Wolf Hall

Company Pictures/Playground Entertainment for BBC Nobody makes historical drama like the BBC; it is amazing and this series was amazing but I was emotionally invested in the program from the start because I was asked by three separate departments to be involved.  Personally I re-enact 16thC social life, so of course it massively interested me…

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Taboo

Scott Free Productions Hardy Son & Baker for BBC Taboo is a visual spectacle that pulls you in to a dark world of violence, greed and survival around 1800 with Tom Hardy as a knife wielding hero/anti-hero.  The brief for his knives and a whole host of others was exactly what I love; just enough…

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Killing Eve

Sid Gentle Films for BBC Killing Eve is one of those shows that you may love, hate or be indifferent to, but you cannot have missed its existence; I happen to love it.  So when the call came to make some pieces for the last series I of course jumped at the chance.  The brief…

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Scrapheap Challenge

RDF Media for C4 Scrapheap Challenge was a UK institution; the mother of all ‘build’ TV shows and the most amazing place to learn and grow and I had the great pleasure to be involved with the show on and off from before its start (I actually auditioned and failed to take part in the…

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Witcher

Witcher 1,2 and Blood Origins – Netflix Without doubt the most fulfilling job making weapons for film and TV that I have had. It is a rare job when ‘all the stars align’, but this was it. Netflix are a great company to work for, production was easy and pleasant to work with, the feeling…

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AvA2 – Armour defeated!

Arrows vs Armour2 asked and answered many questions about just how the arrows from a full weight longbow could injure the knight wearing armour, but there were still some questions we wanted answered.  Can the very thin arm armour resist hits or is it vulnerable?  The mail aventail is really resistant to strikes, but even…

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Testing the longbow simulator

Tod uses a ‘longbow simulator’ and shoots it against Joe Gibbs with his 160lbs longbow.  How do they compare? Are they interchangeable or is it a complete cheat?  What do these arrows look like in slow motion, how fast do they go and how much energy and momentum do they have?  How powerful are they…

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AvA2 Blunt Force Trauma

How powerful is a hit from a full weight medieval war arrow? Can it knock you off your feet? Can it send you flying from your saddle ? Can repeated hits stop you walking forward? A good question and one I hear often quoted, but is it correct? Whilst we are discussing these things, it…

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Joe Gibbs and the Longbow simulator

Ideally filmed prior to the filming dates here and will be Joe and Tod only. Time and commitment may mean that we just get together for a very rapid hour or two one evening when we don’t even have to worry about light and just shoot and write down numbers and then get together to…

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