New Year

So, Welcome to 2020! I didn't do anything in particular for the New Year, but I was well aware of things going on outside as the evening drew on. Fireworks being set off, but why start them before Midnight? What is the point? Why set them off in daylight? I could see them clearly from the kitchen window of my flat. When I went out with Alfie later in the morning, it was quite obvious where the fireworks were set off, because there were the remains of fireworks on Oldbrook Green as we walked around the circuit. Bits of rocket stuck in the grass, piles of burnt-out firework cases and other debris. If you insist on letting off fireworks to celebrate New Year, then, fine, but do at least have the decency to clear up the mess. Generally, there was no end of litter all around the park. It was awful. There are litter bins all around The Green, but two were over-flowing with rubbish and there was litter strewn all over the place. Why can't people just put their rubbish in the bins or, at least, take it home with them? It's a total disgrace. Then there's the matter of dog mess. I always carry bags to pick up after Alfie and I would never leave it because children play around The Green, but there is a lot of dog poo that isn't picked up because I've seen it. If you get caught (and it's unlikely, because who is around to police this?) you get a fine (not sure how much.) But there are at least three bins for this purpose, so why can't people who have dogs and don't pick up after their pets, just do the right thing and put it in the bins?

I went out with Alfie a good deal later and I noticed that a lot of the litter had been removed, especially around the bins, which, as I mentioned above, had litter over-flowing all around them. As We walked further around Oldbrook Green, I noticed a man in hi-vis clothing emptying another of the bins and the rubbish which had previously been overflowing out of it was now gone. It would appear that Milton Keynes Council have been on the case and the mess was being cleared up, but it still doesn't excuse people's disgusting behaviour regarding dropping litter.

(Friday) It's been raining over-night. Not much of a surprise. Alfie got a bit wet when we went out at around 7.30a.m.

I've watched the first episode of series 12 of Doctor Who. I rather object to them calling it series 12, because Doctor Who started in 1963 and they didn't have 'series,' well, as far as I remember. It seemed to be all year long, but I suppose it must have been off-air for some part of the year. I imagine 'series 12' refers to the fact that it was re-booted in 2005. I've been a fan of this show since forever. I was the right age, as part of the audience it was aimed at, when it began in 1963 (I would have been 13.) It captured my imagination, a quirky old man ('The Doctor.'), as originally played by William Hartnell, who had a time machine which could move around 'time and space.' It changed every couple of weeks, with each story running for 2-4 weeks (some stories ran for longer.) so that when the Tardis took off at the end of one story you never knew where the next story would be set, so when the doors opened, it was a surprise. I imagine that is how it was kept fresh, with new stories as well as locations (historical or in outer space, on a planet or earth.)

It's taken a while to accept a woman taking over as The Doctor. I suppose it's because the character has always been male. But, having seen Jodie Whittaker in the role, it really makes no difference whether the character is male or female. Unfortunately, what lets the series down are the rather pedestrian scripts. But the latest episode was crammed full of incidents, action, car chases and plenty of tension that it was worth watching. I certainly got caught up in the whole thing. It was an attempt to latch on to the James Bond franchise (hence the title of the episode 'Spyfall.')

Spoiler Alert! It did have a Bond Vibe, with a spectacular car chase. Also, something of a Men In Black feel, with our heroes and heroines approached by what would appear to be spies (of one sort or another and Stephen Fry introduced as a sort of spymaster. But he gets killed off far too early, unfortunately. If I have a complaint, why so many 'assistants'? We seem to be going back to the days when Peter Davidson was The Doctor and there were superfluous 'assistants.' When it was announced that Bradley Walsh was to be cast in 'Doctor Who,' I didn't believe it. It just seemed an odd bit of casting for a comedian and gameshow host to suddenly be cast in the longest-running sci fi show. But he was and it was genuine. But with three assistants it seems over-loaded and unnecessary. The show bounced from one location to the next, which was somewhat disorientating, to say the least. We live in a world where people have a short attention span, so I imagine this style of television drama is a response to this.

I have discovered that he viewing figures for this episode was the lowest for years, a little over 5 million viewers. But this doesn't take into consideration such things as BBC iPlayer or other catch-up services. I watched it on catch-up. Perhaps the show is just not as popular as it was, at the time it was rebooted in 2005 it had viewing figures in excess of 10 million. Maybe people don't accept Jodie Whittaker as The Doctor and also the producers keep fiddling with the format at well as moving it around in the television schedules (it's now going to be shown on a Sunday, when it was traditionally a Saturday evening show.) Perhaps Doctor Who is coming to an end. Might it just have gone it's course? Television programmes have a shelf life. These shows just come to an end. If the ratings are too low to make it worth producing, perhaps the BBC will cancel it. It would appear that it's just being produced because they can generate income from merchandise attached to it. Books, comics, toys, games, you name it, they can licence it and make money. Perhaps the core audience doesn't appreciate having the Doctor played by a woman. Who knows? Which is why the audience figures are so low, or at least, might appear so.

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.