BULLETPROOF star Ashley Walters feared for the stunt men’s lives in what he described as the ‘absolutely crazy’ South Africa special.
The cop drama swapped the hustle and bustle of London for the exotic and vibrant city of Cape Town in South Africa, and the cast soon found out just how far the stunt crew were willing to go.
After drawing inspiration from movies with great stunt value such as Lethal Weapon and Bad Boys, Top Boy star Walters, 38, admitted he is always looking for ways to make stunts bigger and better.
But even he couldn’t believe with the risks the stunt crew in South Africa were prepared to take, as he shared in an exclusive Q&A: “The stunt guys over there, no offense to them they’re crazy, they’ll just do some crazy, crazy things.
“Where we use a lot of CGI in the UK, we do a lot of post production where we add things in, gunshots of whatever, over there it’s actually happening.”
As a result, the reactions from both Ashley and co-star Noel Clarke, 45, during filming were very real, and the former praised the crew for their professionalism throughout their time on set.
Walters continued: “Things are going off next to your head, walls are splintering, which takes a long time to set up, and the reaction you get from us is really real most of the time.
“There’s some huge stunt sequences in this where we thought people might have lost their lives if I’m honest, because it was absolutely crazy.
“But the stunt team are really really professional and amazing.”
With the famous cop trio of Ronnie Pike, Aaron Bishop and Sarah Tanner set to embark on arguably their biggest challenge yet in the Rainbow Nation, the stars had their say on what they would like fans to take away from the new batch of episodes.
Former EastEnders star Lindley Coulson, 60, said: “I would like them to take away that South Africa is an amazing character within it and to maybe look at reading about South Africa and it’s history.”
She added: “I also think maybe the comradery of these two (Walters and Clarke), their story and their friendship.”
Despite not being the original filming destination, Ashley described shooting in South Africa as “the best experience they’ve ever had” and one “they will never forget”, and hopes viewers will be thoroughly entertained.
Meanwhile Noel described the new season as a “beacon of light” in what has been very trying and difficult times for everyone, and believes better times are on the horizon.
Bulletproof: South Africa airs at 9pm on Wednesday 20th January on Sky One and NOW TV
