Nativity Blues TX Card
Nativity Blues, was a hosted Pebble Mill drama recorded in Studio A, it was transmitted in 1989, and starred Alfred Molina, Julia Swift, Anna Cropper, John Normington and Trudie Styler (aka Mrs Sting). Directed by Sue Dunderdale and Jeremy Ancock.
It was written by Wendy Macleod.
The play is set two days before Christmas, new father Hank, is not coping well with the new baby or his marriage.
Dave Bushell was the lighting director.
Photos by Lynda Kettle, no reproduction without permission. Lynda Kettle was a Production Designer at BBC Pebble Mill, working on factual, entertainment and drama shows in studio and on location. The photos were taken as records of the Sets.
“Help!” was a BBC comedy transmitted in 1986 and ’88. It was a hosted series, recorded in Studio A. I’m not sure if both series were recorded at Pebble Mill or not. It was directed and produced by Mike Stephens and written by Joe Boyle. In the 1988 series James Culshaw played the part of Cornelius, Milton Johns – Mr Ball, Mandy Walsh – Mrs Costello, Sheila Fay – Annie, Sheila Flitton – Mrs Reilly, Mandy Humphrey – Fiona, Jake Abraham – Davva, David Albany – Lenny, Nicola Davies – Claudette, Stephen McGann – Tex.
Production Designer, Lynda Kettle also worked as a theatre designer and an artist, and now runs courses from her art studio http://www.lynda-kettle.com. She is a member of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists, Birmingham Water Colour Society. Midland Pastel Society and Birmingham Art Circle . She exhibits her paintings several times a year at selected galleries.
Help
The Continental
Photos by Willoughby Gullachsen, no reproduction without permission.
The Continental was written by John Godber, directed by John Godber and Martin Shardlow, and produced at Pebble Mill by Chris Parr.
The drama was a sequel to The Ritz (a television adaptation of John Godber’s play Bouncers), where the staff of The Ritz, a northern nightclub, set about opening a new disco in Spain. It was transmitted in 1987.
The Continental starred Richard James Lewis, Andrew Livingstone, Richard Ridings, Paul Rider, Andrew Dunn, Frank Bruno, Martin Ronan and Mark Addy.
The pool scene was shot in the Copthorne Hotel, Birmingham.
A list of most of the crew is contained on the Script front page.
The Continental 1
The Continental, Script front page
Southampton Boat Show
Photo from John Burkill, no reproduction without permission.
This photo probably dates from 1976, and shows an outside broadcast from the Southampton Boat Show, produced at BBC Pebble Mill. You can see the outside broadcast camera on a wheeled dolly, and a viewing monitor.
The Southampton Boat Show has been running annually since 1968 in Mayflower Park on the city’s waterfront.
Please add a comment if you can add more information about the programme, or identify people in the photo.
TAR - TV Apparatus Room ST B Line Up Desk
TAR stands for ‘TV Apparatus Room’. This photo shows the Line Desk for Studio B (the Midlands Today Studio) at Pebble Mill. Shown in the photo are broadcasting engineers John Macavoy & Maurice Darkin.
Thanks to Ivor Williams from Post Production for the photo.
Stuart Gandy comments: “This picture is of the studio B camera line up area in the original TAR. This part of the building was what was later to become the graphics area after about 1984, which was when a major refurb of the studios went on and the TAR moved to the room above the foyer where it stayed until the end. At the back of this room was the maintenance area which when I first started was also home to a table tennis table. A proper engineers’ sport!”
Steve Dellow comments: “Yes – this was all ripped out early ’84 when Studio B and Pres were refurbished. From what I remember, the CCU’s for Studios A, B, and C went above the foyer, alongside the ‘new’ TAR? Can still hear Mike ‘The Cardy’s’ voice coming over the intercom….’Front to back’! Which upset Ken and Simon because they insisted it should be ‘Racks to Line-up’! ”
Jane Green comments: “The Floor Managers used to get their talkbalk pieces from here – and we used to set things up in TAR at 4 in the morning to get Mids Today brekky bulletins on air with about 3 staff…..”
Pete Simpkin comments: “TAR was the communications hub where all the connections between radio and TV studios and outside broadcasts together with all the rest of the BBC and transmitters were maintained. As automation took over and circuits etc became more national there was less and less to do but the Mailbox still has a substantial communications and Central operating section where all the BBC technology is monitored.”