Category: Television

‘The Back Page’ – Tara Prem

Photos by Lynda Kettle, no reproduction without permission.

‘THE BACK PAGE’, a Second City Firsts, went out on BBC TV 1978. It was written by Andrew Nickolds and Stan Hey, directed by Derek Lister.

It was a comedy about sports journalists, set in the Press Box when Charlton Athletic are playing Notts County. A half hour studio piece, recorded in Studio A.

It starred Graham Stark as Bert Reynolds, Henry Moxton as Percy, Howard Southern as Molotov, John Salthouse as Binoculars and Roger Avon as Sergeant.

‘The Back Page’ was produced at Pebble Mill by Tara Prem, Peter Ansorge was the script editor and Lynda Kettle the production designer.

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.

'The Back Page'

RAC Rally – photo from Maggie Humphries

Ian Churchill & Keith Froggatt

Photo from Maggie Humphries (Film Unit).

This photo is from the Lombard RAC Rally (probably from 1983), it features cameramen Ian Churchill (left) and Keith Froggatt (right).  BBC Pebble Mill used to cover the RAC Rally each year, and produce a daily report from the Rally, called the Top Gear Rally Report.

World Rally – Steve Neilsen’s photo

Steve Neilsen, Paul Hutchins

Photo from editor Steve Nielsen.

The photo is of the World Rally Championship, probably from 1998, New Zealand.  The helicopter is a Squirrel.  It features editor Steve Neilsen (left) and cameraman Paul Hutchins from Magpie, the Birmingham based film production company.

Please add a comment if you can add more information, or know who the other people in the photo are.

Shalom Salaam – Dave Bushell’s photos

Photos by Dave Bushell, no reproduction without permission.

These photos of  ‘Shalom Salaam’ were taken by Dave on location in Leicester and in Pebble Mill Studio A.

1 – Tea break on Leicester Station. John Abbott (Engineering Manager) in discussion with Gareth Jones (Director). Crew and cast frolic gently in background.

2 –  Zia Moyeddin (Sadiq Sattar). Studio A

3 – Mamta Kash (Mumtaz Sattar) and Toby Rolt (Adam Morris) discuss a tracking shot with director Gareth Jones. Shot on a freezing cold day in Sutton Park, Sutton Coldfield

4 – Mamta Kaash (Mumtaz Sattar). Studio A

5 – Clare Holman (Jackie) trying to keep warm on Leicester Station.

‘Shalom Salaam’ was written and directed by Gareth Jones, and produced at Pebble Mill by Chris Parr.  The 1989 series follows the story of  a Jewish boy  (John Cater) and a Muslim girl (Mamta Kaash) who fall in love whilst at college.

Location tea-break

Top Gear – John Burkhill’s photos

Photos by John Burkill, no reproduction without permission.

These ‘Top Gear’ photos date from 1977 (with the Lotus Esprit and Porsche 928 photos) and 1982 (with the photo of the Ford Granada).  They show early in-car recordings onto 1″ videotape.  The recording machine was the VPR5.  The camera mounted on the Lotus and Porsche is the Bosch Fernseh, which was one of the first ‘lightweight’ cameras, although it was extremely heavy in reality.  The camera mounted on the roof of the Ford Granada is an Ikegami, probably an HL79.  It is being operated by Keith Salmon, director David Weir is holding the gun mic and Tony Wass is on the right-hand side.  Inside the white Granada, Steve Searly is operating the racks control for the VPR5.  John Burkill, VT editor/engineer would have set up the VPR5.

The photos show how cumbersome in-car recording was in the 1970s and 80s in comparison to today, when cameras can be really tiny.

David Weir, Keith Salmon, Tony Wass