Same Old Same

(Monday) Another fun filled week in store. Oh, the excitement is too much! Note the ironic tone of this blog post.  Cooped up in my flat like a battery chicken when it's really sunny and warm. I am hoping and even praying that the government will reduce the social distancing. It's a bit of a joke when I went out yesterday evening with Alfie and seeing people definitely not social distancing, children playing on the equipment in the playground at Oldbrook Green. The 'Rate of Transmission' of the infection rate of the coronavirus has been reduced to whatever number, I think it's 3, moved down from 4. I'm not entirely sure.

People on Oldbrook Green flying a kite. The wind was more or less perfect for such an occupation. There is something fascinating about kites. I really like them. We took Sam and Emerline to Dunstable Downs to fly his kite many years ago, although not entirely successfully. When we used to go on holiday to Frinton-On-Sea I used to fly a rather incredible box kite, which wasn't mine. It belonged to my younger brother, Sandy, who had been given it as a present, I think, by his godmother, Jane, but he wasn't in the least bit interested, so I got the pleasure of flying it. Quite high, from what I remember, on the Greensward, the grassed area between the road, The Esplanade I believe, and the promenade where the beach huts were. Quite a strong wind off the sea and it took some effort to get it to fly to the furthest extent of it's string.  A lot of effort to keep hold of it and probably a danger to low-flying aircraft. More on holidays to Frinton-On-Sea in an earlier blog post but I may write more in a future blog post.

(Tuesday) 4.02a.m. I haven't slept much. Someone in a flat below me has a television or radio on with a voice that never stops. I can't think what it can be. Not BBC or Sky News because there's no music, advertising or those 'stings' or whatever they cal them, the bits of music between items or over credits or the opening of programmes. Whatever it is, it's difficult to get to sleep. I turn on BBC News and have a cup of tea. Something to watch or listen to. They have an item about a digital television channel calle 'Talking Pictures' which has seen it's ratings rise since the start of the pandemic lockdown. It shows old programmes, most of which are black and white and run by a handful of staff. Apparently the main channels don't show black and white material. Why? Does that mean some of the classic films of the early days of the film industry aren't important because they aren't in COLOUR? So, that means that Laurel and Hardy, the Marx Brothers, Buster Keaton and a whole host of other comedy films are worthless? Absolutely not. Then how about: Casablanca, Sunset Boulevard, and probably the best film comedy of all, Some Like It Hot aren't worth bothering with? Are audiences so dumb that they can't be doing with black and white films? I don't think so. Surely it's the story, characters and just plain charm of these early films which makes them what they are. They survive because they are so brilliant. Oh, and then, how about the priceless Ealing comedies such as Passport to Pimlico (which is on tomorrow as I have looked at the EPG (Electronic Programme Guide), Kind Hearts and Coronets and The Ladykillers (I think the only Ealing comedy to be made in colour and also the last one made.)

The social distancing is likely to be reduced from 2 metres to 1 metre today, after the Cabinet has met this morning. It has to happen. BBC Breakfast has said that we can expect high temperatures in the next few days, possibly the highest temperatures of the year, towards the end of the week. Heat kills viruses, so it's going to wipe out the coronavirus. Just wait and see.

Later. 'I just don't believe it!' as Victor Meldew would say repeatedly in the brilliant sitcom 'One Foot In The Grave.' I have mentioned the problems I have had regarding my Television Licence. If you need a reminder, when I moved into Dexter House I made sure I had this set up so that I was 'legal , decent, honest and truthful' (an advertising slogan which was used by the Advertising Standards Authority.) I'm rambling. Going off-topic. Not keeping to the script.  Digression is the word I'm looking forAnyway, I discovered that I didn't need to pay a full licence living at Dexter House. Don't ask me how or why. You can, but you won't get an answer. I paid by cheque and it must have cleared as it shows up on my bank statement so the licensing people have proof. But I keep getting letters, beautifully printed and posted, no doubt at great expense. So . . . what on earth is going on? Making a mockery of the whole confounded TV licence business and must cost a fortune, money which could be going to the BBC to pay some hard up celebrity on their payroll who needs to probably put petrol in his/her Rolls Royce or to buy more caviare or pate de foie gras from Harrods or Fortnum and Masons.

Later still. So, that's it. Boris Johnson says the social distancing can be reduced to one metre and that more businesses can reopen. Thank goodness! Being a prisoner in your own home is no joke. But lockdown can be reenforced if there's any new infections, or something, I'm not sure of the exact words. But it's not going to happen. It's summer, the sun is out and viruses don't survive in a hot climate.

(Wednesday) A hot and humid night and I found it difficult to sleep, but the kitchen is as hot as ever. Why on earth can't the heating be reduced? It just doesn't make sense and I have mentioned it but it seemed impossible to get anyone to deal with this situation.

Working on Dennis Potter BBC Series "Blackeyes"

As I have mentioned in earlier posts, I have done a fair amount of 'walk-on' or 'extra' work in television productions, ranging from 'EastEnders' to 'Lovejoy' and 'Keeping Up Appearances.' Generally you are in the background, literally 'walking-on', propping up the bar in the Vic in EastEnders or being a ruffian in the crowd in 'Middlemarch.' (This was described in quite a lot of detail in an earlier post.) Some you have to take quite a lot of direction. Anyone who says that being an extra or 'walk-on' is easy may like to know that you have to be able to take direction and not make mistakes and concentrate when being given instructions, as if you do  so it is going to waste valuable time and no production is going to want to employ people who constantly make mistakes and fool around on set. It is an expensive business making good quality drama for television and eventually you will be blacklisted and won't get used again.

On one occasion in the early 1990's I was called by my London agency as they were looking for someone to double for the actor Nigel Planer. I was told years ago that I had a striking resemblance to this actor (he made his name in the comedy series "The Young Ones.") This was for a new Dennis Potter series being made by the B.B.C.  called "Blackeyes," and the interiors were then being filmed at Ealing Studios. This would involve two day's work so I would need to drive to the studios each day. I was somewhat excited about this, as you can imagine, as I have never been a 'double' for anyone. Not only was I to be Nigel Planer's double, but I was to be his 'stand-in.' I have known that people do  this sort of work, being used on the set for lighting, setting up cameras, so that the star can remain in his/her dressing room or caravan and then just appear when needed for the actual filming. 

On arriving at the studios for the 'call' which was relatively early (as most filming starts at the crack of dawn for make-up, wardrobe etc.) I was met by a production assistant and then told that I would be working on the set with a young lady, ' who was standing in for  Gina Bellman, another star of the show, walking' the movements of the actors and speaking the lines. This was because most of the takes were very long, around 10 minutes, without any sort of 'cut away' and the camera was set up on a sort of track on the floor and as we spoke and moved around the camera would follow us. It was quite intensive and we had to get the moves right.

It was quite exciting filming at the famous Ealing Studios. At the time this was being filmed it was owned and operated by the B.B.C., but in it's past it was where a lot of really well-known films were made, mostly the famous Ealing Comedies such as 'Kind Hearts and Coronets', 'The Lady Killers;' 'Passport To Pimlico' and many more. In another studio next door to where the 'Blackeyes' set was built they were making one of the B.B.C. 'Narnia' series, based on the C.S. Lewis books. I'm not entirely sure which one, but during breaks outside the soundstages I saw actors in costume who were playing the little creatures which appeared in it, as they had taken off the costume heads and were standing around talking and having a cigarette break, so I assumed that was was what they were filming. 

During a lunch break one one of the days there I went to the canteen for lunch. I always talking to people I meet. It makes for really interesting day. The whole filming experience is really interesting and I have always had a keen interest in how television programmes and films are made. As I was sitting and eating my meal one of the crew sat with me. He was the lighting cameraman and we started chatting and he was telling me that for his next assignment (bearing in mind that this was around 1989-90 I'm talking about.) he was going to be filming a documentary series with Michael Palin, following in the footsteps of the character Phineas Fogg and going "Round The World in 80 Days." I now now how successful and popular that series became and how many more similar voyages Michael Palin made in future series, so it was quite a privilege to meet the man who actually went with him and filmed it!

Dennis Potter actually directed 'Blackeyes.' I can't say that it was one of my favourite Potter series, as I quite enjoyed his earlier series such as 'The Singing Detective', 'Pennies From Heaven' etc. This was somewhat controversial. A lot of his work has caused controversy in some way, but when you consider the rather dull drama we get served up by television these days, it certainly makes a difference to not have yet another police series or one set in a hospital. I suppose the nearest we get to what he was attempting would be Stephen Poliakov.

There were some scenes in the series where I was supposed to be watching someone through a window and I had to wear a costume that exactly replicated what Nigel Planer was wearing. There was also a scene where a man on stilts walked past the window of the flat and peers in. All this took a great deal of time and effort to film, but having since watched the finished, broadcast production I don't remember it being used, nor seeing myself in the background, watching through a window from across the street!  A pity, but you don't really do walk-on or even stand-in work to be seen necessarily. It was quite odd to stand and have a break with Nigel Planer as we are very similar facially. I just wish now that I had got someone to take a photograph with him. I was rather like looking at yourself in a mirror. I suppose today it would be a good deal easier, what with digital cameras and having cameras in mobile phones, but you aren't supposed to take cameras onto the set when you go filming, but I think people do regardless. All in all quite an interesting experience.