Tag: Gardeners’ World

P.A. Course – Gail Herbert’s photos

 

Photos from Gail Herbert, no reproduction without permission.

These photos are of the Production Assistant Course from 1988.  Included in the photos are: Stephanie Ash (CE), Martine Crogan (M/C), Corinne Davies (M/C) , Patti Evans (PM), Gail Herbert (PM), Julia Hickman S&C, Helen Jackson (M/C), Yvonne James (Cardiff), Rebecca Martin (Schools), Deborah Moore (CE), Jennifer Slatter (Plymouth), Lorna Taschini (OU).

Patti Evans worked on many gardening programmes from Pebble Mill, as did Gail, although she also worked on ‘Top Gear’, in John King’s department, and on ‘Points of View’.  Helen Jackson moved down to Pebble Mill from Manchester, and worked on ‘Gardeners’ World’, and other gardening output, before moving south and giving up TV.

CM2

 

 

CM 2

Leigh Sinclair in CM2

Photos by Ben Peissell and Tim Savage, no reproduction without permission.

The lower photo shows VT Editor, Leigh Sinclair in CM2.

CM2 was an outside broadcast truck based at BBC Pebble Mill.  It normally had two cameras controlled from it, and was used to record programmes like ‘Gardeners’ World’, before portable single cameras became the norm in the mid 1980s.

Mike Bloore was a VT editor who worked on CM2:

‘There was no edit controller on CM2’s VTR’s. There was only a button to start both machines at the same time and trust to luck! On ‘Gardeners World’ we often did “roll back and mix” which involved playing back the last shot of the previously recorded sequence through the vision mixer allowing the vision mixer(the person) to mix through to the live camera of the next sequence to be shot while recording the whole event on the other VTR. This enabled mixes on location to be possible with only 2 VTR’s. Then someone invented pre-read but thats another story!’

Mike Bloore

Stefan Buczacki – ‘Gardening Britain’ & ‘Gardening Roadshow’

Photos by Gail Herbert, no reproduction without permission.

Gardening writer, presenter and plant pathologist Dr Stefan Buczacki made a number of gardening series at BBC Pebble Mill:

  • Stefan Buczacki’s Gardening Britain was a six part series transmitted in 1996 on BBC 2.  Stefan travelled round Britain dispensing gardening advice.  This series was recorded as a two camera outside broadcast.  The producer was Clare Boulter and the series producer Clare Stride. (The end of run meal features in the photos).
  • Stefan Buczacki’s Gardening Roadshow was a similar gardening advice show produced at Pebble Mill in 1998 for UK Style.  Again it was recorded as a two camera outside broadcast.  The crew for the series included cameraman Nigel Davey and Noel Paley, and sparks Herbie Donnelly.
  • Stefan also presented several stories for Gardeners’ World in 1990-1, including a feature on the restoration of Heligan Gardens in Cornwall, shown in one of the photos (Stefan with umbrella and palm trees).
  • Stefan also presented a series for UK Style called Stefan’s Ultimate Gardens, where he helped garden owners create a particular style of garden.  This series was recorded single camera.  Series producer Vanessa Jackson, director Paul Newman, researcher Emily Rusted.

Thanks to production assistant Gail Herbert for sharing her photos.

Stefan Buczacki at Heligan Gardens

Gardeners’ World – Andy Meikle in Heligan

Andy Meikle holding back the undergrowth

Photo by production assistant Gail Herbert.

In 1990 Gardeners’ World changed from being a programme usually produced from a two camera outside broadcast unit to one recorded on a portable single camera.  In the new format the programme consisted of inserts from a number of locations linked by Geoff Hamilton from his home garden of Barnsdale in Rutland.  Geoff would also do all the topical practical gardening, as well as some of the location stories.

One of the insert stories that was followed in Gardeners’ World in 1991 was about the restoration of Heligan Gardens in Cornwall, which had been badly neglected over a number of years.

This photo shows producer Andy Meikle holding back the undergrowth to allow the cameraman a good shot!

Andy sadly died earlier this week, after a long battle with cancer.

Andy Meikle – who sadly died today

Gardeners' World Christmas Lunch 1990

It was with great sadness that I heard that Andy Meikle died this morning, after a long battle with cancer.

Andy worked for many many years at Pebble Mill, first of all in the drama department on series like Gangsters and then as a director and producer on factual series like On the House and Gardeners’ World.

Andy was an extremely generous, and incredibly practical man – he was brilliant at DIY!

I worked with him on the DIY series On the House , when I joined an established team as a brand new researcher.  He taught me a lot about researching for factual television, as well as about working with contributors.

I remember him being really supportive when I directed my first insert on Gardeners’ World in 1990.  He said jokily, ‘don’t you hate it when someone can just do it?’ – I certainly hadn’t been able to ‘just do it’, but knowing that he thought I’d done a good job was really important to me, and really helped my confidence.

This photo is from the Christmas lunch for the Gardeners’ World production team from 1990.  It includes, left to right: Andy Meikle, Denis Adams, Mark Kershaw, Kulvinder Chudge, Nick Patten, Steph Silk, next might be me (Vanessa Jackson) or Ann Holmes, I can’t see enough of the next two girls to identify, then Patti Evans with the blonde hair, Howard Perks, and Gail Herbert (whose photo it is).

Andy will be much missed, and our thoughts go out to his loved ones.