A television producer's plan to duck the Taliban

3D film on show at Mogao Caves

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We were doing an incredibly tough shoot and we had 15 child extras. Children on set at the best of times are difficult to deal with. Here were 15 Afghan children who probably barely watched television, let alone appeared on it. They had no concept of not looking at the camera. We were behind schedule and all the kids started wandering away. I called to my producer and said, "Where are those kids going?" She said: "They're going to school." I just completely lost my mind and screamed, "Nobody is going to school today - all right!" All the kids stopped and I literally stopped these kids from going to school. I felt absolutely awful. I thought: "Here I am, I've come over here to try and help these people and I'm basically stopping the kids from getting an education!"

During long shoots, how did you pass the time?

One of my favorite games was "What would you do if the Taliban came now?" We would go to some location in the middle of nowhere, there'd be a bit of a mountain and a few trees and I'd literally think: "What would I do if the Taliban turned up?" You had to be inventive. It was something to pass the time but also something that stuck in the back of your mind.

My favorite was the bamboo stick and I honestly believed that could work. You'd get under the water and use the stick as a snorkel. The only trouble was I wouldn't know when the Taliban had left and I could be under the water for hours and get bitten by a fish - that was the only setback with that one.