The Dark Side of the Sun - Production Details

A great shot of Michael Bird (right) with Peter Egan, Emily Richard and (I think) director David Askey. Not sure of the identity of the big guy in the grey suit. He may have been from the Greek production team.

A bunch of production photographs came up for sale on e-Bay in early 2018 and I am indebted to my good friend **Werner Schmitz** from the excellent **MEDIA Gems** Website for the tip off to their existence.

If you can identify people featured in any (other than those already captioned) please email me.

**PRODUCTION PHOTOGRAPHS**

(They can take a while to cache so you may need to give them a few minutes before scrolling through to later ones.)

Start Over

In the summer of 2020 website visitor Julie Adams emailed and told me that she was in Rhodes during the filming of the series. Julie said "The crew and cast were staying at the hotel where I worked as a travel rep. And every evening they frequented Bar Bonn which was next door to the hotel. I was living above the bar and was lucky enough to meet them and enjoy their company. We certainly had some fun. I was even invited to one if the shootings. I remember Peter Egan very well. Such a nice man".

Julie kindly scanned some photos for us to share on the webiste.

Julie says: "The first one was taken at Archangelos and is from episode 3 (you'll recognise it as one of the floats). The two photos at Kalithea are episode 5, and are of Emily and Peter having breakfast the day after the party. As you probably know, Kalithea is nowhere near Lindos, where Lavalliere's castle was set. If you zoom in on the second photo, you'll see the back of Emily, and just a glimpse of Peter in his white suit. The boat (in the last photo) was moored in front of the breakfast terrace.
I really haven't got anything else interesting to tell you. I didn't get to Rhodes until March that year, and didn't experience the bad weather you mention, nor the taxi strike."

How he got the role:
My grandfather's brother-in-law owned a car rental service in Rhodes and the production company got in touch with him for the use of a couple of cars for the series. He accepted and took my grandpa with him for assistance. My grandpa was a taxi driver, as he has been for many years, and was requested by the production to act a minor role using his taxi for a couple of scenes. He said that the filming of the series in Rhodes was a big deal for the locals and that the production seemed to be massive at the time.

About his role:

He said that he was on screen for only a couple of times, shown transporting a man dressed as a Greek priest and then getting a flat tire. He then was filmed changing the tire and that was the end of his "acting career". However, he was still kept around the filming crew for many months to provide assistance when needed. He remembers the crew instructing him being very organised and the filming of the tire change scene done very quickly and needing no retakes.

Other memories from the set:

He remembers that the filming crew stayed in the Olympic Hotel in Rhodes but the filming took place "all over the island". He was amazed by the techniques used by the crew to create the scenes. For example, creating fake rain with the use of buckets and how slow the cars were actually moving in driving scenes. But the scene he remembers most is one including a car catching fire. The crew used garbage bags filled with gas to create the fire. The old car used for that scene was found and brought to the set by my grandpa and his brother-in-law.

My grandfather's name is Nikitas Tsolakis and his brother-in-law is Frazos (Frank) Lykopantis who still owns the rental service: Independent Rent A Car Rhodes.

Lavalliere: Good Morning Father.

Priest: Good Morning Mr. Lavalliere

L: Are you well?

P: Very well, thank you. How are you?

L: Do you need any help?

P: Oh, that's very kind of you. It's nothing much, we simply had a flat tyre.
But now we can keep going.

L: Ok, I will leave then.

P: God be with you

L: Thanks for your blessing.

*Car leaves*

P: Mr. Lavalliere is a very good person

In the summer of 2021 website visitor Antonis Kypriotis emailed searching for a copy of the series on DVD for his grandfather who had actually appeared in it briefly "as a taxi driver that got a flat tire while transporting a priest and his wife".
I was delighted to help and in return Antonis asked his grandfather for any memories of the filming (below).
How he got the role: My grandfather's brother-in-law owned a car rental service in Rhodes and the production company got in touch with him for the use of a couple of cars for the series. He accepted and took my grandpa with him for assistance. My grandpa was a taxi driver, as he has been for many years, and was requested by the production to act a minor role using his taxi for a couple of scenes. He said that the filming of the series in Rhodes was a big deal for the locals and that the production seemed to be massive at the time. About his role: He said that he was on screen for only a couple of times, shown transporting a man dressed as a Greek priest and then getting a flat tire. He then was filmed changing the tire and that was the end of his "acting career". However, he was still kept around the filming crew for many months to provide assistance when needed. He remembers the crew instructing him being very organised and the filming of the tire change scene done very quickly and needing no retakes. Other memories from the set: He remembers that the filming crew stayed in the Olympic Hotel in Rhodes but the filming took place "all over the island". He was amazed by the techniques used by the crew to create the scenes. For example, creating fake rain with the use of buckets and how slow the cars were actually moving in driving scenes. But the scene he remembers most is one including a car catching fire. The crew used garbage bags filled with gas to create the fire. The old car used for that scene was found and brought to the set by my grandpa and his brother-in-law. My grandfather's name is Nikitas Tsolakis and his brother-in-law is Frazos (Frank) Lykopantis who still owns the rental service: Independent Rent A Car Rhodes.	Antonis also kindly translated the Greek dialogue between Lavalliere and the Priest. Lavalliere: Good Morning Father. Priest: Good Morning Mr. Lavalliere L: Are you well? P: Very well, thank you. How are you? L: Do you need any help? P: Oh, that's very kind of you. It's nothing much, we simply had a flat tyre. But now we can keep going. L: Ok, I will leave then. P: God be with you L: Thanks for your blessing. Car leaves P: Mr. Lavalliere is a very good person