Fine Art student's striking sculpture set to appear in BBC's Waterloo Road

Charlotte Darbyshire-Ellison was surprised when a producer from the show, which is filmed in Greater Manchester, got in touch with the University to ask if they could loan the striking piece of art for a scene to be filmed in the coming weeks.

The eye-opening sculpture is a long white, gothic hand with vines tangling around the fingers as the bones begin to appear. It is designed to symbolise the theme of nature fighting back against humanity.

Charlotte said: “I’m just over the moon to have the sculpture featured in the show. I was surprised they were interested in it but I’ve tried really hard with my work on the course and so it’ll make me very proud to have it featured.

“Initially, I didn’t really know where to start with the piece when I first started work on it but then I was drawn to the idea of humans disintegrating with nature as the latter has always been a key theme for my work.

“I went for a horror route and have other similar works which show humans being entwined with nature such as a skeleton with flowers coming out of it.”

The final year student added that the BBC’s interest in the work has helped fuel her desire to explore a career path in TV set design.

The BBC are expected to feature the hand in a scene for the drama later on this month with the episode to be released later on this spring. Due to the size of the sculpture, which measures around 67cm in height, a plinth is being created to keep it stable during shooting.

Waterloo Road is a BBC One contemporary drama series that follows the lives of students and teachers at a school in Greater Manchester. It returned to television screens this year following an eight-year hiatus.