These photos appear to have been taken in July 1972, while filming was still taking place at Woodchester - probably around the time of the filming of "The Challenge" and "Enemies and Lovers". They were taken by one of the trainee make-up assistants - name as yet unknown.
Director, Sid Hayers, with Oliver Tobias (Arthur), and Michael Gothard (Kai).
Sid Hayers, at swordpoint, with Oliver Tobias (Arthur), Michael Gothard (Kai) and Fight Arranger, Peter Brayham (left).
Oliver Tobias says: That was the very likeable and easygoing Sidney Hayers! He directed 11 episodes of "Arthur of the Britons." Michael and I thought he was great. He had a very good sense of humour.
The posting of these photos on an HTV Facebook page resulted in the following exchanges between former “Arthur of the Britons” crew members:
Boom operator, Alan Jones: Peter Brayham had arrived from a shoot called “Man in a Suitcase”.
Electrician, Colin Holloway: I recognised his extra strong glasses anywhere.
Alan Jones: Within days, he was hit in the crotch by a spear being thrown towards the camera, and was ambulanced off the set.
1Cinematographer, Peter Thornton: The spear was thrown by one of the extras, a neighbour of ours at the time, Ken Holmes, who represented England in the Commonwealth Games.
2 He competed in the javelin! … Peter Brayham instructed a group of extras to throw their spears and aim at him, thinking that they would not get anywhere near him. He was obviously unaware that amongst them was a trained javelin thrower who was extremely accurate in his aim.
Runner, Nick Bigsby: The man on the left of the picture is Peter Brayham who was the stunt coordinator and I was the runner on the series which gave me a fantastic grounding in TV production. [to Colin Holloway] I was the runner on Arthur and remember you on that blue wagon with the brute on top! I went on to Thames where I had a great 20 years vision mixing and then directing before going freelance.
Colin Holloway: … this bridge was washed away one weekend of high waters and storm winds.
3 Rebuilt again by George and Gordon, who were the main (great!) construction crew. I worked on most of the episodes as an electrician. Great memories of a very hard working crew. I also remember Alan Burnham, Tom etc.
Colin Holloway also supplied these memories:
Arthur was the first big film I worked on with HTV as a young spark. I had commercial shoots already under my belt in my previous job with The West of England Film Studios in Bristol shooting colour 35mm film. So I was already prepared for a full on drama series.
Our crew was Des Coles, Keith Webber, Dave Bailey, Roger Maclean, and myself: operating the Brutes and other lighting. A Brute is a very large light unit, on a big heavy tripod, that takes two men just to lift up the stand and then mount the lamp (as big as a dustbin) on the top. It is then operated by one spark perched on top of a tall pair of steps. These days the use of a cherry picker is required for safety. The mobile generator is parked some distance away, due to noise problems, but then we have to run big heavy cables to the lamps. This is a continuous labour of love. Everything has to be de-rigged and put away each night - and start all over again the next day!
On Camera team: Director of Photography, Graham Edgar. Camera operator, Roger Pearce, Peter Thornton and possibly young Howard, and Ray. And plenty of others to make up the complete crew, including the sound department.
There is always something to do. We start on location at 07:00 and wrap at 19:00, 5 days a week, and may include extra overtime to clear up. Then there is your travel time from base to base.
Food is supplied via a professional location caterers [George Cook] which is very good overall, with the highlight being the fresh sandwiches and cakes just before we all go home for the day, exhausted, with only a few hours before our early morning alarm call - and off we go!
This extended routine is tiring but there is great camaraderie, and with so many different jobs all working with one aim. There is barely any time for evening pub time. If the location was too far away we were transported by a unit bus or minivans. Not very often were we allowed an overnight stay. That was saved for the actors and bosses.
I did work on every episode, as some days crossed over with other episodes; so to catch up, a second unit was used to fill in the gaps, both Woodchester and Woollard, and anywhere else in between.
While we were filming there was nearly always horses on set - which brought its own problems! If an actor or extra was too close, we called out, “Tails up!” This kept the costumes as clean as possible - and our boots - but we still had to clean the cables that by now were 6 inches below the surface, awaiting the de-rig.
The constant fighting scenes had to be well managed and special FX guys and armourer were kept busy. The village had constant fires for cooking and other fire sources for keeping warm etc. Sometimes a whole village would be attacked and get sacked during village rivalry. All SFX. Even smoke machines were in constant use, and oil torches placed around the sets during night shoots - well, after dark anyway. Other FX might be traps and pits dug into the ground. The FX boys did all sorts of stunts.
The fights were sometimes involving a couple of dozen “extras” as they were called in those days. Now they are “supporting actors.” I know it’s hard, but - come lunchtime - they were kept back to let the crew get in first. Always a push and shove period!
As I said, there was great friendship between the departments - and sometimes a practical joke was played!
Following their lunch, the make-up ladies would retire to their car for a little refreshment and a snooze.
On one occasion, in high summer - and it was hot - the scene was set. The girls were in their car, sending up Zzzzzzz …
A couple of sparks procured a large heavy black drape, sneaked up to the car, and ever so gently slid the drape over the car, efficiently blacking out the daylight.
Zzzzz.
Then an almighty scream punctuated the scene! The girls panicked, not knowing the time of day as they woke up from slumber, and more screams followed - but soon abated.
I’m not sure if ever they forgave them, but they carried on their lives. And no one was injured or hurt - maybe their pride!
I am a very long-standing friend of both Daphne [Neville] and Roger Pearce; we go way back to the early mid-sixties. And I have gaffered for Sean [Dromgoole] on a little drama on the Dartmoor hills, so I know him, and his father, Patrick Dromgoole, who produced this series. I thoroughly loved working on these productions and those that followed, ie. “Search and Rescue”, “Darkness and Danger”, then following on to “Robin of Sherwood” etc.
I started a film lighting hire company, with a proper sound stage with full lighting grid and camera cranes, dollies, etc and it was used for drama and commercials. It came to an abrupt end when Covid came along and reared its ugly head. We had to shut, but we still continued lighting and grips crews freelance technicians. I am now retired.
~~
1 Oliver Tobias does not remember this, but says “Peter Brayham … fell off his horse a few times!”
2 Ken Holmes competed in the javelin at the 1970 Commonwealth Games – he actually represented Wales, and came 7th, with a throw of 68.62 metres.
3 This was not actually the bridge he was referring to – this was the landing stage at Woodchester. However, the very similar-looking bridge at Woollard was washed away by torrential rains, a week before the end of the series.
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