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The Coroner
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The Coroner
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The Coroner
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The Coroner
What’s The Coroner all about?
The Coroner follows Jane (played by Claire Goose - Casualty & Waking The Dead), a high flying solicitor, who after a failed relationship, returns to the small seaside town she escaped as a teenager to take up the post of Coroner. She finds herself working with Davey (played by Matt Bardock, also of Casualty) the boy who broke her heart and who is now the local Detective Sergeant. Jane is the advocate for the dead and she investigates any sudden, violent or unexplained deaths in the fictional world of Lighthaven, Jane and Davey work for justice on a new story in each episode.
Are the locations here in South Hams integral to the series?
The overwhelming stamp of the show is Devon, Devon, Devon. The series is based around storylines that connect closely with the ports, the beaches, the rivers or the sea. Local scenery features strongly in story terms and as a visual backdrop to the drama.
Whilst the fictional town – Lighthaven – was originally based on Salcombe, in the end it was Dartmouth that emerged as the clear star of the show. Originally, we had identified Salcombe and Dartmouth as our main filming areas with Kingsbridge as the production hub.
Then for logistic and aesthetic reasons, we moved the focus of filming to Dartmouth partly as Salcombe is too difficult to park up all the paraphernalia that a production requires. Our production office was located at Dartington where we also shot some of the indoor scenes. This made it easy to get to any location within 45-60 minutes and also for the cast & crew to escape at weekends back to wherever they live.
When we started looking for locations, Bayards Cove was quickly confirmed as the location of the Coroner’s office. It was an easy decision, therefore, for Dartmouth to become the hub of the series.
The script called for lots of boat scenes – e.g. fishing trips, foreign visitors etc. We worked out early on that logistically it was very difficult and time consuming to launch a boat from a beach – the boat has to carry lots of people, all their equipment and be safe and dry. In the end, 98% of our boat work has originated from the Dartmouth embankment or Town Quay.
Our mantra throughout the series has to been to locate the filming outside wherever possible. If it’s not pouring with rain, we get out into the garden, onto a beach, a cliff top, the street etc. This locates the drama better and makes it more interesting especially with what South Hams can offer us. We are obviously weather dependent but we have been very lucky during the course of filming with few interruptions or lost days. We did stage a night-time party on Blackpool Sands in the teeth of a gale which caused us a few headaches!
The area has played its part very well. I noticed that the crew have been very relaxed, just happy to be outside in such a beautiful part of the country. With Dartmouth especially, it’s almost impossible not to produce a decent shot. Dartmouth is the real star of the show and is the location we have used the most – it’s delivered us the goods. I’m really keen to see what it looks like in the final cut – you see the rushes and everything looks stunning. You don’t usually go to locations where we have been so spoilt.
Where did the film crew come from?
Having been a freelancer and worked all over the country, I have often found myself in Leeds with a London crew or in London with a Leeds crew. It’s not usually been my shout or decision, but it often seems madness to organise things in this way. With this series, it has been different - I am based here – I live in Liskeard – and the executive producer has a home down here too. So we were very keen to recruit as many of the crew from the area assuming they had the requisite skills. Out of the 60-odd crew, we had about 20 who live locally and another 20 from around the South West.
Although I live in Liskeard, I have never worked from home as I have done this time – I once came back from filming in London to find Doc Martin filming in my very own street! A missed opportunity there…
The series is produced by BBC Birmingham – they use an agency in London that recruits most of their cameramen and technicians but we’ve been able to find local talent such as the locations people, the caterers, make-up, set design etc
What is the line producer’s job?
The producer’s job is to make the series as good as possible, my job is just to make it happen. I am responsible for much of the pre-planning, the budgeting, scheduling and the on-set people-management.
I’ve known the series producer for about 10 years. I’m normally an Assistant Director not a Line Producer but when he told me about the location it was an easy decision to come aboard. I then worked down here alone for 6 weeks finding a production office, sorting and booking accommodation for the actors and crew. I had to work out who we could employ locally and who we had to accommodate.
Most of the crew are freelance mixed with the full time crew from BBC Birmingham. Dramas such as Doctors (also by BBC Birmingham) are located in that area so it calls upon its own staff. But when we move away such as to the South West, it requires us to find more freelance staff. The BBC and freelance way of doing things are never quite the same! I have to make sure they gel correctly.
When did planning for the series begin in earnest?
BBC Birmingham started loosely planning scripts and budgets about 2 years ago. I came on board at the start of February this year, knowing we would start shooting by mid April, so that gave me about 10 weeks to organise things. At that point, we had no production footprint (other than we had found the location of the Coroner’s home at Hope Cove). With a low budget, day-time drama the schedule tends to be shorter as much for budget reasons than anything else.
How is shooting organised?
We shot 10 x 45 min episodes in 15 weeks (75 filming days). That’s a very fast turn around. It was also critical that we completed the filming before the summer holiday season began.
We divided the production into blocks of 2 episodes each. Each block mostly has a different director, assistant director and a director of photography. The teams start their detailed work about a month ahead of their filming slot, planning what they will be doing – prepping, refining the script, casting, sorting locations etc.
For example, the same director may do the 1st and 4th block shooting each over their designated 3 weeks (15 days) and then take up to a week or a month in editing those episodes before they return again to the set for their next block.
We have to shoot quickly so we don’t have the time or money to film the bigger events e.g complicated stunts, special effects etc. We have to ensure that whatever we do is doable in 15 days. My job is to make sure every thing is tailored to those 15 days. We try to keep it simple and ensure we get it right the first time.
I have been amazed on this series how much we’ve been able to do this e.g. we used a Plymouth based but internationally renowned aerial filming company (they’ve won an Oscar for technical achievement) to shoot some helicopter sequences. They had to shoot everything (including the flying time back and forth to Plymouth) in just one hour as that was all we could afford. We’ve focused on paring down the complicated scenes and choosing our moments carefully.
Have you has a good reaction from the general public during filming?
People have been incredibly welcoming. Each town has its own day-to-day heartbeat and way of doing things. When we come along with all our trucks we can interrupt that and quickly rub a lot of people up the wrong way.
Because I’m local as are our locations team, we have worked incredibly hard to minimise the disruption we cause. There’s been greater ownership – if our litter starts blowing down the street, we make sure we pick it up as quickly as we can.
We’ve done our best albeit with a few hiccups but we do try hard. If it was a prime time drama there’d be twice as many people and our trucks would be twice as big! For example, our generator truck can be the biggest one we use but we worked carefully to make sure we got the biggest we needed but the smallest we could make it.
We are aware that we flounce in and flounce out and have to remind our people that whilst its their job, they are here as guests. I’d hate it if we left any bad feeling behind. If a new series is commissioned, we want to come back and feel we are welcome.
When does it come out?
It‘s yet to be confirmed but probably early 2016 on BBC1 Daytime TV. It will probably be shown daily over two consecutive weeks.
It’s very much down to the viewing figures on whether a further series is commissioned. I am currently preparing the groundwork should it be re-commissioned – hopefully, we’ll get the go ahead quickly as then the sooner we can start planning in earnest. We don’t want to start too late and encroach into the summer holiday season. Other BBC Birmingham shows, such as Father Brown and Land Girls, are very popular in such countries as the US, Australia and Canada where they have prime time slots. We hope that The Coroner will do just as well. The BBC is keen to improve their daytime output and this show is part of that.
What happens to you now?
I stepped out of the industry last year as I have spent too many years away from home living like a gypsy from one location to another. I have missed a big chunk of my children growing up during that time. As this production was local, I was, however, enticed back. I am now looking to take up a film production teaching post at Falmouth University but will still help out on programmes such as this when I can fit them in.
You find yourself working incredibly long hours, often 6 days/week and then it all suddenly stops. There’s a massive void in your life and it takes a few days to adjust. At last, you get to regain control of your life and can do normal things like walk the dog.
First published By The Dart Issue August/September 2015
