March 2016 – What Was Pebble Mill?

Who should open Pebble Mill?

Pebble Mill building circa 1970, copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission

In January 1970 the Controller of English Regions, Patrick Beech wrote a memo to the Director General of the BBC, to discuss who should open the new Pebble Mill building.

Although Patrick says that he has, ‘no great enthusiasm for such functions,’ he feels that it would be fitting to make an ‘occasion’ of the opening, particularly to show that the ‘BBC is honouring its non-metropolitan pledges and of emphasising the importance of these production centres.’ He also felt that the staff would feel let down if nothing was done officially to mark the opening of the new broadcast centre.

In terms of who to choose to open the building, there was definitely a case of not wanting to be upstaged by other local organisations recently opened by members of the Royal Family. For instance, ATV had arranged for Princess Alexandra to open their new television centre in Birmingham in March 1970, and the Snowdons had opened the Cannon Hill complex a couple of years earlier.

The memo asks for the D.G.’s opinion on the matter, and suggests that feelers should be put out to see what availability of members of the Royal Family might have.

(Patrick Beech’s memo of 15th January 1970 is held at the BBC Written Archives)

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

Gordon Astley: ‘………so who did the opening ?’

David Shute: ‘Princess Anne ! Princess Royal.’

Katheryn Shuttleworth: ‘She did the the official opening at Mailbox too. I guess wherever we end up next she’ll be invited to do the honours!’

Lynne Cullimore: ‘Pebble mill was great and I loved working there’

Cathy Houghton: ‘Not as soulless as the Mailbox.’

Graham Bentley: ‘I loved this place. Had the best atmosphere of any of the BBC buildings I ever visited.’

John Sayle: ‘I remember Pebble Mill. Always felt a bit soulless. A tad temporary. Just saying’

Malcolm Hickman: ‘Might have felt that way as an outsider, but they made more programmes there in one month that they now make in Birmingham in one year.’

John Sayle: ‘Appreciate that. Worked on some kids shows from there. Admittedly not long before they shu it down. Sad it’s gone. Like BBC Manchester, Oxford Rd. TVC Wood Lane too.’

Richard Taylor: ‘As an ‘outsider’ from Wales (and before that BH) I enjoyed working at Pebble Mill. It was so friendly, a lovely place to work. And I was quickly accepted. When the lease was secretly sold from under us I couldn’t work at the soulless mailbox so retired early.’

Top Gear GTi

Thanks to Ian Collins for making this titles still from the Top Gear GTi series, which went out on the UKTV, UK Horizons channel.

Here is the entry from Wikipedia which explains the series, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Top_Gear_%28original_format%29_episodes#Top_Gear_GTi:

“Top Gear GTi was a series of programmes broadcast by the BBC covering a variety of features such as car reviews, special features such as attending a driving school and motor shows. Essentially, GTi is an expansion on the main programme. The series was mainly presented by Vicki Butler-Henderson, although Steve Berry and Jason Bradbury appeared on the show at times. The show was the last of the spin-off series’ of Top Gear to be broadcast, airing between September 1999 and May 2001, with more than 100 episodes in its name. Unlike any other spin-off, Top Gear GTi was broadcast on a near daily timeslot on the UK Horizons channel.”

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

Sarah Wilkin Hodgson: ‘Did we even have a budget?!! It was fab fun though…..apart from when I blew the tyre on the tracking mondeo car…..can you remember the weeing incident Michelle in the Honda Jazz when we were stuck in traffic in Madrid?…..and how ill I was in Barcelona….!!!! ‘

Michelle Davies: ‘Yes I remember Madrid!! That was a crazy 24 hrs smile emoticon and yes I remember Barcelona, you were so poorly. Do you remember me fixing the minicam to the Audi TT (you were presenting) and it fell off and smashed to pieces on the A345?! Managed to save the rushes though – sorry Alan Miller! So many memories .’

Alan Miller: ‘The show was by UKTV standards quite well funded but BBC overheads certainly ate into that budget big time. We cut costs by shooting and editing everything ourselves. Everyone did their bit,. Driving tracking cars, rigging in car cameras, writing running orders and even supervising the final compile were all shared by the entire team including the PA. It was a very flat hierarchy I think. The directors and producer of course shot and edited their own items. With very little lead time before the first TX we had to generate 23 minutes per week ourselves towards the 46 minute long programme, which had of course commercial breaks. Despite the pressures it was great fun to work on and I was and still am proud of what the fantastic team achieved, sometimes beating the BBC1 Top Gear to be first to test new cars!’

Joolz Richards: ‘It was one of the most fun programmes I ever worked on, certainly. Plus, we got to travel and stay in some excellent hotels. I particularly remember Branson’s place in Mallorca with Mark Scott and Steve Berry – I directed one piece and actually got Steve to recite Shakespeare (not well admittedly, remember that northern accent????) as this hotel had a proper Juliet balcony. There was also one occasion in Barcelona where the other journos thought I was Steve’s wife… Jeez…We were looked down on massively by the main programme which I think we really loved!!!!! However, it gave all of us the opportunity to learn lots of skills we would never have been able to otherwise – writing scripts, driving filming vehicles, sound boom, second camera, directing, the list is endless. An excellent training ground. Fab memories.’

Tracey Bagley: ‘May I add … Yes you all did a great job and quite frankly at times I know it proved challenging. Alan Miller, I recall going through that budget with you and you then taking me through all the technical aspects of the self shooting / self editing ! The innovation …. Happy days .’

Alan Miller: ‘Hi Tracey. We certainly played around with the budget to get the most out of it. I am sure I could not have done the various “deals” which allowed us to work the way we did without your inestimable help. I always thought of you as a crucial part of the team.’

Doctors titles series 3

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.

Tony Inchley retirement invitation

Photo copyright resides with the original owner, no reproduction without permission.

Here is the invitation to the retirement ‘do’ of Radio WM Organiser, Tony Inchley.

Thanks to Pat de Whalley for sharing it.

Asa Briggs, historian of the BBC dies

Asa Briggs who wrote a history of the first fifty year of the BBC, as well as an extensive history of broadcasting in Britain, died on March 15, 2016.

Here is his obituary from the Times Higher Education: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/university-sussex-founding-father-asa-briggs-dies

“Asa Briggs, one of the most prominent university leaders of his generation, has died aged 94.

Lord Briggs was one of the most respected and influential figures in post-war British academic life.

An acclaimed writer on the recent social and cultural history of Britain and the history of broadcasting, he was also a “founding father” of the University of Sussex who went on to become its second vice-chancellor (1967–76).

………………..

Lord Briggs, who died on 15 March, was born in Yorkshire in 1921 and served in the intelligence corps at Bletchley Park during the war before he began his rise though the academic ranks.

He worked at Oxford, the Institute for Advanced Studies in the US and the University of Leeds before joining Sussex as pro-vice-chancellor in 1961.

His publications included the celebrated trilogy Victorian People, Victorian Cities and Victorian Things; A Social History of England; and a five-volume History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom.”