This article was taken from the March 2015 issue of WIRED magazine. Be the first to read WIRED's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
Filming speedy car chases is tricky. Take close-ups: directors used to be restricted to using an actor with a fake steering wheel on the right of a left-hand-drive car, while a stunt driver sat out of view.
But for new BBC series The Interceptor, film-makers used a stunt pod: a cage fixed to the roof of the car that gives a driver control of the vehicle from above. "The acceleration, steering and clutch are all on the roof, with wires that run down the side of the car," says stunt co-ordinator Andreas Petrides.
Although the cage has been used in films such as Skyfall, it has only recently found use in British TV shows. It allows for more realistic chases, including shots of actors "driving".
Such a set-up isn't easy: "That top-heavy weight means you have to re-rig the whole car so it can take an extra 200kg," says Petrides. "The Hyundai Sonata we used had to have wider axels, bigger wheels, reinforced suspension and a retuned engine."
The sequence itself, which was shot on a closed-off duel carriageway in Silvertown, London, involved 16 stunt drivers -- most making up traffic -- and actors Robert Lonsdale and Paul Kaye, who had to rehearse keeping in sync with the driver above. "It frees them up to act with each other," explains Petrides. "It looks great. Audiences now expect movie quality on TV, so we have to push the boundaries."
The Interceptor starts on BBC One in March
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
