Ian Collins – Page 17 – What Was Pebble Mill?

East

East was a topical factual magazine show about Asian affairs, with reports from Britain and abroad. It went out on BBC 2 between 1990 and 2002.

The series tended to go our weekly in the spring or summer, in runs varying between 6 and 10 episodes.

Thanks to VT editor, Ian Collins, for making this grab available.

The following comments were added on the Pebble Mill Facebook group:

Peter Poole: ‘I often worked on the Studio B recordings. The music sessions ranged from traditional to electro-pop. A very interesting and enjoyable experience.’

Matthew Sly: ‘I did Audience Security when it was Network East, always found it very enjoyable.’

Dawn Trotman: ‘It was experimental as an editor they pretty much let you do what inspired you. Oh I yearn for those days.’

Lynn Cullimore: ‘Yes, I worked in what was known as The Asian Unit. I enjoyed it and i remember we never went without food! I wonder what happened to Nahrendra.’

100 Years of Speed

This title grab is from 100 Years of Speed, a history of motoring programme, made at Pebble Mill.

Thanks to Ian Collins, for making the grab available.

If you know any more details about this programme, please add a comment.

Midlands Report

Midlands Report was a regional opt out programme. It latest around 30 minutes, and usually took the form of a presenter led documentary on local issues.

Thanks to VT editor, Ian Collins, for making this title still available.

Motor Show

The British International Motor Show was held in Birmingham between 1976 and 2004. The Motoring Unit recorded Motor Show specials from the show at the NEC.

Thanks to VT editor, Ian Collins for making this grab from the titles available.

Peter Simpkin added the following comment on the Pebble Mill Facebook group:

‘There were several years Motor Shows in the 80s when the BBC went really overboard with coverage, especially Radio, where we at Radio WM shared an enormous stand /studio with Network. My afternoon show live was sandwiched between something on Radio 4 and afterwards the John Dunn Show on R2. All the changeovers were quite hairy with network and local staff doing ‘hot’ changes as news bulletins were on from the appropriate studios. I had been running my show with the huge doors to the audience wide open. Dear John a really true pro but a bit shy I think, expressed surprise as we changed chairs and said that he would not like to be quite so close to the crowd and asked me to close the glass doors as I left the stage!’

Panasonic D3 VCR

Photo by Ian Collins, no reproduction without permission.

This is a Panasonic D3, D350 VCR. D3 was introduced as a new 1/2″ tape format in 1991. The format was not used on location as far as I remember, but was used extensively in VT editing suites, because the beauty of it was that it did not degrade if you went down a generation. It was also used for master copies of programmes for transmission.

Unfortunately D3 does not seem to have withstood the tests of time very effectively, and many D3 tapes in the BBC archives have deteriorated badly.

Mike Skipper added the following information on the Pebble Mill Facebook group, ‘one of the disadvantages of D3 is that the recorded signal is digitised composite PAL. The format rapidly went out of favour when productions started to shoot and archive material in 16:9 widescreen format. Digital Betacam, being a component recording standard, rapidly took over from D3. Digital Betacam machines require an option board to be fitted to allow them to play back analogue Betacam SP tapes.’

Ray Lee added the following information on the Facebook group: ‘from a maintenance point of view the D3’s needed a lot of expensive equipment for rotary head replacement, so all machines were dealt with in London, whereas the Digital Betacam were much more straightforward, didn’t need so much equipment and we replaced the heads locally at Pebble Mill. One reason digital Betacam was shunned initially is that the system employed a kind of signal compression. Although few real signals would ever trigger the compression, it was felt better to use a non compressed format. However as standard betacam gained widespread use in News, and the component editing was already gaining acceptance, Digital Betacam was a natural extension, and the machines could even play the analogue tapes. In fact it was a simple matter to substitute Digital Betacam machines into an analogue edit suite, as most of the existing wiring could serve for both.’