Tony Rayner – What Was Pebble Mill?

Chris Rowlands on the RAC Rally

Photo from Mel Stevens, no reproduction without permission

This photo is of Film Unit’s Chris Rowlands, when he was Editing Organiser. It dates from the mid to late 1980s and is from the RAC Rally. Chris would order in editing equipment to fit out a van to edit on location.

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

Ian Collins: I was the editor on CM2 working on the Rally in 1988. John Burkill was Producer along with the late John Smith if I remember rightly and Tony Rayner was the Director. I think LO22 was also involved but I can’t rennet where we were located.

Ned Abell: Remember CM2 parked nearly outside the Nottingham Albany rally headquarters..and the Laguna Tandoori 3 steps away after transmission with starters on the table!!

Malcolm Hickman: I did plan the radio links for the RAC rally which was starting in Scarborough. That would have been the late 80s.

Alec Robson cameraman TV drama exercise

These photos have been shared by cameraman, Alec Robson’s son Michael. They look like they were taken during a television drama training exercise, probably during the 1960s.

Alec is on the left in the first photo.

Derek Price thinks that the second photo includes, left to right – Derek Price, Tony Wigley, possibly Tony Rayner, Alec Robson, and possibly Peter Booth.

Working in Television – Mike Bloore

This is an excerpt from a book called Working in Television written in 1980 by Jan Leeming, who worked at Pebble Mill for a time. The aim was to encourage young people to think about careers in television.

Thanks to Jonathan Dick for sharing the photo.

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

Mike Bloore: ‘The amusing incident bit of this is not quite accurate. Having loaded the wrong tape I went home as I had been in all day and left Tony Rayner to do the TX. It was Tony who had to find the filler item.
I only found out after the weekend and was absolutely mortified!!’

Colin Pierpoint: ‘I believe I was the assistant course manager for Mike’s A course part 1, at Wood Norton in 1970′

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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Ocean Challenge

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Here is a titles grab from the Ocean Challenge series from the early 1990s. The first episode went out on 26th September 1992.

Here is the entry from the Radio Times, courtesy of the BBC Genome project:

“The first in a series of programmes following 120 enthusiastic amateurs who set sail today in ten identical yachts for a 28,000-mile round-the-world race spearheaded by Chay Blytg. With Julian Pettifer. Producer Tony Rayner. (The next programme will be shown in December as they reach Rio de Janeiro)”

http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/8cfb002fe1d64cedb2bf2a628155add9

Thanks to Ian Collins for making the grab available.

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