A stunt co-ordinator broke a "golden rule" not to have a manned camera in front of a moving vehicle, an inquest into the death of a cameraman has heard.

Mark Milsome, who lived in Hay-on-Wye, died when a Land Rover ploughed into him during the filming of Black Earth Rising in Ghana in November 2017.

West London Coroner's Court heard on Wednesday there will be expert evidence suggesting the vehicle was travelling at 47 kilometres per hour when it came over a ramp and headed towards the 54-year-old.

As part of the stunt sequence for the joint BBC and Netflix drama, the car was supposed to go up a ramp and topple over, but the inquest has heard that the vehicle unexpectedly ploughed into Mr Milsome, killing him and injuring his colleague Paul Kemp.

Mr Milsome had been working at the time for Forgiving Earth Limited, producers of the series which stars John Goodman and Michaela Coel.

The inquest has already heard from the original stunt co-ordinator Julian Spencer, who had no involvement in the stunt on the night in question, that there was a "golden rule" that cameras in front of a moving vehicle are unmanned.

John Smith, who took over as stunt co-ordinator at the end of October, less than three weeks before the incident, was asked if he agreed with that rule and he said he did.

Dominic Kay QC, for the Forgiving Earth production company, said: "That night, when you called action and knew that Mark Milsome was in that position, you were calling action in breach of that golden rule, weren't you?"

Mr Smith replied: "I guess so."

He told the inquest he wanted the cameras filming the stunt to be unmanned and had expressed this at the time, saying he had warned Mr Milsome and Mr Kemp they would be "in the line of fire" if things went wrong.

Mr Smith, giving evidence via videolink, said he had explained that the position of the camera operated by Mr Milsome was a "danger zone" and that he would "prefer" that the camera was not manned.

But he said Mr Milsome and Mr Kemp – who was working as a "grip" in charge of camera support equipment and helping camera operators – were "quite happy" to be there.

He said he told them: "When the car goes over onto its side this will be a great shot and it will be safe, but if the car doesn't go over on its side you are right in the line of fire."

He said Mr Kemp had told him: "My hand will be on his (Mr Milsome's) belt and if anything goes wrong I will pull him out of the way."

Mr Kemp has told the inquest there was "absolutely no way" he would have gone ahead with the stunt had there been any suggestion at the time of such a level of danger.

He told the inquest he had checked "multiple times" with Mr Smith if the position he and Mr Milsome would be in was safe.

Mr Kemp said in a statement, part of which was read, that he saw the car approaching but "realised something was wrong because it was going faster than in rehearsals".

He added: "I remember pulling Mark but the vehicle was too fast."

Mr Milsome's father Doug Milsome, an accomplished cinematographer who has worked with renowned director Stanley Kubrick and on Bond films, has said the standards of professional stunt crew and producers "should never have allowed" his son to die.

The cameraman was originally from Barnes in west London but had more recently lived in Hay-on-Wye, Wales, with his wife Andra and their daughter.

Ahead of the inquest, Mrs Milsome said she hoped the inquest could "get the answers" about what had happened.

The hearing was adjourned until Thursday at 10am.