Peter Logan pictured in 1998, with one of the Movellan side-arms he designed for Destiny of the Daleks. Photo © Steven Cambden.
I had to go to Wales to blow up a cow,” says Peter Logan matter of factly. A lot of Peter’s conversations start like this – the inevitable product of almost 30 years, man and boy, with the BBC’s Visual Effects Department, where blowing up Welsh cows counted as just another day at the office. On the occasion in question, he was also carrying a car-load of fake bombs – proper, Acme-style black spheres with ‘BOMB’ written on them – when he was involved in a shunt on the motorway.
“The chap behind went slap bang into the back of me, and the boot shot up,” Peter recalls. “He got out to remonstrate, took one look at the bombs in the back, and ran. There was quite a lot of explaining to do to the police about that.”