Get set, go!

They are some of the most widely published images on the planet shot by photographers that often go uncredited. Peter Dench puts a name to two A-listers working on-set in the TV and film industry

In 2000 I was on assignment for the Sunday Times Magazine photographing production of The Fast Show, a BBC comedy sketch show that ran from 1994 to 1997, with specials in 2000 and 2014. I’d been on location with the cast in Middlesbrough, where the atmosphere was relaxed and enjoyable, but my final day of shooting in Studio 1 at BBC Television Centre in London was tense. An A-list celebrity was expected, security was tight, and I was told not to approach the luminary codenamed Juan Profundo.

On the way to the toilet, actor Johnny Depp stepped out. A huge fan of the show, he was making a cameo as a hapless customer in the ‘Suit you, sir’ sketch. I introduced myself and negotiated what I needed, sourced a few locations and around an hour later, Johnny found me to be photographed. I shot him on his own, then with Paul Whitehouse, whom he once described as ‘the greatest actor in the world’. Framing up, I felt something brush past my ear and the sound of a shutter. The on-set stills photographer was shooting over my shoulder, an indication of the pressure they were under.

Over the past 20 years I’ve worked the odd day on many TV and film sets, mainly commissioned editorial magazine features: Footballers’ Wives, Scott & Bailey, Rev, Green Wing, Phoenix Nights, Match of the Day and Strictly Come Dancing. On the set of the film Stuart: A Life Backwards it was surreal to photograph actor Tom Hardy, who remained in character as a homeless alcoholic with a complicated life because of the disturbing memories of his troubled childhood.