Doctor Who – Sophie Neville

30th Anniversary talk on filming ‘Coot Club’ and ‘The Big Six’

Unbelievably, thirty years have passed since we started filming the BBC adaptations of Coot Club and The Big Six on location in Norfolk. We drove up to Norwich on 17th June 1983 and by 3rd July would have been in full swing. It had been my job to cast the children who I was now looking after on location.

Amazingly, we were to able enjoy three months of almost solid sunshine and had the most wonderful time. The eight-part serial, produced by Joe Waters, was first broadcast in 1984 under the generic title of Swallows and Amazons Forever! This was because Joe was hoping to dramatise other Arthur Ransome books, but sadly they proved too expensive.

I gave an illustrated talk about how the series was made at the Royal Harwich Yacht Club on the River Orwell for the Nancy Blackett Trust Annual Meeting, explaining how Rosemary Leach and I had both appeared in the BBC drama Cider with Rosie back in 1971. Having starred as Laurie Lee’s mother, she had the lead part of Mrs Barrable, the Admiral in Coot Club.

Henry Dimbleby and Rosemary Leach in 'Coot Club' and 'The Big Six' — BBC TV’s adapation of ‘Coot Club’ and ‘The Big Six’

Swallows and Amazons Forever! (1984) DVD

The drama, set in the early 1930’s, was nominated for a BAFTA. It had an exceptionally talented cast including Rosemary Leach, John Woodvine, Sam Kelly and Henry Dimbleby. I’m not sure if you can spot him that easily on the cover of the DVD, but one of the characters in the story soon became a household name. It was William, Mrs Barrable’s fawn pug dog. He was soon known nationally – if not internationally – as Little Willie, Ethel’s pet dog in the soap opera Eastenders.

Coot Club - — The puppy we chose to play Williams who later starred as Little Willie in ‘Eastenders’

While Jack Watson was at the helm of the Sir Garnet, Julian Fellowes played Jerry, self-appointed skipper of the Margoletta and the leader of the Hullabaloos. Whilst with us on the Norfolk Broads he forged a creative partnership with our director Andrew Morgan that launched his career as a writer. They were soon working together on adaptations of classic books such as The Prince and the Pauper and Little Lord Fauntleroy.

Julian Fellowes as Jerry in Coot Club — Julian Fellowes as Jerry in ‘Coot Club’

Looking back, I can see a number of connections between Coot Club and Doctor Who. You will see we had not one but two Time Lords with us in the guise of The Eel Man, who was played by Patrick Troughton, and Dr Dudgeon, played by Colin Baker, who went on to become a later incarnation of the Doctor.

Patrick Troughton as the eel man — Patrick Troughton as The Eel Man in ‘The Big Six’

A number of the crew worked behind the scenes on Doctor Who including our Visual Effects Designer, Andy Lazell and the writer Mervyn Haismen. I found myself working on Vengeance on Varos a year later when Colin Baker swapped his Norfolk tweeds for the multi-coloured coat he wore in the TARDIS.

Colin Baker as Dr Dudgeon in 'Coot Club' and 'The Big Six' — Colin Baker as Dr Dudgeon in ‘Coot Club’ and ‘The Big Six’

However, I expect the members of the Nancy Blackett Trust will want to know most about the beautiful period boats that appeared in the series, some of which members of the Arthur Ransome Society have been tracking down. Sadly some, such as the Catchalot seem to have deteriorated but the Janca, who played the Margoletta has been restored, and the Death & Glory is still on the Broads.

Lullaby undersail, playing the Teasel with her stage name painted on a false transome — Lullaby under sail, playing the Teasel with her stage name painted on a false transom

The wonderful thing is that you can still hire the yacht we used to play the Teasel and take the same route through the Broads as Arthur Ransome took with his wife in the 1930’s when he was absorbing experience from which to write. What I did not know until recently was that Titty Altounyan ~ the real Titty portrayed in Swallows and Amazons ~ accompanied them one year, but I will leave that story for a future post.

Coot Club - book cover — I remember setting up this photograph for Puffin at Gay’s Staithe on the Broads

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The ‘Doctor Who’ connection

One viewer has observed that, in the BBC serialisation of Coot Club and The Big Six, we had not one but two Doctors in the cast, Time Lords at that. This is true. We arrived on location one morning to find that Patrick Troughton had transmogrified into Harry Bangate the Eel Man.

He had led the most fascinating life. A Naval Officer during World War II, and the first actor to play Robin Hood on television, Patrick Troughton played The Doctor in 128 episodes of Doctor Who. But would he be drawn? If we asked him about his life he just started talking about eels in a broad Norfolk accent. He’d worked for our director Andrew Morgan on Kings Royal and for Joe Waters on Z Cars, but for us, in the summer of 1983, he was the eel man.

Coot Club - Jake Coppard - playing Pete — Jake Coppard playing Pete at the eel man’s hut

Colin Baker first appeared in Doctor Who (a story entitled Arc of Infinity) in the role of Commander Maxil, when he actually shot the 5th Time Lord, who was being played by Peter Davison. It was not until after he arrived in Norfolk to play Arthur Ransome’s tweed-clad Dr Dudgeon, that he realised his full destiny and donned a multi-coloured dream coat to take on the 6th incarnation of The Doctor in the long-running BBC science fiction series. I went on to work as an Assistant Floor Manager on a two-part story called Vengeance on Varos when the Tardis had to make an emergency landing on a most unattractive planet. Once established at the North Acton rehearsal rooms I persuaded Colin to teach me all the correct jargon about transmogrifiers but it has since washed from my brain.

I can’t remember whether Colin Baker was cast as Dr Dudgeon in Coot Club before or after Henry Dimbleby was given the part of his son Tom Dudgeon, but he did not look unlike Henry’s real father back then.

David Dimbelby with us on location in Norfolk, 1983

There were various other members of our film crew who were also familiar with the Tardis. (I think we were meant to refer to it as ‘T.A.R.D.I.S.’ short for ‘Time And Relative Dimension In Space’). John Woodvine ,who played PC Tedder, had preciously taken the role of the Marshall in ‘The Armageddon Factor’, opposite Tom Baker and Mary Tamm in 1979.

John Gill who we knew as Old Bob of the Comealong had the part of Oak in Fury from the Deep, made in Patrick Troughton’s time. Alan Lake played Herrick in four episodes entitled Underworld first broadcast in 1978. Andrew Burt played Valgard in Terminus during Peter Davison’s era and Tim Barlow, the distinctive looking actor who played the old man at the Roaring Donkey was Tyssan in Destiny of the Daleks. Sam Kelly, our Captain of the Catchalot appeared in the audio dramas of Doctor Who titled The Holy Terror and Return to the Web Planet.

Andrew Morgan directed both Time and the Rani and Remembrance of the Daleks. Tariq Anwar our film editor on Coot Club, worked on two stories while Andy Lazell, the visual effects designer responsible for creating so much fake fog on Breydon Water had worked on ‘The Leisure Hive’ and ‘Snakedance’, eight episodes of Doctor Who first broadcast in the early 1980s. Colin March, our sound recordist worked on the film sound or ‘Planet of Evil’ in 1975 and ‘The Two Doctors’, with both Colin Baker and Patrick Troughton. It was broadcast in 1985. Liz Mace, had been the production manager on ‘Time-Flight’. Diana Brookes, our script supervisor – or production assistant as the job was then known – had worked with Colin Baker on the four-part Doctor Who story ‘Arc of Infinity’ in 1982/3. Perhaps it was she who thought of him for Dr Dudgeon.

Diana Brookes in Beccles with Richard Walton who played Dick in 'Coot Club' — Di Brookes in Beccles with Richard Walton who played Dick in ‘Coot Club’

The part of the tall and elegant Hullabaloo, Livy, was played by Sarah Crowden. Her father, the actor Graham Crowden who I always think of as Tom Ballard in his Sit-com Waiting For God, was offered the part of the fourth Doctor Who , after Jon Pertwee but he turned down the opportunity as it was such a commitment. Instead he played Soldeed in The Horns of Nimon in 1980 after Tom Baker had being playing the fourth Doctor for some time.

The person working on our series who had had a huge input on Doctor Who was Mervyn Haisman, our Script Editor. He’d written at least seventeen episodes including the series entitled The Dominators, writing under the name Norman Ashby. Mervyn never appeared on location but it was he who steered the adaptation of Arthur Ransome’s novels, breaking them down into four episodes each, whilst remaining faithful to the original stories.

A steam roller in Horning for the 1983 BBC drama serial of ‘Swallows and Amazons Forever!’

Mary Soan, Susannah Buxton, Sam Kelly and Penny Fergusson in 1983

Assistant director Mary Soan, Costume designer Susannah Buxton, Actor Sam Kelly and Make-up artist Penny Fergusson when filming on location in Norfolk in 1983

“I had a telephone call one day from a man working for the B.B.C. he said he had heard I had a steam roller, if so could I take it to Horning to appear in a film they were about to shoot in the broads area.”

I was sent this extract, copied word-for-word from Jimmy Nicholson’s autobiography I kept a Troshin’ – originally published in 1989 by S.J. Nicholson.

“The title was ‘Swallows and Amazons’ which was shown on B.B.C.2. So on the appointed day I loaded the roll onto our low loader and Geoffrey, our lorry driver, took it to Horning. I unloaded it near the Swan Hotel about eight thirty, some of the people were already there, the people in charge rolled up about nine. Then a coach load came, there was also a coach full of costumes. The young lady who was helping to organise things said I had better change some of my things into old time dress, as the film was supposed to have been in older times. So I went in the bus where all these costumes hung. The young lady in there said I had better change my shirt and boots and wear another hat, an old fashioned cap. So I pulled my shirt off she handed me one of these old ones. I said, ‘What about my trousers, do you want me to take them off!’

She laughed and said, ‘No I think yours will do.’

I thought what a shame.

Another young lady said she thought I should have my hair cut. So I sat on a chair on the Swan car park and had a hair do. The next thing they were queueing up for breakfast from a mobile canteen. The lady in charge said, ‘Come on Jimmy.’ she had learned my name by now. I said, ‘I’ve had mine.’

She said, ‘Never mind have another one. ‘Which I did and had a full English breakfast.

By the time they wanted me to start operating it was time to stop for coffee and other drinks. When I did start I had to drive the roll up the road passed the cameras. I did this about a dozen times, I had to time this with some children running down a side road to see me go passed. By now it was lunch time so I joined the queue again and had another cooked meal.

After having a pint in the Swan the lady in charge said, ‘I think we’ve finished with you now.’

I thought what a shame, I could put up with this for a week.”

Jimmy was obviously very much taken by the girls working for BBC television on the drama serial of Arthur Ransome’s books ‘Coot Club’ and ‘The Big Six’. When we made the EMI movie of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ in 1973, the only female member of the actual film crew had been the ‘Continuity Girl’ or script supervisor. In ten years things had changed. Joe Waters, our producer, aimed at having a 50/50 ratio of men and women on his production team and crew. This created an atmosphere that was full of fun and the children acting in the series thrived.

The young lady ‘who was helping to organise things’ would have been our efficient AFM, or Assistant Floor Manager, Mary Soan (known as a ‘Second Assistant Director’ on a feature film). I should explain that, in BBC Drama, stage management roles had evolved from equivalent in the theatre, so her job also involved being responsible for the ‘action props’ and action vehicles – in this case a 1930’s steam roller. I am sure Jimmy would have been quite taken by Mary – she was very pretty, with thick blonde hair, an ever radiant smile on her face. Whilst I went on to direct television programmes for the BBC in the late ’80s, Mary became a Production Manager. It wasn’t long before she went freelance as a First Assistant Director and started working on the most incredible movies ~ Pearl Harbor (2001), Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001), The Chronicles of Narnia (2005), Stardust (2007) and Skin (2008) as well as TV mini-series such as Place of Execution(2008).

Coot Club - Helena — Helena on the Norfolk Boards in 1983

‘The young lady’ in the costume bus, who was happy for Jimmy to keep his own trousers on, must have been Helena, the assistant costume designer, while the young lady who thought he should have a 1930’s short-back and sides, would have been our ever laughing Make-up Assistant Penny Fergusson.

Assistant Make-up Designer Penny Fergusson with John Woodvine who played PC Tedder in 'Coot Club', 1983 — Assistant Make-up Designer Penny Fergusson with John Woodvine who played PC Tedder in ‘Coot Club’, 1983

Penny Fergusson originally trained at the Royal Ballet School. What would Jimmy have said had he known he was having his hair cut by a girl who had performed at the Royal Opera House and the Venice Film Festival before dancing her way across Europe with Pan’s People?

‘The lady in charge’, who gave Jimmy permission to go was Liz Mace, our senior Production Manager. Sadly I don’t have a photograph of her, but she was in charge of our film schedule, logistics and locations as well as Health and Safety on set. You will have seen her name on the end-credits of BBC drama serials such as The Ondein Line, When the Boat Comes In, Secret Army, on Doctor Who, the Police series Juliet Bravo and All Creatures Great and Small. In 1991, I worked with her in Ealing on a series of Thinkabout Science before she returned to work at Elstree Studios making numerous episodes of the soap opera Eastenders.

Jimmy concluded his tale by adding:

“When the film was shown on television you could just see the roll go passed and that was it, but I did enjoy myself and I enjoyed it even more when I received a cheque for the job.”

Coot Club - the cycle shop — Mark Page, Jake Coppard, Richard Walton & Henry Dimbleby filming at Itteringham Village Shop in Norfolk in 1983. Click on the photo to see the location today.

The Amazons Attack ~ filming ‘Swallows and Amazons’ on Peel Island ~ 29th May 1973

BW Sophie Neville in Secret Harbour ‘But John’s our Captain.’ Swallows and Amazons 1974

Sophie Neville's diary written on location while making 'Swallows and Amazons' in 1974

My father said that his first impression of the film crew was, ‘What an awful mess of trucks and weird people!’ He’d just come from his office in the electronics industry where everybody wore suits and ties. It’s true. One of the Arthur Ransome Society members took one look at the footage Dad took of the making of Swallows and Amazons and said, ‘It looks like Woodstock.’ Woodstock on wheels. Dad couldn’t bear the notion of hanging around all day but he bought some paints with him to do what he never normally had time for while looking after us.

Daphne Neville's publicity photograph c.1973 — Daphne Neville ~ presenter on HTV

My mother, Daphne Neville, had to leave that Tuesday to spend four days at the Bath and West Show ~ a long term commitment that could not be cancelled. By this time she had been working for Harlech Television or HTV, as the station became known, for about four years. She’d started as an ‘In Vision Announcer’, reading the News with Martyn Lewis from the old Harlech Television studio in Cardiff, before moving on to present her own children’s programmes such as It’s Time for Me.

Bruce Hocking, Jan Leeming and Daphne Neville with contestants appearing on an HTV Christmas Special

By 1973, Mum was presenting a women’s afternoon series made in Bristol called Women Only, with Jan Leeming. No doubt they had to host the HTV stand at the Bath and West agricultural show. These are big events in rural Britain. My parents went on to have stands at about ten or twelve of them every year when they went on to work as wildlife conservationists.

Jan Leeming, Sophie Neville and Daphne Neville — With Jan Leeming and Mum when I was a little older

I have a horrible feeling that in the Woodstock-like atmosphere of our set, I might have taken on my mother’s role and got a little bit too bossy in the school bus. The result was a head-on attack from Sten, who must have been offended. He not only fought me but would not let go. Perhaps this was a good sign in that we had become like a real family. Perhaps it was because the balance had been tipped by our real families turning up. Sten’s father had arrived with his little sister, my little sisters were playing outside and yet we were not being given time off lessons for half-term. Perhaps it had something to do with the red and yellow sweets we had started eating on the bus. Mum said that Sten was always picking fights. He was an eight-year-old boy.

On the shore of Coniston Water — Sophie Neville in her BOAC life jacket with her sister Tamzin about to leave for the set of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ on Peel Island. Sten Grendon’s father and little sister are in the background ~ photo: Martin Neville

Luckily for Claude, the director, we were filming the scenes on Wildcat Island where the Amazons attack. ‘When we fell flat on our faces and the Amazons’ arrows flew over our heads.’ We loved this scene and it was great that Nancy and Peggy had at last arrived on Wildcat Island.

Sophie Neville and Suzanna Hamilton in 1973 — Sophie Neville and Suzanna Hamilton confronting the Amazon Pirates

I don’t know if Mum had still been around to oversee that particular act of aggression. She had taught the Amazons to shoot. The photographs I have of her doing so show her giving Nancy and Peggy archery lessons in the field outside the bus.

Practicing with bows and arrows

They were just using hazel bows made for them on site by Bobby the Property Master, but my parents did know how to use the long bow. When they were first married they joined the Worcestershire Archery Society and went on to win quite a few prizes. I know all about this because the Chairman of that society was to become my father-in-law. I too learnt to shoot and ended up marrying his son, another member of the Worcestershire Archery Society.

Sophie Neville with Suzanna Hamilton

It looks pretty scary when those arrows, fletched with green parrot feathers, fly over us. Much to Nancy’s disappointment, these were actually fired by two prop men. They strung up fishing line and attached nylon loops to the arrows to ensure that we would not actually get hit, but it was quite thrilling – and still quite risky.

BW Amazons with bows — Kit Seymour and Lesley Bennet as the Amazon Pirates

I never forgot the trick. When I became a BBC director myself I took much joy in using totally inexpensive visual effects, such as extended use of fishing line. I learnt how to use reflections from a skilled director called Moira Armstrong and picked up on just how much could be achieved by juddering the camera when I worked on Doctor Who. All that dramatic and complicated-looking Tardis malfunction was achieved simply by vibrating a studio camera. However, fishing line was the only visual effect used in the 1973 version of Swallows and Amazons.

After being on location for more than two weeks this was the second day that Kit Seymour and Lesley Bennett had appeared in front of the camera. The hanging around must have been pretty frustrating. In 1983, when we were planning to make adaptations of the Arthur Ransome books at the BBC, I was hoping to cast the Amazons – if not all the children – from schools up in the Lake District. I don’t expect Claude had had the time to do that. Luckily for me.

Kit Seymour (Nancy) and Lesley Bennett (Peggy) on Peel Island 1973

You can read more in ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons’ on this ebook:

Filming with Swallow and on Peel Island in the Lake District ~ 23rd May 1973

Sten Grendon, Suzanna Hamilton, Sophie Neville and Simon West in 'Swallows and Amazons' — Sten Grendon, Suzanna Hamilton, Sophie Neville and Simon West appearing in the original movie ‘Swallows & Amazons’

If you drive south down the narrow East of Lake road along by Coniston Water, passing Bank Ground Farm, Brantwood and a cottage where Arthur Ransome once lived, you will eventually see Peel Island. It is not that far from the shore.

Sophie Neville at Peel Island on Coniston — Sophie Neville finding Peel Island on Coniston Water a few years ago

Richard Pilbrow had permission from the Lake District National Park for his film crew to gain access and use the fields and woodland opposite Peel Island as a base. One proviso was that our two red double-decker buses had to be swathed with camouflage netting in an attempt to make them less conspicuous. As a result they looked comic – like huge monsters from Doctor Who. In addition to these we had a caravan for Make-up and Hair, the caterers’ mobile kitchen or chuck-wagon, a prop lorry, a lorry belonging to Lee Electric who provided the lighting and huge reflector boards, the Lee Electric generator and the regrettable and very basic mobile loos. I cannot remember what kind of vehicle David Cadwallader the Grip used but I half remember a Land Rover. In addition to all this would be parked our mini-bus, the unit mini-bus, everyone’s cars and the boat trailers. Mum thinks that Terry Smith’s Range Rover could have been orange. ‘He was a very orange man.’ It was white.

It must have been a bit of an effort to avoid getting the whole entourage in shot when John and I launched Swallow and rowed around to the harbour. You can tell that it was a greyer day than the one before.

John Walker rowing Swallow — Sophie Neville as Titty and Simon West as John rowing Swallow towards Peel Island on Coniston Water in the Lake District National Park in 1973

A temporary jetty made from scaffold and planks had been built out into the water so that we could climb into any boat going to the island without getting wet. It must have been quite something lugging the 35mm Panavision camera over. It travelled in a big black wooden box lined with foam rubber, with handles at either end, transported by two men like the Arc of the Covenant , holy and revered. Once on the island it would be set on the complex mounting, which enabled it to pan and tilt. This in turn usually sat on sections of track so that moving shots could be achieved.

BW Filming on Peel Island

Denis Lewiston, the Director of Photography, had a Camera Operator but insisted on doing most of the camera work himself. If you watch the scenes of the Swallows making up camp you can see that he must have just followed what Susan and Roger were doing. It has a wonderful, busy natural quality with the result that all one wants to do is to leave real life behind and go camping. I imagine that the scenes when the kettle is being filled were shot in the morning, while I was at my lessons, but I joined them after lunch.

BW Simon West and Sophie Neville on Peel Island — Simon West and Sophie Neville on Coniston Water

We loved shooting any scene at our camp on the island, especially when we were eating. As I think I have said before, when Suzanna swung her frying pan of buttered eggs she really did burn Roger on the knee. He was very brave about it. It was a heavy pan.

Titty working on the chart - copyright StudioCanal

David Cadwallader continued working as a grip, operating the crane on the 2011 movie of Jane Eyre, which stared Mia Wasikowska as Jane, Michael Fassbender as Mr Rochester and Judi Dench as Mrs Fairfax. I’d been reading Jane Eyre on that day in May 1973. It was my set book. My set book for school and the book I read on set. I should have been reading Robinson Crusoe.

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Richard Pilbrow has just written from Connecticut to say, ‘You can read my side of the story, if you care to, in ‘A THEATRE PROJECT’, that you can get from Amazon.uk.’

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Theatre-Project-Richard-Pilbrow/dp/0983479607