Coronavirus: TV costume makers create scrubs for NHS staff

The props team behind TV series His Dark Materials has switched to making visors for the NHS.

The same 3D printers which created the show's alethiometer - or the golden compass - are now being used to make plastic face shields for medics dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic.

The TV adaptation of Sir Philip Pullman's trilogy is made in Wales by production company Bad Wolf.

Meanwhile, the costume department has been producing medical scrubs for health workers.

Concept artist Michael van Kesteren, who devised key props in the drama, has already made 50 pieces of personal protective equipment for staff at Cardiff’s University Hospital of Wales.

Dulcie Scott, a costume supervisor for the production, helped to set the group making medical clothing with a team of volunteers growing to about 150 based around the UK.

About 6,500 scrubs have either been made or are in production by the team, which includes costume markers from Poldark, Downton Abbey and Sex Education.

Staff at Newport’s Royal Gwent Hospital and the Marie Curie Hospice in Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan, have already received their scrubs.

And orders have been placed for workers at the University Hospital of Wales and Swansea’s Morriston Hospital, among others.

Crowd funding raised £47,000 to pay for the materials.