Television – Page 236 – What Was Pebble Mill?

Pebble Mill at One: A Song for Xmas – Mark Kershaw

Song for Xmas team

A Song for Christmas was an annual event in the Pebble Mill at One calendar. It was a carol competition for different children’s choirs.

The photo was taken just after recording in the Courtyard probably in 1986. The photo features (ones I recognise, L to R) Peter Knowles (sound) & Dave Brazier (floor manager) kneeling, Norman Steemson in the green at the back, Ewan Keil (demin jacket), Beverley Wildman (AP) under all the snow!, John Wescott behind, me (Mark Kershaw – director) leaning on snowman, Aled Jones behind, a young Phillip Schofield, Caroline Marshall right at the back, next to Phillip is Geoff Nawn (designer), Derek Hallworth behind, Dave Farline, James French (cameraman) behind him.

Mark Kershaw

Fellow Traveller – poster from Ann Chancellor-Davies

Fellow Traveller was produced at Pebble Mill in 1991 by Michael Wearing. It was directed by Philip Saville (who also directed Gangsters and Boys from the Blackstuff), written by Michael Eaton and edited by Greg Miller. Gavin Davies (who was Ann Chancellor-Davies’s husband – who supplied this photo) was the production designer. It was the only TV film produced at Pebble Mill, and was a co-production with HBO.

The film is set in the McCarthy era in the United States. It follows a writer forced to work in England on the ITV serial – Robin Hood, to avoid the witch hunts in America.

It stars Ron Silver as Asa Kaufman, Imogen Stubbs as Sarah Aitchison, Hart Bochner as Clifford Byrne, Daniel J. Travanti as Jerry Leavy and Katherine Borowitz as Joan Kaufman.

Fellow Traveller is one of the Pebble Mill dramas to be screened at the archive screening event being held at the School of Art, Margaret Street, Birmingham on Saturday 5 March. It will be introduced by writer Michael Eaton, and producer Michael Wearing. For more information about this free event go to: http://homeidentityandcitizenship.posterous.com/ .

Thanks to Ann Chancellor-Davies for making the poster available.

Points of View – photo from Gail Herbert

‘Points of View’ was produced at Pebble Mill for many years. The programme gave viewers the right to reply about what they loved or hated about BBC programmes.

It tended to be recorded on location at a hotel near presenter Terry Wogan’s home a couple of days before transmission, and then edited either in London, or at Pebble Mill.

Viewers wrote letters or emails in with their complaints or congratulations. The ones chosen by the production team were usually voiced by BBC members of staff. Clips of the programme they were talking about also had to be sourced and edited in to the 15 minute show, which usually went out on a Sunday afternoon.

The photo was taken during the recording of the Points of ViewChristmas edition in the mid 2000s.

The photo features (left to right), Ian Thomas (director), can’t see next two properly, Belinda Essex (researcher), Kate Hillman (A.P.), Sue Watson (producer), Helen Wogan (Terry’s wife), then Bina Mistry (researcher), with Gail Herbert (P.A.) behind, then Terry, and Nick Patten (Exec producer) seated, the camera crew is behind him.

‘Points of View’ is still produced by BBC Birmingham, although Terry Wogan handed over the presentation of the show to Jeremy Vine in April 2008.

Thanks to Nick Patten and Gail Herbert for additional information.

‘Eat Your Words’ – photos by Lynda Kettle

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.

Eat Your Words was a studio quiz show on the subject of food, presented by Lloyd Grossman, with team captains Valentina Harris and Robert Carrier. The series went out in June 1996 and was made for BBC 1 Daytime, and recorded in Studio A. There were 10 episodes and each team had a cooking and a non cooking guest. The guests were: Michael Barry, Helen Atkinson-Wood, Derek Nimmo, Anthony Worrall-Thompson, A.A.Gill, Gloria Hunniford, Thane Prince, Carmen Silvera, Juliet Harbutt, Craig Charles, Oz Clarke,John Mcririck, Rosemary Moon, Colin Baker, Denis Quilley, Eve Pollard, Frank Bough, Steven Saunders, Cheryl Baker, Ian McCaskill, Richard Shepherd and Lesley Water.

The production team included series producer Mary Clyne, producer Celia Marks, researchers Vicky Jepson and Nick Harris, PA Marilyn Ward. Nicola Silk helped develop the series and came up with the title.

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.

Thanks to Veronica Butt, Nicola Silk, Vicky Jepson and Melissa Feather for adding information about the show.

Eat Your Words studio set

Stefan Buczacki – ‘Gardening Britain’ & ‘Gardening Roadshow’

Photos by Gail Herbert, no reproduction without permission.

Gardening writer, presenter and plant pathologist Dr Stefan Buczacki made a number of gardening series at BBC Pebble Mill:

Stefan Buczacki’s Gardening Britain was a six part series transmitted in 1996 on BBC 2. Stefan travelled round Britain dispensing gardening advice. This series was recorded as a two camera outside broadcast. The producer was Clare Boulter and the series producer Clare Stride. (The end of run meal features in the photos).
Stefan Buczacki’s Gardening Roadshow was a similar gardening advice show produced at Pebble Mill in 1998 for UK Style. Again it was recorded as a two camera outside broadcast. The crew for the series included cameraman Nigel Davey and Noel Paley, and sparks Herbie Donnelly.
Stefan also presented several stories for Gardeners’ World in 1990-1, including a feature on the restoration of Heligan Gardens in Cornwall, shown in one of the photos (Stefan with umbrella and palm trees).
Stefan also presented a series for UK Style called Stefan’s Ultimate Gardens, where he helped garden owners create a particular style of garden. This series was recorded single camera. Series producer Vanessa Jackson, director Paul Newman, researcher Emily Rusted.

Thanks to production assistant Gail Herbert for sharing her photos.

Stefan Buczacki at Heligan Gardens