Category: JOB DESCRIPTION
Funny business
As production ramps up on season two of Sky’s Funny Woman, production designer Jacqueline Smith tells DQ about how she built 1960s London across North West England, her love of period dramas and balancing creativity with practicality.
Murderous music
Composer Evan Jolly tells DQ about his work writing the music for long-running murder-mystery series Midsomer Murders, creating its quirky English soundtrack and his favourite moments from the show so far.
Into the Vortex
Science-fiction crime drama Vortex – about a police officer attempting to change the past – is the first French series to use virtual production. DQ speaks to Fix Studio VFX producer Cédric Herbet about the demands of using this emerging technology.
Following your Heart
The second season of Netflix teen drama Heartstopper marked the first major television project for cinematographer Simona Susnea. She tells DQ about evolving the show’s eye-catching visual style, filming in Paris and why working in TV is crazy.
Pole position
Cinematographer Danny Cohen tells DQ about reuniting with director Shane Meadows for the BBC’s naturalistic historical drama The Gallows Pole, filming on the Yorkshire moors and the importance of quad bikes.
The Cowboy way
Danish cinematographer Magnus Nordenhof Jønck discusses his partnership with “one of a kind” director Nicholas Winding Refn on Netflix’s stylish neo-noir drama Copenhagen Cowboy and why he wanted the show to be an experience for viewers.
For Heaven’s sake
As fantasy series Good Omens returns for a second season, VFX supervisor Matias Derkacz breaks down effects studio Milk’s work on the drama, which is based on the novel by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.
Lasting impression
VFX supervisor Stephen James discusses effects studio DNEG’s work on HBO drama The Last of Us, revealing how buildings were destroyed and vegetation grown to create the show’s post-apocalyptic setting.
Fantasy fulfilled
Casting director Sophie Holland might have helped build the worlds of The Witcher, Shadow & Bone and Wednesday, but she doesn’t want to be known as the Queen of Fantasy. DQ finds out why and learns about the challenges and controversies of casting.
An unseen craft
Alison Barnett, the winner of this year’s Bafta Television Craft Special Award, is an industry pioneer as one of the very first female heads of production in the UK. She tells DQ about her prolific career, breaking barriers and filming again after the pandemic.
Building Expectations
Production designer Sonja Klaus tells DQ how she reunited with writer Steven Knight to bring to life his adaptation of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, and discusses her fresh approach to one of the author’s most iconic characters, the jilted spinster Miss Havisham.
Thoroughly modern Marie
Juliette Ménager, casting director on Marie Antoinette, discusses building the cast of Deborah Davis’s modern retelling of the life of the woman who would be Queen of France, her big break and the secret to good casting.
Casting goals
Siegfried Wagner, head of casting at German producer Bavaria Fiction, talks to DQ about his career so far, building the on-screen ensemble for Das Boot and finding an actor to play football legend Franz Beckenbauer.
Music maker
French composer Audrey Ismaël explains how she came up with the music for historical drama Germinal and reveals how starting a band led her to writing music for film and television.
Cast master
Award-winning casting director Daniel Edwards breaks down his work on Netflix phenomenon Heartstopper and talks about authentic representation and the ‘forgotten’ art of on-screen chemistry.
Casting a spell on Danish TV
Danish casting director Anja Philip looks back on four key series she has worked on and breaks down how she built the casts of Borgen, Kamikaze, Skruk (Baby Fever) and Carmen Curlers.
Deer in the spotlight
Tracey Deer tells DQ how she juggled her directing duties on Prime Video crime drama Three Pines with her role as Indigenous consultant on the Canadian series, and explains how Indigenous stories are finding new audiences.
Fashion Police
Anaïs Romand, costume designer on French period drama Paris Police 1900 and now its sequel Paris Police 1905, reveals the secrets of her job, from creating a character’s sense of style to the importance of good material.
Getting the Essex look
Set in Victorian England, The Essex Serpent tells the story of a woman’s search for a mythical creature. Costume designer Jane Petrie talks about finding the show’s style and dressing stars Claire Danes and Tom Hiddleston.
Job Description: Costume designer
Laura Smith speaks to DQ about working with writer and director Hugh Laurie to create the 1930s costumes for the characters in BritBox’s adaptation of Agatha Christie mystery Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?.