Photos – Page 272 – What Was Pebble Mill?

The Chain – photos by Willoughby Gullachsen

Photos by Willoughby Gullachsen, no reproduction without permission.

The Chain was a four part thriller which went out in 1990, written by Desmond Lowden. It told a tale of murder and corruption in the world of business takeovers. The series was produced at Pebble Mill by Carol Parks. Don Leaver directed the series, John Kenway was the cameraman. Brian Wright was the script editor and Nigel Jones the designer.

The series starred Peter Capaldi, Susan Kyd, Robert Pugh, Julia Hills, and Michael Troughton amongst others.

The photos show the lowering of a ‘body’ into the concrete foundations of a building. The model used as the body looks fairly convincing.

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Princess Anne opens Pebble Mill – photos from Gail Herbert

Princess Anne opens Pebble Mill

Princess Anne officially opened the BBC Pebble Mill building on 10th Nov 1971. The photo shows her being introduced to various members of staff in Studio A. The white haired man on the left is Dr Charles Hill (Chairman of BBC Governors) I think that it is David Rose (Head of Drama) who Princess Anne is talking to, 3rd from the right is Bob Gale (senior dresser).

Below is an invitation to the official lunch with Princess Anne.

Please add a comment if you can identify other people in the photos.

Thanks to Gail Herbert for making the photo and invitation available.

Princess Anne lunch invitation

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.