Paul Vanezis – What Was Pebble Mill?

Wrong Car, Right Car

This screen grab is from the series, Wrong Car, Right Car, which was transmitted in 2002-3. Here is the entry from the Radio Times, courtesy of the BBC Genome project:

“A six-part guide to buying the right car, presented by Top Gear’s Jason Barlow and used-car merchant Dominic Littlewood.
In the first programme the duo advise a man on finding the perfect replacement for his ageing sports car.
Director Nicola Silk ; Series producer Abigail Harvey”

https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/f10396fef0b149d4a170d4fa3c210106

Oliver Clark was the assistant producer and Russell Peers was the researcher.

Thanks to Ian Collins for making the screen grab available.

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

Paul Vanezis: ‘I believe it was originally called ‘Carjacked’. But then several more sensible people pointed out the folly of such a name, especially after a very recent and fatal carjacking.’

Nicola Silk: ‘yes originally the misjudged, but snappier Carjack as Paul says. Dominic Littlewood’s big break alongside Jason Barlow (Top Gear) Involved secret filming, earpieces and lots of chat about buying cars. Think there were two series? I directed on the first.’

Oliver Clark: ‘I went to meet Dom on his car lot in Essex to persuade him to shoot a taster with us for the series – he regaled me with all sorts of dodgy dealing in the car industry. In addition to me, the other AP was a guy called Steve. We both were sent on advanced driving courses by the Beeb. Subsequently I wrote off an Impreza (ended up backwards in a hedge driving it to location (sorry Nicola) but more spectacularly Steve drove a Lambo of some type out of a carpark and straight into the central barrier of Park Lane – caused at 3 hour traffic jam. Made the national news.’

Fiona Stennett: ‘Thats was a brill little programme. A resultant phase of car purchases asking for a full tank of fuel and mats and flaps thrown in to seal the deal.’

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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Peter Vaughan 1923-2016

You and Me and Him. Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission.

The character actor, Peter Vaughan, died today (6th Dec 2016) aged 93. He is perhaps best known for his role as Harry Grout, in Porridge, although many people will recognise him as Maester Aemon in Game of Thrones. Vaughan also played the role of Coster, in the 1973 Pebble Mill Thirty Minute Theatre: You and Me and Him. It was written by David Mercer, and directed by Barry Hanson. David Rose was the producer, and the production designer was Michael Edwards.

Thanks to Ian Collins for making the screen grab available.

Ironically, I was only messaging director Paul Vanezis last night about You and Me and Him, and he told me the following story about how he saved the TX tape:

“I found the tape in the basement [of Pebble Mill] in 1990; the spool number had been changed, but it was the original TX tape. It still had the VT card inside. John Lannin edited it and Tony Rayner was his assistant. I think they kept it because it was a very complex show to edit. I recall that it had written in red biro on the card 283 edits!!! That would have been a a lot for 1973. It had also been copied for the BFI in 1975, but then sent to be wiped, hence the VT guys intercepting it and changing the number so it couldn’t be wiped. When I found the tape I sent it to Windmill Road, but only when they promised to keep it safe.”

Fortunately the programme does still exist in the archive.

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

Wendy Critchlow: ‘I remember watching this and Steve talking about the work that had gone into it in VT.’

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Sir Terry Wogan 1938-2016

Dave Baumber (sound) with Terry Wogan (photo by Paul Vanezis, no reproduction without permission)

Vanessa Jackson (producer) with Terry Wogan (photo by Paul Vanezis, no reproduction without permission)

Steve Saunderson (camera), Vanessa Jackson, Gail Herbert (PA), Michelle Furey (AP) with Terry Wogan (photo by Paul Vanezis, no reproduction without permission)

Dave Baumber (sound, crouching), Michelle Furey (AP) Steve Saunderson (camera), Vanessa Jackson, Gail Herbert (PA), ?, ?, with Terry Wogan (photo by Paul Vanezis, no reproduction without permission)

Terry Wogan, Vanessa Jackson (photo by Paul Vanezis, no reproduction without permission)

Terry Wogan, Dave Baumber, Vanessa Jackson (photo by Paul Vanezis, no reproduction without permission)

Terry Wogan died today (31st January 2016) after a short battle with cancer.

“It’s very sad that Terry Wogan is no longer with us. I remember an old BBC special, an hour of watching fireworks and fronted by Tel! He actually made it sound exciting. I only worked with him once in 2002, but I took these in September 2004, when the BBC opened Europe’s most modern, state of the art studios, promising the people of the Midlands broadcasting security for the next 25 years at least. Of course, that was a lie. But none of us knew that then, not even Terry who was presenting here a Points of View special. On camera, Steve Saunderson, producer Vanessa Jackson. Sound is by the late, great Dave Baumber. Gail Herbert is in there as well, as is Michelle Furey. Just 11 years ago.”

Paul Vanezis

“I remember this shoot well, especially how patient and generous Terry was with members of the public who were continually asking to have their photo taken with him – the rest of the production team certainly weren’t as patient about that! I used to really enjoy writing the Points of View script for Terry, it was very easy to get his voice in your head as you were writing. I also loved the way he would look over the script in a couple of minutes, and ‘Terryise’ it – changing the odd phrase, so that it sounded like he’d written it in the first place. I also remember Gail Herbert, who was the production assistant on Points of View for many years, saying to me that Terry Wogan was someone she considered a real star – and she was right, he really was!”

Vanessa Jackson

The Terrace

The Terrace was transmitted on BBC1 in the autumn of 1996 at 3pm in the afternoon.

Here is the Radio Times entry for the first episode of the DIY series, courtesy of the BBC Genome project http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/4825eb4df786444886a38f8c60168826:

“First of a new twice-weekly DIY and interior design series presented by ex-EastEnders star Mike Reid. Leaving the fictional dramas of Albert Square behind him, Reid experiences the real-life troubles of families living in a row of terraced houses in urgent need of repair in the heart of Birmingham. With Simon Biagi and Brenda Emmanus.”

The presenting team included Simon Biagi, who later presented Real Rooms, and Brenda Emmanus, who had presented on The Clothes Show.

Jane Lomas was probably the producer of this series.

Thanks to Ian Collins for sharing this titles grab, and to Nicola Silk for adding information.

Mark Westcott left the following message on the Pebble Mill Facebook page:

‘Jane Lomas did produce this, I worked on this show. Out of Roger Casstles’ department, exec’d by Mark Kershaw. My first network Director credit. Sharon Fisher, Paul Venezis, Sarah Marshall too I think were all involved.’