GUNSHOTS TO THE HEAD
Shocked by the sudden death of his lover and the one person he was hired to protect – and struggling with PTSD from his Army service – Budd attempts to take his own life in Episode 4.
Despite viewers being left thinking Budd really has shot himself in the head, it’s later revealed the bullet in the gun was a blank and he is instead left with a nasty shrapnel wound and bruise which he clumsily attempts to cover up with a cap.
Toby Steward says that this gun blast was developed using postproduction digital techniques, adding: “It looks very good though, I like it.”
But it was very different when rooftop sniper Andy Apsted shoots himself moments after attempting to assassinate Julia in her car in Episode 2. The scarred ex-military man takes his own life as Budd confronts him – and the effect was created using an air cannon pinned behind actor Tom Brooke, filled with fake blood. “Someone presses a button, it gets a sudden rush of air and splatters the blood out,” Toby explains while showing a test run of himself firing the fake gun in his own mouth. The blood grimly bursts on to a green screen behind him. “It’s certainly very surreal watching that back,” he says. In order to create the effect, he wore a hoodie with two small plates containing a tiny explosive charge and a blood bag before the button was pressed, creating the dramatic spatter.