'SAY NOTHING' - BACKLOT MULTIPLE SETS

For the limited series Say Nothing, set against the backdrop of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, I joined the Art Department as Senior Art Director, working with Production Designer Caroline Story on the production’s principal Belfast backlot.

Caroline had spent considerable time developing the overall layout of the site — establishing which buildings and areas of Belfast needed to be represented and how these could be compressed and combined into a single, flexible backlot. I was brought onto the project to take this developed scheme and rationalise it into a coherent, buildable set, while retaining the character and visual complexity of the different locations it needed to represent.

My role included producing the principal plans and elevations for the backlot, resolving the architecture and construction detailing, and developing extensive texture, finishes and reference packages to guide the construction and scenic teams. Particular attention was given to materials, ageing, signage, surface treatments and architectural detail, allowing individual elevations and areas of the backlot to convincingly represent distinct parts of Belfast.

A major part of the work was also planning how the backlot would evolve over the course of the story. Filming was divided across three blocks spanning different decades, requiring each elevation to be carefully documented to show how it would change from one period to the next. This involved developing detailed handover information for alterations to finishes, signage, dressing, architectural details and levels of ageing, enabling the same core structures to transform convincingly as the narrative moved through time.

The completed backlot became a highly adaptable piece of urban fabric, allowing multiple Belfast locations and periods to be photographed within a single condensed environment while maintaining the historical specificity and texture central to the series.