Adam Trotman – What Was Pebble Mill?

Merseybeat

Merseybeat was a police drama series which dates from the early 2000s. There were at least four series.

Thanks to VT editor Ian Collins for sharing these screen grabs.

The following comments were added on the Pebble Mill Facebook page:

Steve Saunderson: ‘I was DOP on a few episodes up in Runcorn.’

Fiona Stennett: ‘It was filmed in Runcorn and edited on site by Adam Trotman and John Rosser.
I tracklaid this with Kate Davis. Dave mason and Andy Freeth I think were the mixers.’

Janet Collins: ‘Ian Collins and Mike Bloore were also on site editors The exec producer was Mal Younge. Two of it’s stars were Haydn Gwynne & Leslie Ash.’

Ian Barber: ‘I did the first episodes with Michelle Fairly, later Hayden Gwynne, producer Ken Horn, originally titled Silver Command. Shot in and around Runcorn.’

Barrie White-Miller: ‘I was a regular PC ‘Extra’ way back then, had a chat with Chris Walker about Merseybeat a few months ago. The Police Station set was in Runcorn. Great memories, thank you for posting the photos.’

Anne Sweeting: ‘Celex provided alot of the extras it was filmed in Runcorn’

Daniel Klarfeld: ‘I was a runner on it for a bit’

Dave Rhodes: ‘Leslie Ash joined in series 3 – me and Russell Parker assistants.’

Paul Shuttleworth: ‘It was shot on location in Liverpool logged as a Pebble Mill production.’

Debbie Mitchell: ‘also shot in Widnes and Runcorn. The ‘police station’ was filmed in the old Golden Wonder crisp factory.’

Paul Shuttleworth: ‘I was an extra in a few eps at the crisp factory.’

Islamophobia

These screen grabs are from the documentary Islamophobia, it went out on BBC 2, 18th August 2001 at 19.25. Here is the entry from the Radio Times, courtesy of the BBC Genome project:

“Concluding the week-long season of programmes reflecting contemporary life for Muslims in the UK.
Jeremy Bowen investigates, by means of personal testimony, secret filming and a nationwide survey, the extent to which racism affects the lives of Muslims in Britain. Specific examples which may point to a deep-seated historical prejudice in the west towards Islam include an arson attack on an east London Islamic centre, a British National Party statement referring to a “Muslim problem” rather than an Asian one, and the detention and humiliation of an innocent Muslim man in the USA in the wake of the Oklahoma bombing. Producer John Das : Editor Ruth Pitt.”

http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/3bf7ebe93e8e47dd8eb3c9efe8f029bc

Thanks to Ian Collins for sharing these stills.

The following comments were left on the Pebble Mill Facebook page:

Fiona Stennett: ‘I was the dubbing assistant on this, with Ben Peissel mixing. I remember it being a very tense day!’

Adam Trotman: ‘I cut it… if I rememeber it was Tx’d just weeks before 9/11

What the documentary showed at that time was Britain wasn’t actually Islamaphobic…just ignorant about the religon really… Then Two Buildings fall in USA ….

John and I and the amazing researcher of the show often talked of doing a sequel to it alas never came to pass.’

Grease Monkeys

Grease Monkeys was transmitted on BBC 3 in 2003-4. The comedy drama featured Ace Bhatti, as Dave Dhillon, shown in these photos. The series tells the story of a dysfunctional Asian family in Manchester.

Will Trotter was the producer of ten episodes, and the editors included James Hey, Adam Trotman, Neil Roberts, Dan Wardle, Russell Parker and Mark Davies.

Thanks to VT editor Ian Collins, for making these screen grabs available.

Gardening of the Year

This photograph is from Gardener of the Year; I think the location is the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. Included left to right are: Joe Swift, Rachel de Thame, Adam Pasco and Diarmuid Gavin.

The following comments were left on the Pebble Mill Facebook page:

Kate Hillman: ‘Yes, I was on this one! The contestants did their show gardens around a central decking. I think there was an art theme for the inspiration of the garden designs.’

Adam Pasco: ‘Yes, that’s me. I helped develop the concept for BBC Gardener of the Year, and judged it for a few years. Great fun, and worked with some wonderful people.’

Adam Trotman: ‘Yep I edited 2 of the years one directed by Dennis Javis and the other Patty Kraus.’

Patty Kraus: ‘I remember it well! Yes it was the Botanical gardens in Brum.’

Steve Bricknell: ‘This was the first show i ever worked on!! Not sure if this was my year though!’

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The Flying Gardener

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The first series of The Flying Gardener was produced in London, by Owen Gay in 2001, with the subsequent series being produced in Birmingham in 2003. Sarah Davis (now Moors) was the producer, and Gill Tierney the series producer, when the series transferred to Birmingham. It was transmitted on Friday evenings on BBC2. Presenter and garden designer, Chris Beardshaw travelled around the country in a helicopter, in search of inspirational gardens, to influence the design of a garden project.

Thanks to VT Editor, Ian Collins, for making the screen grab available.

The following comments were left on the Pebble Mill Facebook page:

Steve Saunderson: ‘Barry Foster shot a lot, all or some of it on tape and I shot the title sequence on film, all at 75fps on my Arri SR3 Advanced camera, which then was speed-ramped in the edit to whiz the helicopter in and out of frame. My focus puller was Terry Bartlett and the assistant was my son Paul. We were on top of a steep “cliff” at a golf club somewhere above Cheltenham so that Chris could stand on the edge and have the helicopter rise and fall behind him with lots of airspace to manoeuvre. We shot most of it on my 50mm, 85mm and 135mm prime Zeiss Superspeed lenses, to visually pull the helicopter closer to Chris.’

Adam Trotman: ‘Yep I edited all the stings… speed ramping them…..very in those days….. bloody Matrix had a lot to answer for’

Barrie Foster: ‘ It was great fun. Tim Green did the sound and Castle Air did the flying. Memorable very ‘lumpy ‘ rid over Scottish hills after kippers for breakfast!‘

Tracey Bagley: ‘How could I forget this one .. hard sums and schedules but all worth the effort’

Sarah Moors: ‘Now there’s a blast from the past! The hours spent on that programme and the stories I could tell…The start of years of Gardening programmes for me. Happy times.’

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