Behind the Seams, an Interview with Howard Burden

Howard Burden is a highly respected Costume Designer who has been working in the industry for over 30 years. In his conversation with Richard, Howard looks back at his career from Wimbledon college to the BBC days to his highly successful career as a freelance designer. Along the way Howard has worked on some iconic TV series including Dr Who, Red Dwarf, Poldark and Wurzel Gummidge.

A great believer in the strength of the team, he see his role as a collaborative one – he is equally at home putting looks together at Costume Houses or finding ways to make the costumes with his team. He is not too proud to be found towards the end of a filming day doing the laundry on the Wardrobe truck if it means his team can get home earlier.

Howard has an infectious joy about him when he is talking about costume or around costume, always projecting a sense of calm no matter what chaos is happening on a film set. He has forged great relationships with actors, crew and directors which has led him to the position he now has in the industry. His body of work and growing list of collaborators is testament to that.

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