Arthur Hughes has revealed new details about the prosthesis he had to wear when filming Shardlake, a new Tudor murder mystery based on the bestselling books by C.J. Sansom.
He plays the title character, a lawyer called Shardlake who suffers from scoliosis. "Shardlake's a very successful and respected lawyer. He lives with scoliosis, which makes him visibly different, and he can suffer because of that judgment,” Arthur told HELLO! and other publications.
Arthur is 'limb different', as he has radial dysplasia, a condition that means his right arm doesn’t have a thumb or radius bone. For him, this is a key part of playing the character of Shardlake and why he was so excited to land the role: "We want to see disabled actors in great roles regardless of whether the role is disabled or not. I was happy to just be an actor getting a lead role in something good and all the benefits that come for the community I'm happy for as well."
A central part of Shardlake’s physicality is his disability, so Arthur worked closely with costume designer Bart Cariss to create a brutal-looking leather brace that Shardlake could strap on every day as part of his character.
One of the key challenges in creating Shardlake's body was his scoliosis, as the twisting of the spine creates a curved shape in the back and can cause asymmetry in the body as the hips and shoulders aren't as aligned.
"I wanted to make Shardlake's disability rooted in the truth of my own body. I didn't want it to be just strapping something on," said Arthur, explaining the process of making Shardlake's body. The team made a cast of his body then made a scoliosis spine based off Arthur's back and how it would likely be.
He reflected on the process: "It was an interesting experience in terms of putting [the spine] on, but because I think we'd done the work to physicalise it and root it in the truth of my disability and my issues with my back that I've had."
There were two versions of the cast, the one that was worn under Arthur's costume during filming, and a prosthetic that was attached to Arthur during shirtless scenes where the character was getting dressed.
"We had the actual prosthetic with skin and hair, which I only had to wear a couple of times. It took hours to put on, but it was very beautifully made. I remember when they first showed it to me, I thought: this is can very easily be grotesque, or be presented to be grotesque, to be like Quasimodo, and actually I thought it was kind of beautiful," Arthur said.
"People have backs like this. People who have scoliosis get to see themselves represented in a normal way, just going about their day-to-day life getting dressed."
In the series, Shardlake is sent by Thomas Cromwell (Sean Bean) to investigate the murder of one of his commissioners at a monastery in the north of England. He is accompanied by Jack Barak (Anthony Boyle), Cromwell's right-hand man. As both their characters are in service to Cromwell, Anthony and Arthur were able to work with Sean Bean for the first time. Anthony described the Game of Thrones star as "an absolute legend", and noted the gravitas he brought to set as such an experienced actor.
As a man who owes everything to Cromwell, Anthony's character could be friend or foe to Shardlake.
Anthony spoke to HELLO! about the fun of playing a morally ambiguous character. He said: "It's more interesting when they're morally compromised and they're trying to figure it out as they go along. Because I think that's what we're all doing.
"We don't wake up on the day and go: 'I'm a goodie today, I'm a baddie'. You go: 'How am I going to get through this day? How do I survive, particularly in such harsh times?' So I think he's just navigating, trying to do his best as he sees fit."
READ: Here's everything you need to know about Anthony Boyle
Jack and Shardlake are like chalk and cheese to start off with, but things change between them as the series progresses. Having worked closely together for four months while filming the series in castles across Romania, Transylvania, Budapest and Vienna, the duo have clearly developed an off-screen friendship too.
Anthony recalls their first meeting: "He showed up on the first night in Budapest, we had some chicken paprikash, a couple of whiskeys, and I thought we were going to be alright. We really fell in love with each other as soon as we met each other. And it was really good to have that buddy stuff off-screen and on-screen."
But would they make a good Tudor detective in real life?
"I don't think so," answered Anthony immediately.
Arthur grinned. "I think I probably would."
Anthony turned to look at him. "Oh, would you? Oh, [expletive] it, I'll change my answer. Yes, I would. I'd make a better one than him."
"You could come work with me," replied Arthur, laughing.
"I'd be your assistant," said Anthony. "In this life or the next."
The series also stars Babou Ceesay as Abbot Fabian, Paul Kaye as Brother Jerome and Ruby Ashbourne Serkis as Alice.
Shardlake is available to stream on Disney+ on 1 May.