Gail Herbert – Page 8 – What Was Pebble Mill?

Patrick Flavelle filming 1989 – photo by Gail Herbert

Photo by Gail Herbert, no reproduction without permission.

This photo from 1989 is of Patrick Flavelle, on the left, (with the clipboard), directing on ‘Countryfile’. The man with the rabbit is presenter Roger Tabor.

Patrick adds the following comment:

‘It was for a piece called ‘What’s British?’ about common animals and plants that you might imagine were native to Britain. Rabbits,not, Horse Chestnut, not etc Roger Tabor presenting and shot at Packington Estate who were really helpful. No facility fee as long as we didn’t say where we were. Very unlike the National Trust!
Nigel Davey on camera I think and my first solo shoot as Director. Clipboard, bouffant hair and pretending I know what I’m doing.’

Pop at the Mill – photos from Gail Herbert

‘Pop at the Mill’ was an open air pop festival which went out on Saturday nights during the summer of 1977. It was set in the courtyard of Pebble Mill, behind the foyer where ‘Pebble Mill at One’ was set. Acts included Gary Glitter, Joe Brown and Showaddywaddy.

I’m not sure which which acts are shown in the photos.

Thanks to Gail Herbert for making the photos available.

BBC Club Staff 1987 – photo from Gail Herbert

BBC Club Staff 1987

This photo shows the BBC Club Staff at Pebble Mill in 1987.

Included from left to right are Pauline Rice, Lesley Moore, Gail Herbert (Club Chairman), Jim Simmonds, Kim Giles, Theresa Gordon, Mac and H, Linda Parsonage, Hilary Paton, and Mavis Silver.

The BBC Club was based in separate single storey building across the brook from the rest of Pebble Mill. It is the only building still standing on the site.

BBC staff spent many a happy lunchtime over at the Club! It was an excellent place for networking and catching up on the gossip.

Thanks to Gail for making the photo available.

Good Food Show – photo from Gail Herbert

Photo by Gail Herbert, no reproduction without permission.

The ‘Good Food Show’ was a magazine show about food, produced at Pebble Mill by Mary Clyne. The series went out in 1995. Ben Warwick was the series director, Juliet Morris and Will Hanrahan the presenters.

The photo shows a wild boar location shoot. The director (with the flowing locks) is Derek Hallsworth, the crew is probably Noel Paley on camera and John Parker on sound. Gail Herbert was the production assistant.

Reaching for the Skies – photos from Gail Herbert

Photos from Gail Herbert, no reproduction without permission.

‘Reaching for the Skies’ was a twelve part documentary series about the history of flight, transmitted on BBC 2 in 1988. The series was a co-production produced at BBC Pebble Mill. John Gau was the executive producer, Ivan Rendall the series producer, and Tony Salmon one of the directors. Peter Gower was one of the editors on the series, and Gail Herbert was a production assistant on it. The episode list included: Pioneers (12/9/88), The Aeroplane Goes to War (19/9/88), Trailblazers (26/9/88), Lighter than Air (3/10/88), Bombers (10/10/88), Quest for Speed (17/10/88), Giants of the Air (24/10/88), Rivals over the Atlantic (31/10/88), Fighters (7/11/88), Vertical Flight (14/11/88), Victory over the Sea (21/11/88), The Adventure of Flight (28/11/88).

The photos show filming of a B17 bomber, a Spitfire, and a Lancaster bomber.