March 30, 2006

Getting Shot

The big day finally arrived for Roger (see also the Cool Day blog) on Friday 24th March 2006. The momentus occasion took place in Bo'ness. Roger even had has name changed by production, just like a real star, apart from his name was changed to Graeme, not the most glamorous of names but practical, and we all know that's an important part of the process (see Smalls).

Posted by colin kennedy at 6:11 PM | Comments (1)

Getting Stuffed

Stuffing Roger in the back of the car was just the start.

What to do with a dead badger was next on the agenda. So the search was on for taxidermists in Scotland. Despite Glasgow being home to the Guild of Taxidermists there was only one listed in the book – in Edinburgh. Soon to be Rogers new home.

Photo: Marc Mills

Now on the fast track to posthumous fame it’s time for Roger to get the grooming treatment essential for any new screen idol. Perhaps slightly unusual is that Roger has had his skeleton and guts removed so only the exterior remains, preserved in various oils and chemicals…

…maybe not that unusual.

George Jameson, master stuffer, is working his magic. And as you can see from the photos Roger is turning out to be one handsome badger.

Posted by colin kennedy at 3:55 PM | Comments (1)

February 23, 2006

Getting Pelters

Prep got off to an auspicious start on the way to a location recce in Peebles. For those of you who don’t know the script or Peter Jinks’ novel, Hallam Foe, the central character, wears a kind of self-made hat fashioned from a badger.

Now badgers are hard things to come by. As a protected species the only way you can get hold of a dead one, legally, is to find a poor soul that has been run down, and not by you. Deliberate mowing down of protected fauna is just as frowned upon as shooting at them with blunderbusses.

Serendipity struck, literally, on February the 21st 2006.

Whilst gabbing away and talking all things location we noticed a furry lump slumped on the kerb. A double take between us and the roadside was all it took to realise that our potential hat was nestling in a pool of blood and water on the side of the road.

Jolly Roger (not!)

A moment of jubilation was quickly replaced with the disgusting thought of having to pick up poor old Mr. Badger, or Roger as he is now known amongst the crew.

Do they carry tuberculosis? Do they carry anything else nasty? Where are we going to put it? What are we going to do with this thing?

After to-ing and fro-ing, humming and hawing – ‘let's stick it in a bush and get it later?’ ‘let's just leave it alone?’ ‘let's bury him?’ We plumped for ‘let's stop fannying about, bung it in the boot and get on with the rest of the day’.

… and so the location recce resumed with a new member to the film family in tow (interred?) in the back of the car.

And by the way kids, picking up dead animals you find on the side of the road is not an activity to be undertaken by anyone except experienced dead animal handlers and Cub Scouts with the relevant health and safety badger.

Posted by colin kennedy at 11:12 AM | Comments (2)