Radio Studios – What Was Pebble Mill?

Radio studio area

Photographs by Martin Fenton, no reproduction without permission.

These photographs show some of the network radio area at Pebble Mill. The first photo is of the artistes’ seating area between Studios 3 and 5. This area was often frequented by the cast of The Archers. The second photo shows the corridor down to the Studio 3 control room, and the last photo is of the doors from Studio 3. Studio 3 was the main radio drama studio, and where The Archers was recorded, as well as other Radio 4 dramas.

Martin Fenton took the photos in autumn 2003.

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Electrical warning sign

Photo by Martin Fenton, no reproduction without permission

Martin Fenton took this photo in the radio studios area of Pebble Mill in autumn 2003.

Electrical safety was obviously taken very seriously, if only ‘authorised staff’ could put a plug in a socket!

The BBC logo, with the rounded corners seems to date it between 1971-88.

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

Kathryn Shuttleworth: ‘I certainly know where this sign is. I have it along with other bits from Studio 3. I was one of the last to leave Pebble Mill and on a final walk round noticed most of the studio signs and door plates had gone. I guess quite a few people took a bit of Pebble Mill with them before the bulldozers turned up.’

Pete Simpkin: ‘In most BBC studios there were visits from musical groups of some sort and another and this notice was to be seen all over the place. I remember doing a late Christmas eve show at WM and was horrified to see my wife in the Ops room pulling out a mains plug (which could have been powering anything!) to plug in a hotplate containing eggs and bacon which she had brought in for the crew!!’

Pebble Mill Sectional Elevations

Negative, Sectional Elevations, 1971. This digital resource is available under a Creative Commons CC-BY-SA 3.0 license, with kind permission of the Birmingham & Five Counties Architectural Association Trust, thanks to the Architectus project (part of the Jisc Content Programme 2011-13).

This is a cross-sectional plan of the Pebble Mill building, including the main office block, Radio Studios and TV Studio A. Also shown is the pedestrian bridge to the original foyer entrance, which later became the Pebble Mill at One foyer studio, and the link to the outside broadcast base. This drawing from 1971 came from the architect, John Madin’s offices.

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

Peter Poole: ‘Pebble Mill was great PR for the BBC. Press office often showed various groups round. I was always happy to explain the technical side of broadcasting. The general comments from the groups were very positive. Most of them left very happy to pay the TV licence. The public seems to think commercial TV is free. Every time they go shopping an extra cost is added to the goods to cover advertising. Where is BBC Four TV, radio 3 and radio 4 etc. in commercial broadcasting?’