The Clothes Show

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

‘The Clothes Show’ ran from 1986-2000. It was a spin off from fashion items on ‘Pebble Mill at One’.  Roger Casstles was the executive producer.  Jeff Banks and Selina Scott were the original presenters.  The fashion magazine show mixed catwalk with high street items.  The show became very popular for its stylish visuals, and use of digital video effects.  It was transmitted on Sunday afternoons.

In 1989 The Clothes Show Live exhibition at the NEC was launched, which is still an annual event, and The Clothes Show magazine started a little later.

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

Ruth Kiosses: “I was on the show dressed in an Edwardian evening gown at the Barbican centre January 1989. A year later I was working at pebble mill and bombing around in the clothes show ‘wagon’ the large box van with CS logo on. I remember a very funny journey thrapsing down to Oxford but that’s another story! ”

Hilary Anne Hughes: “I remember trying to get some mens ties to stay put while they shot underwater. We wired the ties in the end then they could be shaped but stayed in place.”

Ruth Kiosses: “There was a Vivienne Westwood corseted evening gown that arrived in huge box. The dress was so enormous with layers of net the model could hardly walk in it! It looked amazing but totally impractical for anyone who wanted to do anything other than stand still!”

Becky Land: “Finding a sofa covered in recucled fleece then hauling it up a hill in Snowdonia so models could drape themselves over it. Surreal.”

Janice Rider: “Took Selina Scott shopping for the rock ‘n roll edition . She had a wonderful flat overlooking Hyde Park . She and Jeff joined in with a rock ‘n roll dance club for the shoot – very amusing.”

Jane Green: “I was the runner on the first ever Clothes Show Bride of the Year – a Mrs Elizabeth Barnes. Mad, mad few days but fabulous programme. Years later was director. Usually worked with Jeff who wandered off a lot during filming to use phoneboxes to make business calls while crew were waiting and public held back by security to get the shot. I’d have to go find him. I worked with Viv Westwood, Naomi Campbell, Philip Treacey and more. Hardest job I ever had.”

Gardening Neighbours – Becky Land

Ali Ward pictured with Adam Pascoe, from ‘Gardener of the Year’

‘Gardening Neighbours’ was the first of a series of shows where a street got together to redesign their gardens and a common piece of land. Presented by the wonderful Ali Ward and Diarmuid Gavin the idea was that they would work on their gardens from designs by the experts. Even today I have used some of their tips in my own garden, so they were really useful. It was set in a leafy part of Sheffield, the exact part I cannot remember but it was lovely and on one of the city’s many hills. It was an small cul-de-sac of late Victorian/ Edwardian villas populated by a range of people from large mature families to retired couples and young marrieds. There were lots of very small babies and toddlers about through the months we were there, which was useful for me as I was heavily pregnant at the time ( I am sure the digging helped for a smooth birth ). As for the placenta incident…. The couple had decided to ‘plant’ the placenta under a special tree, despite warnings by Ali and Diarmuid that the intense nutrients would fry the poor plant. I was on sound and as the couple asked for some privacy we filmed from afar. Which was a good job as I was still suffering for severe ‘morning sickness’.. yes even at seven and eight months… My one overriding memory is the quelch and flopping sound it made as it was poured into the hole from the plastic bowl it had defrosted in…

Becky Land

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

Nicola Silk: ‘I was the director, Rachel Innes-Lumsden (Rachel Adamson now) produced, Nigel Walk and Ann Banks were APs, Becky (what was your surname back then – I’m sure it wasn’t Land!) researched, Chris Hardman was the PA, Ian Churchill (cam) and Ross Neasham (sound) were the crew across the whole series, Roger Casstles was the exec and James Hey cut it. I might have left out a few people…but it was 14 years ago! It was my first series director gig and I’ve got very happy memories of weekends spent in Kenbourne Grove, Netheredge over the summer of ’98.  The sound of the placenta sloshing out of its tupperware into the ground will stay with me too!’

Becky Land: ‘Wow Nicola my memory is not that good, Kenbourne Grove, Netheredge….. I do remember trying to find metal planters that were “three foot by three foot by three foot”. I was Lloyd back then, even though I was married and was close to having first baby. Hubby finally flipped when we watched an episode go out in the maternity ward the day before I gave birth. My name came up as in the credit as Becky Lloyd and he demanded I changed it!! He’s never insisted on much, poor dab. Do you have photos?’

Memories of the VPR20 – Norman McLeod

(Norman McLeod remembers the following incident involving the VPR20, a portable 1″ recorder)

Nigel Evans and Ian Dewar spent 3 days and nights trying to repair the beast in Raffles Hotel Singapore – a ‘Pebble Mill at One’ Summer shoot in 1984 with Donny MacLeod, Paul Coia, Peter Seabrook. Eventually, an Ampex engineer was diverted from Malaysia with chips. The then Video Manager refused to let us take one of the new-fangled Beta portables as back up, so we had to borrow a Singapore TV VHS for the first part of the month. Don Cooper was camera, Roger Casstles directed, Arthur Binnie producer, Nicky Barfoot prodn. asst. Dick Bentley E.M. All our credit cards (especially Dick’s) were hammered to pay for facilities not covered by production – especially the Tiger beer.

Also used on Loch Ness on a Scottish adventure with John Smith – Whisky distillery at dawn: and the “Sealink Cycle Race” with Norman Steemson sitting in the boot of a Rover hatchback from the Isle of Wight to Sheffield.

Norman McLeod

Big Strong Girls – Vanessa Jackson

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

‘Big Strong Girls’ was commissioned as a series of 20, half hour shows for BBC 1, by Daytime Controller, Liz Barron. It was Liz who came up with the title when the idea was pitched to her by BBC Pebble Mill.   The series was transmitted in 1999.

It is the only series idea that I thought up, developed and actually made.  It was centred around the empowerment of women, in the wake of the Spice Girls – that women ought to get on with their own DIY  projects, without waiting for the men in their lives to lead the way!  The key talent were two sisters, Fiona Quigley, and Siobhan Palmer, who were both on screen team members of the Daytime makeover series ‘Real Rooms’, which I series produced at the time.  Fiona and Siobhan were funny, creative, and yes – both big and strong!  They visited members of the public and got to grips with their DIY jobs.  I think one of the funniest episodes involved a family in Hall Green, Birmingham, who had missing skirting boards, which they’d replaced using tea towels!  Unfortunately that episode was never shown, as it had been originally scheduled for the Opening of Parliament day.

Unfortunately the Daytime Controller changed between commissioning and delivery, and Liz Barron’s taste was not shared by Jane Lush and her team.  When we’d already made and delivered around ten episodes of the series, I received a phone call from the Controller’s office, saying that they really liked the idea of ‘Big Strong Girls’, but that couldn’t we use a couple of fit, attractive young men instead, and rename the series ‘Big Strong Boys’.  I felt that this was somewhat missing the point of the original series, but it’s difficult to argue with Channel Controllers!  We recorded another five episodes that we had already researched and were committed to, and then the girls were replaced by the ‘Big Strong Boys’, which in my opinion was a far more predictable approach to DIY on television.  Focus group research was carried out into a pilot of ‘Big Strong Boys’, whilst ‘Big Strong Girls’ was actually airing, and I was secretly pleased that the audience research said that people preferred the female version – not that it made any difference of course!

‘Big Strong Girls’ had a great production team, Roger Casstles was our executive producer, and was an early experiment in directors self shooting, using the Sony DSR 200 – which produced some very good results.  We did employ a professional recordist – and were very glad we did.

Gardener of the Year Final 1999

Photos probably taken by Mark Kershaw, no reproduction without permission.

The photos are from the first ‘Gardener of the Year’ final in 1999.  We recorded the show at the Earth Centre in Doncaster in early September 1999, with the programme being transmitted just before Christmas on 21 Dec, and achieving some very good audience figures.  The show ran for around 10 years.

For the final the contestants had to design and build a show garden which was about 5m square.  They had a budget which they had to stick to rigorously, and they were allowed one helper each.  Each regional winner from the heats had 5 days to build their garden.  I remember a fair amount of tears and tantrums. The finale was an OB in a fantastic marquee presented by Alan Titchmarsh.  Charlie Dimmock reported on how the contestants had got on during the build.  The format worked really well, and was finessed over the subsequent years, although the preliminary heats were dropped.

The series was produced by me (Vanessa Jackson), executive produced by Roger Casstles, directed by Mark Scott, with assistant producers Kate Hillman and Beverleigh Wildman (now Thompson).  The judges were garden designer Ali Ward, Gardeners’ World Magazine editor Adam Pascoe, and presenter and gardening expert Nigel Colborn.  Alan Titchmarsh was the presenter, with Charlie Dimmock reporting.

The photos include:  Charlie Dimmock (jeans), Roger Casstles (navy jacket), me (Vanessa Jackson, centre, blue floral dress – and 6 months pregnant), John Moorcroft (camera, yellow T-shirt, shorts). Ali Ward and Adam Pascoe (judges) in the penultimate photo, and Dave Brazier (floor manager) and me in the last photo.