Keith Froggatt – Page 2 – What Was Pebble Mill?

The Car’s The Star

Image copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without pemission.

The Car’s The Star was a series about classic cars, presented by Quentin Willson. It began in 1994. Quentin would tell the story of a particular car, which was interspersed with interviews from its various owners. Jon Bentley was the series producer, with Dennis Adams as executive producer. David Lowe wrote the theme music. Brian Watkiss and Peter Shannon were editors on the early episodes, Gary Vollans did the graphics, and the cameramen included Keith Schofield, John Couzens, Nigel Davey, and Keith Froggatt.

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

Andrew Chorlton: ‘I recorded at least two episodes, Citroen DS and Land Rover, messrs Couzens and Foster on camera respectively. Highlights? Taking a DS down the runway at RAF Wroughton with one wheel removed and checking into a hotel down south with John Wilcox who’s room had been booked in the name of Sir John Wilcox.’

The Old Curiosity Shop

Jim Gray

Tony Wigley on Mole crane, Jim Gray on 4

Tony Wigley on crane, Keith Froggatt swinging

Tony Wigley on Mole crane, Keith Forggatt swinging and Martyn Suker

John Couzens talks to director, Tony Wigley on crane, Richard Reynolds on boom

Closing credits, Jim Gray back to camera

Studio A

The Old Curiosity Shop was a nine part series which went out in from December 1979 to February 1980. Barry Letts was the producer, Julian Amyes the director, Alistair Bell the script editor, William Trevor wrote the script adaptation, Michael Edwards was the production designer and Peter Booth was the lighting designer.

The cast included Sebastian Shaw as grandfather, Trevor Peacock as Daniel Quilp, Natalie Ogle as Little Nell, Granville Saxton as Dick Swiveller, Wensley Pithey as the Single Gentlemen, and Christopher Fairbank as Kit Nubbles.

The photos are of:

Jim Gray
Tony Wigley on Mole crane, Jim Gray on 4
Tony Wigley on crane & Keith Froggatt swinging.
Tony Wigley on Mole crane, Keith Froggatt swinging & Martyn Suker tracking.
A typical set
John Couzens, with arms folded, talks to the director (Julian Amyes). Tony Wigley on Mole crane, Richard Reynolds on boom.
Doing the closing credits. Jim Gray back to camera. Scene hands’ names may be Dick & Phil?

Thanks to James French for sharing the photos.

Pebble Mill at One outside broadcast – photos by John Burkill

Photos by Pebble Mill VT engineer and supervisor John Burkill, no reproduction without permission.

These photos of a Pebble Mill at One outside broadcast from October 1981.

Gardenwise – photo by Vanessa Jackson

‘Gardenwise’ was a BBC 1 Daytime magazine series in production in 1992. I think there were six episodes. It was produced at Pebble Mill by Clare Stride. I was a researcher and was lucky enough to do some single camera directing on the show, setting up items and directing some of the location stories.

This photo was taken as we were finishing a shoot in Madeira, which was a pretty glamorous location for a Daytime series. We recorded a couple of items about the gardens of Madeira, one about orchids, and one about the gardens of the Reid’s Hotel, where we stayed. Reid’s Hotel is famous for its beautiful setting, fantastic restaurants and illustrious guests, like George Bernard Shaw and Winston Churchill. We were extremely well looked after, and could choose which of the restaurants we chose to eat in – free of charge! I remember being happy to go along with camerman, Keith Froggatt’s choice of the a la carte restaurant. The rooms were sumptuous, and because I was the director, I had a suite (the first and last time whilst on location). We made good use of the swimming pool as well!

The photo features, from left to right; cameraman, Keith Froggatt; P.A. Sarah Reddi; presenter, Lydia Thomas; sound-man, Paul Taylor.

The Bollywood Story – Photos by Andy Frizzell

Photos by Andy Frizzell, no reproduction without permission.

‘The Bollywood Story’ was a two part documentary, produced at Pebble Mill by Narendhra Morar, about the history of Indian cinema from 1913. It went out in 1989. The film editor was Mike Duxbury, assisted by Victoria Trow.

These photos are from a trip to India (Bombay, mostly). The documentary title was The Bollywood Story’. I think we spent four weeks in and around the Indian film industry in Bombay interviewing stars, prospective stars and key people from the industry.  We spent a lot of time following Anil Kapoor who was a big star in India then. He will be better known to British film goers as Prem Kumar the ‘Chris Tarrant’ character in Slumdog Millionaire.  The crew were Paul Sen, Director; Cameraman was John Kenway; Assistant/Second camera Keith Froggatt; Sound Alex Christison PA was Douglas ??? He was one of only two male PA’s in the Beeb at the time and there was a researcher, Harbinder Minhas. We had a fixer called Uday who made my life a lot easier with the hired in crews for the studio shoot.  The studio we had was previously used for filming parts of ‘Ghandi’. There were some dubious bits of kit. The crane looked like it was made from giant Meccano and the overhead lighting ‘gantry’ was just scaffold boards and rope.   Conversation on arrival: John Kenway: (to me)

“You’re not going up there!….”

Me: “Damned right I’m not!”

As if he needed to tell me!   I had a crew of twenty in that studio which was pretty good considering I only had fifteen lights!  The dodgy wiring and mechanical lighting effect were both seen on set at another studio and both involved exposed conductors. I’d like to point out they were nothing to do with me and I didn’t use them!

Andy Frizzell