Storyteller's World

Just a few days after posting my blog about visiting Dorchester-on-Thames and finding ourselves in the middle of a film set, for the filming of the new Miss Marple series, I got an e-mail from Rebecca in Boardman, Ohio, who maintains the Geraldine McEwan website, who found that entry while surfing and was interested in any more details.

I didn't have my digital camera with me. But I was able to report:

Sadly, there's not a lot more that I can say. We drove to Dorchester (about 12 miles from Oxford) without knowing there was any filming going on, because Alison and I needed to spend an hour or two together. At first the only strange things we noticed were the no parking cones along the roadside; then a policeman controlling the traffic, and film crew in front of one of the shops. After we parked the car there were other strange signs of how TV companies film period pieces: modern street lights and signs removed, vintage cars and buses about the place, people (extras) walking about in period costume, what turn out to be artificial shop fronts along the main street, etc. It all looks very convincing. And immediately next door are the bits they don't film: the modern supermarket, etc.

We couldn't see very clearly what was actually being filmed: it seemed to be a scene in a butcher's shop, and I don't think Geraldine was involved, it looked to be younger characters. By the time we got there it was already threatening to rain, and very soon afterwards the thunder storm I described began, and they stopped filming for the day. I shall look for the film with interest when it's broadcast.

It's things like this that make the great wide world seem just like a neighbourhood after all.