Nick Ware
I once found myself sitting at a table in the TVC canteen with five make-up girls (one of whom was Lyn (the CLUG girl)) plus myself and Frank Wilkins. Frank turned to me and said: "Do you know Nick, you’re the only person at this table I haven’t slept with!". Judging by the blushes, he wasn’t lying.
Brian Curtis
That certainly sounds like a Frank Wilkins story!
Pat Heigham
Yes, that sounds like Frank, alright!
I was on his crew (2) for some time, and he fancied himself as a ‘puller’. When Mike Fash joined the crew as a junior cameraman, Frank suddenly had competition there. If there was a tower or gantry camera, Frank would appoint Mike, and make sure that a safety harness line was attached to a scene hoist and kept tight. Mike was only allowed down at teabreak!
I worked many times with Mike, later, when he freelanced, as I did, and never had any problem with boom shadows, as he knew that I could tell him how to light!
Nick Ware
Frank was a natural. He didn’t even have to try. He only had to look into a girl’s eyes and she was his!
Geoff Fletcher
Frank just had that enviable knack. I personally witnessed him in action (not that he needed to do much – as you say Nick, just one look usually did the trick) a couple of times at least. I worked with Crew 2 on the tracker pool once on some two-day epic at TC. There was a stunning young lady in some small role in the show, and a certain camera guy renowned for his cringe-making chatting up technique spent the best part of the two days trying to get a date with her much to the embarrassment of those of us unfortunate enough to be in earshot of his efforts. I was tracking Frank on the mole and he didn’t speak to her at all. At the end of recording he asked the chatter-up how he was doing. The reply was, "Getting nowhere Frank – I think she prefers girls!" At this point the lady in question happened to be passing and Frank reached out his arm and sort of collected her to him. "I’m Frank" says he gazing directly into her eyes. "X here thinks you prefer girls to boys – that’s not true is it?" "No Frank," says she. "Thought not – come up to the club after we’ve derigged and I’ll buy you a drink". "OK Frank." was the reply and off she went. That was it, and we all stood there deeply impressed, except for X who stood there deeply embarrassed and totally outclassed in the bird pulling stakes. Big innocent grin from Frank to X, big laughs from us. Frank was a great bloke all round in my book.
Tony Crake
When I transferred to TVC in 1966 having spent 4 years "stoking up" transmitters… I joined Crew 2. Frank was most welcoming, an entirely different chap from the dictatorial ‘B1 minus’ dragon SMEs at Skelton. I actually quite liked ‘cable bashing’ on all those 3 and 4 day plays. Fellow ‘basher’ was John Hawes ( who soon decamped to OBs). We used to sit on the yellow rails and observe the goings on whilst waiting for the next big camera move! Frank also had lots of useful errands to send me on: collecting his car (a Sea Green A40! ), going off to the ‘Jennery’, rummaging around in the Crew Bag etc etc. It was interesting stuff plenty of time to explore TVC!
We went on Crew Outings! One was a afternoon at Ealing Pitch and Putt – hilarious! We were down for the Park Royal Brewery but for some reason I missed it! On one 3 day play (an “Out of the Unknown”), Frank said "I’ve got a special job for you, Tony!" I was in charge of Special FX! All sorts of weird items had to be fixed to the front of the Cameras… A selection of glass plates smeared with Vaseline drawn into "obscuring patterns" and odd "fisheye" type lenses.. Rushing round all five cameras and changing the turret round and bolting on the required "effect"…phew… I collapsed in a heap at the end. The Director, when all was finished, praised Frank for all the hard work… I was quite chuffed !
No subsequent Crew really ever matched the Fun and Games on Crew 2! It was quite unique !
Nick Ware
A splendid moment for me on Crew 2 was during a production of Bizet’s “Carmen”, directed by Rudolph Cartier, I think. We had a huge set in TC1, which on this particular day was basically a street scene that ran the full diagonal length of the studio. The orchestra was in a radio studio in Farringdon Road, fed to PA column speakers lashed on the front of the two booms. Frank was on one Mole crane and Jim Atkinson was on another, the two running side-by-side up and down the street at top speed. In idle moments during the day, whenever they came close, Frank would reach out to Jim and lightly touch his ear, giving him what we thought was a static electric shock!
All was going fine until midway through recording, when the Minstrel deflectors on the two cranes just touched, and there was an almighty bang and a flash, and the whole studio ground to a halt. It transpired that one Mole had an earth fault, and the two were firmly spot-welded together, until mechanical maintenance got there to cut them apart with Oxy-Acetylene! Bear in mind the Moles ran on 110VDC BP arc supplies, so there were lots of Amps involved!
I hope this is factually accurate – it was a long time ago. I think I must have been either cable bashing or boom tracking, not sure which. Definitely not driving a Mole as I’m sure I wouldn’t have been allowed to forget that!
Graeme Wall
Before my time but I heard the story, I think from Frank Wilkins!
