When loyal viewers of long-running ITV show The Only Way Is Essex tune in to watch its Christmas special this year, they will see their favourite stars ‘bump into’ one another at their local festive market.
Given Towie’s reputation as a ‘reality’ TV show, they will surely expect that the cast members’ meetings onscreen are somewhat spontaneous.
Far from it. And I should know, because I was invited to the filming of the festive episode and used as an extra for the show, which will air on December 8.
I can tell you one thing for sure: there is no ‘reality’ whatsoever involved in the filming of Towie.
I spent a day on the set last month. Because no, contrary to the expectations of many viewers, the cast haven’t gathered anywhere near the now iconic town of Brentwood in Essex where most stars live – and where episodes used to be filmed – but instead at a specially designed film set at Lees Priory, a Tudor manor house just outside Chelmsford.
Usually a wedding venue that costs upwards of £15,000 to hire, the priory has been transformed into a festive fairground, despite the fact that it’s November.
Here, a fake Christmas market has been erected for the show within a matter of hours, complete with five wooden stalls decorated with tinsel, fairy lights and fake snow.
When I visit, they are serving up mini pancakes, hot chocolate, popcorn and toasted marshmallows. Except, unlike a real market, everything on offer is free, and the only customers are the Towie cast, crew and extras.
Meanwhile the stars, dressed to the nines in sparkling dresses, flawless make-up and with bouncy blow-dries, have spent hours getting professionally made-up for the occasion and have been chauffeured to the set from their homes, a stone’s throw from Brentwood High Street.
It’s a far cry from the original premise of the show. So popular that it won a Bafta in 2011, Towie was created to follow the lives of a group of real-life twentysomethings living in Essex. It was dramatic, often messy – and wildly entertaining. So much so that the original cast, including Lauren Goodger, Amy Childs, Mark Wright and James Argent all became overnight sensations.
And despite criticism from many viewers that recent seasons have been staged to maximise drama, Towie is still one of the most-watched shows on ITV’s streaming service, with 66million views in the last 12 months.
But, I wonder as I watch the stars in action, can the show survive now that it’s entirely given up the pretence of being based in reality?
Diags, 34, real name James Bennewith, is the longest-serving cast member of the show and is the first to film a scene for the episode.
He strolls on to set with the ease of someone who has done this hundreds of times, arm-in-arm with his on-off girlfriend Jodie Wells. For the moment, at least, they seem very much back ‘on’.
Diags greets almost every crew member by name, cracking jokes with the director before positioning himself in front of the stalls. The scene they’re about to film includes couples Joe Blackman and Junaid Ahmed, and Roman Hackett with Love Islander Matilda Draper.
They hug, chat, catch up, all off camera, before being whisked away to be mic’d. Production staff give them directions: who’s meant to stand where, what topics to discuss and how long the scene should run.
Although there’s no precise script, their every move is directed.
Matilda and Roman wait just behind me, out of shot, until they get their cue.
‘Fancy seeing you here,’ I hear them saying to the group as they walk over, despite having been chatting to each other just moments prior.
The six of them continue the pretence, chatting enthusiastically about their Christmas plans – until the director yells ‘Stop!’
‘Matilda, can we go back and film that bit again? Go from the top,’ he says.
They film the scene again. And then once more for good luck.
This one conversation, which will make up no more than five minutes of the final hour-and-a-half episode, takes over an hour to film.
Meanwhile, other cast members are treated to rose wine and festive nibbles, while producers give them their many, many prompts.
Despite it being November, the set is plagued by swarms of bees. Every few minutes, a shriek pierces the air as yet another cast member flaps around in terror. Scenes are repeatedly interrupted and have to be started again.
‘Everyone look busy and keep chatting,’ one crew member orders.
I’m with my fellow extras – some regulars on the show – awaiting my orders. ‘Mingle! Be natural! Enjoy yourselves!’ one director shouts in our direction.
‘Stand there, turn your face slightly more towards the camera, and talk to the other extras. But don’t talk too loudly – and go big with the expressions and hand movements.’
I’m told to sit at a table close to the crew while sipping a hot chocolate and chatting with the other extras.
‘You girls sit here, face the camera slightly and chat to each other. Don’t speak too loudly, though, because we need to hear the cast and what they’re saying,’ another producer tells me.
After that scene is wrapped, I am asked to move into a different shot by the mini pancake stall.
‘Don’t walk too quickly,’ a producer instructs me. ‘You’ve just got here. You’re taking it all in.’ We film the shot several times until he’s happy.
Despite the rigorous instructions, I notice groups of cast members split off organically from one another, with best friends pairing up, exes carefully avoiding one another and frenemies circling with the knowledge that they may eventually be steered into the same shot. Camera operators weave between them, catching snippets of conversation and reactions.
Sammy Root and Elma Pazar, for example, whose relationship ended emotionally last season after meeting on Love Island: All Stars, stay at opposite sides of the courtyard. I overhear Sammy quietly telling a friend he’s started dating someone new – who is believed to be influencer Ella Burke.
Meanwhile, Dan Edgar and Ella Rae Wise, who broke up over the summer, also maintain a careful distance.
But drama still finds its way in.
Something said prompts Ella to start crying quietly in a corner, comforted by friends. It doesn’t take long before a producer notices. Boom!
‘Can we get a camera on her?’ a member of the production team shouts.
Within seconds, a cameraman rushes over to film a close-up, barely giving her space. It’s a reminder that vulnerability, even when spontaneous, is the better content.
After five hours of filming, the director finally calls wrap on the Christmas-market scenes. But the work isn’t done.
The cast are ushered together for a group promo photo. A photographer hesitates, trying to organise them.
‘I don’t know where to put half of you,’ he mutters. ‘So many of you hate each other.’
So, although Towie isn’t as authentic as it used to be – the drama certainly hasn’t been extinguished altogether.
