Category: Photos

Top Gear – John Burkhill’s photos

Photos by John Burkill, no reproduction without permission.

These ‘Top Gear’ photos date from 1977 (with the Lotus Esprit and Porsche 928 photos) and 1982 (with the photo of the Ford Granada).  They show early in-car recordings onto 1″ videotape.  The recording machine was the VPR5.  The camera mounted on the Lotus and Porsche is the Bosch Fernseh, which was one of the first ‘lightweight’ cameras, although it was extremely heavy in reality.  The camera mounted on the roof of the Ford Granada is an Ikegami, probably an HL79.  It is being operated by Keith Salmon, director David Weir is holding the gun mic and Tony Wass is on the right-hand side.  Inside the white Granada, Steve Searly is operating the racks control for the VPR5.  John Burkill, VT editor/engineer would have set up the VPR5.

The photos show how cumbersome in-car recording was in the 1970s and 80s in comparison to today, when cameras can be really tiny.

David Weir, Keith Salmon, Tony Wass

‘All Creatures Great and Small’ – Kevin Lakin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These photos were taken while filming ‘All Creatures Great and Small’.  We were filming at a horse race stables in the Yorkshire Dales, we had a sure fire tip from the Head Lad, we all won and took the local bookmaker for £1000. Those are £50 notes by the way, there were some very sore heads in the morning. Terry Ford the guy in the dark jumper, has passed away, the other guy is Stan Morgan, ( in stripped shirt ) I think he has passed away too.

Kevin Lakin

 

Stan Morgan & Kevin Lakin

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The Fosdyke Saga – Tara Prem

Photo by Lynda Kettle

THE FOSDYKE SAGA

The Fosdyke Saga was written originally as a stage play by Alan Plater, based on Bill Tidy’s Daily Mirror cartoon strip about a Lancashire tripe dynasty.

Michael Coveney, in his obituary of Alan Plater in The Guardian earlier this year, referred to:

‘his deliriously funny adaptation of Bill Tidy’s Fosdyke cartoon strip in the Daily Mirror. Plater’s job, said Tidy, was to glue his balloons together, and this he did in The Fosdyke Saga (1975) at the Bush theatre in London and its sequel, Fosdyke Two, the following year. Both shows, directed by Hull Truck founder Mike Bradwell, toured with great success, The first show concentrated on the growth of the tripe industry during the first world war, and the actor Philip Jackson claimed a place in the Guinness Book of Records, as it was then known, for playing 22 characters, including a prison warder, King George V, a sausage dealer, the Salford Ripper and Baron von Richthoven.’

I saw the play, directed by Mike Bradwell at the Bush theatre, and immediately wanted to produce it for TV.

It didn’t fit into any usual category of theatrical adaptation for BBC television, and caused the Contracts Department a bit of a headache.

“Who are these Bush people and why do we have to pay them any money?” In the end they did, and the money paid for the theatre to install some much needed air- conditioning.

We wanted to keep the idea of a theatre setting and recorded the play with an audience, in the studio theatre of the Haymarket in Leicester.

Mike Newell was recruited to direct this TV version.

Tara Prem (Producer)

Tycoon – Lynda Kettle’s photos

Photos by Lynda Kettle, no reproduction without permission.  Lynda Kettle was a Production Designer at BBC Pebble Mill, working on factual, entertainment and drama shows in studio and on location.  The photos were taken as records of the Sets.

‘Tycoon’ was a thirteen-part drama series about the world of big business, it was recorded at Pebble Mill in Studio A.  The series was created by John Sichel, he also directed several episodes, it was produced by William Slater.   The series aired on BBC1 between 18th Sept 1978, and the 11th Dec 1978.  The drama starred Diane Cilento as Diane Clark, Norman Rodway as Jonathon Browning, Jean Kent as Mary Clark, Edward Hardwicke as Donald Sanders and Christopher Gable as Charles Clark.  Sue Peck was the costume designer, Gillian Hughes the make-up artist, Geoffrey Hewitt recorded the studio sound, and Lynda Kettle was the designer on some of the episodes, Gavin Davies on others.

Production Designer, Lynda Kettle also worked as a theatre designer and an artist, and now runs courses from her art studio http://www.lynda-kettle.com.  She is a member of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists, Birmingham Water Colour Society. Midland Pastel Society and Birmingham Art Circle . She exhibits her paintings several times a year at selected galleries.

Lynda Kettle

Aimee – photos by Willoughby Gullachsen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photos by Willoughby Gullachsen, no reproduction without permission.

Aimee was a Screen 2 drama on BBC 2 which went out in 1990.  It was written by Guy Hibbert, produced by Michael Wearing and directed by Pedr James.

Frank Summers, played by Donald Sumpter, apparently kills his mother as an act of mercy, but he won’t say what actually happened.  Aimee also starred Juliet Stevenson, Simon Chandler, Christine Rose and Jeremy Clyde.

Aimee won the Prix SACD award for Best Screenplay at Cannes Television Festival 1992, and was nominated for the Writers’ Guild award for Best Single Drama 1991, and for RTS award for Best Single Drama 1991.

 

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