Noel Edmonds – Page 2 – What Was Pebble Mill?

Mr Blobby – Ruth Kiosses

Photo from Ruth Kiosses, no reproduction without permission.

The photo shows Ruth Kiosses in the Wardrobe Department with ‘Mr Blobby’. ‘Mr Blobby’ was a character who appeared regularly in Noel Edmond’s Saturday night show: ‘Noel’s House Party’ in the early 1990s. ‘Mr Blobby’ went on to release a hit single, and was a merchandising phenomenon.

I believe that ‘Mr Blobby’ was the idea of a sound man, who received very little recompense for it.

‘Mr Blobby’ was probably up in Birmingham as a guest on the Christmas special of ‘The Movie Game’, a BBC Children’s programme, which was a London series, hosted out of Pebble Mill in the early 1990s. (Thanks to Linda Hearn for this information.)

Ruth remembers that Mr Blobby visited the Wardrobe Department several times, arriving in a large box from TVC. This photo was taken in old Wardrobe in the basement below Studio A. Inside was head of Wardrobe Anne-Marie Palmer(now Morrell) what a great Boss!

Telly Addicts – Hooferdoofer

One of the characteristics of ‘Telly Addicts’ was a specially made ‘remote’, which Noel Edmonds would use to cue the clips for the contestants. This device was called the ‘hooferdoofer’.

The ‘hooferdoofer’ was built by Dave Pick from engineering, ‘It was unusual in that it didn’t use infra red light like a TV remote, it used low frequency radio picked up by a wire loop that ran all round the set. This meant that Noel didn’t have to point it in any particular direction. The three buttons operated three lights in the gallery via tie-lines from the studio floor.’

Louis Robinson came up with the name of the remote:‎ ‘”Hooferdoofer” was a word I stole from my grandmother to describe the remote.The requirement was – if I remember – Jules May wanted Noel’s hooferdoofer to signal her as the director giving her freedom to cue the clips thus keeping her control of the studio. The tightness of the relationship between Noel’s intro and the start of the clip was 90% done by the excellent editing in post production.’

Telly Addicts Christmas Special

The photo includes left to right: Back Row, Pat Mifflin, Richard Lewis, Annette Martin, Noel Edmonds, Steve Pierson, John King; Front Row, Jennifer Hassall, Rajinder Ram, Tim Manning, Sue Williams, Denny Hodge (Comedy Workshops).

‘Telly Addicts’ was a BBC 1 Game Show produced at Pebble Mill, which ran between 1985 and 1998. Noel Edmonds was the host, who tested contestants on their knowledge of television shows. Alongside the regular series were a number of Christmas Specials. This photo was taken after the recording of one of these Christmas shows.

Stuart Gandy remembers the little gadget that engineering made for Noel, known as the hooferdoofer, that he used to indicate to the gallery with. Looked a bit like a TV remote with a few buttons on. Louis Robinson remembers borrowing the word ‘hooferdoofer’ to describe the remote, from his grandmother!

Thanks to Tim Manning for making the photo available.

Telly Addicts Question Card – from Tim Manning

‘Telly Addicts’ was a BBC 1 Game Show based on contestants’ television knowledge. It was hosted by Noel Edmonds. The series was recorded in Studio A, and was transmitted between 1985 and 1998. It was produced by John King’s department at Pebble Mill. First producer was Juliet May, followed by John Smith, Tim Manning and Richard Lewis.

Thanks to Tim Manning for making this Question Card available.