Anything on TV that catches my eye but that won’t end up in serialised reviews.
Based on Harry Bingham’s crime mystery novel Talking to the Dead, there’s a two-part adaptation by Gwyneth Hughes on the market that you should definitely take a look at. Sophie Rundle stars as DC Fiona Griffiths, who’s got a dark past — and a gift. Continue reading →
David Tennant and Sophie Okonedo star in this BBC One drama penned by David Wolstencroft — the brain behind Spooks/MI-5. This one’s about a junior barrister, Will Burton, who has a knack for getting everyone he represents, young defendants especially, out of just about any sort of legal Houdini bind, hence his moniker, “the escape artist.” He’s never lost a case — but this murder trial, defending a young man named Foyle (played by Toby Kebbell) might yet cost him everything.
You can get the entire media pack online at the BBC’s Media Centre.
Click the image for the tweet.
The BBC One twitter handle announced earlier this evening that tomorrow at 7.30am (BST), a new original drama trailor is going to premiere: David Tennant stars as a barrister in The Escape Artist. I don’t know exactly who thought that 7.30am would be the best time for something like this, but the Tennant fandom is mighty and determined. Alarm clocks will be set.
BBC One have commissioned a new six-part drama from Abi Morgan, creator of The Hour!
This is the second bit of great news for Abi Morgan this week: on Sunday, she won an Emmy for The Hour (BBC Two), in the category Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special, beating, among others, Tom Stoppard (who was nominated for Parade’s End).
Today, BBC One have announced that Morgan will be writing a new original drama series for them. This is from the Media Pack:
John River is a brilliant police officer whose genius and fault-line is the fragility of his mind – a man haunted by the murder victims whose cases he must lay to rest. A man who must walk a professional tightrope between a pathology so extreme he risks permanent dismissal, and a healthy state of mind that would cure him of his gift.
Charlotte Moore, Controller of BBC One, says: “RIVER is full of intriguing twists and turns and I was truly gripped when the script came in. Abi’s one of Britain’s most distinctive and original storytellers and her ability to push the boundaries of the genre in surprising ways makes RIVER her perfect debut on BBC One.”
There are no definite commitments to an air date or other details:
The 6×60-minute series is made by Kudos (The Hour, From There To Here, Broadchurch) for BBC One. Filming will commence in London next year and the programme will transmit on BBC One in 2015 […] and casting will be announced in due course.
The full video of 8, the stage adaptation of the Perry v. Schwarzenegger trial contesting Prop 8, written by Dustin Lance Black (Milk), provided by AFER. ETA: the original video provided by AFER was only available for about a week, but this is a new, permanent one. Watch!
Featuring Chris Colfer, George Clooney, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jane Lynch, Matt Bomer, Michael Sheen, Kevin Bacon, Brad Pitt, and so many other great actors and actresses.
Oh, CRUMPETS. This is Christmas Smithmas. Lots of Doctor Who trivia, great chemistry between Matt, Chris, and Craig, and crazy discussions about meeting Tiffany in Vegas. Matt said this was his first US late night talk show, and I say: Good on ya! ’cause being on Craig’s first gives you such an insane experience that everything after that will be awfully tedious, but a piece of cake.
I was really glad that Matt seemed to geniunely enjoy it, ’cause Craig’s so lovely and such a Doctor Who nut, and I love them both, and now they love each other.
Thanks to Mal, we can watch yesterday’s Late Late Show ‘Doctor Who’ special on youtube. So… DO IT!
It’s amazing. Sadly, they couldn’t do the theme tune mash in the opening. FIVE MINUTES BEFORE THE SHOW THEY TOLD THEM THEY DIDN’T HAVE LEGAL CLEARANCE. Seriously, someone needs to leak this. PLEEEEAAAASE!
But we now know that Chris, Craig, and Matt have a band called ‘Three Octopuses and an Otter.’ What more could we want?
Actually, I didn’t want to blog about the ending of Ashes to Ashes, since there are so many more wonderful pieces already out there (UPDATE: Ian Wylie’s extras for his interview with writer Matthew Graham. Woot!), but there’s this one thing I can’t keep my hands off; so please, bear with me after the jump. Continue reading →
THEY DIDN’T.
In this season’s finale, A Deadly Game, that aired on abc last night, the titular character and his “inspiration”, Detective Kate Beckett, were meant to assess and confront their feelings for each other.
Everyone: Yaaay!
And they did! Except Castle was stupid enough to take off into vacation with his ex-wife.
Everyone: D’oh! Or, more poignantly: Castle, you dumbass! Continue reading →
While, erm, slightly obsessing about BBC’s smashing successes Life on Mars and its follow-up Ashes to Ashes, I read some interviews — for example, the following ones, all conducted by Ian Wylie; with Keeley Hawes who plays DI Alex Drake (he posted extras to it on his blog), and with Philip Glenister who plays gorgeous DCI Gene Hunt (again, extras as well). I’d already watched a few episodes of Spooks, but I never got around to watching any other productions featuring Philip Glenister. Terribly ashamed of myself, I took a good look and found: Demons, first aired in 2009. (Beware: Spoilers ahead! If you haven’t watched it yet, but want to, you might want to come back afterwards. This is a review, not an imdb synopsis.) Before I go into detail, Continue reading →
Alright, question: How could you not love, scratch that, adore to just imagine such a thing. No audience, no fancy stuff, just a Scottish-now-American-citizen (still with the loveliest Scottish accent!) and a brilliant the-quintessential-Englishman (made of tweed and with a brain the size of Kent) talking about whatever comes to mind. I, for one, could listen to them hours, even days, on end. I’d probably forget to eat and drink, let alone sleep, but, Stu, what does it matter?
(By the way, I also absolutely enjoy the usual programme Craig puts on every night, but, talking about television programme experiences, this experiment must have been the best thing that’s happened to me in years.)
Click HERE to get to the following parts of the session. UPDATE: Actually, no. Because youtube was barmy enough to suspend Malinky2Stoatir’s account. SERIOUSLY? Anyway. Waiting for news.
Click HERE to get to the following parts of the session that were re-uploaded by Mal. UPDATE 2: And HERE to get to Malinky’s rebuilding channel. YEAH!
Crime and Relative Dimension in Space 