Ian Collins – What Was Pebble Mill?

Chris Rowlands on the RAC Rally

Photo from Mel Stevens, no reproduction without permission

This photo is of Film Unit’s Chris Rowlands, when he was Editing Organiser. It dates from the mid to late 1980s and is from the RAC Rally. Chris would order in editing equipment to fit out a van to edit on location.

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

Ian Collins: I was the editor on CM2 working on the Rally in 1988. John Burkill was Producer along with the late John Smith if I remember rightly and Tony Rayner was the Director. I think LO22 was also involved but I can’t rennet where we were located.

Ned Abell: Remember CM2 parked nearly outside the Nottingham Albany rally headquarters..and the Laguna Tandoori 3 steps away after transmission with starters on the table!!

Malcolm Hickman: I did plan the radio links for the RAC rally which was starting in Scarborough. That would have been the late 80s.

Great Expectations – the street

Photo by Albert Sheard, no reproduction without permission

This is the street in Dickens’ Great Expectations from the 1981 series produced at Pebble Mill. The street was constructed in Studio A by designer Michael Edwards, and demonstrates the skill of the production designer.

Thanks to scenic services Albert Sheard for sharing the photograph.

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

Julian Hitchcock: ‘Fabulous set. I worked on this. Stratford Johns was Magwitch. Nice man.’

David Headon: ‘Studio A was amazing. You could land a Lancaster Bomber in there..’

Ian Collins: ‘I was the VT Editor on that production. Great times.’

Nick Booth: ‘Peter Booth was the lighting designer’

News Team

Photos by Jane Partridge, no reproduction without permission

‘News Team’ T-shirt belonging to Phil Partridge.

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

Ian Collins: ‘It was an animated logo and a version of it was on the front of the building for a while.’

Stuart Gandy: ‘You are right Ian, it was on the front of the building as can be seen in the picture on this wikipedia page about Pebble Mill.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pebble_Mill_Studios. I think I remember it being animated when it appeared at the start of the programme. I’m sort of guessing late 80s.’

Camilla Fisher: ‘The logo was designed by Tony Fisher based on transport etc meeting in the middle (rather than something going down the drain).’

RHS Tatton Park Flower Show

Screen grabs from the RHS Tatton Park Flower Show, in Knutsford, Cheshire. The flower show began in July 1999, with annual coverage by the BBC starting within a year or two.

I was the series producer of the two BBC2 programmes from Tatton Park in 2004. I can’t remember if these photos are from this year or not.

Thanks to editor, Ian Collins for sharing these grabs.

Vanessa Jackson

Mahendra Kaul obituary

The article above is from the Times of India: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/nri/other-news/veteran-nri-broadcaster-mahendra-kaul-dies/articleshow/64947726.cms

Mahendra Kaul was one of two producer/presenters who worked in the Immigrants’ Programme Unit at Carpenter Road, and later at Pebble Mill in Birmingham.

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

Dharmesh Rajput: ‘He was a pioneer in South Asian broadcasting in the UK – many of us who worked in the Asian Programmes Unit probably owe our careers to him and the teams behind those early Asian programmes such as Apna Hi Ghar Samajiye (Make Yourself At Home or Think Of This As Your Home) and Nayi Zindagi Naya Jeevan (New Life, New Life). I remember these programmes as staple viewing on Sunday mornings while eating breakfast in the 70s and 80s.’

Ian Collins: ‘I can remember having to edit Urdu under Mahendra’s direction. Whether any of the edits made sense I will never know but he was always happy with the end result.’