Blog Exclusive: Behind the scenes at Trim Up North (Part 2 of 2)

We're delighted to bring you a Coronation Street Blog exclusive as we take a peek behind the scenes into the making of Corrie's newest set - Trim up North.

Joining me here on the Blog for a special two-part interview with lots of exclusive, never before seen pictures, is Rosie Mullins-Hoyle who is the Production Designer, Head of Design at Coronation Street.  Rosie has worked on Coronation St since 2005 in the Art Department and has worked as Production Designer of the show since 2013.

You can read part one of Rosie's interview here - in which she explains how a new Corrie set is created all the way from its name, through to design and inception and finally to how we see it on screen.  

Here we go with part two of our exclusive interview! I hope you really enjoy reading this.

Me: Trim up North seems a very 'busy' set with lots of props inside, giving it an almost claustrophic look on screen, was that deliberate perhaps to highlight the tension between David and Nick?

Rosie: It is a busy and visual set. It was agreed early on that the set would have multiple use. For Nick it would have the bar area, the seating and chill-out and for David it would have the Barber's station. The brothers have a shared interest with the creation of this business but are very different in terms of personality and style. There are deliberate clashes of this on the set. They have both been extremely passionate about the business and have eventually compromised on a look that represents different aspects of them both.

Me: Vin Diesel the Weasel - what a great prop! Is there anything you can tell us about that please? Whose idea was it to bring in a stuffed animal - a weasel of all things - and why? And where did you buy it from?

Rosie: I love the weasel! It was an editorial request which I was informed of early on. It is actually a prop make and not a real weasel. It was felt this was the kindest way to introduce our new character! We appointed a brilliant prop maker Leigh Cranston who took on the challenge of creating our weasel. 

It started with a sketch and references. There were particular requests to its pose and mouth position with teeth showing and that he would sit on a plinth and a log! We were then sent regular photo updates (see one below) on his creation before he arrived with us. He was carefully looked after by the design team until we dressed him onto set. We had a bit of fun with him at Christmas when he was made a Christmas hat to wear!

Me: Which of the other newer sets on Victoria Street have you been involved in designing?Rosie: I have been privileged to have been involved in the creation of many of Coronation Street sets and each one brings challenges and a lot of fun in design process.  Off the top of my head some are listed  below: Barbets set, Preston's Petals, Hotel & wedding venue, Prison set, Various Hospital & Medical centre, Police station - reception, cells, interview room, exterior build, New Victoria Street - Park, Various Buildings, Costa, Co op, Tram Station, Redbank Brothers, Tattoo'll Do Nicely, new ginnel, Weatherfield Snooker Hall, Various refurbs - previously rovers, rovers back room, bistro. Past sets - Carla's flat, Nick & Leanne's flat, Bistro Cellar.

There are quite a few new ones in the pipeline to watch out for onscreen over the coming months too... (me: Ooh!!)

Me: What's your favourite set on the whole Street that you've been involved in designing - past or present - and why?

There are so many I have loved to work on. I love the stunt and special effects sets. I was extremely proud of my work during the 50th episodes in the collapsing of the Bistro. And soon to air episodes bring more set devastation. It is always very difficult to create authentic looking carnage and chaos and is much easier making things look shiny and new!

But ultimately I am extremely proud of designing the extended Victoria Street and Weatherfield Police Station in 2018. It was the most challenging and all consuming of projects I have worked on but immensely rewarding. I created the first pencil drawings of the design back in 2014 before jumping onto the project full time in 2017 straight from Maternity Leave. Every detail was etched in my brain for the full build process and logistically it was very difficult. We had a huge team of various external trades, a large design & construction team and high spec technical and lighting requirements. The weather was typical Manchester cold and rain during the winter months and filming continued throughout the build. 

Despite all of this I was able to see it rise to life over a very short eight month period was incredible. The team worked tirelessly and the talent displayed was astounding. Ultimately I am delighted buy the storytelling potential that the expansion of the Set has given the writers and how naturally it has bedded into the show. It just feels like it has always been there.

Me: And finally, do you think we'll ever get to see inside Claudia's new apartment? Now there's a set design I'd love to see!
Rosie: I would love to see this too.  I am hoping that one day we do...

With thanks to Rosie Mullins-Hoyle and ITV for this wonderful interview.  Missed part one of Rosie's interview? It's here!

Fancy writing a guest blog post for us? All details here!  
 

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Blog Exclusive: Behind the scenes at Trim Up North (Part 1 of 2)

We're delighted to bring you a Coronation Street Blog exclusive as we take a peek behind the scenes into the making of Corrie's newest set - Trim up North.

Joining me here on the Blog for a special two-part interview with lots of exclusive, never before seen pictures, is Rosie Mullins-Hoyle who is the Production Designer, Head of Design at Coronation Street.  Rosie has worked on Coronation St since 2005 in the Art Department and has worked as Production Designer of the show since 2013.

Here we go with our interview! I hope you really enjoy reading this.

Me: Trim up North - what a great name! What came first, the design or the name?
Rosie: They came together. I was informed of the brilliant name via Producer Iain MacLeod during the early design stages.

Me: How do you start planning and designing a new set for Corrie? What's the very first things that you do?
Rosie: I will have regular catch ups with Iain and he will give me an early warning of what new sets are planned for the show. With it being a continuing drama, people are always surprised at the number of sets that we build each year! Some of these sets may only be seen for a couple of episodes and people are not always aware that it is a set.

With the Barbers set I was aware of it around 6 months before it aired. We talk about ideas of the look of it, the size of the set, how it should feel and what areas the set should be made up of. Importantly we discussed what area of the Lot set it should be homed - this can massively effect the interior look of a set. The majority of our sets are studio sets as the exterior set has a number of facades rather than full buildings.

Me: Can you talk us through the process of creating a new set - from initial idea to what we see on screen?
Rosie: With Trim Up North, after our early conversations it was decided that the barbers set would reside in Redbank Brothers Mill in Victoria St taking over the two ground floor windows in the front of the shop. This building is a facade so the set would be housed in one of the studios and would need to be practical for multicamera shooting.

Iain MacLeod had discussed wanting combined use for the set - it was a barbers but with a bar, a chillout area and table football. On a practical sense the set could not be too large as it needed to be housed within an existing studio set space but it needed to be big enough to achieve all of this and to be able to film in easily.

The early ideas led to a cool, trendy almost Northern Quarter of Manchester vibe that the brothers were wanting to create. Quirky and the sort of place that you would to hang out. Nick as a character has always been stylish with a good eye for design in his previous businesses and flat.  David is younger and more experienced within the hair industry but would have a strong opinion on the look and design of his new business but would make some stranger design choices (like his wish to have a wease! - more on that in tomorrow's part of the interview)

I created a mood board of looks that I felt best represented the set and the characters involved. Iain & myself went through the ideas and this provided a strong identity for the build and layering of the set.

The type of building it was to be housed allowed me to design it whereby the feature windows and redbrick could be incorporated immediately linking you to the external Mill building that we see on Victoria St.

A careful timeline is created with end points for each stage of the work as work needs to be carried out on it by many different roles within the design team and working closely with the lighting team. I work with the Supervising Art Director and Construction Manager to check we can meet these dates and ensure the set is studio for the right time ready for filming.

This set was a tricky one in that it started life onscreen as a closed down estate agents before seeing it refurbed in stages into the final look which has recently aired as Trim Up North. This requires careful planning and working closely with the scheduling team as we shoot our of order and at a very fast pace.

I then begin to draw it up by hand drawing up plans and elevations which are then handed over to the Construction Manager and Foreman Joiner and they begin the build. I work with them on all details - windows, doors, architrave, which walls should come out etc. They normally take 6 - 8 weeks to construct the set.

During this time I create a buyers' list of all items required to dress the set and we appointed an adviser, a lovely barber named Chris Brownless to help make sure every dressing detail on the set was correct. The 3 Production Buyers worked through a list that 79 pages long ensuring all orders arrived on time and working out logistics for oversees items and items from further afield! We also reuse many dressings from our large prop stores. I am a big fan of reclaimed items that have a natural character and can help to tell a story. Some of my favourite buys for this were the retro teak sideboards which were then customised and adapted by the construction team to create a bespoke sink unit with divide and a reception counter. There are also many specific carefully selected artwork, unusual items like retro chairs, a motorbike and vintage barber's display pieces.

Many wallpaper samples and fabric samples are gathered before careful selections are made and making sure the items are practical for filming as well as suitable for the look we are trying to achieve. A team of Scenic Artists and Painters and Decorators apply all finishes to the set including the replication of the red and blue brickwork to match the exterior bricks but by using lightweight plaster bricks. Before the set goes into studio, using references, they paint the studio floor to mirror a design of wood flooring and black and white tiles.

I produce a detailed lighting, switch and socket plan and work with the Lighting team on the best positions for these.

For the barbers an upholster, Alan Eccleston, was appointed for the bespoke leatherette barbers wall units with stud details. Working with one of our very talented Graphic Designers Zoey we discuss the concept and research various examples of fonts and branding that are in keeping with our barber shop.

1920s gold etch lettering is agreed as being the perfect compliment to the rest of the set and Zoey then works with the Scenic Artists to provide images and templates so that the final logo designs can be hand painted onto specific areas of the set like the windows. Almost all of the products that will be used on the set have been created from scratch.

The final stage of the process is the dressing of the set. Once all of the purchases are in a dedicated dressing team work alongside myself and from plans and reference pictures. The team help to display all items and offer input and ideas to bring the set to life. Chris the Barber then returned to the set to ensure all of the stations were dressed correctly and that all dressings were in keeping with any Barbers you may find in the area.

I work alongside the Head of departments - Cameras, Lighting and Sound, Make up and Costume in the set design process. I will share plans and talk through the set and we work together so the overall look is coherent and practicalities are met.

Finally the design teams who will be working on the set are given a tour of the set and shown how it works and set photos are taken.

Fascinating stuff and a real peek behind the scenes with a lovely lady from Corrie.

Read part 2 of our interview where we have more on the set design at Trim Up North and the answer to this question: When is a weasel not a weasel?  Yes! All is revealed about Vin Diesel the Weasel in  part two of the interview.  Read it here.

With thanks to Rosie Mullins-Hoyle and ITV for this wonderful interview.

Fancy writing a guest blog post for us? All details here!  
 

Read more Corrie news, interviews, gossip and spoilers  

Follow us on Twitter and Like us on Facebook

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Coronation Street Blog Exclusive: Interview with Chris Harper

New character Nathan Curtis has spent just under a month on Coronation Street, and yet has already provided viewers with enough reason to believe he is a sinister prospect, particularly where Bethany Platt is concerned. So far, we have seen him charm and flatter her, instil belief in her capabilities, and assure her of her self-worth. Clearly a master manipulator, it’s not hard to see how the intelligent, but vulnerable, Bethany could be drawn in by him as he works to build her trust. The progress he has made in such a short space of time is worrying, and the quality of both the scripts and actor Chris Harper’s performances have ensured the plausibility thus far of this grooming storyline.

I chatted with Chris about what it’s like to play a character such as Nathan, what his hopes are for the storyline, and his experience so far on the cobbles.

I’m always interested to know how actors react when they get told they’ve just landed a part on Corrie, and Chris told me, “Do you know what, I burst into tears. It was a massive moment.” While he fell for the part when he received the script, however, he didn’t honestly think he’d be chosen. “I was like, there’s no way they’re going to go for me. They’ll get somebody famous, and kind of good looking. I was over the moon.”

While Chris loves Corrie, and sees this duplicitous, slimy character as a joy for an actor to play, he considers this to be a really important storyline for him for a number of reasons. Remarking at the pressure that teenage girls and boys are under these days, and how sexual our society is, Chris notes, “You realise a lot of manipulation is around in real life and this story isn’t that far fetched at all.” 

One important element of Nathan’s characterisation is the unlikelihood of him arousing suspicion in this regard. Chris explains, “I grew up with Milky Milky, you know, from the Mary Whitehouse Experience, and the idea that anyone who was sexually depraved obviously had terrible teeth and long drippy hair…that is not the case.” Chris notes how a 2014 report by the National Crime Agency exploded the myth that there are certain types of people who are likely to constitute perpetrators. “There’s no pattern in class, there’s no pattern in race, age, anything” he explains.

With Nathan’s appearance and demeanour enabling him to hide in plain sight, I asked Chris if he manages to manipulate anyone else on the street. While he appears to have links to Shona, and Mel who runs the tanning salon with him may not be all that she seems, Chris explains of Nathan, “other than that, I lie pretty low. I don’t like talking to adults who might doubt me. I’m very clever. I talk to the vulnerable. I find somebody who is alone, somebody who is upset, I find somebody who is in need of help and a cuddle, and I hit them when they’re low.”

Another element of the storyline which Chris considers to be really important is that Bethany does fall in love with him. “She’s no fool herself” he explains. “Bethany’s been through the mill. She’s seen things, she’s wise, she’s an emotional, cynical, clever 16 year old girl. And she doesn’t just fall for some idiot, he is incredibly cunning, but because he’s charming and fun, she has a great escape with him.”

It’s not just the crew who find themselves squirming at some of the scenes they’ve filmed so far, Chris has had the same reaction on reading the scripts. He recalls one scene in particular which made him feel physically sick. “It’s not that it’s actually that graphic, it’s just very beautifully written manipulation” he explains, adding that it gave him goosebumps.

I asked Chris if he is concerned about the public’s reaction to such a character, and he told me that he doesn't think he'll be asked to be in a pantomime on foot of it, but his focus is very much on the importance of the storyline, so I asked him what his hopes were in that regard. “I suppose, if anything, that if anyone is in a situation where they feel any sort of resemblance, then they will have somewhere to go” he explains. “They’ll think about ringing Childline even, because that’s not just for children, it’s also for young people.” Chris also made me aware of the website ThinkUKnow as a source of information and advice for children and adults alike.

With regard to working with Lucy Fallon, Chris tells me, “She’s great. I love it. We were very comfortable together very quickly. I imagine everyone who’s worked with her says that.” He adds, “I know I’m full of admiration for her. I do have to say an awful lot of very slithering, horrible stuff.”

Chris has high praise for the whole Corrie team, noting that the same level of enthusiasm exists no matter what their role with the show. “Everyone is wholehearted and totally working with such conviction” he tells me. “They’re all just brilliant, it feels like a real family.”

Actors are among those I most admire, and I’m always interested in how they came to enter the profession. “I fell off the tracks at about 15, 16 and I fell in with the right crowd, a very lovely group of people, I was very, very lucky” Chris explains, before recalling, for the first time in 25 years, that he won an award in his first ever play in which he was ironically performing the role of a duplicitous character. “That pat on the back stuck” he told me. I feel privileged, not only to be the first person that Chris has ever told that story to, but to have had this chat with him. I admire the conviction with which he has taken on what could not be considered an easy role, and while this is quite necessarily unlikely to make for comfortable viewing, based on what we’ve seen so far, I feel we can be confident as to the quality of the portrayal.

By Emma Hynes

www.emmahynes.net

Twitter: @ELHynes

Facebook: @EmmaHynesWrites

Instagram: emmalouhynes

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UTV Ireland announce exclusive Corrie special

Corrie viewers in Ireland are to be given an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at Coronation Street via a programme set to air on Friday, 25 March at 9pm on UTV Ireland.

It is reported on the UTV Ireland website that Access Coronation Street with Lorraine Keane will reveal what's in store for the programme and grant an access-all-areas look at what goes on behind the cameras with interviewees including Shayne Ward, Sue Nicholls, Michael Le Vell, Kym Marsh and Catherine Tyldesley.

Presenter Lorraine says, “On average, half a million people in Ireland tune into every episode of Coronation Street, but we never get to see what goes on behind the scenes, what the cast get up to when they’re not in front of the camera, and what exactly it takes to create this soap juggernaut, which has been on air for 56 years”

This will be the first time that an Irish camera crew has been granted such access to the show, and the programme is is described by UTV Ireland as "a 'must-watch' for all Corrie fans".

By Emma Hynes

www.emmahynes.wordpress.com

Twitter: @ELHynes

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