In some episodes, the credits list various characters as "The Erks". "Erk" is a variation of the abbreviation "airc" which is short for "aircraftsman" - the lowest rank in the RAF and a member of the non-flying ground-crew.
Ray Winstone was hired as an extra for the series, but fired for a violent act.
In his 2014 autobiography "Young Winstone", Ray recalled: "[...] all of us extras were standing there in our RAF bits while the actors did their piece. And instead of just asking me to move, the director kind of picked me up and moved me by my shoulder.
I was a skinny little thing in those days, so he probably thought it would be OK. But it wasn't, because I turned round and nutted him. He went sprawling over the chairs and I was obviously asked to leave the premises in no uncertain terms. At that point I was looking around to see if anyone else wanted to have a fight, but no one did, so I was out of there."
In his 2014 autobiography "Young Winstone", Ray recalled: "[...] all of us extras were standing there in our RAF bits while the actors did their piece. And instead of just asking me to move, the director kind of picked me up and moved me by my shoulder.
I was a skinny little thing in those days, so he probably thought it would be OK. But it wasn't, because I turned round and nutted him. He went sprawling over the chairs and I was obviously asked to leave the premises in no uncertain terms. At that point I was looking around to see if anyone else wanted to have a fight, but no one did, so I was out of there."