GRUB'S UP!

Les McCallum looks back fondly on film-location catering

- Les McCallum

I am lucky enough to have enjoyed film location catering from the mid-1960s when I worked for the BBC. As time is money, the crew can't just go off looking for food and drink, especially when filming in the back of beyond; so, the solution is to provide location catering from professional companies which will serve hot and cold food, soup when freezing, and tea and coffee on tap throughout the day, thus keeping the film unit happy and in good spirits and everyone on the base ready for action.

In the early days of location filming, we would be given a daily allowance to find bed and breakfast, and an evening meal, if the location was more than a set distance from Television Centre (TVC). This meant we could be on location at the crack of dawn, where the "chuck wagon" would be on site serving up breakfast before filming started at, say, 7.30am. The irony is we would be paying for bed and breakfast, but no B&B establishment ever served breakfast before 7am.

Arriving on site, we sometimes had to set the scene before we had breakfast and, even then, we sometimes missed getting something to eat until lunch break. When things had settled in, we could then enjoy the delights of eggs, sausages, bacon, black pudding, mushrooms and fried bread. The full works was all well and good but, after a few days, you would notice that some of the crew would be eating just toast, fruit or porridge.