Television – Page 233 – What Was Pebble Mill?

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

Backup – photos by Willoughby Gullachsen

Photos by Willoughby Gullachsen, no reproduction without permission.

The photos probably come from the drama ‘Backup’. It was a Pebble Mill drama which ran for two series. The first eight part series went out in 1995, with the second, six part series transmitting in 1997. Hilary Salmon was the producer; Tony Virgo the exec producer; Bob Blagdon, Jan Sargent, and Douglas Mackinnon the directors. Nigel McCrery created the series with Roy Mitchell writing some of the scripts. The series was edited by John Rosser and Beverley Mills.

These photos are probably from the first series.

The drama featured Martin Troakes, Katrina Levon, Nick Miles, Christopher John Hall, and Calum MacPherson.

A synopsis by ‘Sulla-2’ on the IMDB site describes the drama:

‘There were two series of ‘Back up’ and they were both very good entertainment. Basically it is a series about a section of the Special Patrol Group ( SPG) They work has a crew of experienced male and female Constables working in uniform or plain clothes. They are based in Birmingham in the Digbeth area but can be called upon to assist any of the West Midlands Police areas, although they would mainly be in Birmingham. Their speciality is Public Order but they are in a position to provide back up for more or less anything. In real life, Officer on the SPG are very fit and highly trained. The officers portrayed in this programme are rather less fit. Several of the cast have gone on to bigger and better things but others have disappeared without trace.’ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115102/

Thanks to Ant Smith and Kevin Lakin for identifying the photos of this drama.

Mystery drama – photos by Willoughby Gullachsen

Photos by Willoughby Gullachsen, no reproduction without permission.

These photos are from a Pebble Mill drama, probably dating from the mid 1980’s.

If you can identify the drama, then please add a comment!

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.