The Hardacres star breaks down transformation for rags-to-riches drama

With the series exploring a rags-to-riches tale, there is a certain change in the clothing throughout the series, something star Claire Cooper praised their costume designer Allison Byrne for.

"To have that eye, and such grace, and the way that she translates everything to everybody in order to make us look the way we look," she explained in an interview.

"Alison really supported me on the journey. I'm not precious. I liked wearing the rags. I had all these scars on my hands when they did do a few close-ups, so obviously you could see the hard life that Mary has lived, and is living, as her hands have been torn open by using the knives when they’re gutting the herring."

As per the synopsis, The Hardacres follows the "lives, loves and fortunes" of the titular family "as they move from grimy fish dock to a vast country estate in 1890s Yorkshire".

Describing the transformation further, Cooper explained that "Yorkshire people are grafters" and so it was key the characters looked "that way".

She continued: "The textures, the colours, the detail. Everything had been really thought out. And the same with the hair and makeup. All the team was unreal. But I do like the journey that we went on going from the rags to the opulent era that we stepped into, and they did step into it quite beautifully. I know that Mary loves that transition.

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"I actually loved watching how we were going to do that gradually, because they do phase it very beautifully in the first episode – because there's time hops, so we can see how they started with a bit more money and improved their appearances along the way."

The new series begins on Monday 7th October, with the first episode following doc worker Sam Hardacre who has an "unfortunate accident" that leads to he and his family losing their jobs and in a race to find work "or else end up on the streets".

The synopsis for episode 1 continues: "His wife Mary, daughter Liza and mother-in-law Ma venture to the gilded halls of country estate Thornton Hall in search of work."

The Hardacres begins on Channel 5 on Monday 7th October at 9pm.

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