Video: Scot costumer designer lifts the lid on Game of Thrones and reveals - even the boobs aren't real

In 2015, just before the start of its fifth season, HBO announced that it had deals in 170 countries around the world to air new episodes simultaneously with its US broadcast.

One Scot who worked on the epic has pulled back the curtain on some of the show’s biggest scenes, revealing how technical wizards and some clever CGI helped create the Seven Kingdoms in the docklands of Belfast.

Hazel Hawkins of Falkirk, who has worked as a costume maker on the show, said that while fans have been gripped by six series of castles, conspiracy, backstabbing, nudity and gore, she is more interested in seeing how much, or how little, of the costumes created by her department ended up being worn by its stars.

She also revealed that much of the interior scenes in the show were shot in 35-foot-high by 90-foot-wide former ship painting hangar, meaning you can walk from the Iron Throne in the Great Hall at King’s Landing to the Vale of Arryn, the domain of the Lady Regent Lady Lysa Arryn, just by walking through a door.

The Paint Hall just outside the centre of Belfast, consisted of four cells, each of which would become the sets for the interiors of castles across the show.

“The inside of the hangar is incredible,” says Hawkins. “The castles are constructed in minute detail and you really feel like you are in a medieval-style court.

"But then you go through a set of huge double wooden doors and you are in the Mediterranean style kingdom of Essos, home of the Dothraki.”

Then there is the Moon Door in the High Hall of the Eyrie, which in the TV series is a huge, seemingly bottomless chasm, used mainly for disposing of enemies.

“You walk on to the Eyrie set and there is the Moon Door right in the middle,” says Hawkins. “But, as you go up to it, you realise it is only four-foot deep. It’s a bit of a let-down in real life but it’s amazing how they use CGI to make it look so real on the show.”

Inside the Great Hall is the famous Iron Throne, which in the series is made from “the swords of the vanquished”. “Walking up to the Iron Throne you would be convinced that it is real but it is actually made out of plastic by the armoury department, who are totally amazing,” she said

As for the outside scenes, like The Wall, said in the show to be 300 miles long and 700 feet high, Hawkins says they employ some creative tricks to pull those off.

“The Wall is a 10-foot fibre-glass construction that sits near the dockside. I think you can see it from the ferry as you come into Belfast,” says Hawkins.

“Also the direwolves look really scary on screen but they are in actual fact huskies. One of my jobs was making fake collars to go on the huskies to make them look more bulky and mean. They even have their own actor’s accommodation,” says Hawkins.

“They have a huge tent and a dog-whisperer guy who looks after them. It’s pretty cool.”

A controversial scene where Lady Arryn breastfeeds her eight-year-old son Robin caused a social media storm. There were concerns that the 10-year-old actor in question Lino Facioli was actually asked to suck on the breast of Scots co-star, Kate Dickie, while the adult crew filmed.

But the film-makers found a way to make the whole thing legal.

“I’ve touched those boobs and they are not real,” said Hawkins. “They were prosthetic breasts. They weren’t real. They had to make prosthetic breasts.”

Hawkins who used to work 12-hour days on the series and has worked on a number of other film projects, said: “One of the worst things about working on film is you realise it’s not real and you find out all the secrets. Sometimes I will watch it and say it’s not real. I know it’s a film. I know it’s just acting and it kind of ruins things for me.”

As a costumer designer, secrecy over the filming would mean they would not know anything about the script. They were never told anything about what was happening in a scene. They did not even get to meet the stars. And, while they were creating the clothes for the cast, they had no idea even who they were even meant for. “It was only once the show came out it was like, ‘oh right, I made that’,” she said.

She created costumes for Sean Bean as Ned Stark and Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister as well as Maisie Williams as Arya Stark.

“After we completed the first season, and everyone watched the first episode, we were amazed how little clothing there was in the actual first episode. There was lots and lots of nudity. And we were like, ‘what were we working on so hard last year if you didn’t even put clothes in it’,” she recalled. “We were working really constantly hard on lots of costumes and it seemed like there was nothing being worn in the first episode.”

Fans have been waiting for more than a year for the seventh season of the show, as the sixth ended in June 2016.

The forthcoming season, which adds Jim Broadbent to the cast, is airing later than its usual springtime slot, after production was delayed to shoot more scenes in the snow.

The seventh series of Game of Thrones fulfils the prophecy that "Winter is coming" - and with it, the Night King's army of the undead, and the promise of all-out war.

As the premiere took place HBO released new images from the show, providing a few clues about the storyline - including Daenerys's return to Dragonstone, and Meera Reed meeting up with the Night's Watch.

The pictures also offer a look at the large painted map of Westeros that featured prominently in a trailer for the season.

"Enemies to the east, enemies to the west, enemies to the south, enemies to the north," said Lena Headey's character, Cersei, during the clip. "Whatever stands in our way, we will defeat it."

An eighth and final season is planned for either 2018 or 2019 - but there is talk of spin-offs and prequels.

Last year, the show, based on George RR Martin's novels, became the most successful narrative show in the history of the Emmy Awards after winning 38 prizes.

The seventh series of the popular fantasy drama debuts on Sunday July 16 in the US and will be simulcast in the UK at 2am, and repeated later at 9pm, on Monday July 17 on Sky Atlantic and Now TV.