The cast and crew of new BBC sitcom Sun Trap thought shooting in Gran Canaria would be like a holiday – but it turned out to be the opposite.
Kayvan Novak and Bradley Walsh star in the comedy about an undercover reporter forced to flee to Spain, where his former mentor now runs a bar and is enjoying the quiet life.
Writer and producer Neil Webster revealed to Broadcast magazine how their time filming on a yacht in the Canary Islands was hit by a terrible storm, and their final location ended up anything but exotic.
Kayvan Novak and Bradley Walsh in Sun Trap (Adam Lawrence/Happy Tramp/BBC)
He explained: “The Canary Islands’ famed year-round sunshine was the main reason we travelled the extra hour and a half, rather than filming in Majorca.
“So of course the day before we began filming at sea there was a massive storm. The millpond turned into a churning ocean and refused to settle down.
“As we lurched out of port, half of our equipment slid all the way along the open deck, accompanied by all of the cast. I was below deck in the toilet and I honestly thought we were sinking.”
Kayvan Novak and Bradley Walsh on the beach (Happy Tramp/BBC)
Webster revealed the storm left a third of the crew seasick. And the rough sea meant the only place the skipper would allow them to dock the boat for filming was a cove next to a cement factory.
Somehow, however, they managed to shoot the six-part series which begins on BBC1, Wednesday 27 May.
