0:00:02 > 0:00:04- RADIO:- 'OK, guys, I'm with you,
0:00:04 > 0:00:07'we're about to go live to the world.'
0:00:07 > 0:00:08'Standing by for drummers,
0:00:08 > 0:00:11and stand by for cast entering onto the field of play.'
0:00:11 > 0:00:14'This is Toby. Good luck, everybody, have a ball.'
0:00:14 > 0:00:17It's building, man, it's building. 80,000.
0:00:17 > 0:00:19And the rest, the other billion?
0:00:19 > 0:00:21- 'Standby vom one, please.' - 'Standing by.'
0:00:21 > 0:00:25- 'Standby vom two.'- 'Standing by.' - 'Vom three.'- 'Standing by.' - 'Vom four.'- 'Standing by.'
0:00:25 > 0:00:27'Standby LX cue 610, standby music cue 9.'
0:00:27 > 0:00:28'Standby for Pandemonium.'
0:00:28 > 0:00:30DRUMS BEAT
0:00:30 > 0:00:31'Ken...
0:00:31 > 0:00:32'go.'
0:00:32 > 0:00:35Be not afear'd.
0:00:36 > 0:00:38Be not afear'd.
0:00:39 > 0:00:43I can never forget the track, Nimrod by Elgar,
0:00:43 > 0:00:45and then we get the cue in the ear.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48- CHEERING - Good luck, good luck!
0:00:48 > 0:00:49Whoo!
0:00:49 > 0:00:52I couldn't believe I was going to be in the Olympic opening ceremony,
0:00:52 > 0:00:54and at times I still can't believe I was in it.
0:00:54 > 0:00:56CHANTING
0:00:56 > 0:00:59This is it, this is where it's going to happen.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02This is where one billion people will be tuning in on the night,
0:01:02 > 0:01:03watching us.
0:01:03 > 0:01:05We had these balloons walking round,
0:01:05 > 0:01:10and it allowed the old cynics to go, "Ha, it's going to be Teletubbies."
0:01:10 > 0:01:11Good evening, Mr Bond.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14People's expectations were rock bottom, to the day,
0:01:14 > 0:01:18and there was no platform for optimism.
0:01:18 > 0:01:21'Forgers and smelters, back up.'
0:01:21 > 0:01:23'Shake it off if you're getting burnt.'
0:01:23 > 0:01:25There's hot embers landing on you,
0:01:25 > 0:01:29but nothing would have stopped me being under that Olympic ring.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32We knew that Danny, he'd threatened to resign.
0:01:32 > 0:01:36It was difficult, but it just created something extraordinary.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39It was a love song to the United Kingdom.
0:01:40 > 0:01:44I remember getting, like, vertigo, but in amazement.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48I thought what I was going to be doing was applauding others,
0:01:48 > 0:01:51I thought I was going to be applauding athletes and dignitaries.
0:01:51 > 0:01:54I had no idea that we were going to be celebrated,
0:01:54 > 0:01:57that there was going to be a sense in which ordinary,
0:01:57 > 0:02:00everyday people were going to be applauded.
0:02:00 > 0:02:05It made me feel I was in the centre of the universe.
0:02:05 > 0:02:07I just think there's something so amazing
0:02:07 > 0:02:08about the ordinariness of us,
0:02:08 > 0:02:11and the extraordinariness of that opening ceremony.
0:02:24 > 0:02:28The city that hosted the Games in 1908 and 1948.
0:02:29 > 0:02:34The International Olympic Committee has the honour of announcing
0:02:34 > 0:02:39that the Games of the XXX Olympiad in 2012
0:02:39 > 0:02:43are awarded to the city of London.
0:02:43 > 0:02:45- CHEERING - We've done it!
0:02:45 > 0:02:47Launched and won by a Labour government
0:02:47 > 0:02:50at a time of economic optimism,
0:02:50 > 0:02:54London 2012 was supposed to be the crowning glory
0:02:54 > 0:02:56of an ascendant Britain.
0:02:56 > 0:02:58But by the time the Games rolled round,
0:02:58 > 0:03:02the country had been plunged into economic crisis.
0:03:02 > 0:03:05A Conservative-Democrat coalition had been elected,
0:03:05 > 0:03:07and at a time of austerity,
0:03:07 > 0:03:11the Olympics seemed a luxury which the nation could ill afford.
0:03:13 > 0:03:17But there WERE people who believed, and this is their story.
0:03:18 > 0:03:21Being someone who was born and raised in East London,
0:03:21 > 0:03:24I can't have the greatest show on Earth come to my doorstep,
0:03:24 > 0:03:28literally, and just watch it on TV, you know, so I had to get involved.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31'Good afternoon, this is Simon Mayo here on 5 Live.
0:03:31 > 0:03:33'Coming up before four o'clock, Danny Boyle,
0:03:33 > 0:03:35'director of Slumdog Millionaire,
0:03:35 > 0:03:37'Sebastian Coe, chair of the London organising committee
0:03:37 > 0:03:39'of the Olympic Games...
0:03:39 > 0:03:42- 'Afternoon to you, Danny - this is Seb Coe, this is Danny Boyle.' - 'How are you doing?'
0:03:42 > 0:03:44You know, life is happenstance,
0:03:44 > 0:03:48and it was just one of those odd meetings. I never met Danny.
0:03:49 > 0:03:52But we were both on the Simon Mayo show.
0:03:52 > 0:03:55'Let's take some travel with Louise.
0:03:55 > 0:03:57'And what's frustrating is that Seb and Danny are having a very
0:03:57 > 0:04:00'interesting conversation, but they're mouthing it to each other.'
0:04:00 > 0:04:02In the middle of the traffic news, he said,
0:04:02 > 0:04:05"I live in East London, I have for 25 years -
0:04:05 > 0:04:06"I'll do anything to help you."
0:04:06 > 0:04:07'I'm pretty excited,
0:04:07 > 0:04:10'cos they're taking place about a mile from where I live.
0:04:10 > 0:04:12'I live in Mile End, so it's just down the road.'
0:04:12 > 0:04:13HE LAUGHS
0:04:13 > 0:04:17And I said, "Well, OK, I think we should talk."
0:04:17 > 0:04:19'Now, with a little over two years to go,
0:04:19 > 0:04:23'London 2012 is planning its Olympic opening ceremony.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26'Today, Danny Boyle, the director behind Slumdog Millionaire,
0:04:26 > 0:04:28'was put in charge.'
0:04:28 > 0:04:29When I heard that it was Danny Boyle
0:04:29 > 0:04:32and the people who were involved in Trainspotting,
0:04:32 > 0:04:34I definitely wanted to be involved, because I just felt,
0:04:34 > 0:04:37this is going to be something really special,
0:04:37 > 0:04:39but also possibly a little bit edgy.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42- I was a big fan of Danny Boyle. - Yeah, absolutely, definitely.
0:04:42 > 0:04:44- We had to apply separately, didn't we?- Yeah.
0:04:44 > 0:04:46We had to do our own e-mails separately, yeah.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49- I'm Jim Bright.- I'm Catherine Bright.- I'm Tristan Bright.
0:04:49 > 0:04:53- My name is Nadia Gildeh... - ..Gina Watson...- ..Dennis Fernando. - ..John Grant.- ..Claire Cohen...
0:04:53 > 0:04:57- ..Henry Herrera. - My name is Jo...- My name is Craig... - Martin Jones...- ..Carly Enstone...
0:04:57 > 0:04:59- My name is Henry Costa. - I'm Jasmine Breinburg.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14It started in a room very like this.
0:05:14 > 0:05:15There you go.
0:05:15 > 0:05:19'I had this idea of a room, and there would be a bunch of us meet,
0:05:19 > 0:05:23'and so I thought, simultaneously, of a writer,
0:05:23 > 0:05:25'which is Frank.
0:05:25 > 0:05:27'Frank has enormous intelligence.'
0:05:29 > 0:05:33And it was Mark, a designer who I'd worked with a number of times.
0:05:33 > 0:05:35We wanted to design a whole world,
0:05:35 > 0:05:37so Mark was part of that initial group.
0:05:37 > 0:05:39Oh, my God!
0:05:39 > 0:05:42We set out to be personal with 10,000 volunteers, so...
0:05:42 > 0:05:43I thought, "I need another me,
0:05:43 > 0:05:46and who could that be?" and I thought, "It's Paulette."
0:05:46 > 0:05:47Paulette.
0:05:47 > 0:05:51'I thought, this is not going to work unless we have a producer,'
0:05:51 > 0:05:52and that's when I thought of Tracey.
0:05:52 > 0:05:56I didn't really know anybody who could do this if Tracey said no.
0:05:56 > 0:05:58Adam, especially, helped build
0:05:58 > 0:06:00basically a version of the show that we took to everybody
0:06:00 > 0:06:03to show them what they were getting involved in.
0:06:03 > 0:06:06And then music, Rick's part of the group Underworld,
0:06:06 > 0:06:08and I'd first come across their work on Dubnobasswithmyheadman,
0:06:08 > 0:06:10which is an amazing album they made,
0:06:10 > 0:06:12and actually was the soundtrack of Trainspotting.
0:06:12 > 0:06:17MUSIC: Dark and Long (Dark Train) by Underworld
0:06:17 > 0:06:21Danny is what I call an ideal collaborator.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24I remember being with him in meetings, and I'm telling you,
0:06:24 > 0:06:25if you didn't know what he looked like,
0:06:25 > 0:06:29you wouldn't know who the director was in that team.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32And then, suddenly, of course, he would say one word,
0:06:32 > 0:06:35or maybe a few words or a sentence,
0:06:35 > 0:06:37and you'd go, "Ah, that must be him."
0:06:39 > 0:06:43I live quite near where the planned occasion was,
0:06:43 > 0:06:44and when we won the Games,
0:06:44 > 0:06:46I remember reading a bit of speculation about who will do
0:06:46 > 0:06:49the opening ceremony, who will direct the opening ceremony?
0:06:49 > 0:06:52And I saw all these figures mentioned, and I was a bit peeved,
0:06:52 > 0:06:55I was like, "Oh, they should ask me, I live nearby as well!
0:06:55 > 0:06:57"I could do that!"
0:06:57 > 0:07:00And then I got this message saying, would I meet Marty Green,
0:07:00 > 0:07:02the head of ceremonies, and I met him and I said,
0:07:02 > 0:07:03"Yeah, I'll do that,"
0:07:03 > 0:07:08and then I met Seb, who's got to make the big decision, you know, who's he going to entrust with this?
0:07:08 > 0:07:11Do you think, let me ask you, do you think they thought to themselves,
0:07:11 > 0:07:13"Well, the last big thing we did was the Millennium,"
0:07:13 > 0:07:16and it was ruled by committee and it was problematic,
0:07:16 > 0:07:20so here, they obviously were thinking of something else.
0:07:20 > 0:07:21Slumdog had just come out.
0:07:21 > 0:07:23Yes, which had been a hit.
0:07:23 > 0:07:25There's huge advantages to appointing somebody like that
0:07:25 > 0:07:27to make it, who's had a hit.
0:07:27 > 0:07:29The downside is they might be difficult, you know,
0:07:29 > 0:07:31they might not be manipulable.
0:07:31 > 0:07:33But is it also like having an authorial voice
0:07:33 > 0:07:36- in a way that the Games hadn't? - I don't know.
0:07:36 > 0:07:39We were coming after China, obviously.
0:07:39 > 0:07:40DRUMMING
0:07:40 > 0:07:45And that had an authorial voice in the sense of a military economy.
0:07:47 > 0:07:51The British public were very nervous at the idea
0:07:51 > 0:07:54of Britain hosting the Olympics.
0:07:54 > 0:07:59There was this idea around that nobody could hope to better Beijing.
0:07:59 > 0:08:02RHYTHMIC DRUMMING
0:08:02 > 0:08:05CHEERING
0:08:05 > 0:08:08Britain decries itself too much - that's one of the problems.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11I mean, one of the things that they said was we'll never beat Beijing.
0:08:11 > 0:08:13Well, why would we want to beat Beijing?
0:08:16 > 0:08:17So you're following that, and of course,
0:08:17 > 0:08:21Beijing had been extraordinary, and it was one of the reasons everybody said,
0:08:21 > 0:08:23"You're insane, doing this, you'll fail."
0:08:23 > 0:08:25Because Beijing was just unfollowable,
0:08:25 > 0:08:27- and that was exactly why we did it, I think.- Yeah.
0:08:27 > 0:08:29You thought, exactly, it is unfollowable,
0:08:29 > 0:08:30and it's released everybody.
0:08:32 > 0:08:33It's very beautiful.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36'And ours was always going to be more idiosyncratic than that.'
0:08:36 > 0:08:37Part of my job was just to put
0:08:37 > 0:08:40inspiring quotations or images up on the wall,
0:08:40 > 0:08:43and one of them was a great line from GK Chesterton -
0:08:43 > 0:08:45"The world is not perishing for lack of wonders -
0:08:45 > 0:08:48"the world is perishing for lack of wonder,"
0:08:48 > 0:08:49and that your job is to,
0:08:49 > 0:08:51kind of, alert people to what is amazing.
0:08:51 > 0:08:53Another word we had was "belief," really.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56We wanted to create something that people could believe in,
0:08:56 > 0:08:57and belief, you can see -
0:08:57 > 0:08:59especially when you have a coalition government -
0:08:59 > 0:09:02belief is absent, generally.
0:09:02 > 0:09:05- The year before, there were riots across the country.- Yeah.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08'This is a public order warning.
0:09:08 > 0:09:11'Will all members of the public please disperse.'
0:09:11 > 0:09:14London was just in an absolute mess.
0:09:14 > 0:09:15Finances were bad.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17There were racial problems.
0:09:17 > 0:09:19Everybody was really miserable.
0:09:20 > 0:09:22Maybe I speak on behalf of a lot of Londoners when I say
0:09:22 > 0:09:24I was a bit sceptical about the whole thing.
0:09:24 > 0:09:28'Things have gone so wrong with 2012's security plans.'
0:09:28 > 0:09:32You did get a lot of people saying, "Well, I'm not staying around for the Olympics,
0:09:32 > 0:09:34"it's going to be rubbish, like everything else."
0:09:34 > 0:09:37'The 150-day countdown has begun.'
0:09:37 > 0:09:39I wouldn't say I was overconfident,
0:09:39 > 0:09:40but we're going to do our very, very best.
0:09:40 > 0:09:42People were quite, you know, pessimistic
0:09:42 > 0:09:44about the Olympics in general.
0:09:44 > 0:09:48People's expectations were rock bottom to the day that it happened,
0:09:48 > 0:09:51but despite all the irony and the sneering and the cynicism,
0:09:51 > 0:09:55there was this big body of people who wanted things to be better.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58There was an announcement on the radio in January,
0:09:58 > 0:10:01and it was Sebastian Coe saying, "We haven't got enough men."
0:10:01 > 0:10:04'You know, the difference again between good and great Games
0:10:04 > 0:10:05'is often the quality of those volunteers.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08'We have a website - get onto that, put your name down.'
0:10:08 > 0:10:11I went to the pub that night, when I heard the announcement,
0:10:11 > 0:10:14and told the guys in the pub that I was going to apply,
0:10:14 > 0:10:16and they all just laughed and said, you know,
0:10:16 > 0:10:18"You're too old, you can't move,
0:10:18 > 0:10:20"and it's going to be rubbish, anyway.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23"And you're not going to get paid, we don't know why you're doing it."
0:10:23 > 0:10:25I said, "Well, because it's going to be great."
0:10:32 > 0:10:33One of the things you learn very quickly
0:10:33 > 0:10:36is you need what's called a pre-vis.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40There are so many people you're going to have to persuade,
0:10:40 > 0:10:42you know, deflect,
0:10:42 > 0:10:44whatever it is you've got to do to these people,
0:10:44 > 0:10:47be they money people, be they artists you want to appear,
0:10:47 > 0:10:49people you want to reassure...
0:10:50 > 0:10:52So we built this pre-vis...
0:10:56 > 0:10:59..which was basically a version of the show that we took
0:10:59 > 0:11:01to everybody to show them what they were getting involved in.
0:11:02 > 0:11:04So that you could say to JK Rowling,
0:11:04 > 0:11:06"This is what you're going to be involved in,"
0:11:06 > 0:11:08and she could see what was planned.
0:11:09 > 0:11:11Cos for most people, it's like,
0:11:11 > 0:11:13they were carrying that cynicism that was around -
0:11:13 > 0:11:14everyone was saying...
0:11:14 > 0:11:17- So how early on did you do this? - Right from the get-go.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23So we all gathered round this table and began discussing ideas,
0:11:23 > 0:11:26and then gradually evolved a scenario.
0:11:26 > 0:11:28GEESE CHATTER
0:11:28 > 0:11:29COWS MOO
0:11:29 > 0:11:30We wanted to come from the land into the...
0:11:30 > 0:11:32- The green and pleasant land.- Yeah.
0:11:32 > 0:11:34SHEEP BLEAT
0:11:34 > 0:11:36It's the green and pleasant land.
0:11:36 > 0:11:38We're told these are real clouds
0:11:38 > 0:11:41that are going to be delivering real rain.
0:11:42 > 0:11:45- We had appalling pre-press.- Yeah.
0:11:45 > 0:11:49It allowed those cynics to go, "Ha, it's going to be Teletubbies!"
0:11:49 > 0:11:52- That's what they said, isn't it? - Yeah, "This is a disgrace!"
0:11:52 > 0:11:53LAUGHTER
0:11:53 > 0:11:55And of course, it's like...
0:11:55 > 0:11:58You can't get worn down by this cynicism that was around.
0:11:58 > 0:12:02And the ground that the Olympic Stadium was built on, of course,
0:12:02 > 0:12:03was recovered ground -
0:12:03 > 0:12:06it had been detoxified from the Industrial Revolution.
0:12:07 > 0:12:11But you start way back, when it was a land for sheep.
0:12:12 > 0:12:14And then it was really the Industrial Revolution.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17We discussed, and we thought, this figure, Brunel -
0:12:17 > 0:12:19especially in terms of the industrial landscape -
0:12:19 > 0:12:20he's like a figurehead, really.
0:12:20 > 0:12:23He also has this extraordinary physicality.
0:12:23 > 0:12:25We know that image of him, in front of the chains,
0:12:25 > 0:12:27or in front of the bridges that he built,
0:12:27 > 0:12:29with the stovepipe hat on, you know?
0:12:29 > 0:12:31And then, you think, what is our role?
0:12:31 > 0:12:34Post-Empire, built on the Industrial Revolution,
0:12:34 > 0:12:36what is it after that?
0:12:36 > 0:12:39And you go, we've built a National Health Service.
0:12:39 > 0:12:41- Looking after people. - As a nation...- Yeah.
0:12:41 > 0:12:43..we're going to look after these people,
0:12:43 > 0:12:46and that's linked to the sacrifice in the Second World War.
0:12:49 > 0:12:51And the other thing we've done is created music.
0:12:51 > 0:12:57# There's a starman waiting in the sky... #
0:12:57 > 0:12:59The way pop music has forged our identity, really.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02If you want to talk about what we have contributed to the world,
0:13:02 > 0:13:05- that music... Phew.- Yeah.
0:13:05 > 0:13:07# Is this the real life... #
0:13:07 > 0:13:09- and through the digital... - Digital revolution.
0:13:09 > 0:13:10The digital revolution.
0:13:10 > 0:13:13# Is this just fantasy... #
0:13:13 > 0:13:15So it's our story.
0:13:15 > 0:13:18It felt like our job was to represent everybody,
0:13:18 > 0:13:21- and that was done through the volunteers.- Yes.
0:13:30 > 0:13:34The audition was at 3 Mills Studios in Bromley by Bow.
0:13:34 > 0:13:38I turned up at nine o'clock, there was a very long queue of people,
0:13:38 > 0:13:42and there were people of all ages, shapes and sizes,
0:13:42 > 0:13:45so it wasn't like they were just looking for one type of person,
0:13:45 > 0:13:46which was really nice.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49- BIG BAND MUSIC PLAYS - Here we go...
0:13:51 > 0:13:54It was about three hours of just dancing, literally -
0:13:54 > 0:13:57the music started, I think Temujin and Sunanda, the two dance coaches,
0:13:57 > 0:13:59were there - they sort of just got us moving,
0:13:59 > 0:14:02and it wasn't really about being a professional dancer -
0:14:02 > 0:14:04it was more about just having a good time.
0:14:04 > 0:14:06OK!
0:14:06 > 0:14:08Temujin Gill and Sunanda Biswas were not your, kind of,
0:14:08 > 0:14:12regular choreographers who you expect to be doing West End shows.
0:14:12 > 0:14:14They were like community choreographers.
0:14:14 > 0:14:16What better people could you get?
0:14:17 > 0:14:20You got the call in the first place, didn't you?
0:14:20 > 0:14:21I got the call from Danny in my kitchen,
0:14:21 > 0:14:25and I thought, "Let's not get too excited, let's play it cool."
0:14:25 > 0:14:27Then he called me, and was like, "Argh!"
0:14:27 > 0:14:29THEY LAUGH
0:14:29 > 0:14:31BIG BAND MUSIC PLAYS
0:14:31 > 0:14:36You had to keep time, you had to keep your spacing.
0:14:36 > 0:14:38One more time!
0:14:38 > 0:14:42Several times, I lost my place, as did others.
0:14:42 > 0:14:45And what I did was just hope nobody noticed,
0:14:45 > 0:14:48and I joined in again as soon as I could, and I tried to cover up.
0:14:48 > 0:14:50Looking back, I think that's one of the things
0:14:50 > 0:14:54they were looking for - people who could carry on.
0:14:54 > 0:14:56Let's do it again, here we go.
0:14:58 > 0:15:00The first auditions were amazing.
0:15:00 > 0:15:03For me, it was like a free dance class, I guess,
0:15:03 > 0:15:04so I was just having fun.
0:15:04 > 0:15:08Whoo! Come on! Here we go!
0:15:08 > 0:15:10They were really revving people up and saying,
0:15:10 > 0:15:12"Think of it like a party, and you have to clap in time."
0:15:12 > 0:15:14You kind of get into the party vibe.
0:15:17 > 0:15:19And then you'd see people standing around
0:15:19 > 0:15:21in hi-vis vests with clipboards.
0:15:21 > 0:15:23It was perhaps one of the most surreal experiences
0:15:23 > 0:15:24of my entire life.
0:15:24 > 0:15:26We're not going to do the scary one,
0:15:26 > 0:15:29we're going to do the inquisitive one.
0:15:29 > 0:15:31It was really like drama school exercises.
0:15:31 > 0:15:34I've never been to drama school, but we learned a little routine.
0:15:34 > 0:15:38The choreographer was a man called Toby Sedgwick,
0:15:38 > 0:15:41and he had done the choreography for War Horse.
0:15:43 > 0:15:45It's the first time I'd worked with volunteers,
0:15:45 > 0:15:47and it was quite a challenge.
0:15:47 > 0:15:53We auditioned 250 people every night for something like two weeks,
0:15:53 > 0:15:56specifically for the Industrial Revolution.
0:15:59 > 0:16:02I'd split the 250 into groups of 50,
0:16:02 > 0:16:04and they'd go through various sequences,
0:16:04 > 0:16:07and then I would go round trying to guess.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10I'd just look, literally, at backs of all the numbers,
0:16:10 > 0:16:14and just go, "347, 392, 457,"
0:16:14 > 0:16:17and then count up how many I'd got that day.
0:16:17 > 0:16:19Five, six, seven, and,
0:16:19 > 0:16:22pull, tap-tap, pull, tap-tap,
0:16:22 > 0:16:24pull, tap, tap-tap.
0:16:24 > 0:16:27'I had no idea what to expect from the auditions, to be honest,
0:16:27 > 0:16:30but they got us to do all sorts.
0:16:30 > 0:16:33We didn't know what they were looking for, but they did.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36Cos the last thing you want is someone that can't dance,
0:16:36 > 0:16:38someone that can't take directions,
0:16:38 > 0:16:40and someone that can't take feedback.
0:16:40 > 0:16:42That does not help.
0:16:42 > 0:16:44Tap, tap, move...
0:16:44 > 0:16:47So in our third sequence, which is our music sequence,
0:16:47 > 0:16:51I heard about this guy, Kenrick Sandy, he ran this dance workshop.
0:16:51 > 0:16:53He is unremitting.
0:16:53 > 0:16:56He will not allow anything through, nothing!
0:16:56 > 0:17:00He's just brutal with you, and they love it!
0:17:00 > 0:17:03CHANTING AND RAPPING
0:17:03 > 0:17:05'I am a taskmaster, definitely.'
0:17:05 > 0:17:08I'm about creating warriors, I will create soldiers.
0:17:10 > 0:17:11I'm not about creating civilians.
0:17:11 > 0:17:13We do that every single day in our lives.
0:17:13 > 0:17:15When are we actually going to say to ourselves,
0:17:15 > 0:17:17"I want to be a superhero"?
0:17:18 > 0:17:19The e-mail said,
0:17:19 > 0:17:22"Dear John, you have been invited to be a performer
0:17:22 > 0:17:24"in the Olympic Games." I hit the roof.
0:17:24 > 0:17:26I was absolutely elated.
0:17:26 > 0:17:28I just jumped through the roof.
0:17:28 > 0:17:30My husband thought we'd won the lottery.
0:17:30 > 0:17:32He thought, what the hell's going on,
0:17:32 > 0:17:33and I'm screaming, "I'm in, I'm in!"
0:17:33 > 0:17:35And he was just like, "Stupid woman."
0:17:51 > 0:17:55I remember stressing that we were going to find a great double.
0:17:55 > 0:17:56I was a film director,
0:17:56 > 0:17:58I was going to cast an actor who looked the absolute spit of her,
0:17:58 > 0:18:01so it would be respectful, it wouldn't be, you know...
0:18:01 > 0:18:03And I remember us thinking,
0:18:03 > 0:18:05that'll be the thing, that's why they'd turn it down,
0:18:05 > 0:18:08and why we'll have to do her arriving on the Tube
0:18:08 > 0:18:10as the way of bringing the head of state in.
0:18:10 > 0:18:14And then we got this message back, not only did they want to do it....
0:18:14 > 0:18:16Well, do you remember, I went to that meeting, and I said to Danny,
0:18:16 > 0:18:20"You don't need to come because we're just going to talk logistics about...
0:18:20 > 0:18:23"I don't know, trying to land a helicopter at Buckingham Palace,"
0:18:23 > 0:18:24and Danny said, "Well, shall I come?"
0:18:24 > 0:18:28I was like, "No, no - I'll take the aerial team, this is going to be really dull."
0:18:28 > 0:18:29Anyway, went to this meeting...
0:18:30 > 0:18:32..and we arrived at the meeting...
0:18:32 > 0:18:36I remember the Duchy of Cornwall biscuits, as well,
0:18:36 > 0:18:39and it was all very nice, and, so I said,
0:18:39 > 0:18:42- "Well, we should talk about locations for Buckingham Palace..." - That's right.
0:18:42 > 0:18:44"..Danny will talk to you about a double."
0:18:44 > 0:18:45And all of a sudden, they said,
0:18:45 > 0:18:48"No, no, of course you don't need to find anywhere else -
0:18:48 > 0:18:51"the Queen isn't going to go to another location." Of course, I was like...
0:18:52 > 0:18:54How's that going to work?!
0:18:54 > 0:18:55LAUGHTER
0:18:55 > 0:18:59- Cos as far as I remember, we had the Queen before we had James Bond. - I think so, yeah.
0:18:59 > 0:19:00Mr Bond, Your Majesty.
0:19:00 > 0:19:04Frank wrote it up as a script based on Mark's idea,
0:19:04 > 0:19:06- but there was no dialogue in it originally.- No.
0:19:06 > 0:19:09And then she said, "I should say something."
0:19:09 > 0:19:11- I... - LAUGHTER
0:19:11 > 0:19:12I can't believe she built her part!
0:19:12 > 0:19:14LAUGHTER
0:19:14 > 0:19:15Good evening, Mr Bond.
0:19:15 > 0:19:17And there's a great expression, actually,
0:19:17 > 0:19:20on Daniel Craig's face as she walks past him.
0:19:20 > 0:19:23And he is brilliant, because he plays that thing of,
0:19:23 > 0:19:25"Well, I'm a fictional character..."
0:19:25 > 0:19:27Good evening, Your Majesty.
0:19:27 > 0:19:31"..and that's the real Queen walking past me. How does that work?
0:19:31 > 0:19:34- "I don't know!" And off he goes. - LAUGHTER
0:19:34 > 0:19:37And it is a, kind of, brilliant bit of meta-acting.
0:19:37 > 0:19:38HE LAUGHS
0:19:38 > 0:19:41- And they afforded us amazing access. - They did, yeah.
0:19:41 > 0:19:43OK, so, action, when you're ready, Kai.
0:19:43 > 0:19:44We worked with her corgis,
0:19:44 > 0:19:47cos we thought we'd have to bring corgis in.
0:19:47 > 0:19:48WHISTLING
0:19:48 > 0:19:49- Bunny!- Bunny, bunny!
0:19:51 > 0:19:53So we had to do the corgis running up the stairs.
0:19:53 > 0:19:55But one of the problems was, the scheduling of it,
0:19:55 > 0:19:58was that they have to have corgi tea with the Queen, so...
0:19:58 > 0:20:01- LAUGHTER - That's right, isn't it? - The corgi unit was shooting.
0:20:01 > 0:20:04The guy went, "Stop now, we've got to go."
0:20:04 > 0:20:07"No, Adam and I are in the middle of setting up a shot for this."
0:20:07 > 0:20:09- Steady.- And we're rolling.
0:20:09 > 0:20:11- And action, Kai.- Steady.
0:20:11 > 0:20:13If any of it had leaked,
0:20:13 > 0:20:17the sequence would never have been part of the ceremony,
0:20:17 > 0:20:18because it was like the great surprise,
0:20:18 > 0:20:20one of the great surprises.
0:20:20 > 0:20:21But it did sort of leak.
0:20:21 > 0:20:23It did sort of leak.
0:20:23 > 0:20:26They printed this story, they'd seen Daniel Craig,
0:20:26 > 0:20:30or somebody like Daniel Craig, going into the palace...
0:20:30 > 0:20:32in a taxi.
0:20:32 > 0:20:35And it was like, "What is this?!"
0:20:35 > 0:20:38And in fact, it was printed on April 1st,
0:20:38 > 0:20:42so everybody dismissed it as an April Fool's story that papers run.
0:20:42 > 0:20:46The one time in its entire history that the Sun told the truth,
0:20:46 > 0:20:48- and nobody believed it! - LAUGHTER
0:20:50 > 0:20:53We then moved to Dagenham, end of April, beginning of May.
0:20:53 > 0:20:57They took us on a bus to the actual site, at an old Ford plant.
0:20:57 > 0:21:00I don't think I really imagined the scale
0:21:00 > 0:21:03of what we were going to see when we got there.
0:21:06 > 0:21:08Oh, my God, that's when it definitely got real,
0:21:08 > 0:21:12because then you can see the magnitude of this operation.
0:21:12 > 0:21:14- LOUDSPEAKER:- 'Left, right, left...'
0:21:15 > 0:21:17Here we are in Dagenham!
0:21:17 > 0:21:19It was an enormous site,
0:21:19 > 0:21:23and in the middle was this enormous circus tent,
0:21:23 > 0:21:25which we assumed was where we'd be rehearsing,
0:21:25 > 0:21:28but actually, that was just for us to put our bags in.
0:21:30 > 0:21:31This is the tent, here.
0:21:32 > 0:21:35And they've got two, like, arenas outside,
0:21:35 > 0:21:38the size of the stadium, basically.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41And we are practising in FOP 2 today, and I'm on Vom 2.
0:21:41 > 0:21:44And they're practising over here - we're on a break at the moment.
0:21:44 > 0:21:46And they're just practising over there.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51535 is down the ramp and just to the left-hand side.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54GARBLED LOUDSPEAKER
0:21:54 > 0:21:578,000-plus people there - "I see how you're going to use the space!"
0:21:57 > 0:21:58HE CHUCKLES
0:21:58 > 0:22:01It started to piece itself together a bit.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04- LOUDSPEAKER:- Can you all hear me? - THEY CHEER
0:22:05 > 0:22:08RHYTHMIC DRUMMING
0:22:08 > 0:22:10So that they didn't get their own clothes wet,
0:22:10 > 0:22:13all the volunteers were given green boiler suits.
0:22:13 > 0:22:17I'll never forget, it really did look like North Korea.
0:22:17 > 0:22:20And we put the music on, and you'd hear this...
0:22:20 > 0:22:21Dum-da-da-dum-da-da...
0:22:21 > 0:22:23This rhythm, just incredible.
0:22:23 > 0:22:28All doing this choreography, and it just really looked like North Korea.
0:22:34 > 0:22:38From very early on, we all felt excited to be part of something
0:22:38 > 0:22:40so much bigger than us.
0:22:40 > 0:22:45"EYE OF THE TIGER" PLAYS
0:22:45 > 0:22:47THEY CHEER
0:22:48 > 0:22:50It was very open to the elements,
0:22:50 > 0:22:54and it was either baking hot, or...
0:22:54 > 0:22:56The rain!
0:22:56 > 0:22:59It just rained and rained and rained at Dagenham.
0:22:59 > 0:23:01Poor buggers in that rain.
0:23:02 > 0:23:04That grass is so damp.
0:23:04 > 0:23:06I think it rained the whole time.
0:23:06 > 0:23:08We were outside in the rain,
0:23:08 > 0:23:11pretending we were in a beautiful green and pleasant land -
0:23:11 > 0:23:12we were actually in a car park in Dagenham.
0:23:12 > 0:23:14Just awful.
0:23:14 > 0:23:16- VOICE ON FILM:- Mark time, mark time!
0:23:16 > 0:23:19Mark time if they're standing still, mark time.
0:23:19 > 0:23:20That's the first chimney up.
0:23:22 > 0:23:23First chimney up.
0:23:24 > 0:23:26INDISTINCT SHOUT
0:23:26 > 0:23:27- Could be.- Yeah.- Yeah.- Easy.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32And it was really quite demanding,
0:23:32 > 0:23:35trying to follow instructions for hours.
0:23:36 > 0:23:39I mean, the worst bit was taking everything off the stage,
0:23:39 > 0:23:42and people saying, "Well done, that was very good.
0:23:42 > 0:23:45"Now put it all back on again and we'll do it again."
0:23:45 > 0:23:48Come on, go on, let them go, let them go!
0:23:49 > 0:23:51Let them flow.
0:23:51 > 0:23:53Stopping them, that's nonsense.
0:23:53 > 0:23:57It felt like being a kid again, like, in a playground,
0:23:57 > 0:23:59because there was lots of waiting.
0:24:00 > 0:24:03That's the worst area, look, you can see it, you know,
0:24:03 > 0:24:06because they're waiting, with it already arrived.
0:24:08 > 0:24:10There were some of the days I did think,
0:24:10 > 0:24:11"Am I going to get to the 27th?"
0:24:11 > 0:24:14If I was honest, I thought maybe I wasn't.
0:24:14 > 0:24:16But as I got further into that journey,
0:24:16 > 0:24:19it was more and more people to let down if I was to pull out.
0:24:20 > 0:24:21That's amazing.
0:24:23 > 0:24:27- All of that, yeah, yeah.- When they're offstage like that, they're doing that, look.- Yeah, yeah.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30Look at that, it's amazing.
0:24:30 > 0:24:31But that's nice.
0:24:31 > 0:24:33When the Brunels splay out like that.
0:24:33 > 0:24:36Those that got it absolutely perfectly...
0:24:37 > 0:24:39..I would cast them as a Brunel.
0:24:39 > 0:24:41That's better, that's brilliant.
0:24:41 > 0:24:44I wanted an elite group.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47They weren't the workers, they were the Industrial Revolution,
0:24:47 > 0:24:49the signs of it.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52And they had to be really hot on the choreography.
0:24:53 > 0:24:55I'd work very simple sequences,
0:24:55 > 0:25:00so they would learn one sequence, like "lever handle."
0:25:01 > 0:25:05Movements have emotional qualities to them.
0:25:07 > 0:25:12You explain a lot, you essentialise about what the feeling is.
0:25:12 > 0:25:16Like, I had a door press, which would go, "Ker-tsssh."
0:25:16 > 0:25:20So all the movements had very mechanical sort of gestures.
0:25:20 > 0:25:24one, two, three, four, one, and...boom.
0:25:24 > 0:25:26Toby was great.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29I think he was responsible for giving us our character.
0:25:29 > 0:25:31He was definitely, you know...
0:25:31 > 0:25:34"When you hit the moves, you've got to hit them very precise."
0:25:34 > 0:25:38Just for the hell of it, make the movements a bit more precise.
0:25:38 > 0:25:40Just bit tighter.
0:25:40 > 0:25:43That's it, that's it, yeah, it makes a difference.
0:25:43 > 0:25:47'They were fantastic to work with, and they were so keen.
0:25:47 > 0:25:51'At the end of the evening, I'd say, "OK, go home, and while you're making an omelette in the kitchen,'
0:25:51 > 0:25:54"go through all the sequences, just keep going through them all -
0:25:54 > 0:25:58"in the bath, wherever you are, just keep doing the sequences."
0:25:58 > 0:26:02RHYTHMIC MUSIC PLAYS
0:26:02 > 0:26:04'And they'd come back the next week, and I'd say,
0:26:04 > 0:26:07' "OK, let's do Chisel Hammer," and they all had it.'
0:26:07 > 0:26:11You'd see 150 people all doing that, and you'd go, "Brilliant!"
0:26:11 > 0:26:14One, two, three, four.
0:26:14 > 0:26:16Great, great, brilliant!
0:26:16 > 0:26:17OK, let's go back.
0:26:23 > 0:26:26You will not be rehearsing outside.
0:26:26 > 0:26:29CHEERING
0:26:29 > 0:26:31The rehearsals were hard to some extent.
0:26:31 > 0:26:37They were long, and it was cold, but I think they kept the morale up.
0:26:37 > 0:26:39There was a lot of joking and laughing -
0:26:39 > 0:26:40it was quite good for bonding.
0:26:40 > 0:26:43- Five, six, seven, and a... - FOLK MUSIC PLAYS
0:26:43 > 0:26:45You've got to build up their language
0:26:45 > 0:26:48and their confidence in themselves, in each other,
0:26:48 > 0:26:50their joy of what they're doing.
0:26:51 > 0:26:53And when you do that, and you get that right,
0:26:53 > 0:26:55you can take anyone anywhere.
0:26:57 > 0:27:00LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE
0:27:08 > 0:27:11So, Rick, tell us about... The drumming, obviously, was a...
0:27:11 > 0:27:12Oh!
0:27:12 > 0:27:15One of the first things Danny spoke about to me
0:27:15 > 0:27:19was this particular sequence, the Industrial Revolution sequence.
0:27:19 > 0:27:21He wanted 1,000 drummers.
0:27:21 > 0:27:25We're actors that play the drums,
0:27:25 > 0:27:27so I want a bit of attitude,
0:27:27 > 0:27:28bit of swagger.
0:27:28 > 0:27:33We suddenly needed drums, and it had never honestly occurred to me,
0:27:33 > 0:27:35that, hang on, there's 1,000 of them,
0:27:35 > 0:27:40if it's £200 a pop, that's £2 million worth of drums.
0:27:40 > 0:27:43You know, this isn't going to happen.
0:27:43 > 0:27:46I remember them saying how expensive real drums were,
0:27:46 > 0:27:48and therefore we could only have 50 of them.
0:27:48 > 0:27:50- I think it was 50. - It was literally...
0:27:50 > 0:27:53- The drum budget...- And you thought, that's not the point.
0:27:53 > 0:27:55Then Danny turned round and went,
0:27:55 > 0:27:57"Give them buckets."
0:28:00 > 0:28:02As a drummer, I've got to say,
0:28:02 > 0:28:04I was expecting a drum, but...
0:28:04 > 0:28:05DRUMBEAT
0:28:05 > 0:28:09Anything that's got a hard surface is a drum, as a drummer.
0:28:09 > 0:28:10- DRUMBEAT - Excellent.
0:28:10 > 0:28:13Everything was relating to a size of bucket.
0:28:13 > 0:28:15We need big drums - dustbins -
0:28:15 > 0:28:19and a stick with a tennis ball on the end, let's try that,
0:28:19 > 0:28:21and the props department were amazing.
0:28:24 > 0:28:26Rick has this phrase about music,
0:28:26 > 0:28:30that it's the liquid architecture around our lives,
0:28:30 > 0:28:31and for those people,
0:28:31 > 0:28:35it was the throbbing architecture around their involvement
0:28:35 > 0:28:39in this show, really, and it wasn't just about then drumming -
0:28:39 > 0:28:41they were incredible, those rehearsals,
0:28:41 > 0:28:44and he should talk about how you teach people to drum who can't drum.
0:28:44 > 0:28:46Cos they turn up and they can't drum,
0:28:46 > 0:28:49"I can't drum! I can't drum. I can go like that."
0:28:49 > 0:28:50But to do anything more...
0:28:50 > 0:28:52And the way they teach them that is incredible.
0:28:52 > 0:28:54RHYTHMIC DRUMMING
0:28:54 > 0:28:58Tell me about Paul, because Paul clearly was the expertise,
0:28:58 > 0:29:00Now, how did Paul react?
0:29:00 > 0:29:03Paul Clarvis is an incredible percussionist,
0:29:03 > 0:29:05British percussionist.
0:29:05 > 0:29:07RHYTHMIC DRUMMING
0:29:07 > 0:29:09From his experience of rhythm, he said,
0:29:09 > 0:29:13"They can do this, they can do this, they can do this - don't worry.
0:29:13 > 0:29:15"Just say what you want to do, yeah, they'll be able to do that."
0:29:15 > 0:29:18RHYTHMIC DRUMMING
0:29:18 > 0:29:21It's really important when you're playing an instrument,
0:29:21 > 0:29:24your body works in a way that works with the instrument.
0:29:24 > 0:29:27This is my instrument - I'm going to get the best possible sound I can from it.
0:29:27 > 0:29:29When I pull this stick down, this stick goes up,
0:29:29 > 0:29:31so you start to use your body.
0:29:31 > 0:29:34This is going to be the biggest drum choir in the world,
0:29:34 > 0:29:36so we're working together as a team.
0:29:36 > 0:29:38'I don't think it is a science, drumming.
0:29:38 > 0:29:40'I think that if you can just play a beat
0:29:40 > 0:29:42'that makes somebody want to tap their feet...'
0:29:42 > 0:29:44One, two, three, four...
0:29:44 > 0:29:46'If everything's happening, and the beat's good
0:29:46 > 0:29:49'and you can tap your feet, you don't need to do anything else.
0:29:49 > 0:29:52'All you've got to do is make people want to tap their feet as a drummer.'
0:29:52 > 0:29:55RHYTHMIC STAMPING AND CLAPPING
0:29:55 > 0:29:58'I've always believed,'
0:29:58 > 0:30:00if you can say it, you can play it.
0:30:00 > 0:30:03And something that they all learned to say was,
0:30:03 > 0:30:06- IN RHYTHM:- "Play the drum so your mum can see you on TV,
0:30:06 > 0:30:09"play the drum so your mum can see you on TV,"
0:30:09 > 0:30:10a nice...
0:30:10 > 0:30:12PLAYS RHYTHM
0:30:12 > 0:30:14We were taught that phonetically,
0:30:14 > 0:30:16we were taught in our heads to say...
0:30:16 > 0:30:20- RHYTHMICALLY:- Play the drums so your mum can see you on TV.
0:30:20 > 0:30:22Play the drums so your mum can see you on TV.
0:30:22 > 0:30:25We teach people and if they have problems with that we say,
0:30:25 > 0:30:29we will move by putting it into smart chunks.
0:30:32 > 0:30:35Play the drum.
0:30:35 > 0:30:37Keep going!
0:30:37 > 0:30:39'It's 250 people doing that.'
0:30:39 > 0:30:41Sing it in your head.
0:30:41 > 0:30:45'And then when everyone's got that, then we take it a bit further.'
0:30:48 > 0:30:50Work together as a team.
0:30:52 > 0:30:54One, two, three, four!
0:30:56 > 0:30:59'Before they know it, after maybe half an hour,
0:30:59 > 0:31:02'after maybe 20 minutes, after maybe an hour,
0:31:02 > 0:31:05'play the drums so your mum can see you on TV.'
0:31:05 > 0:31:09So the first thing was the movement and understanding the words.
0:31:09 > 0:31:13The second thing was the drumming in relationship to your instrument...
0:31:14 > 0:31:18and then the last thing was working out the music.
0:31:18 > 0:31:20OK, now listen to the instructions.
0:31:22 > 0:31:25We are going to do some movement.
0:31:25 > 0:31:27It might not have been sense or common to me,
0:31:27 > 0:31:32but Paul brought these simple ideas which when we demonstrated them
0:31:32 > 0:31:36with the drum captains and myself just worked so brilliantly.
0:31:36 > 0:31:39One, two, three, four.
0:31:39 > 0:31:41Oh, yes!
0:31:41 > 0:31:43You go back to these people a few days later
0:31:43 > 0:31:46and they are beating out this rhythm, how are they doing that?
0:31:46 > 0:31:50- What is the other one? - I-am-in-need-of-a-drink.- Yes!
0:31:55 > 0:31:58This is a mass movement, this extraordinary thing that
0:31:58 > 0:32:02happened in our lives and we lead the world in, this Industrial Revolution,
0:32:02 > 0:32:05and we wanted literally make it visceral and you feel it.
0:32:12 > 0:32:16It was the people who were creating in front of them the Industrial Revolution.
0:32:16 > 0:32:18It was their music as well
0:32:18 > 0:32:22and you could feel this was their soundtrack, their heartbeat.
0:32:31 > 0:32:36The journey, the discovery was, oh, my goodness, this sound is astonishing.
0:32:37 > 0:32:40Hearing 1,000 people go...
0:32:46 > 0:32:50It remained as groups playing afterwards in after events,
0:32:50 > 0:32:54including one of them sadly died, passed away and they turned up
0:32:54 > 0:32:58at the funeral and played banging the drum so your mum can see one TV.
0:32:58 > 0:33:02And stuff like that. It is so emotional.
0:33:03 > 0:33:08All SOS cast on this channel come on, guys, let's go. Let's go.
0:33:08 > 0:33:14And the headphones guys, the back of your neck and under your ears, OK?
0:33:14 > 0:33:18I have just been told we've got four FM channels, right?
0:33:18 > 0:33:22The other thing that happened when we went to Dagenham was the in-ears.
0:33:22 > 0:33:26Every time it improves, just continue that.
0:33:26 > 0:33:28It was brilliant because they had this big tower as well.
0:33:28 > 0:33:30Sometimes you would climb the tower...
0:33:30 > 0:33:33- Yeah, I'm scared of heights... - Looking down on this...
0:33:33 > 0:33:37Let's go, let's go, let's go. Come on, come on, guys.
0:33:37 > 0:33:39All the beds were there by that time.
0:33:39 > 0:33:42We called the running track the M25 so you have the M25
0:33:42 > 0:33:46and then the field of play was the middle section.
0:33:46 > 0:33:48A little bit quicker, guys, if it's safe to do so,
0:33:48 > 0:33:50that would be fantastic.
0:33:50 > 0:33:55- VOLUNTEER 1:- I was one of the nurses that went around the M25.
0:33:55 > 0:33:59- VOLUNTEER 2: - My bed was in the G of G-O-S-H.
0:34:00 > 0:34:04We had a big double bed with a trampoline on it which
0:34:04 > 0:34:07we had children doing some trampolining.
0:34:07 > 0:34:09OK, persevering. Persevering.
0:34:11 > 0:34:14When we parked up the beds, then the dancing began.
0:34:14 > 0:34:19Dancers standing by for moving back into position.
0:34:19 > 0:34:23And go, M25. Well done, fantastic.
0:34:31 > 0:34:34Honestly, incredible.
0:34:34 > 0:34:37My goodness, we are going to conquer in the stadium on Tuesday.
0:34:57 > 0:35:04My name is Hamish and I am a live multi-camera television director.
0:35:04 > 0:35:08The pre-vis, I watched it and was like, "Oh, man. I'm in trouble!
0:35:08 > 0:35:11"I'm in big trouble here."
0:35:11 > 0:35:13Here you have a Hollywood, Oscar-winning movie director
0:35:13 > 0:35:17creating this pre-vis and a lot of the shots just weren't possible.
0:35:17 > 0:35:21It inspired me. It scared me.
0:35:21 > 0:35:23And it also said to me,
0:35:23 > 0:35:27"Right, we have to approach the television filming of this
0:35:27 > 0:35:33"in a completely different way to any previous Olympics ceremony."
0:35:33 > 0:35:36Keep going, keep going and stop!
0:35:43 > 0:35:47I can remember the first day we all went to the stadium
0:35:47 > 0:35:51and until that time I had not really been intimidated but then
0:35:51 > 0:35:54when we stood in there, I got a great picture of Danny
0:35:54 > 0:35:58literally looking into the space and thinking, "Oh, my God!"
0:35:58 > 0:36:02"It's huge." The space was ginormous.
0:36:02 > 0:36:05And also because it was such a big playing field, scale was important.
0:36:05 > 0:36:08He had to make events happen in different sections
0:36:08 > 0:36:12because the audience couldn't really take in everything.
0:36:12 > 0:36:15So we had to have multiples - each quadrant,
0:36:15 > 0:36:18each corner had to have something going on.
0:36:20 > 0:36:24PATRICK WOODROFFE: Pixels are something people had been trying to do for a long time.
0:36:24 > 0:36:26It was nice as a little effect
0:36:26 > 0:36:29but you could never have the power to make these things strong
0:36:29 > 0:36:32because the assumption was you could never wire up a whole stadium.
0:36:32 > 0:36:35And I think it was Danny's naivete that allowed us
0:36:35 > 0:36:37to make this thing happen because he said,
0:36:37 > 0:36:40well, as any great film director would say, "Wire the stadium!"
0:36:40 > 0:36:43So suddenly we had the possibility we could put
0:36:43 > 0:36:46a background in every single shot from wherever it came.
0:36:48 > 0:36:50The whole place looked like a building site
0:36:50 > 0:36:54and if you are lighting a building site in the pouring rain with
0:36:54 > 0:36:59people wearing plastic Macintoshes, it never looks any good.
0:36:59 > 0:37:03So I started to have a lot of doubts.
0:37:04 > 0:37:06And some nights I would think,
0:37:06 > 0:37:09"This could be the best work I ever made in my career"
0:37:09 > 0:37:14and the next night I could think, "This could be like a big disaster
0:37:14 > 0:37:18"and I could be responsible in large part for some of it!"
0:37:24 > 0:37:28Eventually we moved to the stadium and that was a lot cooler.
0:37:28 > 0:37:32It was just amazing to see how it was really coming together.
0:37:32 > 0:37:34If memory is correct,
0:37:34 > 0:37:39it was 22nd May 2012 and I have never seen anything like it.
0:37:39 > 0:37:43It was just awesome because you think, "Oh, my God.
0:37:43 > 0:37:44"This is where it will happen.
0:37:44 > 0:37:49"This is where one billion people will be tuning in on the night watching us!"
0:37:49 > 0:37:51Coming down!
0:37:51 > 0:37:54Thing that inspired me and scared me
0:37:54 > 0:37:59was actually the level of detail that Danny wanted to go to.
0:37:59 > 0:38:02If you watch his films, they are a visceral experience
0:38:02 > 0:38:04and these events are not usually visceral.
0:38:04 > 0:38:07They are usually pageantry, they have scale,
0:38:07 > 0:38:10they have lots of big statements and Danny wasn't talking like that.
0:38:10 > 0:38:13Danny was talking about getting right in there.
0:38:13 > 0:38:17Go straight to VT, Pyramix roll, should be auto fire on EVS.
0:38:17 > 0:38:21On the night, I am sat in a room, I have 40 views on this show,
0:38:21 > 0:38:25how do I make sure all my cameras are in exactly the right place
0:38:25 > 0:38:29for exactly the right moment and how do I get to the massive detail?
0:38:31 > 0:38:35We took the decision really early on that if we really want to
0:38:35 > 0:38:38get to the emotion of this, if we really want to get to the
0:38:38 > 0:38:41heart of this, and if we really want to get to the Danny detail
0:38:41 > 0:38:46of this, then we need to be embedded as a production side-by-side.
0:38:46 > 0:38:48Pre-roll on this one.
0:38:48 > 0:38:53So, we literally embedded cameras in with the volunteers from weeks out.
0:38:54 > 0:38:56OK, stand by.
0:38:57 > 0:39:01One of the most extraordinary days we had was the first
0:39:01 > 0:39:04time that we saw each other's sequences.
0:39:04 > 0:39:06We got them to sit in the auditorium
0:39:06 > 0:39:10and you could feel they thought that sequence was amazing.
0:39:10 > 0:39:13And therefore it made them feel...
0:39:13 > 0:39:15Maybe their sequence was going to be all right as well
0:39:15 > 0:39:19because that one was all right, the same kind of people.
0:39:19 > 0:39:24Also, what it did was make them go, "I've so made the right decision."
0:39:24 > 0:39:28So I'm going to keep going with this because it gets better and better.
0:39:29 > 0:39:34Let her play, let her play, let her play. Stand by 10. 10, go.
0:39:34 > 0:39:35Push 10.
0:39:37 > 0:39:39We started to do dress rehearsals, they allowed us
0:39:39 > 0:39:43to watch the other sections and that basically the started excitement up.
0:39:46 > 0:39:51All of a sudden, the pandemonium drummers started up behind us
0:39:51 > 0:39:54and they started the Industrial Revolution sequence
0:39:54 > 0:39:57and we didn't know anything about it.
0:39:57 > 0:39:59My jaw just dropped.
0:40:02 > 0:40:06Give me some grass, 13. Give me the grass being pulled up.
0:40:06 > 0:40:09I need stuff getting taken off. Stand by 12. 12, take.
0:40:11 > 0:40:13Stand by, four.
0:40:13 > 0:40:14And four, take.
0:40:16 > 0:40:19The magnitude of the event just kicks in a bit more
0:40:19 > 0:40:24because we can see the end of the tunnel now and we can see the set.
0:40:24 > 0:40:29We can see the set, the green and pleasant land, oh, my God, that is real grass. Ha-ha!
0:40:29 > 0:40:31You know, before we wasn't pulling real grass
0:40:31 > 0:40:37because up until that point it was a case of raise the chimneys with nothing quite to raise.
0:40:37 > 0:40:41And then we saw the chimneys, oh, my God, that is so clever. Oh, my God.
0:40:41 > 0:40:43They are so tall, like, wow!
0:40:43 > 0:40:46I don't really want to see technicians doing that.
0:40:46 > 0:40:49Drain it out. Don't offer me shots like that.
0:40:51 > 0:40:52The chimneys rising.
0:40:52 > 0:40:56One of the wonders we wanted to have happen was for everything
0:40:56 > 0:40:59to appear from the ground so we'd drawn up these 50 foot chimneys...
0:40:59 > 0:41:01At the time I thought we will be able to dig into the ground
0:41:01 > 0:41:04because that's what people do at the Olympics,
0:41:04 > 0:41:09they excavate huge holes. And then we got there course we had already had the turf laid
0:41:09 > 0:41:12for the track and field so you couldn't touch that.
0:41:12 > 0:41:13How are we going to get these chimneys up?
0:41:13 > 0:41:16We have six or seven feet underneath the stage
0:41:16 > 0:41:21and then a Dutch inflatable company said, "We can do this with air."
0:41:21 > 0:41:23We were going, "That is not going to work."
0:41:23 > 0:41:27The trick they did was attach a wire to the top,
0:41:27 > 0:41:30they forced it up like you would force up an inflatable dinghy
0:41:30 > 0:41:34but at the same time they held the pressure down so it kept it straight.
0:41:34 > 0:41:36To this day, I think
0:41:36 > 0:41:39some of the people still think we had 40 foot holes in the ground.
0:41:39 > 0:41:42There was lots of inventive people involved in making that happen.
0:41:42 > 0:41:46One of the amazing things for me was how crazy,
0:41:46 > 0:41:49dreamy and visionary engineers are.
0:41:49 > 0:41:52Creative people come in and say, "I do this."
0:41:52 > 0:41:54But engineers were coming and going,
0:41:54 > 0:41:59"I can make water that speaks..." or, you know, what?!
0:41:59 > 0:42:01They would say, "I have never been given the chance to
0:42:01 > 0:42:05"but I want to do this bizarre, unthinkable thing."
0:42:05 > 0:42:08Well, you have had that bottled up inside you waiting for us
0:42:08 > 0:42:10to ask, you know!
0:42:12 > 0:42:16In Dagenham we were rehearsing on the flat,
0:42:16 > 0:42:19it was something of a surprise when we got into the stadium to
0:42:19 > 0:42:25discover we had to push the beds up ramps to get onto the field of play.
0:42:25 > 0:42:27Remember you have the ramp to contend with.
0:42:27 > 0:42:30I know you have only done this once.
0:42:30 > 0:42:35Give it that bit of oomph beforehand but please make sure you are safe.
0:42:35 > 0:42:39I think everybody understood that the selection of the artistic
0:42:39 > 0:42:43director was a high-risk decision.
0:42:43 > 0:42:46You know, the other thing that was important was to keep people
0:42:46 > 0:42:48out of the way.
0:42:48 > 0:42:51And my early meetings with the Treasury,
0:42:51 > 0:42:54they wanted to fiddle and micromanage everything.
0:43:00 > 0:43:06This is what I was told rather than what I was present at
0:43:06 > 0:43:10but I know that the new Secretary of State for instance wanted to be very
0:43:10 > 0:43:14hands-on in the artistic content
0:43:14 > 0:43:18and I think that was quite a tense time.
0:43:18 > 0:43:21And Danny was absolutely clear this was his show.
0:43:23 > 0:43:25We did have some stand-offs.
0:43:25 > 0:43:29There were some moments, some big moments, yeah.
0:43:29 > 0:43:32The forces wanted us to cut one of the sequences,
0:43:32 > 0:43:33the NHS sequences.
0:43:33 > 0:43:37They wanted us to reduce that or cut it
0:43:37 > 0:43:39or make them just walk around the stadium.
0:43:41 > 0:43:45At one point Danny Boyle talked to us and said
0:43:45 > 0:43:50that our section had been under threat.
0:43:50 > 0:43:54When he said he might have to cut the section everybody was
0:43:54 > 0:43:58obviously very upset and I did think at the time I have been here
0:43:58 > 0:44:02for how many rehearsals, we have only got a few left,
0:44:02 > 0:44:05I would have been devastated if he'd cut us, to be honest.
0:44:05 > 0:44:07That was against the very nature of what
0:44:07 > 0:44:09we had built from the beginning.
0:44:09 > 0:44:11It wasn't about a particular sequence,
0:44:11 > 0:44:13it was about all the volunteers and if you make these
0:44:13 > 0:44:17kind of statements and make this inclusive action of involving
0:44:17 > 0:44:20people in the process, you're not going to them at cut the end.
0:44:20 > 0:44:21And that was very important to us
0:44:21 > 0:44:24and so you have to put your foot down.
0:44:24 > 0:44:26Danny Boyle decided if they cut our section,
0:44:26 > 0:44:30he was going to take all the volunteers, not just our section,
0:44:30 > 0:44:34the Pandemonium Drummers, everybody, and he was going to walk off.
0:44:34 > 0:44:38He would have known that this was not just a dancing gig for us,
0:44:38 > 0:44:42this was us presenting to the world what we stand for.
0:44:42 > 0:44:46The NHS sequence of course was a magical sequence both in design
0:44:46 > 0:44:51terms and the sense these are people who are genuinely these people.
0:44:51 > 0:44:53They were recruited from the NHS.
0:44:53 > 0:44:55Light up, M. M, light up.
0:44:57 > 0:45:01People had come off the night shift and turned up. It transformed me.
0:45:01 > 0:45:03You can see them looking at you because you're somebody who is known
0:45:03 > 0:45:08or they have seen your films or something, they are expecting me to transform them.
0:45:08 > 0:45:11It wasn't like that. It was they who transformed us
0:45:11 > 0:45:14because by that time we were saturated having dealt with
0:45:14 > 0:45:18the politics of the Olympics and then all these people started
0:45:18 > 0:45:21turning up and they had this look in there eye and it is,
0:45:21 > 0:45:27you could exploit it, which you do to a degree, but you can feed off it as well.
0:45:27 > 0:45:29And it kind of nurtured us through it.
0:45:31 > 0:45:33Everybody who had worked as a volunteer in it,
0:45:33 > 0:45:35their work was in the show.
0:45:35 > 0:45:37Stephen, welcome.
0:45:37 > 0:45:39We are talking politics.
0:45:41 > 0:45:44Obviously, Stephen, you are the executive producer,
0:45:44 > 0:45:47did you find there were pressures and how did you deal with them?
0:45:47 > 0:45:49Divergence of taste, perhaps,
0:45:49 > 0:45:52one could call it, would be the polite way of talking about it.
0:45:52 > 0:45:56Jeremy Hunt, and he wound up the Prime Minister to a certain extent,
0:45:56 > 0:46:01were very concerned with Britain's role in defeating fascism.
0:46:01 > 0:46:03Because it was like, where is the war?
0:46:03 > 0:46:06We won the war, we beat the fascists, where's the war?
0:46:08 > 0:46:10And that sort of went to the wire, really.
0:46:10 > 0:46:14In the end, Danny and I had to go without Jeremy Hunt to see
0:46:14 > 0:46:16the Prime Minister and just explain it wasn't going to happen
0:46:16 > 0:46:19and in the end I thought David Cameron did say,
0:46:19 > 0:46:21"It's your ceremony, it's fine," is what he said in the meeting.
0:46:21 > 0:46:23He did, yes.
0:46:23 > 0:46:27A spokesman for Jeremy Hunt said, "Jeremy rejects suggestions he was
0:46:27 > 0:46:31"anything other than a huge fan of the entire Opening Ceremony.
0:46:31 > 0:46:33"In fact, he personally authorised
0:46:33 > 0:46:36"an additional £40 million to fund it.
0:46:36 > 0:46:39"His only concern in the planning was the length of the show
0:46:39 > 0:46:43"because of the need to be sure everyone could get home safely.
0:46:43 > 0:46:46"Jeremy thought it was a superb spectacle."
0:46:46 > 0:46:52And the biggest political battle we had of the whole games was to film it ourselves.
0:46:52 > 0:46:55And from the darkness came the sound of the tubular bells.
0:46:58 > 0:47:01Because normally it is filmed by OBS and these are sports cameramen
0:47:01 > 0:47:04who come in and place their cameras where they're going to be for the games
0:47:04 > 0:47:06and then they happen to film the ceremony as it
0:47:06 > 0:47:08walks around the stadium which is why
0:47:08 > 0:47:11they like it to walk around so they can film it with those cameras.
0:47:11 > 0:47:14And we said from the beginning, "No, we are going to film this ourselves
0:47:14 > 0:47:15"because, in a modern digital age,"
0:47:15 > 0:47:18and that is what we were celebrating, "You have to have
0:47:18 > 0:47:22"a sophisticated visual vocabulary through which you are presenting your material."
0:47:25 > 0:47:29So, we get to the stadium and we get the opportunity to
0:47:29 > 0:47:32stay behind after our section had rehearsed
0:47:32 > 0:47:38and we start to see other segments and, to be honest, it was like, what the hell? Ha-ha!
0:47:38 > 0:47:40Like, what is this?!
0:47:40 > 0:47:43We have kids jumping on beds, we have the NHS and Mary Poppins
0:47:43 > 0:47:46and it didn't make sense at first.
0:47:51 > 0:47:55And it was like, is this a mishmash of stuff that is British?
0:48:03 > 0:48:07And, as I am peering over, seeing moving beds on the scene
0:48:07 > 0:48:10and that stuff, I get a tap on the shoulder and there,
0:48:10 > 0:48:13to my right, is Danny and he is like, "What do you think?"
0:48:13 > 0:48:15I'm like,
0:48:15 > 0:48:18"Oh, OK. It looks good!"
0:48:19 > 0:48:22What am I going to say to Danny Boyle?
0:48:22 > 0:48:24Whoohoo!
0:48:24 > 0:48:27Massive hands up, turn to your nearest audience, hands up,
0:48:27 > 0:48:30take a well-deserved bow, guys.
0:48:31 > 0:48:35Thanking you, 30 years in the business, thank you very much!
0:48:38 > 0:48:40- Goodbye, nurses. See you Monday. - Bye!
0:48:40 > 0:48:43Everyone was there, that's what I can't believe.
0:48:43 > 0:48:46Every single rehearsal, everyone was there.
0:48:46 > 0:48:48Everyone, you had to be putting in full effort at all times.
0:48:48 > 0:48:52It was a lot of time and energy.
0:48:52 > 0:48:55In our third sequence, which is our music sequence, we thought
0:48:55 > 0:49:00we will draw from the volunteers this family who live in the house.
0:49:00 > 0:49:03And whose daughter goes out into the town on the night
0:49:03 > 0:49:05and meets this boy and there's a romance and the classic tale
0:49:05 > 0:49:09is told through music as they head out into the town.
0:49:09 > 0:49:12And they would normally be professional dancers
0:49:12 > 0:49:15but we drew them from the volunteers.
0:49:15 > 0:49:17Did you imbue them with the storytelling?
0:49:17 > 0:49:19Yes, and I think the feeling we all had for them
0:49:19 > 0:49:24and we went and talked to them kind of makes them feel they are serious
0:49:24 > 0:49:28about this, they want this to be our show and therefore they respond.
0:49:29 > 0:49:32Because everyone was a volunteer, because everyone was
0:49:32 > 0:49:34so down to earth and they had a passion for being there,
0:49:34 > 0:49:39people would go home and practice, people wanted to be there.
0:49:39 > 0:49:43Nice, Jas. Nice, Henry. Keep that chest up, man.
0:49:43 > 0:49:47We needed to push our volunteers knowing that some of them
0:49:47 > 0:49:52have never danced before to a level where they are so comfortable
0:49:52 > 0:49:56that when a camera is in their face, they're still in character.
0:49:56 > 0:50:00- When the music plays, they have that composure.- Nice, smile, Jas.
0:50:00 > 0:50:02Keep it going.
0:50:02 > 0:50:03They defined the show
0:50:03 > 0:50:07because our instinct was the show was about them, about the nation.
0:50:07 > 0:50:10How incredible. Congratulations, guys.
0:50:10 > 0:50:13It was about Saturday night and boy meets girl on a Saturday night,
0:50:13 > 0:50:17they felt this was their story and this was their show.
0:50:17 > 0:50:20Cheese! One, two, three.
0:50:20 > 0:50:22They had the costume designer Suttirat Larlarb
0:50:22 > 0:50:24literally sewing their clothes on them.
0:50:24 > 0:50:29What Suttirat did was made those individual volunteers
0:50:29 > 0:50:31feel special, like this was their show.
0:50:33 > 0:50:36It was an incredibly arduous process.
0:50:36 > 0:50:41There were approximately 9,000 volunteer performers
0:50:41 > 0:50:45with about six component parts per costume on average.
0:50:45 > 0:50:49Around 54, 60,000 pieces of clothing.
0:50:49 > 0:50:52So, these are all the dresses.
0:50:52 > 0:50:56Hello, we are in the casting holding area.
0:50:56 > 0:51:00The Thanks, Tim section, we wanted to make sure to include also not just the
0:51:00 > 0:51:05great music at the time but also the great fashion coming at the time.
0:51:05 > 0:51:08Lucy! She's outside.
0:51:08 > 0:51:12We wanted to represent each of the decades so for instance in the
0:51:12 > 0:51:14'60s we had Bridget Riley and Op art
0:51:14 > 0:51:19and in the '70s we have Mark Bolan and David Bowie and in the
0:51:19 > 0:51:22'80s was Frankie Goes To Hollywood
0:51:22 > 0:51:24and the '90s was rave culture.
0:51:24 > 0:51:27And of course it has to be for television spectacular so there is
0:51:27 > 0:51:32elements of light incorporated into all those costumes.
0:51:36 > 0:51:42So in the Bridget Riley '60s section we had giant conical dresses
0:51:42 > 0:51:43that lit up.
0:51:48 > 0:51:51Each of those volunteers had a costume they felt,
0:51:51 > 0:51:53"I am a movie star. I am a movie star."
0:51:55 > 0:51:59Suttirat killed herself doing that.
0:51:59 > 0:52:02She didn't speak to me for six months after it finished.
0:52:02 > 0:52:05She's a personal friend, she wouldn't speak to me
0:52:05 > 0:52:07because we'd nearly ended her life!
0:52:07 > 0:52:10- Danny, are you all right if we lose the...?- Yes, absolutely.
0:52:10 > 0:52:13Also, if we want to do...
0:52:13 > 0:52:16We were so tired towards the end.
0:52:16 > 0:52:20There was a lot of sleeping on the hospital beds, almost NHS beds
0:52:20 > 0:52:22and I remember sitting in a meeting once,
0:52:22 > 0:52:25somebody else was talking and Danny was leaning on the desk looking
0:52:25 > 0:52:29at his papers and I looked at him
0:52:29 > 0:52:31and realised he was fast asleep!
0:52:33 > 0:52:37And I have a great photograph, fast asleep at the table.
0:52:39 > 0:52:42What sort of shot do you want? Just sheep moving about?
0:52:42 > 0:52:46Jill? Just moving around in the field, lovely.
0:52:46 > 0:52:48Come on, come on!
0:52:52 > 0:52:55Beautiful one that, guys.
0:52:55 > 0:52:58I felt sick the first time I drove in the stadium.
0:52:58 > 0:52:59I was really nervous.
0:52:59 > 0:53:02It was a brand-new Mini and it was really powerful
0:53:02 > 0:53:05and they used to call the track the M25.
0:53:05 > 0:53:08So you would hear on comms, "Can we clear the M25,
0:53:08 > 0:53:10"the Mini is coming out."
0:53:11 > 0:53:14We rise slowly and at some point in the music...
0:53:18 > 0:53:23- Oh, wow.- Michael Jackson's Thriller. - It is like that.
0:53:23 > 0:53:28I think we all certainly felt that our role, as small as it was,
0:53:28 > 0:53:31- was crucial.- We are loving this. You've done a great job.
0:53:31 > 0:53:34Absolutely fantastic. Thank you so much.
0:53:34 > 0:53:37I am so excited about what the show will look like.
0:53:37 > 0:53:40You were part of something bigger than yourself.
0:53:40 > 0:53:43There was that sense this was really something very,
0:53:43 > 0:53:48very important, not just for me or my family but for the nation.
0:53:53 > 0:53:58BORIS JOHNSON: I have never seen anything like this in my life.
0:53:58 > 0:54:00Are we ready?
0:54:00 > 0:54:03Are we ready? Yes, we are!
0:54:03 > 0:54:05The venues are ready, the stadium is ready,
0:54:05 > 0:54:09the aquatic centre is ready, the velodrome is ready.
0:54:09 > 0:54:11The security is ready, the police are ready...
0:54:17 > 0:54:20I remember the night before, we were all really nervous
0:54:20 > 0:54:24so we had to have a drink in the bar to calm our nerves.
0:54:24 > 0:54:25And a few Pimms and lemonade.
0:54:25 > 0:54:29JOHNSON: Are we worried about the weather,
0:54:29 > 0:54:34we're not worried about the weather!
0:54:34 > 0:54:39- Our main worry for the ceremony was if it did rain.- And then it rained.
0:54:40 > 0:54:43I thought, what is this going to look like?
0:54:43 > 0:54:47We're going to open the Olympics with everyone falling over.
0:54:49 > 0:54:53For me, I was most fixated on the car not starting or
0:54:53 > 0:54:58- halfway around conking out. - Anything can go wrong.
0:54:58 > 0:55:01Whatever you do on that day will be etched in history.
0:55:01 > 0:55:04I don't think I slept that well!
0:55:09 > 0:55:10I couldn't sleep.
0:55:10 > 0:55:12I was wondering if I was going to fail,
0:55:12 > 0:55:17if I would fall while running around the stadium, if anything could have happened.
0:55:17 > 0:55:22I was worried that the next day might be all of our faces
0:55:22 > 0:55:27with like, you know, when you go to jail,
0:55:27 > 0:55:33the mugshots being like, "These people ruined England or something."
0:55:33 > 0:55:35And again please.
0:55:37 > 0:55:41Number one. It's crackling, apparently.
0:55:43 > 0:55:46Going into it, I was certainly nervous.
0:55:46 > 0:55:49Because, ultimately, if something had gone wrong or something had
0:55:49 > 0:55:54not happened, I am the guy that has to say, "Cut to black!"
0:55:54 > 0:55:56Three, two, one. Go.
0:55:57 > 0:56:01I didn't want that on my head. But, yeah...
0:56:27 > 0:56:31OK. This is it. This is D-Day, or whatever you want to call it.
0:56:31 > 0:56:35This is, Um... I am feeling a bit emotional.
0:56:35 > 0:56:37It's the Opening Ceremony today.
0:56:37 > 0:56:39- REPORTER:- In just a matter of hours,
0:56:39 > 0:56:42the eyes of the world will turn to the stadium.
0:56:42 > 0:56:43This is the big day.
0:56:43 > 0:56:47I can see inside, how exciting. It's all happening.
0:56:47 > 0:56:49Hello! Are you all right?
0:56:49 > 0:56:51If you can scan the badge for me...
0:56:54 > 0:56:56July 27th!
0:56:56 > 0:56:59SCREAMING
0:56:59 > 0:57:02We are performing in a few hours in there!
0:57:04 > 0:57:08Keep the concentration going, really good. Well done.
0:57:08 > 0:57:10APPLAUSE
0:57:10 > 0:57:15CHANTING: Toby, Toby, Toby!
0:57:15 > 0:57:16I think I was very nervous.
0:57:18 > 0:57:22I arrived early in the morning and just walked around the green
0:57:22 > 0:57:26and pleasant land and that was quite calming, actually.
0:57:26 > 0:57:29Late. Late.
0:57:31 > 0:57:34Tonight, it's what we've been working for, OK.
0:57:34 > 0:57:37So soak up the moment and I promise you this will be stuff you
0:57:37 > 0:57:39will remember for the rest of your life.
0:57:39 > 0:57:41This is what this country is all about.
0:57:41 > 0:57:44It is about you lot and you have done yourself really proud.
0:57:44 > 0:57:47Go out, have a great night. Well done.
0:57:47 > 0:57:50CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:57:54 > 0:57:57Come on, keep going. Practice.
0:57:57 > 0:58:01- How are you feeling about this situation?- So excited.- How excited?
0:58:01 > 0:58:04SHE SQUEAKS
0:58:04 > 0:58:06Looking smart. Kind of.
0:58:07 > 0:58:10There was a huge buzz as everybody got themselves ready.
0:58:11 > 0:58:15No gruel for weeks!
0:58:15 > 0:58:17Not only the nurses, we were fraternising
0:58:17 > 0:58:20and talking with the Industrial Revolution cast,
0:58:20 > 0:58:24Green And Pleasant Land cast and the Thanks, Tim cast.
0:58:25 > 0:58:28Everyone was taking photos with everyone else.
0:58:28 > 0:58:32And the whole thing felt really like a fiesta.
0:58:34 > 0:58:37# ..to treat me like you do! Na-na-na-na..! #
0:58:39 > 0:58:41Everybody shovel pickaxe.
0:58:43 > 0:58:44I am living the dream!
0:58:46 > 0:58:48I am way above the hills!
0:58:52 > 0:58:54- I am making history.- You are.
0:58:54 > 0:58:57Imagine, my name is in the book!
0:59:01 > 0:59:05REPORTER: It is called the greatest show on Earth. It's in London
0:59:05 > 0:59:06and it is about to begin.
0:59:11 > 0:59:14We then were given our call up.
0:59:14 > 0:59:17This is our last walk, really sad.
0:59:17 > 0:59:23- Hello.- Last walk.
0:59:23 > 0:59:27My name is Evelyn Glennie and I was one of the drummers.
0:59:27 > 0:59:30There is quite a long walk from the dressing room, it is
0:59:30 > 0:59:36almost like walking to the gallows where the goose bumps really,
0:59:36 > 0:59:39the body is in a completely different state.
0:59:42 > 0:59:45Stand by VOM 5 for that woodsman.
0:59:45 > 0:59:47And the red arrows fly-past. Go!
0:59:49 > 0:59:53- Good Lord.- It is a nervousness that you're never going to get again.
0:59:53 > 0:59:56The Red Arrows fly over the stadium, wow,
0:59:56 > 0:59:58this is a really important event.
1:00:02 > 1:00:03WHOOPING
1:00:06 > 1:00:08- Oh, God, we can't stop now. - SHE LAUGHS
1:00:09 > 1:00:11Can we?
1:00:14 > 1:00:17'By the time we got to the stadium
1:00:17 > 1:00:20'we were really feeling quite nervous, I think.'
1:00:24 > 1:00:28Make sure you get that first one really nice and crisp.
1:00:28 > 1:00:31That elbow... Bam!
1:00:31 > 1:00:34- Good luck, guys!- Good luck!
1:00:34 > 1:00:35Good luck, guys!
1:00:36 > 1:00:37'I felt there was a good feeling.
1:00:37 > 1:00:40'I felt that there WOULD be a good response, but I don't think
1:00:40 > 1:00:42'I thought about it too much, I was more concerned about
1:00:42 > 1:00:44'if I was going to forget what
1:00:44 > 1:00:46'I was doing or whether my make-up was going to be right
1:00:46 > 1:00:48'or if that bed was going to run anyone over on the way out!'
1:00:51 > 1:00:54I'm going to take this moment to wish everybody love and luck for tonight.
1:00:54 > 1:00:57Cos after this it just goes from one minute to the next.
1:00:57 > 1:00:59'The ceremony started at nine o'clock,
1:00:59 > 1:01:05'but we walked out into the floor of the stadium at quarter past seven.'
1:01:06 > 1:01:09Standing by for vom one...
1:01:10 > 1:01:13We've got rain. Oh, no. OK, it's raining...
1:01:14 > 1:01:20- LORD COE:- It started to rain at ten past seven in the evening.
1:01:20 > 1:01:23And I thought, "Please, not tonight."
1:01:23 > 1:01:28And this is the only time I've genuinely seen Danny flustered,
1:01:28 > 1:01:30was when it started to drizzle.
1:01:30 > 1:01:32And what it would have meant
1:01:32 > 1:01:35was we couldn't have had the rings with the flames.
1:01:36 > 1:01:40An hour before the show only three of the Olympic rings were lit up.
1:01:40 > 1:01:43And the other two, all the electrics were soaked
1:01:43 > 1:01:46and they had people up there with hairdryers!
1:01:46 > 1:01:49Would have meant more than just a technical mishap, it would have been
1:01:49 > 1:01:52political in its awfulness.
1:01:53 > 1:01:56It affected the props, particularly the clouds,
1:01:56 > 1:01:58but the rain was very, very light and then it stopped
1:01:58 > 1:02:00and it was fine after that
1:02:00 > 1:02:02so the clouds all flew beautifully
1:02:02 > 1:02:04and everyone was smiling.
1:02:04 > 1:02:07Stand by for music cue zero, please, Nimrod.
1:02:07 > 1:02:0820:59...
1:02:10 > 1:02:11OK, guys.
1:02:11 > 1:02:15I'm with you, we're about to go live to the world...
1:02:16 > 1:02:19EXCITED HUBBUB
1:02:19 > 1:02:20Good luck...
1:02:20 > 1:02:23Voms 3 and 5, balloon children...
1:02:23 > 1:02:25Go.
1:02:25 > 1:02:27MUSIC: Nimrod from Elgar's Enigma Variations
1:02:27 > 1:02:29Mr Wiggins on stage.
1:02:31 > 1:02:35Stand by, we've got him on 25, take 25!
1:02:35 > 1:02:36Lovely, lovely, lovely...
1:02:36 > 1:02:38CHEERING
1:02:38 > 1:02:41'Before going on stage we were all sort of psyching ourselves up...'
1:02:42 > 1:02:45Bradley ring the bell, now...
1:02:45 > 1:02:46BELL CLANGS
1:02:46 > 1:02:48'All the Brunels are in position,
1:02:48 > 1:02:50everyone's giving themselves top hat nod,
1:02:50 > 1:02:53'just making sure everyone's on form, everyone knows where they are,
1:02:53 > 1:02:55'and then we get the cue in the air...'
1:02:55 > 1:02:57This is Toby. Good luck, everybody, have a ball.
1:02:57 > 1:02:59Music cue two... Go.
1:02:59 > 1:03:01# And did those feet in ancient time... #
1:03:01 > 1:03:04Voms one, two. Brunels - go.
1:03:04 > 1:03:08- '"And go." And then it's like, "Oh, my God!"' - HE LAUGHS
1:03:08 > 1:03:10OK, start to notice the Brunels...
1:03:10 > 1:03:12Just start to notice them.
1:03:12 > 1:03:16# And was the holy Lamb of God... #
1:03:16 > 1:03:19Cricket match stop, and just notice them walking by...
1:03:19 > 1:03:21# ..On England's pleasant pastures seen... #
1:03:21 > 1:03:24"This green and pleasant land", "this isle of wonder" -
1:03:24 > 1:03:27it's a very low-key opening for such a sort of big event.
1:03:27 > 1:03:29We had a lot of internal confidence about what we were doing.
1:03:29 > 1:03:32We wanted the people who were there on the evening
1:03:32 > 1:03:35to actually experience something when they walked into the stadium,
1:03:35 > 1:03:38so we had this idea that there'd be little motifs playing out
1:03:38 > 1:03:41of cricket, or farming...
1:03:41 > 1:03:43- And we had these balloons walking round...- Clouds.
1:03:43 > 1:03:45The clouds, it was magical,
1:03:45 > 1:03:48and it had a double benefit because it set a tempo
1:03:48 > 1:03:49that was narrative,
1:03:49 > 1:03:53but also those kind of slings and arrows of people accusing you of doing the Teletubbies...
1:03:53 > 1:03:56We were sort of able to laugh that off, cos we knew we had this idea
1:03:56 > 1:04:00that this land was going to be literally transformed.
1:04:02 > 1:04:04Stand by for Pandemonium.
1:04:04 > 1:04:07- How you feeling? Just about to go on.- Fantastic.
1:04:07 > 1:04:09Yeah, good mate. Good.
1:04:09 > 1:04:10Big moment?
1:04:10 > 1:04:12It's building, mate. It's building.
1:04:12 > 1:04:1480,000...
1:04:15 > 1:04:16And the rest of the other billion?
1:04:18 > 1:04:20Yeah. All the family's here watching.
1:04:20 > 1:04:24Three...two...one.
1:04:24 > 1:04:26Ken... Go.
1:04:26 > 1:04:29- KENNETH BRANAGH:- Be not afeard!
1:04:30 > 1:04:32Be not afeard.
1:04:33 > 1:04:36The isle is full of noises.
1:04:36 > 1:04:41Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not...
1:04:41 > 1:04:43'It was very overwhelming.
1:04:43 > 1:04:47'It's just the adrenaline - this is now a full stadium.
1:04:47 > 1:04:48'You could hear the cheers.
1:04:48 > 1:04:51'These are things that you haven't rehearsed or prepared for.'
1:04:51 > 1:04:53Standing by for drummers and scene change...
1:04:53 > 1:04:56Stand by for the tree to left, stand by for warriors,
1:04:56 > 1:04:58and stand by for cast entry onto the field of play.
1:04:58 > 1:05:00Voms one, two, three, five and six...
1:05:00 > 1:05:02..To dream again!
1:05:02 > 1:05:04Go.
1:05:05 > 1:05:07'I still remember Rick saying, "I'm with you."
1:05:07 > 1:05:09'And it was such a beautiful thing for him to say...'
1:05:09 > 1:05:12Working men and women, stand by for lever chisel...
1:05:12 > 1:05:15And rumble in one, two, three, four...
1:05:15 > 1:05:19'He must have just been aware there's a load of people here
1:05:19 > 1:05:21'who have never, ever done anything like this.'
1:05:23 > 1:05:27And finish in one, two, three, four...
1:05:27 > 1:05:32- Single bosh and "Hoy!", two, three, four.- ALL:- Hoy!
1:05:32 > 1:05:35- DANNY BOYLE:- The other one to do with this sequence of moving
1:05:35 > 1:05:37into the Industrial Revolution was Evelyn Glennie.
1:05:39 > 1:05:41Rick was particularly interested
1:05:41 > 1:05:44in this commitment to sound
1:05:44 > 1:05:47and commitment when you strike something.
1:05:47 > 1:05:49And that really helped me to think
1:05:49 > 1:05:53how I might project this piece of music.
1:05:53 > 1:05:55Because it was such a large arena,
1:05:55 > 1:05:58it needed to be almost over the top in a way.
1:05:58 > 1:06:01And finish in one, two, three, four...
1:06:01 > 1:06:04Scene change and all cast...
1:06:04 > 1:06:07Single bosh and "Hoy!", two, three, four...
1:06:07 > 1:06:09Go...
1:06:09 > 1:06:12Rumble, two, three, four.
1:06:12 > 1:06:15Scene change has begun.
1:06:15 > 1:06:17Go, go...
1:06:17 > 1:06:20And again, four... Keep it going, three, four...
1:06:22 > 1:06:27Plastic buckets, one, two, three, four...
1:06:28 > 1:06:32Bosh and yell, one, two, three, four...
1:06:32 > 1:06:34Keep it going...
1:06:34 > 1:06:38'It actually meant a great deal to me being a black Brunel.
1:06:38 > 1:06:40'That says "Anyone can be this man."
1:06:40 > 1:06:43'Times have changed. We're living in multicultural Britain now.
1:06:43 > 1:06:47'The concept was transformation of England
1:06:47 > 1:06:49'as a green and pleasant land driven by agriculture
1:06:49 > 1:06:52'into this Industrial Revolution.'
1:06:52 > 1:06:56- There are aisles coming up... - Bosh...
1:06:56 > 1:06:59Drummers who have a clear aisle - go!
1:06:59 > 1:07:02'I don't how many countries understood what we were doing -
1:07:02 > 1:07:07'I think there was a lot of Americans confused Brunel with Abraham Lincoln...'
1:07:07 > 1:07:11Plastic and metal buckets, one two, three, four...
1:07:11 > 1:07:13The track was fantastic.
1:07:13 > 1:07:19It reinforced the feeling of inevitability, of modernisation.
1:07:21 > 1:07:23Stand by trap four, down please...
1:07:23 > 1:07:26- Standing by.- Trap four - down, go.
1:07:27 > 1:07:30The wonderful thing about the volunteers in that whole moment was
1:07:30 > 1:07:32that grass had to go,
1:07:32 > 1:07:34and there was acres of it -
1:07:34 > 1:07:37I mean, it is like shop loads of carpet roll...
1:07:37 > 1:07:39There's a sort of chaos.
1:07:39 > 1:07:43It's chaotic but it forms a rhythm and then starts to comes together,
1:07:43 > 1:07:45and then these things start to pulse -
1:07:45 > 1:07:48the Industrial Revolution forms out of the ground, and...
1:07:48 > 1:07:50"Come on, watch this!"
1:07:50 > 1:07:52- DANNY BOYLE:- Well, that first section, what is it?
1:07:52 > 1:07:54It's just one massive scene change,
1:07:54 > 1:07:57maybe the biggest scene change there's ever been.
1:07:57 > 1:08:01- Trap two is clear to fly. - Stand by, trap two - up, please.
1:08:01 > 1:08:02Aerial.
1:08:02 > 1:08:04Trap two - up, go.
1:08:04 > 1:08:07Come on, let's give it some more energy, more energy!
1:08:08 > 1:08:10Looking for the suffragettes on 13...
1:08:10 > 1:08:13'It was chaos. Honestly. Absolute chaos.
1:08:13 > 1:08:16'You have to make decisions on the night about what you want to do
1:08:16 > 1:08:18'and you have to live with them after,
1:08:18 > 1:08:20'but there was stuff happening everywhere.
1:08:20 > 1:08:23'All in the wrong sequencing,
1:08:23 > 1:08:25'and there were things happening
1:08:25 > 1:08:29'at exactly the same time so I couldn't cover them both.'
1:08:29 > 1:08:32Suffragettes, 13, are they there...?
1:08:32 > 1:08:33Where have my suffragettes gone?
1:08:35 > 1:08:37OK. Let's take it up. Let's go to 7.
1:08:37 > 1:08:39Stand by, 7...
1:08:39 > 1:08:40'The shot that I really missed
1:08:40 > 1:08:42'was a shot within the suffragette scene.
1:08:42 > 1:08:45'And at exactly that point on the night,
1:08:45 > 1:08:47'though not in rehearsals,
1:08:47 > 1:08:50'Kenneth Branagh was in the zoetrope.
1:08:50 > 1:08:52'And the zoetrope should have fired.'
1:08:52 > 1:08:54OK...
1:08:55 > 1:08:57OK, come on, firing... Is that it?
1:08:57 > 1:08:59Is that it?
1:09:00 > 1:09:05'So I was on the zoetrope waiting for it to fire -
1:09:05 > 1:09:08'meanwhile the suffragette scene
1:09:08 > 1:09:11'is happening the other end of the stadium.'
1:09:12 > 1:09:16- Yes, missed it.- Missed it. Go to 15, please...
1:09:16 > 1:09:19'So you're trying to put all this in the back of the mind
1:09:19 > 1:09:21'but it does affect you, and afterwards I felt really bad.
1:09:21 > 1:09:25'I kind of thought about all these people who'd been telling their mums
1:09:25 > 1:09:28'and their dads "I'm going to be on television,
1:09:28 > 1:09:31' "I'm in the suffragette scene" - and they weren't.'
1:09:31 > 1:09:33Right! Left! Right! Left!
1:09:34 > 1:09:36Prepare for poppy moment...
1:09:36 > 1:09:40Any masking by ramp one, can we get the drummers after the poppy moment
1:09:40 > 1:09:43to move out of the way for some Chelsea Pensioners?
1:09:43 > 1:09:47- EVELYN GLENNIE:- 'It was very important to make sure that it was
1:09:47 > 1:09:49'the people's ceremony.
1:09:49 > 1:09:51'You know, that the people were giving this ceremony.'
1:09:52 > 1:09:57Everyone bosh in one, two, three, four...
1:09:58 > 1:10:00Keep it going.
1:10:00 > 1:10:02Keep it going...
1:10:02 > 1:10:06'The group of drummers we had were so mixed in age,
1:10:06 > 1:10:09'gender of course... It was fantastic.'
1:10:09 > 1:10:11Metal buckets boldly go...
1:10:11 > 1:10:15One, two, three, four...
1:10:15 > 1:10:16- DANNY BOYLE:- Through Pandemonium,
1:10:16 > 1:10:20we'd got this Industrial Revolution going. It's like, 15 minutes -
1:10:20 > 1:10:22Rick's written this piece of music, And I Shall Kiss,
1:10:22 > 1:10:25and it's 15 minutes long cos that's how long it takes
1:10:25 > 1:10:28to clear that stuff and get the stuff erected.
1:10:28 > 1:10:32So then we decided, "Right, we're going to have a carnival going on around..."
1:10:32 > 1:10:37And I remember aisle C were just bewildered at this time lapse
1:10:37 > 1:10:38that was going to be involved.
1:10:38 > 1:10:41The Industrial Revolution, they got their head around that,
1:10:41 > 1:10:45"That's Victorian, about 18-something, but you're going to
1:10:45 > 1:10:47"have The Beatles... walking round?!"
1:10:47 > 1:10:50Yeah, and we're going to have Windrush.
1:10:50 > 1:10:54We're going to have one of the great transformational moments
1:10:54 > 1:10:57of music, culture, of our history,
1:10:57 > 1:11:00arrives when our past joins us.
1:11:00 > 1:11:02You know, what we've built our empire on, turns up.
1:11:02 > 1:11:06Now, I remember Mark saying, "Yeah, let's have the Windrush itself."
1:11:06 > 1:11:08- So we built the Windrush! - OTHERS LAUGH
1:11:08 > 1:11:11And the Windrush comes into the stadium.
1:11:11 > 1:11:14'I was very glad to see that - "Wow, he included the Windrush!"
1:11:14 > 1:11:17'My dad came here, first-generation West Indian.'
1:11:17 > 1:11:20When I saw that I was like, "Ohhh."
1:11:20 > 1:11:24They had to be kind of amazed, confused and lost and excited,
1:11:24 > 1:11:28- and scared...!- And then they had to repeat it every 100 yards.
1:11:28 > 1:11:30They had to go through those same things again!
1:11:30 > 1:11:33And the Grimethorpe Colliery Band is going round as well,
1:11:33 > 1:11:36- and the pearly kings and queens are going round.- Yellow Submarine...
1:11:36 > 1:11:38And the suffragettes.
1:11:38 > 1:11:41The suffragettes fall in front of the horse...
1:11:41 > 1:11:44That is the a British sensibility as well, which is the surreal.
1:11:44 > 1:11:46It isn't just about the surreal, though, is it, Danny?
1:11:46 > 1:11:50It's your whole premise of the whole ceremony was it shouldn't be boring.
1:11:50 > 1:11:52That as soon as one thing had started
1:11:52 > 1:11:55something else was going to start almost at the same time.
1:11:55 > 1:11:59Forgers and smelters, swing and hit
1:11:59 > 1:12:00and swing and hit...
1:12:01 > 1:12:03'I had a specialist role
1:12:03 > 1:12:07'working as a forger. We had these leather masks to wear
1:12:07 > 1:12:09'with goggles, steel was being produced,
1:12:09 > 1:12:11'and a river of steel
1:12:11 > 1:12:14'ran into the centre of the Olympic Stadium on the playing field,
1:12:14 > 1:12:16'which we converted into a ring.
1:12:16 > 1:12:20'And that was the link to the five Olympic rings, and the other four
1:12:20 > 1:12:23'were revealed and came in from the roof of the stadium.'
1:12:23 > 1:12:25Stand by, aerial, for the roof rings, please...
1:12:25 > 1:12:27- Aerial.- Thank you.
1:12:27 > 1:12:30I mean, clearly one of the things that must have impressed people
1:12:30 > 1:12:33is how you integrated the rings into the Industrial Revolution scene.
1:12:35 > 1:12:38Did that idea emerge early on? How did that come...
1:12:38 > 1:12:41That came out of discussions we were having, because the rings have to be displayed.
1:12:41 > 1:12:44And I remember the Chinese one was extraordinary -
1:12:44 > 1:12:47they were pulled off the floor, and they were like diamante.
1:12:47 > 1:12:50- Mm.- And I remember saying, "Ours have got to be...
1:12:50 > 1:12:53- Earth.- "..visceral, they've got to come from the ground."
1:12:53 > 1:12:57And so we came up with the idea of the rings being forged.
1:12:57 > 1:13:00Some of them who were brave were the forgers who'd be making the rings,
1:13:00 > 1:13:02cos then they got showered with this
1:13:02 > 1:13:05fire at the end and they had to wear special clothing...
1:13:05 > 1:13:06Sound effects for the pyro. Go.
1:13:07 > 1:13:11Some of them are burning, on the night! But they won't move...
1:13:12 > 1:13:13Look at what you did!
1:13:13 > 1:13:18- Look at what you did - so, so, proud... - MUSIC SWELLS
1:13:19 > 1:13:23'We were told that this was going to be the key moment - all the cameras
1:13:23 > 1:13:24'of the world would be on us,
1:13:24 > 1:13:27'we should strike a pose and keep still.
1:13:27 > 1:13:29'So when the pyrotechnics came down,
1:13:29 > 1:13:32'and there's hot embers landing on you,'
1:13:32 > 1:13:36they started burning through the fireproof suits.
1:13:36 > 1:13:37But all of us just thought,
1:13:37 > 1:13:40"We'd better grin and bear this," because we were told not to move.
1:13:42 > 1:13:45Shake it off if you're getting burned, forgers...
1:13:48 > 1:13:50Whisk it off your partners, whisk it off your friends.
1:13:53 > 1:13:57'Nobody got hurt, but nothing would have stopped me
1:13:57 > 1:14:00'being in the centre of that playing field under that Olympic ring.
1:14:00 > 1:14:02'It was just absolutely exhilarating,
1:14:02 > 1:14:05'I'll never forget that moment.
1:14:05 > 1:14:08It's been a pleasure working with you, working men and women.
1:14:08 > 1:14:10CHEERING AND WHISTLING
1:14:13 > 1:14:16'I remember Danny Boyle in the background in our earpieces saying,
1:14:16 > 1:14:19"Now turn to your audience," and there they were clapping.
1:14:19 > 1:14:22'It was literally the best day of my life -
1:14:22 > 1:14:24'and unfortunately I got married'
1:14:24 > 1:14:27two months before, so my wife'll be very disappointed by that statement!
1:14:27 > 1:14:32'When they came up, I remember getting, like, kind of like vertigo.
1:14:32 > 1:14:36'But in...amazement. I think that's when I felt excited.'
1:14:36 > 1:14:38- We started just doing, like... - SHE SLAPS WITH HER HANDS
1:14:38 > 1:14:40"Cool - we've got to kill it."
1:14:40 > 1:14:43WHOOPING
1:14:43 > 1:14:44Well done...!
1:14:48 > 1:14:50Stand by, vom two, military police.
1:14:52 > 1:14:54Stand by, Her Majesty, please.
1:14:58 > 1:15:00Stand by Helibravo to overhead and exit, please...
1:15:02 > 1:15:05Then of course there was the Queen's helicopter,
1:15:05 > 1:15:07which in itself was just a wonderful sequence.
1:15:07 > 1:15:11It's interesting - the original idea as scripted
1:15:11 > 1:15:13was that Bond actually arrive literally in the stadium,
1:15:13 > 1:15:15they parachuted into the stadium.
1:15:15 > 1:15:17And I went up in the helicopter at night,
1:15:17 > 1:15:20and when you look down on the stadium there are all these wires
1:15:20 > 1:15:22which is how things like the rings arrive
1:15:22 > 1:15:24so you've got all these flying wires.
1:15:24 > 1:15:27And I remember thinking, "We can't have them jump through there."
1:15:27 > 1:15:29So we had them parachuting outside.
1:15:31 > 1:15:35Pointing up, cameras... I need a helicopter in the sky.
1:15:35 > 1:15:37We're coming out of VT in...
1:15:37 > 1:15:42five, four, three, two
1:15:42 > 1:15:43one and we're live.
1:15:44 > 1:15:47And 13 is also good, 13 is also good...
1:15:47 > 1:15:49Stand by, VT. Stand by, jump.
1:15:49 > 1:15:51OK. Stand by...
1:15:51 > 1:15:53Ten, nine... VT...
1:15:53 > 1:15:55Seven, six,
1:15:55 > 1:16:00five, four, three, two, one. Go.
1:16:01 > 1:16:04MUSIC: The James Bond Theme by Monty Norman
1:16:04 > 1:16:05THEY ALL CHEER AND APPLAUD
1:16:08 > 1:16:11The Queen just jumped out of that helicopter...
1:16:11 > 1:16:13Heli exit, go please.
1:16:13 > 1:16:15Stand by, Mike Oldfield, to preset please.
1:16:17 > 1:16:19Stand by for the entry of beds, stand by for bed entry.
1:16:19 > 1:16:23Come on, guys, you can do this. Remember those days in Dagenham.
1:16:23 > 1:16:25Everything that you've put yourself through
1:16:25 > 1:16:28in all the rain and awful weather, you'll be fantastic -
1:16:28 > 1:16:30come on, ladies and gents.
1:16:30 > 1:16:32Double beds, you must give way to the single beds,
1:16:32 > 1:16:35you must give way to the single beds.
1:16:36 > 1:16:39'Waiting to go out was incredible.
1:16:39 > 1:16:43I could feel the waves of electrical excitement
1:16:43 > 1:16:48'coming in down the vom where we were waiting to go on.'
1:16:48 > 1:16:49APPLAUSE
1:16:49 > 1:16:51MUSIC: Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield
1:16:51 > 1:16:54'There's always been a surge of adrenaline when that music starts
1:16:54 > 1:16:56'because we know that's it, we've got to get these beds out
1:16:56 > 1:16:58'very, very quickly.
1:16:58 > 1:16:59'The voiceover came on...'
1:16:59 > 1:17:02- Veuillez accueillir Mike Oldfield... - 'It started in French...'
1:17:02 > 1:17:05..accompagne du personnel du National Health Service,
1:17:05 > 1:17:07et de nos invites d'honneur,
1:17:07 > 1:17:10des patients at le personnel du Great Ormond Street Hospital.
1:17:10 > 1:17:12Please welcome Mike Oldfield,
1:17:12 > 1:17:16and the staff of the United Kingdom National Health Service.
1:17:16 > 1:17:18CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
1:17:18 > 1:17:21'The cheer that went up, to be honest, was just incredible.
1:17:21 > 1:17:23'The surge of adrenaline that I got from that'
1:17:23 > 1:17:27was enough to get that bed out quickly, and start dancing!
1:17:27 > 1:17:28JIVE MUSIC PLAYS
1:17:29 > 1:17:32'It starts off, the children are supposed to be in hospital,
1:17:32 > 1:17:34'and they start off very naughty children -
1:17:34 > 1:17:37'as nurses, we're trying to calm them down.
1:17:37 > 1:17:40'We're trying to give them medicine and they're all misbehaving.'
1:17:40 > 1:17:43Let's get this NHS perfect - come on, guys...
1:17:43 > 1:17:46Let's light up those beds in the crescent moon.
1:17:46 > 1:17:48Well done, guys, you're nearly there.
1:17:48 > 1:17:50Now, kids, staying asleep once you've turned your lights on...
1:17:50 > 1:17:53Make sure you're fast asleep...
1:17:55 > 1:17:57'And then eventually the children go to sleep
1:17:57 > 1:18:00'so the dream sequence comes in and that's where we get Voldemort
1:18:00 > 1:18:03'and Captain Hook, didn't we, we had the Child Catcher...'
1:18:03 > 1:18:05So kids, make sure you're asleep...
1:18:09 > 1:18:13"Of all delectable islands Neverland is the snuggest..."
1:18:15 > 1:18:18Tubular Bells, that clearly again resonated...
1:18:18 > 1:18:20What was interesting about that piece of music -
1:18:20 > 1:18:24cos that was a very big piece of music for me in my youth.
1:18:24 > 1:18:27But it's also interesting because it's the theme to The Exorcist.
1:18:27 > 1:18:30The rest of the world has a very different relationship with it.
1:18:30 > 1:18:32They hear it and it's one of those,
1:18:32 > 1:18:34"Boom!" You think, ohhh... Like that.
1:18:34 > 1:18:38And that was wonderful cos we'd got this idea about children's fiction.
1:18:38 > 1:18:40And when we started talking about it in the group
1:18:40 > 1:18:42we started talking about, there are heroes,
1:18:42 > 1:18:45but what really identifies them, there are villains.
1:18:45 > 1:18:46That there are these villains.
1:18:46 > 1:18:49Big movements, guys...
1:18:49 > 1:18:50So we thought,
1:18:50 > 1:18:52that's a wonderful way for the rest of the world to kind of get
1:18:52 > 1:18:55a little hidden clue, that this looks cosy with children and nurses
1:18:55 > 1:18:59and things like that, but actually there's a darkness in it as well.
1:19:00 > 1:19:03Cos these spectacles can become slightly anodyne
1:19:03 > 1:19:04because they're all positive.
1:19:04 > 1:19:07And they're just like, bright, shining things.
1:19:07 > 1:19:11And it's a dramatist's instinct that there's no light without dark.
1:19:11 > 1:19:13MUSIC CONTINUES
1:19:18 > 1:19:22'I think it's like a celebration of something that we have in the UK,
1:19:22 > 1:19:26'but it's not always going to be plain sailing.'
1:19:26 > 1:19:28So there's always challenges...
1:19:29 > 1:19:31'..but if you work as a team, if you work together,
1:19:31 > 1:19:33'and I think that's the thing about the NHS
1:19:33 > 1:19:36'that we've still got to keep fighting for.
1:19:36 > 1:19:38'There's always going to be dark times -
1:19:38 > 1:19:40'but if you stick together
1:19:40 > 1:19:43'you've got people that will always come and save the day,'
1:19:43 > 1:19:45so that's Mary Poppins!
1:19:45 > 1:19:49Mary Poppins is here, kids, Mary Poppins is here...
1:19:49 > 1:19:53'It showed England that we are a bit eccentric, we are a bit quirky
1:19:53 > 1:19:55'and I think that's why it worked so well.
1:19:55 > 1:19:58'The feedback that I got from people who had watched the ceremony
1:19:58 > 1:20:01'thought it was actually brilliant that the NHS had defeated
1:20:01 > 1:20:03'Voldemort and all these huge,
1:20:03 > 1:20:05'nasty characters from children's books.
1:20:05 > 1:20:08'I'd like to think the NHS is renowned the world over -
1:20:08 > 1:20:10'we don't get it right all the time,
1:20:10 > 1:20:13'but I do think people are proud of it and people know the NHS.
1:20:13 > 1:20:14'And I'm proud to be part of the NHS.'
1:20:14 > 1:20:19Close... Open... Close... Open...
1:20:19 > 1:20:21When you get back to your step just stand on your step...
1:20:21 > 1:20:25CHEERING, APPLAUSE AND WHISTLING FADES
1:20:29 > 1:20:31'Because of what was going on at home,
1:20:31 > 1:20:33'to actually be
1:20:33 > 1:20:38'the person at the centre of the world for a moment felt wonderful.'
1:20:40 > 1:20:47My husband was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumour in 2009,
1:20:47 > 1:20:50'and was already beating the survival odds
1:20:50 > 1:20:52'And the doctors were amazed
1:20:52 > 1:20:58'when the tumour disappeared for the whole duration of the rehearsals
1:20:58 > 1:21:02'and the Olympics themselves and for a good few months afterwards.
1:21:02 > 1:21:08'And I think he so wanted to see me perform, which he did,
1:21:08 > 1:21:14'and he was so proud, that all this must have contributed'
1:21:14 > 1:21:16to lengthening his survival.
1:21:16 > 1:21:19CHEERING
1:21:19 > 1:21:25It has been an honour, guys. You rocked. Thank you so, so much.
1:21:25 > 1:21:29Ladies and gentlemen, please pause to respect our memorial wall.
1:21:29 > 1:21:32'When they said, "Do you want to direct the opening ceremony
1:21:32 > 1:21:33' "of the Olympic Games?"
1:21:33 > 1:21:37'They said it'd be on July the 27th - that's my dad's birthday.
1:21:37 > 1:21:38'He passed away in 2011,
1:21:38 > 1:21:40'and I thought, "Oh, he'd love to be there,"
1:21:40 > 1:21:42'so I thought about a picture.'
1:21:43 > 1:21:46Then I thought, "Well, how can I justify that?"
1:21:46 > 1:21:49This is real megalomania gone mad.
1:21:49 > 1:21:52And you go, "No, there'll be lots of people who've lost people
1:21:52 > 1:21:53"who would've loved to have been there."
1:21:53 > 1:21:56So, we asked everybody on the immediate crew, the volunteers,
1:21:56 > 1:21:59- and...- We had some people... - ..the ticket holders...- Yeah.
1:21:59 > 1:22:00..and people sent in these pictures,
1:22:00 > 1:22:02and we just had that very simple moment.
1:22:12 > 1:22:16'The silence of 80,000 people, and being at the centre of it,
1:22:16 > 1:22:20'is the loudest sound I've ever heard in my life.
1:22:21 > 1:22:22'I've never heard that before.'
1:22:22 > 1:22:24It's charged, you know?
1:22:28 > 1:22:30'What was the significance of dust?'
1:22:30 > 1:22:33'The dust was - in the end, we all turn to dust.
1:22:33 > 1:22:37'Danny gave me one word. He said, "Mortality."
1:22:37 > 1:22:39'And I said, "Why do you want to do something on mortality?"
1:22:39 > 1:22:42'And he said, "Because we have to remind everyone'
1:22:42 > 1:22:44"that we all go back to the same place."
1:22:46 > 1:22:50'Akram's piece was very much about a huge group of people'
1:22:50 > 1:22:53- all acting as one person.- Yeah.
1:22:53 > 1:22:58And then Emeli Sande's voice sings Abide With Me.
1:22:58 > 1:23:02# Abide with me
1:23:02 > 1:23:07# Fast falls the eventide... #
1:23:07 > 1:23:09By herself, with no accompaniment.
1:23:09 > 1:23:11- Just that voice.- But what a voice.
1:23:11 > 1:23:18# ..deepens Lord, with me abide... #
1:23:18 > 1:23:22'Abide With Me is nearly always an excuse for everybody to join in.'
1:23:22 > 1:23:24'It's got this indelible association with sport.'
1:23:24 > 1:23:27- You see it before FA Cup finals or rugby world cup finals...- Yes.
1:23:27 > 1:23:29- You just sing it.- Yeah. - But that didn't happen.
1:23:29 > 1:23:31We just heard the single voice.
1:23:31 > 1:23:34If my memory's right, Danny was very clear from the beginning
1:23:34 > 1:23:36that this was unaccompanied.
1:23:36 > 1:23:40That this was absolutely taken back down to the one human being,
1:23:40 > 1:23:41this voice.
1:23:41 > 1:23:49# Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day... #
1:23:49 > 1:23:52'One of the things you get into is what's in our DNA,'
1:23:52 > 1:23:54that's in your culture, and that song, whether you know it or not,
1:23:54 > 1:23:56is buried deep within you.
1:23:56 > 1:23:58# O Thou... #
1:23:58 > 1:24:02'So, getting this girl from Aberdeen, and then you put her together with Akram Khan.'
1:24:02 > 1:24:05# ..abide with me... #
1:24:05 > 1:24:07'There was something very pure about the song.'
1:24:07 > 1:24:10# I need Thy presence... #
1:24:10 > 1:24:12- AKRAM:- 'But it's a contradiction,
1:24:12 > 1:24:15'because we were listening to something else.
1:24:15 > 1:24:19'My voice and pulse and rhythm.
1:24:19 > 1:24:23'I wanted the audience to go, "How the hell are 50 dancers so precise
1:24:23 > 1:24:26' "when there's no rhythm in the song?"
1:24:26 > 1:24:28'Something is happening,'
1:24:28 > 1:24:31but you're not understanding how it's happening.
1:24:33 > 1:24:35'Maybe this is spiritual.'
1:24:39 > 1:24:41'Maybe not a lot of the country would know about Akram.
1:24:41 > 1:24:43'But you get a chance to see his work,'
1:24:43 > 1:24:46- and it's just like, "Wow, that's cool!"- Yeah, unbelievable.
1:24:46 > 1:24:48And you hope you've set off in some kid's mind,
1:24:48 > 1:24:51"Oh, I'm going to be a dancer. I want to do that."
1:24:51 > 1:24:53MUSIC: Chariots of Fire by Vangelis
1:24:58 > 1:25:03'And then there was the joke on Simon Rattle - the joke with Rowan.'
1:25:03 > 1:25:06'The big thing about humour is, humour's impossible in stadiums.'
1:25:06 > 1:25:07The scale of these things
1:25:07 > 1:25:10make humour very, very, very difficult to do -
1:25:10 > 1:25:13'and very few Olympic Games have ever done it. Sydney did it.
1:25:15 > 1:25:17'And how can you represent Britain without our wit?
1:25:17 > 1:25:19'So, to put those impossible things to it -'
1:25:19 > 1:25:22you can't do without the wit, but they're impossible in stadiums.
1:25:22 > 1:25:24You go to Rowan Atkinson.
1:25:24 > 1:25:26'Mr Bean is a world icon.'
1:25:27 > 1:25:29MUSIC STOPS
1:25:32 > 1:25:34MUSIC RESUMES
1:25:37 > 1:25:38PFFRRT!
1:25:40 > 1:25:42Voms one, two and three, tubes and family.
1:25:42 > 1:25:44ALL CHANT
1:25:48 > 1:25:51Remember, stay at the bottom of the ramp.
1:25:51 > 1:25:53OK, ladies and gentlemen, this is the big one.
1:25:57 > 1:26:02' "Thanks, Tim" was basically saying thanks to Tim Berners-Lee -
1:26:02 > 1:26:08'but ultimately celebrating family life and the incredible music
1:26:08 > 1:26:10'Britain has produced.
1:26:11 > 1:26:15'So, you had this family watching TV,
1:26:15 > 1:26:17'the girls were going on a night out...'
1:26:17 > 1:26:19Stand by, vom 5, '80s, please, PT.
1:26:19 > 1:26:21Stand by Natalie and Jasmine, please.
1:26:21 > 1:26:24Stand by trap 4 and trap 6.
1:26:26 > 1:26:29ALL: # If you're ready for me, boy
1:26:29 > 1:26:33# You'd better push the button and let me know
1:26:33 > 1:26:36# Before I get the wrong idea and go
1:26:36 > 1:26:41# You're gonna miss the freak that I control. #
1:26:41 > 1:26:42Whoo!
1:26:44 > 1:26:46Natalie and Jasmine...
1:26:46 > 1:26:47Go.
1:26:50 > 1:26:51'I remember coming out and thinking,'
1:26:51 > 1:26:55"Oh, I'm going to be so scared," and then I saw everyone, and I was like,
1:26:55 > 1:26:58"Oh, they're so small, "they don't look real. It's fine!"
1:26:58 > 1:27:01# I was a smart little kid That side's departed me since... #
1:27:01 > 1:27:05'I played a girl called June - the love interest of the sequence.'
1:27:05 > 1:27:09That's it, ladies. Looking good on screen. Looking good.
1:27:09 > 1:27:10Keep it up, keep it up.
1:27:10 > 1:27:12Get on that train. Get on that train.
1:27:12 > 1:27:15Let's get these tube trains arched beautifully.
1:27:15 > 1:27:19Get the LEDs in a beautiful U shape.
1:27:19 > 1:27:21'They were supposed to be the tube,
1:27:21 > 1:27:25'and then on the tube had a moment, a glimmer in an eye.'
1:27:27 > 1:27:30Frankie was supposed to be, like, a lover boy.
1:27:30 > 1:27:32'Like, he found a girl's mobile phone on the train
1:27:32 > 1:27:34'and he thought he has to return it to her.'
1:27:34 > 1:27:39'He finds the girl because he calls the last number on the phone,
1:27:39 > 1:27:41'which is her sister's number.'
1:27:41 > 1:27:44Go on, '60s.
1:27:44 > 1:27:47'And then they go throughout the ages of cultural icons.'
1:27:49 > 1:27:51# That's right, that's right that's right, that's right
1:27:51 > 1:27:53# I really love your tiger light... #
1:27:53 > 1:27:55Come on, '70s. Kick some arse.
1:27:55 > 1:27:58# ..that's neat I really love your tiger feet... #
1:27:58 > 1:28:01'We got a note about the house in the Saturday night sequence,'
1:28:01 > 1:28:03- this little Barratt home that's in the middle...- Yeah.
1:28:03 > 1:28:05..saying, "Oh, that will be bathetic,"
1:28:05 > 1:28:07and I remember being really furious about that,
1:28:07 > 1:28:10- because we have an enormous amount of soft power...- Yes.
1:28:10 > 1:28:12..because the culture that we create
1:28:12 > 1:28:15is fantastic - the music - and it comes out of those houses.
1:28:15 > 1:28:18'80s, '90s, don't draw attention to yourselves.
1:28:18 > 1:28:20We're on the '70s.
1:28:20 > 1:28:23'It comes from those little bedrooms in those little houses,
1:28:23 > 1:28:25'where a kid is sitting with an unplugged-in guitar,
1:28:25 > 1:28:27'or miming in front of the mirror with a hairbrush -'
1:28:27 > 1:28:30those bedrooms are the factory.
1:28:30 > 1:28:32# I wake up every day it's a daydream
1:28:32 > 1:28:34# Everything in my life ain't what it seems
1:28:34 > 1:28:36# I wake up just to fall back to sleep... #
1:28:36 > 1:28:38'Seeing Dizzee Rascal up there,'
1:28:38 > 1:28:40I felt like it's an inspiration, because he came from the same place.
1:28:40 > 1:28:42'This country, of all countries -
1:28:42 > 1:28:44'this country has made such a stamp on the world.
1:28:44 > 1:28:46'That's when it hit me.'
1:28:46 > 1:28:47I almost felt like crying.
1:28:47 > 1:28:49I swear to God.
1:28:49 > 1:28:51Cos I thought, like, "Rar! Like, I'm a part of this."
1:28:51 > 1:28:53This is the house I grew up in.
1:28:53 > 1:28:55There. Number 61.
1:28:55 > 1:28:57Right at the top, there.
1:28:57 > 1:29:00That house, that's where we lived, you know?
1:29:00 > 1:29:03Nice smile, Jas. Keep it going. Keep it going.
1:29:03 > 1:29:05Keep it going.
1:29:05 > 1:29:07'It made boy meets girl, Saturday night,'
1:29:07 > 1:29:09the most important thing in the world - which it is.
1:29:09 > 1:29:11- # Woohoo... # - Keep this kiss going.
1:29:11 > 1:29:13Keep it going. Keep on going until I say stop.
1:29:13 > 1:29:16Keep that kiss going until I say stop.
1:29:16 > 1:29:17Keep that kiss going.
1:29:17 > 1:29:21Keep that kiss going. Keep that kiss going
1:29:21 > 1:29:23Stop. Right.
1:29:24 > 1:29:26This is a moment. House up.
1:29:26 > 1:29:27Go.
1:29:27 > 1:29:30DANNY BOYLE: 'When we did the "Thanks, Tim" bit,
1:29:30 > 1:29:32'which is they're all out dancing, and they head into that house,'
1:29:32 > 1:29:35my idea, as a kind of myopic director, was that they all
1:29:35 > 1:29:38disappear into the house, and it's a magic act, you see?
1:29:38 > 1:29:41"How can thousands of people disappear into that house?"
1:29:41 > 1:29:44And then it's lifted and they're not there and there's
1:29:44 > 1:29:46just Tim Berners-Lee there, the inventor of the world wide web.
1:29:46 > 1:29:52- Sir Tim, start typing, please. - 'And they rebel, the volunteers.
1:29:52 > 1:29:55'They said, "No, no, no, we don't want to be down there,"
1:29:55 > 1:29:56'cos it meant them disappearing.'
1:29:56 > 1:29:59And they said, "We want to go up on the hill, behind them,"
1:29:59 > 1:30:01because they sensed the drama.
1:30:01 > 1:30:04And bow, please, Sir Tim. Stand and bow, please.
1:30:04 > 1:30:07'There's Tim Berners-Lee, all the pyrotechnics that we did
1:30:07 > 1:30:10'led you to see this is the inventor of the world wide web.
1:30:10 > 1:30:12'He's giving the gift for everyone and he turned round
1:30:12 > 1:30:15'and he applauded the young people and they applauded him back...'
1:30:15 > 1:30:17without really knowing who he was.
1:30:17 > 1:30:20They just applauded each other
1:30:20 > 1:30:24and you sensed this connection of this man, who, for some reason,
1:30:24 > 1:30:27realised, in a way that none of us could,
1:30:27 > 1:30:30that what he had invented or partly invented was gonna change the world.
1:30:30 > 1:30:32- Change the world. - Literally change the world.
1:30:32 > 1:30:35'But only if he let it go. And that is what he said
1:30:35 > 1:30:39'about the internet when he started, "This is for everyone".'
1:30:39 > 1:30:44Feel that applause, guys. I frigging love you! Stay in touch on Twitter.
1:30:44 > 1:30:45With me and Kenrick.
1:30:48 > 1:30:51Guys, oh, my gosh. Youse lot just kicked that pig.
1:30:51 > 1:30:53You kicked that chicken. Amazing. Love you guys.
1:30:53 > 1:30:55Be proud of yourselves because we're really,
1:30:55 > 1:30:59really proud of you guys, man. All love. Revolution has done its job.
1:31:12 > 1:31:16All lift your torches above your heads now, please.
1:31:16 > 1:31:18- 'Can we talk also about the finale?' - All turn.
1:31:18 > 1:31:21'You know, Thomas Heatherwick's cauldron.'
1:31:21 > 1:31:24'We got in touch with Thomas and the principles were,'
1:31:24 > 1:31:27"Whatever you do, don't have any moving parts," because,
1:31:27 > 1:31:31'in the Vancouver Games, two years previously, the Winter Games,
1:31:31 > 1:31:34'they'd had a cauldron with four moving parts and,
1:31:34 > 1:31:36'wouldn't you know it, one of the parts didn't move.'
1:31:36 > 1:31:40So we came up with 204 moving parts!
1:31:40 > 1:31:43Because it's contrary, it's confidence, it's kind of like,
1:31:43 > 1:31:45' "We're going to do it our way".'
1:31:47 > 1:31:51'What's amazing about an Olympics that moves us is the way
1:31:51 > 1:31:55'the Olympics is a sort of festival of our planet coming together.'
1:31:57 > 1:32:01You do have the sense that, for a couple of weeks, there's a pause
1:32:01 > 1:32:05and everyone's petty national squabbles kind of go on hold.
1:32:05 > 1:32:10'So we wondered if this could manifest togetherness.'
1:32:11 > 1:32:13Petals up and sound effect 22.
1:32:15 > 1:32:17'And wondered whether we don't make a cauldron.
1:32:17 > 1:32:22'Instead, we get 204 pieces, one for every country
1:32:22 > 1:32:24'and they come together.'
1:32:26 > 1:32:28'We were aware that what we were doing was going to be
1:32:28 > 1:32:30'a big engineering challenge.'
1:32:30 > 1:32:33Full burn and sound effect 24. Go.
1:32:35 > 1:32:39'And it seemed that, in Britain, we like engineering challenges.'
1:32:41 > 1:32:43CHEERING
1:32:43 > 1:32:44Music cue 22-A.
1:32:45 > 1:32:49And Sir Paul McCartney, go.
1:32:49 > 1:32:52MUSIC: Hey Jude
1:32:54 > 1:32:57'I wanted to do it again. I think all of us... When you talked
1:32:57 > 1:33:00'to people afterwards, "We want to do this again, let's do it again".'
1:33:06 > 1:33:09'Everyone just said, "Oh, we just saw you on the TV, that was brilliant."
1:33:09 > 1:33:12'Everybody wanted a picture. It was a little bit like being
1:33:12 > 1:33:14'a celebrity, I would say, for a short period.'
1:33:19 > 1:33:22'Giles Coren wrote a review of it.
1:33:22 > 1:33:25'He filed the review just as the show was starting, saying,
1:33:25 > 1:33:27' "It's exactly what everyone thought it was going to be -
1:33:27 > 1:33:30' "pomp rock, Teletubbies, rubbish, an embarrassment." '
1:33:30 > 1:33:33And then, ten minutes later, after he'd filed, said that,
1:33:33 > 1:33:36"This is actually the greatest night of my life".
1:33:36 > 1:33:40Tried to pull it and he very graciously referenced the fact
1:33:40 > 1:33:44that he'd had this huge, Damascene moment, 20 minutes into the show.
1:33:44 > 1:33:48This is what you wrote. "Christ, it was terrifying.
1:33:48 > 1:33:49"Like watching Armageddon
1:33:49 > 1:33:52"come to Laurie Lee's village in Cider With Rosie.
1:33:52 > 1:33:56"The world is watching and it's laughing at us, laughing at us."
1:33:56 > 1:33:58You did write that, didn't you?
1:33:58 > 1:34:00Those are my words, yes. Your honour!
1:34:00 > 1:34:03Even as I was writing it and saying, "It's ridiculous, the world
1:34:03 > 1:34:07"is laughing at us", I was thinking, "Are they? Is this all quite great?"
1:34:07 > 1:34:10I mean, everyone at home, bear in mind, had commentary.
1:34:10 > 1:34:12I didn't have that narrative, I didn't have it.
1:34:12 > 1:34:15I hadn't bought a programme, I didn't realise that they were making
1:34:15 > 1:34:17just the kind of thing that I love, a proper,
1:34:17 > 1:34:20slightly-politicised historical story about the country I live in.
1:34:20 > 1:34:23But, by the time I realised, it was too late, for the first edition.
1:34:23 > 1:34:26"I was worried that there was too much self-parody,
1:34:26 > 1:34:29"that the world might be laughing at us, but they were laughing with us.
1:34:29 > 1:34:32"They were silently awed and if we don't win a single medal,
1:34:32 > 1:34:35"it won't matter, because we had this.
1:34:36 > 1:34:38"For this is the end of the beginning.
1:34:38 > 1:34:40"And what a beginning it was."
1:34:43 > 1:34:47Right, well done, everybody. Well done, everybody. Well done, team.
1:34:48 > 1:34:50- Well done, Julia.- Well done.
1:35:00 > 1:35:03'The people owned the show and they owned this history,
1:35:03 > 1:35:08'about immigration, it was about industrialisation, it was about work
1:35:08 > 1:35:11'and health care, that you're born in the NHS and you die in the NHS.
1:35:11 > 1:35:13'It was our story.'
1:35:20 > 1:35:22The morning after the games...
1:35:22 > 1:35:26I've got a friend called Hayden, he's like, "Rex!
1:35:26 > 1:35:27"Come over here."
1:35:27 > 1:35:30I'm like, "OK." And so I go over to him...
1:35:30 > 1:35:31HE LAUGHS
1:35:31 > 1:35:33And he gives me this massive bear hug.
1:35:33 > 1:35:36And he's like, "Rex, you did us proud".
1:35:36 > 1:35:39For me, it was a loaded statement, what he said.
1:35:39 > 1:35:42That meant, "You did us proud cos you're a boy from the East End,
1:35:42 > 1:35:45"did us proud as a Londoner, to represent Britain".
1:35:45 > 1:35:47I took it so deep.
1:35:47 > 1:35:50I, four years on, am still living it.
1:35:50 > 1:35:53I think in 40 years on, I'm still going to refer to it.
1:35:53 > 1:35:55I'm a very proud person.
1:35:56 > 1:36:00The Olympics volunteering opened up a whole new world for me.
1:36:00 > 1:36:03I recently had the emergency resilience training
1:36:03 > 1:36:05with the Tube crash,
1:36:05 > 1:36:06so I gone and done that.
1:36:06 > 1:36:08You know, all these things I never would have done
1:36:08 > 1:36:10because I think life's too short.
1:36:10 > 1:36:14For me, it gave me a real confidence that I could do things,
1:36:14 > 1:36:17even at my age, which I'd never done before.
1:36:17 > 1:36:23It gave me the strength to carry on living after my husband died.
1:36:23 > 1:36:27Everybody was just so completely high with adrenaline
1:36:27 > 1:36:30and then you just had this massive low because you knew
1:36:30 > 1:36:32that you weren't ever really
1:36:32 > 1:36:35going to be involved in something like that, ever again.
1:36:35 > 1:36:37For about two weeks afterwards,
1:36:37 > 1:36:41I felt like my stomach wasn't in the right place in my body.
1:36:41 > 1:36:46I felt anxious quite a lot. I felt anxious about...
1:36:46 > 1:36:48people recognising me.
1:36:49 > 1:36:51When I...
1:36:51 > 1:36:54Honestly, when I signed up for a drummer marshal in the opening
1:36:54 > 1:36:58ceremony, I thought what I was going to be doing was applauding others.
1:37:00 > 1:37:04I had no idea that we were going to be celebrated, that there was going
1:37:04 > 1:37:06to be a kind of sense in which ordinary,
1:37:06 > 1:37:10everyday people were going to be applauded.
1:37:10 > 1:37:13I just think there's something so amazing, again,
1:37:13 > 1:37:14about the ordinariness of us
1:37:14 > 1:37:17and the extraordinariness of that opening ceremony.
1:37:18 > 1:37:20They're an amazing bunch of people.
1:37:20 > 1:37:22Yeah, they were truly transformative
1:37:22 > 1:37:25and they don't realise even now they were cos you think you're
1:37:25 > 1:37:28a pawn in something, but actually they were the kings, really.
1:37:31 > 1:37:35- I was a Pandemonium drummer. - I was a Pandemonium drummer.
1:37:35 > 1:37:37- I was a Pandemonium drummer. - I was in the Thanks, Tim section.
1:37:37 > 1:37:39I was one of the nurses dancing.
1:37:39 > 1:37:42- Working man number 686. - I was in the Thanks, Tim section.
1:37:42 > 1:37:44The Green and Pleasant Land
1:37:44 > 1:37:46and I was the goalkeeper in the village football team.
1:37:46 > 1:37:50And I was a Working Men and Women, WNW.
1:37:50 > 1:37:53MUSIC: Come Together by Arctic Monkeys