May 2017 – Page 3 – What Was Pebble Mill?

Michael Wearing obituary

Drama producer, Michael Wearing died from a stroke on the 5th May 2017, aged 78. Michael joined the English Regions Drama Department as a script editor in 1976, after working in theatre. He produced influential series like Boys from the Blackstuff, as well as Muscle Market, Bull Week, Bird of Prey, The History Man, Jake’s End, A Cotswold Death, Ice Dance, and A Master of the Marionettes. After a period at the BBC in London, and then ITV, he returned to Pebble Mill as Head of Drama, in the late 1980s, before becoming Head of Serials in London, although this isn’t mentioned in the obituary from the trade magazine Broadcast, below: http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/5117571.article?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsletter134.

I recorded an interview with Michael in 2009, excerpts of which can be found on this site.

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50 years of Gardeners’ World

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The 50yr anniversary of Gardeners’ World, was celebrated by the RHS magazine, The Garden, in the April 2017 edition: https://www.rhs.org.uk/about-the-rhs/publications/magazines/the-garden/2017-issues/April/a-world-of-gardening-in-50-years.pdf

Gardeners’ World was a BBC Birmingham production until it was moved to BBC Bristol in 2012.

The article gives a timeline of the presenters of the UK’s favourite gardening show:

1968-76 – Percy Thrower

1976-79 – Arthur Billit

1979-96 – Geoff Hamilton

1980-2 – Geoffrey Smith

1996-2002 – Alan Titchmarsh

2003-8 – Monty Don

2008-10 – Toby Buckland

2011-present – Monty Don

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Derek Johnson

Veteran Midlands Today film cameraman, Derek Johnson, sadly died a few days ago. He was in his mid-eighties. Derek was also a stills photographer and recorded mute films for Midlands Today.

Unfortunately I do not have a photograph of Derek, but please let me know if you have one, and could share it.

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

Jason Dean: ‘Very sorry to hear about this. Always grateful to Derek and his son Ian (his sound man) for being so helpful and patient with me when I was on attachment to Midlands Today in the mid 80’s as a rooky TV reporter. Particularly remember the time they put up with me doing endless attempts to get a piece to camera right in the centre of Leamington Spa!’

Wendy Lewis Edwards: ‘Derek was a one man film operator, going out relentlessly over very long days to pick up mute pictures of stories that otherwise would not have been covered. He made an enormous contribution to Midlands Today and was a delightful, reliable, modest man for whom I had great admiration’

Robin Latchem: ‘I think I did my first Midlands Today item with Derek and Ian. So glad they tolerated being a de facto mobile training unit. Such a helpful, gentle man.’

Kevin Latimer: ‘Derek was a companion on many cold winters news stories around Brum – remember him as a very contented cameraman’

James Roberson: ‘Very sad to hear about dear DJ – he was one of the stalwarts of the Midlands today team, along with his son Ian – both gentlemen and so helpful and kind to work with – happy days in the late 1980s at Pebble Mill ..’

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50 Years of Gardeners’ World

Joe Godwin, Sharon Fisher, Louise Hampden, Claire Johnson

Joe Godwin, Sharon Fisher

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In June 2017, Gardeners’ World will be celebrating its Golden Jubilee. A special 50th anniversary edition is being planned. Today (5th May 2017) a Gardeners’ World masterclass was held in the BBC Birmingham, Mailbox building, for students, and BBC staff. The event took the form of a conversation between Joe Godwin, Director of the BBC Academy (the training arm of the BBC), and three of the production team: Sharon Fisher, series producer; Louise Hampden, producer; and Dr Claire Johnson, horticultural researcher. It was interesting to hear from the team about some of the challenges of making the programme, and we found out that presenter, Monty Don’s dogs, Nigel and Nellie, have a huge mailbag, and even their own Twitter accounts – although the production team don’t know who it is that writes on their behalf!

Gardeners’ World was a Birmingham programme from its start in January 1968, until it was moved to Bristol in 2012. Sharon, Louise and Claire, used to work on gardening output in Birmingham, but moved to work in Bristol when production was moved there. Gardeners’ World has been a BBC production, except for a period of 10 years in the 1990s, when it was produced by Independent production company, Catalyst. This was when Alan Titchmarsh was presenting the programme.

Gardeners’ World was one of the first shows on the BBC to be recorded in colour. It was preceded by an earlier BBC Birmingham series, Gardening Club, presented by Percy Thrower from his greenhouse in the Gosta Green studio, Birmingham.

The following comment was left on the Pebble Mill Facebook page:

Bryan Comley: ‘Edited one of the episodes in the mid 80’s on CM2, made using the roll back & mix method of linear production, even the captions were as live. A very pleasurable & satisfying way of making tv.’

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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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