Steph Silk – What Was Pebble Mill?

Steve Weddle remembered by Steph Silk

Marian Foster with Steve Weddle

Today [8th April 2020] is Steve Weddle’s funeral and from a distance I mourn the shocking devastating loss of a lifetime friend. In 1976 we were both new researchers, desk to desk in the hairy scary Dobson days of PM@1. All the producers and directors were male and all the researchers except Steve were female – that’s what it was like in those days. Never macho, Steve quickly became one of the girls to the extent that his name was on the office PMT wall-chart.

First and foremost, Steve was fun. He was of course talented and creative, wacky and wonderful and super sociable but he also had great empathy and kindness and was friends with one and all. He gave my daughter her TV break and passed on his Spurs programmes to my grandson.

Recently we had two lovely holidays at the Exotic Marigold Hotel in Menorca. Steve, a great holiday companion, suggested that we should travel as Hinge and Bracket.

Post Beeb we met up every month with our fellow Sagalouts to wine and dine down Memory Lane. In January we celebrated his 70th birthday. In February Steve talked about his latest book, not an autobiography exactly but drawing on his life in television.
That would have been a good read.

Stephanie Silk

Changing women’s roles in production

How women’s roles within the BBC changed from pebblemill on Vimeo.

Specially recorded video with Steph Silk, talking about how women’s roles in production teams began to change in the later 1970s. The development of the researcher role was crucial in allowing women to progress up the career ladder in significant numbers. Steph was a researcher, assistant producer and then producer on the lunchtime magazine show, Pebble Mill at One.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Steph Silk talks about Pebble Mill at One

Steph Silk talks about working on Pebble Mill at One from pebblemill on Vimeo.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Video interview with Steph Silk talking about working on the lunchtime live magazine show, Pebble Mill at One in the 1970s. Steph worked on the series firstly as a researcher, then as an assistant producer, and later as a producer. By the end of Steph’s long career in television she was the Managing Editor of Daytime Television.

Glynn Christian Recipe from Pebble Mill at One

These recipes from TV chef, Glynn Christian, were featured on Pebble Mill at One in January 1982. The combination of celeriac and mint flan, carrot and ginger flan, shoulder of lamb with red pepper, accompanied by a puree of parsnips and basil sound like a good wholesome winter meal. Notice how all the measurements are imperial, rather than metric. The recipe sheets could be ordered by viewers, and sent out to them.

Thanks to floor manager, Eurwyn Jones, for sharing these recipes.

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

Jane Mclean: ‘Those wanting recipes had to send in an SAE. We typed them out as above, photocopied them and rammed the envelopes. Not even PM headed paper! A tad removed from today and logging on to slash/recipe. Oh the glamour.’

Jane Clement: ‘The joys of life pre-computers, when it was all typewriters and carbon paper. So much fun, especially on a daily, live to air show that changed all the time. Bits of screwed-up paper everywhere and much swearing.’

Steve Weddle: ‘Absolutely. Incidentally I first stumbled upon Glynn Christian when I was researching an item on the Mutiny On The Bounty – he was actually a direct descendant of Fletcher Christian and had written a book on it. So I also tracked down a direct descendant of William Bligh too, Captain of the Bounty, and then let them slug it out in the foyer. On the way back to hospitality Glynn mentioned to me that he was something of a cook, and because he’d performed well I managed to persuade the powers that be to allow him back for a cookery demo. That was followed by a series of six – I’d never researched or produced cookery items before – very much the preserve of Steph Silk and Mary Clyne – and it was a bit of nightmare for me. Not my thing at all. So I was almost relieved when the newly launched Breakfast Time moved in and whisked Glynn away for him to become their regular on screen cook. How he must have loved those early mornings!’

Dancing at the BBC Club

Photos by Karen Bond, no reproduction without permission.

These photos of dancing in the BBC Pebble Mill Club date from the early 1990s. They mostly feature Pebble Mill series editor, Steve Weddle, taking to the dance floor, amongst others!

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

Marie Phillips: ‘Funny you posted this today. We were lunching with friends today at The Boot in Lapworth and in walked Steph Silk who I have bumped into twice in a week after 25 years. She was meeting former Pebble Millers, including Jenny Brewer and ….. Steve Weddle also 25 years on. Great to see everyone and share a few laughs. Steve was excited about his recently published book – available on Amazon! It must be part of the aging process but nobody looks any different as the years roll by.’

Judith Markall: ‘Remember dances in Studio 9 at Carpenter Road!’

Bridget Vaughan: ‘Tall girl could be Bev Dartnall, bless her.’

Janet Collins: ‘Sure it’s Bev and is the other person Julie Knee?’

Steve Weddle: ‘What is he like? Don’t answer that! And yes, that could be Bev – she was always full of fun and frolics, god bless her.’