Sharon Pemberton – What Was Pebble Mill?

Howards’ Way 30 years anniversary

Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission. Thanks to Les Podraza for making the cast and crew photo available.

(This iPlayer link is to an item by South Today about the making of Howards’ Way)

The end of 1st September 2015 marked the 30 years anniversary of Howards’ Way, the sailing drama series, which was likened to a British version of the US drama Dallas.

The series was hosted at Pebble Mill, and recorded on location in Southampton, with some of the interiors being recorded in Studio A.

Here is the Radio Times synopsis for the first episode, courtesy of the BBC Genome project:

“A serial in 13 parts devised by GERARD GLAISTER and ALLAN PRIOR
Episode 1 written by JILL HYEM
‘I’m sorry, Jan … It may be selfish, but I intend to spend the rest of my working life doing something I want to do.’
Title music
SIMON MAY and LESLIE OSBORNE Film cameraman JOHN KENWAY Designer MYLES LANG
Script editor JOHN BRASON Director PENNANT ROBERTS Producer GERARD GLAISTER”

http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/14bd8b49c7524441b9e9a278e19e74d7

Thanks to Paul Burton for pointing out the anniversary, and the South Today piece.

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

Dawn Trotman: ‘I think it is John Kenway yet it was John Willey who shot the first and second series.. I edited the first series with Nigel Pardoe-Matthews and the second on location with Sharon Pemberton and Lynne Hawkins..great fun.. We always knew it would be successful..It was our Dallas..’

Maggie Humphries: ‘Not John Kenway,, it’s Jimmy Monks, Grips who worked on the series.’

Lesley Weaver: ‘Maggie Humphries is right, it is the lovely freelance grip Jimmy Monks near left of camera and far right is David Evans a lovely freelance Camera operator. Can’t really work out who’s behind camera. I worked on the second series so I ought to remember. In the clip I remember Tony ‘O’ sparks from Lee North and Susie Peck is the designer talking about the costumes, lots of others I remember too.’

John Bland

Photo from Shirley O’Mara of John at the BBC Club, no reproduction without permission

John Bland, film editor, died recently. He joined BBC Birmingham as a news editor in Broad Street, and later became a film editor at Carpenter Road, before Pebble Mill was built. John’s credits include a Play for Today called Packman’s Barn 1976, the police series Juliet Bravo 1980; Mavericks, a BBC1 series in 1984 about eccentrics, produced by John Kenyon, which Sharon Pemberton assisted him on; and Countryfile amongst many others.

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

‘John Bland, a Film Editor at Pebble Mill for many years, passed away suddenly last week aged 78. His funeral will be held at Streetly Crematorium on Weds 26th August 2015 at 10.00am.’

Shirley O’Mara

‘I was John’s assistant for a while and he was very much part of my early years in editing at Pebble Mill. I recall being (pleasantly) surprised by his insistence that ‘Two Tribes’ (Frankie Goes To Hollywood) was the best single EVER and that Ruby Turner was the best singer to come out of Birmingham. (I think eclectic is the word!) I hope they’re both serenading you John. R.I.P.’

Sharon Pemberton

‘Great bloke! I ran the Run the World race with John, Ingrid Wagner and Geoff Dargue. We trained every lunchtime by running up all the flights of stairs at Pebble Mill. Judging by the state of us at the end of the race it didn’t do us much good!’

Mark Ray

Bev Dartnall

Photo by Peter Poole, no reproduction without permission

Bev Dartnall, who worked in the Afro Caribbean Unit, and in Television Drama, sadly died yesterday, 17th February, after a battle with cancer. She was only 55 years old. Bev was a producer on Dangerfield, and series producer of Doctors for a number of years, before leaving the BBC and moving to Majorca.

Bev’s funeral is going to be held in Majorca, but it is thought that there will be a memorial service in Birmingham.

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

John Greening: ‘Bev was the first person I met at Pebble Mill on my first day in TV, on the 3rd March 1984 and we worked together at Pebble Mill for nearly 20 years in all sorts of rolls – finally she was a series producer and me a grateful director. I’ll miss you Bev, and thanks for many happy memories -it was a privilege to work with you in the golden days of English Regions Drama.’

Janice Rider: ‘Beverley lit up any set she worked on. She had the ability to keep every member of her crew happy whilst being firm and in control – qualities not many producers manage to achieve. She was a wonderful colleague and friend and Vote for Them was made all the more special for her being in Egypt with us. Khaled and I will never forget her lovely generous soul.’

Dominic Keavey: ‘Was honoured to be a snib. A kinder, more supportive boss we’ll never find. God bless Bev.’

Herbie Donnelly: ‘You meet many friends and you meet many colleagues but Bev was rare she became both.’

Martha Howe-Douglas: ‘I can’t believe it. Bev gave me my job on Doctors, and was always such a support. I’ll miss our yearly birthday wishes to each other, as we shared the same day. A truly lovely lady.’

Roulla Xenides: ‘Beverley got Nigel Havers to attend a Breakthrough Breast Cancer lunch that I organised a few years ago when she was producing Dangerfield. She was lovely, very supportive of the cause and helped raise a lot of money that day.’

Indra Bhose: ‘Fond memories of a lovely, kind woman. Mid 90’s. Very low budget Pebble Mill drama. No catering budget. Night shoot. Crew grumpy to the point of rebellion. Bev in the kitchen , surrounded by jars of Nescafe, single handedly making and bringing drinks round to all the crew. Sad day but happy memories.’

Sharon Pemberton: ‘Bev was a great gal. Many’s the evening she calmed me down and reassured me in ‘Boris’ the portakabin, whilst I tore my hair out trying to be a producer. Always calm, efficient and a genuine pleasure to be around.’

Zoe Goodwin: ‘The first producer I remember meeting at Doctors. And what a first impression. What a memorable, lovely, kind and supportive woman she was.’

Chris Richards: ‘This is very sad news. Bev was one of the very, very best people I have been lucky enough to work with. A terrific Producer, loved and respected by her colleagues, and a wonderful warm and funny person. Like many, I owe her a great deal.’

Tyrone Huggins: ‘Bev played clarinet for many shows we did at Duddeston Manor. I was a year above her. Later we connected up with productions at Pebble Mill and cups of tea at her parents old house in Bordesley Green which I’d once walked her home to after a school disco. A lovely girl, friendly and supportive woman and friend I’ve missed and will miss.’

2nd Floor Bar – photos by Peter Poole

Photos by Peter Poole, no reproduction without permission.

The photos show the bar on the 2nd floor of Pebble Mill, before it was moved to the new Club building in the mid 1980s. The 2nd floor bar proved to be a creative melting pot, where staff from all departments mingled after recordings, at lunch time and at the end of the day.

The photos include Liz Nicholls, Martin Harris, Sharon Pemberton, John Allen, Gail Herbert and Geoff Watts.

Please add a comment if you can identify any others.

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

Maggie Humphries: ‘Peter Skinner from Finance and Geoff Watts another couple of names’.

Janet Collins: ‘I think it’s Sue Brown in a couple of photos’.

Susan Astle: ‘Definitely Sam from makeup -is she standing next to Graham Pettifer from the scene crew? From Susie Bankers’

Brian Johnson: ‘In one of the group photos , first from left, Alex who I think was Bar Manager for a time before leaving with Sarah (standing next to him) , to run a pub somewhere in Worcs I think. In front of them (seated) Colin from security who I believe sadly took his own life in the late 70s when he was still working in P Mill Security.’

Gail Herbert: ‘The tall guy in the group picture is Jeremy Pallant, producer of Farming, etc and I think Sue Williams in in the 3rd photo.’

Christmas lunch – photo by Peter Poole

Photo by Peter Poole, no reproduction without permission.

This photo was probably taken some time about 1980. It shows Sharon Pemberton, Stan Treasurer and David Furmage at the Pebble Mill Christmas lunch. I can’t remember the rest.

Peter Poole