Inside the BBC's Big Top with Amanda Holden

Lights!

Camera!

Action!


Digging through the archives, I found these behind-the-camera pictures from the making of the 2009 BBC 1 circus sitcom Big Top.
Set in the fictional Circus Maestro, the series starred Amanda Holden as ringmistress Lizzie, alongside Ruth Madoc and Tony Robinson. As these pictures show, the location shots were filmed in the big top normally occupied by Zippos' travelling circus school, the Academy of Circus Arts.

Click here to read more on the making and reception of Big Top.

"Brilliant"
- Mail on Sunday

And for the full backstage story of what life's like in the circus, including a chapter on Zippos and the making of the BBC's sitcom Big Top read Circus Mania - The Ultimate Book For Anyone Who Dreamed of Running Away With The Circus.

(Big Top photos courtesy of Zippos Circus)

Circus Mania author Douglas McPherson TV debut in The Last Circus Elephant

Circus Mania author Douglas McPherson
making his TV debut in BBC 1's
The Last Circus Elephant

The 2012 circus season ended with Bobby Roberts convicted of keeping Britain's last circus elephant chained to the ground and allowing a groom to beat her while unsupervised at winter quarters. But was it grounds that a ban on all circus animals is necessary?

Interestingly, the sentence was a conditional discharge - Roberts was given no fine or custody and not ordered to pay court costs. The judge said the circus owner had suffered enough from the adverse press publicity and praised his previous "exemplary" record of looking after animals for most of his 70 years. The judge also criticised Animal Defenders International for their delay in releasing secretly filmed footage of the groom - a delay which allowed the groom, the actual perpetrator of the violence, to escape justice and return to his native Romania before the story hit the headlines last year. No one has seen him since.

BALANCED VIEW

Bobby Roberts (far right) with
Anne the Elephant

The BBC Look East documentary - 'The Last Circus Elephant' - which aired at prime time in the east of England on the Monday after the trial took a very balanced view of the case. There was some entertaining archive footage of the elephant, in her younger days, driving a car around the village where the circus is based. Yes, this elephant can not only drive, she had her own car, a bit like a golf cart, which she could apparently steer with her trunk without help on public roads - hardly suggestive of a deprived life. There was also an interview with the chief vet of the safari park to which Roberts was forced to give the elephant after a vicious front page press campaign. Far from confirming the protestors' claims that the animal had been badly cared for, the vet said "Hats off to Bobby - to get an elephant to that age (58) in such good condition, he had to be doing something right."

EXPERT OPINION

As the author of Circus Mania, my part in the programme was relating the history of animals in the circus since Philip Astley, a trick horse rider, built the first circus ring, in London, in 1768. Again, my segment of the programme included some excellent archive footage from the glory days of the British big top in the 1950s and 60s - vast tents packed to the rafters and rings heaving with polar bears, elephants, lions and chimps. There was some nice contemporary footage, too, of the all-human Russells International Circus, but also of Britain's last tiger trainer, Martin Lacey, kissing up to his big cats, and Bobby Roberts training horses that were evidently in superb condition.

All in all, for a programme about an abuse trial, I'd say the circus came off pretty well.

DEATH THREATS

Bobby and Moira Roberts leaving court

But, of course, the damage caused by the ADI footage was done long before the case came to court. Roberts had a "financially disastrous" season last year and came off the road a month early. His wife was in tears in the programme as she described the additional pressure put on the family by email threats to shoot Bobby and kidnap their children.

BAN

In April, the animal welfare minister, Lord Taylor, announced a probable ban on wild animals in British circuses in 2015 and a new licensing and inspection programme in the interim. Rather than wait "till the bitter end" as he put it, Martin Lacey ended this year's circus season by closing his controversial Great British Circus. He is currently looking to rehome his tigers abroad and will continue next year in a new show, Big Top Circus, with just horses and dogs - although his liberty horse act is also up for sale as he "winds down to retirement."

Whether Bobby Roberts Super Circus will be on the road next year remains to be seen.

Updated 2nd Edition 
out now!

When Circus Mania was published, the Mail on Sunday described it as "A brilliant account of a vanishing art form." With chapters on my backstage visits to Circus Mondao and the Great British Circus, it may prove to be the final study of Britain's last generation of circus animal trainers. Click here to buy Circus Mania from Amazon before the circus as Astley created it disappears forever.

Meanwhile in The Guardian...

Circus Mania author Douglas McPherson's was
commissioned to share his views on circus animals
in The Guardian G2 at the time of Bobby Robert's trial

Circus Mania author Douglas McPherson filming on location with the BBC

Circus Mania author Douglas McPherson
makes his TV debut in BB1's
The Last Circus Elephant

Circus Mania author Douglas McPherson recalls a day of filming for a BBC documentary on the trial of Bobby Roberts and the fate of Britain's last circus elephant.


It was a day when we both learned a new word. David Whitely, the BBC Look East presenter, learned that clowns are nicknamed Joeys, and I found out what a noddy is.

We were standing in the middle of a blustery sports field, far enough from Russells International Circus that the red big top would appear just above my left shoulder. Diana Hare, the producer, was sitting on the grass making copious notes, and the tallest camera man I’ve ever seen was filming my answers to David’s questions about the rights and wrongs of animals in the circus.

The subject of animals in the circus is always
a thorny one. This is how the Daily Mail
reported the return of elephants to the
Great British Circus in 2009

It’s a thorny subject I looked into in great depth in my book Circus Mania! and it’s the subject of a half-hour documentary the beeb are making for likely broadcast in late June or July.

For me, it was fun to see the way TV programmes are pieced together. I arrived early in time to catch circus owner Rusty Russell being interviewed in the empty big top, the light gleaming off his red and gold tunic as he sat with his back to the sawdust circle.

As the audience began to arrive, Diana and the camera man scurried around taking ‘atmosphere’ shots of people taking their seats and buying popcorn. David was filmed speaking his introduction as he walked up to the box office. To the bemusement of the paying customers waiting in line it took three takes until he and the camera man were satisfied.

As the lights went down and the show began, I was ushered into a seat to be filmed watching and applauding the hoola-hoopist and hand-balancers. Then, as the circus continued, I was tapped on the shoulder and hoiked outside to be interviewed in the afternoon sun.

The Last Circus Elephant was filmed at the all-human
Russells International Circus

After the interview had been filmed, the camera man moved to a different position and David asked me the same questions all over again, this time stopping me after a few sentences. The camera man changed positions once more, this time squatting down for a low angle shot, and we repeated the procedure. The idea is that, for visual variety, they can use a long shot of me beginning to speak then cut to a close-up as I continue. And that is where the noddy comes in. The camera man took shots of David literally nodding at the camera as if in response to something I was saying. These reaction shots can then be cut into the finished film to cover the edits in the film of me speaking.

Finally, we filmed some ‘establishing footage’ of David and me and pretending to be in deep conversation as we wandered among the caravans and lorries at the back of the big top.

Circus Mania
author
Douglas McPherson

With my role as ‘circus expert’ complete, we returned to the tent - the BBC to film some backstage atmosphere and me to watch the final half hour of the show, which I’m pleased to say was very enjoyable. Russells Circus has no animals, in case you’re wondering, but it does have a promising young clown called Alex Morley and an impressive Hungarian springboard act.

How much of my interview will make it into the final film remains to be seen, as does whether the programme will be broadcast only in the eastern region or nationally. As the question of animals in circuses is a national one, David reckoned the documentary could end up broadcast countrywide in the prime time regional news slot.

A case of watch this space for further details, then.

In the meantime, if you want to learn more about the way circus animals are trained and treated, read about my behind-the-scenes visits and interviews with circus trainers in Circus Mania!

Updated 2nd Edition
for 2018!

Click here to buy Circus Mania from Amazon - the book the Mail on Sunday called "A brilliant account of a vanishing art form."

Update: Click here to read my review of The Last Circus Elephant.

Watch a more recent TV interview in which I talk about the stories behind Circus Mania, and the new updated edition. 

Big Flop?

You’d think so, from the custard pies the newspapers have hurled at the Beeb’s new circus sitcom? But is Big Top as bad as the critics would have us believe?

The first thing to say about Big Top is that it looks fantastic. The BBC borrowed Zippos’ number two tent, the smaller one which houses his Circus Academy, for the location filming, and the red, blue and yellow ‘top’ looks fabulous re-branded as Circus Maestro in the establishing shots between scenes.

Everything else in the series is immensely colourful, from the clowns’ costumes to the background detail in the backstage area where most of the action takes place. The caravan interiors are lovingly detailed and convincing, while Amanda Holden, naturally, looks great as ring-mistress, Lizzie.

Get past the eye candy, and it has to be said that the script is pretty silly. The characters are more pantomime than sitcom, the storylines are contrived, and too many of the jokes are thrown in for the sake of it, rather than arising naturally from the characters and situations.

Also, if Boyco the acrobat had been black or Asian instead of Eastern European, his portrayal would have achieved the cheapest ‘race’ laughs since It Ain’t Half Hot Mum.
Given such a starry cast and the comic potential of the setting, it’s a pity the producers didn’t make Big Top a more realistic comedy-drama; something like those old classics Lovejoy or Minder, or even Only Fools & Horses, where the laughs came out of broadly drawn but broadly believable characters doing broadly believable things.

(And, I’m sorry Big Top, but having Ruth Madoc’s character fake the kidnapping of her own dog to claim a reward didn’t strike me as something anyone would be likely to do in real life. To put such a story in the first episode set the believability bar worryingly low.)

Given the things that go on in the real life circus world, a more grown-up version of Big Top could have been brilliant.

Zippos circus vehicles and tent gave Big Top
an authentic look

But, having said all that, Big Top goes out at 7.30 when it will catch the kids audience. Kids won’t mind the cartoonish humour and, if it‘s their first taste of what a circus looks like, they may even ask their parents to take them along to the real thing.

That’s the best thing about Big Top. True to director Marcus Mortimer’s promise when I interviewed him earlier in the year (see first entry on this blog) the show may portray circus people as a bunch of clowns, but it doesn’t knock circus.

In the first episode, a member of the public actually tells the Circus Maestro crew that he’s just had the best evening’s entertainment he’s had for years. Given how easy it would have been for Big Top to have tipped a bucket of water down the clown trousers of the real big top, could the Beeb have given circus a better plug?

MEANWHILE.... what’s life like in the real big top? You’ll find out in Circus Mania of course (Order now, from the button up there on the right... etc, etc).

ROLL UP, ROLL UP!

For a sneak peak behind the scenes of the BBC's new circus sitcom.
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Zippos 2nd tent rebranded as Circus Maestro
for the BBC sitcom Big Top
- filmed in deep winter

As I exclusively revealled in The Stage, the circus in BBC1’s new sitcom, Big Top, was very nearly called Zippos, after the real-life circus where it was filmed.

According to Zippos owner, Martin Burton, “I sent a memorable email saying that might be possible unless there were drunken chorus girls and badly behaved clowns. An equally memorable email came back saying, ‘There’s all of that and much more...’ So I said in that case we’d better not call it Zippos, and we re-branded everything as Circus Maestro.”

Starring sitcom royalty Tony Robinson and Ruth Madoc alongside Britain’s Got Talent host Amanda Holden, who stars as ring-mistress Lizzie, Big Top promises to do for circuses what Hi-De-Hi did for holiday camps.

Producer and director Marcus Mortimer, of Big Bear Films, recalls the origins of the show, which will be the flagship of BBC1‘s autumn schedule.

“We’d just had a lot of success with My Hero, about a superhero living near Greenford, and the broadcasters said they’d really like an ensemble piece for a mainstream audience,” says Mortimer, who‘s other successes include Jonathan Creek.

“Our head of development, Susie McIntosh, came to a meeting and said, ‘How about a circus?’ And we all went, ‘Do you know? That’s never been done before.’ Nobody has done a comedy, or even a drama, in this country about a circus. Which is absolutely extraordinary.”

To script the series, Big Bear turned to My Hero writer Daniel Peak.

“Daniel is one of the best of the best of the new, young writers,” says Mortimer. “And, amazingly, he turned out to be a big circus fan.

“The BBC asked us to do a read and at that read we had Amanda Holden, Tony Robinson, John Thomson, who plays the clown... everybody turned up. All the actors loved the parts we wanted them to play and about six days later the controller said, ‘I’ll have a series, please.’


Big Top was filmed in mid-winter... and was sadly
to get a frosty reception from TV critics

“I think people were genuinely fired up by the sense of colour and fun and that element of family entertainment that perhaps hasn’t been around that much lately. A lot of comedies are post-nine o‘clock. They wanted something at 8.30 and we said, ‘Let‘s give ‘em a circus.’”
Inevitably, there are those who wonder if Big Top will portray the circus industry in a bad light.

According to veteran showman Gerry Cottle, “The trouble is that whenever you see a circus on television, the boss is always a crook, with a silver waistcoat and an earring, like David Essex in All The Fun Of The Fair.”

The premise of Big Top is that ring-mistress Lizzie has taken over running the circus because her father, the owner, is in jail for fraud.

The interior of the Zippos tent
redressed as Circus Maestro

But, according to Mortimer, “We’re not having a pop at circuses, in the same way that Hi-De-Hi was not having a pop at holiday camps. Maplin’s Holiday Camp was a great, fun place to be. Big Top is about a circus that is struggling to exist in the current climate, but they always manage to pull something out of the hat because they’re actually a good circus.”
Most of the action in Big Top takes place backstage and was filmed in front of a studio audience.

“It’s a bit like Hi-De-Hi,” says Mortimer. “You didn’t see that much of the knobbly knees competitions. Mostly you were in the offices and chalets. But, of course, you do have to show what goes on in the tent, so we went to Zippos and said, ‘Can we borrow your big top?’”
Burton set up a number of circus stunts for the programme, including a scene in which Amanda Holden is strapped to a revolving knife-thrower’s board.

“She needed a bit of hand-holding before she got involved with that, and I can’t say I blame her,” chuckles Burton, who adopted the name Zippo, from the lighter, as a fire-eating clown and street entertainer, in the 1970s.

Although Burton supplied a knife thrower, he didn’t throw the knives at Amanda for real.
“It’s television,” says Burton. “But we did strap her on and spin her around for real.”
Another action sequence involved a dog chasing John Thompson’s clown onto the flying trapeze, where his feet catch fire.

Amanda Holden and the
cast of Big Top

“It was totally implausible, but we had great fun rigging it,” says Burton. “And before you ask, they booked the dog and no, it couldn’t climb the bloody ladder! If I’d booked the dog, they’d have got a dog that could climb the ladder.”

Bruce Mackinnon had a stunt double for his onscreen tumbling as the Eastern European acrobat Boyco. But he prepared for the role by spending an afternoon walking the tightrope at London’s circus school, Circus Space.

“Once, with my arms flailing like mad, I got from one end to the other. You read stories of old tightrope walkers or trapeze artists, and it’s such a poetic thing to them. So it was nice to get a taste of that - although it’s one thing to be just a couple of feet above the ground and another to know there’s nothing beneath you but death. I think that would be a lot harder... or maybe easier!” the actor chuckles.

Did Zippo share Cottle’s reservations about they way circus would be portrayed in the series?

“I’ve had a very long career working with television companies and I’m very aware that television does what it does in order to get ratings,” says Burton, who also recently lent his tent to a forthcoming episode of the ITV series Married, Single, Other.

“I suspected not everything would be as positive towards circus as I might like and I’m sure there will be a few die-hard circus fans who will be outraged and say it mis-represents circus.

“But I ignore all that. Because the truth of the matter is that if you ask the average six, seven or eight-year-old today what a circus is, they probably don’t know. But I’m sure after this programme they will know. I just think it’s great that circus is back on telly.”

See also: Big Flop?
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For the complete inside story on the making of Big Top, read Circus Mania.

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In the meantime, does anyone know why it’s Zippos rather than Zippo’s?
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Click here to read an interview with Zippos owner Martin Burton as he looks back at 2013.