Central
Casting sent me to A.B.P.C.
Studios to do some tests on a
series they were about to make. It was tests for
special affects to be tried out such as walking
through walls etc. I was to be Randall and a chap
called Doug Lockyer was
to be Hopkirk. We did the tests over a period of
a week and the following Monday the series got
going for real.
I was asked ‘’Would you be a stand-in
for Mike Pratt if he gets on with
you.." Now I’m going to say no to a
years work. (Not) We got on like a house on fire
from the first day. Mike told me that he and Lionel
Bart wrote all of Tommy
Steele’s early songs, (Handful
Of Songs, Rock
With The Caveman and many
more). With all the years I spent with the bands
we had something in common. We used to have a
sing a long in the dressing rooms or where ever
we could.
Douglas
stood-in for Ken.
We did twenty six episodes over the next year and
Mike, Ken and I became good
friends. I would read the other actors lines in
the script so Mike could learn his. Every
two weeks we would get a new guest cast and I
really wish I had saved all the call sheets with
all the cast names on. I wonder how many went on
to greater things. One I do remember was a wild
looking man called Dudley
Sutton. He went on to play Tinker in Lovejoy
and we still send cards at Christmas time. (Merry
Christmas Dudley, it saves a card.)
Every episode I would have to double for Mike for his driving shots
or walking in and out of London buildings. We
used a second unit camera team (small crew) for
this as it was better for Mike to be in the studio
saying the words. Although I appeared in a few
crowd scenes during the series my claim to fame
are those immortal words I say to the onlookers
as Hopkirk is run down by the bad guys car... I
compose myself and utter ‘’He’s
dead’’ I had a few fan letters in after
that scene was shown on TV suggesting I go back
in the timber game... (It wasn’t even my
voice, it was dubbed..)
When Mike had days off I had to
find other film jobs to do. We was only paid £5
a day and you only got paid if you worked. Lucky
for me they were making other series in the
studio and I would go in the bar and find an A.D.
from Department
S. or The Avengers and see if they could
use me for a couple of days till Mike was back. So look out
for me in other series playing a
French/German/Spanish/American
cop/waiter/soldier/sailor/crook etc. I’ve
been all around the world but I’ve never
left English shores.
We finished shooting the series in 1969 and had a
huge party to celebrate. (It took me a week to
get over it). I’d like to say hello to the
three main Stuntmen on the show, Rocky
Taylor, Les
Crawford and Frank
(Elstree Cowboy) Maher. Also my best regards
to all the crew for making it a wonderful year.
- Harry
'Aitch' Fielder |
Randall
and Hopkirk (Deceased) Menu - Return
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Harry 'Aitch' Fielder - Supporting actor of film and TV
@ www.harryfielder.co.uk - guestbook - message board
MSN Group - Harry 'Aitch' Fieder @ www.msn.com
Harry 'Aitch' Fielder - Information on the movie
database @ www..imdb.com
