We were filming an EastEnders special in Brighton a few years ago, and this involved shooting a scene on a coach as it arrived in Brighton. The story was about the younger characters on holiday. We still had a couple of shots to do when a couple of the cast members told the Production Manager they needed the loo!

He knew that to return to base would waste too much time, so he stopped the coach and knocked on the door of the nearest house! The look on the lady's face as she opened her front door was of sheer amazement as she was confronted by numerous members of the cast queueing up to use the facilities. Apparently as it was a Sunday, she had only just switched off her TV after watching the EastEnders omnibus!

I think that a lot can be learned from watching TV and films, as you can see the way directors construct a series of shots into a scene. Plus there are a few colleges around that offer good courses. The most important thing is not to give up. I applied to the BBC at least four times before being successful!

A couple of years ago we shot three episodes that ended with Phil and Grant diving into the Thames complete with car! There was a lot of action with car chases, guns and special effects which were good fun to do.

Phil and Grant's car going into the Thames was probably the best one I've been involved with. This needed very careful planning as we could only do it once! And it obviously had to be done safely. We used six cameras on the stunt, which involved catapulting the car from a cannon attached to a large lorry.

Whilst I enjoy studio work, I do like to work on location. It's nice after spending a lot of time in Bridge Street or the Queen Vic to get out and see some different scenery. Most of our locations are very close to the studios at Elstree but occasionally I have been fortunate to be involved in location shoots further afield.