I climbed the steps, opened the door and there in front of me was Vanessa Redgrave

Set, rolling, 3-2-1 background action, and... action! That bit between 1 and action is me. I’ve been a background actor – or extra – for ten years now. Not many people notice the background actors but nearly every movie, television drama and ad needs background extras to make it believable. If a scene in a street, a bar, a battlefield or a medieval market only contained the actors, it would look apocalyptic. So we are there, to make every scene believable and help sell the story to the viewer.

One of my very first times on a movie set was in Dublin. The movie was called The Secret Scripture, and I was playing a nurse. I was very excited because I had just read the book by Sebastian Barry and really enjoyed it. I turned up for work at 6am, checked in with wardrobe, hair and make-up, and met my fellow extras dressed as nurses and doctors.

It was obviously a hospital scene but as the movie had just started filming we didn’t know yet who the actors were.

On arrival on set, we were quickly ushered into a waiting area while the cast rehearsed the scene. After a short amount of time, I was called out to join the rehearsal. My instructions were to walk up the steps of the old building they were using as the hospital and go through the door.

Once inside, I was to stand behind the main actress and then when the director called action I was to walk out behind the actress with a clipboard in my hand, go down the steps ,walk over to a doctor and pretend to talk to him.

I didn’t have time to ask who the actress was, so I just did what I was told. I climbed the steps, opened the door and there in front of me was Vanessa Redgrave. My jaw must have dropped because she smiled at me and said, ‘Hi there’. I was a little starstruck and muttered an excited ‘Good morning!’ back to her before quickly taking my position behind her.

I’m sure she must have felt me staring at the back of her head. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. Vanessa Redgrave. The Vanessa Redgrave. My thoughts went to all the movies I had seen her in; Howard’s End, Atonement, Murder on the Orient Express, and her Oscar-winning performance in Julia.

When the director called action, I followed her out the door and down the stairs and walked as instructed to the doctor. That doctor was Adrian Dunbar, who of course I recognised from The Crying Game and My Left Foot. This was before he became a household name as Ted Hastings from The Line of Duty. What a day on set that was.

Not all days are as exciting or as star-filled as that. Most days require a lot of patience as you may have to wait around for hours until needed. Sometimes you are only needed to walk down the street in the back of an insurance ad or to sit as a pub patron for TV dramas such as Fair City, Kin or Bad Sisters. The days can be long too. Most filming days are ten hours and you may have to be on set from 6am. I always bring a book, a notebook and pen for writing, and a fullycharged phone and charger.

Some of the bigger productions have been very exciting to work on. I was an extra on two seasons of Vikings and I loved every minute of it. You really feel that you are contributing to the making of something when you are completely transformed by the wardrobe and make-up departments. Despite very early starts and having to repeatedly walk up the hill of a Viking village carrying buckets of fish, everyone I spoke to loved working on that production.

People of all ages and backgrounds work as extras. You get to meet and spend time with a diverse range of people that you might not otherwise get a chance to talk to. I have made lovely friends over the years, and we keep in touch via WhatsApp and Messenger groups.

Extra work is generally minimum wage, with extra payments for featured extra roles, when you may have a few lines. Ads pay more but it varies greatly.

The work is also freelance so you never know how many days you could be working per month. The uncertainty of the work doesn’t suit everyone but as a writer this suits me, as it gives me time to write. Also, I love working in a creative environment and seeing a script coming to life.

So the next time you turn on your TV to watch your favourite soap or get comfortable with your popcorn in a movie theatre, have a look out for the extras in the background.

You might just see me walking along a medieval street, having a pint in a fictional TV pub, or running up a hill in Wicklow with a bucket of fish!