Simon King – What Was Pebble Mill?

Walk on the Wildside

This titles grab is from a factual wildlife programme made at Pebble Mill, and presented by Simon King. It probably dates from the 1990s.

Thanks to Ian Collins for making the grab available.

Adam Trotman added the following comment about Walk on the Wildside: ‘I was the assistant editor on it, Jonathan Birkett was the editor and Simon King was director, John King the Exec. It was BBC 2 I think, transmitted around tea time….I loved it as I got to do some editing as Jonathan had to dash as his wife had their first baby. By the way, Annie Jenkins did amazing graphics and animation for it well before CGI!’

Sourcing Clothes for Presenters – Janice Rider

Specially shot interview with costume designer Janice Rider, talking about sourcing clothes for television presenters. Janice mentions the challenges of finding a suitable outdoor jacket for wildlife cameraman and presenter, Simon King.

Simon King, photo by Gail Herbert

Editing ‘King and Company’ – photos from Jim Gregory

Photos from Jim Gregory, no reproduction without permission.

The photos are of Ian Collins and Jim Gregory editing the 1988 wildlife series ‘King and Company’. The series was presented by wildlife cameraman Simon King. In each episode a different celebrity, or member of the pulbic teamed up with Simon, on a filming assignment about a different British creature. The idea was to show how wild animals were filmed. The celebrities included Wendy Richards, Liza Goddard, Mark McManus, David Essex, Keith Barron, and Toyah Willcox. The animals featured included deer, dormice, salmon, frogs, and golden eagles.

The executive producer on the series was John King, Simon’s father, with Tony Rayner the director.

King and Company – photos by Gail Herbert

Photos by Gail Herbert – no reproduction without permission.

King and Company was a series produced at Pebble Mill by executive producer John King. It featured wildlife cameraman, Simon King (John’s son) on wildlife filming assignments with different celebrities. It went out in 1988. The featured celebrities included Wendy Richard, Liza Goddard, Mark McManus, David Essex, Toyah Willcox. The filming subjects included deer, dormice, frogs, salmon, and golden eagles.

Gail’s photos show filming taking place, and the crews involved. Gail was the production assistant, Tony Rayner the producer. The cameramen include John Couzens, Alan Duxbury, John Williams, Dave Evans, Keith Froggatt, sound recordists include Alex Christison and Tony Wass.

Sebastian the Golden Eagle