Bev Dartnall – Page 2 – What Was Pebble Mill?

Planning Office

Photo from Sue Robinson, no reproduction without permission.

This photo of the Planning Office was taken in 1980. The Planning Office used to schedule VT and other technical staff to programmes.

Included in the photo are, left to right, back row: Bev Dartnall (who went on to be a drama series producer), David Robinson, Barbara Hynes, Margaret Barton, front row: Maria Hurley?, Lyn Rae (went on to be PA/PM), Janet Collins, Sue Robinson (became multi-camera director).

Thanks to Ian Rae for adding additional information.

The following comments were added on the Pebble Mill Facebook group:

Beverley Dartnall: ‘I worked in the planning office before joining Drama in 1982, As well as allocating cameramen and soundmen to programmes, they allocated what programmes went into Studio A. Janet allocated VT and TK staff. Comms were also allocated fom that office.’

Peter Poole: ‘I remember Kath Woolstan and Mandy Peissel from the Audio Unit office. They always did an excellent job and treated audio staff as people and not machines!’

Seed – photo from John Greening

‘Seed’ was a single drama which went out in 1996, it was part of a new writers’ competition, the script was written by Cole Bradley. The BFI database includes the following synopsis for it:

“Rites-of-passage drama set in Birmingham. Les is just out of prison and wants to see his baby but the mother Julie and her family are against the idea. Together with his friend Ben, Les decides to plant a field of wheat on a piece of waste ground for the baby. Ben has to decide whether to go to Jamaica or not and his decision depends on his girlfriend Hashi. She plans that they will make love three times in extraordinary places in order to make their decision.” http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/553215

The drama starred Jim Pyke as Les, Terence Maynard as Ben, Nicola Arumugam as Hashi, Ram John Holder as Ben’s grandad, and Sudha Bhuchar as Aunt Minah.

Photo includes: John Greening – director, Kevin Lakin – location manager, Peter Lloyd – script editor, Amanda Neal – 1^st AD, Barbara Mackie – Producer, Midge Ferguson – AD, Janice Rider – Costume Designer, Bev Dartnall – Associate Producer, Leigh Ashurst – design, Jim Gray – camera, Andy Morton – sound, Jo Mainwaring – PA, Vivienne Oldham – make-up designer. Dave Bushell, was the lighting director, although I can’t see him pictured.

English Regions Drama – photo from John Greening

Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission. This photo was probably taken by Willoughby Gullachsen.

Back row l to r: ?, Bob Jacobs, John Greening, Jane Barton, Sally Daniel, Monica Heath, Carol Parks, Bill Hartley, Paul Braithwaite, Annie Toy
Front row l to r: David Attwood, Bev Dartnall, Helen ?, Annemarie Harding, Clara Hewitt

The photo was taken during the drama series ‘The Goodbye Window’ which later changed title to ‘Final Run’ and the year was 1987.

This was Bev Dartnall’s last day in work before getting married to cameraman Howie Dartnall – and this was the cause of the celebration!

Thanks to Bev, for providing more information.

Please add a comment if you can fill in any of the blanks.

‘Fair Game’ – photos by Bev Dartnall

Photos by Bev Dartnall, no reproduction without permission.

Fair Game was a Pebble Mill drama transmitted in 1994. It was set recorded in Italy and Britain. The photos look like Florence. Michael Wearing was the executive producer, Alan Dosser the director, Carol Parks the producer, and Stephen Bill wrote the script.

The drama starred: Massimo Bellinzoni as Marco, Lena Headey as Ellie, Julian Kerridge as Carl, Prunella Scales as Marjorie and Anita Zagaria as Maria.

The BFI database describes the synopsis of the storyline:

‘It is 1970, there is World Cup and General Election fever. Marco, a wealthy Italian has come to England to discover his true identity. Carl, a student is torn between canvassing for the Labour party, watching the World Cup or going on a walking holiday with his girlfriend Ellie. Their paths cross in Preston library and the three take an epic journey across the Pennines.’ http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/495778?view=synopsis

'Fair Game'

Shalom Salaam – photos from Gus and Bev Dartnall

Photos by Willoughby Gullachsen (Gus), with team photo from Bev Dartnall. No reproduction without permission.

The drama was written and directed by Gareth Jones, and produced at Pebble Mill by Chris Parr. The 1989 series follows the story of two culturally different families who become intertwined when a Jewish boy (John Cater) and a Muslim girl (Mamta Kaash) fall in love whilst at college. Much of the filming was on location in Leicester. Zia Mohyeddin, Charlotte Cornwell and Buki Armstrong also featured.

The crew photo features: left-to-right Elson Godbolt (Vision Engineer), Don Cooper (Camera Supervisor), Tim Everett (sound), Colin Fearnley (VT Engineer), Dave Bushell (Lighting Director) and Bob Jacobs (1st AD).

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