AN actor from near York has told how he took part in the surreal making of a new movie - right in the middle of the pandemic.

Tom Blyth, who grew up in Tockwith and attended the village primary school, had a role in Benediction, which is about the war poet Siegfried Sassoon and features stars including Peter Capaldi and Simon Russell-Beale.

He said it was one of the first UK film productions to start up again during the pandemic, getting the green light at the last minute in August to start shooting in various stately homes around Wolverhampton.

Tom, who previously starred in the York-based indie film Scott and Sid, said he was based in New York and flew back to the UK with only a few days’ notice to quarantine for two weeks before costume fittings.

“Once on set, it was a different experience to any other project I’ve ever worked on,” he said. “I’d wake up at the hotel around 5.30am to an emailed Covid questionnaire which would provide us with a 'Green pass' for that day if we were deemed safe.

“Then we’d be driven to set, where there was a checkpoint where we’d have our temperature taken. On top of that, we had Covid tests at the start and end of each week, and were obviously wearing masks on set at all times, except for when actually shooting scenes.

“So my first day of shooting was a big grand scene in a ballroom with Jack Lowden, Simon Russell Beale, Jeremy Irvine and myself, and every time Terence Davies yelled ‘cut,’ a producer would scuttle over with masks to put on us.

“What I really realised though was that, if we all actually follow them, these measures really work. We were working in close quarters for around two months, and during that entire time no one on set got sick.

“It was a real example of how, if we all band together and take measures seriously, we can get on with making things despite the pandemic. It might be a little different and uncomfortable, but if it’s that or nothing, I’d take that any day.”

Tom, who plays Glen Byam Shaw, added that the film was produced by the BFI, BBC Films and EMU Films and is intended for wide theatrical release.