[Tech1] Early OB Drama

Sat Feb 27 05:43:17 CST 2021

Hi Mike

It certainly arrived here yesterday afternoon. Didn’t get much chance to reply yesterday (one of *those* days).

The studio details noted with many thanks. Fills in a bit more detail to the (rather thin at the moment) 1972 details in that recording book.

Many thanks

David

From: Mike via Tech1 
Sent: Saturday, February 27, 2021 11:36 AM
To: tech1 at tech-ops.co.uk 
Cc: Mike 
Subject: Re: [Tech1] Early OB Drama

I'm fairly sure this missive didn't get through - I've seen no reaction to it on Tech1.  So I'm sending it again as a "reply":-

I was certain I recognised the series with Rupert Davies as linkman, and I knew I worked on some episodes.  But trawling my diaries didn't throw up anything called Baker's Dozen.  The Web reference from Alan Taylor helped me find three double studio days labeled The Man Outside (so the re-titling must have happened quite early).  We knew that we were not shooting the whole play, and the rest would be done on location with electronic cameras (2001's?). 

The days were 14-15 March 1972 (TC1); 14-15 April 1972 (TC3); 5-6 May 1972 (TC3).  I was no.3 on Crew 10.  I don't know which crew(s) did the other 10 episodes, but that May episode was undoubtedly Episode 13, with Ron Moody.  His co-star was the lovely Anna Cropper, and she was supposed to be blind.  They ended up in bed together, and she played the scene topless.  We weren't trying to be lascivious - it was a very gentle scene - but it got to the point where I had a shot where I could either frame a nipple, or carefully exclude it.  Both versions of the shot looked good to me, so it was really someone else's decision as to whether we saw the nipple or not.  On the dress run I did include it - expecting some comment.  None came.  At the post-supper notes session I said : do we see nipples this year, or not?  At last I got a response : No.  So that's the way I shot it.  The next day but one (8th May), I took my 5 year old (+ 2 months) younger daughter to 50 Woodville Gardens, where the OB crew had taken over the kitchen (they may have used more of the house, but I wasn't aware of it).  Becky and I took up a position, quiet as mice, while Ron did some clattering around in the kitchen and then exited with a tray (as if to go upstairs) through the room where we were.  It was clear that we were in the way so I left. 

Not a very exciting story, but someone might like it to add to the archives! 

Best Wishes, Mike Minchin 

On 26/02/2021 11:05, Robin Sutherland via Tech1 wrote:

  Hi Alan & all 

  The shooting dates for the inserts I did with LO 21 were:

  12-14 January 1972 “Last Target” with Michael Redgrave & Ann Todd. Locations in Chenies & Latimer.

  27-28 January 1972 White Waltham

  3-4 February 1972 Cambridge road Kilburn NW6.

  24-25 February 1972 Norland Square W11.

  8-9 May 1972 50 Woodville Gardens EalingW5

  I have sent all this to Brian Summers. Also found some photos of the first shoot with Ann Todd sitting on the bench. Martin Wyatt on camera mounted on what I’m pretty sure is a Chapman Titan crane.

  Also spotted while browsing my 1972 diary two other unusual shows I did while on LO 21. They were location inserts into The Engelbert Humperdinck Show with Eng and The Young Generation dancers.

  First location was Horsted Keynes station on the Bluebell Railway, renamed Generation Gap where a steam train “driven” by Eng steamed in to the platform, all the doors opened and the YG poured onto the platform and performed a dance routine fronted by Eng singing.
  It was directed by none other than Stewart Morris and did not go well with problems with the speed and stopping of the train which couldn’t hit it’s marks! I seem to recall poor Stan Appel was prod manager trying to reset it all endless times which took ages. The final straw was when he told Stewart that the engine needed to refill it’s water tanks at the other end of the line and it would take an hour. Stewart exploded but we got it all done in the end. I can still recall him shouting “Gun the train Stan - faster!” over talkback. 

  Second location was, unbelievably, the fully working main assembly line at Vauxhall Motors in Luton, with the same performers doing a song and dance routine around the moving assembly line, much to the interest of the car workers and the detriment of the quality of the cars they were assembling. Many were leaking or wouldn’t start when they came off the line! I think that one went ok but wouldn’t get past H&S these days.

  Cheers

  Robin S

    On 23 Feb 2021, at 18:29, Alan Taylor via Tech1 <tech1 at tech-ops.co.uk> wrote:

    Thanks for the confirmation Robin.  It had been bugging me for more than twenty years.  I was totally certain that it was Baker’s Dozen but was puzzled that I could find absolutely no record of it ever happening.  It never occurred to me that it was just a working title.  It didn’t help that I mis-remembered which famous TV detective had the main role.  Do you happen to have any shooting dates ? We might be able to flesh out a few details on Brian’s list of MCR 21 shows. 

    The IMDB cast list for the series reads like a Who’s Who for the acting profession.  If you want a little reminder, there is a list of episodes with brief outlines of the story and star names here -
    https://www.memorabletv.com/?s=The+man+outside

    I knew that OBs did quite a few drama shoots before the LMCR & LPU.   In my time on LO 21, when it had EMI 2001s, I remember doing several drama shoots, but can’t be sure if they were different ones, or a series of plays like The Man Outside.  

    If you or anybody else knows of other people who worked on them, I’d love to know more.

    I always assumed that the B&W Roving Eyes must have been used for drama shoots in the days of B&W television, but don’t have any information about one way or the other.

    I knew that other dramas were shot using big fleet colour scanners and would be interested if anybody could add anything about them. I worked on some Shakespeare plays recorded in theatres in those days, but don’t count them as being true location drama.

    Alan Taylor

      On 23 Feb 2021, at 10:35, Robin Sutherland <robin.sutherland at ukgateway.net> wrote:

      I think there were quite a few dramas shot by OBs before the advent of the experimental LMCR [the old RE5 vehicle] and the arrival of the purpose built LPU and LMCR.

      The Bakers Dozen series you mention is interesting. I was on LO21 in 1972 and worked on several of them, doing location inserts into a studio production using EMI 2001 cameras. There were some big names involved and I remember shooting scenes with Ann Todd and Michael Redgrave.
      It was a thriller anthology in 13 episodes linked by Rupert Davies playing a character called Baker, hence the working title of Bakers Dozen. But the title changed before transmission to The Man Outside and that’s why you couldn’t find anything about it. Tx dates were from 12th May to 11th August 1972.
      Anyone remember working on the studio end of these? Directors included Douglas Camfield and Paddy Russell with many notable actors so must have been a top drawer production but quickly forgotten.

      I also worked [on the sound crew!] on a Play of the Month called The Recruiting Officer, a period drama done with a full EMI 2001 OB unit in 1973 in Wiltshire, mainly at Lacock. It had a stellar cast with Ian Mckellen, Brian Blessed and Jane Asher, directed by David Giles.
      It was lit by Tommy Thomas and checking the IMDB site see that he’s also credited with lighting two other Play of The Month productions, Love’s Labour Lost and The Little Minister in 1975 which one assumes were also shot by OBs although I can’t remember anything about them!

      Robin Sutherland

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