Second City Firsts and Rainbow City to be digitised

copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission

copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission

It was announced last week that thousands of British television programmes are to be digitised in order to preserve them. The BFI is investing £13.5 million pounds worth of Lottery funding to carry out the project. Programmes from the 1970s and 1980s are said to be particularly at risk.

A number of Pebble Mill and pre-Pebble Mill dramas have been identified as part of the digitisation, these include, Second City Firsts (1973-8), and Rainbow City (1967). These are considered particularly significant because they include the early work of black and Asian writers.

The digitisation is being prioritised because of the shortage of early video equipment in sound working order, and the growing shortage of technical operators for such equipment.

It’s great to hear that some of the lesser known dramas to be made in Gosta Green and Pebble Mill are now being recognised as culturally important.

 

Errol John and Gemma Jones in Rainbow City. Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission

Errol John and Gemma Jones in Rainbow City. Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission

 

 

 

 

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Rainbow City screening

Errol John and Gemma Jones in Rainbow City. Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission

Errol John and Gemma Jones in Rainbow City. Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first episode of Rainbow City, a six part series made at Gosta Green in 1967, was screened at the Midlands Arts Centre on Saturday 15th October, as part of the Flatpack Festival.

The drama starred Errol John as a black lawyer, and Gemma Jones as his white wife. It the test of time remarkably well, being well made and very watchable. The episode we saw tackled issues of racism, and immigration, which are obviously as relevant today as in the 1960s.

Here is the entry from the Radio Times for 5th July 1967, courtesy of the BBC Genome project: http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/9a9e4b546dae447391293d00d0408d6d:

Created by JOHN ELLIOT in What Sort of a Boy? by JOHN ELLIOT and HORACE JAMES
Cast in order of appearance:
Music by RAM JOHN HOLDER and MICHAEL McKENZIE
Designed by Margaret Peacock Produced and directed by JOHN ELLIOT
From the Midlands
Contributors

Designed By: Margaret Peacock
Directed By: John Elliot
John Steele: Errol John
Dennis Jackson: Horage James
Rawlings: Graham Weston
Pitt: Colin Skipp
Noel Hall: Calvin Butler
Receptionist: Ianthe Agelasto
John Sleele: Errol John
Inspector: Frank Veasey
Secretary: Yolande Fermin
Works Supervisor: Leslie Dunn
Mrs Jackson: Myrtle Robinson
Mary Steele: Gemma Jones
Sister: Frances Dunn
Nurse: Nina Baden-Semper
Schoolteacher: Dolores Mantez
Clergyman: Ian Copper
Youth Leader: Calvin Lockhart
Carol Wright: Ann Curthoys
Mark Andrews: Lloyd Reckord

 

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BBC Gosta Green revisited

Gosta Green. Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission

Gosta Green. Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sat 15 Oct 2016, 11am | Tickets £5 (£3) | Hexagon Theatre – Midlands Arts Centre
When BBC Birmingham outgrew its first base on Broad Street, television production moved to the old Delicia Cinema on Gosta Green. Saturday morning’s screening is a rare chance to sample a selection of Gosta Green’s output, introduced by TV historian Lez Cooke (Royal Holloway) who has been focussing on the studio as part of his AHRC-funded project Forgotten Television Drama. The programme includes the opening episode of Rainbow City, the first UK series to feature a black actor (Errol John) in the lead role, and will be followed by a discussion involving people who worked at the studio. Also shown will be an episode of The Newcomers and Sinking Fish Move Sideways as part of the tribute to this pioneering regional television studio, sixty years after drama was first produced there.This event is part of Birmingham on Film, a Flatpack season of archive screenings and events across the city from 16 September to 15 October.

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