Alex's Grand Design

COSTUME Designer, Alexandra Caulfield, is taking a well-earned rest. After working non-stop for 14 months, she needs a break. “I’m not complaining, I’ve had a fantastic year,” she says. “It’s brilliant the phone keeps ringing and I get offered great jobs. But I think I need to catch my breath!” she smiles.

Alex recently returned from four months spent working in Tunisia on the soon-to-be-transmitted BBC/HBO production, House of Saddam.

It was a mammoth project, and she’s justly proud of the part she played in its success. That’s why, in recognition of that and the numerous other productions she’s designed costumes for, regional screen agency Northwest Vision and Media have this week singled Alex out for praise and named her as August Crew of the Month.

“It’s lovely that Vision and Media want to promote my work in this way, especially if the publicity helps to spread the word and helps get me more work closer to home,” says Alex, of Liverpool. Although enormously successful within her field, the North-South divide has always proved a problem in costume, she says.

“I can go to London, and I’m immediately taken seriously, but it doesn’t automatically work the other way round. London-based productions assume we don’t have the talent here, so often they bring their own crew up to work in the Northwest. But we do have the talent, and it’s great that Vision and Media are trying to help get that message out,” says Alex, who was headhunted by the BBC in London to work on the Saddam project.

Ed Pugh is Talent Base Manager for Northwest Vision and Media, which works on behalf of the region’s film, TV and digital content industries. “We’re working hard to address the problems experienced by Alex and others in the industry, which is why it’s so important to get Northwest-based crew to register on our Crew Database – only that way can we prove to the wider industry that we do have the talent base here,” says Ed.

Talent is something Alex has never been short of, showing signs of her great design skills at an early age. “I grew up in a family that was always sewing or knitting, so it was inevitable that I would enjoy that side of thing, too,” she explains. Alex developed that initial interest in sewing by taking a Liverpool-based, three-year diploma in costume and set design. “It was a fantastic grounding, as we were taught and graded by people within the industry – so we really knew our stuff!” she says.

As part of her diploma, Alex worked at the BBC. “It was the woman who ran the costume department who gave me my first job as a costume maker, back in 1984,” explains Alex, who after working in London for a couple of years got the chance to move back to Liverpool and work on TV soap, Brookside. “I was there for nearly six years, so it was a fantastic opportunity to develop the TV side of my skills, as I’d been trained in theatre, “ she explains.

“When I left Mersey TV I went travelling for four years, which was fantastic, if exhausting! It’s also where I was able to develop my talents in period costume, as I started working for an eccentric American man who owned lots of themed restaurants, and who wanted period costumes making whenever he visited his restaurants or opened a new one.”

Alex returned to England in 1994 and went freelance. “That’s when my career really took off. The work just seemed to keep coming, and I got to design on brilliant productions like Cold Blood, Fat Friends, Sound and Steel River Blues.” Her more recent feature film credits include Bafta award-winning The Mark of Cain, Sparkle and The Flying Scotsman.

“I know I’ve been very lucky in my career, but I think the wonderful training I had also played its part and prepared me so well. Compared to the training people receive today, I think I’m more of an all-rounder,” says Alex. “Although period is my expertise, I’ve done so many other things, too. I recently finished working on a couple of military productions and I’ve done modern, contemporary and comedy work in the last couple of years too. I’ve covered a huge spectrum.”

In particular, Alex is extremely proud of the House of Saddam production. “That covered four decades of Saddam’s reign, from 1979 right up to when he was walking to the gallows. We filmed for four months in Tunisia and I did the costumes for the entire shoot, which is a whole different ball game to working in the UK because if you haven’t got it with you when you’re abroad, then you just don’t have it!

“We had eight weeks to prepare for the shoot, and ten days of that the clothes were in transit over to Tunisia, so it was tight. I don’t think many people in my field have that kind of experience, which hopefully sets me apart from competition when it comes to getting the next great job.” And what would that next great job be for Alex?

“Well, I think I’ve done, or at least touched on, just about everything I want to work on,” she confides, “but I would love to do another great period feature film – and it would have to be based in the Northwest. That would be the icing on the cake!” she smiles.