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Liz Hurley: On set of Christmas film as shoot takes place in unusual conditions

<p>A surreal bubble where, aside from the face masks, it feels a long way from the <strong><a href="https://news.sky.com/topic/coronavirus-8483" target="_blank">coronavirus</a> </strong>pandemic.</p><p>But as the Hollywood actress and her castmates explain in an exclusive on-set visit behind the scenes of Father Christmas Is Back, extraordinary measures had to be met to achieve it.</p><p>The whole cast and crew relocated to York and have been living in a bubble for the duration of the shoot, for up to five weeks.</p><p>Hurley says when she initially took the call, she didn't think the film would happen. "To my surprise [the director] pulled it off and it's been super safe," she says.</p><p>The actress stars alongside John Cleese, Kelsey Grammer and Caroline Quentin, who says the hardest thing was being away from family.</p><p>"The most challenging thing for me is not having my husband in my bubble," says Quentin. "He probably loved it but I've really missed him terribly.</p><p>"It was also odd going from lockdown, where I was living with my husband and two children, to suddenly being back on a working set."</p><p>Director Philippe Martinez called on a risk assessment firm, employing a <a href="https://news.sky.com/topic/covid-8648" target="_blank"><strong>COVID-19</strong></a> officer to work on set full-time to ensure the safety of the cast and crew.</p><p>"Covid Dan", as he was known on set, was in charge of making sure everyone was adhering to the rules and new restrictions.</p> <p>With a background in hostile environments, he's well used to mitigating risk - but instead of dodging bullets he says his job is essentially to "police people's breathing".<br /><br />"The safety measure we employ are very stringent," he says. "If you're part of our bubble, our crew, our cast, the first thing you do before coming on to set or on any of our locations is you're temperature tested, you put a new mask on.</p><p>"If you're one of the crew that touches the equipment, you need to wear gloves and you need to follow a strict set of guidelines, including following a one way system."</p><p>Hurley, like many of us, also spent lockdown watching box sets, and took great pleasure schooling her son in the greats of cinema, watching Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn films as well as series such as Breaking Bad and The Americans.</p><p>"For the first time since I left home in my teens I watched TV en famille," she says. "We all sat there together and of course argued over what we watched, and we all sat there watching several box sets collectively and it was actually really nice."</p><p>However, because she lives with vulnerable and elderly relatives, the star says she has no plans to go to the cinema to watch a film on the big screen just yet.</p> <p>"I don't know when I'll next go the cinema, it's not in my plans," she says. "I live with someone elderly who I have to be very careful of, she has to be shielded.</p><p>"Her sister also stayed with us, who is also in her 80s and needs to be very careful, and I have two other friends who have health risks so we're very aware that even though we are regularly tested we can't bring anything back home, so we all have to be careful."</p><p>The star's reticence is reflected in what's happening in the market, with cinema attendance down - as opposed to the booming success being enjoyed by streaming services.</p><p>Martinez believes the damage of the COVID-19 crisis will leave a permanent mark on the cinema industry.</p><p>"I don't think cinema is dead forever but I think even when a vaccine will be found, there is some permanent damage psychologically that's been done to the people, to the public," he says.</p><p>"It's definitely now the golden age of streaming service and television and I think cinema will decline," he added.</p> <p>Father Christmas Is Back is the second film Martinez and his partner, Alan Latham, producer and managing director of Highfield Grange Studios, have shot since lockdown lifted.</p><p>Latham admits the stakes have been high because at the moment, there is no coronavirus insurance.</p><p>"The reality of it is, you cannot get insured for COVID-related incidents," he says. "So, if the film shuts down it's at our cost and the insurers don't pay.</p><p>"As a producer you are taking the risk that if there is a shutdown we have to cover that cost. But we have worked with the crew and cast and said if there is a hiatus because of COVID we will stop and start again, because the key factor is employing people. But the risk is significant financially, to be filming without insurance.</p><p>Quentin, like all the cast and crew I speak to, acknowledges how lucky they are to have been able to work when so much of the industry has been put on hold.</p> <p><strong>:: Subscribe to the Backstage podcast on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/backstage/id1449619878" target="_blank">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuc3ByZWFrZXIuY29tL3Nob3cvMzI4NzI1MS9lcGlzb2Rlcy9mZWVk" target="_blank">Google Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/5lUMl2swObUj56TGMibLzm" target="_blank">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://www.spreaker.com/show/backstage_17" target="_blank">Spreaker</a></strong></p><p>"I do honestly feel like I'm part of a Christmas miracle because so many of my friends, we're all freelance, we're all self-employed, and people don't know when they'll work again," she says. "People are trying to raise families, pay their bills, predict the future, so anyone who is lucky enough to have a gig like this - it is like all my Christmases have come at once."</p><p>A glutton for punishment, Quentin is now swapping this Christmas film COVID bubble, "with some of the most glamorous people I've ever heard of", to a Strictly one - she's <a href="https://news.sky.com/topic/strictly-come-dancing-7804" target="_blank"><strong>starting filming the dance show next week</strong></a> after spending just three days with her husband.</p><p>"I'm going from a COVID bubble here to a tiny COVID bubble there," she says. "I think my COVID bubble there is whoever my dancing partner is."</p><p>The actress says she is not fussed who that partner will be and is most excited about "being with a professional who will be teaching me all their wonderful gifts. That's the bit I'm really looking forward to - that, and loads of sequins".</p><p><strong>Father Christmas is Back is due out next Christmas and stars Kelsey Grammer, John Cleese, Elizabeth Hurley, Caroline Quentin, Kris Marshall, Nathalie Cox and Talulah Riley</strong></p>