James Alexander Sinclair – What Was Pebble Mill?

James Alexander-Sinclair RTS Award

This is the Royal Television Society nomination certificate awarded to James Alexander-Sinclair, for Best New Talent, for the Midland Centre in 2004. James was nominated for his presenting of the third series of Small Town Gardens on BBC2.

I can’t remember who actually won the Award for Best New Talent that year, but as series producer of Small Town Gardens it was great to be able to attend the Awards dinner, with James, and of course to work with him on the series.

Vanessa Jackson

Small Town Gardens, Ripon

This photo is from the BBC2 design series: Small Town Gardens. This episode from Ripon, North Yorkshire is from series 3, which went out in autumn 2003, and was presented by James Alexander Sinclair.

The Radio Times entry, courtesy of the BBC Genome project describes it thus:

‘Alice in Wonderland comes to North Yorkshire. A listed town house in a Victorian crescent in Ripon is beautifully maintained but let down by a dull and scruffy front garden. Author Lewis Carroll was a frequent visitor to the house, so designer John Elm cultivates a Wonderland-esque garden, inspired by the surreal topiary of Levens Hall in Cumbria.’ http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/54dea337ef8949019ea4bd3c167bb8e8

This episode was directed by Paul Vanezis, and I was the series producer.

Vanessa Jackson

Small Town Gardens – Winchester

These photos are from Small Town Gardens, series 3, 2003, transmitted on 14th Nov on BBC2.

Presenter, James Alexander-Sinclair, on the left, is in conversation with garden designer, John Brookes (largely hidden), and garden owner, Janet Graham. The second photo shows the finished garden, after it had been made-over to John’s design.

Here is the entry from the Radio Times for the programme, from the BBC Genome project: http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/6a168e705ab9412e97a5acf488f0bb3f

Synopsis

New series, top garden designers get down and dirty with some of Britain’s smallest gardens as the horticultural show returns for a third six-part series. Designer John Brookes tackles the sloping back garden of a Victorian terrace in Winchester, Hampshire. With James Alexander-Sinclair .
Director David Smith ; Series producer Vanessa Jackson

Contributors

Designer: John Brookes
Presenter: James Alexander-Sinclair
Director: David Smith
Producer: Vanessa Jackson

Small Town Gardens – Ripon

This article was published in the Scenic Blue Garden Living Magazine in Spring 2004; it features a garden makeover we did in Ripon, North Yorkshire for the design show, Small Town Gardens series 3. This series was presented by James Alexander Sinclair, and I was the series producer. The producer/director of this episode was Paul Vanezis.

The garden was a very formal design, inspired by Alice in Wonderland. Lewis Carroll had been a frequent visitor to the house, and one of the girls who lived there was said to be the inspiration for Alice.

Vanessa Jackson

Small Town Gardens – Andover garden

This photo shows the final planting up of the back garden of a modern town house in Andover, designed by Andrew Fisher Tomlin. This garden was part of Small Town Gardens, series 3, transmitted 2003 on BBC 2 at 8pm. The waterfall in this garden worked brilliantly, making the most of the sloping garden with the change in levels. I seem to remember that we filmed the final scenes at night with the pond lit up with floating candles etc.

The presenter was James Alexander Sinclair. I was the series producer. It was a great series to work on, the team of designers transformed some dull and boring gardens into some fantastic outdoor spaces.

Vanessa Jackson