Costume designer Amy Roberts joined The Crown (Netflix) for season three and stayed right through to the concluding sixth season–for which she is now once again in the awards season conversation. Thus far she has picked up three Emmy nominations for The Crown, the most recent coming last year for the “Mou Mou” episode. Roberts won the Outstanding Period Costumes Emmy in 2020 for the season three episode “Cri de Coeur,” garnering another nod the following year for the “Terra Nullius” episode. Roberts has a career total of four Emmy nominations–the first coming in 2011 for Upstairs Downstairs.
Helping Roberts get The Crown gig to begin with was director Philippa Lowthorpe. Having directed a couple of season two episodes, Lowthorpe suggested that the powers that be on the series talk to Roberts when the costume designer opening came up for season three. Lowthorpe had worked with Roberts on varied projects–starting with the U.K. TV series Call the Midwife, then the miniseries Jamaica Inn and the feature film Swallows and Amazons–and thought the costume designer would be a good fit for The Crown. This landed Roberts a meeting with creative royalty on The Crown and she was immediately drawn to the show which she described as a sort of “opera about a dysfunctional family. We are all from dysfunctional families and that interested me. I did some drawings and got the job.”
Roberts quipped that she didn’t thank Lowthorpe for the first three months, noting that she was preoccupied with “how can I possibly get out of this job.” It was a bit daunting and it took time for her to get into the swing of things. Ironically, Roberts never collaborated with Lowthorpe on The Crown, who worked on just season two of the show.
Though it took her awhile to find her creative footing during season three, Roberts heard she wasn’t alone. She learned that others had a similar experience the first time around on the show, It wasn’t until their second season that they felt in tune with the show’s DNA, what creator Peter Morgan was trying to do. Over time, observed Roberts, “you get the measure of it. That’s the joy of different seasons–the chance to improve, to gain more understanding. Our whole department gained confidence.” And with such confidence, she continued, you can be a bit more brave about what you do.
Such bravery was facilitated and spurred on by the continuity Roberts enjoyed on The Crown with collaborators such as cinematographer Adriano Goldman, ASC, BSC, ABC, and production designer Martin Childs. “They had been on the series since the beginning,” noted Roberts who came to not only understand what Goldman and Childs were doing so masterfully and why, but also “had become closer to them as people. Their style becomes second nature. I realized how lucky we were really as a group of creative people getting to work together. We jelled brilliantly.”
Building rapport with cast and crew, having the time to better grasp the story’s intricacies are among the advantages of a television show, observed Roberts. For a feature film, you get one shot at it. “Actors feel that too. Actors realize the joy of a series, how they could develop the characters. I felt maybe the same way. Confidence built from one year to the next,” culminating with the final eventful season.
Perhaps the biggest challenge of season six was the “Ritz” episode, assessed Roberts as she had to deal with extraordinary familial relationships, particularly between sisters Margaret and Elizabeth–as well as one’s relationship with the past. The latter dynamic was reflected in the life of a declining Margaret who had endured a series of strokes. She recalls a wild night with her sister at the Ritz in 1945 only to return for a celebration of her 70th birthday there.
Costume design had to capture a young Princess Margaret as Roberts contemplated what colors the character would choose in her youth, and so on. Roberts shared that as she tried to make a creative visual painting of yesteryear in a character’s life, she simultaneously had to be true to Morgan’s overall vision for The Crown, conveying the “truth of two eras.”
Underscoring that Roberts did a great job of that was her receiving BAFTA Award and Costume Designers Guild Award nominations earlier this year for the “Ritz” episode. This marked her fourth Guild nod, all for The Crown. She won the award in 2023 for the “Ipatiev House” episode. She has seven career BAFTA Award nods (including wins for Oliver Twist and The Virgin Queen).
Asked what her biggest takeaway or lesson learned was from her experience on The Crown, Roberts simply said, “That I could do it,” feeling gratified that she had the creative wherewithal and stamina to do justice to Morgan’s vision.
As for what’s next, Roberts at press time was working on another Netflix series, The Seven Dials Mystery which is based on the work of famed detective fiction writer Agatha Christie. The Seven Dials Mystery was adapted by writer Chris Chibnall (Broadchurch creator), and is being executive produced by Chibnall, The Crown EP Suzanne Mackie of Orchid Pictures and Chris Sussman (Good Omens). Chris Sweeney (The Tourist, Back to Life) is slated to direct.
This is the seventh installment of SHOOT’s weekly 16-part The Road To Emmy Series of feature stories. Nominations will be announced and covered on July 17. Creative Arts Emmy winners will be reported on September 7 and 8, and primetime Emmy ceremony winners will be covered on September 15.)
