How Happy Valley bosses hired Hollywood movie stuntman for fiery final scene – and made him do it TWICE
HAPPY VALLEY bosses hired a Hollywood movie stuntman to set himself alight for the BBC1 show’s fiery final scene – and made him do it TWICE.
Leo Woodruff was tasked with being James Norton‘s body double as his character, villain Tommy Lee Royce, was seen setting himself on fire with petrol and matches in Sunday night’s show.
But it was all in a day’s work for the expert, who’s performed dangerous feats in Marvel and Batman films as well as the most recent James Bond movie, No Time To Die.
A TV insider said: “The Happy Valley producers wanted to deliver as sensational and realistic a final scene as possible and though the first moments when Tommy sets himself alight are done using computer generated imagery, the rest was real.
“The moment where he is seen standing up and writhing around in agony as the flames take hold is where Leo really was set alight.
“He was wearing specialist protective clothing and gel on any areas of exposed skin.
“He then fell to the floor, as planned, and was immediately extinguished by fellow stunt coordinators.
“Then, courageously, Leo had to do it all over again to ensure they got the perfect shots.”
The creators of Happy Valley painstakingly recreated the kitchen of central character Catherine Cawood, played by Sarah Lancashire, where the two enemies had their final showdown.
It was rebuilt in a studio where they could safely carry out the stunt, but they still kept a close eye on every tiny detail to make it look as authentic as possible.
Leo was also the perfect choice to appear as James’s double in the scene as he is of a similar build and height and has the same dark blond hair.
Although the actor’s screams of pain were later dubbed onto the scene’s soundtrack, James wasn’t even on the set when the dangerous section was filmed.
Sarah didn’t have to put out the flaming body of Tommy either, that was done by her body double on the show, Stephanie Carey.
But writer Sally Wainwright did reveal the actress, who’s also an exec producer, was instrumental in making the final episode as sensational as it was.
Speaking on BBC2’s Newsnight she said: “I have Sarah to thank for that ending in many ways because I wrote the first draft and everybody seemed quite happy with it and she made it clear she wasn’t happy about it.
“Everything got pushed a bit further in that episode and it was all thanks to Sarah.”
