Studio A – Page 16 – What Was Pebble Mill?

Telecine – Ray Lee (part 1)

Photo by Ivor Williams, of Pebble Mill TK 1971, no reproduction without permission.

I joined telecine (TK) in 1974 having transferred from telecine in Television Centre. At that time there were 2 Rank Cintel flying spot telecine machines. There was a 2 storey block to the rear of the main office area and Studio A. Much of the first floor level was occupied by Telecine, Video tape (VT) the Dubbing theatre, film processing and an assortment of film cutting rooms.

TK and VT shared a common area, with a corridor down the middle. There were 3 rooms /cubicles on each side TK on the left, VT on the right as approached from the main door. TK A, TKB, and an expansion area, likewise VTA, VTB and an expansion area. VTA, and B had a large sliding Marley Door between them where the common wall would have been, so that they could be worked as an edit pair by sliding the door back, or as individual machines working to separate areas, with the door closed.

Just inside the entrance, was the film transfer area, where 1/4” tape was transferred to Sepmag film in order to be edited synchronously with the film pictures. There were a number of SepMag bays some of which could be linked to the Dubbing theatre in order to dub additional sounds onto the film. This area was reorganised shortly after my arrival, so the detail is hazy.

Working in the area at that time were Paul Richards, Jim Gregory, Graham Winter, and Peter Hodges, and myself (Ray Lee). Peter soon moved on to become VCMS in Studio A, and there were a number of other people moved through TK in the time I was there. Charles Osborne, Peter Greenhalgh, Keith Salmon (who moved into News), Tim Savage, and some others whose names have been lost in the mist of time.

Ray Lee

Live from Pebble Mill – Cargo Kings

Copyright resides with the original holder, probably Willoughby Gullachsen; no reproduction without permission. Thanks to Janice Rider for making the photographs available.

‘Cargo Kings’ was a live play produced at Pebble Mill in 1983 in Studio A, when Robin Midgley was Head of Drama.

The BFI Database describes the storyline thus:

‘Roger Savage, an anthropologist, visits at remote island, where the natives, Mambu, Baku and Abode learn about an obscure cargo cult from him. Soon they are in London putting Savages ideas into practice.’ http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/161953

The script was written by Stephen Davies, directed by Donald McWhinnie, Dawn Robertson was the production associate, with Will Hartley the production manager. Roger Gregory was the script editor. Ian Ashurst was the production designer, with Janice Rider the costume designer and Carol Ganniclifft the make up designer. Bob Hubbard was the camera supervisor, lighting was by Barry Hill, and Annette Martin was the vision mixer.

The play starred Jeffrey Kissoon as Baku, Norman Beaton as Mambu, Michael Cochrane as Roger Savage, Christopher Asante as Obode and Ray Smith as Chief Inspector Beltrap.

Studio A – Kathryn Shuttleworth

Studio A Sound Gallery

This was taken shortly after the Widescreen refurb of Studio A. Which didn’t last long before they decided to shut down the studio. Andy Redfern is at the desk.

Studio A Vision Gallery

David Ashton, vision engineer standing up and seated at the back is Keith Knowles who at that time would have been on the lighting console.

Studio A Gallery

Taken shortly after the Widescreen refurb. Obviously the production team hadn’t arrived when I took this photo!

Studio A Floor

This was the set for a corporate event. As well as making programmes we went through a phase of hosting a few of these for big businesses. I guess it was quite prestigious to hold your annual corporate bash in a TV studio and have a professional recording of the event made.

All Creatures Great and Small

Photos by Janice Rider and others, no reproduction without permission.

The black and white group shot dates from the 1989 series of ‘All Creatures Great and Small’. The other photos were taken by Janice Rider in her role as costume designer, as records of what the actors were wearing in particular scenes, for continuity reasons, so that interiors recorded in Studio A at Pebble Mill, would match with exteriors recorded in Askrigg, North Yorkshire.

‘All Creatures Great and Small’ was hosted at Pebble Mill.

The photos include Lynda Bellingham, Peter Davison, Robert Hardy, Christopher Timothy, John McGlynn (young actor in group shot), Andrea Gibb (played Deirdre) amongst others.

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Airbase – photos from Janice Rider

‘Airbase’ was a ‘Play on One’, which was produced at Pebble Mill and transmitted in 1988. David Attwood was the director, Roger Gregory and Keith Williams the producers. Malcolm McKay wrote the script. It was recorded in Studio A.

The drama was set over ‘four days in the life of Madeline Kohler, a young female American Air Force officer, who is posted to the all-male world of a U.S. airbase in Britain’ http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/426153.

The play starred Anton Lesser, Clive Mantle, Catherine Russell, David Lansbury, Ricco Ross, Stevan Rimkus, Norman Beaton.

Thanks to Costume Designer, Janice Rider, for making the photos available.

Paul Vanezis left the following comment on the Pebble Mill Facebook page: ”Airbase’ was the first BBC production I attended whilst at film school. Roger Gregory organised it for me. The production had been started in the summer of 1987, but generally it was felt that the lighting wasn’t right and it was remounted between Christmas and New Year a few months later. It was a great experience; I was there for all 5 days of the recording and was able to walk round the set. It was a full size replica of an F1-11 bomber (although the tail section was slightly shorter so it would fit in Studio A). The other sets were built around it. I kept all the camera scripts and rehearsal scripts and made notes and drawings of the set-ups next to the action in the script. It was also early use of a Steadicam in a TV studio; the operator was Peter Cavaciuti who had worked on ‘Aliens’ the year before, as had actor Ricco Ross who also starred. Director David Attwood asked Peter if he could make his shot “more wobbly”, and Peter asked why he was using a steadicam for a wobbly shot!’