(Extra)Ordinary People

Perry’s Blog

(Extra) Ordinary People

One of my favourite aspects of what I do is meeting people. Not the actors particularly, or other crew members, but the real people: those who aren’t involved in the industry, those we meet on location at a car showroom, or a mortuary, or a police station foyer.

One of the more interesting stories I heard was from a former soldier, whilst I was working on Mysteries of the Freemasons, a documentary filmed at Jedburgh Abbey.

During a break, I got talking to an elderly stonemason who I noticed had a Military bearing.  He was a fascinating and enigmatic character, who I discovered had been a member of the Parachute Regiment and had seen some interesting action in his time.

He recounted one story which left me totally incredulous. In 1967, during the final withdrawal of British Interests in Aden, he and his men spent the day out on patrol facing aggressive guerrilla-style attacks. When they returned to base, one of the men noticed dried blood on his comrade’s neck… either side of his throat.

It transpired that he’d been shot through the neck, at some point during the operation – and hadn’t even noticed!  The enemy bullet had gone clean through his neck, between his trachea and his oesophagus, missing everything vital. If it had hit a vein or artery or his spine, it would have been a different story of course – but this serves to illustrate just how over-dramatised bullet hits can be in film and TV!

I have learnt that the intriguing people of the real world can often be far more interesting than the fantasies we create in the film and TV world.