I am an art director and production designer with over thirty years experience at all levels of the film and TV industry including classic TV shows such as INSPECTOR MORSE, LOVE HURTS, KAVANAGH QC, THE LAKES, RUTH RENDELL MYSTERIES and POIROT. I also designed over forty episodes of the popular police series THE BILL.
I have worked around the world on a variety of productions including the BBC drama documentary series DISCOVERING ANCIENT EGYPT filmed entirely on location in Egypt and KROD MANDOON & THE FLAMING SWORD OF FIRE shot in Budapest for Comedy Central. Probably my most challenging foreign assignment was to design a domestically produced soap opera in Kazakhstan (PEREKRESTOK) modelled on the BBC’s ‘EastEnders’! Other countries include Italy, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Lithuania, South Africa and Namibia.
My feature film experience is extensive and includes such diverse productions as CHURCHILL: THE HOLLYWOOD YEARS directed by Comic Strip creator Peter Richardson, LOVE & DEATH ON LONG ISLAND (starring John Hurt & Jason Priestly), an adaptation of HEIDI (starring Max von Sydow) shot in Slovenia and the epic 10,000BC directed by Roland Emmerich filmed in South Africa and Namibia. As Supervising Art Director on THE LIBERTINE (starring Jonny Depp, Samantha Morton and John Malkovich), I was responsible for the recreation of a 17th Century Restoration theatre as well as many period sets on location.
Together with production designer Grenville Horner, I have worked on adaptations of OLIVER TWIST and WUTHERING HEIGHTS directed by Coky Giedroyc; comedy series REV and EPISODES (starring Matt Le Blanc); drama series JEKYLL written by Steven Moffat and the second season of Kay Mellor’s THE SYNDICATE. Grenville and I co-designed THE HARRY HILL MOVIE, a surreal and anarchic road trip with comedian Harry Hill and his pet hamster… I also designed BUTTERFLY KISSES, an independent feature that won the ‘Crystal Bear – Best Film 14 Plus’ at the 2017 Berlin International Film Festival.
Further projects include a pilot for AMC about an 18th Century surgeon (KNIFEMAN), a feature length drama for BBC about the televising of the trial of Adolf Eichmann in 1961 (THE EICHMANN SHOW) and the dramatised biography of comedian Lenny Henry set in 1970s Birmingham (DANNY & THE HUMAN ZOO). Netflix shows include the highly successful adaptation of US indie comic THE END OF THE F***ING WORLD and TURN UP CHARLIE, a comedy series created by and starring Idris Elba. Another recent production is the original drama ADULT MATERIAL set in the porn industry, broadcast on Channel 4 in autumn 2020.
In autumn 2021, I designed the final series of the Gaelic language drama BANNAN for Young Films/BBC Alba. This involved creating a set that could be reconfigured from a police station to a hospital, both of which required different layouts in themselves. I was able to devise a total of five different layouts around a basic corridor with connecting rooms and managed the turnarounds within a very tight filming schedule.
2023 was mostly taken up with ‘Heads of State’, a major motion picture for Amazon Studios. I was one of the UK art directors responsible for a location and set build at Longcross Studios before heading out to Trieste in Italy as location art director for main & 2nd unit.
While maintaining my professional practise, over the last few years I have become involved with training and run regular Production Design courses at the London Film School and Creative Media Skills Institute (Pinewood Studios). I’m also a Visiting Lecturer at UCL Wimbledon School of Art, Goldsmiths University, Nottingham Trent University, MET Film School (Ealing), Bucks College (Amersham) and UCA Farnham. Since 2014, I have been involved with the Art Department Masterclass series of workshops held in Vilnius, Lithuania.
I am a member of the British Film Designers Guild (BFDG), Women in Film and Television (WFTV) and BECTU – when I first joined it was still the ACTT!