The creators of 'The Green Machine'
‘The Green Machine’ was another innovative show from the community, a sort of ‘with it’ religious education experiment from the Birmingham Council of Churches which had a great response. Shown here are the creators of the programme the Revs David Tennant and Laurie Green with presenter John Cornbill.
Pete Simpkin
These photos show the VT area at Pebble Mill over the years. They were taken by different people in post production, including Mike Blore, Tim Savage, Jim Gregory, Paul Vanezis and Ian Collins, and show the changes in technology from the days of 2″, through 1″ to D3 and Digibeta.
Copyright resides with the individual photographers, no reproduction without permission.
Rigging for the broadcast
‘Sikh Worship’ Not actually at PM but typical of the pioneering ideas coming from it. This was a live relay of Sikh worship from the Graham Street Gudwarah. Here can be seen Pete and engineer Stuart Miller preparing for the broadcast. Radio Birmingham was the first to transmit live non Christian worship in the UK and this has incidentally never been repeated.
Maureen & Pete
‘Maureen and the coffee’ One Christmas eve the BBC canteen had closed early for the holidays and we cheekily regretted the fact on air. This lady Maureen lived in one of the tower blocks nearby in Edgbaston and walked down to the studio with refreshments for we forgotten broadcasters!
Pete Simpkin
Photos by
Willoughby Gullachsen and others, no reproduction without permission.
The ‘Heart of the Country’ was a four part series by Fay Weldon set in Somerset which was broadcast in spring 1987. It was produced at Pebble Mill by Roger Gregory and directed by Brian Farnham and starred Jacqueline Tong as Sonia, a mother struggling on her own with two young children. The cast also included Christian Bale. The climax of the series comes at the Glastonbury Carnival (shown in the last photo), with a fire and the death of one of the characters. Bob Jacobs was 1st A.D., Dave Doogood was the DOP, with Dave Evans assisting (shown in the photo with the paddling pool) and Chris Reynolds did special effects.