Mark Scott – What Was Pebble Mill?

Going for a Song cast and crew

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Thanks to Gill Thompson for sharing this photo of the cast and crew of Going for a Song, the antiques panel game show.

Included are: Michael Aspel (presenter), Eric Knowles (antiques expert), Claire Hobbs (producer, front, black jacket), Helena Taylor (series producer, sat on the camera), Dave Wilkins (camera), Toby Horwood (camera), Mark Scott (director), Gill Thompson (audience organiser, pink top behind camera), Adam Schoon (antiques consultant), Dave Bushell (lighting director), Keith Knowles (engineer) in orange top next to Dave Bushell, Pete Eggleston (with beard, engineer), Dave Ballantyne and Keith Salmon (cameras) on the right, Sue Russell (production secretary and hospitality, left-handside, beige patterned top), Dave Brazier (blue shirt and tie, floor manager), Ron Poston from the BBC Club is next to Dave. Back row, top left in pink is Chris Reely (sound), Jim Gray (camera, back row, black jumper, moustache), James French (camera, black top, centre back), at the back on the left is Dave Savage (black top with white stripes) and Chris Reeley in the red t-shirt is at the top left – both Senior Audio Supervisors

Thanks to the following for their help in identifying people: Shareen Worthington, Dave Bushell, Jane Mclean, Jan Poston, Steve Admans,

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Sophia and Constance request

Photo by Neil Wigley, no reproduction without permission

I received the request below from Stephen Corcoran:

“In the April of 1988, a BBC TV drama serial was shown on BBC2 called Sophia and Constance. It was an adaption of Arnold Bennett’s The Old Wives’ Tale. It was filmed here in the Pebble Mill studios. I enjoyed the serial very much. It has never been shown again or released on DVD. Most people have forgotten about it. I strongly feel – that serial was very underrated and didn’t receive the attention it should done by the pubic. It was a brilliantly made classic serial by team at Pebble Mill. Well acted and filmed. Very good period details with lovely costumes too. A lot of work had go into at the time. I’m going to write to the BBC, to ask them if I could get hold of a copy of the serial on DVD. I would be willing to pay cost however much it costs. It would be like a dream come true, to see again this fine classical serial. Does anyone here have any suggestions of how to go about getting hold of a copy? Or perhaps someone has their own personal copy? Suggestions would be very much appreciated. Thank you.”

Stephen Corcoran

Here is the Radio Times entry for the first episode of the serial, courtesy of the BBC Genome project http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/67c54cef8e894232970de9ce3dec6641 . I love the fact that the elephant gets a credit:

“written by JOHN HARVEY based on The Old Wives’ Tale by ARNOLD BENNETT The first of six parts with Patricia Routledge and Alfred Burke
Headstrong and proud,
Sophia struggles against the wishes of her family while her sister Constance – quiet, but no less passionate – accepts a future in the family draper’s shop. Then, when the Wakes Week festivities are at their height, Sophia’s impetuous and romantic nature leads to tradegy.
Arnold Bennett ‘s greatest novel spans 50 years, from the middle of the 19th century to the first decade of the 20th. The story ranges from the Potteries town of Bursley to Paris, as the contrasting lives of the two sisters unfold.
Music GEOFFREY BURGON
Script editor SIMON PASSMORE
Executive producer COUN ROGERS Producer JOHN HARRIS Directed by ROMEY ALLISON , HUGH DAVID

Contributors

Written By: John Harvey
Unknown: Arnold Bennett
Unknown: Patricia Routledge
Unknown: Alfred Burke
Unknown: Arnold Bennett
Music: Geoffrey Burgon
Editor: Simon Passmore
Producer: John Harris
Directed By: Romey Allison
Directed By: Hugh David
Samuel Povey: Nigel Bradshaw
Constance: Catherine Cusack
Sophia: Melissa Greenwood
Mrs Barnes: Patricia Routledge
Maria Insull: Freda Dowie
Mr Critchlow: Alfred Burke
Mr Baines: John Scott Martin
Maggie: Penny Lea Therbarrow
Dr Harrop: Jon Croft
Gerald Scales: Leonard Preston
Elephant: Rani”

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

Marie Phillips: ‘I remember the painting of this series which hung in the corridor at Pebble Mill. I always stopped to look at it and find something new. Actually, I would have loved to have had that painting. Anyone remember it and know what happened to it. I do hope it didn’t get binned. The series was truly one of the BBC’s best and another triumph for Pebble Mill.’

Carolyn Davies: ‘It was in production in Studio A the day I joined Pebble Mill. I have a very strong memory of walking past the studio tx lights, not quite believing I was actually going to be working there….’

Kevin Lakin: ‘I worked on this, a lot of the exteriors were shot at the Black Country Living Museum, we were there for about 3 weeks.’

Richard Stevenson: ‘One of my first dramas as a trainee. I believe Phil Wilson was camera supervisor with Alan Duxbury and Robin Sunderland on the crew and probably Mark Scott.’

Top Gear GTi

Thanks to Ian Collins for making this titles still from the Top Gear GTi series, which went out on the UKTV, UK Horizons channel.

Here is the entry from Wikipedia which explains the series, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Top_Gear_%28original_format%29_episodes#Top_Gear_GTi:

“Top Gear GTi was a series of programmes broadcast by the BBC covering a variety of features such as car reviews, special features such as attending a driving school and motor shows. Essentially, GTi is an expansion on the main programme. The series was mainly presented by Vicki Butler-Henderson, although Steve Berry and Jason Bradbury appeared on the show at times. The show was the last of the spin-off series’ of Top Gear to be broadcast, airing between September 1999 and May 2001, with more than 100 episodes in its name. Unlike any other spin-off, Top Gear GTi was broadcast on a near daily timeslot on the UK Horizons channel.”

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

Sarah Wilkin Hodgson: ‘Did we even have a budget?!! It was fab fun though…..apart from when I blew the tyre on the tracking mondeo car…..can you remember the weeing incident Michelle in the Honda Jazz when we were stuck in traffic in Madrid?…..and how ill I was in Barcelona….!!!! ‘

Michelle Davies: ‘Yes I remember Madrid!! That was a crazy 24 hrs smile emoticon and yes I remember Barcelona, you were so poorly. Do you remember me fixing the minicam to the Audi TT (you were presenting) and it fell off and smashed to pieces on the A345?! Managed to save the rushes though – sorry Alan Miller! So many memories .’

Alan Miller: ‘The show was by UKTV standards quite well funded but BBC overheads certainly ate into that budget big time. We cut costs by shooting and editing everything ourselves. Everyone did their bit,. Driving tracking cars, rigging in car cameras, writing running orders and even supervising the final compile were all shared by the entire team including the PA. It was a very flat hierarchy I think. The directors and producer of course shot and edited their own items. With very little lead time before the first TX we had to generate 23 minutes per week ourselves towards the 46 minute long programme, which had of course commercial breaks. Despite the pressures it was great fun to work on and I was and still am proud of what the fantastic team achieved, sometimes beating the BBC1 Top Gear to be first to test new cars!’

Joolz Richards: ‘It was one of the most fun programmes I ever worked on, certainly. Plus, we got to travel and stay in some excellent hotels. I particularly remember Branson’s place in Mallorca with Mark Scott and Steve Berry – I directed one piece and actually got Steve to recite Shakespeare (not well admittedly, remember that northern accent????) as this hotel had a proper Juliet balcony. There was also one occasion in Barcelona where the other journos thought I was Steve’s wife… Jeez…We were looked down on massively by the main programme which I think we really loved!!!!! However, it gave all of us the opportunity to learn lots of skills we would never have been able to otherwise – writing scripts, driving filming vehicles, sound boom, second camera, directing, the list is endless. An excellent training ground. Fab memories.’

Tracey Bagley: ‘May I add … Yes you all did a great job and quite frankly at times I know it proved challenging. Alan Miller, I recall going through that budget with you and you then taking me through all the technical aspects of the self shooting / self editing ! The innovation …. Happy days .’

Alan Miller: ‘Hi Tracey. We certainly played around with the budget to get the most out of it. I am sure I could not have done the various “deals” which allowed us to work the way we did without your inestimable help. I always thought of you as a crucial part of the team.’

Wood Norton Lighting Course – Dave Bushell

Just found the attached picture of some old Pebble Mill colleagues on a lighting training course at Wood Norton in August 1995. In addition to those named are the tutors, Peter Bryenton on the left and myself (Dave Bushell) on the right.

(Thanks to Dave Bushell for making the photo available.)

Gardener of the Year Final 1999

Photos probably taken by Mark Kershaw, no reproduction without permission.

The photos are from the first ‘Gardener of the Year’ final in 1999. We recorded the show at the Earth Centre in Doncaster in early September 1999, with the programme being transmitted just before Christmas on 21 Dec, and achieving some very good audience figures. The show ran for around 10 years.

For the final the contestants had to design and build a show garden which was about 5m square. They had a budget which they had to stick to rigorously, and they were allowed one helper each. Each regional winner from the heats had 5 days to build their garden. I remember a fair amount of tears and tantrums. The finale was an OB in a fantastic marquee presented by Alan Titchmarsh. Charlie Dimmock reported on how the contestants had got on during the build. The format worked really well, and was finessed over the subsequent years, although the preliminary heats were dropped.

The series was produced by me (Vanessa Jackson), executive produced by Roger Casstles, directed by Mark Scott, with assistant producers Kate Hillman and Beverleigh Wildman (now Thompson). The judges were garden designer Ali Ward, Gardeners’ World Magazine editor Adam Pascoe, and presenter and gardening expert Nigel Colborn. Alan Titchmarsh was the presenter, with Charlie Dimmock reporting.

The photos include: Charlie Dimmock (jeans), Roger Casstles (navy jacket), me (Vanessa Jackson, centre, blue floral dress – and 6 months pregnant), John Moorcroft (camera, yellow T-shirt, shorts). Ali Ward and Adam Pascoe (judges) in the penultimate photo, and Dave Brazier (floor manager) and me in the last photo.