Wales is such a beautiful place and often featured in many films and TV shows, its breathtaking backdrops making it very popular and all its history and heritage adding so much to any footage taken. Seeing as we are all about UK holidays right now I thought you might enjoy reading more.

Claim to Fame

My mum was filmed on a stretcher once and she vaguely recalls getting paid £20 for the privilege many years ago.  It didn’t make the final cut sadly, but she enjoyed her day nonetheless. Making the most of the onsite canteen.  Apparently mid morning soup, a big container of chocolate bars handed out twice during the day, dinner and pudding and then mid afternoon tea.  With coffee and cake, so she was well looked after in that respect. She even got paid an extra fee for her car, as they had hoped to use it.  Again though that didn’t seem to feature either!

My mum was pleased because she got to meet the dishy Ioan Gruffudd. Although being an extra wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.  She said there was a lot of waiting around all day so that part was quite boring, as your only needed for such a small part its just twiddling your thumbs till then.

Missed Opportunities

I have had two missed opportunities myself. Once Casualty was filming in the area.  But I left as the production crew implied they were only using children from the local private school.  I had a feeling they didn’t want us “riff raff” being on screen.  Instead I went home with my tail between my legs. In the end they used all the kids that had remained.  Private schooled or not so I could have been featured if I had stuck with my guns!!! It was all down to just being at the right place at the right time!

Years later I remember desperately wanting to be an extra in the film First Knight (1995).  Camelot was being built by a lake in Trawsfynydd, Wales. I had the mandatory long hair they needed and was eager to be an extra (they needed lots of them, so I reasoned my chances would be good!), I thought about how exciting it would be to see Sean Connery and Richard Gere in real life and I love knights, adventure and big battle scenes, swoon!

Growing Up

As a teenager living in Wales I had an active imagination so from being a possible extra my mind snowballed to becoming a proper actress… and wowing everyone with an award winning performance. Naturally one that resulted in me flying off in a private helicopter to perform all round the world!

But I had a summer job and my boss wasn’t so keen on me jumping ship on the off-chance I might feature (however fleetingly) on the big screen! So, it was back down to earth with a bump.  Those starry eyes soon turned into sad ones and I went back to serving customers. My teenage dreams dashed but from what my mum said about all the waiting around maybe it was for the best.

My son has already appeared on TV on the Welsh news.  I am so proud of him, he volunteered himself, has bags of confidence already.  Whereas if I am honest I probably would have been too nervous if I had been given the chance. If any more opportunities come along though I might try one last time!