Dattner Dispoto and Associates (DDA) production designer Eve Stewart recreated a newsroom circa 1956 for the BBC series The Hour, premiering August 17 on BBC America.
Starring Dominic West (The Wire), the series is set behind the scenes of a BBC newsroom just as aspiring journalist Freddie Lyon (Ben Whishaw) and ambitious producer Bel Rowley (Romola Garai) launch a new investigative news program. West plays Hector Madden, the lead anchorman.
As production designer, Stewart is tasked with the recreation of a post-war BBC newsroom. A veteran of period dramas, such as last year’s Oscar winner The King’s Speech, Stewart refused to compromise any authenticity of design. After searching for weeks for a working Telex machine, the production team of X-Men: First Class scooped up her find. Undeterred, she finally found another in a friend of a friend’s garage – and it was still working.
Although the series has drawn comparisons to AMC’s Mad Men, the BBC series will more directly incorporate the Cold War and feature-thriller elements of the time.
Stewart’s design also differs from the slick style of the AMC show. She designed the sets of The Hour to feel more gritty and real: “If you look closely at ‘Mad Men’ you won’t see any human detritus, such as snippets of paper, broken pencils or old sandwiches,” Stewart told Daily Mail, “You won’t see a dirty ashtray. The British seem much happier to have all this shown.”
According to Stewart, the one design characteristic she shares with Mad Men’s crew is their strict attention to period detail.
Stewart recently received an Emmy Award nomination for her work on the BBC series remake of Upstairs Downstairs. Last year, she was honored with Academy Award and BAFTA nominations for her work on The King’s Speech. She also won the Excellence in Production Design for a Period Film prize at the U.S. Art Directors Guild (ADG) Awards in February.
Stewart is represented by Dattner Dispoto and Associates, Los Angeles.
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Dattner Dispoto and Associates (DDA) is a Hollywood-based talent agency representing an elite, international group of producers, cinematographers and designers. Please visit www.ddatalent.com for further news and information on DDA clients. ddatalent.com
