Hello everyone, how are you?
Murder on the marshes - no I don't mean that Howard has tried bumping me off for keep breaking into the blog!
Last year some of you may have noticed the filming that went on on the reserve...
Behind the scenes pictures by Bill Crooks
Well we are exited to tell you what it was all about!
Rainham Marshes is featuring in the latest series of BBC thriller Silent Witness, after part of the reserve was turned into a crime scene for filming!
Scenes shot at Rainham Marshes are being aired in this week’s episodes of the two-part “Coup de Grace”, on Thursday 9 and Friday 10 January - in the 17th series of the show.
Award-winning actress Emilia Fox and David Caves, acting as forensic experts in the popular series, were last year filmed on the river wall section of the reserve.
The episodes features Nikki (Emilia Fox) delivering ground-breaking testimony in the high-profile appeal court case of David Bennetto, a convicted killer who’s spent the last six years behind bars for the murder of two gay teenagers. But bitter DI Rachel Klein (Lorraine Ashbourne) remains unconvinced that she caused a miscarriage of justice and cannot hide her contempt, especially when another young man is found dead bearing the same hallmarks of the previous murders. Meanwhile, Nikki’s professionalism is brought into question due to her increasingly close relationship with lawyer Greg Walker, while Jack and Clarissa uncover the true identity of murder victim Byron Lee.
It was an interesting day - Police cars, ambulances, 'dead bodies' wandering round (we had to warn everyone in the cafe that an actor was about to walk in and don't worry it was make-up, just before he came in covered in blood!), film crew and lots of actors... There were quite a few swooning chaps (Emilia Fox was definately a hit with the staff and volunteers)!
A couple of real Police men came over to see what was going on, and have a nosey, and our Office Manager Terry was having a chat to them. One of the production staff rushed over and was trying to shoo them away, saying "I've told you, you are meant to be over there!" Her face when she realised that they were not actors!
The actors were very nice - there might have been an incident where Emma (the Education Officer) and myself were sitting on the ground looking at minibeasts and some of the actors came over to help thinking that we were make-up girls that had fallen over! We spent ages telling them about the reserve and wildlife.
Watch a trailer for the episode here http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01pcx78
Emilia Fox introduces Coup de Grace here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01pcn87
Watch the episode this week Thursday 9 and Friday 10 January, starting at 9 pm on BBC 1. Don’t worry if you miss them they will be available on the BBC iPlayer.
Try and spot the reserve – tweet us @RSPBRainham
It was very interesting Clare! It was great, everyone was lovely!
Coot de Grass - brilliant Albertine!
Wow - that must have been a most interesting experience. Wish I could have been a fly on the wall to see someone attempting to boss the real police!
Our herring gulls are red listed birds. Think about that the next time you hear some flaming idiot calling for a cull of them.
I love a good murder mystery, me. Coot de Grass, you said? Will definitely be watching!