Residents of a town made famous by the film A Christmas Carol say it “put them on the map” and even made some locals minor celebrities.
Shrewsbury’s historic streets formed the backdrop for the majority of the scenes in the 1984 film adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic novella.
The movie starred American Oscar-winner George C Scott as Ebenezer Scrooge, as well as Edward Woodward and Welsh actor Roger Rees.
Almost 40 years after it was made, many locals remember featuring in the film as extras, not to mention a man who was even Woodward’s body double.
Town crier Martin Wood, 66, remembers being spotted early on by the production crew on account of his towering 7ft 2in height.
He was stunned to be asked to stand in as the body double for Woodward’s Ghost of Christmas Present character.
Martin, who still holds the crown as the world’s tallest town crier, said: “The crew saw me right away, it wasn’t hard to miss me.
“They said the character was a giant and they needed me for some back shots, I jumped at the chance.
“Edward Woodward was on stilts as he was only a shorty and these stilts were made by NASA of all people.
“He got these stilts on and he came and stood by the side of me and he was still a little bit shorter than me.
“I just said ‘terribly sorry Mr Woodward, you’re just too short for the job.’
“He turned to the guy and said ‘just jack me up a couple of inches’ and he was just taller than me and said ‘right, let’s see you do that’.
“I also doubled for Michael Carter who was the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come character.
“There’s loads of memories. It’s just a fantastic film to work with. They were all fantastic actors and actresses. It was all great fun.
“George C Scott even brought over the first Trivial Pursuit board game which we played in the breaks between filming, we’d never seen it here before.”
Martin also takes advantage of his notoriety by taking tourists and Christmas Carol fans on tours of the town where the most iconic scenes were filmed.
He said: “I do a lot of guided tours and I take a lot of Americans.
"They all go bananas over the film particularly the scene where Scrooge shouts out the window on Christmas morning to the boy on the bicycle.
“I string them on a little bit. I say I’d like to introduce you to somebody.
“I say, ‘remember the bit in the film where Scrooge is kneeling at the grave?
"I said ladies and gentlemen I’d like to introduce you to the finger. I usually draw a face on the end of it.
“I say this is the finger that actually told Scrooge to get on his knees. And they all take photographs of the finger.”
Other locals had smaller roles but still remember the thrill of being on set with the stars of the day.
Marketing consultant Fiona Hankin, 67, says she was paid £5 per day for two days work as an extra.
She said: “The director has asked local drama groups to send anybody they thought might be interested in doing a screen test as an extra.
Shrewsbury’s historic streets formed the backdrop for the majority of the scenes in the 1984 film adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic novella.
The movie starred American Oscar-winner George C Scott as Ebenezer Scrooge, as well as Edward Woodward and Welsh actor Roger Rees.
Almost 40 years after it was made, many locals remember featuring in the film as extras, not to mention a man who was even Woodward’s body double.
Town crier Martin Wood, 66, remembers being spotted early on by the production crew on account of his towering 7ft 2in height.
He was stunned to be asked to stand in as the body double for Woodward’s Ghost of Christmas Present character.
Martin, who still holds the crown as the world’s tallest town crier, said: “The crew saw me right away, it wasn’t hard to miss me.
“They said the character was a giant and they needed me for some back shots, I jumped at the chance.
“Edward Woodward was on stilts as he was only a shorty and these stilts were made by NASA of all people.
“He got these stilts on and he came and stood by the side of me and he was still a little bit shorter than me.
“I just said ‘terribly sorry Mr Woodward, you’re just too short for the job.’
“He turned to the guy and said ‘just jack me up a couple of inches’ and he was just taller than me and said ‘right, let’s see you do that’.
“I also doubled for Michael Carter who was the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come character.
“There’s loads of memories. It’s just a fantastic film to work with. They were all fantastic actors and actresses. It was all great fun.
“George C Scott even brought over the first Trivial Pursuit board game which we played in the breaks between filming, we’d never seen it here before.”
Martin also takes advantage of his notoriety by taking tourists and Christmas Carol fans on tours of the town where the most iconic scenes were filmed.
He said: “I do a lot of guided tours and I take a lot of Americans.
"They all go bananas over the film particularly the scene where Scrooge shouts out the window on Christmas morning to the boy on the bicycle.
“I string them on a little bit. I say I’d like to introduce you to somebody.
“I say, ‘remember the bit in the film where Scrooge is kneeling at the grave?
"I said ladies and gentlemen I’d like to introduce you to the finger. I usually draw a face on the end of it.
“I say this is the finger that actually told Scrooge to get on his knees. And they all take photographs of the finger.”
Other locals had smaller roles but still remember the thrill of being on set with the stars of the day.
Marketing consultant Fiona Hankin, 67, says she was paid £5 per day for two days work as an extra.
She said: “The director has asked local drama groups to send anybody they thought might be interested in doing a screen test as an extra.
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FunTranscript
00:00 My name is Martin Wood, I'm the Town Crier for Shrewsbury and I'm the tallest Town Crier
00:10 in the world.
00:11 One of the jobs that I did a few years ago, of course, 40 years ago, was that I was in
00:18 the Christmas Carol movie with George C Scott and Edward Woodward and Michael Carter.
00:24 One of the things I did was I doubled for Michael Carter and I had a very, very important
00:30 job because if you watch the film, and I hope you do watch it, you will see Scrooge kneeling
00:35 at the grave and he asks the spirit if these are things that are meant to be or shall be
00:40 and the spirit points to the grave and I'd like to introduce you to somebody, ladies
00:45 and gentlemen, because I'd like to introduce you to the finger.
00:49 And it was, say hello to the ladies and gentlemen, yes I know.
00:53 It was this finger that told Scrooge, get on his knees.
01:00 Hello, I'm Fiona from Shrewsbury, born and bred and this is the house in The Crescent
01:09 where I filmed Christmas Carol.
01:11 The scene was called Interior Fred with Roger Rees.
01:14 I was the governess and I had an instant family of two children to look after, which was interesting.
01:21 I can't believe it's so long ago now, but I'm still treading the boards, still waiting
01:25 to be discovered.
01:27 [BIRDS CHIRPING]