Wessex Rose to appear on TV
The new series of ‘George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces’ starts on 24th October and the building of the Wessex Rose is one of the projects to be featured on the show. We do not feature in the first episode but will appear in one of eight to be screened this Autumn. Our project is also covered in the first ‘Amazing Spaces’ book which accompanies the series.
The producers of the program, Plum Pictures, began following the building of the Wessex Rose one cold day at the beginning of December 2012 as we moved the newly built hull by road from the Tyler Wilson boat shed to Milburn Boats at Daventry. As the fit out continued through the winter, we received regular calls and visits from producers, camera teams etc following the build and keeping up with our progress. We were all fairly nervous and awkward to begin with when the cameras arrived but the producers and camera crews were all lovely people and very good as putting everyone at ease.
Despite the complexity of the build, the number of people working in the limited space inside the boat, endless wires, pipes, frames equipment and the general sense of organised chaos, the production and camera crews still seemed able to manage their interviews and filming admirably unhindered. No filming equipment appeared to have been damaged or production staff lost in the bilges, and they were all very stoical about having to film in some of the coldest temperatures on record in a boat shed with no heating!
The initial series of filming culminated on the day of the launch when the completed hull was ‘rolled out of the shed’. The Wessex Rose saw daylight for the first time (actually brilliant sunshine which we took as a good omen) and was transported to the launch site at Stockton Top Marina by road (apologies to all those motorists stuck behind us) where, skilfully managed by two huge cranes, she was lowered gracefully into the water.
The final filming, ‘The Reveal’ as we’ve learned it’s known in the trade took place, by kind permission of Canal & River Trust, in the most wonderfully scenic position at the bottom of the famous Caen Hill flight of locks on 10th of June this year, the first of many bright sunny days this summer. Camera men, sound men, producers, directors and a myriad of assistants filmed George Clarke having a guided tour of the boat, interviewing us and learning all about the design and build process before taking control of the tiller, under Karen’s tutelage and watchful eye, and skilfully steering the Wessex Rose through a couple of locks.
As soon as we know it we will post the date the episode we appear in will be shown so keep watching our News Page, Facebook and Twitter feeds!
