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Timewatch

The BBC's flagship history series, from Gladiators to Genghis Khan, Bog bodies to Bloody Omaha, find out more in Timewatch.

Wednesday 23 May

We have a viewing with John Farren [executive producer]. By the end of the session, Chris and John have decided to drop the whole sequence on the Western Isles and Whisky Galore. It’s not uncommon at this late stage to do this if a sequence is getting in the way of the story and in danger of confusing the audience. In this case, the Whisky Galore story comes too late in the film for what it tells the viewer about wrecking, so when we come to the sequence, it doesn’t follow on from the thought before but is like going backwards. We think about moving it up to the front of the film but that wouldn’t make sense to Bella’s geographic journey in the programme. Finally the decision is made to drop it. It’s a real shame, as personally it is one of my favourite sequences in the film partly because the Whisky Galore film archive is so funny. But it’s true; the story arc works much better without it.

About the author

Timewatch is the world’s longest-running history series, having started in 1981, and is the BBC’s flagship history series. Here, members of the production team share the highs, and lows, during the production process as they make some of the next series of programmes.

Blogging about

Timewatch

The BBC's flagship history series, from Gladiators to Genghis Khan, Bog bodies to Bloody Omaha, find out more in Timewatch.

Historian and author Saul David’s diary about being the presenter of Timewatch’s Tournament programme.

Monday 21 May

Dom’s managed to squeeze in an extra half-day filming pieces-to-camera (PTCs) and establishers at Old Sarum Castle, near Salisbury, and in the car (on the way to Knight’s School). I deliver one PTC through the windscreen to the camera mounted on the bonnet. Not easy when you’re trying to drive at the same time! There are seven of us: me, Dom, Paul (camera), Paul Paragon (sound), James, Emily and Dan. We wrap at 5.30 and drive to our B&B in the village of Berwick St James, close to the Knight’s School at nearby Druid’s Lodge. After dinner in a local pub we discuss the next day’s filming – me learning to joust – with Alan Larsen who runs the Knight’s School. He tells me my mount is a polo pony of sixteen hands (very tall!) and that I’ll need a bit of time to get acquainted with him before we start filming. I’m terrified.

Tuesday 22 May

We meet Alan at Druid’s Lodge at 7.30 am and are introduced to his two ‘knights’ Dom (another one) and ?, both expert jousters, who will be assisting us. We knights get kitted out in padded surcoats and pointy boots (the armour comes later), and I warm up with a couple of PTCs. One requires a single take (first time ever); the other at least ten, and not because I fluff my lines. The problem is the horse. We need his head out of the stable, to illustrate the point I’m making, but he keeps ducking back inside. Eventually Alan goes into the stable and holds him in place. What do they say about never filming with children or animals?

Learning to joust against the spinning quintain is next, and while Dom (the knight) and ? demonstrate how it’s done, I get acquainted with my horse. It feels strange to be in the saddle again, particularly on such a tall horse, but he’s beautifully behaved and responds to the slightest touch on his reins. First I learn to ride with the reins in one hand (it’s hard enough with two) and then to hold and manœuvre a spear and a sword. The trick, says Alan, is to avoid hitting the horse! Easier said than done, but I seem to be making reasonable progress.

My 20 minutes of tuition up, we head over to the parade ring to try the quintain. I do a walk through first, trying to get the spear in the right position, and then at a canter. And blow me down if I don’t hit the target first time. Two more runs and two more hits. Slicing cabbages with a sword is next and, give or take the odd air shot, I don’t do badly at that either. I’m beginning to enjoy this.

What next? I say. Get kitted out in armour, says Dom (the director), because one of the knights is going to shatter a lance on you. Will I have a shield? No. Ten minutes later and I’m sitting on a wooden horse (I’m not kidding) in full armour as Dom (the knight) lines me up from the far end of the parade ring. As I pull my visor down I see Dom moving towards me at a canter. My biggest fear is that, like Henry II of France, I’ll be killed by a lance splinter through the eye slit in my helmet! (Not likely, I know, but I’m not at my most rational.) I close my eyes and tense my body, waiting for the strike. It doesn’t come. Dom’s missed. He tries again, and fails. The third time his lance glances off my helmet. Now I’m getting worried. Dom blames his horse and ? takes over. He hits me first time, smack on the breastbone. It’s a bit like being punched, but no real pain. I raise my visor and say to camera, "that was absolutely terrifying" – and I mean it.

And then Dom (the director) says the magic words: "That’s a wrap (wrap up/finish)." Thank God for that, think I. It’s been a great shoot, but I can’t wait to get back to my day job: writing books. Much safer. On the way to the train station, Alan tells me I could become a competition jouster in three months. I’m not convinced!

About the author

Timewatch is the world’s longest-running history series, having started in 1981, and is the BBC’s flagship history series. Here, members of the production team share the highs, and lows, during the production process as they make some of the next series of programmes.

Blogging about

Timewatch

The BBC's flagship history series, from Gladiators to Genghis Khan, Bog bodies to Bloody Omaha, find out more in Timewatch.

Friday 11 May

Chris and Nick Packer [editor] have been in the edit suite for several weeks now chopping the film up, moving around sequences and trying to craft the story. It’s the hardest part of making a film and where the real story telling and creativity comes in. Meanwhile I – with the help of Caroline Rough [production coordinator] – have been sourcing stills and texts that we want to include in the film. Down in the Isles of Scilly, the Gibson family have a wonderful collection of beautiful black and white photographs of sailing shipwrecks taken in the early C20th, which they are kindly letting us reproduce. Tracking down some of the texts we want is proving quite hard as many of the books are obscure local histories and out of print.

About the author

Timewatch is the world’s longest-running history series, having started in 1981, and is the BBC’s flagship history series. Here, members of the production team share the highs, and lows, during the production process as they make some of the next series of programmes.

Blogging about

Timewatch

The BBC's flagship history series, from Gladiators to Genghis Khan, Bog bodies to Bloody Omaha, find out more in Timewatch.

Wednesday 2 May

En route to Paris, we RV (rendezvous/meet) at Waterloo Station at the ridiculously early hour of 5.30 (meaning I’m up by 4.45). There I meet yet another crew (our fourth, if you include the BBC Sport outfit), Gary (camera) and Lawrie (sound), and our contributor (and the historical consultant for the film) David Crouch, Professor of Medieval History at Hull University. David is the foremost authority in the country on both tournaments in general, and William Marshal in particular, and his books were the inspiration for the programme. He’s also a future colleague of mine – in September I begin a year’s appointments as Visiting Professor of Military History at Hull – and I’m looking forward to working with him. We’re let on to the train first by Tom, Eurostar’s press officer, so that we can film some establishers, and once on the move I do a couple of pieces-to-camera (PTCs), much to the amusement of the American tourists in the seats opposite. It’s never easy filming in public: people are always curious, and either hang around watching or deliberately try to put you off. Either way they’re a distraction.

Dom, David and I pick-up a hire car in the Gare du Nord (the crew get their own people carrier, driven by a huge ex-Tour de France press motorcyclist called Lulu) and head north for a village near Compeigne, a popular location for tournaments in the 12^th Century. After an excellent lunch in the village of Gournay – with only Lulu drinking wine – we make for a site that Dom has previously recce-ed (checked out) in the middle of the old tournament site. There David and I are filmed talking about the make-up of the original tournaments: their purpose, duration and sequence of events. It’s sunny but cold, and when not on camera I take refuge in the car. Lulu, meanwhile, is having a nap. I finish off by doing some PTCs, including one for the top of the programme that involves Gary pirouetting round me with Laurie and Dom in tow (otherwise they’d be in the shot). Not easy to keep a straight face and remember my lines.

We wrap at 6.30 and, tired and hungry, we’re not impressed when Lulu forgets the way to our charmless hotel in a business park on the edge of Compeigne. Oh the glamour of filming! We get there in the end. Dom has a bad cold and goes to bed early. The rest of us have a mediocre dinner but excellent wine (my choice). Gary regales of with tales of how Simon Shama, who he’s filmed with, always insists on the best wine.

Thursday 3 May

We RV in the café at Gournay at 6 a.m. to film my second chat with David on the significance of 12^th Century tournaments: training for war, teamwork, a way to raise money through ransoms etc. Endless interruptions by local tractors, dogs, vacuum cleaners and friends of the owner dropping in for coffee. But we eventually get it done and spend the next couple of hours getting driving shots of me: PTCs, up and passes and POVs (points of view – ie my view through the windscreen). We’re now running late and, with no time for a sit-down lunch, eat a sandwich en route to our next location: the Biblioteque Nationale in central Paris.

We arrive half an hour late and, are met by our next contributor, Dr Richard Barber, the co-author of Juliet’s book on tournaments. Richard is an expert on chivalric literature and is going to be talking to me about the way the work of 13^th Century writers like Chretien de Troyes helped to transform the tournament from a dangerous mock-battle to the formalized acts of jousting gallantry that we know today, thanks to Hollywood films and theme parks like New Jersey’s Medieval Times. We say goodbye to David (who catches a taxi to the Gare du Nord) and carry the kit inside the BN to light and prepare for the next sequence.

The staff at the BN couldn’t be less helpful. Just about every request is met with an implacable "non", including one to film from a balcony and another for a power cable (Dom gets round this by asking a handyman). We’re told not to touch the de Troyes manuscripts we’re filming and not to make a noise because it will disturb the readers. How they expect us to film a conversation without making a noise is anyone’s guess, and inevitably we do (make a noise that is), though it’s not easy trying to speak in a normal voice in a library. Yet more interruptions: this time mobile phones. Dom puts it down to THWART, the mysterious organization devoted to disrupting film crews.

With no time for any PTCs, we finish with a couple of establishers (me arriving at the BN) and wrap at the unusually early time of 6. We head back to our hotel, in the Opera district, and all meet for a beer at 8. Dom is meeting a friend and makes the mistake of giving me the float for dinner. We use it all (or almost all) on an excellent steak dinner with wine thrown in. A final nightcap in a bar on the way back to the hotel, then bed.

Friday 4 May

Our luck runs out. First our booked taxis fail to show and we set off for the Gare du Nord a good 45 minutes late. Then we discover our tickets have the wrong date. Eurostar’s press office has issued us tickets for 6 June, not 6 April, and Dom’s forced to use his credit card to buy new ones at a cost of 920 euros! We grab a sandwich and a coffee and pile on to the train with just minutes to spare. I love making documentaries. But it’s physically and mentally exhausting, and I wonder for the umpteenth time how anyone can do this full time.

About the author

Timewatch is the world’s longest-running history series, having started in 1981, and is the BBC’s flagship history series. Here, members of the production team share the highs, and lows, during the production process as they make some of the next series of programmes.