Life as a walk-on or background artist is not particularly glamorous. As I experienced myself when I went on to the set of Midsomer Murders, there is a lot of hanging around - usually in the cold - with perhaps just a mug of tea and a biscuit to see you through until it’s time to take your place in the shot.
Even then, there’s no guarantee you will end up being on the TV (which is something I found out when watching the episode of Midsomer Murders I had spent all day filming). I am no expert, but the money does not seem to be that great either, and it isn’t helped by the fact many broadcasters will try their utmost to get away without paying extras at all - as The Stage itself reported on only recently.
No, life as an extra is not for everyone. But that said, there are some who dedicate their working lives to being in the background, and who - in some cases - can become recognised regular faces of some of the more long-running series…
Just look at EastEnders’ Ron Tarr, who appeared as a background character from 1985 to 1997 in the soap and proved so popular that he was eventually involved in a few storylines and greatly missed by fans when he died in 1997.
Then there’s Emmerdale, which also had a background extra who became a star in his own right, in the form of Al Dixon. Dixon played Walter, a regular in the local pub - and a character who was in the show for nine years.
Yes, for some extras, being in a soap can prove to provide many years or work. Some of Emmerdale’s extras, for example, have been in the soap since it started. Which is why it came as a bit of a shock to some of those who had been long-serving, loyal walk-ons to find out they were getting the boot. As reported in this week’s Stage (exclusively as it happens, even though The Sun seems to think following up a story in this paper the day after we come out means they can copy it and run it as an exclusive) 31 of the 113 regularly used extras received letters from the production company, ITV Productions, telling them that they would not be needed any more because producers wanted to make the village have a more realistic feel in terms of how many faces are seen milling around.
Fair enough, in some respects. After all, in such a small place, would it be likely that there would be so many different people around? That said, as one extra pointed out to me following news of the cull (which meant an end of 15 years’ work for her) villages aren’t exclusive - people can come and go all the time. Whose to say only villagers use the local watering hole, The Woolpack? Surely people from outside Emmerdale might come there to satisfy their thirst?
But production notes aside, and probably more importantly - doesn’t Emmerdale owe some of these extras more than a letter (not even signed by anyone), posted without any consultation? Surely producers could have spoken to them in person? Maybe they could have taken time to explain their decision to them face to face and apologise for the way it had turned out for some of them who have been working on the show more than 20 years and for whom Emmerdale was a major part of their income.
Whatever their reasons for chopping the number of people seen in the background, Emmerdale producers have demonstrated a lack of compassion and sympathy for a group of people who have been reliable, hard working, patient and dedicated to the show - treating them as worthless in effect. It’s almost as if producers feel these actors - for that is what they are, whether they have lines to say or not - don’t merit direct contact with those in positions of power (who ironically, for all this power, come across as rather weak characters in all this).
Equity is looking into the case. And even though the union is clear ITV Productions has not breached any contracts, let’s hope it can teach the people working there that there is a right and wrong way of dealing with people who have provided, in many cases, more than two decades of service.
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