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By Tim Oglethorpe
Last updated at 11:44 AM on 06th March 2009
The setting was a draughty, old village hall in West Yorkshire, and if locals had glanced through the dusty windows they would have been in for a surprise.
Or - in some cases at least - a bit of a treat. Inside were some of Britain's finest actors, including Sean Bean, Warren Clarke, Mark Addy and David Morrissey... all in various states of undress.
So, were the chaps preparing for a remake of The Full Monty, perhaps running through a few of the more risque scenes?
The setting was a draughty, old village hall in West Yorkshire, and if locals had glanced through the dusty windows they would have been in for a surprise.
Or - in some cases at least - a bit of a treat. Inside were some of Britain's finest actors, including Sean Bean, Warren Clarke, Mark Addy and David Morrissey... all in various states of undress.
So, were the chaps preparing for a remake of The Full Monty, perhaps running through a few of the more risque scenes?
Dark side: Sean Bean was happy to accept basic pay to film the bleak drama
After all, this was Full Monty country, a shortish drive from Sheffield, where the film was set, and one of the movie's original cast members, Mark Addy, was even there disrobing.
In fact, they were preparing to shoot a scene from Red Riding, Channel 4's brutal new three-part drama about corruption and violence within a north of England police force during the Seventies and Eighties.
The stories are based on the dark novels of the same name by David Peace and focus on the hunt for the killer of young girls and the error-ridden hunt for Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper.
And a draughty village hall - rather than a cosy location caravan, in which actors would normally expect to change - was as luxurious as it got on Red Riding.
Not that you would have heard a complaint from the actors in question. That was the deal when they signed up to British TV's first credit crunch drama, which began last night.
With money at a premium when it comes to making television shows - ITV announced this week that it is shaving £135 million off its programmes budget over the next two years - Revolution Films cut costs to the bone, in order to bring in each of the three Red Riding films at a touch under £2million.
That is not much more than the catering budget on one of Hollywood's films
The actors - even those such as Sean Bean and Mark Addy, who have worked for large cheques in the U.S. - were on 'basic' wages, reckoned to be only a few hundred pounds a week.
And the usual showbusiness frills - such as location caravans boasting state-of-the-art sound systems and beds for naps between scenes - were nowhere to be seen.
So how did Revolution Films attract the cream of British acting talent?
'It was the quality of the scripts which drew me,' says Sean Bean. 'There are a lot of mediocre scripts around, and this was a breath of fresh air. People like me wanted to be part of it because it's an exceptional piece of work.'
Mark Addy - best known as the chubby stripper, Dave, in The Full Monty - agrees. 'It wasn't a project any of us did for the money - we did it for the scripts.
'If you wanted a rest while you were waiting to film you lay down on any patch of floor you could find and tried to nod off.
'The wages were really basic. But I think that helped the filming because it cut out a lot of the bullsh**. There was none of the stuff you sometimes get on a big-budget drama about who has the biggest trailer or who was being paid the most. Across the board, we all got the same.
'There can be a lot of falseness and pretentiousness in this business. I know, because I spent several years working in Hollywood on the TV sitcom Still Standing. This was the absolute opposite of that - and all the better for it.'
Didn't any of the actors mind having to slum it? The industry has some notorious
prima donnas - presumably none was offered a part?
'We had a meeting with all the agents of the actors we wanted and said to them: "We're sorry, but the amount of money we have to make this means we are not going to be able to pay the people you represent particularly well," ' says Red Riding co-producer Andrew Eaton.
'One or two were upset, but there was no dissention among the actors once filming started. People such as Sean Bean couldn't have been more supportive and understanding throughout the shoot.
'The way the actors' deals are structured means that they will share in any money that the films make. We are in the process of selling the series overseas, and any income accrued from international sales will be shared out among the actors.
'We weren't just keeping down actors' wages - there were savings across the board to ensure that as much money as possible that was spent on this project becomes visible on the TV screen.
'A lot of excess has grown up around the television and movie businesses and, in many cases, it's a lot more about habit than necessity.
You cut costs, and save time, by only having the equipment that you know you are going to need for the scenes that you are going to shoot. That concentrates the mind, makes you work out exactly what you are going to need for any particular day's work.
'And not only do I think cutting out the frills works, I actually think the actors rather enjoy it. Warren Clarke said to me: "I've been acting for more than 40 years and I haven't felt like this since I started out. Being part of a team, mucking in like this, is actually rather inspiring." '
Limited funds meant that only three of David Peace's quartet of Red Riding books could be dramatised.
The stories set in 1974, 1980 and 1983 made the cut. Red Riding: 1977 didn't, although producer Andrew Eaton hopes it may be shot as a one- off film at some point in the future.
Several of the actors talk about the no-frills approach being a perfect backdrop to a drama which is almost unremittingly bleak.
Next week's film, set in 1980, focuses on widespread corruption-among police officers, the torturing of suspects by the police and the attempts to destroy the Assistant Chief Constable of the Manchester police, who is brought in to investigate mistakes made during the hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper.
The last film in the trilogy - set in 1983 - at least ends on a high note. But not before we've seen scenes of brutal torture in a police station and the appalling sight of a little girl, the victim of a sadistic serial killer who - it seems - has never been caught.
The project is Mark Addy's first major one in his native Yorkshire since filming The Full Monty there 12 years ago. He returned to Britain from the U.S. in 2006, having spent four years in Hollywood.
'No prizes for guessing where I prefer to work!' says father-of-three Addy, 45, who lives in York. 'I missed the honesty and common sense that comes with working in Britain.
'And I'm proud of what we do here. Red Riding is not an easy watch - it's six hours of dark, brutal drama. But it's work of which I'm immensely proud, a drama that I'm sure will make an impact.'
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