How did Tom Burke’s amputee character Cormoran Strike lose his leg and did the BBC actor wear a prosthesis?

Viewers have been left stunned by BBC mystery series Strike, particularly how they shot Cormoran Strike amputated leg scenes so seamlessly.

Actor Tom Burke does not have an amputated leg in real life so how they did pull it off?

How did Cormoran Strike lose his leg?

Cormoran is a private detector in his late thirties, the illegitimate son of a former rock star and a former Special Investigation Branch investigator.

He’s discharged from the army after losing half his leg in a bomb attack in Afghanistan.

How did they film the amputated leg?

Series director Michael Keller revealed: “There were a few different tricks that we employed.”

He added: “I was very keen that we see the [prosthetic] leg off, [with] Tom and no leg all in one shot, not just done with a cutaway.

“And I’d seen this film, Rust & Bone, where Marion Cotillard gets both her legs taken off in an accident. So I kind of studied how they did that using greenscreen technology, then we used trick photography to remove the leg.”

Cutting himself short, Keillor said: “I don’t want to give away all the tricks, in case the other directors do it differently as the books go on! But yeah, we basically digitally removed it then replaced the stump.”

Did they use a body double?

Director Michael Keller revealed: “We also had a double who was a very close double for Tom’s legs, who only had one leg, but exactly the same injury.

“So we doubled up that whenever we’re going very very close and seeing the leg.”

How did actor Tom Burke make the amputation seem convincing?

The actor admitted he took care to ensure he was moving like a man with an amputated leg.

He has revealed: “I asked as many questions as I could think of and spent about a day with a movement director called Toby Sedgwick and a guy called Barney [Gillespie] who is incredibly generous with his time, who had basically the same condition.

“And a day going upstairs, downstairs, sitting down, standing up.

Sort of everything you could think of, trying to break it down to what one notices and what one doesn’t notice.”