Pebble Mill at One

"Pebble Mill at One" was a popular British afternoon chat show broadcast originally on BBC2 before transferring to BBC One. It was produced from the Pebble Mill facilities of BBC Birmingham, and uniquely was hosted from the centre's main reception area rather than a traditional studio. The reason for this was that a planned third studio was never constructed at the site and existing facilities were fully-booked for network drama production and local news. The show ran from 1972 to 1986.

"Pebble Mill at One" was then one of few daytime magazine programmes, hence its popularity at the time. Presenters included Jan Leeming, Donny MacLeod, Fern Britton, Marian Foster, Debi Jones, Bob Langley, Magnus Magnusson, Alan Titchmarsh, Josephine Buchan and Paul Coia.

There were several Pebble Mill spin-offs, particularly in the 1970s, such as the late night chat show Saturday Night at the Mill. Kenny Ball And His Jazzmen were the regular house band, and they performed the show's signature tune. In 1981 a kind of early evening version called Six Fifty-five Special surfaced during the Mill's summer break, presented by Donny MacLeod and Marian Foster.

One of Pebble Mill At One's more frequently repeated scenes was in 1986 when Marian Foster introduced pop act Owen Paul who was to perform his hit My Favourite Waste Of Time. He was to mime to a backing track but wasn't fed his audio cue, so was seen standing looking into camera while the music played and his recorded voice was heard.

The Pebble Mill format returned in 1988 as "Daytime Live", renamed "Scene Today" and finally "Pebble Mill".