Bish Mehay by Paresh Solanki

Editors may come and go, but Bish Mehay was always there to anchor the ship (the BBC Asian Programmes Unit). He was a great friend and a great support, especially in time of crisis. His motto ‘Don’t worry, it is all under control,’ was a Bish classic from the numerous phrases he utilised daily. His knowledge of Bollywood stars and ethnic fashion models was phenomenal. If smartphones were around at his time at the APU, Bish would have been photographed with every Bollywood star and fashion model around. He loved directing the super stars. During the time of Mega Mela at the NEC, he had the audacity to tell Sharukh Khan how to pose for a shot. His anecdotes would fill a book. What a loss – RIP to one of the pioneers of ethnic broadcasting in the UK.

Paresh Solanki

Network East production team

Network East production team, includes Dharmesh Rajput, Ruth Barretto, Alex Johnston, Jasmine Chandler, Janice Mezzetti

Network East production team, includes Dharmesh Rajput, Ruth Barretto, Alex Johnston, Jasmine Chandler, Janice Mezzetti

Photo from Ruth Barretto, no reproduction without permission.

The photo shows the production team from the Asian magazine show: Network East.

Heads of Pebble Mill

There were six heads of Pebble Mill during the building’s lifetime, although some were Heads of Network TV, rather than Head of Building. Their tenure seems to get progressively shorter. This information was taken from the BBC Written Archives in Caversham. They were:

Phil Sidey – 1972-82 Head of Building

David Waine – 1983-1992 Head of Building

Rod Natkiel – 1992-1998 Head of Network Television

Kate Marsh – 1998-2001

Paresh Solanki – 2001-2002

Tessa Finch – 2002- end of Pebble Mill

Phil Sidey (right). Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission

Phil Sidey (right). Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission

David Waine. Copyright resides with the original holder no reproduction without permission

David Waine. Copyright resides with the original holder no reproduction without permission

Rod Natkiel. Copyright resides with the original holder

Rod Natkiel. Copyright resides with the original holder

Paresh Solanki. Copyright resides with the original holder

Paresh Solanki. Copyright resides with the original holder

Kate Marsh. Copyright resides with the original holder

Kate Marsh. Copyright resides with the original holder

Tessa Finch. Copyright resides with the original holder

Tessa Finch. Copyright resides with the original holder

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

Lynne Cullimore: “My favourite is – Phil Sidey who put Pebble Mill on the map! and I liked David Waine who was a very nice man.”

Jane Upston: “I was there during David Waine’s tenure and part of Rod Natkiel’s. I worked in HR (was Jane Morgan then). The people I remember most though were Colin Adams and Jock Gallagher.”

Chris Marshall: “Agreed, David Waine was great to work for. Is that really Rod Natkiel? As for Kate Marsh…”

Carolyn Davies: “David Waine was one of the best ‘heads of’ anything I have ever met. Once you’d met him he always remembered your name and what you did and made a big effort to see those on the shop floor…..”

Dharmesh Rajput: “Wow – I thought there would be more… I started working in TV just end of 1998 whilst still working in radio and having done some work experience in Press & Publicity with Donald Steel’s team – so I remember Rod Natkiel from having to take press cuttings to his office. And then I was in TV and Online till the move to The Mailbox.”

Jane Ward: “Agree with Carolyn… David Waine was a great People Person…”

Viv Ellis: “I agree David Waine rocked. Lovely boss”

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50 Years of BBC Asian Programmes

The article below is taken from: http://www.desiblitz.com/content/5-bbc-asian-television-shows-to-remember

“The BBC is celebrating 50 years of its programming for South Asian immigrants which started in the 60s and for the subsequent new British Asian generations into the 80s, 90s and onwards.

Programming for Asian immigrants who arrived in Britain started at 9.00am on 10th October 1965 on BBC1.

In Logon Se Miliye was the first programme which was then replaced by Apna hi Ghar Samajhiye known as Make Yourself at Home in 1966.

The programme produced by David Gretton was also repeated on BBC2 and on BBC radio.

Offering a mix of language lessons in everyday English and popular music from Indian and Pakistani films, the programme aimed to help Asians cope with everyday life.

Subsequently, shows like Nai Zindagi Naya Jeevan and Gharbar for women, appeared on BBC television.

Both radio and television progressively began to broadcast shows targeting Asians living and now settled in Britain.

BBC Radio shows like East and West, Midlands Masala and the emergence of BBC Asian Network as a station, all contributed to this programming.

It was the late 80s and 90s when BBC programming for Asians took a new direction, to appeal to new generations of British Asians.

The television programmes were produced by the BBC Asian Programmes Unit (APU), based at Pebble Mill in Birmingham.

The APU was headed by Narendhra Morar and subsequently taken over by Paresh Solanki during this era of BBC’s multicultural programming.

Other members of the team included Narinder Minhas, Tommy Nagra, Fatima Salaria, Farah Durrani, Sangita Manandhar, Gurdip Bhangoo, Jane Dunning and Sara Kozak.

We remember five popular shows from this special era of BBC Asian television.

NETWORK EAST

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(Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission)

This weekly lifestyle and entertainment programme was launched in 1987 on BBC2 on Saturday mornings.

It was the first programme to be fully broadcast in English.

This lively show had a series of well-known presenters through its time, including, Valerie Vaz and Samantha Meah, Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Mo Dutta, Shahnaz Pakravan, Sudha Kumari (now known as Sudha Bhuchar), Sanjeev Kohli and Sonia Deol.

It featured lots of major stars and acts including Amitabh Bachchan, Mehmood, Salman Khan, Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Gurdas Maan and Shobu Kapoor (Geeta in EastEnders).

With Bhangra bands being huge at the time, Azaad, Alaap, Heera, Apna Sangeet and many more were featured on the show.

The Network East Mega Mela event was the first major indoor mela held at the NEC in Birmingham.

The show featured and supported live acts and upcoming bands.

In 1998, Asia 2 was used to group Asian programmes shown on BBC 2 on Saturday mornings, starting with Network East: Big Talk, a show discussing Asian issues.

A late night version of the show called Network East Late was aired in 2001.

EAST

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(Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission)

This was a programme produced to address current affairs and controversial issues affecting the South Asian communities in Britain.

Aired weekly from 1990, on BBC2 on Tuesday evenings, it tackled many areas of Asian life in its episodes. Including:

The increasing number of young Asians choosing mainstream pop over the traditional Asian music market after success of Babylon Zoo.
Growing numbers of elderly Asian parents who expected to be cared for by their children are finding themselves alone or in homes.
Increasing numbers of Asian women in Britain becoming involved in prostitution, after running away from sheltered and unhappy homes
EAST – tackled issue of prostitution

Some episodes of the series instigated complaints for their hard-hitting nature.

CAFE 21

The newer generations of British Asians had many social and personal issues to deal with during the 90s.

Cafe 21 was targeted at this youth and debated topics and matters concerning them.

The setting was usually a ‘student common room’ with an audience of young guests who debated topical issues with the presenter Rajesh Mirchandani.

Participants frequently discussed education, careers, religion, racism, relationships, politics, multiculturalism, integration and lots more.

It was aired on Saturday mornings on BBC2 from 1997.

BOLLYWOOD OR BUST

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(Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission)

This programme was shown on BBC2 on a Saturday morning from 1994 and was an amazing concept of a gameshow using Bollywood as its theme.

Presenters of the show were first Mo Dutta and then Sanjeev Bhaskar.

Four contestants were invited into the studios to take part in a series of question and Bollywood trivia rounds.

Each round was introduced with a dramatic piece of Bollywood film music and each round was named in Hindi and English.

Each episode progressively led to a semi-final and then a final.

The winning prize was a fully paid trip to Bollywood itself and a chance to meet some of the biggest stars at that time, including, Shahrukh Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Dev Anand and many more.

FLAVOURS OF INDIA

At the time this was one of the first cookery television shows of its kind. It used the concept of on location cooking with the hugely popular, Madhur Jaffrey, as the cookery star, travelling across India.

The six-part series was directed by Navin Thapar and produced by Sara Kozak and a team from the BBC and India. It was aired from 1995.

Different cuisines were brought to you in each episode featuring a specific state of India and its speciality dishes. Including, Goa, Kerala, Gujarat, Punjab and Tamil Nadu.

Madhur narrated her visits and provided historical facts about each place and made the dishes outside on location.

A book was published to accompany the series.

Most of the above shows were aired on Saturday mornings on BBC 2, which was dominated by BBC Asian programmes – a history in the making, in its own unique way.

Although Asian programmes today are still part of the BBC agenda, the Asian Programmes Unit was closed in 2008. So, it’s unlikely that we shall ever witness another era of domination by shows like the ones we remember here.’

 

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

Tony Jover: ‘I recall we used to do a Top 10 Bollywood movies section, a fashion section and more. At one stage it was presented by Sanjeev Bhaskar. I used to edit Network East with Paresh Solanki.’

Viv Ellis: ‘I worked on the very first Network East under Narendhra Morar, as a director, doing studio and location shoots and editing. We recorded the show in the small studio (can’t remember what it was called) [Studio B] with a “band days” in studio A. We had all sorts of amazing music.’

Gordon Astley: ‘I remember my first TV job was boom op. at Gosta Green about 1970. I remember trying to get as near to a sitar as possible. Must have been one of the first of these shows?’

Bridget Catherine Vaughan: ‘I worked in the days of Ashok Rampal.’

Network East

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

Netw0rk East was an Asian magazine show dating from the late 1980s and 1990s it included a mix of dance, music and other items about British Asian life. It had various presenters including Mo Dutta, Sonia Doel, Sanjeev Kohli, Rajesh Mirchandani and Shyama Perera. Narendhra Morar was the series editor in the late 1980s, with John Wilcox being the Executive Producer.

Thanks to Ian Collins for making this title grab available.

The following comments were left on the Pebble Mill Facebook Page:

Lynn Cullimore: ‘I worked in that department with Narendra! I remember it well. Mainly because everyone in that department shared everthing – if they went to the canteen for a Kit Kat it was shared amongst us all. I particularly remember the music programmes as the artists had no idea of timing and just played on and on until we had to just cut in and stop it! So funny. Oh happy days.’

Victoria Trow: ‘Narendra Morar was Series Producer. Lots of talented people covered not only music but all kinds of topics of interest to the Asian Community. I was asst editor on The Bollywood Story (never repeated I fear because of copyright issues, clearances were hell) and also a researcher on a lovely piece about a group of Sikhs who had fought in WW2 going to Belgium for a commemoration of their fathers & uncles who had fought in WW1. Great days.’

Ruth Barretto:  ‘Paresh Solanki also worked on the programme when Narendra left. It was one of the best departments I ever worked in. It was like one big happy family. I worked on it when Sonia Sangha (Deol) and Sanjeev Kohli were the presenters. Real fun times.’

Peter Poole: ‘I worked on it many times in Studio B. Studio links, interviews and music were recorded. For larger music recordings Studio A was used. In the 1990’s the programme featured contemporary Asian pop music.’