Blog – Page 333 – What Was Pebble Mill?

Pop at the Mill – photos from Richard Smith

Photos by Richard Smith, no reproduction without permission.

‘Pop at the Mill’ was an open air pop festival which went out live on Saturday nights during the summer of 1977.

The set was built on the back lawn, behind the main Pebble Mill office block.

P.A. Gail Herbert remembers working on ‘Pop At The Mill’, ‘these were great fun. Carol Morgan, Sam Watkins & I used to work as camera bashers and one day one of those large cameras (I think it was Phil Wilson operating) ran straight over my toe – blimey it was sore!’

Pebble Mill Open Day – brochure from Stuart Gandy

This brochure was produced for a Pebble Mill Open Day, probably from the late 1980s or 1990. The building would open its doors to the public, and showcase the productions made there. Live studio shows would be staged throughout the day, and in fact proved a great training opportunity for staff to try out new skills like multi camera directing.

Thanks to Stuart Gandy for keeping this brochure safe over the years, and for making it available – and it’s been signed by Ed Doolan!

The Clothes Show – Latvia – Photo from Andy Frizzell

Photo from Andy Frizzell, no reproduction without permission.

The photo is of a ‘Clothes Show’ special recorded on location in Latvia, at some point between 1988-92.

Jeff Banks (in the pinky shirt on the left) was the presenter, Roger Casstles the director (crouching by the camera monitor), John Kenway the cameraman, Tony Wass – sound (not shown – probably taking the photo), Andy Frizzell – lighting (holding the reflector by the tree).

As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning – photos from Gail Herbert

Photos from Gail Herbert, no reproduction without permission.

‘As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning’ was a 2 part recreation of Laurie Lee’s journey on foot across Spain in 1934, during the civil war. It was produced at Pebble Mill by executive producer John King, written and narrated by Laurie Lee. John Wild played the part of Laurie Lee.

The first episode, ‘From Home to Madrid’ was transmitted on 5/1/1987, with the second part ‘From Madrid to the South’, shown the following night.

The crew included cameraman John Williams, assistant Dave Evans, sound John Parker, lighting Roy Carn. Gail Herbert was the production assistant. David Attwood, who was then a production manager in the Drama Department, directed the dramatised sequences. He later became a freelance drama director.

English Regions Drama – photo from John Greening

Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission. This photo was probably taken by Willoughby Gullachsen.

Back row l to r: ?, Bob Jacobs, John Greening, Jane Barton, Sally Daniel, Monica Heath, Carol Parks, Bill Hartley, Paul Braithwaite, Annie Toy
Front row l to r: David Attwood, Bev Dartnall, Helen ?, Annemarie Harding, Clara Hewitt

The photo was taken during the drama series ‘The Goodbye Window’ which later changed title to ‘Final Run’ and the year was 1987.

This was Bev Dartnall’s last day in work before getting married to cameraman Howie Dartnall – and this was the cause of the celebration!

Thanks to Bev, for providing more information.

Please add a comment if you can fill in any of the blanks.