June 2011 – Page 3 – What Was Pebble Mill?

Good Morning Summer 1995

‘Good Morning Summer’ was presented by Sarah Greene, and Will Hanrahan.

As the name suggests, the series was a summer version of ‘Good Morning with Anne and Nick’, but without Anne Diamond and Nick Owen. The production team was pretty much the same.

The photo includes: Katie Wright (deputy editor), Sue Walton (producer), Natasha Wood (PA), Tessa Finch (editor), Sue Robinson (director), Merrick Simmonds (director), Belinda Essex (researcher), Jane McLean (PA), Vanessa Jackson (producer), Sarah Greene (presenter), Will Hanrahan (presenter), Rosemary Edwards (producer), Sarah Jayne Phillips (vision mixer), Jane Lomas (producer), Claire Popplewell (PA), Julie Tanner (AP), Slavka (researcher), Sharon Fisher (researcher), Marco (FM), Jackie Deitrich (producer).

Thanks to Jane McLean for making the photo available.

Good Morning with Anne and Nick 1996

This photos is of the ‘Good Morning with Anne and Nick’ production team in 1996, around the end of the series.

The photo includes: Sarah Jayne Phillips, vision mixer (pink top), Sue Robinson, director (black top, glasses), Marco, floor manager behind Sue R. Sue Watson, researcher (white jacket over black top), Steph Silk, Editor Daytime, (seated, black jacket), Jo Gray, PA (seated on floor, black top), Jane Lomas, Producer (seated on floor, grey waistcoat), Sue Walton, AP (black top, behind Jane Lomas), Natasha Wood, PA (turquoise top, next to Sue), Katie Wright, Deputy Editor Good Morning (pink suit), Tessa Finch, Editor Good Morning (black suit, next to Katie), Guy, Producer, Rosemary Edwards, Producer (blonde hair, black top, rt handside), Jen Phillips, AP (dark hair, stripey top next to Rosemary). Back row right handside, Jane McLean, PA (blue top), Merrick Simmonds, director (black jumper next to Jane), Sharon Fisher, researcher, (white shirt, next to Merrick). Back row left handside, Derek Hallworth, director. Central – Jackie Deitrich, Producer (blue jumper, glass raised), next to Jackie, Julie Tanner, AP, next to her, Jean (can’t remember surname) who was in charge of finances (pink jacket).

Thanks to Jane McLean for making the photo available.

Good Morning with Anne and Nick – photos by Laura McNeill

Photos by Laura McNeill, no reproduction without permission.

These photos were taken during a ‘Good Morning with Anne and Nick’ trip to Guernsey, for a live outside broadcast edition of the show.

Nick obviously missed his vocation – and should have been a bus driver!

The third photo shows some of the crew in Guernsey, including, left to right, cameraman Bob Meikle, sound supervisor Peter Knowles, cameraman Jim Gray, vision mixer Sarah Jayne Phillips and floor manager Marco.

Pete Simpkin, Radio Studio 3

This is the famous studio 3 at Radio Birmingham in 1979 and and shows the logistical placing of two reel to reel tape machines, two turntables, a cartridge jingle machine and the mixing desk all within reach of the presenter. It also reveals the futuristic ‘low level’ control panel so the eyeline for interviewees was not obscured, and the presence of the ash tray shows that smoking was actually allowed in studios…..but not whilst I was present!

The second photo shows Cliff Richard, who was in for a Religious Phone-in and the young lady in the picture had contacted my ‘Dream Come True’ feature to meet Cliff. We are still trying to track her down as she does not have this picture!

Pete Simpkin

The Bollywood Story – Photos by Andy Frizzell

Photos by Andy Frizzell, no reproduction without permission.

‘The Bollywood Story’ was a two part documentary, produced at Pebble Mill by Narendhra Morar, about the history of Indian cinema from 1913. It went out in 1989. The film editor was Mike Duxbury, assisted by Victoria Trow.

These photos are from a trip to India (Bombay, mostly). The documentary title was The Bollywood Story’. I think we spent four weeks in and around the Indian film industry in Bombay interviewing stars, prospective stars and key people from the industry.  We spent a lot of time following Anil Kapoor who was a big star in India then. He will be better known to British film goers as Prem Kumar the ‘Chris Tarrant’ character in Slumdog Millionaire.  The crew were Paul Sen, Director; Cameraman was John Kenway; Assistant/Second camera Keith Froggatt; Sound Alex Christison PA was Douglas ??? He was one of only two male PA’s in the Beeb at the time and there was a researcher, Harbinder Minhas. We had a fixer called Uday who made my life a lot easier with the hired in crews for the studio shoot.  The studio we had was previously used for filming parts of ‘Ghandi’. There were some dubious bits of kit. The crane looked like it was made from giant Meccano and the overhead lighting ‘gantry’ was just scaffold boards and rope.   Conversation on arrival: John Kenway: (to me)

“You’re not going up there!….”

Me: “Damned right I’m not!”

As if he needed to tell me!   I had a crew of twenty in that studio which was pretty good considering I only had fifteen lights!  The dodgy wiring and mechanical lighting effect were both seen on set at another studio and both involved exposed conductors. I’d like to point out they were nothing to do with me and I didn’t use them!

Andy Frizzell