornelius Garrett, Sophie Thompson, Jessica Martin and Meg Wynn Owen.

Angels

Photos by Lynda Kettle, no reproduction without permission. Lynda Kettle was a Production Designer at BBC Pebble Mill, working on factual, entertainment and drama shows in studio and on location.  The photos were taken as records of the Sets.

Angels, began life in 1975 as a seasonal drama, but switched to a soap format between 1979 to 1983. It was produced out of the BBC in London, with some series being filmed there as the ‘St Angela’s Hospital’, Battersea. Later series in the 1980s were recorded at Pebble Mill in the imaginary ‘Heath Green Hospital’, Birmingham. It followed the lives of student nurses and tackled issues such as contraception, alcoholism and sexuality. The series was sometimes criticised for its gritty portrayal of nursing. To make the performances more realistic the actresses had to work in real hospital wards to gain experience.

The series offered opportunities to many actresses who have become well known household names, like Fiona Fullerton, Lesley Dunlop and Pauline Quirke.

Production Designer, Lynda Kettle also worked as a theatre designer and an artist, and now runs courses from her art studio http://www.lynda-kettle.com.  She is a member of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists, Birmingham Water Colour Society. Midland Pastel Society and Birmingham Art Circle . She exhibits her paintings several times a year at selected galleries.

An Actor’s Life for Me

Photos by Lynda Kettle, no reproduction without permission.

Lynda Kettle was a Production Designer at BBC Pebble Mill, working on factual, entertainment and drama shows in studio and on location.  The photos were taken as records of the Sets, and in some you can just see the studio lights over the top of the flats.

Previously a Radio 4 comedy, ‘An Actor’s Life for Me’ was a  6 part television drama series recorded in Pebble Mill Studio A and outside broadcast, and transmitted in 1991.  The drama starred John Gordon Sinclair, who played Robert Neilson, a struggling actor with an incompetent agent, Desmond, played by Victor Spinetti.  Gina McKee played his teacher girlfriend, Sue.  Lynn Scott-Farrell played the fourth character, Brenda.  The comedy was directed and produced by Bryan Izzard.  ‘An Actor’s Life for Me’ was a series hosted at Pebble Mill, but produced out of London.

Production Designer, Lynda Kettle also worked as a theatre designer and an artist, and now runs courses from her art studio http://www.lynda-kettle.com.  She is a member of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists, Birmingham Water Colour Society. Midland Pastel Society and Birmingham Art Circle . She exhibits her paintings several times a year at selected galleries.