Yorkshire nurse gets a taste of Hollywood | News

Charge Nurse Paul Blakemore from Drighlington, who works in the Regional Adult’s Burns Centre at Pinderfields Hospital, has played an advisory role on the latest Hollywood blockbuster, F1 the Movie, which stars heartthrob Brad Pitt.

Paul’s role was to act as a medical advisor to the film’s production crew – specifically around burns wounds and dressings. 

He is a highly skilled specialist burns nurse who also occasionally works as an advisor on TV and film sets as a hobby, helping the crew create realistic prosthetic burn wounds and ensuring the portrayal of nursing care is as accurate and authentic as possible.

His work is featured in two scenes of F1 the Movie, one set in a hospital in Italy, where some of the cast are taken after a fire breaks out at a racetrack, and another scene in a hospital set in Las Vegas.

Paul said: “The work I did impacted the film by helping to show a truer representation of a burned individual. From the initial medical terminology used, the setup of monitoring equipment and IV drips, to the accurate appearance of burn dressings used on an individual.

“I’m extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to accurately depict what burn wounds and dressings look like, and by doing this I hope to make scenes in films and TV programmes truer to life.”

Paul’s first two days on set were spent working in a disused Grade 2 listed hospital in London that had unique architecture, with a third day spent in a film studio in Aylesbury. 

Prior to this work on set, he also spent some time gathering preparatory research and presentation information for the film producers.

Paul added: “I did get to meet some of the cast in my role and they were all very polite and appreciative of my work.”

He has also acted as an advisor for Coronation Street, once for a character with hand burns, and once for a character with acid attack injuries. He will also be working on another movie project this summer.