Richard James Lewis – What Was Pebble Mill?

The Continental

Thanks to costume designer, Janice Rider, for sharing these publicity photos of the 1987 comedy drama series, The Continental, by John Godber. The director was Martin Shardlow, and the producer, Chris Parr. It was the sequel to The Ritz, and followed the staff as they set up a new disco in Spain.

The comedy starred: Richard James Lewis, Richard Ridings, Andrew Livingstone, Paul Rider, Andrew Dunn, Frank Bruno, Martin Ronan, and Mark Addy.

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

Mary Sanchez: ‘Yes that’s Richard Ridings (top photo). I was Chris Parr’s secretary and remember typing some of these scripts up! It was the first drama I ever went down to watch and it gave me the bug to work in Floor managing! Brilliant.’

The Ritz publicity brochure

Thanks to costume designer, Janice Rider for sharing this publicity brochure for The Ritz, the 1987 comedy drama series by John Godber, set in a Northern disco. The series was a television adaptation of the theatre play, Bouncers.

The series was directed by John Godber and Martin Shardlow, and produced by Chris Parr.

The series featured: Andrew Dunn, Andrew Livingston, Jacqueline Beatty, Julia Ford, Mark Addy, Martin Ronan, Paul Rider and Richard James Lewis.

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

Jeremy Gartland: ‘I only sat and watched ‘The Ritz’ a couple of weeks ago – fantastic! I was lucky enough to be invited to Pebble Mill to watch Episode 5 ‘Fancy Dress Night’ being filmed… I must try and dig out the photos we took during our trip.’

Jo Mainwaring: ‘I was the production secretary on this show! Thanks for finding the pics, Janice.’

Ruth Barretto: ‘I remember going into the canteen and seeing all the actors dressed up. The blonde guy in the pic was the Incredible Hulk!’

Terry Powell: ‘Ps big Mick is living round the corner from me such a small world. One of the best shows I worked on always have very fond memories it was ahead if its time it would be a huge hit now with the likes of Benidorm and Miranda out there.’

Janice Rider: ‘Well said Terry and look how well Andrew Dunn , Mark Addy , Rich Ridings and last but not least Tracie ‘Broadway ‘ Bennett have done since! Great fun show to design.’

The Ritz – TX Card

Thanks to costume designer, Janice Rider, for sharing this transmission card for the 1987, 6 part comedy series – The Ritz, set in a Northern disco.

The series was written by John Godber, and was based on his theatre play, Bouncers.

Martin Shardlow was the director, Chris Parr the producer. The series featured Richard James Lewis, Paul Rider, Andre Dunn, Andrew Livingstone and Richard Ridings.

The series was well received, and a sequel: The Continental, followed.

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

Dawn Hudson: ‘I remember Robin Midgley Asking me to read the script I was really nervous but I laughed and thought it was great. However when I watched it I was disappointed.’

Mary Sanchez: ‘I was secretary to Chris Parr at the time and remember typing up these scripts (yes on a typewriter – before computers!) It was shot in Liberty’s nightclub on the Hagley Road . It had a great cast – a real laugh , starring Mark Addy who’s a big name now!’

The Ritz – Janice Rider

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Specially shot video with costume designer, Janice Rider talking about the 1987 Pebble Mill drama series: ‘The Ritz’.

The series was written by John Godber, who along with Martin Shardlow, directed it. It was produced by Chris Parr. The comedy drama was set in a newly acquired nightclub in the North of England. It was based on the play, ‘Bouncers’, by John Godber.

The series starrred Richard James Lewis, Paul Rider, Andre Dunn, Andrew Livingstone, and Richard Ridings.

The following comments were left on the Pebble Mill Facebook Page about ‘The Ritz’:

Mary Sanchez: ‘I was secretary to Chris Parr at the time and went along to Libertys nightclub to watch some of the filming. ( my first time on a film set) Mark Addy also starred in it who as you know is v well known now and also andrew dunn . A fun production to be involved in!’

Terry Powell: ‘I loved this show one of the best things I worked on we were such a happy team.’

The Continental – photos by Willoughby Gullachsen

The Continental

Photos by Willoughby Gullachsen, no reproduction without permission.

The Continental was written by John Godber, directed by John Godber and Martin Shardlow, and produced at Pebble Mill by Chris Parr.

The drama was a sequel to The Ritz (a television adaptation of John Godber’s play Bouncers), where the staff of The Ritz, a northern nightclub, set about opening a new disco in Spain. It was transmitted in 1987.

The Continental starred Richard James Lewis, Andrew Livingstone, Richard Ridings, Paul Rider, Andrew Dunn, Frank Bruno, Martin Ronan and Mark Addy.

The pool scene was shot in the Copthorne Hotel, Birmingham.

A list of most of the crew is contained on the Script front page.

The Continental 1

The Continental, Script front page