We saw the end of this featurette about Highclere Castle on BBC World News through bleary eyes in the pre-dawn hour, and thought it was worth posting right away.
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Archive for the ‘Drama’ Category
January 20th, 2012
Congratulations to Idris Elba…
…for his well deserved Best Actor win at the Golden Globes for his performance in Luther 2. If you haven’t experienced the edgy thrills of Luther yet, BBC America is running an encore of the second miniseries this Sunday, January 22nd, at 11am ET.
BAFTA film awards were announced earlier this week, and we were gratified to see that Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy garnered eleven nominations, second only to twelve for The Artist. While a feature film cannot hope to match the 1979 BBC version for narrative detail, the BAFTA-nominated screenplay managed to keep the essentials, and the nifty addition of party scenes helped to reveal the habitually hidden emotions of characters who are taciturn by nature or vocation. There were no party scenes in the novel, but author John le Carré sanctioned the device and gave the screenwriters suggestions.
My Week with Marilyn, which received six nominations, is also chock-a-block with British talent — Zoe Wanamaker (Poirot), Emma Watson (Harry Potter), Derek Jacobi (I, Claudius), Michael Kitchen (Foyle’s War), Philip Jackson (Poirot), Jim Carter (Downton Abbey), Toby Jones (The Old Curiosity Shop, Christopher and his Kind), Dominic Cooper (Sense & Sensibility) and Dougray Scott (Desperate Housewives) — in small supporting roles, and in nominated supporting roles, Judi Dench as Dame Sybil Thorndike and Kenneth Branagh as Sir Laurence Olivier. The male lead is Eddie Redmayne, who will be seen in Birdsong later this season on Masterpiece.
This has also been quite a year for screenwriter Abi Morgan (The Hour), who wrote the screenplays for two current films, The Iron Lady and Shame.
Posted in Drama, Mystery & Suspense, Personalities, Uncategorized | 2 Comments
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January 13th, 2012
Who are the Fades?
One of the most talked about BBC series this fall was The Fades, which premieres on BBC America this Saturday, January 14, at 9pm ET. Created by Jack Thorne (Skins), The Fades is firmly in the horror genre, but with a strong thread of mystery surrounding who the Fades are and why they are appearing now. Within the mundane world of suburbia and school, the story unfolds with the heightened imagery of graphic novels. Iain De Caestecker stars as Paul– bewildered seventeen-year-old, reluctant hero and social pariah. Daniel Kaluuya (Skins S1 and S2) plays Paul’s best and only friend Mac, who applies everything he’s learned from the movies to the crisis at hand (with mixed results). The Fades producer Caroline Skinner is also one to watch. She’s the new executive producer for this year’s series of Doctor Who, replacing Piers Wenger and Beth Willis.
A brand new Nerdist special follows Episode One on BBC America at 10:15 pm ET. Devoted to the horror genre, the special features Lily Lovelace (Skins S3 and S4) talking about her role as Paul’s mortified sister, Anna. The cast of The Fades also includes Natalie Dormer (The Tudors, Captain America), Johnny Harris (Whitechapel) and Daniela Nardini (This Life, Reckless). In Canada The Fades premiered January 3rd on BBC Canada, which will air it through Feb 7th on Tuesdays at 8pm ET. The DVD and Blu-ray will be available on February 21st, the Tuesday after the series finale airs on BBC America.
Dramaville Fan Alert: Remember that The Hour and Luther Season Two are in the running for Golden Globe Awards. The ceremony, hosted once more by the irrepressible Ricky Gervais (The Office, An Idiot Abroad) airs this Sunday, January 15th, at 8pm ET on NBC. As we mentioned before, The Hour is up against Downton Abbey, which made its much anticipated return to Masterpiece last Sunday. Series Two is already available for pre-order, delivering February 7th.
Posted in Doctor Who, Drama, Fantasy, Mystery & Suspense, Personalities, Sci-fi, Uncategorized | No Comments
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January 6th, 2012
Sherlock Season Two coming this spring
British audiences are already basking in the joy and excitement of the next batch of Sherlock films, which premiered on New Year’s Day with A Scandal in Belgravia. Based on “A Scandal in Bohemia,” this story features Andrew Scott (The Hour, Lennon Naked) as Moriarty and Lara Pulver (MI-5: Volume 10, Robin Hood, True Blood) as “The Woman” Irene Adler. For those of us who like to read ahead so we can recognize verbatim dialogue quotes and all the clever updating, the other two films are The Hounds of Baskerville and “The Reichenbach Fall,” the latter based on the “The Final Problem.” To assuage the chill that the word “Reichenbach” engenders in every Sherlock Holmes fan, we have this from a Radio Times interview with co-creator Steven Moffat: “As for Holmes’ death, I don’t believe that Conan Doyle ever planned to kill him off. That’s faithfully reported, but I don’t believe it. The way he’s killed off in The Final Problem…well, there’s no body, is there? So Sherlock is obviously not dead. Conan Doyle was a mystery writer, for goodness’ sake! I’m sure the plan all along was to ‘resurrect’ him.”
While the game won’t be afoot for us until Season Two premieres May 6 on Masterpiece Mystery!, fans of Benedict Cumberbatch can catch him in two current films, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and War Horse. The DVD and Blu-ray will follow soon after the final season broadcast.
Posted in Drama, Mystery & Suspense, Personalities, Uncategorized | 6 Comments
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December 2nd, 2011
Captain Jack’s back in Torchwood: Miracle Day
At long last, we have good news for the Torchwood fans who were unable to see the latest series when it ran on Starz last summer. DVDs and Blu-rays are in the works for release by this spring. As you may recall, Children of Earth ended with Torchwood HQ demolished and only two survivors. As the production moved to Los Angeles, fans wondered if they’d ever see Wales again. Well, there it is– in all its glorious cloud cover. Joining the cast this season is Bill Pullman (Independence Day) as a condemned man whose miraculous survival from execution triggers the global realization that nobody is dying anymore. Mekhi Phifer (ER, 8 Mile) also stars as CIA agent Rex Matheson, who trails Captain Jack (John Barrowman-Doctor Who) and Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles – Little Dorrit, Merlin) to tap their Torchwood expertise in all things supernatural. At this rate of population growth, the human race will cease to be viable in four months, or ten episodes. Available for pre-order soon!
Posted in Drama, Personalities, Sci-fi, Uncategorized | 3 Comments
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November 23rd, 2011
The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe
Hmmm… the title of this year’s Doctor Who Christmas special sounds a bit Narnia-inspired. From the trailer we posted last week, it also looks a bit Narnia-inspired, especially with that line about a “forest in a box.” That’s Claire Skinner (Outnumbered, Sense & Sensibility [2008], Lark Rise to Candleford [S1]) as the widow, and some of you may have spotted Bill Bailey (Black Books, Spaced). Christmas certainly came early for Bill Bailey, who is a lifelong fan of Doctor Who. Check out his brilliant Belgian jazz version of the Docteur Qui theme.
Colin Firth fan alert: Imagine attending the premiere and after party of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy as the guest of Mr. Firth himself. Click here to find out more about this charity auction on ebay. But time is of the essence, the bidding ends today, November 23rd, at 6 pm ET.
Posted in Doctor Who, Drama, Music, Personalities, Sci-fi, Uncategorized | 1 Comment
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November 18th, 2011
Celebrate the holidays with BBC specials
As BritCom fans, we often return to our favorite Christmas specials for holiday viewing, but we concede that it can be a hassle to track those down in multi-disc sets, not to mention trying to glean several favorites out of several collections for a full night’s entertainment. This year we decided to take the guesswork out, and pack these specials together into comedy and drama collections.
Now any night can be a spectacular BritCom night with the BBC Holiday Comedy Collection, which brings together four and a half hours of holiday-themed specials from Are You Being Served?, Good Neighbors, To the Manor Born, Allo Allo, Last of the Summer Wine, Keeping Up Appearances, Blackadder and The Vicar of Dibley. If you’ve ever tried to find the All Creatures Great and Small episode in which Siegfried (Robert Hardy) sets up a skeleton in a locked room to keep Tristan (Peter Davison) from raiding the Christmas champagne, it’s in the BBC Holiday Drama Collection along with specials from Ballykissangel, Monarch of the Glen, Lovejoy and Lark Rise to Candleford. For fans of both genres, you’d have to get up pretty early on Black Friday to find a more perfect gift (and better value) than the combined BBC Holiday Comedy & Drama Gift Set.
And to really get you in the spirit, stop by our newly launched BBC All-stars and Staff Holiday Reflections and Wishlist pages, this year with video messages from Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Ricky Gervais!
Doctor Who Fan Alert: Speaking of Christmas, we just got the trailer for this year’s Doctor Who Christmas special. Be one of the first to see it!
Posted in Comedy, Doctor Who, Drama, Mystery & Suspense, Personalities, Uncategorized | 12 Comments
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October 28th, 2011
Spine-tingling stuff in the works
With a whole weekend ahead of us to get in the mood for Halloween, we have monsters on the mind. BBC America is getting in on the act by running a marathon of Ghoul Britannia films starting Sunday at noon ET with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein with Kenneth Branagh. It’s worth a revisit if you were lucky enough to catch one of the National Theatre Live feeds last spring with Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller alternating as Doctor Frankenstein and the Monster.
Online, BBC America will be counting votes until 11:59PM ET on Sunday, October 30th in its costume contest. Vote here for your favorite finalists in five different categories. Looks like this is Doctor Who’s year, and if you’re wracking your mind for something completely different in festivities, BBC America is brimming with ideas on how to throw a Doctor Who party.
In the coming weeks, DVDs of Bedlam: Season 1, Whitechapel: The Ripper Returns and, of course, Doctor Who are guaranteed to extend the chills of the season. Looking forward to next year, the next volume of Primeval is on its way, and if you like your monsters prehistoric, Planet Dinosaur will breathe life into the latest discoveries.
On the film front, we have been following a little Hammer production of The Woman in Black, currently scheduled for February 3, 2012. The modest two-character play based on the 1983 Susan Hill novel has been packing London houses for more than a decade, and we’re told that it’s still the scariest show on the boards. The film, which promises to be more elaborate, stars Daniel Radcliffe with Janet McTeer and Ciaran Hinds. We’ll keep an eye out for that DVD as well.
Posted in Doctor Who, Drama, Mystery & Suspense, Sci-fi, Uncategorized | No Comments
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October 21st, 2011
MI-5 Volume 10 marks its final season
After ten years of undercover scenarios ripped from the headlines and our deepest fears, MI-5 is coming to a close, with its last season currently airing opposite Downton Abbey in the UK. Many of the long-time followers of MI-5 have wondered whether this season will at long last bring the relationship between Harry (Peter Firth) and Ruth (Nicola Walker) to a satisfactory resolution. Security remains high on that front, but we did find this tidbit in Radio Times:
“The romance was never scripted,” admits Firth. “It was her and I flirting in takes, holding looks too long, lingering over lines. The writers picked up on that and it just grew from there. Nicola Walker, who plays Ruth, is a bit unpredictable – you never know what she’s going to do – but she’s an utter joy to play alongside.”
To commemorate the series history, the MI-5: Volume 10 DVD extras include Top Ten MI-5 Moments chosen by the cast and crew and Harry’s Game, devoted to MI-5’s most constant character. Look for the DVD earlier next year.
Posted in Drama, Mystery & Suspense, Personalities, Uncategorized | 36 Comments
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October 7th, 2011
Merlin’s magic grows from strength to strength
It comes as no surprise to fans that Merlin established a niche for itself on SyFy. The youth-oriented take on the Arthurian legend has something for everybody: attractive leads in Colin Morgan and Bradley James, Katie McGrath as the relentlessly dangerous yet deliciously dressed Morgana, solid support from Anthony Head and Richard Wilson, “eye candy” art direction and enough twists on the traditional legend to keep you guessing. SyFy has already announced that Season Four (which just kicked off on the BBC) will air in the US in 2012. (Canadian broadcast details are not yet known.) With Season Four looming, the DVD of Merlin: Season 3 is expected to release early next year, in time to refresh your memory of last winter’s broadcast. This is the season that opened with screaming mandrakes, giant scorpions, a siege on Camelot by an army of 20,000 and a dozen or two sword-wielding skeletons. Semi-regulars and guest stars include Emilia Fox (David Copperfield –‘99), Miriam Margolyes (Oliver Twist –’85, Blackadder, Freud), Pauline Collins (Bleak House, Upstairs Downstairs – ITV) and a goblin voiced by Mark Williams (Harry Potter films, Sense & Sensibility).
Posted in Drama, Fantasy, Personalities, Sci-fi, Uncategorized | 4 Comments
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