Factual – Page 131 – What Was Pebble Mill?

Protecting the Children – TX Card from Maggie Humphries

Transmission Card from Maggie Humphries for ‘Protecting the Children’

Transmission Card

‘thank you’ note from Chris Wade

This transmission card is from the 1988, 7 part series on BBC 2 following one of the NSPCC’s Child Protection Teams based in Lincoln, as they investigated cases of abuse and neglect towards children. The documentary series was largely observational and involved film crews being on standby to cover emergencies as they unfolded.

Margaret Jay was reporter for the series. The daughter of Labour leader James Callaghan, she followed her television career as Labour spokesperson on Health in the Lords. She was married and then divorced from Peter Jay.

The series was produced by Tamasin Day-Lewis (now best known as a television chef and sister of the actor Daniel Day-Lewis),with photography by Mike Fox and edited by Chris Wade; Sally Ann Lomas was the assistant producer. This thank you note is from the film editor Chris Wade, and thanks the Film Unit office for their helpfulness. Maggie Humphries scheduled and organised the film crews at Pebble Mill, facilitating the programmes based in Birmingham.

‘Date with Fate’ – Lynda Kettle’s photos

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.

‘Date with Fate’ was a game show, transmitted in 1998, where a top astrologer was put on the spot to see if they could predict the behaviour of two contestants. It was presented by Esther McVey, with astrologer Jonathan Cainer. There were 28 episodes for BBC 1 Daytime, produced at Pebble Mill by Steve Weddle and Katie Wright; it was directed by Merrick Simmonds.

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

Pebble Mill at One

Photos by Ian Collins, Jim Gregory and John Burkill, no reproduction without permission.

These photos show various memorable episodes of Pebble Mill at One, and date from 1974 with the drag racing shots. Notable amongst them are the studio camera which has fallen off the curb and smashed lens first! Also included are the American College band performing on the front lawn, the arrival of a Harrier jump jet over Pebble Mill, the landing of a Royal Navy helicopter and Tom Coyne interviewing at the front of the building. There are also a number of photographs of location shoots for Pebble Mill at One. The skiing ones are a shoot by producer Tony Rayner.

Please post a comment, if you can add to the information here.

Harrier over Birmingham

Pebble Mill at One on the Severn Valley Railway

Photos from Peter Poole, no reproduction without permission.

These photos were taken at a location recording for Pebble Mill At One. We spent all day at The Severn Valley Railway. I can’t remember the date but we all had a very good day. The singer is Ralph McTell.

Amongst the photos I can spot Pebble Mill at One Editor, Steve Weddle with presenter Marian Foster; multi camera director, Sue Robinson; producer, Clare Stride.

Please post a comment if you can identify other people in the photos, or give a date!

Roy Castle Beats Time – Paul Balmer

Stephane Grappelli on 'Roy Castle Beats Time'

Stephane Grappelli on ‘Roy Castle Beats Time’ with The Suzuki Children.

The Story;

I met Stephane the day before this photo at ‘Pebble Mill at One’ – with Diz Disley and John Etheridge – he was riding high with a new Hot Club Trio and platinum selling albums with Yehudi Menuhin. I’d always been a fan of the original 1930’s HCQ line up with Django Reinhardt.

He wanted somewhere to warm up and I took him to Studio 1 which was empty as usual! – he was in seventh heaven.

He had just acquired his wonderful Galiano violin (he had never had money before!) he played non stop for the next two days and refused to stand under the notoriously hot Pebble Mill lighting in case the Galiano dried out – this caused big problems as he stood in the gloom.

The next day for Roy Castle the producer had prepared a surprise – ‘The Suzuki Children’ came on as a treat and formed a circle around Stephane playing their tiny violins. Stephane was very moved and wanted a souvenir photo – I rushed off and found a freelance who took the snap.

Stephane gave me his address and I posted it to him. Astonishingly he wrote back!

This was the beginning of a friendship of 20 years. I eventually wrote his biography, produced a one hour feature for BBC Radio 2 and directed a three hour DECCA DVD ‘A Life In The Jazz Century’ which was nominated for a BAFTA in 2002.

When we cleared Stephane’s Paris flat in 1997 the photo was still amongst his souvenirs.

Pebble Mill was full of surprises!

Paul Balmer