Heathens vs Heritage Part 1

A lot has been happening on the production front the last couple of weeks. We introduced Miles and Laura Cavendish into the picture, admirably played by Mark Trinick and Eve Webster. We returned to the location used as the Goodie resident (not that you would notice it’s the same house) and the ruins of Nonsuch Manor in Cheam. This was built by Henry VIII as a compliment to the nearby Nonsuch Palace (which no longer exists) and was perfect for what we needed.

There was a very small technical issue with the equipment but this was fixed quickly by the expert skills of the tech crew, David Wells, Barry Heath and Nicola Zentilin. We also held an extra casting on 24th May for additional roles and this proved very successful, we now have a squad of villagers and new age hippies. On the 5th June, this extra cast was introduced in our biggest shoot yet – the village meeting scene! The original location had fell through so I had a week beforehand to find a new venue. After a lot of searching for a village hall (you try finding one that’s not booked on a Sunday!) I eventually settled on New Wimbledon Theatre in South London. I adapted the script slightly to accommodate this and changed the on-screen location from a village hall to a function room in a neighbouring town.

This scene introduced nearly the entire cast to each other and a lot of them commenced their first day’s shooting. On set included actors Heather Tracy and Adrian Palmer (George and Gwen Goodie), Richard Aloi (Oscar Steinman), Robert Hamilton (Edward Franklin-Hall), Sarah Lee-Allen (Swallow), Giuliano Zampi (Gerald Burke), Nicki Walsh (Joan Harris), Richard and Gill Stoker (Morris and Mary Blake), Mark Bennett (Rev. John Magister), Mark Trinick and Eve Webster (Miles and Laura Cavendish), Rachel Watkins (Audrey Philpott), Tony Kemp (Reginald), Kathleen McNamara (Elizabeth Goodie), Carys Lewis (Beverly Trughill), Anna Fiertag (Molly Churchill), Rob Dawson (Journalist), Ian Wakelin (Journalist) and David Ilett (Journalist). There was also brilliant hippie brigade consisting of Alice Fernbank (playing her digeredoo!), Sarah Morrison, Etta Bell, Alexa Brown, Emma Dennis, Peter Friel and Jenny-Ann Topham (I can’t wait to see these characters do their stuff in upcoming shoots) – oh, and there was me doing my first proper scene as Dominic Clay (damn ego, having to be in it as well!).

As well as the cast, the crew were exceptional on this day and I’m very honoured to have these people onboard. This was a two-camera set up so DOP David Wells overlooked Nicola Zentilin on camera A, Barry Heath on camera B with Mark Bennett moonlighting from his acting duties to take over on the boom (under Barry’s supervision) and Mary Newman providing her artistic skills.. The reason I wanted to give a shout out to everyone is because (as mentioned before) this was our toughest shoot yet, two cameras in a limited and very hot space – but everyone performed incredibly well with some great banter going on between ‘The Friends of Ravenswood’ and ‘The Ravenswood UFO Reception Committee’.

The final shots of the meeting descending into spiritual warfare were brilliant with the hippies launching into a new age musical chant which was counteracted by the villagers vocal rendering of ‘Jerusalem’ - Priceless!