Its about scale, and its an international show and it needs to feel that [way].
It needs to feel grand.
Thats what comes across in the books.
Credit: Sky One
For North, Harkness book (the first in the All Souls trilogy) provided the perfect jumping-off point.
Theres always like a couple of copies of the book filled with post-it notes, he remarks.
Due to her history background, everything is based on real places, North says.
This meant outfitting spaces that include a vampires lab and office, as well as an entire castle.
However, North says its really not all that different from production design on any project.
Its almost a slightly heightened reality were producing, he says.
You do things which arent normal.
One thing they had to get exactly right, however, is Oxford.
Anyone familiar with Oxford will instantly recognizethe timeless exteriors on displayin the first few episodes.
Its a love letter to Oxford, really, North says of the locations they chose.
We dont shoot little backstreets [where] we could be anywhere.
We go to Oxford, weve got to go, This is fing Oxford!
That left the daunting task of recreating one of the worlds most renowned libraries from scratch.
Harknesspreviously told EWthe set felt so right to her that it moved her to tears.
Emotionally, it feels the same, and thats what Deborah was so attached to.
It wasnt a carbon copy by any stretch, he says.
But emotionally, the space felt perfect.
