Julian Ovenden and Honeysuckle Weeks ready to film a scene.
I think I said that the following day, the Saturday, I arrived at the house and found the film crew had left. I thought I had missed them, and wandered along the street, when off in the distance, I saw them. Honeysuckle Weeks and Julian Ovenden were sitting as in the picture, having a coffee, and I went over and explained about the lack of film in my camera the day before. I was just going to have someone take a picture of me with the two of them, when they were called to rehearse a scene. That's when I started talking to a guy who was in costume, but didn't look familiar. Turns out he was Michael Kitchen's stand-in, used to get the lighting right when they are setting up shots. He told me he has been a stand-in on lots of other productions, including the Bond film Die Another Day, where he stood in for other actors, but not for Pierce Brosnan, who apparently has a stand-in of his own.
Honeysuckle Weeks with Shirley.
They were starting to shoot the scene and I sat down to watch, when I was told by a crew member not to look at the actors during the scene. He said it throws them off their concentration to catch the eye of an extra, especially during an emotional scene, which apparently this was going to be. Eventually, just to keep out of the way, I went round the corner of a building, where the director was, and watched the scene on his monitor. The scene is of Sam and Andrew walking slowly along the street, and at the end of the scene they kiss, and not like the peck she gave Tony, either.
By this time it was getting very hot (weatherwise), and I had been there most of the morning, so I was starting to think of leaving, but I still wanted a picture of me with Honeysuckle Weeks. Finally there was a break and I got someone to take the picture while someone else was fixing Honeysuckle's hair. When there was another break in filming I went over to the director, told him how much I liked the first series, and thanked him for letting me spend so much time on his set.
Mel, the stand-in man.
This particular weekend in Hastings was a festival to celebrate the old town, and part way through the morning they had to stop filming for a while because there was background noise of a parade and marching bands, and that' s when I got to talk to the director.
After that, I left, but as I was walking away, it occurred to me that I hadn't even asked if they might need an extra in any upcoming shots. I doubted it, but I knew I'd regret it if I didn't ask, so I went back and spoke to one of the crew, who said no, there weren't any shots planned that would need an extra.
Flo, the border collie, resident of Number 31.
So that was all of my adventure. It turned out to be a highlight of my trip, but it wouldn't have been nearly as much fun if I hadn't known there would be interested people out there to tell all this to!