Category: Photos

Ice Dance – photo by Willoughby Gullachsen

Photo by Willoughby Gullachsen (Gus), no reproduction without permission.

Ice Dance was a ‘Screen Two’ drama which went out in March 1989.  It was written by Stephen Lowe, directed by Alan Dosser and produced by Michael Wearing. The drama starred Warren Clarke, Joanne Allen, Andrew Fletcher, Amanda Worthington and Helena McCarthy. It followed the story of a pair of young skaters from Nottingham, whose dream was to emulate Torvill and Dean.

This photo features cameramen Keith Froggatt and Steve Saunderson on the crane, and 1st AD, Will Hartley on the left under the crane.

Style Challenge – 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.

Style Challenge was a BBC 1 Daytime make over show, presented by John Leslie, Shauna Lowery, Caryn Franklin and Oz Clarke. The image of two volunteers were transformed by hair, make-up and clothes experts.  The show’s trademark was the revolving mirror, revealing the contributor’s new image with maximum effect. The series was broadcast on weekday mornings on BBC1, from September 1996 to December 1998, and recorded in Studio A. Eileen Stokes was the producer.

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.

Parnell & the Englishwoman – photos from Les Podraza

Photos from Les Podraza.  The photos feature Les, who was a scene hand at Pebble Mill, with director John Bruce, and actors Trevor Eve, and T.P. McKenna.

The screenplay for Parnell and the Englishwoman was written by Hugh Leonard and tells the story of a 19th-century Irish nationalist politician who has an affair with the wife of an English MP.  The drama went out in 1991.  Trevor Eve played Charles Stewart Parnell, with Francesca Annis playing Katharine O’Shea;  T.P. McKenna played Justin McCarthy.  It was produced by Terry Coles out of BBC London, hosted by Pebble Mill.

Paul Balmer on Pebble Mill at One

‘Paul Balmer on the ‘Pebble Mill at One’ Set – with cameraman Howard Dartnall and Link 125 camera, taken around 1983′

Note all the joins in the set! The daily design budget was probably a couple of hundred quid! The floor was also full of joins so the Vinten pedestals would jolt as they crossed these giving the familiar ‘Pebble Mill Bump!’ to any tracking shots.

(Paul Balmer http://www.musiconearth.co.uk/ http://www.amazon.com/Paul-Balmer)

Communications Centre – Brian Johnson

Photos copyright of Brian Johnson, taken in 1973.  Most of the photos are of the Comms Centre, with two probably being of Studio B Vision and Studio B Sound.

The Communications Centre was situated immediately above the Foyer with large windows facing on to Pebble Mill Road.

In brief it was the technical hub of the building and the liaison point with British Telecom, responsible for routing all the internal vision and sound circuits between the Studios, VTR, Telecine and the various external TV and Radio Networks.  BBC 1 and BBC 2 passed through the Communications Centre from London and were routed to our own regional transmitters and one to Manchester for further distribution northwards.

It was also a reception point for Radio and Television Outside Broadcasts via our own Radio Links or B.T. and for incoming contribution circuits from the North and East that were either required in Birmingham or routed through to Bristol or London.