Day 2

Okay, so day 2 arrived (19th May 2007). We had an uneventful drive to Lee's house.

When we (Troy and I) arrived, we knocked on the door and it was answered by Dexter (the director). We went in, and were told that Jim Norton had arrived, and that everything was taking place in the garden. We trotted out, but there was nobody there. The garden had been really nicely put together by Lee and family. He was unsure whether it was going to rain, so the whole garden was covered in a camouflage type net with polythene on top to stop the rain. At the far end of the garden by the pond was a gazebo. The display of photographs had been changed to incorporate photographs of Georgina Hale, Jim Norton and Murray Melvin.

Before long, Jim Norton came out and greeted us. I was quite relaxed this time, and so was not as overwhelmed as I had been the first time. Jim Norton was a very approachable man, and we sat in the gazebo and had a nice chat about his days in T-Bag, the popularity of the show, and why it didn't get repeated when all the others did. Jim said that it may have been because of the musical stings that were often used in the episodes, and the copyright issues associated with them.

I mentioned his appearance in "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets". He told me that his performance in this film had been quite savagely edited and the original had been a lot of reaction shots and various facial expressions. He told me that he went along to the premier, and was very embarrassed by how short his appearance had become.

He was soon whisked away to do his interview, since it transpired that he had to leave early. His interview was very interesting, and there is a lovely T-Bag moment in it, that I shall not reveal, since it will spoil the DVD!

When we went out to the garden, I think that John Hasler had already arrived, as had Kellie Bright, and also Jamie from the High-T Website. I went to the car with Troy, and we retrieved my huge and heavy suitcase full of T-Bag costumes and memorabilia. We took it back to the garden, and I set up my trusty dummy with Georgina Hale's costume on it. Jamie was quite surprised at how small the costume actually was.

As people were turning up, Lee was introducing Jamie and I to everybody as follows, "This is Jeremy, he runs the "T-Room" website, and this is Jamie, who runs the "High-T" website). John piped up at this point and said, "This is a real Harry Hill moment - 'There's only one way to find out which website is the best - FIGHT!'".

It was soon time for John's interview, and we all piled into the lounge to earwig. Whilst they were setting up, the door kept swinging on its hinges and creaking, so I offered to be the doorstop, and sat in front of it. This was nice because I could see everything properly. I felt quite sorry for John because the air traffic was very heavy that morning, and filming kept having to stop for passing planes. John put this down to Wembley being a no-fly-zone, and the traffic was being diverted. This was because of the big Manchester Utd. vs Chelsea match that was taking place that day.

I was extremely impressed by John's memories of the show. He seemed to remember absolutely everything about it. It was a very impressive interview.

One amusing aside - Troy is not a T-Bag fan, and he had driven down from Wales the day before, and we were fairly late arriving at my brother's in Horsham, so he was VEERRRY tired, managed to fall asleep during the interview (this was NOT a reflection on your interview at all John, if you are reading this!). Now Troy has a tendency to snore extremely loudly, but on this occasion, he was only snoring very quietly. Nobody could hear it, apart from that is, the lady in charge of sound, who could hear it from the microphone and was quietly laughing to herself and gesturing to Jamie to wake Troy up.

There was a knock on the door during Jonh's interview whilst the crew were changing tapes, and it was the lady herself, Georgina Hale. She made a real star's entrance, and we all waited in line to greet her as she passed. Once she had gone to the garden, we returned to the lounge for the rest of John's interview.

After the interview was complete, Georgina and Kellie Bright were called for the group interviews. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to speak to Kellie as much as I had wanted to. She had to dash off since she is doing a show called "Whipping it Up" in the West End. Anyway, I managed to get a nice photo of the three of them whilst they were chatting together in hushed tones, and then we all posed for a group photograph. Whilst we were assembling, Murray Melvin walked into the room, and asked if we could bear having him in the photograph also. Everyone was pleased to see him, and we all squeezed up whilst Troy took the photos.

Conversation interrupted for a photo op

Group photo before the group interview

Clockwise from the front left, Grant Cathro, Georgina Hale, John Hasler, Kellie Bright, Lee Pressman, Jeremy Vines (me) and Jamie (from the High-T Website)

The group interview was very good. Georgina was very amusing, and probably said a few things that she didn't ought, but that is what editing is for.

Sadly, Kellie's car arrived to whisk her off to the boards. The cameras carried on rolling whilst everyone said their goodbyes and had big hugs, which I thought was nice, since it demonstrates the affection that these people have for one another, even after all these years.

Lee and Neville Green (director) chatting in the garden

We broke for lunch, and then Neville Green (director of "Take-Off") had his interview. I didn't attend this one - I was starving, and wanted to socialise a little more that I did on day 1. I was more relaxed in myself, and the shock of being in the same garden as all these people had subsided a bit. I introduced myself to Murray Melvin, and complemented him on his performance in T-Bag, and also in Ken Russell's "The Devils", which is a great film, although very disturbing.

We had a chat about the grape throwing scene in "Take-Off" when he was Antonius Frivolus, and Georgina was dressed as Cleopatra. He said that they filmed it for hours and hours, and could never get the grapes in each other's mouths, so they were in hysterics the whole time, and were often filmed with tears streaming down their faces when they were trying to be all sensuous and decadent. I noticed that there was a bunch of grapes on the table, and jokingly suggested that they could recreate that scene that day.

Posing for a photo in the gazebo

Georgina arrived, and kindly autographed the Pearl Dress design sketch for me. Murray kindly signed the Ignatius design sketch. I then managed to pin down John Hasler and he signed an autograph for my sister (when I gave it to her back home, it gave her butterflies!).

Murray Melvin was interviewed next, but again I didn't attend. I sat in the garden and had a long chat with Georgina Hale about her work in Egypt in an orphanage. She is a very sensitive and caring person, and her tales of her experiences out there were both touching and poignant. I could empathise with her since I also work in a care environment, and it can be a very hard and heart-rending job, as well as being hugely rewarding.

Murray came back saying, "That was hell!". He was joking. Georgina looked up and said, "Where have you been? You've been gone for hours and hours and hours!".

Next it was time for Georgina's interview. The crew asked me to take the dummy and costume upstairs, and I set it up in the lounge. I couldn't find anywhere for the tiara to go, so Georgina put it on her head. T-Bag was instantly reborn. It was a wonderful moment.

Georgina during the setup for her interview

Jamie, John and I went to sit in on the interview. I won't divulge any of the contents - it will spoil the surprises!

I was next to be called. I was really nervous, and I had something in my eye which had fallen out of a hanging plant in the garden! My interview was done outside the lounge on the stairs. I would love to tell you some of the contents of my interview, but I can't because I was so nervous that I just gabbled on and on and on without really paying much attention to what I was saying. It was a very short interview (I think that it was around 10-15 minutes), and I dare say that most (if not all) of it will be edited out, but I did it, and that is the main thing! I remember that they asked me a stinker of a question which I didn't quite know what they were after in the response (that's showbiz talk for "I didn't understand the question"). Anyway, I answered as best as I could, and then it was all over. Big sigh of relief, and pass the valium.

Me quietly peeing myself with nerves just before my interview

Most people had gone home by now. Lee and Grant were the last to be interviewed, and their interview went by very, very quicky. The crew did something very inventive with a silk throw for the background, which I though was quite clever (you'll have to wait and see). The interview, as I say, passed very quickly, and we couldn't believe it when we were told that they had spoken for 48 minutes!

The end of the day was taken up by filming props. I helped Jamie to take some photographs of the T-Bag costumes by holding them up for him, and poor old Troy was made to hold the whole lot in between photographing.

Troy (my flatmate and roadie (don't flip out!) for the day) acting as pack mule. Incidentally, the star dress is my latest replica. Here it is nearing completion with no zip nor sequin stars.

Jamie and I took the opportunity to photograph as much as we could.

So that was it - everybody had a great time. I personally had a blast, and I would love to do it all again. I think that may be a bit far fetched, however!

I was thrilled to get my invitation to take part in the filming of the DVD, and I must thank Lee and Grant for the opportunity. I must also thank all the other people who willingly put themselves out so that I could attend. Thanks to Troy for taking time off to drive me to London, thanks to Simon, Juanita and Niall for putting me up (putting up with me), and thanks to Sarah, Anne, Mrs. P and all the staff at Cwm who covered my shifts whilst I was away.