Tag: Dave Bushell

Morte D’Arthur – David Short (cameraman)

Here is a crew photo from Morte D’Arthur and a shot of me operating an EMI 2001 camera with Gillian Lynne looking on. Morte D’Arthur was the first time that I had a chance to operate a camera on a major drama production. I had a lot of encouragement from fellow cameraman, Jim Gray, who encouraged me greatly. Drama became my favoured type of production to work on.

David Short  – Cameraman at Pebble Mill from Sept. 1981 until May 1985 (when I transferred to TV Centre)

In the first photo l to r: Toby Horwood, Phil Thickett, Gillian Lynne (seated centrally), Bob Meikle (back right)

Crew of Nike

David Short on the EMI 2001 with Gillian Lynne

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Photo copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission)

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

Steve Dellow: ‘I’m sure that the last EMI2001’s were in Studio B during autumn ’83….? Then it was Link 125’s all round….and of course the old EMI in Pres?

Dave Bushell: ‘Looks like a 2001 – nasty things!’

Steve Dellow: ‘When I arrived in Sept ’83, Studio A was being refurbished and I was assigned to Colin Speirs to do acceptance testing. So maybe the recordings were done earlier in the year before it was stripped out?

Nasty things? From what I heard,once they were lined up they stayed lined up, not like the Links that needed realigning twice a day! However, they didn’t like being left pointing at a line up chart for an excessive period – like Doug (Services) did when he left it while he went for his dinner! New tube please!’

Dave Bushell: ‘Just stirring it, Steve! I never liked the tinted-monochrome feel of the EMIs but I was a voice crying in the wilderness when I arrived at Pebble Mill in 1984. Criricising the EMI 2001 was not a move guaranteed to endear me as the new boy.’

Steve Dellow: ‘No worries – I was coming from an engineer’s direction! ;-)’

Dave Short: ‘Ask any cameraman who worked during the 70’s or 80’s what was the best camera to operate, and the EMI 2001 would come out tops.’

‘A Box of Swan’ -photos by Willoughby Gullachsen

Adrian Dunbar (John)

Sandy Ratcliff, Pete Postlethwaite, Hilary Sesta, Adrian Dunbar

Photos by Willoughby Gullachsen, no reproduction without permission.

A Box of Swan was a ‘Debut on Two’ drama produced at Pebble Mill, transmitted on 9th Oct 1990 on BBC 2.  Alan David Price wrote the script, and  it was produced by Vicky Licorish and Philippa Giles, Diana Patrick was the director.

The BFI database describes the drama as a:

‘Play about a young man brought back to his roots by the death of his father, a road sweeper for 27 years. John moved to London to further his career as an architect, but his ambivalent feelings towards his family are brought to a head when he returns home for the funeral.’

http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/445934

The film starred Pete Postlethwaite as Tony, Adrian Dunbar as John, Hilary Sesta as Mother, Sandy Ratcliff as Patricia and Bryan Pringle as Father.

Thanks to Dave Bushell, who was the lighting director, for identifying the drama from the photos.  Dave remembers that there were six plays in all on ‘Debut on Two’, two filmed on location and four in Studio A. They were written by new writers with established actors. The locations for ‘Box of Swan’ included an Italian restaurant and a undertaker’s chapel-of-rest, in Bearwood, West Midlands.

The other ‘Debut on Two’ plays were  Kingdom Come, Widow of Vulnerability, The Wake, Breast is Best, and the Conversion of St Paul. They were a similar idea to the ‘Second City First’ series of studio dramas from the 1970s, which also featured new talent, and particularly new writers.

‘Dread Poets Society’ – TX Card from Dave Bushell

Dread Poets Society

TX card for ‘Dread Poets Society’

This was a hosted production shot on location at Oxley Carriage Sidings, Wolverhampton. Two railway carriages were rewired by Derek McCulloch and his sparks so that I could reproduce my take on what it would feel like to be in a train during a thunderstorm. The weather was appalling, as I remember, and we had to deal with a number of equipment problems. Still it was interesting to do (and I like trains!).

Producers were George Faber and Estelle Daniel, director Andy Wilson and the cast were Benjamin Zephaniah, Timothy Spall, Alex Jennings, Dexter Fletcher, Alan Cumming and Emma Fielding. Transmission was in 1992.

Dave Bushell

‘The Daughter-in-Law’ – TX Card from Dave Bushell

TX card

‘The Daughter-in-Law’ was an adaptation of D.H.Lawrence’s play about the 1912 coal strike.  It was produced at Pebble Mill in Studio A and transmitted in 1985. It was directed by Martyn Friend and produced by Carol Parks. Dave Bushell who has kept this TX card since 1985 was the director of lighting.  Michael Edwards was the designer and Ian Rae sound supervisor.

It was a star studded cast including Sheila Hancock, Cherie Lunghi, David Threlfall, Mick Ford, Carmel McSharry and Wilfred Grove.

Gareth Williams, adds the following comment: ‘I was the floor assistant on this show.  It was recorded over four days in Studio A in story order.  This meant that however much or little attention they paid in the preparation period, every single member of the crew got to see the story unfold before their very  eyes, played out by a fantastic cast.

The final scene between David Threlfall and Cheri Lunghi (the Daughter in Law) after Carmel McSharry’s character had died, left the whole studio moist eyed – and then Martyn Friend asked for another take, and we all cried again!’

Commemorative Dish – Dave Bushell

Commemorative Dish

The opening of Pebble Mill in 1971 was obviously an occasion to be celebrated, prompting Wedgwood to produce a limited edition commemorative dish!

Fortunately Dave Bushell found this dish in a charity shop – it doesn’t seem to have had a lot of wear!  I wonder how many more there might be out there – and whether they are now a collector’s item?