Head of RTÉ Wardrobe Brigette Horan and award-winning RTÉ production designers Marcella Power and Catherine Sorg spoke to RTÉ LifeStyle about the work that goes on that helps make the Toy Show appointment to view TV.
The search for the Christmas jumpers for Ryan Tubridy start "a good month to six weeks in advance and that's together by committee with the producer, Ryan and myself", explains Brigette.
"We take that brief and then we deliver on the night. In the last few years we've been using four to five jumpers. In the beginning it was just one or two but in the last few years it has grown and its getting bigger and better - that's what the viewers want so that's what we deliver!
"It's really great fun and Ryan is really up for it. I bring in samples, I go online, I shop for them and then Ryan tries them on and its most important that he's comfortable when he's performing in them.
"Sometimes we get sent in some - last year there was a competition so we had quite a lot sent in for him - that was a difficult one, to decide whose jumpers to wear. It's all very humorous and good fun. It's very enjoyable, a wonderful production to work on."
In the last few years, there has been a big opening dance number and that puts more pressure on the costume department: "Absolutely, for the opening act this year we have delivered 182 costumes. It's wonderful, children from all over Ireland auditioned. The prep for that also started a minimum of six weeks in advance too. Every year its getting bigger and bigger.
Why are so many people interested in the jumpers? "Historically the jumper has always been a big thing, going back to Gay Byrne. I remember sourcing Gay Byrne's jumper, he would wear the one throughout the night.
"Pat Kenny always just wanted a plain navy jumper with The Late Late Show logo. I suppose because there was a gap of not wearing Christmas jumpers for that period, we brought it back again with Ryan, as in Ryan did himself.
"He's great to know what people want and what they expect of him and RTÉ and the fun element of it. I think [people] love...the surprise, 'I'll get one like it for the party next week', so it's good fun!"
As for the show itself: "They [production team] brief me on the theme [this year it's Beauty and the Beast], I go off and research it, do all my colour swatches, a collage of what I think the colours and design element should be. I cost for it, which is very important, from a fabric and human resource point of view because everything has to be made.
"We have to have a definitive decision four weeks beforehand because that's when I go out and buy all of the fabrics, enormous amount of yardage and you have to make samples of every single costume.
"Once that's done, I can source it out knowing 'that person can make that lot of costumes, another person can make another lot.' It's a group effort, team work, everyone working together. It's like a complete jigsaw and all of the pieces come together at the end of the four weeks.
The only thing wardrobe have to go on is the theme? "That's it and its very creative because its an interpretive theme...It's not just a replica of what you see in a Disney film, we have to be imaginative in how we deliver it [to work with the set, children, how the costumes/hat stay on and dance number].
"I would liaise with the set designer, this year it's Marcella Power [more from Marcella below] and in previous years with Daragh Treacy, regarding entrances on and off for the children. their colour schemes.
"There are a lot of structures in the costumes this year so we have to make sure the gaps are big enough for them to come in and out. And the costumes have to be comfortable for ease of movement too.
"Over the years, ever since Ryan took over the costumes have been far more creative, child-orientated, [in ways] that we can all relate to."
In relation to this year's Disney Beauty and the Beast theme, Brigette said: "I love a lot of the Disney films and for our department in particular he has shown that he could see the talent and expertise that is here, that we could deliver.
"Nothing is ever a problem or a challenge to us. They only started this large-scale [productions] when Ryan took over, we never had an opening act of that scale before that we created and produced in house with our costume design, make-up and hair, set design [and so on.]
"I've very proud of the costumes, I'm very proud of all of all the girls here, all my colleagues. We are all skilled in the technical end of costume design and now we're able to show that, to deliver on that and show our expertise. It's wonderful. It's all hands on deck and we enjoy it.
"If there was one little down side and its very small really, its nothing to do with the production end of it or work. My baby boy, my son, Fluffy, he's my cat I adore him and love him to bits and unfortunately because I am gone so early in the morning and home late at night for the last few weeks, I haven't been able to see much of him and I know he misses me dear. So forgive me Fluffy but I love you lots!"
When will she relax? "I will put my feet up tonight, in the early hours of tomorrow morning [Saturday November 28] when I get home and I think I'll have a nice G&T!"
As for set designers Marcella Power and French-born, Irish-based Catherine Sorg: "The prep begins around the second week of October once the theme of the show is set in stone.
"Each year is different and brings it own challenges and pleasures; for example in Shrek the difficulty was how to produce a swamp and for Chitti Chitti Bang Bang, how to 'fly' a car?
"This year it is Beauty and the Beast as you know so we start by looking at the film/animation that the general public would be familiar with and then we enlarge the theme for ourselves to anything which relates to the atmosphere the film gives and the period it is set in.
"So in this case we were influence by other Beauty and the Beast movies, both of them French (by Jean Cocteau in the 1946 and a more recent one last year) and then looked at gothic and romantic architecture for inspiration.
"We decide what feel we’d like our set to convey and then we see how to make it look magic for our viewers.
"It is such a pleasure to take part in continuing the tradition".
By Taragh Loughrey Grant
