Don’t let anyone ever tell you that being ‘background’ in a tv show is exciting. It’s not. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve met lots of nice people from all walks of life on set, but for every great personality I meet, I spend about 12 hours of sitting or standing about bored, in the rain, or icy wind looking like a goon in a blue paper suit. We’re tossed about, asked to wait, and considered lower than the lowest member of crew in the whole hierarchy of the tv (or even movie) set world.

It wouldn’t be all that bad, I mean I do get paid for it, and I get to visit parts of Glasgow and its surrounding areas that I’ve never been to before – but there are some crew members who seem to treat us ‘background’ with so little respect, it’s frankly embarrassing. I can only scratch my head and wonder why. It’s a shame really because as far as I can tell, most crews are great. They work together so often, for such long hours a friendly family-like atmosphere would be so much more productive not to mention so much more satisfying.

But then what do I know? I’m only an ‘extra’. Next week I’m going to get to watch Ricky Gervais’ new series called EXTRAS. I’m nervously waiting to see what, if any, impact it will have on my blossoming ‘background’ career. Maybe I’ll learn how I’m supposed to behave and feel on set, perhaps it’s me that’s got it all wrong, perhaps I should become competitive and puffed up or just resignedly accept my position as the lowest of the low in the hierarchy of all things tv…

At the end of the day though, I do have fun, and that can’t be all bad.