Bright, beautiful world of Thika
by Alix Coleman

FROM THE START, Elspeth Huxley's novel, The Flame Trees of Thika, draws the captivated reader into a world not so much lost as gone before: Kenya, 1913, then the East African Protectorate. Hayley Mills as Tilly and Holly Aird as Elspeth, jolting along in an open cart to Thika, 'a name on a map where two rivers joined', cast a similar spell.

In 1978, producer John Hawkesworth picked up The Flame Trees of Thika to read in the aeroplane which was taking him to a longed-for safari holiday in Kenya. By the time he arrived he knew the book would make an exceptional television serial. By the time he lost the book in a game park at dawn he had already roughed out the first episodes.

Back home, Hawkesworth rang Christopher Neame with whom he was to produce Danger UXB. 'We had a great meeting,' remembered Hawkesworth,' on a boat at Teddington. Then we said to Bryan Cowgill, managing director of Thames Television, "Do you want to make news?"'

Clearly, Cowgill did. In 1979, while Neame produced the play The Knowledge, (now up for this year's Prix Italia), Hawkesworth started the scripts of The Flame Trees. He and Neame had already reconnoitred for locations in Kenya, covering many thousands of miles, with one false start behind them: after six miles their smart-looking Range-Rover had broken down on a steep hill much used by travelling beer trucks. While Hawkesworth went for help, Neame got the car going again. They missed each other and Hawkesworth turned up hours later looking, recalled Neame, terribly tranquil. Hawkesworth observed that the secret had been to find 'the rhythm of Africa, as it's called.'

With locations fixed, their big search for an 11-year-old girl to play the young Elspeth was on. Three months and 500 girls later they settled on Holly Aird, who justified their choice by sustaining her beautiful manners, charm and talent over the long shooting period.

Hayley Mills was already cast as Tilly, Elspeth's mother. For the first time in 22 years, Hayley and Hawkesworth were working together; he had started her off in Tiger Bay. Now, as then, he found her 'super-nice'.

Ben Cross they signed up after seeing some rough cuts of this year's 'Royal' film, Chariots of Fire. They felt that he looked absolutely right for 1913. The Kenyans were chosen in Nairobi. As Christopher Neame said: 'There's no point in getting a Scotsman to play a character from Sussex. In the same way, there's no point in casting a West Indian as an East African. Their natural mannerisms are different.' The Kenyans talked Kiswahili and English to the English, Kikuyu to each other.

Filming, which ended just before Christmas 1980, lasted for 18 weeks. The animals were a large reason for this long haul. The Flame Trees of Thika is packed with animals, from lions to the chameleon that crawls all over Holly Aird's arm. John Hawkesworth and Christopher Neame like to boast about the fact that they made a pact early on not to kill a single animal. When the script required a dead creature they used leopard, python, even hyena skins, brought from London and stuffed in Nairobi.

Every foot of The Flame Trees of Thika is original film. This meant months of waiting. Actors were sometimes on call all day with nothing to do. 'You put a camera on a lion until it gets up and goes,' said Neame. 'The cast was very patient. A lot of reading in tents went on.'

Since the Kenyan government forbids the capture of wild animals the unit had to find an orphan to play Twinkle, Elspeth's pet duiker (a small deer). As it happens, duikers grow quickly and they had to find three. This meant that Holly had to build up a relationship with each new Twinkle. Luckily, she turned out to have an immediate rapport with animals who, it seems, just love her.

A kind of logical lunacy nearly always emerges during big film undertakings in exotic locations. To require a rain sequence during the rainy season could be considered providential. But even then the skies could not guarantee rain, and it would have gone all over the cameras anyhow. So Neame brought in the Nairobi fire brigade which hosed away for 12 minutes at a time with water fetched in tanks from Nairobi; water that had to be guaranteed pure and free of bilharzia (a common tropical disease caused by a parasite). The Africans thought they were mad.

Although everyone there fell in love with Kenya - Neame calls it a noble country - The Flame Trees was an exhausting assignment. Around the half-way mark, spirits began to flag. Elspeth Huxley's arrival in October to read the scripts and to see the rough cuts came as the proverbial shot in the arm. To feel that they were doing something she approved of gave actors and crew a tremendous boost: after all, The Flame Trees of Thika is a strongly autobiographical novel.

In the end, the biggest problem was those flame trees. They have a haphazard temperament, going in and out of season at any time and flowering when they feel like it. So the chase was on.

Whenever the news came through that one was in flower, someone immediately rushed off with a camera.

Afterwards, Christopher Neame worked out that at least 4000 miles were covered in order to photograph the wayward plants.