Television networks and production companies spend copious amounts of time and money making sure that everything about a series is just right. From choosing the best locations and creating the perfect special effects takes a great deal of planning. This is especially the case with crime dramas as every detail is important both to the storyline and the viewing experience. So, imagine the surprise of the crew and the actors of a new BBC serial killer drama when an actual dead body was found on the set.
This happened during the filming of the new series ‘Rellik’. The title of the show uses the word ‘killer’ in reverse. It is a serial killer story with a difference as it works backward from the capture of the killer back in time to when the killings took place. The series was created by the team who was responsible for the hit crime thriller series ‘The Missing’ and it follows Detective Gabriel Markham who is disfigured by an attack during the course of the investigation. The lead role is played by Richard Dormer who is known for his role in ‘Game of Thrones’.
The discovery of the body happened when the crew was due to start filming at Cambridge Heath park in east London. It was Paterson Joseph, who plays a psychiatrist on the show, who spoke to The Mirror newspaper about the incident. He explained that when the crew arrived to film the discovery of the fictional body, police were already at the scene and prevented filming from commencing due to the discovery of a real body. The actor was unable to provide reporters with any more information about the discovery of a body but said it was an example of when the fact is stranger than the fiction.
However, he did reveal that this is not the only strange coincidence to have taken place during the filming of ‘Rellik’. The first was when actor Richard Dormer started suffering from impetigo on his face. The blemishes and blotches he got on his face almost perfectly mirrored the scars that his character was left with following an acid attack. Joseph commented how strange it was that both the character and the actor had almost identical facial scars by the end of filming.
The second coincidence that took place during filming was that at the same time as filming an acid attack for this crime drama, there were a series of real acid attacks in the local area. Joseph commented that he and other members of the cast a crew thought that it was strange that the show had brought about these other coincidences, with life mirroring art.
The first episode of ‘Rellik’ premiered on BBC One on September 11. The show will run for six hour-long episodes. If you missed the first episode, it is not too late to catch-up with the early parts of the story and to continue watching the rest of the series. Simply log into BBC iPlayer for the chance to watch this crime drama with a twist.
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