Film & Television Production Medical Support

In 2020, during the height of the global COVID-19 pandemic, international travel and film production had effectively stopped. Borders were closed, aviation networks were severely restricted, and much of the world remained under strict lockdown.

During this extraordinary period, Dr Gary Darling-Parkes, CEO of GWAS Ambulance Group, was tasked by Revelations Entertainment in the United States, working on behalf of Discovery Channel, to support the international documentary series Hunting Atlantis.

Over a ten-week filming schedule spanning August, September and October 2020, Gary worked as the Health & Safety Officer, Set Medic and COVID Supervisor for the production as the team travelled across Southern Europe, the Greek Islands and Turkey.

The logistics involved were unlike anything the industry had experienced before. At a time when international travel was still heavily restricted, the production required complex planning and strict medical protocols to ensure the safety of cast and crew while moving across multiple countries.

Travel during this period was surreal. Airports that would normally be filled with thousands of passengers stood almost empty. In some cases the production team were the only passengers moving through terminals such as Munich Airport. Hotels across Europe were reopening cautiously, often specifically to accommodate limited international travellers and production crews operating under strict health protocols.

Managing these movements safely required meticulous coordination of flights, ground transport, accommodation and medical compliance. Every border crossing involved testing requirements and documentation, while every filming location required risk assessment and safety planning.

The successful completion of the Hunting Atlantis production demonstrated that international filming could be conducted safely even under the extreme restrictions of the pandemic.

The experience and operational protocols developed during this production would later contribute directly to further COVID-secure filming frameworks used in UK productions — including the independent feature film A Bird Flew In, which became one of the first films shot during lockdown in the United Kingdom.

These projects helped show that safe production was possible during an unprecedented time and played a role in helping the wider film and television industry begin returning to work.