Role: Art Director
Client: BBC Creative
Stakeholders: BBC / Cuba Pictures / BBC America
Assets: Key art, VOD, social, press, publishing and print

The Challenge
To establish a new, original drama that redefines expectations of both period and fantasy. The campaign needed to foreground character, rivalry, and a sense of magic that felt sophisticated and unexpected—avoiding familiar genre tropes and appealing to a culturally engaged audience.

Creative Development
After immersing myself in the scripts and source material, I developed a concept inspired by the structure and symbolism of the tarot. Each character was treated as an archetype, allowing the imagery to operate on two levels: as refined, period portraits at first glance, and as a system of visual clues that hint at a deeper, unfolding narrative.

This approach provided a framework to express the central themes of duality, power, and transformation, while introducing a subtle sense of unease and otherworldliness. It also allowed the campaign to feel both authored and distinctive—balancing clarity with intrigue and encouraging the audience to look again.

Execution
I art directed the photography campaign, leading the development of key art and overseeing unit and portrait photography to ensure a cohesive visual language across all assets.

Working with photographer Todd Antony, I directed the shoot to capture both the scale and intimacy of the story, balancing controlled portraiture with a sense of atmosphere and tension. The final imagery was crafted to work across multiple platforms while maintaining a strong, distinctive campaign identity.

The key art image was later recognised in Lürzer’s 200 Best Ad Photographers Worldwide 2015/2016, and extended beyond the campaign through book jacket licensing with Bloomsbury and a bespoke tarot-inspired deck sent to opinion formers ahead of transmission.

© BBC (reproduced with permission)