What happens when a major TV production unit rolls into your home, transforms your kitchen into a film set and fills the pantry with cast and crew? Vanessa Sayce regularly opens up her home near Bath to the glamour and chaos of hosting scenes for model shots, commercials and most recently Jilly Cooper’s Rivals.
T here’s an eerie sort of quiet about the house, despite the security guards at the front door and a garden full of crew tents in the back. I am being led into the final design of a 1980’s film set in our kitchen, which is to be the setting for a dinner party farce for series 2 of Jilly Cooper’s Rivals.
I am not disappointed. The BAFTA winning set designer, Dominic Hyman has transformed our farmhouse kitchen into a time warp of 1980’s joy. Never mind the now bold blue walls and yellow chintz curtains, the attention to detail is astonishing. From ceramic fruits to orange Le Creuset pots, to postcards from a time gone by, the flamboyancy of the era is evoked.
And suddenly all the chaos, the myriad cast and crew, upheaval and disruption of normal life is worth it. You can just feel that here magic will happen. And it does.
Rivals is the latest in what seems like a lifetime of location shoots at our home. Most bring that creative sort of chaos that believe me, soon becomes quite addictive. Our first entry into the world of locations came via my brother-in-law who was a production manager at the time, for Bristol-based Casualty It was after we had just moved into our near-derelict home and they were planning a disaster scene.
“For when you sign the contract you are signing away your house as you know it. For a short while”
“Great!” the Director said. “Set design won’t need to do much here.” A compliment of sorts, I suppose. Unfortunately, we were too close to neighbours for the on-set explosions they had in mind.
Then came the day Dunelm moved in, lock, stock and barrel, to turn our kitchen into a bedroom.
“Err.” I started. And then kept very quiet as the set builders got to work. I have learned over the years, that whilst it’s a good idea to stay in your home for the smaller shoots to answer inevitable questions, it’s also a good idea not to have an opinion. For when you sign the contract you are signing away your house as you know it. For a short while. Of course they are legally bound to put it all back, but that is why it is also a good idea to stick around for the end.
Seeing the success of the Dunelm shoot, The Cotswold Company then got in touch to film a fully-fledged commercial. That was a different story, and our first foray into the world of television. Best to stay out of the way of that. Suddenly radiators were removed, walls painted and furniture despatched and replaced, not to mention the industrial sized cameras and lighting required.
“Would you like to keep the butchers block in the kitchen?’” they asked at the end.
“We’re all too tired to be bothered to remove it.”
“Well, yes”, I say. Thinking that the perks from this work are sometimes well worth the disruption.
No such luck though, when Fantasie Lingerie arrived with four size 0 Parisian models. My husband decided to break the habit of a lifetime and work from home that day, and our young sons had eyes on stalks at the samples they left hanging in the dining room each night.
“Do you think they’ll leave you some behind?” My husband asked hopefully.
“Do you think they’ll fit me?”I respond more practically.
It was an education watching how models were worked to show the lingerie. Eating, I swear to God, nothing but lettuce and fruit, and drinking matcha tea for lunch. Not the life for me, I think as I look at my upturned house with a sigh and my size 14 clothes in the wardrobe.
Each shoot is varied and oh so different. Take the time Highgrove enterprises came to film Christmas in July. Dragging in trees and decorations in 26 degree heat while the children leapt about in the paddling pool outside. Suddenly we were awash with sugared almonds, mince pies and marzipan fruits, not to mention the fake presents and orange and cinnamon-smelling baubles. A winter wonderland with a roaring fire in the height of summer.
What they forgot to mention was
that there would be 33 puppies in the house at once”
Sometimes there are last-minuters, for example when Closer magazine called to ask if they could hire the sitting room to interview a celebrity with body dysmorphia, having had over 50 surgical procedures. I was left entertaining her young daughter in the kitchen during that one, wondering how on earth the conversation was going. The same with Channel 4 news, who called for the same room to hold a live interview with the grandmothers of two murdered teenagers locally, to be aired that evening at 6pm.
“For heaven’s sake’ says my weary husband “WHO is coming next?”
And that is a question I can never answer. The only time the stress levels were really raised was when a well-known dog food company came to film what they briefed would be 11 different species of puppies all handled carefully by trainers. What they forgot to mention was that there would be 3 of each of the 11 species and so 33 puppies in the house at once.
“Well, I am definitely not going to school today’ said my young daughter. Thankfully, as it turned out, as all was going swimmingly until one of the crew put lunch in the microwave and the dogs went berserk. At that point there was some door slamming among the utter chaos (not by me I might add) and the filming fell behind schedule for at least an hour while we rounded our ‘actors’ up. My daughter was in her element.
But, generally speaking, the locations game is a fascinating one that brings an element of media magic to our home. Lucrative, yes, it can be. Fun, yes mostly, but it is also a satisfying glimpse into other worlds behind the scenes that it is quite honestly a privilege to be a part of.
So, you were welcome cast and crew from the huge Disney+ hit Rivals never mind that we had an entire village to persuade, a unit base in our local cheese farm, and neighbours to charm into the idea. We experienced professionalism and consideration from a production crew on a large scale. And me, I won’t be hanging my facilitating job up any time soon. Bring on whatever the rest of 2026 has to offer.
Vanessa Sayce is a Bath based professional interior designer with a background in publishing, art, styling and painting. Her company is Marmalade House Design: marmaladehousedesign.com