Category: Photos

Children in Need – photos from Ruth Kiosses

Andria Fletcher, Ruth Kiosses, Alex Pargeter

Ruth Kiosses

Ruth Kiosses & Andria Fletcher

Photos from Ruth Kiosses, no reproduction without permission.

The photos were taken at Pebble Mill on a ‘Children in Need’ day, with the Wardrobe department volunteering and manning the phones.

‘The photos date from 1991/2. It was the busiest week of the Wardrobe year with van loads of costumes arriving daily from TVC and our own Selly Oak stores. You couldn’t move in the basement for costume rails ready for the CIN broadcast in the evening. It was always stressful but fun on the night. We raised a lot of cash dressed as a racehorse from Pebble Mill’s drama ‘Trainer’ one year, and yes, I was the back end! ‘

Ruth Kiosses

Pebble Mill at One, location OB – photos by Ian Collins

Photos by Ian Collins, no reproduction without permission.

These photos are of a ‘Pebble Mill at One’ outside broadcast. They probably date from the early to mid 1980s. Included are PA/vision mixer, Trudy Stanton, and director, Tony Rayner (blue anorak), producer Roger Ecclestone (with cigarette), and presenter Marjorie Lofhouse in the fur jacket. Brian Watkiss, VT editor, is seated in the brown shirt.

Drama Production Office – photo by John Greening

Belinda Cherrington, Carol Parks, Jane Barton

Photo by John Greening, no reproduction without permission.

The photo includes left to right: Belinda Cherrington (now an exec producer at Mentorn), producer Carol Parks, and production assistant Jane Barton. It was taken in one of the Drama production offices at BBC Pebble Mill.

The photo probably dates from around 1990.

Golden Oldie Picture Show – ‘He’s in Town’ – photo by Gail Herbert

Photo by Gail Herbert, no reproduction without permission.

‘The Golden Oldie Picture Show’ was an entertainment show consisting of specially shot videos for music hits which predated the era of music videos.  The show included a number of different music videos each week, linked by Radio 1 DJ, Dave Lee Travis. It went out between 1985-8.

The show was produced at Pebble Mill by John King.

This photo is of the location shoot in Bristol of the hit ‘He’s in Town’.  I’m sure which version of the song was used.

Gail Herbert was the production assistant on the series.

The Pamela Armstrong Show – photo by Maggy Whitehouse

Photo by Maggy Whitehouse, no reproduction without permission.

The photo is of the production office of the ‘Pamela Armstrong Show’, seated at the desk are Peta Newbold and Jane McLuskey.  The series went out in 1986/7, after the end of ‘Pebble Mill at One’ in 1986.

The series producer was Juliet May, with Vanessa Whitburn (now the editor of the Archers) one of the producers.

Pamela Armstrong was an ITN news presenter between 1983-6, before joining the BBC, and presenting the breakfast news and ‘Pamela Armstrong’ from Pebble Mill.  The show was a chat show with celebrity guests, going out on BBC 2 in the afternoons.  It lasted about a year. Pamela Armstrong went on to present ‘Daytime Live’ in 1987, a lunchtime studio magazine show, from Studio C.

Stuart Gandy adds the following information: ‘This was the show that effectively replaced Pebble Mill at One, which had been very successful for over 15 years and a lot of people were sad to see it end. I seem to remember that at the time there was a general feeling that this new show was an attempt to ‘de Birminghamise’ the output from Pebble Mill. (allegedly to fit in with ideas from London). The show had blacked out windows that made the foyer like an inside studio so that the familiar view outside could not be seen. This together with the afternoon slot pulled in far less viewers. The daytime live show that followed it was a complete turn around going back to more like the Pebble Mill format and using every bit of the building to make the programme from. Us engineers had to come up with some novel ideas when the request came in to get facilities into the parts of Pebble Mill that were far from the studios!’

‘Pamela Armstrong’ was one of the first shows Mary Sanchez worked on in the production office, ‘ operating autocue on what looked like wide toilet paper on a magnifying glass. I remember making changes while on the air by cutting out/ tippexing/writing and cellotaping it back together onto the roll !! We went on the air at 4pm and due to v generous hospitality at lunchtime, alot of the guests were a bit worse for wear by the time they went on! Remember the Keith Floyd cookery slots and Fanny Craddock??!’