Pictures and notes by Mike Minchin
The Next Sequence is of “All who worked on the Show” This was a gathering on the grass at the centre of the Centre, after lunch of the second day of the last Episode of the Saga, of ”All the people who worked on The Saga”. Nonsense. It was “Nearly All the people who worked on the last episode, plus the VT Editor, and various invited people who had moved on to other shows”. (Martin Lisemore was there and had already started his trajectory to becoming a Producer.)
David Giles. Director
Angela Gordon. One of the Production Managers.
James Cellan Jones. Director
Lennox Phillips. Script Editor
Spencer Chapman, Designer; Don Giles, Design Assistant.
Ray Angel. Sound Supervisor
Sharon Cazalet. Artists Contracts.
Catherine Sykes (AFM), Angela Gordon (PA/FM)
James “Richie” Richardson. TM (Lighting)
Bob Wright was the king of hard light; “Richie” Richardson excelled at soft light.
He was one of the ones who used to dodge around us during dress runs. On this occasion he was taking “All the staff” for a picture to be published in Radio Times, along with a crib as to who was who.
Many years later, Neil Dormand sent a copy to Prospero, which published it along with the crib. This resulted with an article in the next edition (actually a long letter from me to the Editor) along with this or the next photo of Ian Coates, explaining who a number of people were. Unfortunately one paragraph got garbled in the typesetting.
Ray Angel : Sound Supervisor. In foreground : Martin Davison, Sound Crew
Elizabeth Rhodes
Sue Heaphy & (nearer) Deanne Pummery. Can’t identify foreground right. All Make-Up
Catherine Sikes. AFM
Rachel was one of a number of middle aged ladies who vision mixed. (On the credits for the final episode – which credited “everybody who had worked on the show” – she was the only vision mixer in the list). I had heard at the time (and it has been confirmed since, by Clive Doig) that she (they) had joined the Corporation just before the end of WW2 as Engineer/Camera Operators (replacing men who were still fighting).
Tech Ops website has published the memoirs of another of these ladies (she went to Australia?) and she said they had to tweak the camera to get it in sync before a cut. She also, in passing, mentioned that one of her colleagues was called Rachel.
Rachel Blaney always cut between banks, rather than along the buttons of a single bank – which habit, I surmise, originated in her early training. It meant that the off-air bank could be watched by Racks or Sound (for example) as a preview. This resulted, when she was cutting between more than 2 cameras, with her making double “thumps” when she selected the next camera for Preview. Which was disconcerting for us – very sensitive to the sound of the Gallery. And on one occasion it threw the very efficient Frances Alcock – who I assume was also paying attention to maybe a stopwatch, rather than when the next cut was due to happen.
Gerry Desmond. Floor Assistant.
Ray Angel. Sound Supervisor. Seen from Director’s Gallery
Blaney, Giles, Alcock, Chapman.
Spencer Chapman. Designer.
June Barrie. Actor. “June”.
Susan Hampshire. Actor. “Fleur”
Karin Fernald. Actor. “Ann Wilmot”
Martin Jarvis played “Jon”
Brian White. Cameraman – number 3 on Crew 10
George Gallacio. AFM
Cyril Luckham. Actor. “Sir Lawrence Mont”
Martin Miller. Actor. “Montross”
Clive Morton. Actor. “Sir Timothy Fanfield”
Brian White, Geoff Feld. TC3 with Marconi Cameras. Brian is sitting on a Mole Crane.
Martin Lisemore. SA/FM. Beyond: Martin Miller. Underexposed.
Karin Fernald. “Ann Wilmot”.
Joan Ellacot. Costume Designer.
Nyree Dawn Porter, not in period costume.
Susan Hampshire. Actress: “Fleur”. (Bryan Marshall, hidden)
Bryan Marshall. Actor: “Harold Blade”.
Suzanne Neve. Actor: “Holly”. Out of focus?
Sally Evans. Make up assistant.
Chapman, Alcock, Lisemore. She wasn’t fighting him!
Sue (Suzie) Heaphy. Make-up Assistant.
Tom McCall. Staff pianist (supplying music to be mimed to).
Frances Alcock
Ann Ferriggi, with Suzanne Neve, foreground. Focus??
My preferred shot of her.
Margaret Tyzack as “the older Winifred”
E.Porter, M.Tyzack.
Eric Porter.
Sharon Cazalet. Possibly Artists’ Bookings.
Sarah Lisemore. “Extra” – wife of Martin.
Martin & Sarah Lisemore
Elizabeth Rhodes. Also in Shot : David Giles, Donald Wilson, Francis Alcock, Lennox Phillips, Sarah Lisemore (shoulder)
The next five pictures are my “Lost Negatives”. I wanted to give Martin Lisemore’s widow a copy of the first of these (the two of them together) and another, and no longer having a darkroom, took the negative strips to a local Chemist/Photo printing shop. They lost one of the negative strips!! I have recreated the pictures by scanning Enprints. (Many shots in this list come from Enprints – I still haven’t found the original negatives.)
Martin and Sarah Lisemore.
Martin was one of our Production Managers/Floor Managers – probably for James Cellan Jones (this shot having been taken after James’s first recording).
Sarah was an Actor, and was employed on Forsyte Saga as an Extra. Now who else was employed in ultra small parts because they were a friend/relative of a member of the production team? Donald Wilson’s daughter, for one (Episode 9).
Liz (Elizabeth) Rhodes. David Giles. Donald Wilson (Producer). Spencer Chapman.
Lennox Phillips was the Script Editor. Tom McCall played the piano for actors to mime to.
David Giles & drinks
Lennox Phillips, Bryan Marshall
Bryan Marshall “Harold Blake” & Martin Jarvis, “Jon”
Lennox Phillips. Unidentified Jacket in foreground.
The next sequence of photos were of the “End of Series” Party, in the VIP Hospitality Suite on the Sixth Floor. All taken with bounced Flash, 50mm lens.
George Callaccio, AFM; Maggie Jones had played Smither, a Maid.
David Giles
John Bennett “Philip Bossinney”
Donald Wilson. Producer, making a Speech.
Suzanne Neve. She had played Holly.
Lana Morris + Lana had played Helene. Posibly Ursula Howells in foreground.
John ?Robinson, a buyer; Frances Alcock, director’s assistant (“secretary”); Tom O’Sullivan, AFM (Irish & full of Blarney – much loved by the little old ladies; perhaps less so by others); Spencer Chapman, production designer.
Thanks to Frances for John’s name and occupation; she also knew Tom’s first name and job but had to check with David Giles for his surname.
E.Porter, NDPorter, York. Michael York had played Jolly
E.Porter+ ??Nyree, Chris Johnson (junior cameraman)
NDPorter, Chris Johnson
Eric Porter with Michael York, “an up and coming” young actor (we were told), who played Joly.
Sean Sutton. Head of Department.
Ursula Howells. Played Frances. Ursula was the daughter of the composer Herbert Howells.
Nyree Dawn Porter, within an identified group.
Ferriggi, Bennett, ?Fanny Rowe and Terrence Alexander, who played Monty.
Martin Lisemore, Jim Reside & Chris Beer.
Jim Reside joined Sports Department and became a major Producer. Chris Beer, a Junior Cameraman, what became of him?
Christopher Benjamin. “Prosper Profond”
AJ Brown. Noel Howlett. Actors.
Brown had played “Roger” and Howlett “a Vicar” – but I can only found his name in the cast list for Episode 26 (which lists “most of the cast and principal technicians”.) It is possible that he appeared, non-speaking, in the final scene of Episode 5 (A Funeral)
Brenda Cowling “Miss Perrin”; Caroline Walmsley, AFM
Suzanne Neve “Holly”, Hal Hamilton “Francis Wilmot”
(2nd version) Suzanne Neve “alone” Preferred version of this shot.
John Bailey “Aubrey Green” & Caroline Blakiston “Marjorie Farrar”
Chris Johnson & …
Sutton, …, Ferriggi,+
?Anthony Stevens (Scriptwriter), A.J.Brown, ? Chris Johnson, ND Porter
Fernald, Bennett. “Ann Wilmot” & “Philip Bosinney”
Terry Scully, Lana Morris. “Tony Bicket” & “Helene”
Joan Ellacott. Costumes
Sound Crew
Giles, Blakiston, Wilson. Caroline Blakiston played Marjorie Ferrer
David Malony : PA/FM. Jonathan Burn, “Val”
?? / Margaret Tyzack
Nyree Dawn Porter++
Nicholas Pennell +
Eric Porter, Chris Beer
Jonathan Burn + ? Jonathan had played Val
Spencer Chapman & Tom ??
Blakiston, Barrie, Morris
These are all the credits from all the Episodes.
Scroll or Click on download to see the full document
from Alan Taylor
Following on from Mike’s photograph collection, I stumbled across this. I don’t know if others have already seen it, but am mentioning it in case it’s new to some.
Lots of wobbly film shots behind the scenes, showing the cast, crew and equipment.
Crew Photo on an old Tech Ops page >>
