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Teesside set designer works on BBC The Paradise

A TEESSIDE set designer has helped turn back time by creating the backdrop to the BBC’s latest £8m Victorian costume drama.

Cleveland College of Art & Design graduate Becky Watson was part of the artistic team for BBC 1’s The Paradise.And with a second series confirmed for this year she is now hoping to step back into the 1870s once more.

Watched by over six million viewers The Paradise is set in England’s first ever department store, filmed on location at Lambton Castle, near Chester-le-Street. Starring former Coronation Street star Sarah Lancashire, the period drama is based on Emile Zola’s novel Au bonheur des dames. Becky, 22, of Middlesbrough, who studied BA entertainment and design crafts at CCAD, said: “For the first series we had to recreate everything from scratch. “We had to source props from all over the world including specially made items, antiques bought mainly from auctions or hired in and reproductions found in ordinary shops and wholesalers. “Everything had to be authentic, right down to the tiniest detail, or we knew we’d get viewers complaining.

“We had to get a barbers set with foam brushes, all with the correct hair bristles, pots, perfume sprays, decanters, material, candlesticks, tea pots, vases, you name it and of course everything had to be in bulk to recreate the department store look.”

As well as The Paradise Becky has also worked on a number of film and television sets including Vera, George Gently, Tracy Beaker, Hollyoaks and the Newcastle-based feature film Tested, with actress Emily Atack, where she had to recreate the interior of a brothel. “People are always surprised at what I do for a living,” said Becky. “They don’t realise how many television shows and films are made in our area and the jobs that they create. “To be honest, before I went to CCAD, I didn’t realise jobs like mine existed.

The skills I learned there have helped me enormously. The tutors were really supportive and pushed me in the right direction and their contacts in the industry have helped such a lot. “It’s a competitive industry and you have to passionate about what you do. It means long hours, sometimes out in the cold all day and you have to be on the ball all the time. But it’s also great fun and when you stand back and take a look at what you’ve helped to create it’s an amazing feeling.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Cleveland College of Art & Design .