Covering for Compo in Series 21

Sarkus

Dedicated Member
I've always been intrigued by Alan Bell's statement in his book that they used a variety of tricks to cover for scenes Bill Owen did not film before his death in Series 21. In particular, Bell's statement that they used "green screen" to insert Owen into scenes. I'm watching Series 21 again at the moment and believe I've identified some of the examples of that.

In "Last Post and Pigeon" Compo isn't actually in much of the scenes filmed inside the hotel they stay in in France. When he sneaks in with the pigeon, you only see his back, so that's likely a body double. In the scenes where the trio is drinking with the hotelier, you only see him directly once, when he pulls up his bugle to play. But that image is almost identical to the one at the end of the film where he plays his bugle, which makes me think it was imposed from that footage into the hotel scene. Later we do see him sleeping in his bed.

In "Magic and the Morris Minor" there is another scene that stands out. When the trio first come across the couple and their stuck car in the field, we see Truly and Clegg walk forward while someone who looks like Compo lags behind and then walks out of the scene. There are then a couple of shots of Compo talking but he's in the shot alone, even while Clegg and Truly are together in alternating shots. I believe the Compo shots were done as "green screen" shots before he died and then inserted into the sequence.

I'm wondering if others have noticed similar examples. There are several cases of body doubles and such in those episodes, but I'm thinking more about the use of "green screen" shots and reused old footage, both of which Bell says they resorted to in finishing those episodes.
 
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