A FILM crew member suffered a fractured skull when a drunken prank with a colleague went horribly wrong.

Adam Vines spent a fortnight in hospital and was put in an induced coma by doctors after the accident.

He fell off the back of a flat-back truck after a boozy production party in Redmire, North Yorkshire.

Driver Thomas Prothero downed ten vodkas and two jägerbomb shots before getting behind the wheel.

After he pulled away with Adam on the back, he didn't even realise his pal, 27, had plunged to the road.

Prothero, 30, stopped later up the country track, and realised the film head of department was not there.

He ran up a bank and found his friend on the ground with blood coming from his ears, a court heard.

Mr Vines was taken to hospital in Middlesbrough and woke up five days later.

The last thing he could recall was playing pool in the Bolton Arms, he said in a statement to police.

A week later he was transferred to hospital near his Cambridgeshire home and was discharged five days later.

Doctors said he suffered swelling to the brain and a fracture to the base of his skull, but has recovered well.

Prothero, of Royston, Cambridgeshire, admitted dangerous driving and now faces a prison sentence.

The pair were working for On Set Location Services Ltd, which provides facilities for TV and film productions.

Prothero was one of four camera truck drivers while on location at Bolton Castle in March this year.

It is understood they were working on Bill, a comedy film about the life of William Shakespeare, being filmed at the castle as part of the Horrible Histories children's series.

On the night of the accident, the pair took what the crew called "the gulley sucker" to the party.

The truck - a six-ton flat-back with a huge drum - is used to empty on-set toilets was driven by Mr Vine.

When the friends were unable to get a taxi back as planned, Prothero insisted he was fit to drive.

He told police he stopped to let Mr Vine relieve himself, and his friend then wanted to get on the back.

After a disagreement, he decided to pull away to teach him a lesson, but did not see him climb on.

Prothero, who also admitted perverting the course of justice, will be sentenced at Teesside Crown Court in the New Year.

Judge Howard Crowson told him yesterday: "You have pleaded guilty to two offences, both of which have the potential for prison sentences."

Defence lawyer Jonathan Harley said Prothero had no previous conviction, and the victim does not blame him.

The 14th Century castle has been used as a location for several films and television dramas, including Ivanhoe, Elizabeth, Heartbeat and All Creatures Great and Small.