'I worked on one of the biggest TV shows - here's what happens behind the scenes'

As you settle down in front of the telly, deciding whether to watch Baby Reindeer on Netflix or perhaps a historical drama like Mary and George, remember that behind every show is a team of dedicated creatives working tirelessly to make it visually stunning. In anticipation of this weekend's BAFTA Craft Awards, Reach had the pleasure of speaking with some of the creative minds behind this year's most riveting shows.

Paul Gooch, who lent his talents to Sky's hit series Mary and George, gave us an insight into the intricate hair and makeup designs for the period drama. He revealed: "We needed to create a form of Pox for our lead actor," adding that it could have been anything from syphilis to smallpox as the script was non-specific.

He also shared the process of creating a severe case of syphilis for another character, which involved tattoo transfers and sculpted prosthetics. This painstaking task required five people and took an hour to complete, covering the actor's entire body with a red rash. Despite being time-consuming and labour-intensive, Paul found the work enjoyable. He said: "Fun to do but very time consuming and man power heavy, for speed. Death, disease and ageing were a large part of this shows remit," reports the Mirror.

To maintain continuity, Paul explained that bruising was created using tattoo transfers, making them quick to apply and consistently identical.

Paul, a member of the hair and makeup team, highlighted the challenges they face with continuity due to weather conditions: "Maintaining elaborate hair styles in these conditions is a major part of our work alongside continuity, making sure things stay the same, so we don't give problems to the editors."

He further explained the difficulties when using wigs and facial hair: "When using wigs and facial hair these require gluing to the skin. Damp weather will affect this too. Long working hours are also a factor. An average filming day for the makeup/hair department is around 16 to 18 hours long so maintaining these highly stylised looks is a long game. We use heavy duty hair products to help keep these sculptural styles."

The writers behind the industry, Mickey Down and Konrad Kay, discussed the portrayal of Sagar Radia's character Rishi Ramdani and his gambling struggles: "Because of its relentless pace and the fact the script turned the screws on the character at every available opportunity, married to Sagar's electric performance. Very hard to take your eyes off him. Very volatile. Very unpredictable."

Nicole Taylor, known for her work on Netflix's hit One Day, shared her experience on scriptwriting, revealing that it was more challenging than expected.

"The greatest challenge was probably figuring out what the 'motor' of each episode would be," she explained. "In a story like this about people and a relationship over time, without any particular 'plot' as such, without traditional TV 'hooks', how could I lock viewers into this story? How could I make sure they never looked away?"

"The hardest scenes to write were those in episode 14 and the opening scenes were tricky too. It was all quite tricky! Trickier than I expected - ha. With material that brilliant, one might have hoped it was a cut and paste job but alas no!"

Netflix's latest hit, Baby Reindeer, had audiences hooked from its unexpected launch in early 2024. Despite its success, many fans are unaware that pivotal scenes didn't make the final cut.

The series editor Benjamin Gerstein revealed: "I think scenes that end up on the cutting room floor mostly end up there for a reason. Sometimes you have to lose moments you love in order for the whole episode or series to work best. Having said that, there was a bar-fight I really liked that we ended up losing.

"It was tragic and funny but didn't fit the overall thrust of the episode as we accelerated towards the end."

Discussing the editing process and its hurdles, Benjamin admitted: "There were some pretty traumatic sequences in the show, and cutting them was challenging on an emotional as well as technical level.

"I found it meant making yourself both emotionally available and objectively distant at the same time so that you could feel what the audience might feel in watching and also have the capacity to make creative decisions that were more measured."