‘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)
Photos by Robin Sunderland, no reproduction without permission
Photos taken by Robin Sunderland, not to be reproduced without permission. Cameraman Robin Sunderland took these photos of a Pebble Mill at One rehearsal shortly after completing his camera training in the 1980s. They feature presenters Marion Foster and Donny Mcleod, and a young looking Nick Patten (now Head of BBC Birmingham and Manchester Factual Programmes – Vision Productions) is floor managing. The cameramen are: Brian Cave, Jim Gray and Dave Lawson with Alan Duxbury doing ‘Captions’ up on camera 5. Please add a comment if you recognise other people in the photographs – thanks!
Bob Langley dancing with Ginger Rogers
KEITH ACKRILL – MEMORIES OF PEBBLE MILL
I worked at Pebble Mill on Radio 4 and television, from the day it opened until I left in 1982. I have very many pleasant recollections of the years I spent there.
The thing you noticed most was the tremendous enthusiasm that permeated the whole staff.
It was the feeling that we were in a brand new building hailed as the biggest combined radio and television complex in Europe. We were all determined to make Pebble Mill programming a force to be reckoned with.
Hours and hours of top television had the Pebble Mill label. As well as Birmingham productions, many London drama series were based in the studio or filmed on location, using Birmingham crews.
The Brothers, Poldark, All Creatures Great and Small, Juliet Bravo, Howards Way, even Basil Brush – the list goes on and on. And that doesn’t include the many classic dramas that were produced in Studio A.
Radio was an important part of the building’s output too. Radio Two programming found a home there, the Midlands Radio Orchestra was in residence for many years. Folk music, pop music – every kind of music came from Pebble Mill. And that’s not forgetting radio drama. Pebble Mill, of course, was home to The Archers and many other dramas of all kinds were produced alongside, together with some fine radio documentaries.
There were many landmark programmes – Top Gear, Pebble Mill At One, Saturday Night At The Mill – all of which I was fortunate to have worked on.
My main memories from the last programme include talking to actor Robert Wagner, in the hospitality room, about English beer. I know nothing about beer, but it was worth talking about it just have Natalie Wood’s dark brown eyes focused on me! I remember sitting across the table from Ginger Rogers and, later, photographing Bob Langley dancing with her – lucky devil – accompanied by Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen, with guest trumpeter James Hunt. Many, many great stars came to Pebble Mill to take part in the wide range of radio and television programmes that came from within that building.
I miss meeting them, but I also miss the camaraderie of the people I worked with, of being part of a team dedicated to putting broadcasting in the Midlands on the map.
Bob Langley dances with Ginger Rogers
These photos are not be reproduced without permission.
Saturday Night at the Mill’ was a spin off from ‘Pebble Mill at One’, and featured live entertainment from the Pebble Mill foyer. Kenny Ball’s jazz band was the resident band. The show ran from 3/6/76 until 11/7/81, and there were 89 episodes. The photos feature: Bob Langley dancing with Ginger Rogers, Jenny Hanley, Natalie Wood, John Bennett, Marvin Hamlisch, Roger Whittaker, Robert Wagner.
Photos taken by Ketih Ackrill, not to be reproduced without permission. ‘Weekend Live’ was a live entertainment show, staged in the courtyard behind Studio 3.