Pebble Mill Studios

Pebble Mill Studios stood on a nine-acre site in Edgbaston, Birmingham. The BBC opened the complex in 1971 to house its Midlands operations. It included two canteens, a post office, gardens, a seven-storey office block and an outside-broadcast base. Princess Anne performed the opening ceremony in June 1971. Programmes made there included Midlands Today, Pebble Mill at One, The Archers and Top Gear. The studios closed in 2004 and were demolished the following year. The complex contained three main studios. Studio A measured 5,538 square feet and had three control rooms. It began with EMI 2001 cameras and later gained Sony BVP-370 and 70Isp cameras. A £2.2 million refurbishment in 1997–98 turned it into one of the BBC’s first fully digital widescreen facilities. Studio B, 40 by 25 feet, served local news and sport. Its control gallery combined lighting, vision, production and sound. A presentation suite next door handled short news opt-outs. Studio C never materialised as planned. Instead the foyer became a makeshift studio for Pebble Mill at One and its successors. The conservatory studio in the courtyard hosted cooking items and interviews. A central apparatus room linked the studios until new technology reduced its size. The site also held a cargo lift with a tight right-angle turn and a dimmer room for lighting systems. Today the area is grassed over, but the layout of the quadrangle remains.