Michael Edwards – Page 2 – What Was Pebble Mill?

You and Me and Him

Screen grab from ‘You and Me and Him’. Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission

In the months before David Rose died, I was approached by a friend and former colleague of his, asking if I could get hold of a copy of David Mercer’s 1973, Thirty Minute Theatre drama, You, and Me and Him, for him. Through friends at the BBC Drama Village, I managed to get a copy of the drama dubbed off, and sent to David. Fortunately, despite being very frail David was able to watch it in the weeks before he died, it apparently meant a lot to him. I decided to take the opportunity of watching the drama myself, and below are a few observations about it.

The only character in the play is Coster, played brilliantly by Peter Vaughan. It is a studio piece, which sounds simple, there being only one character. It is anything but! Coster is in conversation with himself, in three different guises throughout the drama, in quite a schizophrenic manner. There are different settings, an office, and a bedroom. When in the office, Coster wears glasses and is smartly dressed, in the bedroom he is dishevelled and wearing pyjamas. He is in the care of a psychiatrist and realises that he needs to pull himself together. We hear Coster taped on a ¼” tape, and on the phone to himself.

It is a psychological drama and quite philosophical, and considers some of the darker issues in life, there is talk of army rape, of pornography and lusting after little girls. The tone gets increasing violent during the drama, as one version of Coster wants to get rid of his alter-egos. He even talks of suicide. The drama ends with the conclusion that ‘You and me, are him’, and that in fact they each love the other.

Technically the drama is very complex, with hundreds of edits in a half hour piece, including a lot of split screens. John Lannin was the VT editor, and did a wonderful job. It was presumably recorded on 2” videotape, and so the editing process must have been tortuous and extremely time consuming. There are some really creative shots especially in transitions between settings, for example the feet of one of Coster’s personalities from one setting, appear in the foreground of the other setting. I’m not sure how this would have been done at that time, unless it was a locked-off shot. There is also a shot showing the empty office chair spinning, and then Coster appears sat in the chair, which was presumably a locked-off shot.

The director was Barry Hanson, with David Rose the producer, and Michael Edwards the production designer. This was a really innovative piece of drama, which stands up pretty well to contemporary viewing. Apparently the master tape was supposed to be wiped, but it was kept by the VT boys, who changed the tape number. It was then found in the basement by Paul Vanezis in 1990, and placed in the BBC Archive.

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Nanny – Goats and Tigers

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This is the cast and crew list, and scene breakdown for one of the episodes (Goats and Tigers) of the drama series, Nanny, starring Wendy Craig. The episode was transmitted in February 1981 on BBC1. It was a London production, hosted at Pebble Mill, and recorded in Studio A.

The pages have been shared by costume assistant, Rachel Selby. It is interesting to see her hand written notes on the sheets, and the crossing through, when the scene had been completed.

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

Lesley Weaver: ‘Wonderful time for me as a Make up lady and I was lucky enough to work on all three series.’

Susan Astle: ‘Wendy was such a great person, all us make up ladies loved working with her.’

Chris Rogers: ‘I loved this series it has never been repeated on other channels? Wendy Craig is fabulous.’

Raymond Lee: ‘Never worked directly on the series but remember vividly showing Wendy Craig how to use the canteen coffee/tea machine!!’

Keith Brook: ‘Oh, that brings back memories. What a wonderful series to work on.’

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Walking on My Hands excerpt – The Husband, the Wife and the Stranger

Sayo Inaba and Adam Faith, in The Husband, the Wife and the Stranger. Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission

This is an excerpt from Beth Porter’s autobiography, Walking on My Hands, Chapter 12, My Life in Comedy: Comedy in My Life, about her production of the drama:

The Husband, the Wife and the Stranger, BBC2 1986

“Waiting for me back in Birmingham was the chance to produce my first piece of drama. It was a studio piece based on an idea to adapt two Japanese stories by the actress who was to play the lead. I had no idea whether the head of department, Robin Midgley, had already explored the development of the piece, but I wasn’t shown any pre-existing material.

I did, of course, know that the stories had been filmed by one of my cinematic heroes, Akira Kurosawa as Rashomon. The premise is that a tale of love and betrayal is told from three separate points of view. The first challenge was to find a suitable writer. I fixed on the idea of asking Adrian Henri, one of the famer Liverpool poets whom I’d known for decades. It seemed to me that his sensibilities would be just the approach needed to confront the moral ambiguities of the premise as well as presenting the implied sex and violence without any prurient overtones.

I was delighted when Adrian agreed, and while he was writing I got on with finding a director. Robin suggested teaming up with Roger Graef, the brilliant American documentary maker who was keen to get into drama. But as much as I admired him, I wanted a safety net of a director whom I knew could juggle schedules, actors, and unforeseen trouble, should there be any. I really thought this would be a great opportunity to create a bonded company feel, and when Robin agreed to my suggestion that Andy Roberts take oversight of the music, I felt we were on the way.

I asked Gerry Mill who directed me so brilliantly in Howard Schuman’s Anxious Anne. He had a great reputation with actors and was familiar with the demands of drama. Because the whole project had been the idea of the Japanese actress, we were committed to her. So Gerry and I drew up independent lists of the two actors who’d complement each other on screen. On both our lists was Derrick O’Connor whom I’d appeared with all those years ago in the James O’Herlihy plays at The Bush Theatre. He was available and keen to be involved.

We wanted to try to get a name that audiences would recognise to raise the profile of a studio piece, and we hit on a great idea. At the time the ever-popular singer, Adam Faith, was appearing in the West End, having publicly declared he wanted to do more acting. He’d had a big success some years previously with his TV series Budgie. Both Gerry and I liked his open fresh-faced appeal which had the potential to turn a bit nasty. Whereas Derrick could do nasty in his sleep, but we knew he could also play the victim.

We went to see Adam’s play and took him out for a meal. Happily, he agreed to do Adrian’s play. Now, all we needed was the play! For whatever reason Adrian was stalling. Uh-oh!

Gerry and I set out for Liverpool as on a military mission. Come back with the script, lads, and don’t get caught by the enemy! Actually, it was a scene from a sit-com. I sat with Adrian talking through the next scene, and he set to work typing. As soon as he had a few pages, I’d take them to the next room for Gerry to read. On we went like that, through the night, till the script was ready.

Actually, it was bloody good! Adrian did know exactly what to do. I guest his reluctance was down to nerves and insecurity. Yes, folk, artists – even great ones – get insecure. It’s only despots who think they know everything. The trick is to acknowledge the vulnerability and work through it, trusting your instincts and experience.

Gerry was terrific with the cast, allowing them the space they needed to inhabit the characters. The crew were keen to enter into the spirit of this unusual studio piece. I was keen to incorporate some of the more recent digital effects that were being developed for cinema, and Gerry trusted me to liaise with the editor to ensure our vision was melded with Adrian’s. We also had the bonus of Andy Roberts in control of the music.

We got lots of publicity, mostly due to Adam’s presence. The Radio Times devoted a full page to him. The half-hour play went out at 10.15pm on BBC2 on Monday, 8 September 1986. We got lots of feedback. And I was probably having a mini-breakdown trying to adust to life as a reluctant singleton. An ageing reluctant singleton. An overweight ageing reluctant singleton.”

Thanks to the producer of the drama, Beth Porter, for sharing this excerpt.

Beth Porter’s (long and amusing) autobiography Walking on my Hands, is available for a couple of pounds on Kindle, on the link below. Chapter 12 includes Beth’s adventures with the BBC.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Walking-My-Hands-responsibility-Streisand-ebook/dp/B01DUWNSRQ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1460027101&sr=8-3&keywords=kindle+Beth+Porter

Below is the Radio Times entry for the drama, from the BBC Genome project:

http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/a0ac4ec29e33434fb1ad17ff13426474

“The Husband, the Wife and the Stranger

by ADRIAN HENRI after a story by RYUNOSUKE AKUTAGAWA
Sunlight. Strawberries. Champagne. The perfect lover’s tryst. Or is it?
A stranger intrudes. A mysterious business deal.
Passions run high and a man dies. Who is innocent and who is telling the truth? Who do you believe?
Vision control supervisor PETER HODGES
Lighting supervisor ALEC ROBSON
Composers ANDY ROBERTS, JOJI HIROTA Designer MICHAEL EDWARDS Producer BETH PORTER Director GERRY MILL BBC Pebble Mill
Contributors

Author: Adrian Henri
Director: Gerry Mill
Producer: Beth Porter
From Stories By: Ryunosuke Akutagawa: The Roshomon Gate
Vision Control Supervisor: Peter Hodges
Lighting Supervisor: Alec Robson
Musical Supervisor/Composer: Andy Roberts
Designer: Michael Edwards
Husband: Adam Faith
Wife: Sayo Inaba
Stranger: Derrick O’Connor”

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Faith in his future

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Here is the Radio Times interview with Adam Faith, talking to Gay Search, about his role in Pebble Mill’s The Husband, the Wife and the Stranger which went out in September 1986.

The drama was written by Adrian Henri, from a story by Ryunosuke Akutagawa. Peter Hodges was the vision control supervisor, Alec Robson the lighting supervisor, Michael Edwards the production designer, and Gerry Mill the director.

Thanks to the producer of the drama, Beth Porter, for sharing the article.

Beth Porter’s (long and amusing) autobiography Walking on my Hands, is available for a couple of pounds on Kindle, on the link below. Chapter 12 includes Beth’s adventures with the BBC.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Walking-My-Hands-responsibility-Streisand-ebook/dp/B01DUWNSRQ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1460027101&sr=8-3&keywords=kindle+Beth+Porter

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

Winnie O’Brien: ‘I worked on this drama, I did the opening title sequence and graphics, it was a fabulous project.’

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The Husband, the Wife and the Stranger, Radio Times

Below is the entry from the Radio Times for 1986 drama The Husband, the Wife and the Stranger, from the BBC Genome project: http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/a0ac4ec29e33434fb1ad17ff13426474

‘Synopsis:

Contributors

Thanks to the producer of the drama, Beth Porter, for sharing her Radio Times copy.

Beth Porter’s (long and amusing) autobiography Walking on my Hands, is available for a couple of pounds on Kindle, on the link below. Chapter 12 includes Beth’s adventures with the BBC.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Walking-My-Hands-responsibility-Streisand-ebook/dp/B01DUWNSRQ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1460027101&sr=8-3&keywords=kindle+Beth+Porter

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