DANIELLE GALLIGAN ON CORSETS, SECRETS AND HOUSE OF GUINNESS

But a storm of scandals, politics and power struggles could threaten to topple everything. It’s the perfect moody TV show to hunker down with this autumn. And while the drama is intoxicating, the wardrobe is, too – corsets, gowns and 19th-century glamour. We sat down with Danielle Galligan, who plays Lady Olivia Hedges (Arthur’s formidable wife) to talk emotional costuming and who’s leaking all the family secrets. Scroll for the tea.

Hey Danielle! Lady Olivia is introduced as a bold figure, moving through the same elite circles as the Guinness family. What do you think drew you to her?
Lady Olivia is so strategic and brash, and she speaks her mind – and I don't have a lot of that in my personality. So being able to live vicariously through her excited me. And the journey she goes on as an Irish woman is important and represents a lot of women in Irish history.

What’s her true agenda?
Oh, spicy! Ultimately, it's not very sexy. She comes from a family with an ineffectual father who gambled away all their fortunes, so she's become very strong, because she's had to be strong. She's taken it upon herself to survive in a patriarchal society, and her agenda is always safety, security and saving herself. And this marriage contract with Arthur is a way for her to essentially fix her father's mistakes, so she's a survivalist underneath all of it.

Ok, we’ve got to talk about the costumes! Were they restrictive or empowering?

I’d say they were both. I'm a bit of a sucker for a corset. And it helps with posture and things like that. But also it helped with thinking about the constraints, as women of that time had so few options. They obviously had so much potential, but no outlet for that potential.

And how did your outfits influence your role as Lady Olivia?

Olivia gets herself trapped in a gilded cage. And for me, she's constantly beating her wings against the bars. So the corset was really helpful in that feeling of actually being constricted with my ribs or my heartbeat trying to beat against the boning of the corset.

Tell us more!

Edward K. Gibbon and all the dressmakers – I can't sing their praises enough, because it was always collaborative. There’s one scene towards the end with Lady Olivia – Edward designed this skirt that’s an almost fleshy-pink colour. And then over it is this sheer white skirt. And he said it’s because it was the shell of herself, and underneath was the pink skirt, which is raw because she's still healing, she's still hurting, and her shell is so fragile. Little things like that, that he would say about parts of the costume, will stay with you.