Television – Page 238 – What Was Pebble Mill?

On The House – photos from Annie Gumbley

Front door of the ‘On The House’ house

On The House was a popular DIY magazine programme which went out on Friday evenings on BBC 2 in the late 1980s.

It spawned a whole host of other DIY series in both the daytime and primetime schedules.

The actual house was a timber framed, brick clad house which was erected in the grounds of BBC Pebble Mill behind the main office block. There was an excellent time-lapse sequence of the house being erected. The house operated as a television studio, and was set up so that it was easy to shoot in. You also had to remember not to use the toilet – as it wasn’t connected to any sewage pipes!

The show was the brainchild of producer Andy Meikle with Steph Silk the series producer.

The show was presented by Harry Greene (father of Sarah Greene), Rick Ball and Pattie Coldwell.

Pattie Caldwell, Harry Greene, Rick Ball

Pebble Mill at One meeting – Mark Kershaw

The photo is of a production meeting for Pebble Mill at One, circa 1982ish. Left to right the photo shows me (Mark Kershaw), researcher Jane Marriott (now Jane Clement), producer Stephanie Silk, presenters Marian Foster and Donny Macleod, Nicky Barfoot, probably Peta Newbold, and Peter Hercombe perched on the edge, then probably David Weir and Sue Ashcroft.

Pebble Mill at One production meeting

Gardeners’ World – Andy Meikle in Heligan

Andy Meikle holding back the undergrowth

Photo by production assistant Gail Herbert.

In 1990 Gardeners’ World changed from being a programme usually produced from a two camera outside broadcast unit to one recorded on a portable single camera. In the new format the programme consisted of inserts from a number of locations linked by Geoff Hamilton from his home garden of Barnsdale in Rutland. Geoff would also do all the topical practical gardening, as well as some of the location stories.

One of the insert stories that was followed in Gardeners’ World in 1991 was about the restoration of Heligan Gardens in Cornwall, which had been badly neglected over a number of years.

This photo shows producer Andy Meikle holding back the undergrowth to allow the cameraman a good shot!

Andy sadly died earlier this week, after a long battle with cancer.

Andy Meikle – who sadly died today

Gardeners' World Christmas Lunch 1990

It was with great sadness that I heard that Andy Meikle died this morning, after a long battle with cancer.

Andy worked for many many years at Pebble Mill, first of all in the drama department on series like Gangsters and then as a director and producer on factual series like On the House and Gardeners’ World.

Andy was an extremely generous, and incredibly practical man – he was brilliant at DIY!

I worked with him on the DIY series On the House , when I joined an established team as a brand new researcher. He taught me a lot about researching for factual television, as well as about working with contributors.

I remember him being really supportive when I directed my first insert on Gardeners’ World in 1990. He said jokily, ‘don’t you hate it when someone can just do it?’ – I certainly hadn’t been able to ‘just do it’, but knowing that he thought I’d done a good job was really important to me, and really helped my confidence.

This photo is from the Christmas lunch for the Gardeners’ World production team from 1990. It includes, left to right: Andy Meikle, Denis Adams, Mark Kershaw, Kulvinder Chudge, Nick Patten, Steph Silk, next might be me (Vanessa Jackson) or Ann Holmes, I can’t see enough of the next two girls to identify, then Patti Evans with the blonde hair, Howard Perks, and Gail Herbert (whose photo it is).

Andy will be much missed, and our thoughts go out to his loved ones.

‘The Kiss of Death’ interview with Bob Jacobs

Untitled from pebblemill on Vimeo.

In this interview Bob Jacobs (1st Assistant Director) talks about working with Mike Leigh on the 1977 ‘Play for Today’ The Kiss of Death.

The drama follows the story of a young undertaker, Trevor, played by David Threlfall, as he grows up and explores issues around relationships and commitment. John Wheatley plays the role of Ronnie, Kay Adshead plays Lindie and Angela Curran plays Sandra.

Bob Jacobs