Blacksmith’s set on Great Expectations

Photos by Robin Sunderland, no reproduction without permission

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photos on the set of the 1981 adaptation of Great Expectation taken by cameraman Robin Sunderland. These were taken in Studio A at Pebble Mill.

The following comments were posted on the Pebble Mill Facebook page:

Robin Sunderland: ‘Yes, think it is me on the camera. I always remember walking into the studio on the first day, and thinking…….blimey, they built a whole street!! I think it ran diagonally across the studio from one corner to another, presumably to make it as long as possible. And the horses seemed unfazed, by their studio experience.’

Graham Pettifer: ‘We had the best set builders and painters.’

Break time at Studio A. Photo by Graham Pettifer.

Ray Sperry

I have received news that Ray Sperry, one of Pebble Mill’s vision crew, has died. Ray started working for the BBC in Birmingham back in the Gosta Green / Broad Street days and during the Pebble Mill period; working both on O.B.s and in the studios.  He rose to become Vision Supervisor on CM1 and CM2, and like everyone else in OBs, lost his job when Outside Broadcasts in the Midlands closed down, in 1992.

A much loved member of the crew, Ray was always convivial, professional and knowledgeable.

The following comments were left on the Pebble Mill Facebook page:

Robin Sunderland: ‘Ray was a lovely man’

Andy Frizzell: ‘I Remember Ray, as Robin says, lovely man, always a pleasant and knowledgable man. People like him are a breed that’s getting thinner on the ground in the TV industry and we’ll be all the poorer for it. ‘

Malcolm Hickman: ‘As Andy says, Ray was a great bloke. Very helpful when you were trying to put a rig in on OBs. Another good bloke gone.’

 

Harrier on Pebble Mill at One

Photo by Robin Sunderland, no reproduction without permission.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Harrier jet lands at Pebble Mill, as part of Pebble Mill at One. Keith Brook (aka Scouse) is on camera, and I think Philip Thickett is cable bashing.

Pebble Mill at One – Wendy Leavesley

Photo by Robin Sunderland, no reproduction without permission

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pebble Mill at One researcher Wendy Leavesley (I think), pretending to be a camera operator, down by the brook in the grounds of Pebble Mill. The photo dates from the early 1980s.

Pebble Mill at One, recording by the brook

Photograph by Robin Sunderland, no reproduction without permission

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Keith Schofield on camera (EMI 2001) for a Pebble Mill at One item by the brook, in the back garden of Pebble Mill. It looks like the item was about a tree house.

Can anyone identify who is in the back of shot?

Thanks to cameraman, Robin Sunderland, for sharing the photograph.