24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
Scots beauty spot transformed into AFGHANISTAN battlefield for new hit film
'Even training in Scotland with the army I have seen soldiers go down with heat injury'
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TELLY explorer Levison Wood has revealed how his biggest adventure was turning Scotland into Afghanistan.
The former British Army Major with the Parachute Regiment spent four years serving in the war-torn region before carving out a new career with his popular Walking With series on Channel 4.
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Levison Wood on one of his TV adventures.
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Levison has moved into directing, making his first short film The Burn in Scotland last year.
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The explorer managed to recreate Afghanistan scenes like these in Scotland.
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Cramond Island outside Edinburgh was one of the locations for Levison's film.
But Levison is now working behind the camera as a film director, shooting his first short film called The Burn where Scotland doubled for Helmand Province.
Levison, who brings his Walking the World stage show to Edinburgh in May, says: 'I spent a lot of time in Scotland last year because I directed my first short film about a veteran returning home after war.
'We filmed a lot of it on Cramond Island just outside of Edinburgh. But there are a lot of flashbacks to Afghanistan in the story and we somehow managed to shoot an Afghanistan battle scene in Scotland too.
'We did that on the Dalmeny Estate by the River Forth. Because it was at night, we just got lots and lots of flash bangs and that worked really well.'
Levison himself stepped out of the frying pan into the fire when he left the army in 2010 to become a bestselling author writing about his explorations to over 120 countries.
That led to his first telly series Walking The Nile in 2015 where he trekked 4,000 miles from the African river's source in Rwanda to the Mediterranean Sea in Egypt.
The expedition was inspired by Scots explorer David Livingstone and US journalist Henry Morton Stanley who tracked down the missing missionary to Central Africa in 1871 with the immortal words: 'Dr Livingstone, I presume?'
However disaster struck during his mammoth trek when his American writer pal Matthew Power died from heatstroke at the age of 39 while he accompanied Levison through Uganda.
Levison recalls: 'That was a terrible, terrible incident. I mean, Matt Powers, poor guy, he had come out to write about the expedition for Men's Health magazine in the States.
'But then he succumbed to heat injury and I tried to revive him. It was awful.
'I've been in the army and I've experienced risk on many levels, but that was very up close and personal as Matt died in my arms.
'It was a horrible thing to go through, but, you know, since then I've had many close calls myself.'
'Nature's how we learn'
HE'S been chased by crocs, but Levison says his latest expedition may be a hard sell – after he spent three years studying trees.
The adventurer's latest book The Great Tree Story: How Forests Have Shaped Our World, inset, is released on April 15.
But he believes it's been just as fascinating as his more daring-do adventurers.
He says: 'The last three years I've been on a mission to find out more about trees, which is a lot more exciting than it sounds.
'I've been doing these adventures now for ten or more years on the television, and some of the biggest things that struck me is just how the environment's changing and how fragile our ecosystems are.
'Without wanting to sound too earnest about it all, I just thought, 'You know what? It's about time nature came to the fore'.'
He adds: 'So I've basically just written a book called The Great Tree Story, which is all about our relationship with nature.
'A big part of my tour this time is talking about my experiences with indigenous people around the world.
'I've spent time with them in the great jungles of Congo, the Amazon and so on, but everywhere I go these people have a relationship with nature and the trees, which is something we can all learn from.'
On his explorations Staffordshire-born Levison has been chased by hippos and crocs, robbed by bandits and caught in a civil war.
But a taxi crash in Nepal in 2015 is where he first feared he would meet his maker when the vehicle's brakes failed.
He says: 'That was on a Himalayas expedition where the taxi fell off the end of a cliff.
'After we'd rolled ten times down 150ft I did think, 'You're dying here, mate.' Amazingly all I ended up with was a broken arm.
'But I have also caught all the tropical diseases, including dengue fever and malaria.
'And I once spent a week in intensive care in Costa Rica, having been in some bat caves where I breathed in the fungal spores that live on the bat s**t. That almost ended me.
'It's funny as everyone thinks it's slightly glamorous or romantic when you go on expeditions to be snapped at by crocodiles or chased down by a lion, all of which have happened to me.
'But it's the more mundane stuff like car crashes, insect bites or even what happened to Matt, with heat injury, that are the most dangerous.'
He adds: 'Even training in Scotland with the army I have seen soldiers go down with heat injury.
'You've got to be really careful about your water intake and all the rest of it, but sometimes tragic things happen'.
But all this begs the question - why does he do it?
Levison, 42, laughs: 'That's something I have often asked myself over the last 20 odd years.
'Bit I feel very lucky and privileged. I get to go and see the world and the most incredible places on the planet and meet some of the most amazing people as a result.
'One of the most rewarding parts of my job is I focus on these human stories and tell their stories that probably would otherwise be overlooked.'
But right now he is focused on turning his short film The Burn into a full-length feature flick.
He explains: 'We're already 100 per cent committed to using Scotland as a location to shoot the whole movie.
'The story is very much rooted in Scottish identity and is based around a Scottish soldier coming back from war and facing the demons many veterans face whether it's PTSD, alcohol or drug addiction.
'That's something that a lot of my former colleagues have been through.'
He adds: 'But it's also got a sort of interesting, quirky modern twist because it's all set around a music festival.
'So it's very trippy - a bit like Trainspotting meets The Beach.'
And just like The Burn, Levison plans to use real veterans as actors in his movie too.
He says: 'I've been very fortunate because when I left the army I had a very clear idea of what I wanted to do in terms of being an explorer.
'Essentially going off on these journeys is very similar in many ways to what we used to do in the army - minus the weaponry.
'So that allowed me to follow my passion and transition in a way that some people don't necessarily get to do so they can find themselves a bit lost when they're disconnected from that military community.
'The whole point of doing The Burn was to have a predominantly veteran crew and cast. All the actors were veterans and if there was any spot that could be filled by a vet in the crew we did that too.
'Not only does this give them a chance to think about a career in the creative industries but means I also got to work with all my mates too.'
He adds: 'So I am really looking forward to returning to Scotland and turning it into Afghanistan once again.'
*Levison Wood: Walking The World is at Edinburgh's Queen's Hall on May 19.
