Week 3 of the UK shoot

This week we spoke to Richard Lester who made films with Spike in the 50s and 60s. Their first film was called THE RUNNING, JUMPING, STANDING STILL FILM. It featured Spike and Peter Sellers and was nominated for an Academy Award. Richard told us that it was because of his work with Spike that the Beatles trusted him to make their first film: A HARD DAY'S NIGHT . He also directed Spike in THE THREE MUSKETEERS, where he played Raquel Welch's husband. Richard had some great stories to tell and paid tribute to Spike as one of the two people who have inspired him the most in his life - the other was John Lennon.
We also went to Rye this week and filmed Jane visiting her father's grave and talking about some of the difficulties she has experienced since her father died.

Joanna Lumley's interview

The next highlight in the second week of production was an interview with Joanna Lumley (from the TV comedy, ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS). We did the interview in a whisky bar in a hotel in Piccadilly. Joanna arrived on time and looking magnificent. She is a warm and friendly person who immediately put the whole crew at ease with her humour. The first thing she said to me, was "thank you - for writing to me and asking me to be part of this film!" She REALLY loved Spike and it shows. Jane conducted the interview and it was the heart of the film for me so far. Sweet, funny, sad, revealing, poignant, beautiful and charming.

I am now locking in the rest of the schedule which is just a long series of phone calls, emails, faxing release forms to agents, more phone calls to confirm... endless and necessary. So far we have confirmations from Michael Palin, Michael Parkinson and Beryl Virtue, Spike's first manager. She has also secured us an interview with Dick Lester, the film director who did The Beatles' films. He and Spike worked on a film together called THE RUNNING, JUMPING AND STANDING STILL FILM, of which Spike was very proud .

I'm hoping he'll have a copy of the film so I can finally see it. There are several other interviews and scenes about to be confirmed, and our trip to Ireland is looking very exciting and eventful. But more of that in my next report...

Back to Spike's house in Rye

On Sunday, Jane and I headed down to Rye in a truck where we met sound recordist Matt at the station. We were going to Carpenters, the house where Spike lived for the last 15 years of his life and where he died. Spike's second eldest daughter Sile joined us down there with her family (husband and three sons). The purpose of the visit was for them to collect any possessions left in the house by their step-mother Shelagh, who has emptied the place with the view to selling it. It was a very emotional day for all of them as they discovered bits of their childhood and memories of their father and grandfather. They have to say goodbye to this house that holds so many good memories for them.

There was a touching moment in the walk-in wardrobe where they discovered Spike's footprint in the paint work. They sorted through old photos, books, records, toys, letters and mementos of all shapes and size. Some were thrown out. Some went into boxes to be kept. This scene will most likely be at the end of the film, and will dissolve into the archive footage his daughters have of him as an old man in this house surrounded by his children and grandchildren at Christmas. His letters personal writings, poems and songs all tell the same story- Spike lived for his children and was happiest when he was with them.

The film is taking shape

The film is beginning to take a much clearer shape in my mind now. There are several themes and strands in the film. One is the biographical story of Spike's life, as told by people who knew him, including show biz celebrities. Another is the contemporary story of Spike's family and what has happened since his death. A third is the story of his depression and what caused it and how it manifested in his life. The fourth is the archive - Spike's own home movies and audio tapes discovered by Jane in the house after he died. All of these strands will be interwoven to reveal a picture of Spike Milligan not seen before; a man more remarkable, surprising, brilliant and complex than I ever dared imagine.

Our first real shoot was in a theatre in Soho where the enormously famous comedian Eddie Izzard was performing. There, on a balcony overlooking the London night life, Eddie told us why he calls Spike 'the godfather'. He brought to life their brief meetings and connection through the town of Bexhill and talked about the enormous influence he has had on comedy and the world around him. It was both funny and sincere and clearly Eddie has a huge respect and affection for Spike. It was a brief but dazzling interview and we all celebrated in the bar afterwards, feeling like we'd got off to a good start.

Jane Milligan's performance

I went to see Jane Milligan performing in a show at the Queens Theatre, Hornchurch. She is an actor/musician and the show is called ALICE ON THE UNDERGROUND. It is an adaptation of the Lewis Carroll classic in which Alice runs away from home and gets lost on the underground. Jane plays Alice's sister and several other characters and I filmed the show and an interview with Jane backstage putting on her makeup.

Arrived in London

Yesterday I arrived in London, and I'm staying with Spike's youngest daughter, Jane. On my first evening here, I went to a committee meeting in a nearby house with Jane and her sister Sile, to talk about a proposed statue of Spike that the locals want to erect. It is a life-size and very life-like statue of Spike sitting on a bench - I saw the model and it's brilliant. People will be able to sit next to him and get their photo taken or just talk to him. The bench is decorated with references to his life, such as fairies, elephants (from his childhood in India), soldiers and books. The committee hope to raise the money to get the statue made and erected by the end of next year. They have people like Sir Paul McCartney, Michael Parkinson and Joanna Lumley as patrons. I'm meeting my crew and working on the script and production schedule this week. On Friday we will be filming an interview with comedian Eddie Izzard in a theatre in Soho, and by the beginning of next week we'll be full steam ahead.

Week one of production

I drove to Woy Woy with Spike's eldest daughter Laura and friends and spent the first week shooting some pick-ups and new interviews. I met Beverly Spiers, a friend of Spike's for 30 years, who told most entertaining and hilarious stories of her time with him. She was a wild-life carer and Spike used to go to her property to escape the 'noise' and flurry of his parent's house in Woy Woy and to take long walks in the bush. He liked to feed her brood of injured and tame wallabies, possums and birds. She showed me her open air bath that Spike also loved. He was forever in search of solitude, absolute quiet and nature and Beverly's place gave him all these things. During my week in Woy Woy, I also caught up on the news about this year's Spikefest - and met a musician, Glenn Cardier, who had toured with Spike for six months in the 70s. His stories of travelling and working with Spike revealed yet another side to this complex and multi-faceted man that I had not heard before. I spent a whole day with Spike's brother Desmond, and a day with Laura, who read me a collection of letters Spike had written to her over the years. These made us laugh and cry, often at the same time.