Warren Clarke – Page 2 – What Was Pebble Mill?

Battle of Waterloo – Toby Horwood

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Here’s a shot of Keith Schofield (Operating the camera) and myself on the Live Drama ‘Battle of Waterloo’.

The soldier on the floor is Warren Clarke. I worked with Keith on quite a few period dramas and learnt a lot from him. I’m pushing an Elemac dolly with an Egripment arm on it for the boffins amongst you. The Camera is an Ikegami HL 79D. The ear defenders were necessary because black powder charges were fired off from muskets during the course of the play. We had a very complex series of moves to execute and a vast number of shot cards. For the camera crew it was a fantastic challenge. We had rehearsed for at least a couple of days prior to going live.

(The Battle of Waterloo was a live drama, written by Keith Dewhurst and produced by Robin Midgley, in 1983)

‘Nice Work’ – photo from John Greening

The photo includes, left to right: John Greening, two factory owners (location), Bill Hartley.

‘Nice Work’ starred Warren Clarke, and Haydn Gwynne. The series went out in 1989, and was produced at Pebble Mill by Chris Parr, and directed by Chris Menaul. The four part series was based on David Lodge’s novel of the same name, Lodge also wrote the screenplay.

The drama revolves around a university/industry exchange, which involves lecturer Robin Penrose teaming up with business man, Vic Wilcox.

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‘The Battle of Waterloo’ – photo by Willoughby Gullachsen

The Battle of Waterloo

Photograph by Willoughby Gullachsen, no reproduction without permission.

The photo features (left) Martin Carthy, playing ‘Wolfhound’ and (far right) Peter Benson as ‘Sniffer’. Please add a comment if you can identify the middle actor. Other actors to star were Warren Clarke as ‘Slewpot’, Dave Atkins as ‘Bamber’, and Dai Bradley as ‘Ferris’.

‘The Battle of Waterloo’ was a live studio drama, written by Keith Dewhurst and produced at Pebble Mill in 1983. It was produced and directed by Robin Midgley, the production associate was Dawn Robertson, with Bob Jacobs as the production manager. Phyllida Lloyd (who went on to direct the film Mama Mia) was the AFM, Jenny Brewer the PA, Peter Ansorge & Roger Gregory the script editors, Roger Sutton the vision mixer and Dave Doogood the camera supervisor.

Nice Work – photos by Willougby Gullachsen

Photos by Willoughby Gullachsen, no reproduction without permission.

Nice Work was produced at Pebble Mill in 1989 by Chris Parr. David Lodge wrote both the original novel and the screenplay. The series starred Warren Clarke as Vic Wilcox, the managing director of a ‘Rummidge’ engineering firm, and Haydn Gwynne who played Robyn Penrose a young university academic. It was filmed on location around Birmingham and the Black Country, including Birmingham University (where David Lodge was a Professor). Vic and Robyn are thrust together on a business/academic scheme where Robyn was told by her Head of Department to shadow Vic. After an initial reluctance they come to a mutual respect and friendship, especially when Robyn prevents Vic being tricked by a German engineering company. Janet Dale played Vic’s wife, Marjorie.

The series was directed by Christopher Menaul, designed by Ian Ashurst, with Paul Woolston as the DoP. Will Hartley was the 1st AD.

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Ice Dance – photo by Willoughby Gullachsen

Photo by Willoughby Gullachsen (Gus), no reproduction without permission.

Ice Dance was a ‘Screen Two’ drama which went out in March 1989. It was written by Stephen Lowe, directed by Alan Dosser and produced by Michael Wearing. The drama starred Warren Clarke, Joanne Allen, Andrew Fletcher, Amanda Worthington and Helena McCarthy. It followed the story of a pair of young skaters from Nottingham, whose dream was to emulate Torvill and Dean.

This photo features cameramen Keith Froggatt and Steve Saunderson on the crane, and 1st AD, Will Hartley on the left under the crane.