The Immigrants’ Programme Unit from pebblemill on Vimeo.
In this specially recorded interview, Stephanie Silk talks about becoming a production assistant in the newly formed Immigrants’ Programme Unit, at BBC Birmingham in 1966.
The Unit made a number of series to support newly arrived immigrants to the United Kingdom. The series that Steph talks about here was an Asian magazine show, with journalistic items, as well as arts and music inserts. It was a studio show, with inserts on film, and was in Hindustani, which was apparently understandable by both Muslim and Hindu viewers. The presenters of the show were Mahendra Kaul, and Saleem Shahed, and head of the Unit was David Gretton, and the studio director, Paul Morby.
The following comment was left on the Pebble Mill Facebook Page:
Peter Poole: ‘I remember Mahendra and Saleem well. An interesting experience trying to edit in Urdu!’