Television – Page 223 – What Was Pebble Mill?

Bird of Prey 2 – camera script front page

Thanks to Kevin Lakin for making this camera script available.

‘Bird of Prey 2’ was the sequel series to the 1982 conspiracy thriller of the same name. The series was written by Ron Hutchinson and produced at Pebble Mill, being transmitted in September 1984. It was a four part series about computer fraud, recorded in Studio A.

The series featured: Richard Griffiths as Henry Jay, Carole Nimmins as Anne Jay, Lee Montague as Roche, Jan Holden as Mrs Lucas and as Timothy Bateson as Mr Jorry, and Bob Peck as Greggory.

As you can see on the camera script, the series was directed by Don Leaver and produced by Bernard Krichefski.

Dawn Mears worked as an assistant editor on the series and remembers it well:

“It was my first break editing drama as Nigel Pardoe Matthews let me cut an episode all by myself! Andy Turley did the graphics which involved a computer game. Unheard of in those times . Ron Hutchinson was the writer I think. It was beautifully written, very clever. It was a studio drame with film inserts.”

Seed – photo from John Greening

‘Seed’ was a single drama which went out in 1996, it was part of a new writers’ competition, the script was written by Cole Bradley. The BFI database includes the following synopsis for it:

“Rites-of-passage drama set in Birmingham. Les is just out of prison and wants to see his baby but the mother Julie and her family are against the idea. Together with his friend Ben, Les decides to plant a field of wheat on a piece of waste ground for the baby. Ben has to decide whether to go to Jamaica or not and his decision depends on his girlfriend Hashi. She plans that they will make love three times in extraordinary places in order to make their decision.” http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/553215

The drama starred Jim Pyke as Les, Terence Maynard as Ben, Nicola Arumugam as Hashi, Ram John Holder as Ben’s grandad, and Sudha Bhuchar as Aunt Minah.

Photo includes: John Greening – director, Kevin Lakin – location manager, Peter Lloyd – script editor, Amanda Neal – 1^st AD, Barbara Mackie – Producer, Midge Ferguson – AD, Janice Rider – Costume Designer, Bev Dartnall – Associate Producer, Leigh Ashurst – design, Jim Gray – camera, Andy Morton – sound, Jo Mainwaring – PA, Vivienne Oldham – make-up designer. Dave Bushell, was the lighting director, although I can’t see him pictured.

Golden Oldie Picture Show – Christmas 1986

The ‘Golden Oldie Picture Show’ was presented by Radio 1 D.J., Dave Lee Travis. The show created music videos for Hits which pre-dated the era of music videos, and directors were encouraged to choose a track and create a story around it. It was produced at Pebble Mill by Exec, John King.

This photo dates from Christmas 1986, and was taken on location at the Red Lion, Somerton, Somerset, where the links for that show were recorded. Left to right, back row it includes: Dave Lee Travis (presenter), John King (exec), Mike Williams (lighting cameraman), John Parker (sound), Jim Hatchard (set design). Front row: Andy Frizzell (lighting), Nigel Davey (camera), Phil O’Shea (props), Gail Herbert (P.A.), Veronica McAleer (Brebner)(make-up).

Thanks to Gail Herbert for making the photo available, and to Andy Frizzell, Kevin Lakin and Lesley Weaver for adding information.

Chelsea Flower Show – photo from Laura McNeill

Photo from Laura McNeill, no reproduction without permission.

The photo shows Laura McNeill (sound), with John Moorcroft (camera). It was taken at an outside broadcast at the Chelsea Flower Show, probably around 1990. Given the champagne, and dinner jacket, it was probably taken on the Monday evening during the Royal Gala.

Working on the ‘Chelsea Flower Show’ was always a great occasion, and great fun. At this time we tended to make a ‘Chelsea Special’ programme, and a ‘Gardeners’ World’ from Chelsea that would go out on the Friday night, in the normal slot.

After You, Hugo – photos from John Greening

‘After You, Hugo’, was basically a silent play – starring Nola Rae a mime artist. It was a comedy, set backstage at a seedy ‘30’s Music Hall. The Music Hall company develops a new mime act because of members’ difficulty in communicating with each other. It was directed by Bob Jacobs, and produced at Pebble Mill by Roger Gregory. The ‘Summer Season’ drama was transmitted in 1985. The script was written by John David, Chris Harris and Nola Rae.

The drama featured Chris Harris, Nola Rae, Jonathan Adams, Peter Hale, Derek Tansley, Pip Hinton, Nick Cursi, Lyn Farrell, Tina Grundy, Donna Kellie and Barbi Levard.

First photo, features Chris Harris (in bag) and Nola Rae, Australian mime artist

Second photo, includes Andy Meikle (FM/PM), John Greening (AFM), tying up Chris Harris, and props guy, Dave Bushell (known as Gonzo) on the right.

Thanks to John Greening for making the photos available.