Wednesday May 27th
Today we're filming at a small domestic airport called Tinson Pen. We've got a lot of scenes to get through and know we have to work very efficiently. We don't get off to the best of starts when one of our major props doesn't turn out to be the exactly what we wanted. It's not anyone's fault. We were supposed to get a real scanning machine courtesy of the airport but they failed to deliver on their promise. So instead we had to build one on very short notice. It's certainly not unusable but we decide we can't use it in wideshots. After some discussion about the problem, the DoP and Director figure out how to shoot around the scanning machine. The idea is that if the audience see a multitude of angles, they won't miss a tiny one. It's an example of how much of an illusion TV can be!

Soon we're sprinting through scenes even though having lots of extras on set slows things down. Still, another good day despite the scanning machine and a horde of mosquitoes attacking us in the late afternoon.

Thursday May 28th
We start off shooting some driving scenes in the ghettos of Jamaica. Kingston has a reputation, much of it hyped by the press, of being 'the most dangerous city in the world'. As we've felt safe wherever we've travelled, it seems like a nonsense; the people are friendly and are always willing to help. Having said that, our locations manager advises us not to get out of the car in some of the areas we film. I guess like any city there are places where you need to watch your step.

After the driving scenes, we enter the courtyard of a small and very tatty hotel. It's where we'll shoot the hotel scenes of the girls prior to their drug laden trip back to New York. It's supposed to represent their descent into hell and the location does the trick. It's a place where you rent rooms by the hour; a working brothel run by a crazy man we know only as 'Sir'. Our drivers tell us that he's a connected man with many of the political elite frequenting his establishment of a night. If he wanted to open up a little line in blackmail as well as pimping, he'd do very well.

The filming turns out to be difficult today, what with a number of dialogue heavy scenes that need careful rehearsals. We're also working in a small, hot room that you couldn't swing a kitten, let alone a cat, in. The crew gets through scores of water bottles and the Production Assistants do a fantastic job of keeping us hydrated.

Friday May 29th
Today we'll spend all day filming at our prison location. For one reason or another, the Jamaican prison authorities refused to give us access to a real prison to film in. The same went for the army who have a number of holding cells on the island. So instead of filming at a real prison, we ended up building one. I say 'we' but the credit really goes to the cracking carpenter and his team who constructed realistic looking jail cells out of nothing more than PVC piping and wood. Credit also goes to the team that painted and dressed the set, giving it the finishing touches that look so great on the camera monitors.

With over 25 female extras, it turns out to be a fun atmosphere. Firstly, our wardrobe department does a great job in making them look like real prisoners and secondly, they all seem up for playing the part. When we film the scene where the girls are led to their cells for the first time, our prisoners scream, shout and cackle so much that even I'm scared!

Saturday May 30th
We're back in the prison today but the vibe is very different. We've got a handful of extras in to play guards and a couple of actors to play a lawyer and a US embassy official. It's all dialogue based and very intimate, it requires our leads to really dig deep and cry in front of camera at various points. Following that, we shoot some bathroom scenes. The carpenters and set dressers have done another great job here. It really does look like the place that TK describes in her interview. It's so disgusting I almost feel nauseous.

This is also the point where we start to get some serious problems with sound. On previous visits to the location, it had always been relatively quite but today is market day and the hustle and bustle of Kingston is tearing through the thick concrete walls and open windows of our location. Then the Saturday afternoon sound system starts up and a thudding, booming bass makes the fillings in my teeth rattle and our soundman unhappy. Luckily for us, we've completed most of the dialogue scenes in the morning and we just about make it through the rest of the day.

Sunday May 31th
It's the home straight! You can tell the team is very tired today after an intense period of filming. First of all, we do some driving scenes through the most picturesque parts of Kingston. We drive up into the nearby hills to get a panoramic view of the city. It's a well to do area where with plenty of multi-million pound houses. It's a little too hazy for the DoP but it still looks pretty. Then it's back to the Hilton for some scenes of the girls swimming by the pool, then off to Fort Augusta for the final scenes of the girls being dropped off at prison. It's a wonderful location; a dusty seaside road leading to an imposing gate and watchtower. I can't imagine the fear the girls must have felt when they were really dropped off at jail.

And then that's it. After a week of seriously hard work, it's time for some well earned beers and sushi at a local restaurant.