By @viv_winternight
It all happened in a spur of a moment.
Back in March I was home with free time at disposal and just fell into the rabbit hole of searching the web for any info we might have missed on the production design of Lockwood & Co. You could say that after more than a year, we had uncovered anything that had been published to that point, but how wrong I was.
The best place to start was of course drafting a list of people in charge of this department, and while I knew Marcus Rowland was in charge of it, I remember having already checked his social media accounts long time ago, and swiftly moved on as they were not public. So I went through the crediting titles after the episodes and jotted other names down.
The first IG post I stumbled upon was one from Phoebe Williams-Ellis, who worked as decorator on set.
The extensive gallery from Phoebe showed many angles of Portland Row living room and library, but also gave us a better glimpse into both Lockwood’s and George’s rooms.
The nice surprise came from the many shots about a few corners of the basement. Armed with a good magnifying lens, you can make out the label on each folder. Who knows, in future we might see Lucy’s name too?
Excited by the discovery, I decided to go back to Marcus Rowland, and thoroughly checked his website. Easy to miss, at the end page he lists some project designs from the productions he’s been involved with, and how exciting to see a PDF for Lockwood & Co that you can download and pour your eyes over!
From Portland Row plans, to some shots from the finished product, to a detail of Winkman’s auction room in episode 7, the document is also generous with gorgeous artwork, giving us the full vibe of the show world.
My work was not over yet, however, and in the third day of my research I managed to find another social media post from Paul Ryan McCarthy, who worked in the Art department for the show. Once again, we were in for new treats.
We got more details of Portland Row, but also glimpses of the work on the set of Combe Carey Hall, Kensal Green with the infamous Bickerstaff’s coffin, back to Sheen Road with details of its decorated door, and a full view of the studio where the interview to Marissa Fittes (which Lucy watches on a VHS player in episode 4) was filmed.
The discoveries made thanks to this uncovered material confirm once again how much work went behind the scenes. The details of the world building are astonishing, often matching to perfection the descriptions we get in the books. Last, and this is a personal note, it is thrilling to have a taste of the extensive behind the scene effort that was poured into making the show, but it warms the heart to see how much the original source material was respected and brought to life for us all to see.
George's Gazetteer 