Copyright, Sue Robinson, no reproduction without permission.
Merrick carries out the director’s briefing for the evening show for ‘Children in Need’ in the Studio C, foyer.
Left to right: Louise Willcox ? seated, James French, Dave Farline, Wilf Welch, Dave Brazier, Sue Beardsmore presenter, Merrick Simmonds dir, Roz Gower prod, Simon Bates presenter, Toyah Willcox presenter.
Photos from ‘Children in Need’ organiser, Marie Phillips.
The photos are from the 1996 ‘Children in Need’ Toddle through Centenary Square in Birmingham, outside the Hyatt hotel. Included are ‘Midlands Today’ presenters Sue Beardsmore, David Davies, Shefali Oza and Gary Hudson, as well as director Merrick Simmonds, and cameraman Jamie Knights.
Marie Phillips is pictured with Aston Villa player, Shaun Teale, in the third photo. Apparently she had her photo taken with Shaun to make her Villa supporting son, jealous!
Here is a link to ‘TV Ark’, a site which includes short clips from a number of ‘Midlands Today’ episodes. Clips include the first Midlands Today from 1971, as well as excerpts from presenters David Stevens, Alan Towers, Kathy Rochford, Nick Owen, Sue Beardsmore, Kay Alexander, Brian Conway, David Davies, Bernadette Kearney, Andy Knowles, Richard Uridge, Lawrence Lee, Michael Collie, Stuart Linnell and Suzanne Virdee. The last ‘Midlands Today’ to be broadcast from Pebble Mill is also included.
http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/bbc_midlands/news.html
The following comments were left on the Pebble Mill Facebook page:
Jane Ward: ‘I vision-mixed that last 6.30 prog….an honour to do it, but very emotional….’
Stuart Gandy: ‘If you spend a few minutes looking at TV ark, you will find quite a lot from pebble Mill. After all we did make a lot of programmes there, probably more than the average viewer realised’
Ewan Kiel: ‘That is great. I probably spent far longer than I should have done on Midlands Today … but looking back, it was really fun and hey, it was where I met my wife – and now I list people people who were – to me – cool: Kay, Brian, Darren, Fiona Barton, Richard (Uridge), Steve (Lee), Pete Lowe, Patrick (thank you, Patrick), Cathy, Martin Dowell, David Davies, Fiona (again), Steph, Pam, Gary (yes, Hudson), Will Trotter, Mike Johnston, Paul Freeman, Ian (Pedersen – very cool man), John Carney, Kathy Rochford (always had a crush), Liz (camera diary – huge crush… huge), Harvinder ( coolest guy in the office), Fiona ( the memory won ‘t go away), Barbara Steele (were the rumours true?), Darren (again coz he is my abiding friend from that time, and I honestly love him … although nothing gay has happened yet!), Jane Green (aaah), Julie (Etchingham … didn’t she do well), Pete Wilson (cool), John McLeod (very, very cool), Peter Poole (loved him), Howard (HOWARD!!?), Sue Beardsmore (especially in that button up the front grey dress), Nick Patten (and his tendency to direct standing up), Merrick Simmonds, Mel and her stockings, Lindsay, Ian Bellion (and his gorgeous sideburns) …and christ, I spent too long there.’
Lynn Cullimore: ‘yep, worked on that….gallery flush as we called it always evident as things went wrong and you had to be on your toes! Dear david stevens too – dont think he is any longer with us. kay alexander too – she is lovely. oh many many names….oh yes geoffrey green – i loved him and he was so funny. Wonder if he is with us still?’
Peter Poole: ‘I will never forget Alan Towers resigning on air and his comments about BBC management. What a great presenter.’
Peter Poole
Photo by Peter Poole, no reproduction without permission.
Photos by Lynda Kettle, no reproduction without permission. Lynda Kettle was a Production Designer at BBC Pebble Mill, working on factual, entertainment and drama shows in studio and on location. The photos were taken as records of the Sets.
This was pirates year. Kay Alexander is upstage right in this photo, so she must have been presenting the regional ‘Children in Need’ output in this particular year. It looks like floor manager Dave Brazier talking to Kay. Dave Bushell (lighting director) is at the back admiring the palm trees, and it is probably Adrian Kelly on the camera jib. The guy towards the back left in the white shirt and tie is probably Mike Day from comms engineering. Those items look like telephones at the back there which he would have been responsible for. In the second photo cameramen Robin Sunderland, James French and Andy Payne are by the grand piano. Sue Beardsmore is rehearsing. Alan Titchmarsh & Sue were presenting this year. Merrick Simmonds was the Director and David Nelson Producing. Please post a comment if you recognise anyone else in the photos.
‘Children in Need’ was a big annual occasion at Pebble Mill. Sets, like this one were built for the evening regional ‘Children in Need’ output, and other programmes in the building would regularly join in. Teams of willing volunteers would man the phones. This often included staff from non-programme departments who were just as keen to lend a hand – and to dress up in costume!
Production Designer, Lynda Kettle also worked as a theatre designer and an artist, and now runs courses from her art studio http://www.lynda-kettle.com. She is a member of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists, Birmingham Water Colour Society. Midland Pastel Society and Birmingham Art Circle . She exhibits her paintings several times a year at selected galleries.
