Commemorative Dish
The opening of Pebble Mill in 1971 was obviously an occasion to be celebrated, prompting Wedgwood to produce a limited edition commemorative dish!
Fortunately Dave Bushell found this dish in a charity shop – it doesn’t seem to have had a lot of wear! I wonder how many more there might be out there – and whether they are now a collector’s item?
This brochure was produced to celebrate the opening of BBC Pebble Mill in 1971. Thanks to Juliet Dean for keeping her copy safe all these years. The last image is a picture of the original Pebble Mill farm, which was on the site before the building was erected. Before the building of Pebble Mill, production in Birmingham was scattered between sites in Carpenter Road, Edgbaston with a television studio at Gosta Green. It was sold for the princely sum of 20p!
Brochure front cover
Maharajas TX card
Maharajas TX card from Maggie Humphries.
Maharajas was a two part documentary about the former Indian rulers, produced at Pebble Mill. The first part, ‘Kings and Castles’, was transmitted on 13/8/87, with the second part, ‘Kings to Commoners’ going out the following night.
It was written by Charles Allen and directed by Jonathan Fulford, Peter Hercombe was the executive producer. Keith Froggatt was one of the cameramen who worked on the film. The documentary contained dramatised sequences. It starred actors: Simi Garewall and Jugal Hansraj.
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.
Basil Brush was a weekly children’s entertainment show. The star of the show was a fox puppet (Basil Brush) and each week he would be joined by special guests. There were various sketches, and music included in the show. The 1980 series of Basil Brush was recorded at Pebble Mill in Studio A. Paul Ciani was the producer, Lynda Kettle the designer, John Abbott the lighting director and David Weir was in charge of sound. Billy Boyle was the presenter.
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.
Lynda Kettle
The Battle of Waterloo
Photograph by Willoughby Gullachsen, no reproduction without permission.
The photo features (left) Martin Carthy, playing ‘Wolfhound’ and (far right) Peter Benson as ‘Sniffer’. Please add a comment if you can identify the middle actor. Other actors to star were Warren Clarke as ‘Slewpot’, Dave Atkins as ‘Bamber’, and Dai Bradley as ‘Ferris’.
‘The Battle of Waterloo’ was a live studio drama, written by Keith Dewhurst and produced at Pebble Mill in 1983. It was produced and directed by Robin Midgley, the production associate was Dawn Robertson, with Bob Jacobs as the production manager. Phyllida Lloyd (who went on to direct the film Mama Mia) was the AFM, Jenny Brewer the PA, Peter Ansorge & Roger Gregory the script editors, Roger Sutton the vision mixer and Dave Doogood the camera supervisor.