Pebble Mill at One is a British television magazine programme that was broadcast live on weekdays at one o'clock on BBC1, from 2 October 1972 to 23 May 1986, and again from 14 October 1991 to 29 March 1996. It was transmitted from the Pebble Mill studios of BBC Birmingham, and uniquely was hosted from the centre's main foyer area, rather than a conventional television studio. Broadcast Until 1972, broadcasting hours on British television were tightly controlled and limited by the British government. There were restrictions on the number of hours per day which could be used by the BBC and ITV for regular television programming. In the 1960s, it was set at a 50-hour allowance per week (with exemptions for schools programmes, adult education, state occasions, Welsh language programming, and outside broadcasts of sporting events) and gradually increased by the government at regular intervals. In 1972, the government – under Conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath – announced its plan to completely lift all restrictions and limits on broadcasting hours, and allow the BBC and ITV to set their own schedules. This was introduced in January of that year. With the lifting of the restrictions, ITV planned to launch a full daytime schedule in the autumn of 1972, with the broadcasting day gradually increasing throughout that year. To counter this, the BBC planned to launch a selection of new programming along with repeats and films, to expand their daytime schedules; now that broadcasting restrictions were gone, they planned to launch a brand new lunchtime magazine series, so to anchor their BBC1 new daytime schedules around this new programme, which became Pebble Mill at One. When this was launched, it was always preceded by the five-minute BBC lunchtime news summary at 12:55pm, which would lead into the programme commencing at 1:00pm. The programme was broadcast from the foyer of Pebble Mill, because a planned third studio was never constructed on the site, and existing facilities were fully booked for network drama production and local news. In the beginning, visitors to the studios were seen arriving in the background as the programme was transmitted. Gradually, as the programme became more successful, the foyer became a studio, and visitors had to use a new entrance. Two weeks after Pebble Mill at One began, ITV launched a brand new daytime line-up, including an ITN News bulletin at lunchtime, placing it in direct competition with