"Peter Kingdom." "Oh, no." "NARRATOR:" "You only ever meet a lawyer on the worst day of your life." "I think you might be needed down at the police station." "When people are in trouble..." "She has rights, Mr Kingdom." "Human rights." "... they need someone to fight their corner." "You can take me to court." "I ain't giving him back." "Someone who listens." "Thongs are for ladies." "This one's killing me." "Someone who's sensitive..." "You are a low-life, scum-sucking waste of skin." "... knowledgeable..." " Have you heard of dogging?" " Um, yes, Aunt Auriel, I have." "... and restrained." "Stephen Fry is a lawyer with a difference." "Don't be absurd." "And he's back on ITV in the comedy drama Kingdom." "I want to do what you do." "Solicit." "That's not quite the word we use." "Taking you onto the set." " Who are all these people?" " What's it called?" "A Bogart?" "Talking to the cast." "This is what happens when you approach gypsies, you see." " And the crew." " It is definitely Friday." "Going behind the scenes." "Stephen Fry says, "I'm terribly sorry, but you're doing Michael Howard."" "With the stars of the series." "Walking and speaking at the same time?" " MAN:" "Walking and talking." " No, no, no." "Revealing all." "(CHEERING)" "Kingdom is a new six-part series, bringing Stephen Fry back to ITV after 14 years." "Shot entirely on location in Norfolk, it's been six months in the making and has taken even longer to bring to the screen." "Kingdom was an idea I had about two years ago." "Wanted to do a story about a market town solicitor who helped people out, and was kind of quite a co-dependent character, and spent his time helping people more than doing the law." "And it occurred to me that Stephen would make just an absolutely fantastic character for this." "And so I had a conversation with Stephen about a year ago and he embraced the idea very warmly and became involved in the process." "And out of that came Kingdom." "I play Peter Kingdom, and when the series starts we know that Peter's brother has committed suicide by going into the sea." "Here are your brother's things." "Sign here, Mr Kingdom." "The sea always gives up its dead." "FRY:" "So Peter's alone, running what is called Kingdom  Kingdom." " So how can I help you, Mrs Collins?" " I want to separate from my husband." "He's an interesting man." "I like him very much." "I think in some ways he has much in common with me, which is why I welcomed the part and it suited me." "He sets an enormous store by affability, if you like, or politeness and kindness to people, Just treating people well, being friendly with them." "And there's something rather," "I suppose you'd say lonely about him, or isolated." "He doesn't reveal his true emotions very easily and clearly, and I think that's quite true of me." "On the one hand, you can be very warm and friendly and open to people, or try to be as I do, and Peter certainly manages to be." "But also there's a kind of armour, which is never pierced by anybody." " I picked these up yesterday." " Would you like me to..." "No, I'll have to go through them." "The police will probably want them back." " You all right?" " Me?" "Gosh, yes." "Yes." "Never been all righter." "WHEELER:" "I think Stephen is the perfect Peter Kingdom." "Peter Kingdom." "As a man, he has tremendous humility and he's able to bring that to his performance." "And Peter Kingdom is a man who is driven by humility and vulnerability, as well as intelligence and wit and all of those other things." "This would be a totally different piece if it didn't have Stephen's involvement." " So, Stephen, you've just driven up." " Yeah." "Then you're knocking on the door, but then you're cleverly going to..." "Cleverly going to be in here with the water..." " Absolutely." "...missing you." "Like the lovers under the waterfall in Blue Lagoon." "That's right." "I think people from all walks of life like him because he appeals to people on a very human level." "Nice stinging nettles, thanks for that." "Yes, very pleasing." " Mind you, you did it with shorts." " I did it with shorts, yes." "It just shows that you'd never ask an actor to do anything you weren't prepared to do yourself." "Except a love scene." "What Stephen is very good at is being natural on camera, and being very sympathetic in a way that the audience, we hope, will love." "Mr Narbutowicz?" "Go away!" "I told you, I need to speak to my lawyer." "I am your lawyer, Mr Narbutowicz." "Ah, you're impostor." "You're not Roger Kingdom." "No, no." "He died three years ago." "I'm his son." "This sort of family lawyer meets people in all kinds of circumstances, and is very much connected with the community in which he lives." "NARRATOR:" "And that community is a fictional market town in Norfolk." "Norfolk is an intensely beautiful county that you've never really seen in a television series." "And it's like another character, actually." "FRY:" "What Great Britain is to Europe, Norfolk is to Great Britain." "I mean, slightly isolated, eccentric, has a strong sense of its own ancient rites and privileges, but without the bloody-mindedness of Yorkshire and Cornwall, which are a little bit overdone in my opinion." "There's a peculiar quality to the light here, there's a bigness of horizon and the beaches are very spectacular." "NORRIS:" "I can really understand why people are passionate about it and why people are drawn here." "It's got its own very particular thing going on." "And the only way you'd know what that was was to come here and feel it really." "But it is extraordinary." "FRY:" "I had obvious personal reasons for wanting to shoot it in Norfolk." "One is that I come from here, and the second is that I live here." "So, for me, it's a kind of payback for the pleasure Norfolk has given me." "That sounds terribly greasy, but I suppose I mean by that that I think it has extraordinary qualities and depths of uniqueness that have never been registered on the screen properly." "It's not all "ooh arr" and mangel-wurzels and things that are very, very old-fashioned." "NARRATOR:" "Despite a search which covered the whole of Norfolk, the producers couldn't find one town which did the job." "So they used four." "We've got Swaffham as the main centre of Market Shipborough, and that brings together the pub, Kingdom, all the local shops." "And then also we've got Castle Acre, where we're filming today." "And then we're suggesting that the coast, the harbour, is a mile away." "You know, you could probably walk it." "And we've brought Wells in, makes our bit of a coastline there." "And also Holkham Bay, where Peter Kingdom goes and does his musing." "But everything's supposed to be more or less in walking or cycling distance." "NARRATOR:" "It's 10:00 in the evening, and the cast and crew of ITV's new drama, Kingdom, are setting up to film another scene." "It's already been a long day and there's still a lot to shoot." "They're in a graveyard in Swaffham and they're about to film a love scene." "But it's no ordinary love scene." "The unlikely romantic lead is the fragrant Sidney Snell." " What you doing out so late?" " I'm just going home." "Bit dark for a lady on her own." "Would you like me to escort you?" "I'd like that very much, Mr Snell." "Sidney." " Sidney." " Aye." "Thanks." "MAN:" "Thank you very much." "Hello, the fog's drawn in!" "MAN 2:" "Don't go with him." "(MAKING SPOOKY NOISES)" "I know." "She must be mad!" "She must be mad!" "The character I play is called Sidney Snell, and he's a sort of everyman anti-hero." "He's been a bit down on his luck in love and life." "And he fills his time by being a thorn in the side of Peter Kingdom." "So he's sort of what you might call a vexatious litigant." "Again?" "How many times do you want me to sue the Planning Authority, Mr Snell?" "They can't build a car park there, it's not right." "From memory, this'll be the 17th time you've brought an action on the same issue." " Eighteenth." " Eighteenth?" "Oh, forgive me." "One of them must have slipped through my synapses." "But they're wrong." "He's the man who has spent so much time on his own that's he's stopped, really, to connect with the rest of the world." "This is why he has an unfortunate smell that he can't notice, but everyone else has to suffer." "Ah, but I've been doing some research." "(GRUNTS) Just leave them down there, will you, Mr Snell?" "I'll pick them up and go through them later." "Oh, and I'll need legal aid." "Self-care and personal hygiene aren't high on his list." "And, I mean, the costume you see, this is him at his smartest." "And he's had a shave and he's slicked back his hair." "So I think I look a bit like Phil Oakey, if you remember him from the Together in Electric Dreams." " Mr Kingdom." " Oh." "Mr Snell, what a pleasant surprise." "I was wondering how the case was going." "Oh, oh, really very well, very good indeed, yes." "I think the implication is that he does wash, but he doesn't change his clothes, and so there's always lots of scenes where he goes in and causes Peter's dog to whimper, and Gloria, played by Celia Imrie," "causes her to get out the fresh air and things like that." "So, I think he's one of those people who has, through adversity and life circumstance, let himself go a bit." "No offence, Peter, but the man's a joke." "No, he is not a joke." "He is a landowner." "Here are copies of his Land Registry entry." "His proof of ownership." " Which bit does he own?" " Well, as a matter of fact, you're standing right in the middle of it." "You're trespassing." "As will be every car that uses this proposed relief road." "Every episode he's on some kind of crusade against the council or something like that." "I'll buy it." "How much do you want?" "Oh, no, my client isn't selling, I'm afraid." "We'll issue a compulsory purchase order." "You'll have to take me to court first." " But that'll take years." " We know." "WHEELER:" "He's a man of tremendous intellectual capability." "He is an unlikely guardian of Market Shipborough, but an essential and a very endearing one." "Mr Snell, you're an aggravating nuisance, a tiresome pedant and a complete genius." "That land cannot be developed without your permission." "I know." "It's the whole kind of Victoria Wood joke about," ""So where did you get your character from?" ""Does it come from the shoes?" And she said, "No, it's the bra." ""If the bra fits, the character falls into place."" "But I think the reason I mention that is that it's the clothes." "When I got this set of clothes, the shiny mac and these sort of yellow socks and these sort of Hush Puppy type things and the slightly greasy suit," "I seem to inhabit it very well." "So the clothes were a great start." "This is smelly Snelly's department." "And, as you can see, it's all lovely greys and browns." "He's got the little shorty mac and the trousers that are showing rather a lot of sock, and just a very sad-looking man." "And to begin with, we just kept him in the same clothes for two episodes at a time to try and get the message over that he's one of the great unwashed." "Get me Peter Kingdom." "NARRATOR:" "Peter Kingdom lives and works in the heart of Market Shipborough." "For the producers, this meant finding a property which would suit the character and also meet the demands of a summer-long film shoot." "Oakleigh House in the centre of real life Swaffham fitted the bill." "We'd been out for the day, came back and found a note on the doormat, saying are you interested in your house being used as a location?" "We thought it was a wind-up, as you would." "So we were extremely suspicious about it, but it proved to be genuine and here we are." "WHEELER:" "The tremendous thing about this house was that," "A, it's right on the market square." "B, internally, it's almost entirely as it was written to be." "And you can't knock these advantages, you know." "It's tremendously useful to have that." "And there's something really lovely about not being in a studio." "There's something lovely about the authenticity of opening the front door and going out to the same place, rather than cheating it and finding a different way of achieving the same thing." "NARRATOR:" "Although the house was a great find, there was one thing missing." "Hello?" "Oh, hell, blast, pants and damnation." "It's the only place you can get what passes for a phone signal in Market Shipborough..." "The roof wasn't safe for anyone to film so we decided to build a fake roof, which we did with scaffolding." "And it constrained the directors to a certain point of view, because they could only film it from towers." "So we just shot around it, and it seemed to work, I think." "The door behind me appears to be the way out onto the attic, and no doubt in the film you'll see people coming out of it, but it goes nowhere." "It's purely a foil." "NARRATOR:" "Not only have the film crew used the inside, the outside and the roof of the house, today the grounds have been pressed into service as the location for a garden party in aid of the church at the request of a very familiar local vicar." "BREMNER:" "It's a small part." "It's only in one episode." "When the script came through, I looked to see any clues to the character and it said, "The vicar, a woman in her mid-40s."" "I think they were meant to Tipp-Ex that bit out before they sent me the script." "But, yes, he doesn't have a name." "Well, he does have a name, but it's Jane." "So they haven't changed that bit, either." "Hello." "Ah, Peter, what have you chosen to represent your produce?" "The interesting thing is they asked me to do this part as Rowan Williams." "(IMITATING ROWAN WILLIAMS) A character I often play in the show." "I'm used to doing that, I can do that." "It's like falling off a log." "And I can always play them as another character more easily that I can myself." "Harvest festivals are so dull." "Fruit, vegetables and little things made out of corn." "Rude vegetables lighten the tone." "We live in thrusting, contemporary times." "But what's different and unusual and more of a challenge is to play a character much more like me." "So I had to get rid of all those other ideas in my head." "It's like stripping a table down, getting rid of all the layers of paint." "Widen the franchise of the harvest festival." "Bring in all the businesses." "And that's where you come in." "And Stephen Fry says, "I'm terribly sorry, but you're doing Michael Howard."" "And it had just slipped out." "I think we just had a moment of eye contact and he said," ""That's not the vicar." "That's Michael Howard."" "NARRATOR:" "Peter Kingdom leads an unconventional life." "When he's not judging the vicar's rude vegetable competition, he's keeping an eye on his sister, whose grip on reality isn't that strong." " Beatrice?" " Anywhere here's fine." "Have you got ?" "20?" "Beatrice is played by Hermione Norris, and the idea of Beatrice was she's the younger sister all of us could have lived without." "But Peter, unfortunately, being the co-dependent that he is, has to live with." "Staying?" "Not for long." "Couldn't stand it any longer so I checked myself out." "I was doing Spooks and, actually, I had hair extensions and it ripped half my hair out." "So using my own hair was never an option." "But when I read her," "I'd a really strong view of what I wanted her to look like." "I've met that kind of woman before." "And I really saw her with a chic, dark bob." "Look at you, wrapped in your shell with your suit and your ties, and your eternally irritating politeness." "What is it?" "Protection?" " Or for keeping everybody out?" " You tell me." " Do people take advantage of you?" " I don't think so." " Only you." " Yeah, but I'm family." "I empathise with her." "I sympathise with her." "I think she's, you know..." "She has that mental instability, and I think that must be a real struggle to live with." "So, if people don't like her," "I would imagine what they don't like is when she's sort of..." "She would never mean anybody ill, it's just the psyche she's been given." "Why?" "The string keeps the documents together, so when we're looking for a file, it's all there." "Why green?" "WHEELER:" "Gloria, played by Celia Imrie, is Peter's long-standing assistant." "Peter, this can't go on." "Gloria is the sister Peter deserved, but never got." "I'm serious." "It's her or me." "Oh, yes." "And we all know who he prefers." "If only the fates had dealt him a kinder card, he would have got Gloria as a sister." "May I present the new Gloria?" "PETER:" "Oh, my Lord!" "Is that really you?" "No, that's her younger sister." "The story of Gloria's makeover at the hands of Beatrice means a road trip, Thelma  Louise style, for the leading ladies." "Beatrice wanted to gee up Gloria's character and get her out of her rather old-fashioned ideas." "And this seemed rather a good way of doing it." "It was fantastic to drive that car." "I mean, ?" "70,000 worth of car zooming along the street was fabulous." "Come on." "Move!" "(TYRES SCREECHING)" " Beatrice, look out!" " Whoa!" "Shooting both of them in the car at the same time requires the expertise of director of photography, Dominic Clemence." "The car rig was something that was specifically built for the car." "Obviously the Alvis, being very old and very precious, isn't like rigging for a normal car where we can use body mounts." "The other problem with the Alvis is that it's got a very narrow windscreen, and you have to get the camera right down in order to be able to shoot into the eye-line." "NARRATOR:" "With two large film cameras on the bonnet, can the drivers see where they're going?" "The visibility for the driver is impaired somewhat, but we do have a lead car in front that keeps the road clear." "And where possible, we'd have a car behind as well if the cameras are shooting off the angle." "Generally speaking, we'll be shooting on quiet or closed-down roads." "So there really is very little danger, if any, to anyone." "I wasn't driving, but yes, Hermione said she couldn't see a thing." "That's why I had to be her navigator!" "NARRATOR:" "It's the end of another week's filming and the cast and crew of Kingdom are at Wells-next-the-Sea to film three scenes for the final two episodes." "Despite extensive preparation, they can't start filming because the water's edge isn't where they expected it to be." "We'd recced it on a day when we thought," ""Oh, yeah." "The water's going to be fine here."" "But, of course, the tide comes in and washes all the sand around and then when it's going out again, it's completely different." "So we walked onto the sand and the bit that we wanted to shoot wasn't exactly there." "The tide was rushing out so we had to go out and out and out." "So we went, it was about half a mile, out on the sand, we finally got to the bit where we could shoot." "NARRATOR:" "The delay has already cost the team two hours, but they're ready to shoot the first scene of the day, the opening of episode 5." "It sets the tone." "It's about racing." "Peter's well aware of who..." "The race horses are coming and all these holiday-makers are gonna be shocked and in awe of this fantastic race horse galloping through the sea." "And it's a bit exciting." "We've got dune buggies and horses, kids, sand castles." "That's exciting." "Another lovely morning." "Watch." "Watch." "Watch out." "Once the main action has been filmed, it's time to shoot the extra shots which will complete the sequence." "And action." "Action." "Watch." "Watch." "Watch out." "(YELPS)" "(SQUEALING)" "Preparation, preparation, preparation." "That's it, easy." "With one scene in the can, it's time to film the opening of episode 6 with Stephen and Hermione, and after a short rehearsal..." "I'm not going in that bit!" "I am not going in there in these shoes." "They go for a take." "And action." "No, they've gone through a different puddle." " And cut." "Thank you." " NARRATOR:" "And again." "And action." "NARRATOR:" "This time Millie the dog is distracted." " And we cut." "Thank you." " Millie!" "NARRATOR:" "The crew's problem is that time and tide wait for no man." "Well, we got a message on the radio that, from location, "The tide's coming in!" "The tide's coming in!" ""We'll have to get all the vehicles off the beach."" "What we can't see here is that it's coming round the corner there." "MAN:" "We've got 15 minutes, really, to get through that gap." "Otherwise we can't get the vehicles off the beach." "Bodies not a problem." "Vehicles, problem." "How safe is it?" "Are you talking to a harbour master or something?" " Yeah." " Good." "Because only a local knows about this." "So, with the scene not yet completed, the first assistant director, Peter Stenning, takes the decision to move all non-essential equipment from the beach." "And they go for what has to be the final take." "And action!" "Fantastic." "Brilliant!" "That is scene complete." "We're off the beach." "The scene is in the can just in time because they're about to be cut off by the tide." "But just as the crew are about to make a run for it..." " Hermione..." " Peter." "We have wind noise on Stephen's track." " Sandy!" "Sandy!" " We would like to do another." " Thank you." " Sandy!" "Sound would like another one, please." "This is now getting serious." "There's a real risk that the whole unit could be surrounded by the tide if they don't move now, but they must get the scene completed." "STENNING:" "And action." "Don't you wanna hate him after all he did?" "I'm trying hard not to." "Well, you should stop caring." "Took everyone for a ride and then took the easy way out." "I thought I was selfish." "NARRATOR:" "Finally, the scene is completed, but there's still one more scene to film and the tide is advancing very quickly." "FRY:" "Well, the tides in Norfolk are very fast." "They're not quite as terrible as the famous ones at Morecambe Bay, but they are incredibly quick, and you have to beware, you know." "At Wells and various other places that are populated, they sound a big horn to tell you when you've got, you know, an hour for the full tide or whatever." "And my goodness, you have to be alert, because, you know, you turn and talk to someone and then you turn around and the sea is at your ankles." "NARRATOR:" "Having just beaten the tide by seconds on one side of the beach, the cast and crew still have the final scene of the day to shoot also on the beach." "But this time featuring Peter Kingdom's ?" "70,000 Alvis convertible car." "The girls have gone for a drive in the car and they've got stuck in the sand." "So these bronzed surfer guys come along and offer to push the car out of the sand." "But as you can see, the tide is coming in right now and so we're desperate to shoot the scene before the water comes up." "And the water's going to come up to where we're standing here now on this ramp and even further." "So we have to shoot the scene in about 15 minutes because we're going to get engulfed by the tide." "And action." "GLORIA:" "I can't manage it!" " Push!" " I am pushing!" "(GLORIA GRUNTING)" "JOHNSON:" "Now, in the script, it wasn't written that the tide was coming in or anything and that was going to jeopardise them." "It was just that the car was stuck in the sand and these surfer boys are going to come along and help." " Yeah, it's going, it's going." " Go again." "That's it." "That's it." "MAN:" "Cut, cut!" "Halt!" "Reset." "WOMAN:" "Reset, please, background." "STENNING:" "Stand by to go again, please." "WOMAN:" "Stand by." "Keep the ramp clear, please." "Tony, give us a hand here." "Tony!" "WOMAN:" "Watch the sea!" "Right, just take it out of here and we'll roll it back." "I didn't know what was coming behind me." "But, I mean, it's mad the tide here." "It's dangerous." "It comes in at sort of like a fast walking pace." "Okay, guys." "Our surfers, can you come in a lot quicker and be very quick about the whole thing." "Come on." "Let's go." "Let's go." " WOMAN:" "Stand by." " Going for a take." " And turn over, please." " WOMAN:" "Running, running." "End board!" "And action!" "BEATRICE:" "Come on, Gloria!" "GLORIA:" "Sorry, I can't manage it." " Push!" " I am!" "(GLORIA GRUNTING)" "IMRIE:" "I was worried for the car because by the second take, the car was completely surrounded by water." "And if we hadn't got up the ramp in time, it could have done terrible damage, I suppose." "But there's something to be said about the ignorance of not knowing how fast those tides were going to be." "Push!" "Well done." "It was a marvellously dramatic moment." "And I don't think on the film you'll realise what split-second timing it was." "Now, that was tight." "Come on, Gloria!" "I can't manage it." " Push!" " I am!" "(GLORIA GRUNTING)" "Are you girls having trouble?" " Yes." " Yes." "Oh, thanks." " Get the back there." " All right." " Come on, then." " Come on, boys." "We're getting there." "(BEATRICE EXCLAIMING)" "Oh, yes!" "NARRATOR:" "The next morning, the crew are in Castle Acre, a mile from the production base in Swaffham." "They're filming a scene with veteran actor, Joss Ackland, and Karl Davies, who plays the part of Peter Kingdom's assistant, Lyle Anderson." "Lyle is a young, thrusting articled clerk who didn't get accepted to any of the big city firms." "And Peter saw beyond his lack of qualifications and into the human being that Lyle is." "I thought you were from the council." "No." "No, they won't be back for seven days." "I've got you a stay of execution." "Although Lyle is not intellectually the most brilliant lawyer who's ever likely to represent someone, he goes the extra mile for people, you know." "He has a heart of gold, if you like." "And, of course, it can all sound very sentimental, but let's face it, if you or I were suddenly in trouble and needed a lawyer, yes, we'd want someone who could kick arse in a courtroom," "someone who is tough and, you know, on our side, but also someone who understood us." "Who is to tell me how I live my life?" "Do you know what this is?" "Yes, sir, I do." "How do you know?" "Are you Jewish?" " I did history at school." " Good." "Too many people forget." "I'm sorry I used the phrase "stay of execution"." "You were not to know." "You're a good boy." "SHEPPARD:" "The part of Lyle was the most difficult part to cast." "We needed somebody who could play against Stephen Fry, who is a fabulous actor and who has a very strong presence." "So we really needed someone that could match him." "But he needed to be a counterpoint to Stephen as well." "We wanted somebody that was very down to earth and rooted and quite cheeky." "And, you know, honest as the day is long." "I mean, that's how Peter describes the character and that's what he is." "And someone who's funny as well, on top of all of that." " No, don't!" "Don't..." " You seen this?" "It's brilliant." " Carrot's got a willy." " Please, Lyle, stop it." "You can mate it with this parsnip." "Yes, I'm sure it's very, very funny if you're 11 years old." " But have you got nothing better to do?" " No." "It's quite hard being put into a drama with Stephen Fry and Tony Slattery, and Paul Kaye, Steve Pemberton, people like this, and Celia." "You know, and then go in, "And if you can be funny now, that'd be great."" "And you're thinking," ""Don't think that's really my role in this company."" "Let's go fishing." "NARRATOR:" "In fact, the writers have created a running joke for Karl's character." "Yeah, I've been wet in all but one of the episodes, I think." "KARL:" "It's been swimming pools and dykes and the ocean," "I guess it lends itself to being funny." "Oh!" "Thank God." "There's a..." "A strong current came and just took me away." "(SPEAKING FRENCH)" "Come again?" "I'm in France?" "I guess they like seeing him wet and come a cropper most of the time." "So what are these?" "Tomato canes?" "Lyle, these are for dykes." "What, like lesbian pole dancing?" "I liked doing the dyke leaping." "That comes in the second episode." "That was a lot of fun." "What you do is you place the end of the pole in the dyke, all right?" "And you lean it towards this, which is known as the takeoff platform, okay?" "Now, what you do is run, fast as you can, you reach for the pole and you climb to the top, and you use your forward momentum to swing you gracefully over the dyke to the other side." " No problem." " Whenever you feel brave enough." "Uh, but you might want to change your clothes first..." "That dyke water was the foulest, most fetid smelling, vile water that you could ever possibly imagine." "You'd get a splash, and a couple of seconds would pass, then all of a sudden the waft of whatever was at the bottom of the dyke that I'd just churned up kind of hit the crew." "You'd just see everyone go, "Oh, God!"" "And, of course, I was covered in it." "So I enjoyed that." "NARRATOR:" "Back in Castle Acre, director Sandy Johnson explains to Karl how his final soaking of the series will work." " Okay." " All right." " And I get soaked from..." " And that's where you get soaked," " from that other window." "Yeah." " That window?" " Marvellous." " Marvellous." "Mr Narbutowicz!" "MAN:" "And cut." "NARRATOR:" "It's the end of another hard week on location, and the cast and crew of Kingdom are at this beautiful estate in the village of Cockley Cley, deep in the heart of the Norfolk countryside." "It's being used as the retirement home of Peter's Aunt Auriel, played by Phyllida Law." " Have you heard of dogging?" " Um, yes, Aunt Auriel, I have." "Really?" "Oh." "Oh, it was news to me." "Difficult enough to do it in a car at all, without the heavy-breathing brigade staring in at you." "The old Rover had bench seats in the front." "You're a wicked and insane old woman, Auriel." "This will not be a great stretch for me this character, I'm hoping, because I'm playing Stephen Fry's slightly mad aunt, who lives in a retirement home." "It happens to be hers, but never mind." "I think that's fine because I've known Stephen since he was at Cambridge." "And so I feel a bit like an aunt." "NARRATOR:" "Outside, the crew are setting up to film Lyle arriving with Mr Narbutowicz, played by Joss Ackland, but there's a problem." "This is the scene before the one they're about to film and it's a bright summer's day." "But the weather today isn't cooperating." "So while the crew are having a testing time trying to disguise the rain and make the scenes match, inside Stephen is having problems of his own." "To be without coverage in the 21 st century is just, I don't know." "It's a curse." "How can one survive?" "It's impossible." "It's..." "I don't know what it's like." "It's like living without God." "There is no God, no Orange, no O2, no Vodafone, no T-Mobile." "Nothing." "What are we going to do?" "How do we survive?" "I could have texts, emails, anything." "All of them irrelevant and uninteresting, but it's not knowing." "Yeah, well." "Back to the grind." "Outside, the crew are now ready to shoot the car's arrival, and despite a heavy downpour, on screen at least, there's no sign of rain." "And camera." "Action." "Now, it's just until they've cleared your house." "And don't worry, I'll keep an eye on them." "Auriel?" "Oh, no." "It isn't?" "It's John!" " It is!" " Yeah." "The rain gets heavier, but luckily the next scene is indoors." "Do you know the story about David Tomblin, the first assistant director on Gandhi?" " No." " And Dickie..." "He said to me he had the largest number of extras ever assembled in the history of filmmaking." "Like a million people in a huge wide, pink road." " Gandhi." " Yeah." "And he says to David," ""David, darling, I want you to tell them, darling, this is..." ""It's a terrible moment for them." "Their beloved leader is dead, darling." ""Gandhi's died, my love." "All right?" ""So tell them that." "So the whole nation is weeping." ""It's the saddest moment in the history of a very young country." ""It's terribly sad." "Everybody's desperately unhappy." ""All right, David?"" " So David speaks to these million..." " I think I'm going to..." ""So, Gandhi's dead and you're right (BLEEP) off."" "The team behind the scenes of Kingdom have been working together for over three months, so it's not surprising that they've become good friends." "God, it's hard work today." "I think it must be Friday." "But some know each other a little better than that." "There a few of the castings which involve family members, which I'm really excited about." "Trevor Peacock and his son, Harry, play father and son trawler men in episode 3." "Mr Kingdom thinks you'll get paid out now." "Your son's name isn't on the insurance documents." "Because they've known each other all their lives, they can just start at another level, and I think that's really evident that they're really comfortable with each other." "And I think they did it quite beautifully." "I just wanted to be on the water with you." "Well, I'll be out soon enough." "I need you now." "PETER:" "Oh, hello." "HUSEYIN:" "Also the Wallers are a real husband and wife team." "Yes, that's correct." "Well, half correct." "I'm his half-brother." "You don't look much like him." "It'd be a dull old world if we all looked the same, wouldn't it?" "Does David Attenborough look like Dickie?" "NARRATOR:" "Celia Imrie plays Peter Kingdom's faithful receptionist, Gloria, and her real life son, Angus, plays her on-screen son, Scott." "How are you, Scott?" " Fine." " Got a moment?" "Angus' first scene was with Stephen Fry in a room being cheeky to Stephen." "I mean, bless Stephen, he was magnificent, as he was with all the actors, but especially with Angus." "You're gonna have a go at me, aren't you?" " About what?" " Last night." "Oh, no, that can wait." "What I really need is for you to give me a hand with this software that you installed." " Oh, that's simple." " It might be for you." "Here, let me." "Angus was fantastic and just the politest boy I've ever met, I think." " How's that?" " That's lovely." " Thank you very much." " All right." "No problem." "Even though he's only 12 years old, his mum is Angus' biggest critic." "He's mine, actually, so it works very well." "Half and half." "No." "Well, it's quite good to have somebody that you're sure is going to tell you the truth." "Because a lot of the time people say, "It's all marvellous, darling."" "But we both tell each other the truth and that's good." "He's absolutely loving it, though." "It's better than school." "NARRATOR:" "They say never work with children or animals, but on Kingdom, Stephen has the pleasure of working with both." "Millie the dog is a beautiful animal." "I have to say," "I've always been pretty fond of Jack Russells, but tended to be slightly wary because they're very yappy and aggressive most of the time." "It's part of their charm, you know, they're great ratting dogs." "But Millie is a very unusual Jack Russell in that she's so biddable and good-natured." "NARRATOR:" "And even Millie the dog has showbiz connections, she belongs to a member of the production team." "She's very photogenic and very loving and very unlike a Jack Russell." "In fact, she behaves like a cat most of the time." "Doesn't make any noise at all, never barks." "Does not have a bark." "You get that sort of dog..." "The occasional sort of... (SQUEAKING) ...noise comes out of her." "And she's delightful and you can wear her on your neck, which is unusual for a dog, like a sort of boa." "Family or not, every performer has their price and Millie is no exception." "I had to keep a bag of what people in the animal industry call treats." "I have to have a bag of treats in my pocket all the time because dogs are wonderfully simple." "We go on about how they love unconditionally and all the rest of it, and it's kind of true." "But generally speaking, they love the food." "Do you think Millie will run beside you if you say "Millie, Millie, Millie"?" "Um..." "It's a dodgy one with so many other people to run to." "MAN:" "And other dogs." "And other dogs." "I mean, it'd be nice if she did." " Lf you give me..." "The trouble is..." " She always comes back to you..." "Those are the big bicky ones and those ones she just buries with her nose, rather oddly." "Well, she does come back to you if you call her, so..." " FRY:" "She will do that." " She might not walk beside you..." "But if she knows these are my pocket, that helps, doesn't it?" "I wonder if you had a big lunch." "FRY:" "See, what she'll do now is go off and bury it with her nose." "It's an unusual procedure." "She'll find somewhere to drop it." "MAN:" "I'll come back later." "FRY:" "Yeah." "FRY:" "Will that do?" "No, no, not there." "There it goes." "(LAUGHING)" "There we are, and then pushes with her nose." "Ah, the nose there." "Scrapes it over." "Isn't that wonderful?" " Isn't it marvellous?" " Oh, that's beautiful." "You splendid creature." "You've got a sandy nose." "NARRATOR:" "Episode 5 of the series has a racing theme, and the climax of the programme is at Newmarket Racecourse." "With just over a week of filming to go, there's a definite end-of-term feel." "So it's not surprising that the cast might be a little distracted." "We've been at the bookies ever since we got here, haven't we, Angus?" "He's doing brilliantly." "We have to win on the next race otherwise we're cleaned out." "But we've won and lost." "I did well a couple of races ago, got a monkey, but since then, did badly in the last race." "Yeah, a bit up today." "Yeah, I got the last race." "It's only two races in and I expect it will all go." "This boy, he's the one you want to be taking tips from." "Young Angus here." " He's doing very well." " He's doing fantastically." "He's actually talking about moving to the Cayman Islands at the moment because he's worried about tax and things." "Got a lot of money." "I won ?" "3.40." "Yes." "We got the winner, Light Shift." "Beauty." "So I'm actually up now." " I'm a fiver up on what I've lost." " You are Steven out of Emmerdale," " aren't you?" " I'm nothing like that, no." " Yes, you are!" " I'm not." "That's not even close." " Oh, yes, I am." " No, it's really..." " You're the image of him." " It really isn't!" "You are the image of him." "NARRATOR:" "The scenes are being shot in the Members Enclosure where there are certain standards to maintain." "GRAHAM:" "It's Newmarket." "It's race day." "And yes, I get to wear a rather nice bespoke suit." "I love it." "It is extraordinary the reaction just a suit gets." "The crew had to dress accordingly for the Members Enclosure." "So I'm afraid the shorts had to be changed at lunch time." "So I put on this joke suit that I pull out for functions like this." "The powder blue linen which cost me ?" "50 in Bangkok." "Do you like my hat?" "NARRATOR:" "In between races, there's some serious work to be done." " Twenty-one, take two." " And action." "They're off!" " Yeah, Mischief!" " Come on, Mischief!" "Come on, Mischief!" "(ALL YELLING)" "Come on!" "Come on!" "Come on!" " Go!" " Go on!" "(CHEERING)" "JOHNSON:" "Fantastic!" "Very good!" "Thank you!" "(PEOPLE APPLAUDING)" " MAN:" "Very good shot." " Thank you." "NARRATOR:" "While the crew set up for the next scene, two of the cast members take the opportunity to catch up on old times." "Robert Bathurst, who people may remember from Cold Feet, we're very excited to have him." "Robert plays Philip Collins, the cross-dressing divorcee." "Robert is a huge..." "He's a tall, big man." "He's also a man." "And I don't know what he'll feel about putting on a dress, but I'm looking forward to seeing it." "Hello." "Philip Collins." "Most of the stuff that blokes like to wear is all tarty and this is, you know, he's not." "He just likes fabric." "You needn't have come all this way." "I could have easily gone to your office." "Yes, but we've been through all this and you're not leaving the house until you put on some proper clothes." "I'm sorry, this is a Christian Dior." "I went round various shops called Long Tall Sally and Evans outsize, things like that, and the assistants were remarkably at ease about some bloke trying on their gear." "So I suspect it wasn't the first time they'd had that." "I felt either Hinge or Bracket." "I wasn't quite sure which one." " Oh." " Are you making fun of me?" " Are you trying to humiliate me?" " No." "No, I've always rather admired that dress." "I didn't know you'd be wearing it today, though." "I don't want him seen out of the house like this." "That's not really within my power." "And it is a nice dress." "In fact, you both look great." "I think that's quite a tricky thing to get right, and I'm sure if anyone can do it, Robert can." "So I look forward to seeing that." "But it's lovely to see him." "And it's lovely to see him doing something different." "It's always a pleasure to see Robert." "NARRATOR:" "With the final scene in the can, filming on the series is complete." "But already there's talk of another one." "It is wonderful to be able to develop these characters over time." "All these characters are well-developed." "They've all got a journey in this series and I really look forward to painting the journey for them in the next, the series to come." "If I went back in time and saw my little 11 -year-old self pounding away on a bicycle and said, "Do you know that in a few years' time you'll be" ""in a flash convertible car" ""with a film crew and a camera shooting down on you as you drive along,"" "I would have wet myself." "And I would also, of course, have failed to believe it." "I just wouldn't believe it for a second because it would seem insane."