Barry Island was on red alert. This was the start of a week when not just two or three bloggers would invade but a few. The Heddlu were primed for a bunch of people suspiciously hanging around South Wales and giggling like tits. I’d booked Tuesday to Friday off work and didn’t want to waste any of the first day. I always question my sanity when I book a Megabus journey let alone one that departed at two o’clock on the morning. This meant an early night and I’m not good at early nights at the best of times especially when it became apparent on twitter that a night shoot outside Honolulu Heights was happening, Damn, really should have booked the Monday off too. Never mind, there was four days of prime location hunting ahead. A bus, a walk through an eerily deserted Bristol and a train later I got into Cardiff just in time for a Wetherspoon to open. Handy that. I waited there while everyone else awoke from their slumber.
Jo, Becca, Annie and two American visitors – Fleem and Sunny FLA (you think I’m committed?!) went for an early morning caffeine boos but Becca and myself where impatient to get to Barry (has anyone ever been impatient to go to Barry before?) so we made our way down. First stop: A quick check at Honolulu just in case they were doing any leftover daytime shots but nothing was going on so off we went to the ‘Island’ and there were things going on. Two lots of things. Two lots of film crews to be precise which was a bit confusing. We walked between the two and once we got closer it was apparent that it wasn’t for Being Human. There was loads and loads of people and they were filming something on the beach.. Turns out it was Casualty. Or Holby city. One of them anyway. On returning to the smaller crew I found my main man – Jay the security guard!! And then there was a certain Ryan Drawbridge who greeted us with grin and a “finally found us then!”. He confirmed that they were outside the house the previous night and that they’d finished for the series at that location. They were filming down an alleyway so we couldn’t see what was going on. (This scene was the deleted scene between Rook and Natasha). At a time between takes we walked over a bridge which looked down the alleyway and saw Stephen Robertson. A crew member said something about moving around the corner so Becca and myself took this literally and thought they were going to the beach around the cove (there was rumour of filming happening there a previous day but that was probably for ‘Holbualty’). It was a grey, cold day and while it was a nice beach, just not the day for it. So one wasted walk later we came back and found they’d moved just 20 yards further up.
The director Daniel O’ Hara was running through with Kathryn Prescott how they’d do the next scene. There was also a tall scary man and a lady with a pram who seemed part of proceedings. If not they were certainly very interested locals. We made ourselves comfortable on a bench (yes, walls were a thing of the past, we’d been upgraded). Right next to a wall and five yards to our right they filmed a head on shot of Kathryn jumping over it to avoid pram lady and being chased.
< Pram lady
This was done a few times and soon we were moved to a bench WITH A TABLE! This was truly the high life now. So from where the Barry Grand Hotel is supposed to be we watched them filming the same thing from a more sideways angle and then they ran through what I shall technically refer to as the “kicking tall scary man in the bollocks” bit. Kathryn had a mat initially to land on and her and the tall scary man ran through how they were going to do it. The guy really was taking her legs away and once the mat was gone she was hitting the ground pretty hard.
Kathryn Prescott diving down. Make your own Skins related lesbian joke.
When some of the extras approached the newly in agony tall scary man we were a bit confused as to why he was being comforted considering he’d just been attacking a girl. I still am to be honest. This was shot many times including much debate between Ryan and Daniel over getting distance right in the chasing so it matched up to one streamlined shot. Michael Socha turned up with some take out food and watched for a bit.
Before they were about to shoot more, the director spoke to Ryan and pointed in our direction. My initial thought was that he was saying “can they piss off please?” but Ryan strode up to us “do you want to be in it again?!” A few jokes about hopefully not wearing the same clothes and some signing of paperwork and we were sent into the distance to do some walking. Promoted again – from sitting at a picnic to actually walking. Next stop – BAFTAS. The choice that Becca and myself had to make was who would be nearer the camera. I volunteered Becca as a sense of “I’ve only had 30 minutes sleep and look more shit than normal” vanity had crept in. As if mattered, we would be a moving blot in the distance. So we walked. From A-B, from B-C and variations of. The rain was starting to come down now, but it was always a bit of a sad thrill every time Daniel O’ Hara said ‘ACTION!’ We couldn’t look over during the takes so had to look straight ahead and instead of Being Human filming we could see ‘Casualty City’ filming in the distance instead. At one stage Becca did genuinely point at planes and you can’t get more Being Human than that.
Socha turned up again and was still in his Barry Grand gear and gleefully kicking a football around between takes and we weren’t sure why he was there until we saw the finished product on TV in episode 5. Beware, Catherine Churcher to have your “mind blown”. The shot with Tom and Hatch talking about the occult was shot outside the actual Hotel some other day. The shot of Tom watching Natasha run into the hotel and telling the tall scary man (registered trademark) to go away was filmed this day. We just couldn’t see this bit as we had to look ahead. All in all the scene took about 3 hours to shoot and lunch was called. Somebody offered us food and drinks thinking we were part of the team. Worrying. As we went for something to eat (out of our own money!) a hotel was starting to be constructed. We got back and it was all done. Are you ready?
By now Dorina had joined us and we hung around the.. well, doorway. Firstly a new woman who was dressed in the by now familiar hotel uniform turned up and went behind the door. There wwa a few takes of her screaming and crying. In my mind, or rather hope, this was the moment Hal committed a massacre in the hotel. Turns out this bit was on the DVD as a deleted scene including when it cut to her and Phil in the hotel with the drawing pins. Sounds like a game of Cluedo in a way. It was the Devil. In the hallway. With the drawing pins. And yes Catherine, that bit of the deleted scene was not filmed on this day. MIND BLOWN.
Soon Phil Davis got out of a car intriguingly holding a walking stick and dressed in a dapper suit and hat, a complete contrast to how I’d seen him previously. We already knew from a vague series 5 memo that Hatch was wheelchair bound and this man clearly was not in a wheelchair. He saw us all stood there like lemons and did a little pose clearly happy to have photos taken.
By now I hope that the crew were trusting us not to blab on the internet about what we’d seen, and we didn’t and never would have due to a massive respect for the show and those who make it. Unknown to us at the time what followed was part of one of, in my opinion, the greatest run of scenes in the shows history – the start of episode six. It was pretty unspectacular to watch if I’m honest. With the camera behind the construction as Phil Davis walked from the hotel into the distance with Ryan and Pete trying to get seagulls out of shot before each take! The Hatch walk, the moment HE WILL RISE came to fruition, was done three or four times and off he went back into his car and down quickly went the hotel entrance as well. So yes, Becca and myself walked many more yards, spent more hours and got more soaked than Phil Davis. BAFTA I tell thee.
That seemed to be it, we thought it was all done for the day until we heard from someone’s radio the words ‘Kate and Damien’. We were thinking “really?” and looked at each other in hope. By now the rain was kicking in a little worse than before but sure enough a car rolled up and there they were. A bonus to an already good if not cold day. They went straight under the bandstand and rehearsed the scene a few times.
They then made a brisk walk inside the building that actually isn’t a fictional hotel with fleeting rain drenched hellos as they did so. Soon it was just myself, Becca and Dorina left watching. The scene that followed was EPIC. Yes, capital EPIC. I wrote in my phone certain lines we heard and as it was filmed from different angles I had many chances to. We heard virtually every word. Lines like
– ” I’m sorry. I wanted to fix things” (What things?!)
– “You know why it’s over? Because you didn’t ask for help” (AAAARGHHH)
– “You swore to Tom on our friendship” (NOOOOOO!!)
– “X Ray vision veins? (Huh?)
– “Suckle at the thigh of your best friends girl” (Eh?! Hang on, Tom has a girlfriend?)
– “If I ever see you again I’ll stake you” (OOOF)
– And the moment(s) that Alex flinches when Hal goes to touch her.
Hal, cowering and remourseful. Alex hurt and angry. It was a real joy to watch a scene where they were really flexing their acting muscles. Lloyd Elis, the assistant director called over to us politely making sure we didn’t use flash on our cameras but to be honest the weather was so grim we’d given up taking pictures. Example:
It was getting darker and the weather worse still so with permission we took refuge under the crews ‘marquee’ and Michael joined us under it to watch the last ten or so minutes of filming for the day – fag in hand of course.
After a total of about three hours on this scene it was wrapped up. Michael said goodbye and Damien came over to say hello and goodbye, Dorina said the most. He was wearing a long jacket and on the inside he had a hot water bottle so I just called him a lightweight! Sometimes I don’t think before I speak but fair play, he got me back a couple of days later. He then spoke of an audition he was going to and that he’d be back on Thursday. We wished him luck and left Barry extremely cold and damp. We at no time expected or demanded cast or crew to interact with us but most of the time they did. It was more a concern on our part that we were in the way but the impression given by all those we spoke to throughout was that they were happy to entertain our madness. I wasn’t particularly tired but I did turn down the chance of a night of food and drink in Cardiff in favour of an early night which is most unlike me but I had to sleep through a mix of a lack if it and not knowing what the next few days filming held in store. I’d be a zombie otherwise and that would’ve been a totally different show. A badly acted, shoddily written American show.
Next stop: A caravan park.
DIGITAL OBSERVATIONS 
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