Julie Anne Horan (art director)

What is your role in creating the world of Peaky Blinders?

As the art director, I am the production designer’s right hand. I coordinate a lot of the set builds and oversee the finer details. When we first received the script, I broke it down into action, vehicles, props and locations. Every modern location we visited was full of stuff that didn’t exist in the 1920s so we had to remove and cover up a lot of that. For the look of Peaky Blinders, we had to create that filthy, grimy look. There really is a lot of work that goes into every location.

How much effort goes into making the props authentic to the period?

If you look closely you’ll be able to see the huge amount of work that goes into some of the tiniest details such as the rum and gin bottle labels, ticket stubs, and passports that the cast handle. The period details are important. Cigarette packets and match boxes help to create that authentic world. It also helps the actors to believe the world they’re in. There are lots of photographs that we have to work on also, which includes organising photo shoots and aging the photographs to that period.

What set pieces are you particularly proud of?

The Fire Station is an amazing place to shoot in. It’s got the scale and the scope as well as period details. When we first came here, it was completely covered in scaffolding so we had to get rid of that. We concentrated on the areas that needed disguising. We got a sign writer in who did lots of period signs and posters for our shops. They really worked hard on all the detail that may only be a quick glimpse in the final show.

We had to design a new Shelby logo this year, which I’m really proud of. It had lots of floral touches and flourishes. I wanted to make the props look as authentic as possible in the offices right down to the size of the paper that all the characters used in Shelby Co. We can’t just use A4 or A3 paper because those sizes weren’t around then.