May 2014 – What Was Pebble Mill?

Small Town Gardens – Andover garden

This photo shows the final planting up of the back garden of a modern town house in Andover, designed by Andrew Fisher Tomlin. This garden was part of Small Town Gardens, series 3, transmitted 2003 on BBC 2 at 8pm. The waterfall in this garden worked brilliantly, making the most of the sloping garden with the change in levels. I seem to remember that we filmed the final scenes at night with the pond lit up with floating candles etc.

The presenter was James Alexander Sinclair. I was the series producer. It was a great series to work on, the team of designers transformed some dull and boring gardens into some fantastic outdoor spaces.

Vanessa Jackson

Aerial photo of Pebble Mill

This is perhaps the earliest aerial photo of the BBC Pebble Mill buildings just as they were being finished, circa 1970. You can see that the car park has not yet been built, and that the construction compounds are still in place.

Director Chris Wright on Pebble Mill at One – Steve Weddle

Director, Chris Wright, deep in thought, during Tom O’Connor Roadshow. Photo Jane Mclean

That’s a classic Chris Wright pose. He would often wander off on his own to think things through prior to going into the gallery or scanner. Mind you, there was that time on a certain infamous edition of Pebble Mill At One when, dressed as a teddy boy, he leapt out of the director’s chair, to be replaced by Mark Kershaw, so he could dance a rock and roll routine downstairs, on camera, in the foyer. It worked a treat, except one of the prgramme guests had imbibed too much and went on air somewhat worse for wear. Consequently, the entire edition went under the microscope, and questions were asked in high places why the programme director was to be seen rocking and rolling with Josephine Buchan, the presenter. How do I know this? … I was Producer of what was our last show before Christmas in that particular year…circa 1984. Hope you don’t mind me mentioning this Chris. It still makes me smile.

Steve Weddle

Mark Kershaw directing Pebble Mill at One. No reproduction without permission

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

Jane Clement: ‘All the shows leading into Christmas were great fun. And – given the generosity of the green room – inebriated guests were not exactly a rarity, but never a big problem. I’m having a drink with Chris this afternoon, as it happens. We both live in the same city (Auckland, New Zealand) so I expect we’ll be reminiscing about old times.’

Steve Weddle: ‘I should stress that Chris was totally sober when he danced on the show. It was the guest who was was worse for wear! If Chris was a celebrity he would have been on Strictly by now!’

Ruth Kiosses: ‘Drunken guests! I want to know what they put in the audience’s tea? That warm-up guy telling the audience the cameraman would be like a rat up a drainpipe if legs weren’t kept together on the front row. Must have heard that over the monitor everyday for years! It always livened them up with giggles.’

Betti Moretti: I’ was a bit late to Pebble Mill… but I had so much fun there! I remember a particularly merry Pudsey Bear after a long Children in Need taking a tumble from top to bottom of the stairs into the green room where Anne & Nick were based… wiped a couple of people out at the bottom – Jeremy Paxman included… so many funny memories… happy days indeed’

The Continental

Thanks to costume designer, Janice Rider, for sharing these publicity photos of the 1987 comedy drama series, The Continental, by John Godber. The director was Martin Shardlow, and the producer, Chris Parr. It was the sequel to The Ritz, and followed the staff as they set up a new disco in Spain.

The comedy starred: Richard James Lewis, Richard Ridings, Andrew Livingstone, Paul Rider, Andrew Dunn, Frank Bruno, Martin Ronan, and Mark Addy.

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

Mary Sanchez: ‘Yes that’s Richard Ridings (top photo). I was Chris Parr’s secretary and remember typing some of these scripts up! It was the first drama I ever went down to watch and it gave me the bug to work in Floor managing! Brilliant.’

Jeremy Clarkson’s – Motorworld

Jeremy Clarkson’s Motorworld was a lighthearted series on BBC 2, about the culture of the car in different countries. It was a spin off programme of Top Gear. There were two, six part series, with an additional special programme going out as a Christmas special in 1996, about motoring in the United Kingdom. The first series went out in January and February 1995, and the second series going out in January and February 1996.

The countries visited included: Series 1: Japan, Vietnam, Detroit, Iceland, Italy, India; Series 2: Monaco, Cuba, Switzerland, Australia, Texas, Dubai, UK.

There was a DVD made of the highlights, and book, written by Jeremy Clarkson, accompanied the series.

Dennis Jarvis was the series director, and the title music was written by David Lowe.

Thanks to Ian Collins for sharing this grab from the titles.

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

Lynn Cullimore: ‘I was the production assistant. Dennis is lovely and great to work with.’