Bloopers

>There must be lots more (Gilmore bloopers) in the BBC archives somewhere.

 
There certainly must. There are at least two full blooper reels that director Gerry Blake made at the end of Series 7 and 8; I wonder if anyone still has them. Much of those consists of dear Peter Gilmore finding ever more elaborate ways to fudge, paraphrase or just completely re-invent his lines in the process that was known to all as Gilmorisation. If the script required Peter to come in and say "Good morning, Baines!", he would come in and say "Hello, Will!". Or vice versa. The phrase heard most from poor Howard was "was that it?" when he had no idea what had happened to his cue.
 
My post during studio recording was in the sound suite, where the sound supervisors, especially the evil, hilarious Peter Barville, would gleefully intone "Or words to that effect!" as Peter beamed over to Planet Gilmore once again. On one glorious occasion, Peter actually got the line right first time, and Howard was so dumbfounded at this rare event that he missed his cue. Barville: "It says 'ere!!"
 
Elsewhere: Jess Benton's riding habit blowing up to reveal electric blue St Michael's underwear; T.P. McKenna delivering a stream of hysterical four-letter invective in exquisite Shakepearian tones.  And – Daddy of them all – the Bandage Incident. Does anyone remember a scene in series 7 or 8 where James tapes up a rib for a crewman? It went to over twenty takes and 90 minutes of studio time. No matter how much bandage he was given, Peter could never get it to tie off in the right place. In the end, he wound on what looked like 60 feet of bandage, leaving the other actor looking like the Return of the Mummy and with a very badly-concealed fit of giggles.
 
Peter then completely demolished the scene's closing line. Pandemonium ….
 
Wonderful days.
 
Bill Scanlan Murphy
Music Advisor, Series 7 and 8

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