At last! The stars aligned, earthly schedules coincided and I got myself over to Sompting to appear as Mackerel Morris in the latest escapade of Malcolm and the Magpies. These were the final two shooting days for the film, it was slightly weird as a newcomer meeting Keith, Jerry and Karn as I had seen the trailer and first episode many times over, I felt as if I knew them already.
What’s the story? You’ll have to wait for the film to be released to find out, my own part was just as one of the performers in an initiation ceremony. Being Malcolm of course chaos ensues with naked men, scarcely clad young women, dead seagulls and root vegetables. Great fun to shoot and a nice crew to work with – Phil as director, Alan working as DOP and Rod coping admirably with a very noisy environment as the sound recordist.
The second day of shooting required Hearsula. Quite an enjoyable trip over as a 4.0 litre Daimler hears is fairly quick away from rest, especially with the slush box in sports mode. So I had fun with the traffic. The first scenes involved Keith, Karn and Jerry (Spud, Malcolm and Ox) placating Cigar Sid (Frank Harper)
Although we got on set for 0800 Hearsula didn’t appear in a scene till after lunch so I spent the morning assisting wherever possible. Then she got her chance to star. Sat on the road to be admired by Chris the traffic warden, parked on the drive to be polished by Ox as Malcolm witters on. She performed like a star.
Then home. We hit Hayling traffic and, on the S bends it came to a sudden halt. So did we. As the traffic moved off Hearsula sat. She didn’t start. Even with the combined chorus of horns we couldn’t get her moving again until some helpful lads pushed us into the farm entrance on the right. If by chance you are reading this – thanks again! for rescuing us.
And I couldn’t resist. I cajoled Keith into the front of the ringlight …
