Factual – Page 120 – What Was Pebble Mill?

‘Good Morning’ titles shoot – photo from Clive Wagner

Good Morning titles shoot

This photo is from the title shoot of ‘Good Morning with Anne Nick’ in 1992. Clive Wagner (on the left with the bald head) was the director on the shoot. He was a director on ‘The Clothes Show’, and very well thought of. The cameraman is almost certainly Tim Johnson, and the assistant, Sue Cane. The titles were shot on 35mm film, which was a real luxury.

‘Good Morning with Anne and Nick’ began on 12 Oct 1992, and was on air until 1996. Their first guest on the sofa was Joan Collins. The popular morning magazine show was presented by Anne Diamond and Nick Owen. Anne’s husband, Mike Hollingsworth, was the series editor.

‘Good Morning’ was set in Studio C, the Pebble Mill foyer, where ‘Pebble Mill at One’ was set, but the instantly recognisable windows and view out on to Pebble Mill road were blocked out by the living room type set.

Good Food Show – photo from Gail Herbert

Photo by Gail Herbert, no reproduction without permission.

The ‘Good Food Show’ was a magazine show about food, produced at Pebble Mill by Mary Clyne. The series went out in 1995. Ben Warwick was the series director, Juliet Morris and Will Hanrahan the presenters.

The photo shows a wild boar location shoot. The director (with the flowing locks) is Derek Hallsworth, the crew is probably Noel Paley on camera and John Parker on sound. Gail Herbert was the production assistant.

Sunday Home and Garden – Vanessa Jackson

Photos by Vanessa Jackson, no reproduction without permission.

‘Sunday Home and Garden’ was a 90 minute compilation programme presented by Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen made at Pebble Mill. The series was transmitted in the early 2000’s, probably around 2003, and went out on Sunday mornings before ‘Countryfile’. I was the series producer. We used to chose clips from other BBC programmes about homes or gardens e.g. ‘Home Front’, ‘Real Rooms’ etc. We would group programmes around themes e.g. ‘Georgian’, ‘Gustavianism’, ‘Arts and Crafts’, and then choose clips that fitted with the theme. Laurence would link the clips together and add some new content e.g. making something himself or demonstrating how to dress a room in a particular style. I used to really enjoy writing Laurence’s scripts. I found it easy to hear his voice in my head when I wrote them – especially when being sardonic or ironic!

We’d record two scripts a day, so finding locations which would fit two different programmes could be a challenge. We did go to some great locations, some in London, but we also recorded two shows in Cornwall near a holiday home Laurence has there.

I remember on one shoot Laurence had insisted on wearing his rather large sunglasses all day. When we’d edited the show our exec producer objected to the sunglasses, because you couldn’t see his eyes properly, and made us re-shoot the whole thing! None of us were best pleased, but Laurence never insisted on wearing his sunglasses again!

Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen

Pebble Mill at One – Blue Eagle helicopter

Blue Eagle helicopter on PM at 1

This photo shows a Blue Eagle helicopter landing on the front lawn for a ‘Pebble Mill at One show’. Shows with stunts like these were usually organised by John Smith, who had wonderful contacts in the armed forces. The Blue Eagles are one of only six helicopter acrobatic teams in the world. They are part of the Army Air Corps. The photo probably dates from the mid 1970s.

Thanks to Gail Herbert for making the photo available.

Reaching for the Skies – photos from Gail Herbert

Photos from Gail Herbert, no reproduction without permission.

‘Reaching for the Skies’ was a twelve part documentary series about the history of flight, transmitted on BBC 2 in 1988. The series was a co-production produced at BBC Pebble Mill. John Gau was the executive producer, Ivan Rendall the series producer, and Tony Salmon one of the directors. Peter Gower was one of the editors on the series, and Gail Herbert was a production assistant on it. The episode list included: Pioneers (12/9/88), The Aeroplane Goes to War (19/9/88), Trailblazers (26/9/88), Lighter than Air (3/10/88), Bombers (10/10/88), Quest for Speed (17/10/88), Giants of the Air (24/10/88), Rivals over the Atlantic (31/10/88), Fighters (7/11/88), Vertical Flight (14/11/88), Victory over the Sea (21/11/88), The Adventure of Flight (28/11/88).

The photos show filming of a B17 bomber, a Spitfire, and a Lancaster bomber.