September 2011 – Page 4 – What Was Pebble Mill?

A Master of the Marionettes – photo from John Greening

‘A Master of the Marionettes’ was a 1989 ‘Play on One’ produced at Pebble Mill by Michael Wearing, with Pedr James directing. The drama was written by Guy Hibbert, with Hilary Salmon the script editor.

L to R: Pedr James, behind Pedr is Guy Hibbert (writer), ?, Helen Smith, Rod Litherland (lighting. By the van (right) – Gareth Williams (AFM), Bobby Chapman (script supervisor). Eric Crouch (electrician) with the cloth cap at the back, Peter Wood-Fisher (Technical Manager) on the right.

The play starred Ken Cronham, John Duttine, Fiona Victory, Carol Drinkwater, David Bradley and Kenneth Colley.

The drama was about a group of salesmen, and their complicated and intertwined private lives. The Radio Times billing read: “Teddy Rose’s passion is security – selling alarm systems to prosperous yet fearful suburban homes, one of which he and his family inhabit with conspicuous success. Then one Saturday morning a violent street encounter starts a chain of events which calls into question his every assumption and changes his life for good.”

Thanks to John Greening for making the photo available.

Lesley Weaver adds the following memories about working on the drama:

“I was the make up designer on this drama. It was shot around Oct/Nov 1988. It was the first production I worked on when I return to work after the birth of my eldest son.

I was really down about leaving my 5month old baby but there were mutiple great stab wounds ( by a chisel) for me to distract me. My assistant Helen Smith helped me keep them looking fresh on location. The exteriors were very cold so the injuries became hard & kept falling off the actors skin, then started to melt in once in the hospital scene because it was too hot! Filmed on locations around Solihull I think, in the studio at Pebblemill and the hospital scenes were shot at the Walsgrave Hospital in Coventry if I remember correctly. It had a great production crew with a nice cast, who were lovely to work with especially David Bradley & Kenneth Colley. My 1st assistant was (Bafta award winning) Paul Gooch & the costume designer was called John Lynlard ( someone will prob correct his surname for me).”

Good Morning with Anne and Nick, Guernsey OB – Laura McNeill

Photos by Laura McNeill, no reproduction without permission.

The photos are from an outside broadcast episode of ‘Good Morning with Anne and Nick’, from the Channel Island of Guernsey. I’m not sure of the year, but probably around 1993. Alan Whicker was a guest.

The photos feature Anne Diamond and Nick Owen, Steve Pierson (Floor Manager), Sally (make-up), Eileen Hubball (wardrobe), Will Hanrahan (reporter), Sue Robinson (multi-camera director), Duncan Howell (design), Laura McNeill (sound).

Despite the hard work, it looks like a good time was had.

Studio C, Calrec Sound Desk – Peter Poole

Photos by Peter Poole, no reproduction without permission.

Studio C was the Foyer, made famous by ‘Pebble Mill At One’. In the early days of ‘Pebble Mill At One’, Studio C did not have a dedicated Production Gallery. Studio A or B’s Galleries were used depending on which one was available. About 1982 Studio C had it’s own Gallery built. This enabled much greater use of the Foyer by other programmes. ‘Saturday Night At The Mill’ and ‘Good Morning With Anne And Nick’ were among many programmes to be broadcast from Studio C. In the final years of Pebble Mill the Foyer was used to record the daytime drama ‘Doctors’.

The photos show the Studio C, Calrec Sound Desk, which gave similar facilities to the Studio A desk, and offered more channels than the Studio B desk. It was very well designed for live broadcasting.

Peter Poole

The 206 team, Radio WM – Viv Ellis

This Radio Times article from 1981 promoted the relaunch of Radio Birmingham as Radio WM, and 206. The station enjoyed much improved reception due to two new transmitters.

The article interviews Viv Ellis and Stuart Roper of the 206 Team, who were on air for four hours a day, Monday to Friday.

Thanks to Viv Ellis for making the article available.

Radio Studio 2 before auction – photos Philip Morgan

Photos by Philip Morgan, no reproduction without permission. Philip took these photos in November 2004, when Pebble Mill was emptied before the auction to sell off the majority of the building’s contents. You can see the auction lot numbers on some items in the photos.

The photos feature Radio Studio 2, as well as 1/4 inch tape machines, recording rooms etc.

Studio 2 was mainly used for recording music sessions for Radio 2 – ‘BBC Big Band’, sessions for Paul Jones’ blues programme, for ‘Country Club’ which became ‘Bob Harris Country’ and many others. It was also used to record “as live” programmes with an invited audience e.g. a Cajun series. Pam Relton remembers ‘Voice of the People’ being recorded in there,with Jenny de Yong producing.

Thanks to Philip Morgan for making the photos available, and to Sue Welch for providing information about Studio 2.