Photo by Jane Mclean, no reproduction without permission.
The photo was taken during a Pebble Mill at One outside broadcast in Oslo, Norway. Mick Murphy (Floor Manager) is seated on the left, and is talking to Bob Horsfield (Rigger). John Smith was the OB director.
Thanks to Jane Mclean for sharing the photo.
Photo by Charles White, no reproduction without permission.
(The photo is of Countryfile presenter, Rupert Segar, from 1990. The story was about a rabid fox caught in Nancy, France.)
I was on attachment to CountryFile as a director from my editing job, and went upstairs to start day 1. Mike Fitzgerald, the then Series Producer asked me if i had a passport and i was duly dispatched to France. With Michael Murphy as my mentor, we turned up in Nancy looking for rabies. At this time the Chunnel was about to complete and the big fear (unfounded) was that rabid foxes would walk through to Britain. (The fact that bats fly here with it wasn’t overlooked, but not explored). Nancy at this period was the epicentre of Rabies on the continent, and we filmed without luck in the surrounding forests. By pure chance as we were at the Laboratoires de La Rage, a rabid fox got trapped in a tennis court and was duly brought to us. The picture shows Rupert doing a PTC (Piece to Camera) in front of the wretched creature. (They were tested and then subsequently killed with cyanide)- the fox, not Rupert!
Of further interest is the crew size; Director, Presenter, PA, Lighting man, Sound, and Cameraman – what luxury! CountryFile had in its office 4 teams of Director, Producer, researcher and PA, who operated a 4 week rota of making items for the programme; this model worked very well. Researchers could take days out to recce the countryside for stories, and then a suitable crew would be designated for the job.
On another Fox story with Michael Collie, in the far north of Scotland, I directed for 3 days an item about a moratorium on shooting foxes which had been running for three years. Great theory and lots of interviews about predation of sheep etc; as the sun went down on us and Michael did his final PTC, a farmer came up to us in his land rover and confessed he’d been shooting foxes during the whole experimental time. Back to the drawing board….!!!
Charles White
Mick Murphy added the following comment on the Pebble Mill Facebook group: ‘Charles is spot on. He was also selected for his impeccable French. The story went on to Northallerton, North Yorkshire, for a demonstration, by local Trading Standards of their rabies containment strategy, using a very reluctant labrador, acting as an infected dog. Those were the days when CountryFile featured single items. It was also Rupert’s debut.’
Origins of Artemis 81 from pebblemill on Vimeo.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Specially recorded interview with writer David Rudkin talking about how the drama ‘Artemis 81’ came about. ‘Artemis 81’ was transmitted in 1981, when producer David Rose still headed up the English Regions Drama Department. The drama was a three hour epic about the battle of good and evil, starring Hywell Bennett and Sting. Alastair Reid was the director, Dawn Robertson the associate producer, Jenny Brewer the PA, Roger Gregory the script editor, Ian Churchill the camera operator, Bob Jacobs and William Hartley were the production managers, and Mick Murphy was the AFM.
Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission.
Thanks to Annie Gumbley-Williams for making this Radio Birmingham football team photo available.
Mick Murphy, Pete Simpkin and Jane Green have identified the following team members:
2nd from left, back row,Jim Rosenthal (ITV Sport), fourth from left is Denis Mcshane went on to become an MP, top right, Rick Thompson, Head of Regional Programmes, Midlands and Head of 9 O Clock News.
Bottom row, 1st left, Stuart Woodcock(?), 2nd left, Duncan Gibbons, third from left Roger Moody (early sports producer Radio B’ham went onto a satellite company afterwards), far right, Nick Owen.
Duncan Gibbons became a screenwriter in Hollywood. He died in the first high profile forest fires in California, a good few years ago, attempting to rescue his cat.
I think the photo dates from the mid 1970’s. If you can add information, or identify more of the players, please add a comment.
Copyright resides with the original holder; no reproduction without permission.
This is an early photo of the ‘Countryfile’ production team, and includes:
Back row l to r: Dan Cherrington, ?, Susie Lightfoot, Mark Jobst, ?, Julia Gillet, Caroline Smith, Anne Stevens.
next row: Mike Derby, Janice Wallace, Mike Fitzgerald, Patrick Flavelle, Jo Toye, Penny Searley, Mick Murphy
next row: John Clarke, Pam Relton, ?, Ruth Patterson, Yasmin Archer, Katharine Lapworth, Lynn Cullimore
Next row: ?, Ian Breach, Anne Brown, Chris Baines.
Apparently the photo was taken by the Press Office either as part of a publicity drive, or just before the Christmas Party.
The ‘Countryfile’ team did get together from time to time and had several epic Xmas parties hosted by Mike Fitzgerald. Long lunch and a return to the Club bar where revelry would include Mick Murphy playing the piano for a sing-song.
Countryfile’ began life in 1988. The rural affairs magazine show was fronted by John Craven for the next twenty years. It used to be transmitted on a Sunday morning, until the move to the 7pm Sunday evening slot in 2009. It is still made by BBC Birmingham.
The photo was taken on the front lawn of Pebble Mill, with Reception behind.
Thanks to Patrick Flavelle and Mike Fitzgerald for the additional information.
Patrick makes the following comment about working on ‘Countryfile’:
“I remain convinced that while it was a Press Office pic….it was actually taken on the day of the first Xmas party….we’re all togged up esp Murph with his DJ….Janice’s hair-do etc….but no matter the circ’s it bringsback v fond memories of a lovely team of people…I still tease my dear friend John Craven about the fact I worked in Countryfile before he did!!! ( He joined about 1year in)
In fact my claim to fame (Fitz would put me right on this one)…I think I was the first person after Fitz himself to work on Countryfile on a rolling weekly contract in the crossover between Farming and CF…I was so happy to be involved….and ended up there for over 10 years…happy memories galore.”