Way back in October 2007 when we started developing the Discipleship Explored scripts, it became obvious that we wouldn’t be able to write them in the same style we’d written the CE DVDs. CE was based on Mark, a historical narrative; DE is based on Philippians, a pastoral letter.

 

Pretty early on, we decided that the location ideas should emerge directly from the text, rather than illustrations. And the key verse for Episode 4 is Philippians 2:15-16: “shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life”. So there I was, in the depths of East Sussex, standing in the shadow of a giant Thompson reflector telescope.

 

For the first time, Mark and Nick had a night shoot to play with. They turned “Dome E” into an H G Wellsian waking dream. We started filming at around 9pm and got to sleep around 5am - apart from Mark and Nick who made the glorious sacrifice of staying up till dawn to get shots of the sun rising over the trees. They joined us for “breakfast” the next day at 4pm.

 

The strangest part of the two nights at the observatory was being divebombed by kamikaze flying beetles who kept being fatally drawn to the blazing arc lights.

 

I must give a special mention to Kendra Butlin, our Runner, who despite slamming her wrist in a trapdoor over the weekend, and having her lower arm in a cast, continues selflessly to look after everyone else during the shoot. Sounds like a job for the European Court of Human Rights.