Country Tracks – What Was Pebble Mill?

Here are a couple of titles stills from the stylish, offbeat countryside guide, Tracks
circa 1995-7.

Here is the Radio Times entry for the episode transmitted on 4th July 1995:

http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/ec2920a7ab4f40a1900a5cce24b58dea

“The weekly guide to the countryside. In tonight’s programme, Lindsay Cannon talks to champion trainer
Ian Openshaw about the secret life of working dogs such as the labrador, golden retriever and springer spaniel and learns, amongotherthings, that labradors were originally bred for catchingfish.
Undaunted by the cerebral palsy that slows his movement, disabled mountaineer John Hawkridge – who has previously tackled Everest and Annapurna – embarks on a trek among some magnificent prehistoric ruins in Orkney. There he indulges his passion for neolithic sights and visits
Maeshowe and the Ring of Brodgerat midnighton Midsummer’s Day.
David Stafford looks at Rattus rattus, also known as the black rat, which may be the most endangered mammal in Britain. Far outnumbered by the brown rat, the black rat gains little sympathy for its plight, having been responsible for the spread of the Black Death. Plus the animated Tracks guide to trees continues with the native yew. Steeped in myth and legend, it has unusual growth characteristics.
Producer Kathryn Moore ; Series producer Dick Colthurst”

The series was re-titled Country Tracks from 1998.

Each episode contained a distinctive animated sequence, which I think was drawn by Pebble Mill graphics designer, Tony Fisher.

Thanks to Ian Collins for making the grabs available.

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

Tracey Bagley: “Tracks was briefly part of my portfolio when I joined the dept as Unit Manager. I recall Tony Fisher definitely doing animation for one of my series and out of them all, I think it could only be this.”

Kath Moore: “Tony did them all – with his usual dedication and inimitable, incredible professionalism. He asked such In-depth questions about the characters – in order that that looked right and lived in the right house / environment we created a biog for each of the main souls…from scratch. Tony was as one in a million.”

Country Tracks was described as an offbeat countryside guide. There were several series of the show in the 1990s, with different presenters. These included Ray Mears and Pete McCarthy. The show had very high production values, and came out of John King’s department. Many of the team who worked on the series had come from The Clothes Show, like Kath Moore and Colette Foster.

I’m not sure which series of the show this titles grab is from.

Thanks to Ian Collins for sharing the grab.

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

Adam Trotman: ‘This was my first full on VT assistant job…. moving up the ranks to actually editing the later series…. was first called Tracks….. not sure why they added Country.’

Nicola Silk: ‘I directed on Country Tracks with Pete Mccarthy. title grab could be from 1998 or 1999 which was the last series. great programme to work on. It was under John King then later Andrew Thorman. The days when you never really saw the execs. no idea why they added the word Country either?’

Russell Parker: ‘I loved Pete McCarthy, was overjoyed to get to speak with him once, and cried like a girl when I heard he’d died.’

Robin Sunderland: ‘Always enjoyed shooting for tracks. Remember filming an owl once, on a very blustery day. Owner was reluctant to let it fly, but the director persuaded him. He let it go and the wind just carried it away ….we never saw it again! Oops!’