March 2011 – Page 6 – What Was Pebble Mill?

Pebble Mill at One: A Song for Xmas – Mark Kershaw

Song for Xmas team

A Song for Christmas was an annual event in the Pebble Mill at One calendar. It was a carol competition for different children’s choirs.

The photo was taken just after recording in the Courtyard probably in 1986. The photo features (ones I recognise, L to R) Peter Knowles (sound) & Dave Brazier (floor manager) kneeling, Norman Steemson in the green at the back, Ewan Keil (demin jacket), Beverley Wildman (AP) under all the snow!, John Wescott behind, me (Mark Kershaw – director) leaning on snowman, Aled Jones behind, a young Phillip Schofield, Caroline Marshall right at the back, next to Phillip is Geoff Nawn (designer), Derek Hallworth behind, Dave Farline, James French (cameraman) behind him.

Mark Kershaw

Fellow Traveller – poster from Ann Chancellor-Davies

Fellow Traveller was produced at Pebble Mill in 1991 by Michael Wearing. It was directed by Philip Saville (who also directed Gangsters and Boys from the Blackstuff), written by Michael Eaton and edited by Greg Miller. Gavin Davies (who was Ann Chancellor-Davies’s husband – who supplied this photo) was the production designer. It was the only TV film produced at Pebble Mill, and was a co-production with HBO.

The film is set in the McCarthy era in the United States. It follows a writer forced to work in England on the ITV serial – Robin Hood, to avoid the witch hunts in America.

It stars Ron Silver as Asa Kaufman, Imogen Stubbs as Sarah Aitchison, Hart Bochner as Clifford Byrne, Daniel J. Travanti as Jerry Leavy and Katherine Borowitz as Joan Kaufman.

Fellow Traveller is one of the Pebble Mill dramas to be screened at the archive screening event being held at the School of Art, Margaret Street, Birmingham on Saturday 5 March. It will be introduced by writer Michael Eaton, and producer Michael Wearing. For more information about this free event go to: http://homeidentityandcitizenship.posterous.com/ .

Thanks to Ann Chancellor-Davies for making the poster available.

Points of View – photo from Gail Herbert

‘Points of View’ was produced at Pebble Mill for many years. The programme gave viewers the right to reply about what they loved or hated about BBC programmes.

It tended to be recorded on location at a hotel near presenter Terry Wogan’s home a couple of days before transmission, and then edited either in London, or at Pebble Mill.

Viewers wrote letters or emails in with their complaints or congratulations. The ones chosen by the production team were usually voiced by BBC members of staff. Clips of the programme they were talking about also had to be sourced and edited in to the 15 minute show, which usually went out on a Sunday afternoon.

The photo was taken during the recording of the Points of ViewChristmas edition in the mid 2000s.

The photo features (left to right), Ian Thomas (director), can’t see next two properly, Belinda Essex (researcher), Kate Hillman (A.P.), Sue Watson (producer), Helen Wogan (Terry’s wife), then Bina Mistry (researcher), with Gail Herbert (P.A.) behind, then Terry, and Nick Patten (Exec producer) seated, the camera crew is behind him.

‘Points of View’ is still produced by BBC Birmingham, although Terry Wogan handed over the presentation of the show to Jeremy Vine in April 2008.

Thanks to Nick Patten and Gail Herbert for additional information.

1974 Pebble Mill Christmas Card – Roger Guest

1974 Christmas Card from Head of Building: Phil Sidey

I was a sound supervisor at Pebble Mill through the “Good Times” and I kept a Christmas card sent to all staff in the building by Phil Sidey in 1974.

What a good way to say thank you to your staff, it made us all feel like one big team!

Roger Guest