Television – Page 204 – What Was Pebble Mill?

Pebble Mill Locomotive

The first photo is of the Pebble Mill locomotive sign (in final black and silver colours –after Virgin repainted it in 1998). It was an electric locomotive, Class 86, number 86256. The locomotive was originally a British Rail one, before becoming a Virgin one after the privatisation of the railways. It was taken out of service in 2002 and was finally scrapped in 2006.

The other photo is a screen grab of the actual naming ceremony in Nov 1981, Phil Sidey, Head of Pebble Mill, is pulling the string.

I understand that this sign with ‘BBC Pebble Mill’ was meant to be used on the train, but the powers that be didn’t want BBC on it, so it was never used. It is currently being listed for sale on ebay.

This link includes some photos of the Pebble Mill locomotive in service.

http://flickrhivemind.net/Tags/86256/Interesting

This YouTube video is Birmingham to London in 5 mins. At 1.21 in the train stops at Birmingham International and you can see it is “Pebble Mill”: it was made by Ewan Kiel from Midlands Region.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vv640aRwFS8

Stuart Gandy left the following comment on the Facebook page: ‘I remember travelling on a train pulled by this locomotive. It was in 1987 when I was going to London by train for a course. I distinctly remember waiting on Wolverhampton station for the London train to arrive, and when it did it was this one named Pebble Mill. How uncanny was that!’

The Ritz – Janice Rider

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Specially shot video with costume designer, Janice Rider talking about the 1987 Pebble Mill drama series: ‘The Ritz’.

The series was written by John Godber, who along with Martin Shardlow, directed it. It was produced by Chris Parr. The comedy drama was set in a newly acquired nightclub in the North of England. It was based on the play, ‘Bouncers’, by John Godber.

The series starrred Richard James Lewis, Paul Rider, Andre Dunn, Andrew Livingstone, and Richard Ridings.

The following comments were left on the Pebble Mill Facebook Page about ‘The Ritz’:

Mary Sanchez: ‘I was secretary to Chris Parr at the time and went along to Libertys nightclub to watch some of the filming. ( my first time on a film set) Mark Addy also starred in it who as you know is v well known now and also andrew dunn . A fun production to be involved in!’

Terry Powell: ‘I loved this show one of the best things I worked on we were such a happy team.’

Nuts in May title cards from Oliver White

These stills are of the original title cards for the 1976 Pebble Mill, Play for Today, ‘Nuts in Play’. The title cards are hand painted on individual sheets of acetate. They have been kept safe by Film Editor, Oliver White.

Mike Leigh was asked by Producer, David Rose, to set a television drama in his home county of Dorset. Mike then wrote and directed ‘Nuts in Play’, which starred Roger Sloman as Keith and Alison Steadman as Candice-Marie. Keith and Candice-Marie are a politically correct home counties couple on a camping holiday in Dorset. They have a frustrating encounter with a Brummie motorcycling couple whose loud music and uncivilised behaviour offend them.

Mike Williams was the cameraman, John Gilbert the sound recordist, and Dave Baumber the dubbing mixer. The costume designer was Gini Hardy, make-up was by Gwen Arthy, the production designer was David Crozier. The production unit manager was Dawn Robertson, with production assistants Cyril Gates and Gerard Patterson.

Thanks to Oliver White for making the title cards available.

Dawn Trotman (nee Mears) left the following comment about ‘Nuts in May’: ‘Just such a wonderful and very funny film. Pebble Mill at its height, and Oliver White a brilliant editor. He taught so many of us lowly assistants our craft. Who will teach the Tech ops, as they are called, now? There is no training.’

Preston Front, series 3 – TX brochure

‘Preston Front’ was written by Tim Firth, directed by Chris Bernard and Rick Stroud. It was produced by Bernard Krichefski, with associate producer Thea Harvey and executive producer Julian Murphy. It starred Colin Buchanan as Hodge and featured the adventures of a group of friends brought together by the Territorial Army. Also featured were Carolyn Pickles, Oliver Cotton, Angela Lonsdale, Alistair McGowan, Paul Haigh, Adrian Hood, Tony Marshall, Kate Gartside, Caroline Catz, Keiran Flynn, and David MacCreedy, with guest appearances from Samantha Fox, Stirling Moss and Nicky Henson.

Series one was entitled ‘All Quiet on the Preston Front’, with the two subsequent series being shortened to ‘Preston Front’. The comedy was set in the fictional Lancastrian town on Roker Bridge. Series one was transmitted in 1994, two in 1995, with series three going out in 1997. Series one and two had 6 parts, with series three having 7. It was recorded on location in Padiham. The comedy won several awards including Best Comedy Drama (Comedy Awards), and Best Series (RTS), and it was nominated for a BAFTA.

Thanks to John Greening for making the brochure available.

Andy Redfern & Dave Baumber – Peter Poole

Andy Redfern & Dave Baumber

Photo by Peter Poole, no reproduction without permission.

Andy and David were senior audio supervisors. Andy worked in TV and radio, some of his many TV credits can be seen at http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2529400/ . David’s main area of work was as a dubbing mixer. In 1982 he won a BAFTA award for his work on Boys From The Blackstuff. Later on he became a film/psc sound recordist. His credits can be seen on http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0062266/ .

Peter Poole

(please add a comment if you can identify the programme and the location)