On being an extra or Supporting Artist

 Some time ago I fell into becoming a Supporting Artist (SA) or an ‘extra’ as they used to be called.  I prefer the term ‘moving background scenery’ because that is what we really are.  Anyone with dreams of stardom that think serious acting roles may come from this opportunity with this art form are sadly deluded.  

My first experience was working in a series called Delicious with Dawn French, Amelia Fox, Ian Glen and Sheila Hancock.  I loved every minute of it.  The whole process fascinates me and I love being a part of it.  

I am at the back to the left of the pillar

What I really wanted to be in was Poldark and I patiently waited for the call but it never happened.  Then one day when I was moaning about my lack of appearance a fellow SA said to me, “You know it’s set in a time of famine.”  Well what did he mean? Also dyed hair was a no no, and I now have blond highlights which I don’t think were adorning female heads in 1760 or whenever it was set.

I did get a few appearances in Doc Martin though.  One job was in their set which was in a barn on a farm and I knew that there was a lot of mud at the carparking area so I wore my wellies.

The dog! (Forgot his name)

  I was playing a patient in the waiting room I was asked to wear a summer dress.  So when I arrived I climbed out of my car and into my wellies and preceded to navigate the mud, I had a pretty pair of shoes in my bag to change into.  When I got there the director liked the wellie look so I had to wear my tatty old wellies with my pretty dress.  

The look!

As it happens in these instances you spend hours getting the right clothes together, arrive on set at silly o’clock and in the end you are a blur for a second in the show.  But I still love it.  

For the final series I managed to get my husband Martin on set as a doctor at a doctors conference scene, oh the irony.  For those that are unaware, Martin was a GP and actually did some work at Port Isaac in the early days. He does look a bit like Martin Clunes and we call him the original Doc Martin.  I thought it was hilarious but my Martin wasn’t that keen. He is someone who can’t keep still for long and the amount of waiting around and being ordered about by fetuses (his words not mine,) was not to his liking.  Still, it was quite a thing as you can see, Martins ears are strongly in competition with Martin Clunes’s ears. I think he secretly enjoyed the experience though, as it is often a story he fondly relates to at dinner parties.

Martin Ronchetti (arrow) Martin Clunes is beside the stage, final episode.  

Being in Cornwall, there is a lot of interest in Germany for the Rosamund Pilcher books and a German film crew come over and film two films a year based on the novels.  All the dialogue is in German so there has to be a certain amount of acting and reacting even though you have no idea what they are saying.  My favourite job with the Germans was acting a nun.

One feature film I worked on was the boy who would be king.  We spent the day in Tintagel in the rain. The scene was set on the road and we spent a hours walking up the road.  My role was crossing over the road with a fellow SA.  In the end after making everyone watch the film I discovered the whole scene was cut.  Never mind, I still got paid. 

The latest series I am involved in is Beyond Paradise with Chris Marshall.  Filmed in the fictional town of Shipton Abbot, (but we locals in Cornwall know where it is really filmed.)  This causes some controversy locally and also in Devon and it’s all hell up when cream teas with jam and cream are in the scene.   I usually have a couple of jobs per series, some have even lasted more than a second on screen.   

A solo job of walking.