Photo by Gail Herbert, no reproduction without permission.
This photo from 1989 is of Patrick Flavelle, on the left, (with the clipboard), directing on ‘Countryfile’. The man with the rabbit is presenter Roger Tabor.
Patrick adds the following comment:
‘It was for a piece called ‘What’s British?’ about common animals and plants that you might imagine were native to Britain. Rabbits,not, Horse Chestnut, not etc Roger Tabor presenting and shot at Packington Estate who were really helpful. No facility fee as long as we didn’t say where we were. Very unlike the National Trust!
Nigel Davey on camera I think and my first solo shoot as Director. Clipboard, bouffant hair and pretending I know what I’m doing.’
Photos by Vanessa Jackson, no reproduction without permission.
There were three series of the garden design show, ‘Small Town Gardens’. The first was made in London, the show then transferred to Birmingham, with me series producing the second and third series at Pebble Mill 2002 -3. I was delighted to be asked to make the show by Owen Gay. The London series was presented by Rachel de Thame, Joe Swift presented the second series and James Alexander Sinclair (shown in these photos) presented the third. Mark Scott and Paul Vanezis were the producer/directors, Sarah Wilkin and Emily Rusted researched on it, with Sarah Costigan and Jo Gray the production co-ordinators. Martin Dowell and Ant Smith were the editors. There were eight episodes in the second series and six in the third. The series were transmitted on BBC 2 on Friday nights before ‘Gardeners’ World’.
The idea of the series was to show how small town gardens could be transformed into creative, innovative spaces. We teamed up well known garden designers with contributors, they went on inspiration and shopping trips to discover what they wanted for their gardens.
It was a brilliant series to make – a lovely production team, great experts, presenters and contributors (well with a couple of exceptions), wonderful locations and a decent budget! And we knew we were lucky at the time.
The photos shown here are from a shoot in Kennington, London, series 3. The garden was a converted farrier’s workshop, with a tiny courtyard garden. The contributors were great, and I seem to remember that when the garden was finished they held a party, and rather the worse for wear tried to bathe in the water feature! The couple shown in the photo are the garden designers, not the contributors!
James always wore his trade mark hat, in fact he had about seven different ones, in various states – some tatty ones reserved for gardening. I think we were lucky enough to have the use of his second best hat! We used to have to check for ‘hat hair’, if we were filming inside and he took his hat off, as his hair would get all squashed and have to be sorted!
Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission.
‘Pop at the Mill’ was an open air pop festival which went out on Saturday nights during the summer of 1977. It was set in the courtyard of Pebble Mill, behind the foyer where ‘Pebble Mill at One’ was set. Acts included Gary Glitter, Joe Brown and Showaddywaddy.
I’m not sure which which acts are shown in the photos.
Thanks to Gail Herbert for making the photos available.
Photograph by Ian Collins, no reproduction without permission.
The photo shows film editor Henry Fowler at his Steenbeck, editing. Henry Fowler edited a variety of dramas and documentaries at BBC Pebble Mill including:
‘Death of a Miner’ 1968, ‘Before the Mast’ 1971, ‘That Quiet Earth’ 1972 (30 Min Theatre),’The Shoals of Herring’ 1972, ‘Land of Green Ginger’ 1973 (Play for Today), ‘Steps Back’ 1973 (Play for Today), ‘Penda’s Fen’ 1974 (Play for Today), ‘Gangsters’ 1975 (Play for Today), ‘Breath’ 1975 (Play for Today), ‘The Other Woman’ 1976 (Play for Today),’ The Muscle Market’ 1981 (Play for Today).
Photos from director Clive Wager (shown here in the lower picture), no reproduction without permission,
‘The Clothes Show’ was produced at Pebble Mill from 1986-2000, it was originally a spin off of fashion items from ‘Pebble Mill at One’. The executive producer was Roger Casstles. The fashion magazine show had very high production values, and became well known for its use of new video editing effects. Eventually the post production team were awarded a BAFTA for their work.
The first photo shows the production office at ‘Clothes Show Live’, the annual exhibition at the NEC which is still running. Shown in the photo are Nicky Barfoot in the stripy top, Caroline Hawkins, Tim Langford, and presenter Caryn Franklin seated.
The lower photo is of a location shoot at the Imperial War Museum, and shows director Clive Wagner.
