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Jacky Levy is the Costume Designer for That Day We Sang. She is well known for her work on a range of television, film and threatre productions, including Primeval, The Girl in a Cafe, Rock and Chips, U Be Dead, My Family, Only Fools and Horses, Victoria Wood's Midlife Christmas, and For One Night Only.

How challenging was it working with two time periods?

Working with two time periods, as well as the fantasy parts of the script, was challenging but also a delight. It’s a costume designers dream to have all these different facets in one programme. The challenge was to clearly and obviously denote a change in the styles and to do this constantly thinking about the colours. I tried to keep the 1920s scenes quite muted with browns, greys, and beiges. So that when we go to 1969, the colour is heightened and much brighter.

Was the swinging 60s look isolated to London and New York?

It was to a certain degree. But I have found reference photographs of models in Manchester wearing minis and more psychedelic prints. We’ve placed a few mini skirts on our background and supporting artists, so the audience knows we are in 1969. We want to show the wide variety of styles that there were around then.

Were the costumes fun to design? Did you have a lot of costumes made for Imelda?

We felt the two things that were important to have made for her were the Ginger Rogers dress and what we’re calling the ‘Westside Story Dance’ dress (with all the boys set in the 1960s). But if you can find anything form the period you’re filming in, it’s nicer to use that. Even if you have something made, there’s always a feeling that it’s not quite authentic. Also, actors like to wear the true, authentic period clothes because it makes them feel like they’re in that time period as well. We were lucky enough to find things that were suitable and fitted Imelda.

Is it beneficial for you to be working with the writer, who is also the director?

It has been extremely beneficial working with Victoria. You find that with each production, you work in a different way. Sometimes writers are around and play a big part in it; other times, they aren’t around at all and it’s just a director. But Victoria, who I worked with on Mid Life Christmas, is great and I love working with her. I can ask her anything at any time and she will always give you a definite answer. So I suppose it’s not so much working with a director who has written it, it’s more about working with Victoria.

Did you design the look for the children as well?

Victoria was quite specific about the looks for the children, especially Jimmy. She had an idea that she wanted him to have a jumper with a tie, tied on the jumper. I found lots of class photographs for reference and it does look like that is what they are wearing. School uniforms then, unless you were from quite a privileged background and a good school, were a mixture of things. The mixture of looks is what Victoria particularly wanted for Jimmy. Because he’s poor, his mum is on his own and works in a factory, the clothes he has would have to last him for years.

How many children did you dress in total?

There are 127 supporting artists, and five principle children, so over 130. They had to be sized up and then fitted in the morning of the day we started filming with them. Of course, children vary in size so much. The children we’ve got range from 8 up to 14 and actually, some of the 8 year olds are bigger than some of the 12 year olds. So fitting them on the day is always a challenge.