Director's notes from episode 3

The building we used as the parish hall was really an old cow shed, there was no floor, no stage, in fact when we all stood in it on the recce, the earth floor was covered in straw and two beautiful horses eyed us gingerly. Our producers were dumbfounded. Tom (designer) and I described what we were going to do to this rotting shed. We explained that any existing parish halls were far too modern. Even though most rural halls look old, when you get up close, the floors and windows are usually at least from the 1960s or 1970 - certainly not 1943.

On the day, the hall was full of extras and our principle characters. We had rehearsed the monologue without the crowd. No-one in the audience knew what was going to happen. The lights went down, the crowd went quiet, and the wonderful Niall Buggy as 'Clarrie Marsden' made his surprise entrance from the back of the hall - no one knew what was about to happen. Faces turned, and the silence became deathly. Carrie walked to the stage, he stood in the middle with his back towards the audience for a few seconds - then turned. His voice boomed out. “Halloween! Ladies and gentlemen”- an old actor about to do his turn!