Clive Swift – What Was Pebble Mill?

Pickwick Papers

John Rees on Pickwick Papers. Photograph by Albert Sheard, no reproduction without permission

Pickwick Papers, Phil Hawkins, Frank Manning, Kevin Priestly, John Rees, photo by Albert Sheard, no reproduction without permission

Thanks to Albert Sheard for sharing these photos from the 1985 adaptation of Dickens’s Pickwick Papers. The location was in Ludlow, Shropshire. Here is the entry from the Radio Times, courtesy of the BBC Genome project:

Synopsis:

by Charles Dickens dramatised in 12 episodes by Jack Davies
starring Nigel Stock as Mr Pickwick with Clive Swift as Mr Tupman, Jeremy Nicholas as Mr Winkle, Alan Parnaby as Mr Snodgrass and Colin Douglas as Mr Wardle, Patrick Malahide as Mr Jingle
Charles Dickens was still only 24 when, in his own words, “I thought of Mr Pickwick…”
The Pickwick Papers soon became a national craze. Mr Pickwick, his friends Tupman, Winkle and Snodgrass, and his cockney servant the immortal Sam Weller, have been among the most popular characters in fiction ever since.
This week they begin their travels through the England of stage-coaches and coaching inns – in a new version of Dickens’s first and most-loved bestseller.
(Nigel Stock visits “Pebble Mill at One” tomorrow)

Contributors
Author: Charles Dickens
Dramatised by: Jack Davies
Music composed and conducted by: Carl Davis
Lighting Director: Bob Chaplin
Script Editor: Terrance Dicks
Designer: Myles Lang
Producer: Barry Letts
Director: Brian Lighthill
Narrator: Ray Brooks
Mr Pickwick: Nigel Stock
Mr Tupman: Clive Swift
Mr Winkle: Jeremy Nicholas
Mr Snodgrass: Alan Parnaby
Sam Weller: Phil Daniels
Mr Wardle: Colin Douglas
Mr Jingle: Patrick Malahide
Mrs Bardell: Jo Kendall
Cab driver: Barry Linehan
Waiter (Bull Inn): Russell Denton
Doorman: Michael Godley
Mrs Budger: Mary Maxted
Dr Slammer: Gerald James
Lt Tappleton: John Patrick
Boots: Peter Richards

The Pickwick Papers

Photo by Neil Wigley, no reproduction without permission.

The Pickwick Papers was a twelve part BBC London drama serial, hosted at Pebble Mill, and transmitted in 1985. The interiors would have been recorded in Studio A.

The series featured Ray Brooks, Nigel Stock, Clive Swift, Jeremy Nicholas, Alan Parnaby and Phil Daniels (shown here, whispering).

The director was Brian Lighthill, Bob Chaplin was lighting director, Myles Lang the designer, Sue Peck the costume designer, and Gill Hughes the make-up designer.

Thanks to the BBC Drama Village for sharing the photo.

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

Ray Holman: ‘This was my very first job at Pebble Mill. I was a dresser in the costume department through the filming and then all the studio days, I looked after Phil Daniels, pictured here.’

Patricia Hodge Robinson: ‘Ditto, Ray! I helped to dress the female extras on studio days or Supporting Artistes as they were called then. My first telly job too!’

Pickwick Papers – photos by Tim Savage

Photos by Tim Savage, no reproduction without permission.

‘Pickwick Papers’ was a BBC drama series from 1985. It was hosted at Pebble Mill. The director was Brian Lighthill, the producer was Barry Letts and the script was written by Terrance Dicks. Bob Chaplin was the lighting designer, Sue Peck and costume designer, Gill Hughes the make-up designer and Myles Lang, the production designer.

The series starred Nigel Stock, Clive Swift (gardening presenter Joe Swift’s father), Jeremy Nicholas, Alan Parnaby, and Colin Douglas.

The first photo features Paul Higton from costume. The subsequent photos show a horse drawn carriage hired for the shoot. The location was a stately home near Telford.

In the carriage photos (l to r): John Couzens (camera) in navy jumper, centre in blue short-sleeved shirt, Elson Godbolt, Dick Bentley, second from right, it is probably David Robinson, to the right of Dick.

All Together Now – photo from John Greening

‘All Together Now’ was a play about a brass band (mildly comic) and a pre cursor to the Pete Postlethwaite film ‘Brassed Off’. Clive Swift, is the father of gardening presenter Joe Swift, and later went on to work on ‘Keeping Up Appearances’. The play was originally a theatre piece, playing at the Nottingham Playhouse, amongst others.

Clive Swift has identified those in the photo, and makes the following comments: from left to right the actors are Ann Hockney (an amateur I think), Chrissy Roberts, ME, Alan Starkey, Michael Griffiths. The play, directed by Robin Midgley and written by Peter Buckman, was debuted at The Haymarket Theatre, LEICESTER, on 1979. (It later played at the Greenwich theatre, London, with Tony Steedman replacing me in the lead, and was televised on BBC 1 during the 1980′s, with me again). Director David Attwood’s debut.