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Jack Watkins

Jack Watkins is a freelance journalist

February 2021

  • ‘The song was written to be a floor-filler at freshers’ balls’ … Nick Lowe.

    How we made
    How we made: Nick Lowe on Cruel to Be Kind

    ‘When the record company liked it, I was embarrassed – I was a hip new wave producer by then. I said I had a better song about a woman who was eaten by her dog’

August 2020

  • ‘It was a complete madhouse’ … Ray Dorset fronting his band in the 1970s.

    How we made
    In the Summertime: how Mungo Jerry made a sweltering classic

    ‘I still had my old job when it went to No 1. There were women chasing me across the factory floor’

April 2018

  • Paul Danqua and Rita Tushingham in A Taste Of Honey.

    How we made
    How we made A Taste of Honey

    ‘I honestly don’t know how I landed the lead role. My only acting experience had been as the back legs of a horse at the Liverpool Playhouse’

February 2018

  • ‘I developed a sort of John Wayne walk’ … Christopher Timothy, left, and Robert Hardy.

    How we made
    How we made All Creatures Great and Small

    ‘Sticking my hand up a cow’s backside became second nature. I got really good at it’

December 2017

  • 1984, GREMLINS<br>DAFFY GREMLIN Film 'GREMLINS' (1984) Directed By JOE DANTE 08 June 1984 SSC8006 Allstar/WARNER BROS. (USA 1984) **WARNING** This Photograph is for editorial use only and is the copyright of WARNER BROS. and/or the Photographer assigned by the Film or Production Company &amp; can only be reproduced by publications in conjunction with the promotion of the above Film. A Mandatory Credit To WARNER BROS. is required. The Photographer should also be credited when known. No commercial use can be granted without written authority from the Film Company.

    How we made
    'Good puppetry is an art': how we made Gremlins

    ‘A mother started shouting at me, saying the scene where a gremlin explodes in a microwave was totally unsuitable for kids’

November 2017

  • ‘There was an avalanche of sneering from the media’ … from left, Keren Woodward, Siobhan Fahey and Sara Dallin in 1983.

    How we made
    Bananarama: how we made Robert De Niro's Waiting

    ‘De Niro knocked on the window of the bar, wearing a bobble hat and glasses. We just thought: who is that?’

August 2017

  • ‘Best of all’ … Bob Marley and the Wailers on The Old Grey Whistle Test in 1973.

    How we made
    How we made The Old Grey Whistle Test

    ‘Captain Beefheart took over the control room, as if he was producing the entire show, and Bob Marley and the Wailers were ridiculously good – and totally stoned’

June 2017

  • Griffin Dunne and David Naughton in An American Werewolf in London (1981).

    How we made
    How we made An American Werewolf in London

    David Naughton: ‘I was running round naked in the London Zoo wolf cage. Thankfully, they had been fed’

April 2017

  • ‘Ewan and I became like muckers’ … Ewan McGregor and Tara Fitzgerald in Brassed Off.

    How we made
    How we made Brassed Off

    ‘I spent months learning the flugelhorn – and I didn’t even have to play it’

July 2016

  • ‘We went for the jugular’ … Heaven 17 in the early 80s.

    How we made
    Heaven 17: how we made Temptation

    ‘We howled with laughter when Martyn said he had this great idea for a song based on the Lord’s Prayer’

December 2015

  • Daniel Day-Lewis and Gordon Warnecke in the 1985 hit, My Beautiful Laundrette, directed by Stephen Frears.

    How we made
    How we made: My Beautiful Laundrette

    Gordon Warnecke: ‘Daniel Day-Lewis and I were forever kissing people. We were constantly tipping back Listerine’

November 2015

  • Dee Hepburn as Dorothy and John Gordon Sinclair in Gregory’s Girl.

    How we made
    How we made Gregory's Girl

    John Gordon Sinclair: ‘We knew we were getting it right when we saw the director’s shoulders shaking with laughter’

July 2015

  • Anita Pallenberg and James Fox in the 1970 film Performance.

    How we made
    James Fox and Sandy Lieberson: how we made Performance

    ‘I was the straight guy sticking to the script. Mick and Anita liked to use their relationship to shock me’

November 2013

  • Tom Baker as Doctor Who

    How we made
    Tom Baker: how I made Doctor Who

    Timelord Tom Baker recalls introducing jelly babies to the Doctor's diet, how the Daleks were darlings, and why his scarf kept getting longer

September 2013

  • Ben E King in 1960

    How we made
    Ben E King and Mike Stoller: how we made Stand By Me

    Singer Ben E King and writer Mike Stoller recall how a song originally intended for the Drifters came alive thanks to a killer bassline

January 2013

  • ABC Perform On Tv Show

    How we made
    How we made: ABC's Martin Fry and Anne Dudley on The Lexicon of Love

  • OMD Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark

    How we made
    How we made: Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark on Enola Gay

October 2012

  • Soul II Soul at Palladium, New York, in 1990

    How we made
    How we made Back to Life by Soul II Soul

    Jazzie B and Caron Wheeler on how reggae violins, shuffling beats and an outstanding vocal made a 1980s club classic

September 2012

  • James Brown in Soul Power

    How we made
    How we made: Stewart Levine and Jeffrey Levy-Hinte on Soul Power

    The 1974 Zaire concert became a powerful documentary: its producers recall three magical days

August 2012

  • Rumble Fish

    How we made
    How we made ... Francis Ford Coppola and Stewart Copeland on Rumble Fish

    The director explains why his film about gangs and brothers needed fast clouds and fake sweat

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