Ainsley Harriott – What Was Pebble Mill?

Good Morning with Anne and Nick Hotliners

Photo from Steve Johnson, no reproduction without permission

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The photo shows the hotline team from the 1990’s daytime magazine programme, Good Morning with Anne and Nick. The CSV volunteers who manned the phone lines were an integral part of the programme, and regularly appeared on screen, as well as putting through the calls from viewers. The photo was taken at the end of the last show in 1996. Working on the hotline was the start of quite a number of successful careers in the BBC.

Thanks to Steve Johnson for sharing the photo.

Please add a comment if you can identify anyone.

The following comment was left on the Pebble Mill Facebook page:

Grant Robinson: ‘I’ll identify myself. Back row furthest right! I was a lowly runner – occasionally herding the talent (Robson & Jerome!) and filtering out the inappropriate mail before it reached A&N! I remember the wrap party when the show finished. Anne made a very barbed speech and Ainsley Harriott dropped his trousers!’

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Ainsley’s Barbecue Bible

Ainsley’s Barbecue Bible was a six part series made for BBC 2 in summer 1997, with a second series in 1998. Ben Warwick was the director, with producers, Roulla Xenides and Jane Lomas. The assistant producers were Sue Ashcroft and Lisa Kendrick, with Liz Darby being the PA on the first series and Jane Mclean the PA on the second.

The series involved Ainsley travelling round the world in search of the best barbecue ideas. His journey included: Britain, South Africa, Jamaica, Thailand, Australia and Greece.

Here is the link to the Radio Times entry for the first episode, from the BBC Genome project: http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/bf1a6891e372488fa092dc8f8f0ae415.

Thanks to Ian Collins for making the grab available.

The following comment was left on the Pebble Mill Facebook page:

Roulla Xenides: ‘I made barbecued jerk chicken on Saturday using the jerk marinade recipe from the book which is a pretty good one. Many memories of the series including baboons attacking our BBQ at the Cape of Good Hope – we had to escape to the car and watch an entire family of them eating all of the ingredients for the South African Sosaties, not to mention the male baboon displaying his ‘virility’ in a rather belligerent manner. Annie Jenkins designed the graphics and this shot was filmed in her back garden. Funny, we were just talking about it this morning!’

Ainsley’s Big Cook Out

This titles grab is from the six part cookery series: Ainsley’s Big Cook Out, which went out in summer 1999. Here is the Radio Times entry for the first episode, courtesy of the BBC Genome project:

‘Beginning a six-part travelling cookery programme. Chef
Ainsley Harriott travels the Americas in search of the finest local ingredients with which to prepare his own barbecue recipes, starting in the Canadian island province of Newfoundland.
He visits Signal Hill, just outside the capital, and also goes white-water rafting in western Quebec. Harriott’s creations include scallops with coriander, fishcakes, pan-fried cod, barbecued river eel and, for two Mounties, Canadian pancakes.’ http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/90ad756523aa4b799016adeb0d8fda5a

The producer was Sara Kozak, with Roger Casstles as Exec Producer.

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

Ainsley Harriott – Good Morning with Anne and Nick

Photos by Karen Bond, no reproduction without permission.

TV chef, Ainsley Harriott, on Good Morning with Anne and Nick, visits the Hotliners, who manned the phones of the daily live magazine show. The photo dates from the early 1990s.

Thanks to Karen Bond for sharing the photos.

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

Stuart Gandy: ‘Ainsley once gave me an apple! It was at the end of one of the recordings of Can’t Cook, Won’t Cook. I was on the studio floor clearing up after the programme for the day, when he suddenly declared there were lots of apples left over, and promptly dished them out to many of us.’

Bridget Vaughan: ‘I appeared on Can’t Cook with BBC Wm’s Bob Brolly, we won.’

Carolyn Davies: ‘Was thinking of GM today! Ainsley used to cook a separate batch of food especially for the crew….’

Ainsley Harriott – Good Morning with Anne and Nick

Photo from Kathryn Shuttleworth, no reproduction without permission.

This photo of celebrity chef, Ainsley Harriott, was taken on the set of ‘Good Morning with Anne and Nick’. Ainsley was one of the resident experts on the live, morning show, which ran from 1992-6, using Pebble Mill’s Studio C.

The photo was taken with a panoramic camera, being demonstrated on the morning magazine show. They were left on set at the end of the show, and Kathryn kept them safe.

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

Murray Clarke: ‘A lovely man. What you see is what you get! Great chef to work with. I worked with Ainsley on location shoots only (not in the studio). One programme saw him dressed as Superman on a bicycle to secretly cook dinner parties for hosts with zero culinary talents – and then to pop out of the kitchen at the very end to reveal the truth to the amazed guests!!! ‘

Denny Hodge: ‘I worked with Ainsley on ‘Ready Steady Cook’ we had great fun.’