More About Working as a Television Walk-On- Part 2

It looks as if I can get quite a lot more to say about my experiences of working as a television walk-on. I'm trying not to make each post too long, as I realise it can be quite difficult reading large blocks of text on a computer screen, which is why I'm breaking it up in to more manageable chunks over several posts.

I did quite a few more bits and pieces on 'Campion.' I think the BBC were attempting to find a replacement for 'Miss Marple,' which probably had run it's course, although it seemed very popular with the television-viewing public. Marjorie Allingham, the author of the 'Campion' novels, would rank alongside Agatha Christie as one of the writers who produced work during what is known as the 'Golden' period of crime fiction during the inter-war years.  I think this ran for two or three series. Each adaptation was done as two one-hour episodes and it was a co-production with the American network, P.B.S., which is their vaguely equivalent of the BBC. I'm not exactly sure how it's funded, but certainly not like the BBC, with a television licence. 

One morning I got a call from Jaclyn, the agency I did most of my walk-on work with. They needed someone to take over from someone who had been booked for a day's work and couldn't now do it, on "Campion' and would I like to do the job? I immediately said 'yes' and I had to be at the location as soon as I could get there. It was in a village with a name I cannot forget, as it's so unusual. It was called Foxearth, which is between Bury St Edmonds and Ipswich and I had to drive away from Bedford towards Cambridge and drive along the A14 and then off near Bury. Another instance when it would have been handy to have a satnav, but, again, long before they were on the market.

I arrived at the location and was put into a policeman's costume. The scene involved Campion and Lugg (Peter Davidson and Brian Glover) in Campion's car, a fantastically restored period car, an open-top, a beautiful red colour. The scene involved a flock of sheep, who were being herded along a narrow road and they were holding up Campion's car, and I'm the local policeman, riding my bicycle. Well, you can imagine how difficult it was to get the sheep to do as they're told. The term 'never work with children and animals' comes to mind. Those sheep, although being herded by, presumably, a professional shepherd, would NOT obey what commands they were given. It meant the scene had to be re-shot several times. It was then that another problem arose. The vintage car which was used as Campion's vehicle didn't appreciate having to be left for long just idling with the motor running. It stalled, and refused to restart. It took several attempts to start it, which held up shooting even further. Just another example how filming television programmes can take so long and also, add to the expense to the whole thing.

They did some photography whilst I was on that location. I learned that some of these photographs would later be used for the covers of the tie-in Penguin books which went with the 'Campion' series. So when I eventually saw them on sale in our local W.H. Smith I could say that 'I was there' when the photographs were shot. Just something else to get a bit excited about because you don't often get the chance to be in at the actual shoot of these things.

There were a couple of night shoots I recollect for 'Campion.' In other episodes I was the henchman of one of the villains (I believe played by Ian Cuthbertson, a big Scottish actor renowned for playing 'heavies.') It seems amazing that I could be a policeman in one episode and a waiter in another and then be a henchman in yet another. I just hope viewers didn't look too closely otherwise it would have seemed odd to have a policeman tied up with such villainy!

One scene required me, as a henchman, to wear an eye-patch and sport a rather nasty scar across one of my cheeks. This was achieved by the make-up department applying some sort of rubber solution to my skin from a bottle rather like a nail-varnish bottle with a small brush. They put on one layer, in a line across my skin, and let it dry, each layer that was later applied over the first and subsequent layers dried out and made the skin stretch (or shrink, don't remember which) so that by the time they'd finished, I had a quite convincing scar. On location which was in a wood somewhere in darkest Suffolk, myself and one other walk-on, were supposed to be tracking Campion through the trees. Not very convincing, when I watch the scene on the DVD of this particular episode, but never mind. We are standing next to a fence, or was it a shed or something, in the depths of this wood, and we're keeping an eye on Campion in the distance through the trees. I have been given a match to pick my teeth with. Although they'd wanted me to smoke a cigarette and as the scene develops, throw the stub of the cigarette onto the ground. They'd also set up a track across the ground, for the camera to travel along, as the scene unfolded. At a certain point in the action, we were supposed to walk away from the fence, shed or whatever, and then stop, at a point which had been drawn on the ground for us, as a sort of cue. But, when we started the scene and it continued, when I was supposed to stop at the mark, I couldn't see this confounded mark, because of the eye-patch I was wearing! So much for eye-patch and match acting! Oh, the life of an actor-come television walk-on can be so difficult, but oh so much fun, and you get paid for it!

Having looked back at an earlier post on here, it seems I have mentioned a good deal of the stuff that is on this post on there. I do apologise to those who might have read that and then this and thought to themselves 'he's repeating a lot of material.' I've written it and posted it on here and I'm not going to delete these two posts as they've taken a long time to compose and I don't want them altered in any way.

More About Working as a Television Walk-On- Part 1

I seem to have missed out some more about working as a 'Suporting Artiste.' 'Extra' is something of a derogatory expression. I don't think I've ever been an 'extra' but if the term is used it's usually in the film industry. Usually if you're an extra, it's in really large crowd scenes and you're just one of a mass of people, not given specific direction. As a 'Walk-On' or 'Supporting Artiste' you can be given more general direction, not by the actual director, but usually by an A.D. (Assistant Director) or one of the other minor floor crew. Although, saying that, you can sometimes be given direction by the actual director if you have the chance to work with any of the principal actors, although this is very rare. Saying all this, though, I'm talking about 20-30 years ago. Having not done any of this sort of work for a good 20 or so years, things are likely to have changed considerably, but how much and what exactly I can't say.

I did quite a few days on the BBC drama series called "Campion," based on the books by Marjorie Allingham and starring Peter Davidson as Albert Campion and Brian Glover as his man-servant, Lugg (not sure whether he was his valet, but that's a technicality.) Anyway, I was first on this show when they did a scene which was supposed to be in a restaurant or road-house, call it what you will in a 1930's sort of setting. I arrived on location, where I can't now remember as it was in the early 1990's. I was supposed to be a waiter and, as I'd arrived early (another thing was often finding the location you would be sent to. Long before such things as satnavs which would be so useful as most locations are usually hidden away in some quite inaccessible places, usually in the middle of the countryside, as I think this one was.) I went to wardrobe to get fitted out, in the more or less traditional waiter's black suit, white shirt and a long white apron. I do wish I'd had photographs taken of all the things I've worked on, but you would never be allowed to take a camera onto a set and this was well before the introduction of smartphone technology. Then more people arrived who were to also be walk-on's. No doubt guests in the restaurant. We were sitting in the sort of holding area, where you have to sit and wait to be called onto the set. It amused me when several other people, seeing me dressed as I was, thought I was a genuine waiter! Did it never occur to them that I was just another body, dressed in costume? Just really crazy. The episode which we were working on was called "Mystery Mile." To return to what I was saying. The scene was set up, with Peter Davidson and Brian Glover sitting at one table, eating I imagine, and I'm supposed to be the waiter and I'm standing at the door, taking the coats of the guests who are arriving. This lady turns up, played by Barbara Jefford  and I'm supposed to take her coat and she offers me her gloved hand. Stupidly I attempt to take her gloves off for her (why I wasn't given more direction I can't think) but it was, to me anyway, an obvious thing to do. But, apparently, it wasn't and they had to 'cut' and start the sequence again. Embarrassing for me, as to be responsible for having to stop a scene isn't what walk-on's are supposed to do, the principals can, but never anyone else. So, the scene was recommenced and this time she just took the wretched gloves off and handed them to me. There was a later scene where I had to clear the table after some guests left, perhaps as Campion and Lugg went out, but I can't remember, but, as I've got the DVD of this series, I have seen myself and, it's odd, being able to see yourself, if only briefly, and a good deal younger, which is also odd.