A hit for Don Fardon back in the 70s and used in Five Alive’s ‘dancing dodo’ tv commercial, the drinks company thought it would be exciting to make a fullscale music video of it – and what a cracker.

Director Tom Kingsley:
“We filmed in a nursing home in Sutton – abandoned in a hurry a few years ago when all the old people died at the same time and no one bothered to tidy up. Possibly. You could still see photos of the former residents on the walls, find real ‘Get Well Soon’ cards on their bedside tables, and everywhere you went you breathed in a mixture of damp and death so potent you could actually taste it.

“The week before the shoot, hoodlums broke in and stole all the copper pipes – so the whole ground floor was under an inch of water. A few days later, the miscreants broke back in and set fire to the place – possibly an over-enthusiastic attempt to get rid of the flood damage. Then they celebrated by having a fight with lots of margarine. Their weapon of choice: Bertolli.

“But Sam and Arthur tidied it all up, and so the actual shoot went just fine. The old people had a grand time trotting around all day, Don Fardon popped round and had a cameo as the gardener, and amazingly we didn’t have to cut any shots. Proper ballet dancer Patrick Wood was clearly brilliant in the lead role, Denzil Armour-Brown lit everything beautifully and speedily, Jim Cole ran the set like clockwork, while if Tamsin Glasson hadn’t been producing I don’t know what would have happened”.

The video included here is the ‘slightly secret directors cut’ complete with bits deemed too shocking for general release.

Don Fardon
I’m Alive
Director: Tom Kingsley
Producer: Tamsin Glasson
Director of Photography: Denzil Armour-Brown
Choreographer: Alex Reynolds
Lead Dancer: Patrick Wood
Art Directors: Sam Ludgate and Arthur de Borman
Costume Designer: Hannah Glossop
1st AD: Jim Cole
Editor: Tom Kingsley
Grade: James Bamford at The Mill
Post Production: Munky
Agency: VCCP
Commissioner/Client: Five Alive

Watch: Quicktime Movie

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