Doctors titles series 3

Doctors title series 3, 1 Doctors titles series 3, 3 Doctors title series 3, 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Copyright resides with the original holders, no reproduction without permission.

These stills are taken from the titles sequence from the continuing drama series, Doctors, series 3, which went out Sept 2001 to May 2002, and consisted of 129 episodes.

Mal Young was the Exec Producer, Carson Black the Series Producer, and Will Trotter the producer.

The characters shown in the stills were played by the following actors:

 

  • Ben Kwarme – Ariyon Bakare
  • Jude Carlyle – Natalie J. Robb
  • Kate McGuire – Maggie Cronin
  • Faith Walker – Eva Fontaine
  • Katrina Bullen – Tabitha Wady

 

Thanks to the BBC Drama Village for sharing the stills.

Telecine Reconstruction with Jim Gregory

Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission

Tim Emblem-English with Jim Gregory. Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission

Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission

Rank Cintel Mark 3, with Jim and Tim. Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last Friday I was part of the team reconstructing how telecine operated in the 1960-80s. The shoot was organised by the Royal Holloway, University of London, ADAPT project, which aims to reconstruct now defunct television production techniques, and record them for posterity. The idea was to reunite the hugely experienced telecine operator, Jim Gregory, with a Rank Cintel Mark 3 machine dating from the late 1980s: a machine he hadn’t used for many years. We also wanted Pebble Mill’s Jim Gregory, to discuss telecine practices with his Television Centre conterpart, Tim Emblem-English – who still operates the Mark 3 on a daily basis.

We had hoped to find a working example of the Rank Cintel Mark 2, but unfortunately one does not seem to still exist. The Mark 3 is at the BBC Post Production centre in Ruislip, and is involved in film restoration work for the BBC and external clients. It is linked up to a control desk, monitors and a bank of different format recorders. Unfortunately the Post Production centre at Ruislip is due to close down next year, and it is unclear yet what is going to happen to all the equipment, although it is likely to be sold off, so it was important to get the filming completed.

The Rank Cintel Mark 2 was more important certainly in the televisual history of Pebble Mill, than the Mark 3, and was used to play film inserts into live television shows, and studio dramas. Jim worked on the Mark 2 machines for many years, but only used the Mark 3 briefly in the 1990s.

Jim had brought an old can of film down with him: black and white footage from the mid 1960s. The film shows the newsroom at the BBC Broad Street studio, as well as behind the scenes in the Gosta Green drama studio, and even drinking in the Gosta Green Club! It also shows street shots around Birmingham. The footage provides a fascinating social history of the time. The joints kept breaking – but then the tape holding them together was 50 years old! Jim was able to grade the pictures through the desk without any trouble. When he was asked what it felt like to be reunited with the Mark 3, he replied that it just felt totally normal, like riding a bike, and that you had to rely on your muscle memory rather than thinking about what you were doing. Tim and Jim could have swapped stories of close shaves in telecine during live transmissions for many hours: of occasions when rolls of film rolled away across the floor, of the challenges of trying to fix a problem whilst having Pres shouting down the phone to you, and of grading shots live as they went out.

Although Jim no longer operates telecine machines, he is still employed as a regular freelance grader at the BBC Drama Village in Birmingham, working on a Da Vinci, or Avid Symphony, on shows like Father Brown.

Vanessa Jackson

Jane Eyre 1983

 

Jane Eyre, photo Neil Wigley

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo by Neil Wigley, no reproduction without permission.

Jane Eyre was an eleven part, BBC London drama series hosted by Pebble Mill. It went out between 9th October and 18th December 1983.

Julian Amyes was the director; Barry Letts, the producer; Terrance Dicks was the script editor; Alexander Baron the script writer; Michael Edwards the designer; Gill Hardie the costume designer; with music by Paul Reade.

The series starred Zelah Clarke as Jane, Timothy Dalton as Rochester, Andrew Bicknell as St John Rivers, Colin Jeavons as Briggs, Morag Hood as Mary Rivers, and Elaine Donnelly as Diana Rivers.

Thanks to the BBC Drama Village for sharing the photo.