Harry Greene – What Was Pebble Mill?

On the House – cat flap

Photo by Chris Wedgebury, no reproduction without permission.

This photo is from the last series of the BBC 2 DIY show, On The House TX 4th November 1988. Steph Silk was the series producer, and the presenters were Rick Ball, Pattie Coldwell and Harry Greene. I was the researcher on an item about how to fit a catflap, which we recorded in the studio house, in the back garden of Pebble Mill. I brought in my dog, Oscar (whose head is sticking through the cat flap) to test out the cat flap. The cat in the photo is Steph Silk’s cat, Bagpuss. I do remember that The Clothes Show Exec, Roger Casstles brought in his own cat, also called Oscar, who was Siamese, and spent most of his time sat on top of the fence surrounding the house.

Vanessa Jackson

Here is the Radio Times entry for the episode, from the BBC Genome project http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/861c145b4f1a4114b036fc43c05aaaed:

‘Third of six programmes What’s new pussycat?
Pattie Coldwell looks at what’s available in cat flaps. Rick Ball finds out if self-build is worth the effort as the Cures move into the home they’ve built themselves. Troubleshoot goes to Nottingham where Harry Greene helps Stasia French draughtstrip her front door.
What’s in Store keeps you up-to-date with the latest in DIY, decor and design. Producer ANDREW MEIKLE
Series producer STEPHANIE SILK BBC Pebble Mill
Send factsheet requests to: [address removed]. Enclose £1.25 for double issue (3 and 4) or £3.50 for whole series (1-6)
ChequeslPOs payable to Housefax’

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

Jane Ward: ‘I remember that day so well!
My grey tabby, Chutzpah, took part too. I remember having “cat catchers” stationed all over the set as various moggies made their bid for freedom! Chutzpah’s expenses cheque was never cashed…(about 99p?!). Think it hung in my loo for a while.
I think Angela Horsman (now Profit) from Contracts also brought her long haired fluffy cat in (sorry, not sure of breed!). I seem to remember she (the cat!) looked around most disdainfully at the whole proceedings…
Hilarious day! ‘

Harry Greene (1923-2013)

Pattie Coldwell, Harry Greene, Gilly Love, Rick Ball

Steph Silk & Andy Meikle – On The House

The On The House publicity shot includes Harry Greene on the left, Pattie Coldwell above with the wallpaper, Rick Ball with the tape measure and Gilly Love with the drill.

Harry Greene died in March 2013 after collapsing at home. He was in his ninetieth year.

Harry Greene is best known as one of the presenters of On The House, the popular late 1980s DIY television series. Harry made DIY popular and accessible. He began with a career in theatre and television as an actor, and was married to actress, Marjie, with whom he had three children. He wasn’t in fact called ‘Harry Greene’, until he changed his name by deed poll in 1950, from Henry Howard Greenhouse.

Harry was always keen on DIY, but became the first TV DIY presenter in the 1980s when he made a series for Greg Dyke at TV-AM, about the renovation of a neglected house. TV-AM bought the house for the series, and filmed the whole conversion. The completed house was given away in a competition.

Presenting on Pebble Mill’s On The House, was a natural extension for Harry. On The House was the brainchild of Andy Meikle, with Stephanie Silk the programme editor given the task of turning the idea into a successful returning series on BBC 2. The On The House, house was a timber framed building situated in the back garden of BBC Pebble Mill. The house operated as a TV studio, and demonstration area for the series, and you had to remember that there was no plumbing in the house!

For more information about Harry Greene see his son in law, Mike Smith’s blog: http://mikesmithinlondon.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/harry-greene.html?spref=tw. Mike is married to Harry’s daughter, TV presenter Sarah Greene, who presented Pebble Mill’s Good Morning Summer, although she’s probably best known as a Blue Peter presenter.

I worked as a researcher on the last series of On The House in 1989, and enjoyed working with Harry. I remember he kept changing his mind about the size of screws he wanted, and as I’d bought what he’d originally asked for, we didn’t have the right size on location!

Vanessa

The following comment was posted on the Pebble Mill Facebook group:

Julian Hitchcock: ‘What a nice man. The screw size anecdote rings true.
I worked on the first series in, I think, 1986. I’d proposed a DIY series to David Waine, on the basis of the then explosion in DIY shares following the Thatcher reforms and boom in home ownership. David told me that Andy Meikle wanted to do the same thing and that a budget had been scraped together. Stephanie Silk joined to keep order and give the programme glossy lifestyle values etc. Andy was, however, very much the engine of invention. I just gave it its name (prize: one bottle of champagne) and directed gripping items on the installation of damp courses, latest trend in door mats and hammers (leading to the slogan, “On the House, the only programme with hammer glamour).

My recollection is that Andy revered Harry Greene because of an ancient connection with the previous icon of television DIY, Barry Bucknell. Incredibly, Bucknell’s heyday was in the 1950s. There had been nothing in between at all, so we had the satisfaction of breaking new ground, but I think Andy wanted to show the baton being passed on. Our first programme, as I recollect, looked back to Barry Bucknell. We found old footage of Barry boxing in a beautiful spindle staircase (planing off the rounded edges the better to support his streamlined hardboard) and various others acts of vandalism. I’m not sure that Harry quite got the joke (surely Barry had done a good, professional job?) but he was a lovely chap. I also credit Andy, Steph and BBC Birmingham in giving the job to someone of Harry’s age and, frankly, inexperience. He had great warmth, which viewers plainly appreciated.’

On The House – photos from Annie Gumbley

Front door of the ‘On The House’ house

On The House was a popular DIY magazine programme which went out on Friday evenings on BBC 2 in the late 1980s.

It spawned a whole host of other DIY series in both the daytime and primetime schedules.

The actual house was a timber framed, brick clad house which was erected in the grounds of BBC Pebble Mill behind the main office block. There was an excellent time-lapse sequence of the house being erected. The house operated as a television studio, and was set up so that it was easy to shoot in. You also had to remember not to use the toilet – as it wasn’t connected to any sewage pipes!

The show was the brainchild of producer Andy Meikle with Steph Silk the series producer.

The show was presented by Harry Greene (father of Sarah Greene), Rick Ball and Pattie Coldwell.

Pattie Caldwell, Harry Greene, Rick Ball