A Day of Filming in Masham (Part 1)

I was lucky enough to find out they were filming The Strike Series in Masham on 19th January 2017. I booked the day off work to make the hour-and-a-half car journey to the small town in North Yorkshire. Here’s how my day went….

(SPOILER ALERT: They were filming scenes from the third Cormoran Strike book, Career of Evil, so if you haven’t read the book yet, then I don’t recommend reading any further.)

When I arrived in Masham, lorries and vans were parked outside the town hall and in the market square; tape and cones were set up around the streets to keep people and cars out of the way; the equipment, including a camera on a crane and screens to watch the footage, were set up in the market square and outside the church gates. Apparently there were around one hundred crew members that day; there were certainly quite a few of them in the street, beckoning cars to pass by as they set up for the first takes of the day — that I luckily arrived in time to witness.

From a distance, I heard one of the crew members shout “Strike is in the car” from which I guessed they were filming the scene where Cormoran arrives for the wedding. The first take or two that I saw must have been rehearsals, as Tom Burke/Strike was wearing a red coat over his suit, which he wasn’t wearing for the later takes. The car sped down the street toward the church, stopping with a skid just before the church gates, and then Tom/Strike jumped out of the car and ran to the church.

I never saw him, but apparently the actor who is playing Shanker (Ben Crompton) was actually driving the car. No stunt double.

Before the second take, some of my Twitter friends arrived and joined me to watch the next four or so takes of the car pulling up to the church. Below is a video of one of the takes I filmed.

After the filming of the car was finished, we crept closer, into the square. Tom Burke was lingering by the churchyard gates, waiting for his next scene. Because I was in the company of crazy Tom Burke fans, who call themselves “Burketeers,” who had met him on several occasions before, Tom recognised them and gave a wave.

Next, they were filming in the churchyard, so we couldn’t see anything from where we were stood in the square. At this point, I was close enough to get some better shots of the two wedding cars that were parked up just outside the gates. I saw Holliday Grainger, who’s playing Robin, get out of a car and go through the gates into the churchyard and into the church to get changed into a wedding dress, which I’d seen one of the crew members carry inside.

There was a woman in a flowery dress wandering about the square who I assumed was a cast member. She had dark hair and looked all glamorous. I later found out from a crew member that she was Holliday Grainger’s mother, who had come to set for the day to be an extra.

It wasn’t long before Tom reappeared and crossed the road to greet us. I shook his hand and asked him, “Have you been catching killers?” — for his face was covered with cuts and grazes, and one of his hands was bandaged. If you can remember in the book, Strike had just been fighting with the murderer before setting off for Masham. I was too star struck to say anything more, but I tried to concentrate on what Tom had to say. The Burketeers got very chatty with him and I seem to recall one of them asking if they were filming in Edinburgh, to which Tom replied with a “no.” Perhaps they’ve cut the Edinburgh part out of the book, as Tom also mentioned that the TV series is going to be quite different from the books, as is the case with most adaptations. Still, the fact that they’re using some of the same locations as in the books is reassuring, instead of using any old town or pub.

It wasn’t long before Tom had to leave us to film more scenes in the churchyard. I didn’t have my book signed or a photo, but he said he’d be back. We waited at the café on the square, which is just beside the church. I ordered myself a full English breakfast and drank lots of coffee whilst waiting for Tom Burke to return.

To be continued . . .

34 thoughts on “A Day of Filming in Masham (Part 1)

  1. Ok, I must object to the cliff hanger. We had quite enough of that with Career of Evil….LOL

  2. Thank you so much for sharing your day at Masham while they were filming! You did a terrific job letting us share the experience (+ the added photos) and I’m really looking forward to your future posts. I just recently happened on the wonderful discovery of Tom Burke when the 2nd season of Musketeers was on BBCAmerica. (I’ve since bought all three seasons of Musketeers + War & Peace + his great BBC Napoleon DVDs.) And his new role as Cormoran Strike inspired me to read JKR’s 3 Cormoran Strike books–which are just fantastic! I am very much looking forward to seeing the BBC/HBO (in the US) series and reading JKR’s 4th CS book the second it hits the book store. They can’t get here soon enough!

    1. Thankyou so much for the comment! I agree Tom is amazing; I’m working my way through Musketeers at the minute and his acting is brilliant! I agree, the wait for book 4 is torture!

  3. Great report..must’ve been very interesting to see how the series was being filmed. I haven’t read the books ….yet! But i’ll risk the spoilers. 🙂 Fortunately I have a terrible memory anyway! Looking forward to the continuation….

  4. Brilliant report. Thank for sharing your day in Masham. Looking forward for next part.

  5. Thank you SO much for sharing your experience on the set. I’m sure it was very exciting when he walked over to talk to you all. You stated “I tried to concentrate on what Tom had to say.” In your next installment, please include what you can remember that he said. We listeners are living through all of you who meet him.

  6. No broken nose? How about gravy and red wine stains on that nice suit? Do you think Tom is burly enough to play Strike? Much is made of Strike’s imposing (and overweight) presence. Thanks so much for these filming reports and everything else.

  7. Thank you for such a good report. It must have been a great experience watching this and especially Tom coming over to speak to you. Fabulous! Look forward to your next instalment. Pity they aren’t filming in Edinburgh. I’ve read all the books but notice someone said there is a fourth one.

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