Terry I would be interested to know how you identified where they would have been filming considering that they often do not shoot scenes in order and clearly a lot of scenes, we know , do not take place in Holmfirth itself . I would also love to know how many members of the public , like your good self , rocked up to watch it and how were they received by the cast and crew . Did you witness any so called Prima Donna style strops by members of the cast or arguments between the actors and crew or was it all very much a cordial atmosphere.
One of the best places to watch them filming was at Aunties, as they would cram a lot of filming there over 2 or 3 days and the chances were you would see most of the cast, even though you could make no sense of what parts they were filming for.
In the early years of me going to track them down I discovered they would put small pointed signs with the letters LOC, if you followed these you would end up where the location for filming was, they stopped doing this I guess as folk were working out what the signs meant. By which time I had a friend on the crew who who tip me of in a text if they new I was heading over.
If you kept out of the way and quiet they left you alone on set, after a couple of years they discovered I was harmless and would let me mingle with the cast but I always made sure not to be a nuisance, often on the short breaks the cast would be running through their lines for the next scene, the last thing they needed was some Barmpot disturbing them.
I also worked out it would be best to keep on the right side of the assistant director who I think Mr Bell kept to do all his dirty work of keeping everybody in check, she could be pretty aggressive and I have seen her reduce crew to a nervous wreck. She did a great job of keeping onlookers in their place and often she would clear them away just with a stare and I would be the only one left close by.
The cast were lovely and I cannot say any of them treated anyone with airs and graces, it was often very full days and by mid pm you could see some cast tiring and they would nod of in a chair if they were not needed for 15 to 30 minutes, setting scenes up could be time consuming.
Most of the cast if not busy doing anything else would be happy to chat and answer general questions, Stephen Lewis was always one for entertaining folk when nothing else was happening.
These days were all happy days for me, to see these wonderful actors in person making a show that millions of people love, I feel really fortunate to of been able to do this for over 6 years and wish I had got there sooner
