# Smoking ban: Plans to exempt the film industry are stubbed out



## Northerner (May 15, 2013)

Plans to relax the smoking ban in Wales so actors can light up on film and TV sets have been dropped.

Ministers said they had reviewed the evidence and "will not proceed with the original proposals at this time".

Film and TV companies want an exemption like England's, allowing smoking on film sets for creative reasons.

An assembly committee has been considering the issue after warnings producers were more likely to chose locations outside Wales due to the ban.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-22538699


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## Redkite (May 15, 2013)

There shouldn't be any exemptions!  Why should the cast and crew have their health put at risk?


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## Cleo (May 15, 2013)

Great news.  Its crazy to think that it used to be the "norm" for people to smoke in bars and pubs - yuck!


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## ypauly (May 15, 2013)

What's wrong with the actors standing outside the rover,queen vic,woolpack like normal punters would have to.


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## Copepod (May 15, 2013)

What about if portraying a scene from before the smoking ban eg World War 2?


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## Redkite (May 15, 2013)

Well the actors don't get shot at with real bullets, so no need to smoke real ciggies!


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## Redkite (May 15, 2013)

Cleo said:


> Great news.  Its crazy to think that it used to be the "norm" for people to smoke in bars and pubs - yuck!


Seems like another world now!  I remember coming home from nights out with my clothes reeking of tobacco smoke (never smoked myself), and the next day the whole room stank of stale tobacco.  And everywhere you were in a cloud of smoke - work, on buses and trains.  Sooo glad it's more restricted now!


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## LeeLee (May 15, 2013)

I was under the impression that the exemption only applied to smoking in scenes (on stage or on camera) if the script required it.


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## Austin Mini (May 15, 2013)

When I was a child everybody smoked. In hospital, in school, in cinemas, on trains, in shops in fact everywhere and you know what nobody complained the world was a far happier place than it is today. I dont smoke by the way.


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## Steff (May 15, 2013)

Cant beleive they was any exemptions, there actors not machines, they have the same lungs and other bodily organs that will slowly cave in to the vile habit of smoking grr.


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## Northerner (May 15, 2013)

Steff said:


> Cant beleive they was any exemptions, there actors not machines, they have the same lungs and other bodily organs that will slowly cave in to the vile habit of smoking grr.



Not a fan of smoking eh Steff?  I do wonder why so many people persist nowadays when so much more is known about it, plus the cost is huge. If I still smoked 20 a day then it would be costing me about three times as much as I spend on food


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## Steff (May 15, 2013)

Northerner said:


> Not a fan of smoking eh Steff?  I do wonder why so many people persist nowadays when so much more is known about it, plus the cost is huge. If I still smoked 20 a day then it would be costing me about three times as much as I spend on food



Nope, unfortunetly OH is still, cant take the hassle anymore of nagging so gave up now.


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## Darren w (May 16, 2013)

Just to let everyone know I spent a few years as an actor on many film sets in the 90's you can find me on YouTube ! When I worked on eastenders and goodnight sweetheart they where closed sets witch ment all doors were shut and locked . I have smoked for many years and even I could not take the breathlessness and un comfort I felt being locked in a set for up to ten hours a day . Thing is now in the industry they have guid lines they have to follow ... I will give you just one example and then you can tell me if it is still exept able . 
Now there are no more closed sets when there is a scene filmed with a smoker involved ... I.e the laundrette scene I was in was at the time we filmed it was in a hanger .... Now it is filmed in the what we call the lot ! It has a open roof and gives the impression it is indoors because we use what are called dark screen . To give the impression . And in most modern films now you will almost never see someone take a drag from a normal ciggarette . It is done by pure camera trickery . When you see smoke from a fag on tv it is water vapour mixed with a chemical to make it more dence . In the 90's I played a drug addict smoking crack cocain ..... Do you honestly think I would smoke that stuff for the sake off a film .... COME ON .... REALLY , ?


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## Copepod (May 16, 2013)

Thanks for the insight, Darren W. 

I thought that "cigarettes" smoked on TV, in films etc were fakes. For realistic depiction of past times, when smoking was more common, I feel there should be "fake smoking" to show how much smoking rates have declined. I wondered during the excellent "Call The Midwife", which depicts the 1950s (I wasn't born then, by the way) about the apparents absence of smoking among even the male characters.


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## Northerner (May 16, 2013)

I watched an old episode of 'Cracker' recently and Robbie Coltrane hardly ever had a cigarette out of his mouth - it looked really odd!


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