Category: Blog

Shalom Salaam – Dave Bushell’s photos

Photos by Dave Bushell, no reproduction without permission.

These photos of  ‘Shalom Salaam’ were taken by Dave on location in Leicester and in Pebble Mill Studio A.

1 – Tea break on Leicester Station. John Abbott (Engineering Manager) in discussion with Gareth Jones (Director). Crew and cast frolic gently in background.

2 –  Zia Moyeddin (Sadiq Sattar). Studio A

3 – Mamta Kash (Mumtaz Sattar) and Toby Rolt (Adam Morris) discuss a tracking shot with director Gareth Jones. Shot on a freezing cold day in Sutton Park, Sutton Coldfield

4 – Mamta Kaash (Mumtaz Sattar). Studio A

5 – Clare Holman (Jackie) trying to keep warm on Leicester Station.

‘Shalom Salaam’ was written and directed by Gareth Jones, and produced at Pebble Mill by Chris Parr.  The 1989 series follows the story of  a Jewish boy  (John Cater) and a Muslim girl (Mamta Kaash) who fall in love whilst at college.

Location tea-break

Top Gear – John Burkhill’s photos

Photos by John Burkill, no reproduction without permission.

These ‘Top Gear’ photos date from 1977 (with the Lotus Esprit and Porsche 928 photos) and 1982 (with the photo of the Ford Granada).  They show early in-car recordings onto 1″ videotape.  The recording machine was the VPR5.  The camera mounted on the Lotus and Porsche is the Bosch Fernseh, which was one of the first ‘lightweight’ cameras, although it was extremely heavy in reality.  The camera mounted on the roof of the Ford Granada is an Ikegami, probably an HL79.  It is being operated by Keith Salmon, director David Weir is holding the gun mic and Tony Wass is on the right-hand side.  Inside the white Granada, Steve Searly is operating the racks control for the VPR5.  John Burkill, VT editor/engineer would have set up the VPR5.

The photos show how cumbersome in-car recording was in the 1970s and 80s in comparison to today, when cameras can be really tiny.

David Weir, Keith Salmon, Tony Wass

‘All Creatures Great and Small’ – Kevin Lakin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These photos were taken while filming ‘All Creatures Great and Small’.  We were filming at a horse race stables in the Yorkshire Dales, we had a sure fire tip from the Head Lad, we all won and took the local bookmaker for £1000. Those are £50 notes by the way, there were some very sore heads in the morning. Terry Ford the guy in the dark jumper, has passed away, the other guy is Stan Morgan, ( in stripped shirt ) I think he has passed away too.

Kevin Lakin

 

Stan Morgan & Kevin Lakin

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The Fosdyke Saga – Tara Prem

Photo by Lynda Kettle

THE FOSDYKE SAGA

The Fosdyke Saga was written originally as a stage play by Alan Plater, based on Bill Tidy’s Daily Mirror cartoon strip about a Lancashire tripe dynasty.

Michael Coveney, in his obituary of Alan Plater in The Guardian earlier this year, referred to:

‘his deliriously funny adaptation of Bill Tidy’s Fosdyke cartoon strip in the Daily Mirror. Plater’s job, said Tidy, was to glue his balloons together, and this he did in The Fosdyke Saga (1975) at the Bush theatre in London and its sequel, Fosdyke Two, the following year. Both shows, directed by Hull Truck founder Mike Bradwell, toured with great success, The first show concentrated on the growth of the tripe industry during the first world war, and the actor Philip Jackson claimed a place in the Guinness Book of Records, as it was then known, for playing 22 characters, including a prison warder, King George V, a sausage dealer, the Salford Ripper and Baron von Richthoven.’

I saw the play, directed by Mike Bradwell at the Bush theatre, and immediately wanted to produce it for TV.

It didn’t fit into any usual category of theatrical adaptation for BBC television, and caused the Contracts Department a bit of a headache.

“Who are these Bush people and why do we have to pay them any money?” In the end they did, and the money paid for the theatre to install some much needed air- conditioning.

We wanted to keep the idea of a theatre setting and recorded the play with an audience, in the studio theatre of the Haymarket in Leicester.

Mike Newell was recruited to direct this TV version.

Tara Prem (Producer)