A Short Career in Films

An adult stories – A Short Career in Films by CloudCuckoo,CloudCuckoo This is my entry to the Summer Lovin’ Story Contest 2023; I hope you enjoy it. I’d just like to confirm this is not from personal experience (unfortunately)! All names are plucked at random from the ether, if you happen to have one of the names used here, I’m sorry, it wasn’t meant to be a depiction of you!

My very short career in films began if anywhere on Friday 13th June 1986. I saw an advert in the London Evening Standard positions vacant column that read as follows:

“Three single men and three single women wanted for roles in educational videos. No acting experience necessary. Ten week contract, good rates.” There was a contact telephone number given.

It was a bit terse, I thought, but I was a twenty-three year old man sharing a cheap flat in East London with a friend, Jim, and I was surviving on short term casual jobs whilst I tried to find opportunities to work as a photographer – I was interested in industrial buildings, machinery and equipment and how to photograph them to best effect for publicity, sales, brochures and so on. It wasn’t an easy field to get into, I needed more and better contacts. I’d been working on this since leaving art school, but it was slow going, I just got the odd small contract from time to time. I’d really hoped to be able to take a month off and bum around Europe taking pictures – the windmills in Greece had caught my eye – but having never had enough money to do it whilst a student I still found myself short now. Ah well, I’d be able to visit Greece when – if – I had made it…

So I needed the money to keep eating and paying the rent, and this sounded like it would fit the bill. Who knows, I might find an opportunity to take stills for promoting these videos.

So I found a public phone box and got my phone card out – should be enough credit left on this one – and dialled the number.

I spoke to a pleasant but business-like woman who explained that they would be conducting preliminary interviews in around two weeks, and second interviews a week later, with a view to starting shooting early August. A three part video cassette series was planned, and all she would say about the subject was that it concerned human behaviour, which sounded intriguing. She asked me to send a short letter covering my background and suitability, and enclosing two photos of me, a full body shot and a portrait, and gave me the address. So I got this together and sent it off, and fully expected to hear nothing further.

So I was pleasantly surprised when a week later I received a letter inviting me to the first interview the following Tuesday.

And on the day in question, spruced up in suit and tie, and wondering what was in store, I presented myself at an office location. It was a rather plain, anonymous red brick building in the back streets not far from Liverpool Street station, looking like many others built on bomb sites in the years after the Second World War. There was a discreet plaque stating “JG Videos Ltd. – Office and Studio”.

There were a couple of men and a woman waiting in reception who I smiled nervously at and wondered if they were also interviewing for this. Eventually I got called in and found myself in front of a middle-aged man, balding with glasses, just a bit portly, and a younger woman, maybe late thirties, who looked I thought a bit brassy – bleached hair stiff with lacquer and thick make-up.

“Now, Jonathan French, isn’t it? Good, my name is Stuart Goodman, I’m the producer for these videos, and this is my colleague Stacey Johns.” She said hello, and from the voice I guessed this was the woman I spoke to on the phone. She was clearly going to be the one taking notes. “We are the heads of this organisation, JG Videos. Firstly, a little bit about what we are doing. I can’t say much at this stage, I’ll reveal more if you get to the later stages of the selection process, but we are planning a ground-breaking series of video cassettes that will instruct and illustrate aspects of human behaviour. We’ll be the first to do this, hence the secrecy! We are looking for three men and three women who will demonstrate some of these aspects. We don’t need any prior experience, but we will need persons who are not shy and are willing to do anything we ask. I can’t say any more now, but how does that sound?”

Well, I’d always been prepared to act the fool in company, so I thought I’d be able to hack it.

“It sounds intriguing, and I’m definitely interested.”

“Good! I’ll ask you various questions now, to see if we can take this to the next stage with you.”

Well, the questions were a strange mix. The usual sort of interview stuff – what is your background, what are your interests, have you ever acted before, confirm your availability for the planned filming period, and so on.

Then there were the oddball questions.

Did I have a girlfriend? No, as it happened. A bit of a sore point, it had been a while, although the last one had ended badly and I had been a bit burnt and hadn’t really been looking.

Had I ever done any modelling? No, I’ve never had the opportunity. Would I if asked do life modelling? Well, my body is nothing special, but I’m young and fit, an average looking chap I’d say, so why not.

Is there any aspect of human behaviour you would not want to act out for us on video? Blimey, what kind of a question was that? So I replied that I wouldn’t want to do anything illegal, offensive or unpleasant, such as going to the toilet on screen, but otherwise I’d at least be open to discussing it. Stuart seemed pleased with that answer, and I detected a small knowing smile on Stacey’s face.

Eventually after about forty minutes, Stuart suddenly said, “Right, I think we’ve got enough, thank you and we’ll be in touch one way or another in a very few days. I’m sure you have lots of questions, but if we invite you back and you progress to the next stage, there’ll be plenty of time for those. Can you ask Jean on reception to send the next one in?”

So off I went, not really any the wiser as to what this job might entail. Jim of course quizzed me about it when he got home from work, but I couldn’t enlighten him. I tried to take my mind off it the next day by taking my camera around some of the run down industrial areas of East London and shooting some moody shots in cloudy weather, but I didn’t shoot much as I was trying to cut down my expenses, and film, even black and white, wasn’t cheap.

But they were true to their word, and the following day I got a letter inviting me back for the ‘final selection process’. I was to go back to the same address the next Wednesday for 10am sharp, and it would take all day, including a medical. Wow, I thought, that’s some careful selection – no other job interviews I’ve had have taken anything like that long, and this for a temporary role!

That evening, Jim and I had a couple of jars at our local pub, the Princess Alice, known locally as the Alley. We had a bit of speculation about the nature of this mysterious job. It started off with some serious suggestions, such as management training or vocational training, but soon descended into somewhat less serious flights of fancy. Possibilities suggested included training students for rag stunts, or playing villains in police training videos; I hazarded a guess somewhat darkly that it would be espionage training, which would explain the cloak and dagger nature of the process; Jim reckoned it might be training for strippers, and suggested that I get a sequinned jockstrap. We retired homeward mellow and cheered.

Wednesday came around and I presented myself fifteen minutes early in best bib and tucker. By the time it turned ten o’clock there must have been at least twenty-five others, it was standing room only in reception. At the appointed hour on the dot, the inner door opened and Stuart Goodman stood there.

“Morning everyone! Can you all come through please, and find a desk and sit at it. Please don’t touch the paperwork on the desk. Jean, has everyone arrived?”

“Not quite, Mr Goodman, there’s still…” she consulted her paperwork, “Geoffrey Hartson and Suzanne Morris to come.”

“Well, lesson number one is, be on time or miss out… If they turn up, please send them away.”

We all trooped through, suitably aware of the attendance criterion in future.

“Everyone got a place? Good. In front of you is a personality assessment questionnaire put together by university psychologists which we’d like you to complete. There’s no time limit, but please try not to take more than an hour.”

I turned the page over. I’ve seen other such profiling questionnaires since, but at the time this was my first, and I didn’t know what to expect. It was long, I thought it would take me all of the hour to complete. It was what I now know is the typical format for such psychological tests, a long series of questions on various scenarios, with multiple choice answers. Some were kind of obviously testing for outgoing/introspective, some for self-confidence, but some were just odd: for example, “A charity cause dear to your heart has suggested a fund-raising event involving a naked walk through the local park. What is your response? (a) No way, and it can’t be legal; (b) I can’t, it would ruin my reputation; (c) If you can convince me it’s legal and there are enough other people taking part, I’ll consider it; (d) Sure, if it is going to raise much needed funds?” Well, that was (d) obviously. I’m not someone who tries to expose myself at every opportunity but I’m not uncomfortable with my skin either. Then there was “You have stripped naked for a doctor’s examination, and a member of the public of the opposite sex walks in looking for the toilet. Do you (a) scream and clutch for anything to cover your private parts, (b) just stay as you are and tell them where they should go, (c) calmly cover yourself and politely ask them to leave, or (d) turn away and tell them over your shoulder where the toilet is.” I opted for (b) on the grounds that if they had already seen all you’ve got, hiding it won’t make them unsee it.

Well, there was much more of this, including some with a bit of a sexual side to them; many questions seemed to at least overlap, which seemed strange to me at the time, but I now recognise that this is the psychology test technique, to keep asking the same kind of thing in different ways to probe for the genuine response. I just about finished when there was a sudden call of “That’s an hour, has everyone finished? Anyone need more time? Good, make sure your name is on the front, and we’ll come round to collect them.” Once that was done, we had our attention drawn to coffee and biscuits that had been set out at the back of the room and told to help ourselves, the break would last some half an hour whilst the responses were analysed.

So we all wandered over to the back and idle chat broke out amongst ourselves. I found myself in the queue between a tall, blond man with a flashy tie and a slim, homely looking girl with long light brown hair.

“Hi,” I said, “I’m Jon, so what did you make of that?”

The man introduced himself as Tim, and said “They are clearly looking for a particular psychological profile, but I’m no nearer understanding what for!”

The woman said, “I’m Samantha. I think they are looking for liberal minded people, but exactly what for I don’t know either.”

I said to her, “I wonder what the next stage is likely to be?” Tim answered before she could open her mouth. “The medical exam. They will test that question about being naked and someone walks in on you!” and he barked a laugh. I exchanged a glance with Samantha, I wasn’t keen on those who butted into a question asked to someone else. “Sorry Samantha, you were saying?” Tim made a hurrumph and turned to talk to the guy the other side. Samantha gave me a small smile, and said, “I hope they will weed out the gauche and the pushy! If they put us in pairs, I don’t want to be with someone like him!”

We arrived at the front of the queue and got our coffee and biscuits, and stepped to one side. We exchanged a bit of small talk; I found out that Samantha liked to be called Sam, had just finished a degree in English, but had decided to start as a trainee in nursing in September. I liked her, she seemed to have the kind of quiet sense of fun I appreciate. I was just wondering how to ask if she had a boyfriend when the call went up from Stacey this time.

“Hi everybody, can I have your attention please? We will call out some names one by one, and if you can come into the office over there, we’ll talk to you individually. Firstly, Lydia Ferris please.” A slightly mousy looking woman put her hand up and made her way to the corner office.

“I wonder what that means,” Sam mused. “Is that ‘you’ve passed’ or ‘you’ve failed’?”

“I guess we’ll find out soon enough…”

We got talking to another couple of candidates next to us, Gerry and Sue, who were also wondering whether it was good to be called or not. We noted that those called for a personal chat then left through another door to a different room, but still couldn’t see if they stopped there or then left. As we were talking, Gerry got the call. “See you later… or not!” he said. Sue was another woman who was about the same age range – early 20s to mid 30s, reasonably attractive but not a fashion model, not too thin or too fat, in fact average looking all round. She seemed pleasant but a bit more cool and distant. Then Sam got called in.

After another half an hour or so, with someone called out every few minutes, sometimes longer, Stuart came back in.

“Hello, can I have your attention… You’ll be pleased to hear that we’ve weeded out some candidates and the twelve of you that are left are our final selection pool. We’ll get you all to sign a non-disclosure agreement now, since we don’t want anything of what we are doing getting out before we are ready to launch, and then we’ll be giving each of you a medical, so my apologies if you have to wait a while as we can only partly overlap them and it will take altogether about three quarters of an hour each. Anyone need to leave by a particular time?” Three people put their hands up, and Stuart went to speak to each in turn. Then he announced again: “OK folks, here are the times we need you to be back here for your medicals. James, we’ll do yours first in just a minute; Anne, 12:30…” and he went through the list. I was at 2:30.

It looked as though Sam had been rejected. I was disappointed, and guessed I wouldn’t see her again.

“Please feel free to leave, but be back in time for your medical. All clear?” A chorus of ‘yes’ came back. I thought it was time for a walk and went out. To my delight, Sam was sitting in reception.

“They said you’d be breaking soon, so I thought I’d hang on. Fancy finding somewhere for lunch?”

“Yes, great!” I said enthusiastically, and so off we went.

It was a fine July day, so we went off to buy some sandwiches to eat outside, and eventually found a vacant bench under a tree.

We spent an hour chatting, and I discovered she was an only child from Surrey, she liked cooking and swimming – probably why she had such a good figure – and watching live local bands in pubs, she wasn’t currently in a relationship as her previous boyfriend had got a job in Manchester and they parted amicably and, I gather, without regret on either side. I explained my circumstances, that I would like the extra money because I couldn’t afford to rent a studio – I couldn’t do prints, enlargements and crops at home so I needed somewhere I could put a darkroom in.

“I have to pay a pro lab to do all that, and if I want to process the image – tweak the contrast or colour balance, lift the lowlights or whatever, I can’t really explain that to them and they wouldn’t have the time or manpower. So I’m trying to get enough cash together to at least get a short rental and then really go for it.”

She grinned. “Best of luck! I could have done with this as well, I know I’m going to be strapped for money as a trainee nurse. Still, I hope there’s other jobs out there. I’d really wanted to take a holiday this summer hitching around Europe, I never got a proper summer holiday as a student, but I need some money, so…”

“Me too, I was hoping to spend the summer in Greece! We’ll just have to hope this is going to be so cushy it’s like a holiday!”

I really liked her and enjoyed talking. Before we knew it, it was time to return for my medical.

We walked to the corner where our paths would diverge, and I stopped and said, “Sam…” I paused, I was OK just talking to girls, but I wasn’t very good at the mating game bit.

“I’d love to,” she said with a smile. I looked a bit quizzical. “Were you about to ask me out?”

“Well, yes… I’d really like to see you again.”

“Then, yes! What do you have in mind?”

That was a relief! “I can’t do anything tonight or tomorrow, but how about Friday evening? I’ll get Time Out and see if there are any bands on around here, and we could have a curry first. How can I contact you?”

It turned out she also was sharing with a flatmate at a place in Dalston – probably about 30-40 minutes from my flat in Hackney by public transport – but at least they had a telephone, something I lacked. I took a note of the number and promised to call tomorrow.

“I’ll say goodbye for now then, I need a few supplies and might as well shop now on the way back to Liverpool Street.”

“Well, er, bye then, see you Friday!” and I gave a sort of awkward wave and went.

I was a few minutes early but as it happened, they were ready for me. I was shown into another small room obviously set up as an examination room. There was a couch covered with white paper and a chair, and a young lady with a white coat and a stethoscope round her neck seated at a desk with a file in front of her, presumably my file.

“Hello! I’m Dr. Jones, I’ll be doing your medical today. Take a seat… Let’s start with some basic details. Can you confirm your name please?”

We went through the kinds of thing you’d expect – address, date of birth, any medical conditions, did I know my blood group (yes, I was a donor, I was O Positive), had I ever had any of the following diseases, all of which was a no; but I was mildly intrigued by the inclusion of STDs in the list, and then she asked as well if I was in a sexual relationship – the answer was no. Did I have any history of erectile dysfunction? No, although I wondered what kind of job that might be relevant for. Then of course, with the growing AIDS epidemic a hot news topic, questions about when was my last sexual encounter, any high risk category activities – sharing needles, gay sex and so on.

“OK,” she said, “we’ll do an HIV test anyway. Now I need to examine you. Please can you take everything off, you can put them on that chair.” So saying, she turned back to make notes in the file. There was no screen, so I shrugged and stripped off. She put her pen down, stood up, and looked me up and down.

“Very good,” she said.

She took some standard measurements – height, weight, blood pressure, lung performance. She listened to my chest and did that thing where they put their fingers on your chest and tap them with the other hand, and she laid me down on the couch and prodded my abdomen all over. She held my balls and got me to cough. I’ve never really understood what that was for. It might seem erotic to have a pretty young woman hold your balls, but it wasn’t an erotic situation. But then she said,

“I’m just going to examine your penis.”

She turned it over, pulled the foreskin back, and then released it. The situation still wasn’t in the slightest bit erotic, so again I didn’t react. Then she sent me to a chair in the corner of the room on which was a bottle, to deliver a urine sample. Finally, she took a blood sample and carefully labelled it. She was just sealing it into a bag when there was a tap on the door.

“Come in!” Dr Jones called. The door opened and Stacey came in. She gave me a breezy and cheerful “Hello! How’s it going?” and looked me up and down, much as Dr Jones had done. I thought this was a little presumptuous but also curious that it was almost like the question in that test we did – and as Tim had predicted – so I stood there and brazened it out.

“We’d like a couple of photographs for our record,” she said, and I noticed she was holding a compact camera. “Please can you stand in front of that blank wall.” I saw where she was indicating and walked over to it. “That’s it… face me… ready…” Click. “Now can you turn sideways please… That’s it…” Click. “And now the other way…” Click. “And now face away from me…” Click. Why would she want a photo of my back?

I was a bit bemused, and a bit anxious. I found my voice. “Can you explain what this is about? I’ve only had one proper medical before, but it was nothing like this!”

She smiled. “Trust me, it is relevant to what you are being recruited for. If you are unsuccessful we will return all this information, including the negatives, to you. When we have made our final selection all will be revealed. For now, when the medical is finished, feel free to go, we’ll be in touch within the next week.” With that, she nodded to Dr Jones and went out.

“Well, I’m all done here, so as Stacey said, you can get dressed and go.” So I did.

That left me with plenty of time to go and buy a copy of Time Out and discover that there was a new band called What Next? who sounded worth a look, playing at a pub in Mile End; so that evening I phoned Sam and made a date to meet outside Mile End tube station at 7pm.

Friday evening came around, and I was waiting eagerly at the station for Sam, when she came out a few minutes before seven. She was just wearing jeans and a plain red T-shirt, but she looked great.

I greeted her with a big smile and a “Hi there!”, and she gave a grin back and came and kissed me on the cheek. That was unexpected and nice, and I think I blushed. We exchanged the usual how are you, how was your week and so on, and decided to walk along the road and pick a curry house – there’s plenty to choose from in Mile End. We got a table and our order sorted, and then I asked her the question I’d been pondering all week:

“So, did they tell you why you didn’t get selected? Was it the medical? That was really weird!”

“No, they didn’t say the reason, just that they didn’t think I was the sort of candidate they were looking for. And that medical was like no medical I’ve ever heard of. Did you get stripped naked? Yeah, me too, and then Stuart breezed in as if it was perfectly OK. I told him he should at least knock and ask if I minded. I don’t think he liked that. I mean, I’m ok with nudity, I’m not a prude, and if things were different I might have enjoyed flaunting myself a bit, but I kind of felt, you know, a bit taken advantage of. I suppose that was when I screwed my chances of getting selected! Anyway, congratulations on making the shortlist! I’m more curious than ever as to what this is all about. Do you think it’s above board?”

“I dunno, it’s very mysterious. They are acting as if it’s a bit dodgy, I hope it doesn’t turn out to be just porn or anything too cheap and tacky. They said they’d be in touch within a week. I guess I might get a letter Monday or Tuesday then.”

The food arrived, and after an excellent curry we carried on chatting and found that we had plenty in common regarding likes, dislikes and attitudes. I began to hope that there might be more dates to come.

We went on to the pub and the band we went to see weren’t bad – not likely to sell a million albums, but great in the atmosphere of a live pub performance. Sam enjoyed it too. Afterwards we walked back to the tube station, Sam taking my hand, which felt really nice.

We arrived at the station. Sam’s journey home would be a tube then a train, mine a tube and a bus, but we’d be heading in opposite directions.

“Well, I’ve really enjoyed this evening,” I said enthusiastically.

“Me too,” she smiled. Before I could say anything more, she took a step forward and kissed me. It was a long, heartfelt kiss, and it was glorious. I responded equally enthusiastically. One kiss turned into a second, then a third. Eventually Sam broke off, and said a little breathlessly,

“I think I ought to go, it will take a bit of time to get home.”

“When can we meet again? You are so much fun to spend time with…” That earned me another kiss.

“I promised to visit my mother tomorrow,” she said, “and I’m staying over until Monday morning. I’m free all day Tuesday… Got anything in mind?”

“Well, I’ve got a small job that will take a few hours on Monday, I’m photographing a warehouse in Stevenage for a company brochure. I’d love to meet on Tuesday, but if the weather is bad on Monday I’ll need to do the shoot then, but I should be done by the end of the afternoon whatever happens… I’ll think of something for us to do, unless you have something to suggest?”

“Let’s both do some thinking, and give me a call on Monday when you’ve done your shoot.” And we exchanged addresses and parted with another toe-tingling kiss.

I was a bit like a lost puppy over the weekend. Jim eventually lost patience on Sunday morning.

“For goodness sake, are you so smitten you can’t function without her? Come on, let’s head down to the park and have a kick-about.” So we took our football to the park and as usual, we found a few other young men at a loose end and an impromptu game of footie broke out. It helped me stop mooning like a teenager. Sam had got to me big time.

As it happened, on Monday morning it was wet but the forecast was for sun breaking out about noon, so I planned to head to Stevenage after breakfast instead of first thing. Just as well, as the postman brought a letter from JG Videos, asking me to go to the same place on Wednesday morning at 10am.

The shoot in Stevenage went well, I was lucky to get there just as the rain cleared, and got some nice shots of the site glistening wet and shiny in the sun, with a lovely rainbow framing the main building. I had to work fast, before the rainbow faded, but I got a couple of shots with different colour filters to see what the effect might be. Then I hung around for an hour for the pavements to dry and got some conventional shots. I hoped they’d like it, it would really help if they gave me a reference. I came back to London and got my reels in to my regular professional development lab and as usual crossed my fingers that nothing had gone wrong with the shots.

On my way back on the train, I found an exhibition listed in Time Out magazine all about photographs of architecture – right up my street but I wasn’t sure about Sam. So when I got back I called her.

She’d wondered about a play on in the West End, if we could get tickets, and I mooted my exhibition.

“It might not be fun for you though. But we could go in the afternoon, have dinner somewhere, and to the theatre in the evening?”

“Hey, I like architecture and photographs, I’m sure it will be interesting. And I’ll have a professional as my guide! We have a plan, I think!”

So we fixed up where and when to meet, and I couldn’t wait for Tuesday to arrive.

It all worked like a dream. The exhibition was really interesting, it had sounded a bit niche but it was a really good presentation of how the photography of architecture had developed from the early days up to the present, and Sam pronounced herself fascinated. We found a French bistro near Covent Garden for an early evening meal, and chatted more about her interests, what she wanted to do in nursing, and some about her family. And the play was really good, a dark thriller.

Afterwards we had to separate for our journeys home with no more than a couple more passionate kisses that left me breathless and wanting so much more. She was such fun, we seemed to have seamlessly meshing attitudes, senses of humour, interests… and I really liked the way she looked, I found myself wondering far too often what she looked like naked. Before she went off to her train, she told me that her flatmate was visiting family and would be away the following night.

“I could cook you something for dinner!” she said.

“I’d really like that…”

“And afterwards, we could, um, watch telly…” said with a sly grin.

“I’d like that even more…”

Another kiss and she had to rush for her train.

I wondered about this all the way home. Did she mean that I could stay over? Was it an invitation to take her to bed? Was it too early in our relationship? I wouldn’t want to misread the signs. I hoped that she’d give clear signals as to what she considered acceptable. She was worth waiting for rather than rushing into something that might blow up.

Next morning I was ready early to head off to the JG Videos office. I’d had a restless night, my head was filled with possible scenarios for educational videos on “aspects of human behaviour”. I suspected it would be like a more advanced version of the film “The Body” which I’d seen in the early seventies, and showed probably the first mainstream full frontal nude images of both male and female actors in the name of a documentary on human physiology and biology. I remember that the cinema was a bit rowdy up to that point, but as the camera slowly tracked the naked female form in close-up from tip to toe it became hushed as all the males in the cinema leaned forward in their seats and held their breath. There wasn’t general access to nude pictures of women back then, other than the girlie magazines like Playboy and Mayfair, but they didn’t yet show explicit views of female genitalia.

When I arrived I was met by both Stuart and Stacey, and shown into the office where I had my first interview. Stacey took the lead.

“So, Jonathan, I’ve got some good news for you. We’d like to offer you a part in our video.” I started to respond positively, but she held up her hand.

“There’s a lot of information you should know before you decide whether to accept. The most important thing is the nature of the material. As you know, censorship prohibits sexual activity on screen in films or videos, that’s why there’s a thriving under the counter porn industry and some dodgy shops in Soho. Now, we understand that these laws are under review by the government, and are expected to be considerably relaxed. We have therefore decided to invest in the production of some sex education material. Our series of three videos will be entitled “Better Loving – a guide to good sex”. We’ll be giving advice on how men and women can best please each other in bed. And in order to do that, we need couples who are prepared to have sex in front of the camera – nothing hidden, fully explicit. Do you think you can do that?”

Wow. I thought it might involve nude appearances, but I hadn’t bargained for that. I got a frisson at the thought.

“Gosh, that’s not what I was expecting. I think I’d be up for that, but I’ll need a bit of time to get used to the idea. And the worry about whether I can perform in front of the camera.” And the crew as well, I thought.

“I know, we’ve thought of that. We will offer you the role on condition of a successful screen test where you can find out just that. Now Stuart will go through the terms, and then walk you through the contract. I can give you a couple of days to consider if you need to – and you probably should, I don’t think I’d want to go into this without thinking carefully! – but I’ll need a decision by Friday. We’ll aim to do the screen tests next week, and if that’s all ok then we’ll start shooting on Monday week.”

“OK…” My head was reeling. I was being asked to have sex in front of everybody, and then potentially have that watched by thousands… Millions? This was not just an acting role! Then something occurred to me.

“My partner…”

Stacey smiled. “We will pick your main partner. There will be a section on foursomes so you may get to experience a second partner.”

“Who… I mean, do I get a say?”

“We will decide based on how we think you will come over on screen as a pair. I won’t say who right now, since we may need to change if the girl we have in mind is unwilling to do this, which is quite possible. That’s why we have a short list of twelve for six places.”

“Oh…” I wasn’t coming over as particularly articulate, but the situation had my head reeling. I’d been so tied up with what it would mean for me that I only now suddenly thought of Sam. She hadn’t been selected. This could scupper my fledgling relationship with her. But I didn’t need to decide straight away. I took a deep breath. “OK. What else do I need to know?”

Stuart cleared his throat and leaned forward.

“Let me explain how this all works. You will commit to your availability, subject to any unavoidable absences such as illness, for the next ten weeks. We normally do Monday to Friday but there may need to be weekend working if we deem it necessary. The hours shouldn’t be onerous, but we’ll tell you when you will need to be on set.

“Now the good bit: for this we will pay you £3,750. That will be £250 on signing the contract, and then if you pass the screen test, £700 every two weeks until completion. If you don’t pass the screen test, we terminate the contract there and then.”

Wow… that’s not bad. For example, my photo assignment just earned me £120 for what will probably be about three days work all told. And the Government had just published the latest average national wage, which was around £150 a week. Getting the best part of four grand would solve my financial worries for quite a while. I’d have enough for a short term lease on a studio and some equipment as well: an enlarger and perhaps another second hand Hasselblad. And I really needed to be on the telephone.

Stuart went on: “Now let me talk you through the contract.” He opened the desk drawer and took out several pages of A4.

“OK, this is basically the standard contract for an acting role in a film, with one or two special additions. I assume you aren’t familiar with acting contracts? No problem, I’ll walk you through it. So, these are the names of the parties to the contract – that’s you and JG Videos Ltd. Here it describes the services we require of you – essentially acting as directed – plus details of payments and the broad definition of the timescales and hours, more or less at our discretion. These are some legal bits about jurisdiction, what happens on breach of contract, how the contract might get terminated early by either party, and so on. This section is about copyright, and basically means that we own the copyright in the images of you and can use them in whatever way we decide. So be sure you are happy for these images to be in the public domain, because you won’t be able to retract later. These sections cover your appearance and that we require you to maintain continuity of things like hairstyle and staying clean shaven. That’s all normal for actors.

“Now for the more unusual aspects. You agree that you will not have sex with any party other than your fellow actors for the duration of the contract. We in turn will ensure you are medically monitored in case of any infections of a sexual nature which you might already be incubating and are not yet showing – if that happens, it’s one reason why we can terminate your contract, by the way. You agree to follow good bodily hygiene and to take reasonable steps to keep your breath fresh, in kindness to your partner. Any questions so far?”

It was quite a lot to take in.

“Um, I presume I’m only required to have sex with women, I’m not gay… er…”

“That’s ok, we are covering heterosexual acts only. Anything else?”

“What about, er, more fringe practices, you might say? Are we expected to perform anything… kinky?”

He laughed. “Depends what you consider kinky! We might cover role play, perhaps BDSM and anal sex in the third video in the series, we haven’t fully scripted it out as we want to see how the first one goes, but we won’t insist on you doing anything you are uncomfortable with. We are focusing on mainstream sex and the mass audience, and anyway if you aren’t comfortable doing something, it will show on screen – might even mean you can’t get it up, as it were – and that doesn’t help us. Don’t forget you won’t be the only one in the cast, and I’m sure we’ll find the right couple for each activity.”

I felt bemused and found it hard to think of all the questions I knew I’d have. Stuart helped me out.

“I suggest you take this contract away with you and have a think about it. Consult a lawyer, talk it over with a friend or discuss it with the family, whatever you think you need to do. But remember I need a yes or no by Friday. If you have any further questions – I’m sure some will occur to you as you think about it – then telephone the office here, the number’s on the letters we’ve sent you. Anything further you need to know right now?”

“Probably, but it’s a lot to take in. Thanks, I’ll think it over and I will definitely let you know by Friday.”

“Great!” They both stood up and Stuart held out his hand. “I’m sure you’ll be fine on camera, and I reckon you might find this a lot of fun once you get over the weirdness of it!”

I gave him a wry smile and shook his hand.

On leaving I just went for a long walk, not in any particular direction, but just to think about all this. What might it mean for my career as a photographer to be known as that bloke who’d shown his hard-on on screen for anyone to see, and then fucked one or possibly more women on camera? I didn’t think it would actually affect matters that much, indeed I suspected a little notoriety might help get my name known. Contracts would still depend on my ability and portfolio. So no real problems there. I don’t have any parents, they died in a car crash when I was eighteen, but I had an elder brother, Dan. I guess I’d better tell him, I thought, although he’s pretty relaxed and would be unlikely to raise any objections, probably tell me to enjoy myself and take the money. It reminded me that I hadn’t met up with him for a while, and I made a note to arrange something before Friday to run it past him.

More to the point, what about Sam… I’d be having sex with another girl – perhaps even more than one – and even if she was OK with that, which I doubted, I’d be contractually obliged not to have sex with her. That was a real shame, I was already falling for her. I’d only met her three times, had just two dates, but it felt right with her. Realistically though, there was not guarantee we’d develop into soulmates with a life together, and I couldn’t afford to throw away this opportunity on an unknown chance of that. Sadly it looked like the end of the road for our fledgling relationship. Still, that hurt.

I stopped more or less at random at a pub that looked OK to grab a sandwich and a pint. I thought I deserved a beer after the unexpected turn this morning. Then I sat and read the contract from cover to cover.

A lot of it was in legalese, using terms that undoubtedly had specific legal meanings but which I didn’t understand. I got the general drift of these and thought I’d look up in a dictionary when I got home. The rest of it seemed straightforward, if you could call anything relating to what was effectively going to be the first porn to be mainstream ‘straightforward’. I found my thoughts kept coming back to Sam and whether she would have been part of this if she’d had the chance. I’d need to tell her and break it off. That wouldn’t be fun. Eventually I nerved myself up to find the payphone in the pub and call her.

She answered quite quickly.

“Hi, it’s me,” I said. “I’ve got some news; they offered me a role, and I have till Friday to think about it. I need to talk to you about it, and I don’t think I can do it over the phone. Is there any chance I can meet you later today?”

“Oh, that’s great! I’m happy to do that, or can it wait until tomorrow?”

“I think I’m going to have to call off our date tomorrow,” I said with a heavy heart. “I’ll explain when we meet.”

“OK, sounds very mysterious. I could come now if you like. How about Mile End? That’s about equidistant between our homes. There’s a café just beside the tube station called Danjo’s. I can be there in about an hour.”

And so we left it. I made my way slowly to the café and found a table by the window where I could watch for her.

I sat with a cup of tea and was so deep in thought I didn’t notice her arrive until she slipped into the chair opposite with a “Hi!”

“Hi yourself,” I said. She picked up instantly on my sombre mood.

“What’s it all about? You don’t seem too happy to have got the job.”

I sat back. “How much did they tell you about the role?”

“Not very much. It’s about guiding couples through relationships. I’m not sure what that means in practice.”

Goodness, how can I explain this, I thought. I took a deep breath.

“Not to beat about the bush, they are making videos about how to have good sex. They want couples to have sex explicitly on camera.”

Sam’s eyes widened and she gasped. “Is that legal?”

“Apparently they expect the government to relax the censorship rules and it will become legal.”

“Good God… what do you feel about it?”

“I don’t know, it seems both exciting and terrifying. Most of all though I’m not sure I want to do it without you. I really like you and this will come between us.”

Sam went quiet for a minute. I thought it best to sit and wait for her to think it through.

“OK, what’s the money like?”

“Oh, it’s good, it would really help.”

“OK then, here’s what I think. Go ahead and do it. We are only just at the start of our relationship, so I’m disappointed but not possessive. When you’ve finished, if you still want to go out with me, give me a call. I don’t promise to wait for you but if I’m still single we can see if there is still a spark. Hell, whether I’m single or not, I’ll want to find out all about it!”

I wasn’t sure. “Well, I don’t know, I still want to get to know you better, and -”

“No! I don’t want to get a month down the line, we find we aren’t as compatible as we now hope, and you think ‘if only I had done it.’ Go do this and then we’ll see.”

She smiled and put her hand on mine. “Have fun! See how it goes!”

I gave a wan smile back. “OK!” Then something occurred to me. “If you’d been offered this, would you have accepted?”

She sat back and looked thoughtful.

“Ooh, good question! It’s a scary prospect but I have to say I find it more than a little exciting too. Not sure, but probably yes.”

We talked for a few more minutes, then she said,

“I think I’d better go now. Seriously, give this your best shot, and what happens, happens. Enjoy it! Now stay and finish your drink, and I’ll see you again sometime.”

And with that she squeezed my hand, stood up, turned and left without a second glance. I looked down at my cup in time to see a tear fall into my tea.

Two days later, I met Dan for a drink. Dan is much more outgoing and confident than me. He’s taller, bulkier and generally more… noticeable, I guess. If anyone would be a likely actor it would be him rather than me.

He was intrigued and horrified in equal measure.

“Are you really going to have sex on camera? You mean I’m going to be seeing my brother’s willy stuffing some poor girl?”

“Nobody’s going to make you watch it!”

“No, but I can’t just pretend it didn’t happen! Wow, I’m not sure I could do it. Who’s the girl?”

“I don’t know yet, I haven’t even met her! They’ll tell me next week.”

“So you don’t even know her? What if she turns out to be fat and ugly with an attitude problem?”

I laughed. “Nobody I saw at the initial session was fat and ugly. As for attitude, I doubt they’d have got past the psychology tests. I’ll take my chances! It’s not as if I’m being asked to marry her!” I had a sudden twinge of regret at that. I could imagine marrying Sam if all went well. Still, no way back now.

I’d been told the JG Videos studio opened at nine, so on Friday morning at just after nine o’clock I presented myself, contract in hand. Jean was at the reception desk. “Take a seat, I’m sure Stuart or Stacey will be here shortly.” They didn’t follow their own rules on punctuality then.

But I didn’t have long to wait. A couple of minutes later, Stuart breezed in.

“Hello, hello, Jonathan isn’t it? Are you going to join us? Excellent! Come on through. Would you like a coffee?”

So it was I found myself not ten minutes later with a signed contract in my pocket, and a cheque for £250 which was even better, and wondering what would happen next as Stuart bundled around filing his copy. The phone on his desk buzzed and he answered.

“Yes… yes… good… send her in!”

He turned to me. “That’s lucky! This is the girl we’d like you to partner with! Her name is -” A knock and the door opened. “Come in, come in, delighted you’ve accepted. This is Jonathan French, we’d like you to partner him. Jonathan, this is Janice Whitlow.”

I got up, smiling, and shook her hand. “Nice to meet you, I look forward to, um, working with you!” She and Stuart both chuckled at my almost faux pas.

“And I with you!” she said, and Stuart ushered her to another chair. As they sorted out Janice’s contract, I took a good look at her.

She was tall, almost as tall as me, with short wavy black hair and a dark complexion, what used to be known as ‘swarthy’ (not sure if that is PC these days?). I wondered if it was suntan, though it seemed a bit early in the summer, or if she might have some Caribbean blood in her. Quite powerfully built, buxom, but not fat – indeed she looked very fit and strong. I could imagine her pumping weights. She seemed quite bubbly and outgoing, with a clear South London accent.

Stuart finished with the formalities, and turned to include me in the conversation.

“So, I’m glad to have the two of you here together. I hope you are both OK with each other as partners for our videos?” We both nodded and smiled shyly at each other.

“Fine, then let me explain the next steps. As I mentioned before, the next action is a screen test. This will tell us if you are able to act naturally with cameras rolling, and not be intimidated by us watching. We are setting up a studio with a bed next door, and some fixed camera positions. We’ll just get you in there and ask you to make love. No directions, just do what you want to do as it comes naturally. If you can do that, and we think you look good on video, that’s it. Otherwise, we’ll say thanks but no thanks and get in one of the reserves to replace one or both of you. Is that clear?”

Goodness, it was starting to feel real. Janice and I looked at each other. We were going to be naked together, in bed, fucking. I felt my heart pounding. Excitement or terror?

“Yes,” we replied in unison.

“Good. So, I’d like to kick this off on Wednesday, please. Can you be here around eleven, and we’ll go through the setup, explain what we’ll be doing whilst you are performing, and then have a short break for lunch, and start filming around one thirty. Any questions? No? Then I suggest you head off and take the opportunity to get to know each other a little. We want the video to show you as affectionate, not impersonally copulating like prostitutes, if you get me. So go and make friends!”

We all smiled and turned to go out.

“Thanks, and see you Wednesday! Ah, here’s Stacey. Hi Stacey, Jonathan and Janice are on board!”

Stacey strode over beaming and shook our hands in turn. “Great to have you in the cast! I look forward to working with you!”

And suddenly there we were on our own in reception.

“Well,” I said, “I guess we’d better get to know each other! Fancy a coffee?”

We went across the road to the café I’d been to with Sam. I got a couple of cappuccinos and steered Janice to a different table from the one I’d sat at with Sam, and then wondered why I’d done that.

“Thanks!” she said, and took a sip. “This is a bit weird… I mean, we already know we are going to bed together but we need to get to know each other first!”

Janice had a naturally loud voice and ebullient attitude, and at that, all conversation at the other three occupied tables stopped. I sensed they were waiting to see what that might mean and what my response would be. Janice realised and put her hand to her mouth with a “Whoops!” and a giggle. “I guess that’s my reputation shot to pieces!” I couldn’t help but smile back, her sense of fun was somewhat infectious.

She went on, “There’s something I need to get off my chest first. I’m a coloured girl. Do you have a problem with that? You ever been with a black girl before?”

I was somewhat taken aback.

“I’ve never had the opportunity. Does that matter?”

“No, it’s just that I’ve had a couple of unfortunate experiences with white guys who thought I was some kind of, um, facility to be used.”

“That’s a shame. No, I haven’t been with a coloured girl, nor indeed have I been with a redhead, and I don’t rule either out in future. Personally, I care what a girl is like as a person, not what she looks like. Do you have a problem with that?”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it to come across like that. I just want us to do the job and have fun. Can I start again?” She put her hand on mine on the tabletop. I took a deep breath.

“Look, I’ve no problem with the way you look. In fact you look great, any bloke, white or not, would admire your body. Let’s see if we can become friends, which will make this job a lot easier.”

She looked down at her hand, and squeezed mine. “I’d like that.”

“OK,” I said, “tell me about yourself. I know you’re coloured, I’d guessed, although you aren’t so dark it couldn’t be suntan, and you don’t have obvious facial characteristics or hair. What is your background?” That came out a bit more stark than I meant, but I’d been a bit riled by her attitude.

She glanced at me uncertainly.

“My mother is Jamaican, my Dad is white British. I was born here in Brixton, been a Londoner all my life, as you can probably tell from my accent. My Dad is a plumber, he’s self employed and has build up a small local business with two or three guys working part time with him. My Mum used to be a cleaner but gave it up and now acts as Dad’s receptionist, books his jobs, deals with his invoices. I’m an office worker – secretary, typing, filing and so on – and I do temping. I just had a six month contract come to an end, it was cover for someone’s maternity leave, so I fancied something a bit different and saw the ad for this job. Who’d have thought! What about you?”

So I found myself more or less repeating what I’d told Sam, though somehow it felt more like a job interview than new friends learning about each other. Then I asked her,

“What do you do for fun? You look very fit!”

She laughed. She had an infectious laugh, deep, throaty, a bit sexy. “Guess!”

I looked at her quizzically. “Hmm… Something active, clearly… Martial arts?” She shook her head.

“Cycling?” Shake.

“Rambling?”

“In Brixton? Yeah, right!”

“Um… Scuba diving? Mud wrestling? Stamp collecting?”

She was properly laughing now.

“OK, I give up.”

“I’m a runner, a sprinter. I’m pretty good, I won some regional 100m titles, but not quite good enough to get near international standard. Still, I enjoy the races and the training. Even getting up at 5am to train before work!”

“Hey, I’m impressed. Still, I bet I could beat you.”

“Yeah? Want to have a race?”

“I’d be game, I just have to make sure my bike is working.” She burst out laughing again.

“Well, I’m sorry we got off on the wrong footing, but I think I’m going to enjoy going to bed with you!” she said.

The nearby tables were looking at us again. I didn’t care, I thought so too. It was my turn to take her hand. “Me too.”

We chatted a bit longer, then she said, “I’m sorry but I need to go, I’m meeting someone.” We both stood up. “Don’t feel you need to leave the rest of your coffee. I’ll see you. I’m going to look forward to Wednesday!” Then she put her arms around me and kissed me.

Whereas Sam’s kisses had been soft, loving and sensual, Janice’s was hard, urgent and passionate. Wednesday was going to be interesting!

The next few days passed too slowly. I found myself thinking about, and comparing, Janice and Sam. I could well imagine having a great time having sex with Janice, but I doubted we’d stay together when the contract was done. For a long term relationship, I still hankered after Sam. So in an attempt to take my mind off it, I decided to tempt fate by looking around some of the post industrial back streets of East London for premises for a studio, and noting some estate agent boards to follow up.

Eventually Wednesday arrived, and I presented myself at the studio just before the appointed hour with quite a few butterflies in my stomach. I’d thought a lot about what to wear, and decided that a business suit was too formal, jeans and tee shirt too informal, so I opted for a fairly smart short sleeved shirt in light blue and grey stipes, blue patterned tie, dark grey cotton chinos and a navy blue sports jacket. It was the kind of thing I’d wear to a first date, and it seemed to me this was pretty much what this was.

I found Stuart and Stacey in reception having a lively discussion, with Jean looking on interestedly. I heard Stacey say, “So then, Mr Clever Dick, what are we going to do?” whereupon they saw me and hastily assumed more welcoming expressions. Stuart took the lead,

“Ah, Jonathan, good to see you. Come and sit down for a moment. We’ve got a small problem, we were just discussing what best to do. Essentially, your partner, Janice, had been in touch to say she was injured at her track earlier this morning! As I understand it, two other athletes were horsing around and one stumbled onto the track just as Janice was running past. He knocked her over and trod on her ankle and she suffered a torn ligament, she’s in hospital having it put in plaster. Obviously she’s had to withdraw. Stacey has been trying to reach our reserve girls but one has decided she can’t go ahead because it will put her career at risk – I think it’s actually family pressure – another seems not to be at home, and the third is like you, not on the phone. So it begins to look as though we’ll have to rethink the screen test at least, which is a real nuisance.”

“I see,” I said thoughtfully. It seemed to me my participation was at risk, and the money that I’d already got plans for. My heart leapt as I had an idea. “Can I make a suggestion?”

“Please do!”

“Samantha Godfrey, why did you turn her down?”

Stuart turned around. Stacey was just putting the phone down and shaking her head. Stuart sighed. “Stace, do you recall Samantha Godfrey? Why did we not shortlist her?”

“She was the one who told you off for going in without knocking when she was undressed. You decided she might be difficult.”

“Oh, that was her! Yes, well, perhaps! Why do you ask, Jonathan?”

“I had a drink with her afterwards. We seemed to get on really well. I’m sure she would be ok with partnering me.” Actually I wasn’t sure, but didn’t want to say that. “I can phone her and get her here if you like.”

Stuart turned to Stacey. “What do you think?”

“Well, she was a possible on all the other criteria. Worth a try, I’d say.”

“Ok,” Stuart said, “give her a call. She needs to be here by one, we want to start filming by two and I need to get her through the contacts side first.”

“Great!” I exclaimed. “It’s there a phone I can use?”

“Yes, Jean, take Jonathan to the interview room and let him make his call.”

I got taken through and left in the room I had my first interview in. I got out my wallet and found the scrap of paper I’d scribbled Sam’s number on. Nervously I dialled it. Please be in, please be in.

A female voice answered.

“Hello?”

“Sam?”

“No, this is Fiona. Who’s that?”

“It’s Jon, and it’s pretty urgent.”

“Jon! I’ve heard all about you. Hang on, she’s just left, I’ll see if I can catch her…”

It went quiet for ages whilst I held my breath. Then…

“Hi, Jon? Yes, just caught her, she was about to turn the corner about a hundred yards down the road, I screamed and hollered and waved my arms, and fortunately a lady coming the other way stopped her and pointed at me. She saw me, waved back and turned around. Give her a minute or two to get here, ok? In the meantime, just let me say she’s smitten with you, cried her eyes out when you got that job, so don’t mess with her, ok?”

“Ok, the feeling’s mutual. I won’t!” I heard the receiver being put down, and after a minute or two more, voices in the background. Then…

“Jon?”

“Sam, I’m so pleased to catch you! I’ve been missing you, and I wanted to know if you were still interested in me…” I paused, I hadn’t rehearsed how to approach this.

“Jon, I’ve missed you too, but what’s happened about the videos?”

“They are still going ahead, but my partner dropped out and the reserves aren’t available and I now need a partner to take part. Would you consider it? I’m sorry to pressure you but I need an answer today. Look, I know I’m not making much sense, could you come to the JG Videos office, and I’ll explain.”

This was not going well.

I generally don’t like phone calls much. I find it hard to have any meaningful discussions when you can’t see the other person’s expression or body language. I find I either get tongue-tied or start rambling.

There was a pause. I held my breath.

“I take it you mean right away? Are they starting today?”

“Well… yes… Look, come and meet me in the pub at the end of that road, you remember it? The George and Dragon? I’ll explain and you can decide. Please?”

“Um… ok, let’s talk, no promises, ok?”

“Great! Er, how soon can you be here?”

“Give me an hour.”

“Perfect! See you soon!”

I rang off before she could change her mind.

In the event it took her about 50 minutes, but I’d already been pacing up and down outside the pub for a quarter of an hour. She waved as she approached and I hurried to meet her, nervous as to how she would react.

She looked stunning: a mini-skirt in white cotton to mid thigh, showing moderately tanned and very shapely legs, and a wrap around blue blouse that tied in front, and showed just enough cleavage and a glimpse of tummy to be interesting.

I got a smile and a brief hug, but no kiss. I realised she was as nervous as I was.

“It’s just after twelve,” I said, “do you want to go in for a drink or would you prefer to go for a walk?”

“Oh, I think I’ll need a drink!” she said, and we went in. The was a reasonably secluded table, and I got a couple of gin and tonics, and some peanuts. Then I explained about Janice and the lack of the reserve girls.

“So I asked if I could try you and they gave me the green light.”

I paused and took her hand.

“Sam, it doesn’t matter what you say. I’ve missed you and I want to be with you. If you want to do this, great, we do it together; if you don’t, then equally fine by me, it means I won’t be doing the video either, and so I hope we can be together either way.”

“I’ve missed you too, and – oh, come here…” she leaned across, put a hand behind my neck and pulled me to her for a heartfelt kiss. And then another.

Eventually we pulled apart, and she said, “so, what’s the deal today?” I realised I hadn’t really explained what we were here for.

“Today’s the screen test. They’ll ask us to make love in front of a camera, and probably in front of them. It’s to prove we can perform on camera. If we can, then we get to do the rest of the videos, whatever that involves. So what do you think? Do you want to? I realise it’s putting you on the spot, I’ve had longer to get used to the idea, though it still excites and scares in equal measure.”

She took a deep breath.

“OK, here’s my take. When you told me about this, I first thought no way, I couldn’t do what is effectively porn. Then I got home, kept thinking about it, and every time I did, I got a frisson imagining it was me doing that. I’ll be honest, I never thought I was an exhibitionist, but it was turning me on. So I started thinking, could I do it myself? And I thought perhaps I could, and especially if it was with you. So I think we should give it a go. I can’t believe I’m saying this!

“I have to say I never thought my first time with you would be in front of spectators, but I still want to. Hell, I still want you.”

That merited another passionate kiss. I don’t know what the other customers in the George and Dragon thought. I didn’t care.

We pulled apart again.

“So, how is today going to pan out?” she said. “When are we on?”

“I need to get you to the studio by one, as you need to go through contract briefing and signature. They plan to start the shoot at two. No idea yet how that will work. I guess that means if you want some lunch we should get something now.”

There was a menu card on the table. Lunch was pretty basic – pubs weren’t great for food in those days – and we each picked a sandwich. Janice declared she needed another drink to steady her nerves. We got it sorted, and over lunch talked in a desultory manner about nothing in particular, each of us studiously avoiding the big topic.

By a quarter to one, we agreed we should head to the studio. It turned out again that Stuart and Stacey were both in reception as we came in, talking to another couple who we later found out were Gill and Andy, who had just had their screen test. Stuart broke away from them and came over beaming.

“Jonathan! I see you’ve brought Samantha… Are you willing to join us, Samantha? Excellent! Then let’s go through right away and I’ll walk you through the contract and the process. Are you ok if Jonathan comes too? Good, follow me…”

We went into Stuart’s office, and he brought out a blank contract form.

“It’s exactly the same contract that Jonathan signed. Let me talk you through it.”

He explained it much as he had with me, and Sam had no questions. She put in her full name and address and signed it, and the second copy. He then got out his cheque book and wrote the cheque for £250 as her signing on fee, and popped out for Stacey to countersign it. Sam gave me a shy smile. “Easiest two hundred and fifty quid I’ve ever earned!”

Stuart came back in and handed over the cheque, clapped his hands, and said,

“Right! Time for a tour of the facilities and a briefing for your session this afternoon. Follow me…”

We were taken to see what was announced as Control Room 2, which had a large desk covered in buttons and sliders with some screens, in front of a window through which we could see a room rather dimly; this apparently was where the recordings were monitored. The lights were on, and there were lamps lit on the control boards, but there was nobody in the room yet.

“There’s two studios each with its own Control Room,” Stuart told us.

Then we were shown the Editing Room, where video tape was edited and the final master copy prepared. Then we went out into a corridor with two doors with lights above them.

“These are the studios where we shoot our videos. If the red light is on, don’t come in as it means we are shooting. If you come in at that point, we might pick up the sound of the door or any external noise. These rooms are moderately soundproofed but won’t keep out loud noise from outside. Studio 2 is where we are shooting this afternoon.”

He opened the door and led us in. The main feature was a king-sized bed with a fitted sheet and pillows, but no sheets or duvet. Behind the head of the bed and to one side was dark grey drapery, presumably for background. Several feet back from the foot of the bed was a camera on a dolly with wheels, and at the side of the bed opposite the drapes another on a fixed mount. There was a microphone on a boom over the dolly. Behind the dolly were half a dozen chairs, and I saw a dark window which I realised was the Control Room.

I swallowed hard, it was beginning to be real. Sam slipped her hand in mine and squeezed it hard. I looked at her and we both had nervous smiles.

“Are you ok?” Stuart asked. Sam answered for us both.

“I think so, I’ll know better when we start! I feel very nervous, I hope we can perform for you.” I nodded. Sam continued, “What do you expect of us?”

“Come and sit down,” said Stuart, and led us to the chairs.

“Right, this should be the easiest scene of all those we ask you to do. There will be no direction from me, all I ask is that you start fully clothed at the foot of the bed, and proceed to make love. One of the lovely things about video tape is that it is relatively cheap, because unlike celluloid we can re-use it! So, just do what comes naturally to you. Oh, I said no direction, but there is one in fact, which is to take your time! We have lots of video tape, so please don’t rush it. Take all afternoon if you like! If for any reason we need you to stop, I’m sure you know the word ‘Cut’! But I don’t expect to use that this afternoon until it’s quite clear you’ve finished. Any questions?”

Sam and I looked at each other. One thing occurred to me.

“Do I need to use a condom?”

Sam answered that. “I’m on the pill. You’re fine as you are.”

“Anything else? If something occurs to you just shout. We need you to be happy and confident, if not it shows on screen. Now, let me show you the dressing rooms. Not that you’ll need any costumes!”

He took us to another couple of doors, each of which opened to a small room rather like the changing rooms at a gym, with a shower and toilet opening off it, and three or four lockers each with a row of hooks.

“There’s just you two this afternoon, so if you want to take one each…”

Sam said firmly,

“It’s ok, we’ll share. There’s only a need to stash my handbag and any valuables Jon has, after all.” Yes, and afterwards, I thought? We’d doubtless need a shower. I’d like to share a shower with Sam…

“Just one more thing to show you,” Stuart continued. “Just along here…”

It was the kitchen. “Tea, coffee, soft drinks, there’s still some lunch items here – have you had lunch? – and there will usually be something any time we are shooting. Just help yourself. Oh, and there are also toilets just along there on the right. So, I’ll leave you here, use the facilities, the dressing room, and turn up at Studio 2 just before two.”

And with that he swept off, leaving Sam and I looking at each other nervously. We each took a soda from the fridge and leant against the counter.

“Well…” I said.

“Well…” Sam said. “How are you feeling?”

“Very nervous! And I’ve had longer to prepare myself for this than you have. I hope I can do this. It’s less of an issue for you ladies, I guess you can fake it, but I’m worried about being too nervous to, er, well, get it up.”

“Hey, it’s still an issue for us girls. If I’m not turned on then I won’t be moist enough for you and it will be uncomfortable if not painful. But I think you will turn me on enough… and I promise to do my best to make sure you are hard too!”

“Thanks! I can’t help feeling that when I see you naked…” She silenced me with a kiss. I suddenly knew that it wouldn’t be a problem if she did that.

“Do you think we need any kind of planned routine?”

Sam laughed. “I’ve never been asked that by a boyfriend before our first time! Or any time, in fact. I think we’ll be able to busk it! Mind you, I think I’d like it if we undressed each other rather than take our own clothes off. I think that’s very erotic.”

So did I. So did my body, which started to get worked up. Down boy, save it for later.

We took our drinks back to the dressing room and sat down and chatted; it was clear we were both on edge. Before long I felt too nervous to sit still, so I went to the rest room and made sure that my bladder was empty and my privates clean. Can’t be too careful.

I came out and Sam took her turn and came out again, whilst I decided to lose the jacket and tie.

“Ready?” She nodded. We took each other’s hand and went down to Studio 2.

It was now a bustle of activity. The lights were now all on and a technician was fussing with them, while a cameraman was making final adjustments to one of the cameras. The lights were also on in the Control Room and there was someone just visible behind the glass. Stuart and Stacey were talking to another couple, perhaps five or ten years older than we were, who looked as nervous as I felt. Stuart saw us and waved us over.

“Let me introduce Jason and Louise, they are the third couple in this programme, you may be working with them at some point. They will be staying to watch you, and then after you are done, they will be doing their own screen test, and you’ll be welcome to watch them too.” He saw us look uncertain, and added, “We felt it will help you get used to performing with an audience.”

I gulped and looked at Sam, who seemed remarkably composed, and said, “Er, sure…”

Sam and I turned to Jason and Louise, and we shook their hands and murmured hello. Jason said, “This is a pretty surreal situation, good luck to you two, I’m glad we have a chance to get used to this first!”

I gave him a nervous grin. He was quite tall, almost a bit gangly, and Louise was also tall and slim, with long brown hair and a nice face. She smiled back and I thought she was putting a brave face on her misgivings.

Stacey interrupted us and led them to the line of chairs at the back of the room.

Stuart turned back to us and said,

“Remember, there’s no rush. I’d rather you took too long than have it all over in five minutes. Feel free to talk to each other, we’ll have the sound recording levels reasonably low, so they’ll catch the kinds of sounds that will be clearly audible at the back of the room where we are, but things you whisper to each other won’t get picked up clearly enough to follow.”

So in other words, what we murmur to each other stays private, but they’ll hear our moans. If we make any. I hoped we would.

“Any final questions?”

I looked at Sam. She gave me a small smile, but her eyes were shining and she held my hand tightly. “I’m ready. You OK, Jon?”

I took another deep breath. I seemed to be doing that a lot today. “I guess…”

“OK,” said Stuart, “take your places just here, off camera. When we start, just walk over to the bed, and then it’s all up to you. Let me check if everyone is set.”

He turned to the control room window. “Phil, are you ready?” I saw a thumbs up the other side of the glass. “Cameras ready? OK, sound ready? Yes? Great, Samantha and Jonathan, you ready? Yes? Ok then everyone, quiet please, ready to record… and… Action!” with a wave at us.

We gripped each other’s hand tightly and walked over to the foot of the bed. We turned to each other. I put my arms around her waist and drew her towards me. She put her arms round my neck. The kiss started off soft and moist, but became more urgent. I felt Sam’s tongue pressing against my lips and parted mine to let her in. I don’t know what it is about kissing with tongues, but I always find it incredibly sexy. I felt myself get hard. Sam felt it too, and pressed up against me.

“I don’t care who’s watching,” she whispered, “I want you…”

She pulled me onto the edge of the bed and we sat beside each other, her on my right. She kissed me again and I felt her hand on my bulge, which made it even harder. I reached up with my left hand and cupped her breast; she gave a satisfied grunt and squeezed my cock. Her breast felt perfect, firm, just a nice size to be a handful without being large enough to droop, at which point I suddenly realised she wasn’t wearing a bra. I rubbed it gently and felt the nipple hard against the palm of my hand.

“You feel so good,” I whispered, “I really want to see… are you ready for this?”

“Yesss…” It came out as a long breathy syllable and she massaged my cock. It was enjoying the attention. I’d forgotten about the audience.

I reached down and fiddled with the tie until the knot came undone. The blouse fell loose but still covered her. I slid both my hands under the bottom and up to her breasts. I ran the tips of my thumbs over her nipples. She made an appreciative murmur and kissed me hard again. After a moment, I pulled back slightly and whispered,

“Are you ready for the big reveal?”

She gave a low chuckle.

“I’ve gone topless a couple of times on a beach in Spain, but it never felt as sexy as this. Go for it!”

She sat with her arms down and gazed into my eyes. I looked back at her as I slowly pushed it off her shoulders and it fell to the bed. She slipped her arms out of it. We still looked into each other’s eyes, and she had a Mona Lisa half-smile. I realised that the audience had all got a look at her tits before I did. It made me chuckle. I pushed her gently back onto her elbows and kissed her neck and shoulders, and down her chest. Finally I was face to face with her pair, which were definitely worth the wait. You’d probably say they were average, if that does justice to a fit and healthy 22-year-old’s tits: I thought they were beautiful, a nice pert shape with modest sized areolas in a nice shade of mid brown, and stiff upstanding nipples just begging to be nibbled and sucked, so I did. I felt her hand in my hair encouraging me. I gazed up at her face and realised she was looking at the audience at the back of the room: judging by the hungry expression and the short breaths she was not intimidated by the situation, indeed she was clearly turned on by it. And I’ve found in my not very extensive survey of the sexual habits of females that if they are turned on, then so am I.

I gave a soft bite to the nipple between my lips and kissed my way back up to her mouth. I gave her some short kisses punctuated by murmured words: “You… are… so… sexy…” I felt her mouth smile. Then: “Your turn…”

She sat up and undid my shirt buttons starting at the top and pushed it off my shoulders.

“Not bad for someone who doesn’t work out much!” she said, running her hands across my chest. Then she stood up. “Remove my skirt…” she ordered huskily. I got up and dropped to my knees, she put her hands on my shoulders. I looked uncertainly at the waistband. “At the side…” she whispered. I found the catch and a short zip, and slowly worked the skirt down over her hips. She stepped out of it and kicked off her shoes. She had on creamy coloured briefs, more everyday than hot date in style, but they still looked really sexy on her. I put my hands on her buttocks – they felt really good too, soft yet firm – and pulled her towards me. I kissed her belly and down to the waistline and then just below on her thighs. I moved one hand round to the front and felt her through her briefs; it felt springy from the hair but also damp from arousal. I could smell it on her, I knew that evolution had made the scent alluring to men and by God it was working. I slipped my hands up under the fabric on both sides and eased them down, mesmerised as first the top of her hair and then slowly the rest was revealed to me. I pushed them down and she stepped out of them, totally naked now in front of the onlookers. Her breath was coming in short pants, and I glanced up to see her watching the watchers with a glazed expression. I ran a finger along her slit, which was pretty wet and puffy, and I kissed down her pubic hair to the top of her pussy. I’d never had the chance to indulge in oral sex before, my two previous girlfriends had thought it dirty, so I tentatively stuck out my tongue and gave a cautious lick. I wasn’t sure if I would like the taste and sensation but I found it was pretty arousing. She gasped and grabbing my head, pulled me to my feet and kissed me hard.

“I’d like that but not now, I need you in me…”

She spun us around and pushed me to a sitting position, then dropped to her knees and took off my shoes and socks, one foot at time. Then she pulled me to my feet again and dropped down to unbuckle my belt and undo my trousers. She pushed these to my feet and I lifted them one at a time as she slipped them off. Then she gripped the waistband of my briefs, which by now were straining somewhat, and eased it over my rigid cock, pausing to grasp it in one hand whilst she kissed the tip, before pushing them to the floor. Then she stood up, one hand behind my back, one hand grasping my cock, with another passionate kiss, before breaking off to whisper, “Lie down…”

I sat and then scooted backwards until I was fully on the bed with my head on the pillow, and she followed me on her hands and knees. She crawled up, straddling me, until she was far enough to drop onto me for another kiss, glorious with her soft breasts on my chest and my cock trapped between us. I could feel her pussy slick and being gently rubbed against the base of my cock.

“I can’t wait any longer…” she murmured, and grabbing my cock positioned it at her lips and eased herself onto it.

I don’t think I’ll ever tire of that sensation of the first penetration of a pussy in a love-making session. Hot, moist, tight and glorious skin contact and the slow slide into the depths. She felt fantastic. She eased me in a bit at a time, slightly back then a bit more forward, until I was buried to the hilt. I think I was murmuring something incoherent but she got the general idea that I was enjoying it. I suddenly remembered that we were being watched and filmed and that I found I not only didn’t care but I was enjoying the apparent effect on Sam.

“You seem ok about being watched,” I whispered.

“I’d no idea I was such an exhibitionist… It’s such a turn-on… Plus I’ve wanted to do this with you since our first date.”

I started gently moving inside her. “You realise they can see every detail of my cock moving in and out of you at this angle…” She hissed in appreciation and I felt her get a bit hotter and wetter as she started to move herself against me.

“Yesss… give it to me… I want to feel you come inside me…”

Our movements became more urgent. She raised herself on her hands and I used the opportunity to grasp those glorious tits and rub the nipples. She gave small cries of passion, and moved faster and faster, until a louder cry and a rippling sensation in her pussy suggested she was coming. I hammered her harder from below as I felt that wonderful sensation of a gathering storm welling up and bursting forth, and with incoherent grunts, thrust three, four, five times as my own climax hit.

Our movements became gentler and she settled back down on my torso, for a softer, loving kiss. “That was great… I look forward to doing that again!” And she put her head on my shoulder and stretched her legs out straight as I softened inside her. We stayed like that for I guess about fifteen seconds before –

“Cut!”

Sam lifted her head and we looked at each other and burst out laughing. We eased ourselves apart and saw Stuart and Tracey approaching the foot of the bed with towels and dressing gowns. I realised the crew and Jason and Louise were applauding. I suddenly felt a bit self-conscious, daft I know after that performance. We grabbed the towels, wiped ourselves and slipped the dressing gowns on. I grasped Sam’s hand and we stood wondering what would happen now. Stuart said enthusiastically,

“I think we can say you passed the screen test and then some!” he gushed.

Stacey was equally upbeat.

“Well done guys, a great show!”

I caught Jason’s eye. “That was really hot!” he said, “I’m worried now about following that!”

“Thanks,” I said, “but I don’t think it’s a competition! Just get over the finishing line and pass the screen test!”

Stacey said, “That’s all for you for today. We’re going to take about half an hour to have a break and change the sheets and set up for Jason and Louise. If you want to get dressed and then come back to watch them, that’s fine – just bear in mind you need to be here before the red light goes on – otherwise we need you here Monday morning at nine to start filming proper.”

“Thanks,” we said in unison, and went back to the dressing room.

As soon as the door closed, Sam slipped off the robe and came over for a kiss. Naturally I ditched mine quick as well, and enjoyed a slow kiss with a full naked body hug.

“I guess we’d better have a shower and get dressed,” I said, “Do you want to watch Jason and Louise?”

She smiled and walked towards the shower, tugging me by the hand.

“Yes – if we finish the shower in time!”

That was without doubt the best shower I’d had to date. Slowly soaping each other all over, with special attention to each other’s intimate parts, and lots more kissing. Then Sam said,

“I look forward to having you again, but I’d like to watch Jason and Louise. I’ve never seen a porn video, let alone a live sex show!”

So reluctantly we dried ourselves off and got dressed, and headed back to the studio, just in time before the door was locked and the red light lit.

I had no idea what our show might have looked like to an observer – it was pretty amazing to a participant! – so I didn’t know what to expect or how to judge Jason and Louise. It seemed to me that they got into it rather quicker than we had, more or less straight into taking their own clothes off and less – how should I put it, intimacy I suppose. There wasn’t much kissing or tenderness. They looked like two strangers having sex rather than a couple. But there’s no doubting it was arousing; seeing a woman taking off her clothes got me hard again, and Sam seemed to be squirming in her chair somewhat.

It seemed to me that Jason was trying a bit too hard to be in charge, getting Louise to suck his dick, and then after a while pushing her onto her back and plunging in without much attention to her arousal. But she seemed to be aroused enough of her own accord, if the cries and moans were anything to go by.

Jason finished soon enough, I don’t know if Louise climaxed, and then – “Cut!” and their towels and dressing gowns were brought to them. Stuart and Tracey gave them suitable praise, but it seemed to me not as spontaneous as for us. Maybe it was because it was the second couple.

Anyway, we dutifully applauded and said, “Well done!” As soon as we could reasonably do so, we made our excuses and left, promising to be on time on Monday.

We went back to the George and Dragon, both of us feeling in need of another drink, and both I think on a high from the adrenaline of the situation. We sat and talked about the events of the afternoon.

“I can’t believe I found sex in front of strangers like that so exciting!” Sam said. “The thought that they were staring at my pussy whilst you were pumping it made me so horny! But I’d like to say that I’m so glad it was with you. I just imagine being like Louise and having sex with a near complete stranger would have been perhaps arousing but not as erotic as having it with someone I love.” She suddenly realised what she’d said and stopped and held her breath, hand to her mouth. It was an early stage in our relationship to mention love.

I leaned forward and kissed her gently. “I wholeheartedly agree. It seems crazy given the short time we’ve known each other and the circumstances, but I love you too.”

She touched my cheek, eyes glistening.

After a moment, she straightened up, and said,

“Listen, I hope you don’t just view sex with me in a professional capacity! Fiona’s away again Saturday night, she’s visiting her boyfriend’s parents – I think it might be serious! – so if you have nothing better to do, you could come and stay over…”

“What could possibly be better! You bet!”

The next few weeks were just unreal. We’d meet at the studio in the morning and firstly go through the previous day’s output, occasionally there’d be something that merited re-shooting the same thing, otherwise we discussed and planned what today’s shooting would be in quite a lot of detail. The video series started with a view of the human body – in this case each of the three couples in turn, standing naked and unaroused, holding hands whilst the camera tracked round us, and then made a detailed tour of our bodies, whilst apparently the commentary would discuss erogenous zones. Then we each had close-ups of our genitals, first unaroused and then aroused, which took a bit of, shall we say, manual intervention. It was amazing how quickly it became natural to spend all day naked around clothed crew, and to engage in sexual activity with people watching, and indeed directing – “Jon, can you move your hip back a bit so we have a clearer view of the penetration – that’s it – thanks!” Sometimes we’d perform a particular act and Stuart would call a halt, we’d discuss how it could work better for the camera, and we’d have to start again. That was fine of course provided I hadn’t come, in which case we’d have to pause for Sam to get cleaned up, and me to be ready to go again. But in any case, after stopping to discuss the situation, sometimes I’d need encouragement to get erect again; and sometimes Sam needed to be revved up again too. That was fun in itself.

We covered the whole range of standard sex: masturbation, mutual masturbation, basic sex positions – missionary, cowgirl, doggy style – and oral sex. That last I enjoyed, having had a close-up lesson in how to find the clitoris as a result of earlier sessions.

Then we had a section on hair styling for the genitals. I’d heard about the Brazilian wax which was becoming popular, leaving a landing-strip and baring the pussy, but I hadn’t realised that shaving completely bare down there was also becoming a fad. Louise got the Brazilian, and we had a session where Sam and I shaved each other, and then demonstrated how the tongue was sensitive and useful to detect how close the shave was. When that was done, and Stuart called “Cut!”, there was an audible sigh from both Sam and I, and Stuart said, “Do you want to carry on? I hadn’t planned to, but I reckon some shots of a bare cock in a bare pussy would help to show why you’d do it!” And so we were able to relieve the sexual tension that had built up. It was very erotic.

A few weeks in, when we were already filming for the second video in the series, there was a section on foursomes. Sam and I were picked to pair with Billy and Cathy, the third couple and both black with West Indian parents. We’d become friendly, which helped – Jason and Louise were still a bit distant – and Sam and I discussed it the night before the scene was due to be shot.

I expressed my concerns that it would affect our growing closeness, but Sam said,

“I won’t deny I’m looking forward to sex with Billy, it’s not as if I’m going behind your back, and you’ll be fucking Cathy, she’s a good looking girl too! We’ll still be together, and it’s you I love.”

This scene took just over a week to shoot. We started off in our couples, for once fully clothed, kissing and caressing, started undressing each other, and then moved to kiss and continue undressing the other girl. We did this changeover several times as Stuart tried to find the best way to present this. Then we got naked on the same bed – good job it was a king bed, as Billy was quite a big chap! – and filmed various different combinations, where one of us would kiss one partner whilst fucking the other. Cathy was quite a big girl too, and very enthusiastic; it was surprisingly a huge turn-on to be buried in her and see Sam getting pounded by Billy alongside us.

The only downside of all this sex was that come the weekend, all we wanted to do was chill. We tended to spend it apart, each catching up with our flatmates and with domestic chores – although as we were spending a lot of the days naked, laundry was less of an issue than usual. I hoped it didn’t mean that the relationship was fading just as the sex had hit top gear. We just never seemed to have the time or energy to discuss “us”.

The first sign things were going wrong with JG Videos came on Monday 2nd September, six weeks into the contract. We arrived expecting to collect our cheque but it didn’t come first thing, and eventually Stacey promised it would be ready the next morning. That sounded a bit odd but we went along with it as she said it was just an administrative difficulty, and sure enough, we got it next day. I checked with the bank later in the week and it had cleared.

There were other warning signs I guess, though they didn’t register as such at the time. Stacey and Stuart were often in deep and sometimes heated discussion at times during the day, and Stacey went off three or four times in smart suits with a briefcase. Then on the Wednesday of the week after the delayed cheque, we arrived first thing and Stuart met us.

“Sorry guys, there’s an administrative issue we need to sort out, so we’ve had to postpone shooting for today. I can’t say more, but come here again tomorrow at around eleven and I’ll tell you what I can.”

Well, we all six decided to go to a local café and discuss what was going on.

“I don’t like the sound of this,” said Jason, who had done some business studies, “it seems to me like a contractual or financial problem. Perhaps it’s to do with the lease, perhaps they have an overdraft and the bank wants them to cut back… I guess we’ll find out a bit more tomorrow.” There was more chewing of the fat but in the absence of any real information, it was all speculative.

The next morning, the axe fell.

We all got invited into a room with all of the crew, the receptionist, and a couple of others I hadn’t remembered seeing before.

Stacey and Stuart looked very sombre. Stacey took the lead.

“OK, there’s no easy way of saying this. We’ve got ourselves into financial difficulty over this video series. As most of you will have heard, we made our name shooting videos that clients had commissioned – mostly corporate promotions, or staff training, things that essentially we got paid to do as we went along.

“These videos, well, they are our initiative, so we have effectively mortgaged the company against a future revenue stream. We couldn’t get a loan from the bank because of the subject material, so we had a couple of private investors on board. Now, the Government is delaying the likely legislation changes to enable this to be sold to the general public, and as a consequence, one of our investors has had cold feet, and has stopped the funding. We’ve done what we can, but can’t find another to fill the gap.

“I won’t go into details, but we don’t have the cash flow to carry on. We owe our September lease payment on this building, and the owners are cutting up about it.

“To cut a long story short, we are going to have to go into liquidation. I’m sorry, but it means your contracts are terminated with immediate effect. We can’t go on. The assets, including the cameras, recording and editing equipment, are all now in the hands of the Receiver. They will decide what to do with our assets.”

She paused, clearly close to tears. Then, putting on a brave smile, she continued.

“We don’t own the recordings we’ve done, or the edited versions to date. However, knowing that this was coming, we’ve put together cassettes for each of you with the outline video to date – so no commentary, link clips, titles, graphics and so on – and the screen test you did. Take this away and don’t tell the Receiver you’ve got it!

“I’m truly sorry it’s come to this, I really thought we could pull this off and steal a march on everybody else. Sadly…” She passed her hand over her eyes.

I looked around. Everybody else was clearly as stunned as I was. I got up and went to Stacey, and gave her a hug.

“Stacey, and Stuart, I hope I speak for us all if I say it’s been a wonderful experience – I might almost say life-changing – and I wouldn’t have missed it for anything, even if we can’t finish the job.” Murmurs of agreement from the others. “I really hope you can come back from this. Thank you both.” Thank yous echoed from the rest of the room, and a general buzz of conversation started up. I felt sorry for all the technical crew, most of whom we’d got to know quite well, who probably weren’t expecting like the six of us ‘actors’ to be finishing any time soon.

Pretty soon there was general agreement that we’d convene in the Red Lion, alcohol was called for in the circumstances.

On the way to the pub, I asked Sam how she felt about it.

“Well, a bit stunned. I can’t quite take it in. I will admit it’s disappointing to lose out on, what is it, fourteen hundred quid? Mind you, we’ve already been paid more than I expected when I first applied! What we’ve had so far is going to make a big difference already. How about you?”

“I agree, it’s a real shock. I’ve enjoyed the past few weeks far more than I expected, and it’s been so good to do it with you. As for the money, I reckon I’ve got enough to get a studio, and perhaps a bit of equipment. I need to get a brochure designed and printed now.”

Well, we spent a couple of hours in the pub, but our heart wasn’t in it. The mood was somewhat subdued. We drifted away, one by one, and Samantha and I left around the middle of the exodus; I think a few of the technicians looked as though they were in for a heavy session.

We walked slowly in the general direction of our transport stops, hand in hand. Then Sam stopped. She’d been quiet, and I sensed she was thinking how to tell me something. I hoped it wasn’t “Goodbye and thanks for all the sex”. She took a deep breath and said,

“Jon… I wanted to ask you something.” I started to speak but she held up a hand.

“I discovered last night that Fiona is going to move out, she’s going to live with her boyfriend. That’s a decent sized flat for a couple. My bed is a double anyway, and… I’d love it if you moved in.”

I burst out laughing and grabbed her in a bear hug. It clearly wasn’t the reaction she was expecting.

“Thank goodness!” I said enthusiastically, “For a moment I thought you might not want to keep on seeing me! Yes, yes, yes! After the past few weeks, I love you even more! And it will be nice to have some time to make love our way, in our space!”

“I hope Jim will forgive me for breaking up the happy home!”

“Don’t worry, Jim has applied for a job which would require him to move up north. That problem may solve itself any time now!”

Then something else occurred to me.

“You know how we were both disappointed not to spend the summer on holiday in Europe – I’d just like to say I’ve never been so pleased not to have a holiday!”

Sam burst out laughing.

“Me too! This has been better than any holiday could be!”

“I guess it’s been our ‘Summer of Love’!”

Suffice it to say that I moved in with Sam, and we became closer and more in love than ever. It really did turn into the love of my life. I found my perfect premises, and got set up with equipment and promo materials. The shoot I’d done in Stevenage came out really well, the client loved it, and their brochure actually won a marketing prize. I got some good referrals, and business really picked up, so I was able to support Sam through her trainee period.

And now, some forty years on, we are both retiring and will doubtless enjoy more time with the grandkids. That VCR cassette has long been converted to an MP4, which these days we tend to watch on the anniversary of the screen test. It works every time!

It was I suppose a year or so after JG Videos went bust that the censorship rules were relaxed, and very soon afterwards, “The Joy of Sex” was released, to become pretty much the seminal video sex manual.

But I often wonder, what if JG Videos had been able to keep going, and had been the first to market. Everyone who saw it would know we were amongst its stars. How differently would people have regarded us? Would we have been applauded or condemned for doing it? Would we have been approached for other roles?

I’ll never know, but I do know it whilst it never provided sex education to anyone else, it certainly taught us how to make sex great with someone you love!