Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission.
Slade singing Still the Same, the lead song from the 1987 album You Boyz Make Big Noize. The performance was on the Tom O’Connor Roadshow, in Blackpool 1987.
Slade rehearsal, photo Jane Mclean, no reproduction without permission
Steve Weddle sporting a pith helmet. Photo Jane Mclean
The Tom O’Connor Roadshow – which was probably the most fun show to work on – ever – attracted amazingly good ratings in what had previously been the Pebble Mill At One slot, often peaking at over three million up against strong opposition on ITV. However, it began to prove very costly, as this tv circus travelled from town to town, week after week, so it was decided that the planned live shows from Aviemore, would be cancelled in favour of an extra week from Blackpool, although there were, rather bizarrely, pre-recorded inserts from the Scottish ski resort played into the second week in Blackpool. How do I remember this rather arcane fact? – I was Series Producer of this series; responsible for reinventing it after a rather sedate Down Your Way type pilot had been made by a different team. And I enjoyed doing this series so much I can still remember the precise transmission order of the various locations across the UK. How sad is that?! Suffice to say, it started in Derby and finished in Tom’s home town of Liverpool.
Heidi Wright & Steve Weddle. Photo Jane Mclean
So an occasional glass of Blue Nun might have passed our lips after a hard day decorating Roadshow Cones, the quiz consolation prize, if my memory serves me well. Sadly, even if we had all signed the pledge it wouldn’t have saved it from getting the chop after only one really successful series. We should have done Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday live and then recorded Thursday and Friday on Monday and Tuesday afternoons, as we did in the later years of Pebble Mill Mark Two. That would have almost halved costs and made it viable again – although the quiz would have needed to be re-formatted. Classic telly!!! Why can I remember all this, when I can’t even remember what I did last week?!
Steve Weddle
The following comment was left on the Pebble Mill Facebook Page:
Jane Clement: ‘It was only costly because of the amount everybody drank! I was in charge of setting the quiz questions for the series so I travelled around with a suitcase full of reference books – no internet back then. Great fun.’
Slade rehearsal
Chris Wright – director
Photos by Jane Mclean, no reproduction without permission.
These photos are from the Tom O’Connor Roadshow in Blackpool, 1987. The top photo shows a rehearsal of the live show with the band, Slade. The lower photo shows one of the multi-camera directors, Chris Wright, deep in thought over the script.
Thanks to Jane Mclean for sharing the photos.
Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission.
Here’s me on The Tom O’Connor Roadshow (picture by Nigel Beaumont).
This was at the Cambridge Corn Exchange. The camera is an LDK 5 working out of our big OB truck called CM1. This picture exemplifies the long hours of waiting that OBs sometimes entail. I think at one point I did actually doze off. I just had the big wide ‘low cock-up factor’ shot, not very challenging. It was sometimes a good idea to bring along a book. Some crew members bought along golf clubs, badminton racquets and watercolour sets, so that their time off duty away from home could be made more useful. I remember going to a fringe comedy show one evening whilst we were in Cambridge for Tom O’Connor.
Toby Horwood
The following comments were left on the Pebble Mill Facebook Page:
Mike Renshall: ‘North 3 did Falkirk and Blackpool (twice), all of which I was on the crew for.’
Alan Jessop: ‘That Schneider ZDU has the external v/f switch adaptor that I thought was only on LO6 cameras, was this CM1 then?
Photos by Jane Mclean, no reproduction without permission.
Producer Steve Weddle, in different forms of fancy dress, on location with The Tom O’Connor Roadshow. Heidi Wright is in the middle photo, with Steve as a chicken! Top photo in Newcastle, middle photo in Liverpool, bottom photo in Portsmouth.
In the lower photo: Jane Mclean (front, scarf), Mary Sanchez (blue top, on right), Mark Botfield (blonde hair, next to Mary), Jo Dewar (behind Mary), Steve Weddle (at back next to Jo).
The following comment was left on the Pebble Mill Facebook Page:
Mary Sanchez: ‘Portsmouth! Is this where you Jane and Jo played a trick on me with T.O’C ? ( remember the ‘on the spot’ slot- and me and my gymnastics??!)’