‘Survival of the Fittest’ – photos Willoughby Gullachsen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photos by Willoughby Gullachsen, no reproduction without permission. Survival of the Fittest was a Screen One drama, produced at Pebble Mill by Carol Parks, directed by Martyn Friend and written by Julian Mitchell, transmitted in 1990.

The drama starred Timothy West as Geoffrey Cowper, Jean Anderson as Molly Cowper, Nerys Hughes as Betty Trinder, Elizabeth Spriggs as Eileen Blackett, Timothy Davies as Chris Trinder and Joanna Brookes as June Trinder.

The BFI Database describes Survival of the Fittest as a:

‘Dark comedy that looks at what happens when a fiercely-independent 80-year-old widow becomes too frail to live alone. Molly Cowper is determined to stay in her own home, even though she has recently had a mild heart attack. Not wanting to be alone at night, she makes elaborate plans to ensure that neighbours will sleep in her house. Supervised by her long-suffering son Geoffrey an agreement is drawn up so that Chris Trinder and Eileen Blackett will stay there at agreed times. Her arrangements begin to fall apart however, when Chris dies of a heart attack and her dog is run over. Although Geoffrey tries to sort things out Molly still tries to enforce her wishes, riding roughshod over all of them with devastating consequences. http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/446261?view=synopsis

The second photo shows members of the crew including l to r: Sound Recordists Kirsten Jones, Roger Slater; Production Assistant, Jane Barton; and Production Manager, John Greening.Save

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Song for Christmas – Lynda Kettle’s photos

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.

Song for Christmas was an annual children’s carol competition, and part of Pebble Mill at One.  Mark Kershaw was the director of the Song for Christmas shown in the photos, and David Weir was the producer.  Lynda Kettle designed the set in Studio A.  I’m not sure which year the photos are from, but probably 1985 0r 1986.

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.

Song for Christmas

Golden Oldie Picture Show, Christmas – Gail Herbert’s photos

The Golden Oldie Picture Show was produced by John King at Pebble Mill, and presented by the Radio 1 DJ: Dave Lee Travis.  The series ran between 1985 to 1988.  The show featured new music videos made for old hit records. Different film makers recorded their own interpretation of the songs.  Dave Lee Travis introduced and linked the show.

These photos are from the 1986 Christmas show, which went out on 22/12/86.  The first photo shows the ‘links’ set up with Dave Lee Travis, and the others show the location filming of ‘I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday’.  In the photo with Father Christmas you can see the cameraman Simon King, now well known as a wildlife cameraman, and son of producer John King.

Gail Herbert, who took the photos,was the Production Assistant on the Golden Oldie Picture Show.

Recording the links

‘Dread Poets Society’ – TX Card from Dave Bushell

Dread Poets Society

TX card for ‘Dread Poets Society’

This was a hosted production shot on location at Oxley Carriage Sidings, Wolverhampton. Two railway carriages were rewired by Derek McCulloch and his sparks so that I could reproduce my take on what it would feel like to be in a train during a thunderstorm. The weather was appalling, as I remember, and we had to deal with a number of equipment problems. Still it was interesting to do (and I like trains!).

Producers were George Faber and Estelle Daniel, director Andy Wilson and the cast were Benjamin Zephaniah, Timothy Spall, Alex Jennings, Dexter Fletcher, Alan Cumming and Emma Fielding. Transmission was in 1992.

Dave Bushell

‘The Brothers’

'The Brothers' Cast & Crew

The Brothers was a long running series about a family in the road haulage business.

There were 8 series in all, going out between 1970 and 1976, including 92 x 50 min episodes.

The final series was directed by Mary Ridge, and produced by Bill Sellars.

The drama starred Jean Anderson as Mary Hammond, Richard Easton as Brian Hammond, Robin Chadwick as David Hammond, Jennifer Wilson as Jennifer Kingsley, Derek Benfield as Bill Riley, Margaret Ashcroft as Gwen Riley, Patrick O’Connell as Edward Hammond, Colin Baker as Merroney, Carole Mowlan as Claire Miller, and Kate O’Mara as Jane Maxwell.

It was a hosted drama at BBC Pebble Mill.  The final series was recorded at Pebble Mill, I’m not sure if any of the earlier ones were – please add a comment, if you can give more information.

Lynda Kettle was the production designer  http://www.lynda-kettle.com and make up artist Maggie Thomas also worked on the series.