Roger Guest – Page 2 – What Was Pebble Mill?

Nanny – script front page, ep 3

Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission. Thanks to Roger Guest for sharing the script front page.

This is the first page of the script for the episode of the drama series: Nanny, The Magic Island. Nanny was a London series, hosted by Pebble Mill. Wendy Craig was cast in the title role.

Notice that this episode was recorded third, but is actually the fourth episode to be transmitted, on 31st January 1981.

Here is the entry from the BBC Genome project for this episode of Nanny, http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/47192fea43904e21a5b7ceea47f1ed1c:

A series in ten parts 4: The Magic Island by TERENCE BRADY and CHARLOTTE BINGHAM with Rain … all day, every day. The children trapped indoors become quarrelsome. Barbara’s solution is simple, if eccentric. But dealing with Miss Sullivan, the old-fashioned governess, is not so easy.
Senior cameraman KEITH SALMON Make-up artist VIVIEN OLDHAM Designer MYLES LANG
Associate producer CHRISTOPHER BARRY Producer GUY SLATER
Director MICHAEL CUSTANCE.

Contributors

Script: Terence Brady
Script: Charlotte Bingham
Senior cameraman: Keith Salmon
Make up Artist: Vivien Oldham
Designer: Myles Lang
Producer: Christopher Barry
Producer: Guy Slater
Director: Michael Custance.
Nanny Barbara Gray: Starring Wendy Craig
Mrs Sackville: Patience Collier
Donald Gray: Colin Douglas
Dorinda Sackville: Patricia Hodge
Frederick Sackville: And Benjamin Whitrow
Alice: Gabrielle Lloyd
Miss Sullivan: Sonia Graham
Dr Lindsay: Philip Dunbar
Sackville children:Artemis: Annabelle Lanyon
Sackville children:Dorothy: Veronique Gunner
Sackville children:Emerald: Anna Campbell
Sackville children:Nancy: Sally-Ann Messervy
Sackville children:Caro: Katherine Burman

Saturday Night at the Mill – running order

This is the running order for a dummy run recording of Saturday Night at the Mill in December 1976.

Saturday Night at the Mill was an entertainment show which used the Pebble Mill Foyer studio and the courtyard area, for performances. The show was presented by Donny MacLeod and Bob Langley, amongst others, and Kenny Ball and his Jazzman were the resident band.

For live studio shows there were often dummy recordings to make sure that the crew were all up to speed, and that technically the show was going to work.

Thanks to Roger Guest for sharing this running order.

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

Jane Mclean: ‘Roy Norton was the director, Roy Ronnie the producer, Margaret Walne was PA and I was on autocue. The Kenny Ball band was the house band on all the programmes. The hospitality back at the Strathallen was legendary…!’

Annie Gumbley Williams: ‘I did autocue too. Roy Norton used to shout down the head phones! Liz Silver was PA then and she trained me as PA on Sat Night at the Mill. Roy Norton producer and Keith Ackrill was Researcher or Assistant Producer? Patricia Mifflin too. Great fun.’

Susan Astle: ‘Goodness ..those were the days. Trying to get artists back for makeup checks when they would rather be in hospitality. I think we had our own, obvs! Susie Bankers’

Keith Brook (Scouse): I think I vision mixed that show. I know I did the series. After we complained that there was no hospitality food left, Roy Norton used to shoot down to the Strathallan after the show to stop the office people from scoffing the lot. They didn’t work on the show which allowed them to get there early and hoover it all up!! The gallery talkback was distributed around Telly Centre to entertain the bored troops in London.

Michael Fisher: ‘Kenny Ball was a frequent guest on the show. Am I right in thinking that the recently deceased Alvin Stardust appeared in some Pebble Mill Saturday evening shows and a special stage with a catwalk-like extension so he could strut up & down!’ http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/36299c085523447eaa4bf3fac59b4563

Raymond Lee: ‘I remember working on many of these shows. The pilot programme actually went by the title “Pebble Mill at Night”. Kenny Ball was actually the “resident” musician for the show.’

Eurwyn Jones: ‘I remember working on the series with Ron Sowton. Ginger Rogers was the guest on a show, she arrived in a massive car live in front of the foyer.’

Tim Dann: ‘I remember it as though it were yesterday!!…fantastic fun!…then all back to the ‘Strathallan Hotel’ for hospitality. I was the Designer for the first series. Those were the ‘daze!!”

Keith Ackrill: ‘Patricia Mifflin and I were the two researchers on “SNATM.” Roy Ronnie was the Executive Producer and Roy Norton the Director. We had a great crew working with us, which made the programmes so enjoyable to work on.’

Pebble Mill at One at Legoland

Photo copyright Roger Guest, no reproduction without permission.

These photos were taken at Legoland in Copenhagen. It was part of a Pebble Mill at One programme recorded in April – May 1983.

The team all travelled in a Patterson’s coach and included Steve Weddell, John Smith, Jane McLean, Marian Foster, Jack Rook, Mary Clyne, Mike Bloore, Dave Baumber, and myself.

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

Keith Brook (Scouse): ‘Mike Bloore is trying to figure out which end is which of the videotape!! The recorder was called a VR3000 if I remember rightly.
Ian Dewar and myself started that operation.’

Ray Lee: ‘Yes it was an Ampex VR3000 and had large rechargable batteries which might last for one tape if you were lucky. It produced a very basic monochrome playback, which really did little other than indicate something was on the tape. It was very noisy, as the head assembly was mounted on ball bearings, unlike the airbearings that were used in all the full size machines. Little chance of assessing sound quality, but maybe that was recorded separately on a timecode linked tape machine. I don’t know details of how it was used in the field, but did have to attempt to repair it a few times. ! Very quicly replaced by the VPR10 1″ machine for these type of productions.’

Jane Clement: ‘I seem to recall they went to Freetown Christiania as part of the trip – the big hippie commune in Copenhagen – is that right Steve N Weddle and Jane Mclean?’

Jane Mclean: ‘Oh just look at us Mike Bloore! Yes Jane, we did indeed and I was petrified. They had lots of huge dodgy dogs. I went for a wee under a bush and two dogs charged me midst flow. The owner stopped them just before they reached me by which time I was wrecked. Ian Dewar had to give me medicine from his hip flask.’

Steve Weddle: ‘Heavens yes, Christiania, the hippy commune right in the heart of Copenhagen which proclaimed itself a free state. As I was the nearest thing we had to a hippy – long hair and a duffle coat – I went in to hold discussions with their leaders to see if they would allow us to film in their break away state. They eventually agreed, giving me a promise that our safety was assured. As if! No sooner had we started filming than we were greeted by a break away faction brandishing sticks and bricks, demanding our immediate departure from the site, or else. A tense few minutes ensued until my contact there won the day and we were allowed to carry on filming. And good on John Smith for holding his nerve. Plus I do remember that incident of the dog in the daytime, Jane. I seem to recall the Danes having a weird thing for Alsatians. But that’s for another time!’

Nanny – script front page

This is the rehearsal script front page for series 2, episode 4 of the 1981 drama series: Nanny. The series starred Wendy Craig as the nanny. The producer of the drama was Guy Slater and the director, David Tucker.

You’ll notice that the crew would be filming the winter sequences of this script on New Year’s Eve 1981 – that’s dedication!

Thanks to film editor, Oliver White, for keeping the script safe all these years.

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

Helen Wheatley: ‘I loved this programme with all my heart and told my parents I wanted to change my name to Artemis as a result of watching…’

Lynne Cullimore: ‘Loved it. I remember talking to Wendy Craig in the canteen and she was worried about which salads contained onion, as she was recording in the afternoon and did not want to breath onion over her fellow actors. I thought that was so nice of her. Loved Butterflies too but we did not do that one.’

Belinda Essex: ‘I remember temping while I was still at college for the Beeb early 80s and Wendy Craig was the first celeb I ever saw there, in the lift up to the canteen – I was very impressed.’

Roy Thompson: ‘Remember showing Wendy how to operate the tea machine, wonderful times.’

Torvill and Dean at the 1984 Olympics

This article is from Pebble Mill News, March 1984. It tells how a Pebble Mill single camera crew comprising of Eric Wise, Roger Guest, Bill Youel and John Allinson, brought Torvill and Dean’s, Bolero performance to 17.5 million viewers of the Winter Olympics, when the six Yugoslav rink-side cameras gave disappointing coverage!

The second article is about Nigel Pargeter’s drinking habits in The Archers.

Thanks to Robin Sunderland, for sharing this newsletter, and keeping it safe in his loft for many years!

Here is a link to a clip on YouTube of Torvill and Dean’s gold medal winning performance. Notice that consists of just one shot! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcCj0xfO3H8

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

Stuart Gandy: ‘Wow, how amazing that Robin has still got this after all these years. Funny thing is memories come flooding back, I can remember myself and my engineering collogues standing in TAR reading that very article back in 1984 and thinking what a coup it was that a Pebble Mill team got this coverage. Good stuff.’