Ballykissangel - The Ultimate Resource

After a very early start, we made our way to Ardmore and found most of the cast already there. The first person we saw was... Gary Whelan, taking a break in the canteen. I could swear he was following us!

Various familiar faces were wandering around the production lot - Col Farrell, Niall Toibin, Victoria Smurfit and... Gary Whelan, all people we needed interviews with. I also recognised a lot of the crew from my previous visit in 1997. What struck me was how welcoming everyone was towards us. They'd been told that we'd be there, but every cast member said hello to us as they passed by. As a matter of interest, while we were there, the next-door stage was being prepared for 'The Corrs - Unplugged'

We did the interviews before filming began and took photos around the set and production area. Victoria (or Vicky as she insisted we call her) was in the hair and make-up department when we interviewed the make-up assistants, so we had a chat with her as well. She comes across as being very humble and down to earth, as all the cast did. Col Farrell is as good-looking in real life as he appears on screen and Annlaug couldn't decide whether she should take him or Owen Roe home with her. We were still guessing 'whose wedding', but we soon worked that out from the fact that one actress was wandering around in a dressing gown on her way to make-up. You wouldn't want to get mascara all over that dress now would you?

In the studio, the set for the wedding reception was complete and the lighting and cameras were being set up. The set was incredibly intricate, involving an amazing Smartie-covered cake, huge food spread and a giant jelly, with the outside of the set matching the exterior shots they had filmed in a field a week or so earlier. The first shot took most of the morning - it was the time-lapse shot showing all the wedding guests milling around the table as they came in. The camera has to be locked in position for a shot like this so nobody can move it by mistake. By time they finished that shot we were all ready for lunch, so after the annual cast and crew photos were taken, everyone poured into the canteen for a roast beef lunch.

An hour later, they began preparing for the second shot - the speeches. All the food was taken off the table, carved and then replaced on plates, with strict instructions to the actors and extras not to eat any of it - the food had been under the hot studio lights all morning. In this break of filming, we interviewed the director, Simon Massey. This was the last interview we needed, so we took some final pictures of the Fitzgerald's interior (right) and left Ardmore.

With enormous thanks to the BBC Northern Ireland Online and all the cast and crew of BallyK. You can see more about this trip at the BBC's Official BallyK page