My Edward Woodward moment

Lots of RIP Edward Woodward tweets today, so here is my anecdote.

My career started in the theatre. In the late eighties when I'd moved into radio, I used to use my Equity membership to do 'walk-on' work on TV and movie shoots in the west country on an almost weekly basis.

This one time, my friend (presenter on local tv) & I, with around 50 other extras, were taken by coach early in the morning to a country house where a TV company was filming.

It was a bright sunny morning and we assembled in front of the house, where the director explained they were shooting a spy thriller and we were all going to be members of the public visiting the gardens while a covert meeting was going on.

Then he and his assistant studied the group and to our surprise, picked out my friend & I.

"Come this way", said the director leading us into the gloomy hallway. "We want you two to be MI5 men, and you'll be playing a couple of scenes with Richard and Edward here."

As my eyes became accustomed to the dark, I found myself shaking hands with Richard E. Grant and Edward Woodward.... who were both charming & generous to us :)

(The show by the way was called Codename Kyril)