John Bland

Nicola Katrak shoot

On location on the 1986, Nicola Katrak documentary with the Asian Programme Unit. In the photograph are Barrie Foster (then camera assistant), Steve Saunderson (film cameraman), Waseem Mahmood (director).

Here is the entry for the documentary from the Radio Times:

“A Dancer’s Story – Nicola Katrak
Narrated by Marian Foster An Asian Magazine special that takes a look at the hard, dedicated profession of dancing through the eyes of Nicola Katrak , a young
Principal with the Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet.
Nicola is descended from a distinguished Parsee family in Karachi, Pakistan. The film shows Nicola rehearsing at Sadler’s Wells, relaxing at home in London with her husband Charles, and also working with young children teaching them to appreciate ballet.
Research ELISABETH SEABOURNE Film editor JOHN BLAND
Director WASEEM MAHMOOD
Executive producer ASHOK RAMPAL BBC Pebble Mill”

https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/f2419193cf7142e9ab22b9469926b9fb

Photo from Shirley O’Mara of John at the BBC Club, no reproduction without permission

John Bland, film editor, died recently. He joined BBC Birmingham as a news editor in Broad Street, and later became a film editor at Carpenter Road, before Pebble Mill was built. John’s credits include a Play for Today called Packman’s Barn 1976, the police series Juliet Bravo 1980; Mavericks, a BBC1 series in 1984 about eccentrics, produced by John Kenyon, which Sharon Pemberton assisted him on; and Countryfile amongst many others.

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

‘John Bland, a Film Editor at Pebble Mill for many years, passed away suddenly last week aged 78. His funeral will be held at Streetly Crematorium on Weds 26th August 2015 at 10.00am.’

Shirley O’Mara

‘I was John’s assistant for a while and he was very much part of my early years in editing at Pebble Mill. I recall being (pleasantly) surprised by his insistence that ‘Two Tribes’ (Frankie Goes To Hollywood) was the best single EVER and that Ruby Turner was the best singer to come out of Birmingham. (I think eclectic is the word!) I hope they’re both serenading you John. R.I.P.’

Sharon Pemberton

‘Great bloke! I ran the Run the World race with John, Ingrid Wagner and Geoff Dargue. We trained every lunchtime by running up all the flights of stairs at Pebble Mill. Judging by the state of us at the end of the race it didn’t do us much good!’

Mark Ray

John Bland and Dave Baumber

Photo by Peter Poole, no reproduction without permission.

The photo shows film editor John Bland, with dubbing mixer Dave Baumber in the background. It would have been taken around 1980.

Colin Fearnley – editing with an axe!

Colin Fearnley 1986

Photo by Paul Scholes, no reproduction without permission.

Colin Fearnley worked at Pebble Mill in VT.

There is a story about why he has an axe in the head! Colin had been working on a youth programme with Janet Street Porter, circa 1986. Apparently it was a very quick turnaround, and a review of the programme said that it looked as if it had been edited by a mad axeman. This spawned a whole host of axe jokes! Colin was probably VT play in man. [See comment below from Colin Fearnley correcting this detail!]

Thanks to Tim Savage for remembering the story of the axes.

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

Paul Colbert: ‘Could have been Reportage or Rough Guides, both of which I worked on as series Director in Manchester with most of the production team commuting on trains and planes to Manchester. Editor J S Porter, with Rachael Purnell and Sharon Ali. Tough times for the production team, even harder than working with Roger Castles on The Clothes Show! London Luvvies!’

Jane Mclean: ‘Was it Behind the Beat? God I HATED working on that programme.’

Dawn Trotman: ‘Behind the Beat. I remember editing that. Crazy hours and Janet Street Porter constantly screaming down the phone. I think we edited it in mechanical workshop? Lovely directors though but stressed.’

Jane Mclean: ‘The stuff of nightmares Dawn – every single aspect – and I mean every! JSP never once came to Brum (thank god) and in the end I refused to answer the phone!’

Dawn Trotman: ‘It was actually a creative time. I worked with some very adventurous directors who did try to re invent the wheel and suceed. Tough going but good times. Not that JSP was of any value but she did surround herself with the best in the business no fool in that respect just very shouty!’

Ian Collins: ‘The Mad Axman nickname was actually given to Jim Hiscox who was the editor working on “Behind The Beat”. I think Colin was the assistant and the axe was added well after the picture was taken.’

Dawn Trotman: ‘I beg to differ Ian. The Mad axeman was originally given to John Bland for a film he cut in about 1983 or 4 . It was set in a military defence barracks very strange ! Can’t remember the name, I think the producer was a Gareth ? And John ended up with a review which said cut by the mad axeman on acid ! We keep the cutting in his room at the end of the film corridor. But I didnt remember Jim being on Behind the Beat I remember Colin working on it . He used to tut over our inserts.’

Ian Collins: ‘Dare I suggest that there were two mad axe men :-)’

Paul Colbert: ‘Surely John Birt was the Mad Axe Man?’

Memories of Philip Donnellan – Peter Poole

Philip was a producer who gave a voice to people who seldom appeared on television. His films had a similar style to the ‘Radio Ballads’ produced in Birmingham by Charles Parker. They mixed actuality with specially commissioned music to tell the life stories of people from all sections of society. Philip was a great interviewer and was able to put interviewees at ease and talk at length.

Philip frequently had a high shooting ratio to achieve the highest standard of documentary production. He sometimes ran over budget before his films were finished. This caused some conflict with BBC management. However he always seemed to find the money to complete his films. In 1977 he produced ‘Pure Radio’. This film was about the Radio Features Department and Charles Parker. John Pierce from Audio Unit had worked on the ‘Radio Ballads’. He took part in this drama documentary working again with Charles Parker. The film editor was John Bland.

I remember working on ‘Gone for a Soldier’. A large group of World War 2 veterans told stories of their war time experiences. This was covered by 2 film cameras and 2 microphone booms. The only time filming stopped was when the audio tape ran out. The sound recordist was Dennis Cartwright from BBC Manchester. I can’t remember the rest of the crew. The film editor, Greg Miller spent many months on this production. It was broadcast in 1980 as two 50 minute films shown on the same night. This film was very controversial and generated a strong reaction in the media and the establishment. Questions were asked in Parliament as it showed the military in a very poor light. Philip was driven by a strong socialist political belief and was on the side of the “underdog”. The film’s main theme was the poor treatment of soldiers by the senior military. Specially commissioned music was used to illustrate the lives of soldiers throughout history to contemporary times. This was Philip’s finest film and much of it is still relevant today.

At times Philip could be a little “difficult” and did not appreciate my comments about his tape recording skills. His PA Elizabeth Seaborne called into the transfer suite with tapes for transfer to SEPMAG. It was evident they had not recorded by a professional sound recordist. My report listed many technical faults with these tapes. I stamped the tapes “Not for TX”. I soon heard Philip was rather annoyed by my comments. A little later Elizabeth phoned to tell me Philip was coming to see me. I was very apprehensive about telling a senior producer that his tapes were not broadcast quality. Philip came in looking quite annoyed but after some discussion we came to a mutual understanding.

Philip had a policy of keeping all material from his films after broadcast. A storage area in Pebble Mill’s basement was full of film negatives, tapes and paperwork going back many years. I hope this collection is now in safe storage.

Philip made many films and I was fortunate to have a very minor role in the last few. These films would never be made today due to cost and the long production times. Philip is a major figure in the documentary movement but now seems totally forgotten by the BBC. A Donnellan season on BBC Four would be a fitting tribute to this great producer. But the BBC seems intent on never repeating any of his work.

Peter Poole

: John Bland, photo by Peter Poole

Greg Miller, photo by Peter Poole