I have recently had a mail from someone asking me where I got the idea for the Pole Star from, when the young Shepherd Lord asks Tom Lawkland where his father is.
The thought process went something like this.
Henry Clifford (The Shepherd Lord) actually studied astronomy with the Prior of Bolton Abbey when he was restored to his lands. This was part of the education process to recompense what he had missed out on whilst exiled to the wild fells. The motivation for him studying the stars was the fact that he often looked at these orbs at night when he was tending his flock on the hillside. I guess there wasn’t much else to do and he must have marvelled at what he saw and wondered about their creation. With no light pollution to obscure his view, he would have a very clear image of the constellations.
So, when I was pondering on how he would have been told of his father’s death, I thought how would you break the news to a seven year old child? The star gazing must have stuck in my mind and I thought that was probably a good way of explaining what happens to us when we leave this earth, rather than the brutal reality of John Clifford’s grisly death.
The person I tasked with explaining this was the big gruff shepherd, Tom Lawkland. I liked the idea of the contrast of this big rough fellow acting tenderly and sagely when he was posed a really difficult question by young Henry. Children are prone to ask the most awkward of questions and, in my mind’s eye, I could just picture Tom scratching his head and thinking how do I get out of this one then, before getting down on bended knee to young Henry’s level, smiling reassuringly at him and pointing to the star where all the bravest people go. I thought it would be comforting for the young boy to know that his father’s final resting place was still visible.
The Polaris or North star was the obvious choice for me as it is one of the most easily recognisable.
If you can identify the star group called The Plough, you can find Polaris by following the two right-hand stars of the group as shown on the diagram above. It is normally the brightest star in the sky and shepherds and sailors used it to get their bearings.
This device worked really well when we came to shoot the trailer and led to the iconic eyes in the sky theme when the focus turns heavenwards.
Next time you are out in the country (you don’t really get a good view in cities because of all the artificial lighting) have a look for the Pole star, the Milky Way and all the other constellations and just think how marvellous this must have seemed to a young shepherd boy.

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