Christopher Timothy speaking on Radio 2

Kevin Lakin, Christopher Timothy and Terry Ford, on location in the Yorkshire Dales, for All Creatures Great and Small. No reproduction without permission.

Kevin Lakin, Christopher Timothy and Terry Ford, on location in the Yorkshire Dales, for All Creatures Great and Small. No reproduction without permission.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christopher Timothy just spoke during an interview, by Graham Norton on BBC Radio Two (Saturday 18th June 2016, 10am), of Pebble Mill saying what a fantastic place it was. A great hub full of so much activity and talent. 32 years of my life spent there. Thirteen years of All Creatures Great & Small of which Ivor [Annie’s husband] edited some. Loved seeing Christopher there. My Dad spoke to him once in the lift, Christopher was in a wheelchair as he had broken his leg! Chatted to him like an old friend. Made my Dad’s day.

Annie Gumbley-Williams

(Here is the link to BBC iPlayer to Graham Norton’s interview with Christopher Timothy and Martin Shaw: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07fl1d8 )

The following comment was left on the Pebble Mill Facebook page:

Betti Moretti: ‘Loved working at Pebble Mill with Chris on Doctors – I’d been such a fan of All Creatures when I was a child it was like a dream come true. I was Production Secretary, but also played the wife to Mark Frost’s Dr Steve Rawlings – until I was killed off! Happy memories of that time – especially down at the club.’

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Pebble Mill back in the day – Robin Valk

(This blog by Robin Valk is copied from his site, with his permission http://radiotogo.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/BBC-Pebble-Mill-back-in-the-day.html. Copyright resides with Robin Valk, no reproduction without permission.)

Twenty years ago,  I started working at BBC Pebble Mill. It was an extraordinary place. By no means perfect, it had something we don’t have any more: a huge mix of talent.

From Robin Vanag's Flickr

From Robin Vanag’s Flickr

Landing at the BBC’s then Birmingham base after twenty-plus years in commercial radio. I couldn’t believe my eyes: unheard-of skills, facilities, staffing and space. 

Space? Oh yes, there was space. Pebble Mill had lush, extensive, landscaped gardens, perfect to lounge in on summer lunchtimes, and a canteen, a clubhouse and a bar. There were tennis courts beyond the clubhouse. The place boasted an on-site medical facility in case you went sick. You could enjoy subsidised aromatherapy and yoga sessions. There were dressing rooms for the TV people, and showers if you wanted to go for a run in nearby Cannon Hill Park. And hundreds of people of all shapes, sizes and skillsets worked there.

It could not have presented a bigger contrast to the world of commercial radio. 

The splendour! The empires! The drawbacks! 

Pebble Mill also had all the awful trappings of a large organisation. There were empires to protect and maintain, barriers to prevent progress, favouritism and worse. I also met a disconcerting amount of elitist snobbery reserved for commercial radio incomers.

I was there to set up the playout systems for, and then to produce, the overnight shows for BBC Radio 2. That meant I had six hours a day to look after. This was rather more than any other producer in the building, some of whom had to wrestle with, ooh, as much as 45 minutes a week. It wasn’t a stretch: at BRMB/XTRA, across town, I’d looked after 42 hours of programming each day. 

But the music made it an engrossing and wonderful task. Radio 2 had range and depth. It still does, and that’s one of the reasons it continues to grow and prosper. We catered for the station’s overnight audiences with some splendid, if touchy, presenters. 

I had joined a team that provided impressive specialist programming. Radio 3 took a large chunk of Pebble Mill output. From the same department, Folk, Country, Blues, Big Band shows and more flowed out to Radio 2. And a steady stream of Sony Awards flowed back to Pebble Mill’s broadcasters. 

The Archers' staircase from BBC website

The Archers’ staircase from BBC website

Walking deeper into the block, you penetrated – cautiously – into Archers territory. One week in four, the Archers’ cast filled a generously appointed green room area, waiting to speak their lines in the fabled Studio 3. Studio 3 bristled with special effects. It had a genuine Aga stove with real pots to bang, every kind of door and window closure you could imagine, with flagstones and slabs to walk across. At the back, a flight of stairs had three different surfaces. This allowed people to be recorded climbing or descending carpeted, concrete or steel steps. There was a ‘stable’ with leftover reel to reel tape on the floor to sound like straw, or fire when the script called for it. The place had hundreds of sound effects, marked up and sorted so you could hear Dan Archer starting his car, or a tractor coming in to the yard.  

Slipping past the Archers cast’s frosty glances, you passed a more conventional studio, Studio 5. There never was a Studio 4; it became an office instead. Finally you came to the two studios that hosted Radio 2’s overnight shows, with an office for the tiny team that looked after them. 

The studios were at the end of the block, as far as you could go. So the aged air conditioning struggled to cool the place down on hot summer nights. There was a quantity of new-fangled computer kit in Studios 6 and 6a, which generated a lot of heat. 

That was the network radio side. The television side, where I rarely ventured, was just as lavish and productive. The list of shows that came out of those studios from the 70s to the 90s is long and varied. Then, beyond these two blocks, there were five floors of administration. The canteen was on the top floor, offering sunny views over leafy Edgbaston. Corner offices catered to the most senior of managers. 

All told, this was a splendid set of facilities, with magnificent people to match. By the standards of the day, it was luxurious and expansive. That said and acknowledged, pretty much the first thing I heard after I arrived was how bad things had become. I didn’t believe it, and I didn’t care. I’d come out of commercial radio, where every penny spent on programmes had to be fought for. 

from Media UK. 15 years of BBC 2 growth

from Media UK. 15 years of BBC 2 growth

I didn’t care because I had such a great gig. This was at the start of Radio 2‘s move from uncool and obscure to radio giant. 

Think, if you will, of the 90s station as an ancient beloved aunt who smelled of dust and lavender. 

As the station swung into the 21st century, that aunt had morphed into a sleek, hot forty-something. She smelled a lot more expensive, and she showed a daring amount of skin. And she reached a lot more people. 

The Beeb gets wise

In truth, by the early 90s, the BBC was only just beginning to cotton on to the fact that commercial radio had been doing a lot of things right. Old stagers there could not begin to imagine that there might be better, faster, and more efficient ways to deliver great programmes. Others did, like my far-sighted bosses, Geoffrey Hewitt and Owen Bentley, who gave me my head for five fruitful years. 

I think it could and should have gone on for longer, but sadly, Pebble Mill fell victim to a venomous internal market. John Birt’s infamous ‘producer choice’ policy set departments against each other. Radio 2 teams in London resented their colleagues in Birmingham for winning the funding for Overnights. Departments that should been collaborating for the greater good of the BBC – a public service organisation – competed instead. 

In the end, the London teams got it all back; they usually do. They went on to grab a host of other shows along the way, shows that Pebble Mill had quietly and efficiently produced for decades. That spelled the end for network programming from Birmingham to any significant degree. Pebble Mill, a hive of creativity and cost-efficient production. was sidelined. As best as I could tell, there was no serious examination of its flaws and assets, costs or long term development. 

Decline and fall

At the end of the 90s, and on through the noughties, month by month, one by one, BBC Birmingham’s brilliant staffers exited the organisation. They either quit, disillusioned and demoralised, or they were sacked, or they moved to work for the BBC elsewhere. The decision was taken to move from Pebble Mill, which was on a peppercorn rent, to a more expensively rented city centre location: the Mailbox. This was a smaller place, with no television facilities save those used for regional news. Whole radio networks moved to Manchester. Key television shows moved, north and south. In fairness, new technology was also bringing in massive change, freeing producers from fixed locations. But no attempt was made to keep production centres in the region, and so the talent leaked away. 

The radio block and beyond

Once in the Pebble Mill building, you went past reception and down to a crossroads of passageways. There you turned left to the radio block. Its spine was a long, wide, institutional corridor with lots of 70s wood panelling. On the left was the huge Studio 1, built for live audiences. On the right Pebble Mill boasted a magnificent multi-track music studio, Studio 2. It could hold maybe 60 musicians. Two weeks after I arrived, I found the CBSO rehearsing on the left, while Van Morrison, Georgie Fame and the BBC Big Band were rocking hard on the right. But that was not a typical day. 

Pebble Mill flattened

Pebble Mill flattened

Pebble Mill was emptied of staff and mothballed. Then it was stripped of all its equipment. Eventually the wreckers moved in to tear everything down. Pebble Mill road became a place where, finally, you could park your car. For a decade, the site lay empty, a sea of rubble. I’d drive past and look; it was a strange feeling. Now, a new medical campus is being built to tie in with other facilities a mile down the road. 

I wasn’t the only one who looked. If you search online, there’s a wealth of nostalgic shots of the flattened site, taken by ex-staffers. Here’s one from Elliott Brown’s flickr page.

A critical creative mass


It’s not the buildings that I miss, though, fond though I became of the place. There was a critical mass of creative people in broadcasting in Birmingham twenty years ago. Now? There just isn’t. I met and worked with people of undisputed genius. It was inspiring. There was experience and knowledge so different, so far beyond what I had been used to up to that point. I dealt with craft skills I’d never encountered before. Ideas were exchanged and lives enriched. 

But please don’t think that it was anything approaching perfect. Pebble Mill, like every place, had its share of bullies and vain, stupid, lazy people. Like everywhere else, you learned to work around them when you could. But the exchange of ideas, the richness of many strands of knowledge, and the extraordinary, diverse, creativity was something rare and precious. It was invaluable, and it won’t – it can’t – be replaced. 

Maybe something new and 21st century will emerge, aided by digital technology. I really would love to see that happen; nothing would give me greater pleasure. But ideas need champions and talent needs gatekeepers, mentors and coaches. Pebble Mill had all that. We need those people back now, for the sake of the coming generations of broadcast talent. 

Robin Valk

Studio 6 – Presentation Suite

Studio 6 PP

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

Thanks to Peter Poole for sharing this facilities list for Radio Studio 6 at Pebble Mill, which was a self-op studio, used for Radio 2’s night time programming. It was quite a nice studio and sometimes used by audio unit for SM driven shows. It had a small kitchen to keep the presenters happy.

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

Pete Simpkin: ‘I believe it was used by Alex Lester for his very early morning show on R2.’

Andy Walters: ‘Those two studios were replicated in the Mailbox and are now used mainly by the Asian Network. Studio 6 and 6+ could work as two independent studios and did the last live radio programmes to come out of Pebble Mill running as late as December 2004 I think (Local Radio and Asian Network were the first to leave in Summer 2004). The sound desks went to Cardiff prison for the fledgling prison radio project. The digispot system was upgraded to a basic RCS playout system as used in some commercial radio stations. I think Janice Long used 6+ and Alex Lester used the slightly smaller 6. Radio 1 at Yalding House also used those Eela sound desks until 2005 as did the Asian Network in Leicester when they were based at Epic House.’

Chris Marshall: ‘You’re right Pete, it was primarily used for R2 overnights. Alex Lester, Annie Nightingale, Mo Dutta, Katrina (she of the waves) er, I can’t remember any others! R2 we’re always hugely suspicious of the digital play out system, believing that anything other than DJs playing their own CDs was the work of the devil. We always were way ahead of our time. Trying to recall the name of the consultant (and subsequently producer) who set it up. Robin Valk, I think? And in the day, we used it mostly as an editing suite, I think. Can’t remember recording in there.’

Kulwant Sidhu: ‘Remember it well. Often in there with mo dutta on the early Saturday and Sunday morning shows for R2.’

 

Motor Show

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

The British International Motor Show was held in Birmingham between 1976 and 2004. The Motoring Unit recorded Motor Show specials from the show at the NEC.

Thanks to VT editor, Ian Collins for making this grab from the titles available.

Peter Simpkin added the following comment on the Pebble Mill Facebook group:

‘There were several years Motor Shows in the 80s when the BBC went really overboard with coverage, especially Radio, where we at Radio WM shared an enormous stand /studio with Network. My afternoon show live was sandwiched between something on Radio 4 and afterwards the John Dunn Show on R2. All the changeovers were quite hairy with network and local staff doing ‘hot’ changes as news bulletins were on from the appropriate studios. I had been running my show with the huge doors to the audience wide open. Dear John a really true pro but a bit shy I think, expressed surprise as we changed chairs and said that he would not like to be quite so close to the crowd and asked me to close the glass doors as I left the stage!’

Radio Studio 5

Photos by Philip Morgan, no reproduction without permission.

These photos are of the cubicle in Studio 5, one of the network radio studios at Pebble Mill.  They were taken by Philip on the viewing day before the auction to sell off the equipment from Pebble Mill that wasn’t being taken to the Mailbox.

Kathryn Shuttlecock adds the following information: ‘This was our main GP (General Purpose) studio and was used for most of our Radio 2 specialist music shows as well as plenty of live broadcasts such as Late Night Currie with the dear Edwina. This got a bit hairy in the later days as the desk was really on the way out and many a time an SM could be seen taking bits of the desk to pieces live on air to try and keep the thing running! Emergency calls to London to say we might actually fall of air were not unknown! The last time this studio was used was when we had actually moved to (and were broadcasting from) the Mailbox. I used the desk and the ISDN lines in there to do a live link up to Late Night Currie for Halloween when we had ghost hunters and psychics trying to work out if all the ghostly tales of the Mill were true. I had just enough bits of kit and cables to run from Studio 5 into Studio 3 where we had set up for the evening. By that time Pebble Mill was a spooky place to be regardless of any ghoulish happenings and the ghost hunting team were so fascinated they returned a few weeks later to do a full overnight ghost watch! This was probably the last thing to happen on site before the doors were closed to us for good.’

Steve Peacock adds the following: ‘It was also the studio for many fairly hairy live Farming Todays after the move from London and before we fell victim to a plague of Boyle and started pre-recording. 14 minutes live can be a tricky number for the numerately challenged.’