Make Yourself at Home – What Was Pebble Mill?

Bish Mehay, thoughts from Waseem Mahmood

(Asian Unit producers: Yosuf Aziz, Waseem Mahmood, Krishan Gould and Bish Mehay. Seated is Ashok Rampal, the executive producer.)

“It is with great sadness that I learn of the passing of my old colleague, Bish Mehay. I shared an office with him for six years and learnt so much from him. It is a sobering thought that of the original producers of the BBC Asian Programmes Unit in this picture, only I remain. It is a shame that the pioneering work that these men did for Asian broadcasting in UK in the 70’s and 80’s has been largely overlooked and lost in the annals of history. The contribution of Ashok Rampal, Krishen Gould, Yosuf Aziz and Bish Mehay has to be recognised and acknowledged. The programmes we made Asian Magazine on BBC1, Gharbar on BBC 2 and Make Yourself at Home on Radio 4 were a staple part of life for the majority of Asians at that time. It is these men who laid the foundations and opened the doors for all of us in the media today.”

Waseem Mahmood

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.’

Asian Magazine

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Thanks to director Waseem Mahmood for sharing these images about Asian Magazine featured in the book Inside BBC Television.

The series was transmitted on BBC1 on Sunday mornings at 10am in the early to mid 1980s.

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

Dawn Trotman: ‘ I worked with Waseem as an acting editor on the Asian magazine show later to become Network East. I think I cut one of his very first items about a DJ in one of the portacabins in the car park ..happy memories.’

Jane Green: ‘I worked on many an Asian Magazine. Great fun. Bish Mehay was a lovely guy to work with. Loved the bands we squeezed into Studio B – loved learning what all the various instruments were. Sat in the corridor on one occasion waiting for the set to be finished – with Benazir Bhutto. Great programme.’

Colin Pierpoint: ‘Yes, I remember, but I also remember the start of radio and television from the Midlands for Asians. The first step was to separate AM and FM Radio 4 on a Sunday morning (I think the management was afraid of loosing listeners if it went out on both!) In 1965 AM did “Make yourself at Home”, a programme on which I worked in Studio 1 Broad Street several times. (FM had the previously scheduled programme). I also did a bit on the television programme from Broad Street studio 4, in black and white, although I may only have been on attachment. Presenters: Saleem and Mahendra, directed by Gerry (surname?)’

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