Studio A – Page 10 – What Was Pebble Mill?

Network East

Netw0rk East was an Asian magazine show dating from the late 1980s and 1990s it included a mix of dance, music and other items about British Asian life. It had various presenters including Mo Dutta, Sonia Doel, Sanjeev Kohli, Rajesh Mirchandani and Shyama Perera. Narendhra Morar was the series editor in the late 1980s, with John Wilcox being the Executive Producer.

Thanks to Ian Collins for making this title grab available.

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

Lynn Cullimore: ‘I worked in that department with Narendra! I remember it well. Mainly because everyone in that department shared everthing – if they went to the canteen for a Kit Kat it was shared amongst us all. I particularly remember the music programmes as the artists had no idea of timing and just played on and on until we had to just cut in and stop it! So funny. Oh happy days.’

Victoria Trow: ‘Narendra Morar was Series Producer. Lots of talented people covered not only music but all kinds of topics of interest to the Asian Community. I was asst editor on The Bollywood Story (never repeated I fear because of copyright issues, clearances were hell) and also a researcher on a lovely piece about a group of Sikhs who had fought in WW2 going to Belgium for a commemoration of their fathers & uncles who had fought in WW1. Great days.’

Ruth Barretto: ‘Paresh Solanki also worked on the programme when Narendra left. It was one of the best departments I ever worked in. It was like one big happy family. I worked on it when Sonia Sangha (Deol) and Sanjeev Kohli were the presenters. Real fun times.’

Peter Poole: ‘I worked on it many times in Studio B. Studio links, interviews and music were recorded. For larger music recordings Studio A was used. In the 1990’s the programme featured contemporary Asian pop music.’

Pebble Mill Peelable

Two Point 4 Children, photo and design by Lynda Kettle

A special paint was developed to paint on the floor of Studio A, the television drama studio – it was called ‘Pebble Mill peelable’ and was available commercially.

The following comments were posted on the Pebble Mill Facebook Page, about this special paint, what it did, and whether it was a good thing – or not!

Raymond Lee: ‘Before Pebble Mill peelable the studio floor was painted in water based paints, which ran if anything got spilt on them. Also it required a day between productions to wash the studio floor and let it dry, before the next painting could take place. One of the downsides of of the peelable paint was that after a number of layers the floor became quite uneven, so tracking shots became increasingly wobbly! I’m fairly sure it was only used in Studio A, and not the foyer. A base coat was put on the studio floor, which involved closing the studio for a couple of days. The fumes were quite pungent. Then the special floor paint was used to create the required floor using rollers, as previously. When a new drama went in the next floor scene was just painted on top. This continued for a number of productions, and then the paint was peeled off a bit like lino back to the base layer.’

Lynn Cullimore: ‘Yes, I remember it and it was a company headed by a man called Terry Field – I would think he is long retired now. It was really rated apparently. I knew Terry as he was a friend of John Woods in the press office when I then worked. They did use it in Studio A I believe but I am not sure if they did in the foyer.’

Guy Heselden: ‘The paint used at the London studios sounds similar. It goes on with a roller and can be touched up or painted over as and when and then when required gets washed off back to the bare brown coloured studio floor, ready for a new coat of paint!’

Gerry King: ‘Pebble Mill Peelable existed for many years totally dependent on Pebble Mill studios for income. They had premises on the Hagley Road close to the Plough & Harrow. For the life of me I cannot remember the name of their MD.’

Keith Brook (Scouse): ‘It was the most awful invention ever to fall on the lovely lino floors of Studio A. The original water paint system could be sucked up immediately after the sets had been removed and the new floor painted soon after. That system had the added effect of cleaning the floor and so we were left with a smooth surface to do our famous tracking shots. Pebble Mill Peelable often had it’s thick base coat put down without the floor being cleaned first. To add insult to injury, subsequent layers weren’t cleaned off either and the build- up was horrific. Many of the camera crew carried a Stanley knife and cut out the offending items which annoyed the manager who had introduced the paint. A short lecture on camerawork shut him up until the next time he wanted to flex his muscles.’

Construction of Pebble Mill

The photos show the construction of Pebble Mill from 1969 and 1970. They show the television Drama Studio A and the News Studio B, being fitted out acoustically.

1984 Spring and Summer line-up

This page from the 1984 Pebble Mill News, includes an article about David Waine’s press briefing about Pebble Mill’s output: 500 hours of network TV, 1,000 hours of network radio, and 160 hours of regional television. Highlights include a new Saturday night light entertainment show, new series of Top Gear, Kick Start and Top Sailing, as well as Now Get Out of That, Gardeners’ World, Asian Magazine, and Gharbar. On the drama front there is mention of The Groundling and the Kite, Phoebe, The Amazing Miss Estelle, and Morte d’Arthur.

Network Radio was also busy, with a new Radio 4 series of Enterprise, and Rollercoaster, as well as hosting a Schools Radio Festival hosted by Sue Lawley, Rolf Harris and Duncan Goodhew.

In regional television there were new series of, Midlands Sound and Midlands Tonight, and a television version of Malcolm Stent’s Radio WM series, In the Barmaid’s Arms.

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

Peter Poole: ‘I worked on The Barmaid’s Arms in Studio A. They had a good band called The Nightriders. This was before producer choice. After that regional TV could never afford Studio A.’

Pete Simpkin: ‘As producer of the Radio version of the Barmaids it was quite pleasant to be a member of the audience with the real beer and not have to worry about anything! I do remember that someone had crafted a tiny hole in the chest of Malc’s shirt to take the cable for his personal mic.’

Lynn Cullimore: ‘Yes, Peter it was Mike Sheridan and the Nightriders…I was the PA and I loved it. Malc was wonderful to work with and i did many programmes with him. Malcolm is still going too..doing shows and things. Mary someone or other did a brilliant set for it…cannot remember her other name but she was very good.’

Peter Poole: ‘Hi Lynn, it was great when regional TV could do shows like this. Do you remember who the producer was? Malcolm often did warm up for PM at One. He always did a great job entertaining the audience.’

Lynn Cullimore: ‘The Producer was John Clarke whom I worked with for a long time. I did many Studio A programmes at one time – do you remember The Garden Game?’

Stuart Gandy: ‘I do remember The Garden Game. Wasn’t it on during the Friday night opt slot? In those days regional programmes had two opt slots per week.’

Peter Poole: ‘I remember John he was great producer and a very nice man. It’s amazing the programmes produced on such small budgets. I didn’t work on The Garden Game but do remember it. One of the many panel shows in Studio A. I always enjoyed working on regional TV programmes. The production teams were lovely people.’

Pebble Mill Sectional Elevations

Negative, Sectional Elevations, 1971. This digital resource is available under a Creative Commons CC-BY-SA 3.0 license, with kind permission of the Birmingham & Five Counties Architectural Association Trust, thanks to the Architectus project (part of the Jisc Content Programme 2011-13).

This is a cross-sectional plan of the Pebble Mill building, including the main office block, Radio Studios and TV Studio A. Also shown is the pedestrian bridge to the original foyer entrance, which later became the Pebble Mill at One foyer studio, and the link to the outside broadcast base. This drawing from 1971 came from the architect, John Madin’s offices.

The following comment was left on the Pebble Mill Facebook group:

Peter Poole: ‘Pebble Mill was great PR for the BBC. Press office often showed various groups round. I was always happy to explain the technical side of broadcasting. The general comments from the groups were very positive. Most of them left very happy to pay the TV licence. The public seems to think commercial TV is free. Every time they go shopping an extra cost is added to the goods to cover advertising. Where is BBC Four TV, radio 3 and radio 4 etc. in commercial broadcasting?’