Good Morning Afghanistan – Waseem Mahmood

Waseem Mahmood worked at Pebble Mill for 8 years in the 1980s first on the Asian Programmes Unit and then on Farming. Life took him on a very different path after he left the BBC. Specialising in the reconstruction of media in post war countries, he found himself working in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq to name but a few. Afghanistan was to be a turning point. When a dodgy kebab prevented him from being on the aircraft that crashed into the Pentagon on 9-11, it was to set in motion a series of events that sound like they come straight out of the pages of a thriller. It is a time of chaos… Afghanistan has just witnessed the fall of the Taliban. Warlords battle each other for supremacy, while the powerless, the dispossessed, the hungry and the desperate struggle to survive. In this time of bleakness, suffering and want, a glimmer of hope emerges in the form of a spirited little radio station.

First published in 2007 and reissued as an Eye Classic, Good Morning Afghanistan is the inspirational true account of how an intrepid band of media warriors helped a broken nation find a voice through the radio.

It’s available for less than £10 on Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Good-Morning-Afghanistan-Crusade-Classics/dp/1785630245/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1493906568&sr=8-3&keywords=good+morning+afghanistan

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Asian Magazine

Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission

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Thanks to director Waseem Mahmood for sharing these images about Asian Magazine featured in the book Inside BBC Television.

The series was transmitted on BBC1 on Sunday mornings at 10am in the early to mid 1980s.

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

Dawn Trotman: ‘ I worked with Waseem as an acting editor on the Asian magazine show later to become Network East. I think I cut one of his very first items about a DJ in one of the portacabins in the car park ..happy memories.’

Jane Green: ‘I worked on many an Asian Magazine. Great fun. Bish Mehay was a lovely guy to work with. Loved the bands we squeezed into Studio B – loved learning what all the various instruments were. Sat in the corridor on one occasion waiting for the set to be finished – with Benazir Bhutto. Great programme.’

Colin Pierpoint: ‘Yes, I remember, but I also remember the start of radio and television from the Midlands for Asians. The first step was to separate AM and FM Radio 4 on a Sunday morning (I think the management was afraid of loosing listeners if it went out on both!) In 1965 AM did “Make yourself at Home”, a programme on which I worked in Studio 1 Broad Street several times. (FM had the previously scheduled programme). I also did a bit on the television programme from Broad Street studio 4, in black and white, although I may only have been on attachment. Presenters: Saleem and Mahendra, directed by Gerry (surname?)’

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Asian Programmes Unit – ‘New Life’

These photos are probably by Willoughby Gullachsen, and have been given by Maggie Humphries from Film Unit.  No reproduction of the photos without permission.

BBC Pebble Mill was home of the BBC’s multicultural programmes.

The photos show a location shoot for the Asian magazine strand: ‘New Life’. They date from the 1980s, when the inserts were still shot on film.  The sound recordist shown is Alex Christison, and cameraman Steve Saunderson, the camera assistant Ian Churchill, and the PA Jayne Savage.  Standing on the stairs in the tie is the director/producer, Waseem Mahmood. The programme was a documentary on the first Asian model, Safira.  Nigel Pardoe-Matthews was the film editor.

The documentary was an occasional 30min special as part of the New Life strand. Waseem made three in the six years that he was at Pebble Mill: “Safira” about the model, a film about Asian Ballerina Nicola Katrak and a special where Marion Foster interviewed Ravi Shankar… the latter got a prime time slot on BBC2.

‘New Life’ from 1981 was called ‘Asian Magazine ‘- this must have been when Ashok Rampal took over as Executive Producer.

Please add a comment if you can identify other people in the stills, or can add more information.

 

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