Carol Parks – Page 5 – What Was Pebble Mill?

Kinsey series 2 – photo from John Greening

The photos is from the second ‘Kinsey’ series. It features John Greening (1^st AD) and Anthony Garner (director). It would have been taken from either the third or fourth episodes in the series – ‘Heads and Tails’ or ‘Drop Shot’, as the other episodes were directed by Richard Standeven.

The series was transmitted from 1992/11/03 – 1992/12/08 on BBC 1. It followed the maverick solicitor Neil Kinsey, played by Leigh Lawson. Barry Hanson was the executive producer, Carol Parks the producer, with Peter Gibbs writing the script.

Kinsey, series 2 – photo from John Greening

Photograph from John Greening, no reproduction without permission.

The photo shows production manager, John Greening in the Bull ring in Malaga, Spain in 1992. The Malaga shoot featured in episode 4 of the series, entitled ‘Drop Shot’.

‘Kinsey 2’ was a six part series which went out on BBC 1 in Nov/Dec 1992. It starred Leigh Lawson, Peter Davison and Meera Syal. It was a Pebble Mill drama series about a Birmingham solicitor. Minnie Driver also had a small part in it.

Richard Standeven and Anthony Garner were the directors, Barry Hanson the executive producer and Carol Parks the producer. The script was written by Peter Gibbs.

The following comments were posted on the Pebble Mill Facebook page:

Midlands Today reporter, and now Head of Compliance at BBC Birmingham, Liz Munro remembers having a small part in ‘Kinsey’: ‘I was in Kinsey! Played myself as a tv reporter. Waited around all day to say my lines, but the pay was good. It was fab. I still have a copy of the script.’

Terry Powell (costume): ‘I loved this show, one of the best I worked on. I looked after Leigh Lawson for 2 years and still keep in touch after all these years!’

Ruth Kiosses (costume):’Remember Kinsey costumes very well. Wasn’t Minnie Driver in it before Hollywood beckoned? I bought some clothes she had worn at the end of filming (sure it was Kinsey).’

Dawn Trotman (film editor): ‘Remember Kinsey very well. Its where I meet my husband! But loads of people got sacked as I recall. At Eliot road where we edited it we had tape in the shape of bodies over the floor! As each person went down. Still enjoyed it though and got to know Carol Parks who was lovely. The cast were good as well.’

Ian Barber: ‘I remember sitting in a cottage in front of a log fire with Minnie Driver, whilst shooting Kinsey 2. Mark Williams (fast show & harry potter) was also in it as an office bod.’

Melissa Hallworth (nee Feather): ‘I remember there was an earthquake in LA where Leigh Lawson’s wife was staying (Twiggy) with their friend Dustin Hoffman, so I had to fax Dustin’s house to make sure Twiggy was ok on behalf of Leigh! great series, loved working on it! x’

Mark Heslop (editor): ‘Had fun on Kinsey. Mixed it at the old Ladbrokes theatre in Notting Hill with Aad Wirtz and a young Adrian Rhodes. Remember having a lovely meal with Carol in Covent Garden, had escargot for the first (and last) time. Made a great team with Dawn and Adam Trotman.’

Diana Lester (costume): ‘Kinsey had a very dramatic effect on my life !!! Met my husband whist filming it, and now nearly 20 years later….still happily married!!’

‘Boogie Outlaws’ – interview with costume designer, Janice Rider

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Specially shot interview with costume designer, Janice Rider about designing the 1987 Pebble Mill drama, ‘Boogie Outlaws’. The director was Keith Godman, the producer, Carol Parks, and the script was written by Leslie Stewart. The drama starred Ian Hogg, David Schofield, Isla Blair, John Judd and Francesca Brill.

Drama Production Office – photo by John Greening

Belinda Cherrington, Carol Parks, Jane Barton

Photo by John Greening, no reproduction without permission.

The photo includes left to right: Belinda Cherrington (now an exec producer at Mentorn), producer Carol Parks, and production assistant Jane Barton. It was taken in one of the Drama production offices at BBC Pebble Mill.

The photo probably dates from around 1990.

Run for the Lifeboat – photo from John Greening

Photo by John Greening, no reproduction without permission.

The photo is of the writer and director of ‘Run for the Lifeboat’, Douglas Livingstone.

‘Run for the Lifeboat’, was a Screen Two play, produced at Pebble Mill by Carol Parks. It was transmitted in 1988.

The BFI database describes the storyline:

“Set in a Welsh fishing village. Maggie arrives from London with her son Terry. They meet Gareth Jones, a member of of the local life-boat crew and a friendship develops, resulting in Maggie’s marriage to Gareth.”

The play starred Stacey Tendeter, David Burke, Constance Chapman, John Pickard, and Ross Livingstone (who I think was the writer and director, Douglas Livingstone’s son).