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DVDs in the Works

Archive for the ‘Personalities’ Category

February 10th, 2012

New blood in Being Human Season 4

Being Human

The new eight-part season of Being Human just premiered in the UK, and we North Americans don’t have very long to wait. Both BBC America and Space in Canada have set the night of Feb 25 for the Season 4 premiere. The DVD and Blu-ray will follow sometime this spring.

Sadly, Mitchell (Aidan Turner) was shot with a wolf-shaped bullet in last season’s finale, but Annie (Leonora Crichlow) and George (Russell Tovey) are back. Michael Socha also returns as the werewolf Tom, and there’s a new vampire in town, Hal (Damien Molony). Those who follow the live feeds from the National Theatre may have recently seen Molony in Travelling Light. Look for Aidan Turner this December as Kili in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

To get in the mood for a season of scary roommates, BBC America is running the Roommate from Hell contest (open to US residents only).

BAFTA / AbFab alert: This Sunday night at 8pm ET BBC America is airing the fabulous film awards ceremony of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. We look forward to it every year, but especially this year because Stephen Fry is returning to host the show

after several years’ absence. To top off the night, BBC America will air the second 20th Anniversary Absolutely Fabulous special at 11pm ET. It features a hilarious turn by Lindsay Duncan (The Rise and Fall of Margaret Thatcher) as the sort of legendary French film star who has grown accustomed to universal worship. Canadian broadcast information is not yet announced.

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January 20th, 2012

Congratulations to Idris Elba…

Luther

…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.

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January 13th, 2012

Who are the Fades?

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.

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January 6th, 2012

Sherlock Season Two coming this spring

Sherlock: Season 2

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.

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December 30th, 2011

A treasury of Steve Coogan concerts

Steve Coogan as Alan Partridge

Over the past decade Steve Coogan has been steadily raising his profile in North America in films like Tropic Thunder, Night at the Museum and In the Loop, but we can’t help thinking that these supporting roles reveal only a small percent of his talent. This year’s The Trip, which made its mark on the indie circuit and Owen Gleiberman’s Ten Best list, is a more proper showcase for Coogan’s writing as well as acting gifts, but its audiences might still be surprised to learn that Coogan created one of most popular British comedy icons in the past two decades, Alan Partridge, and that his much anticipated concerts sell out all over Britain.

Steve Coogan Live brings together three of those concerts for the first time on North American video: Live ‘n’ Lewd from his pre-Partridge days in 1994; The Man Who Thinks He’s It (1998); and Steve Coogan as Alan Partridge and Other Less Successful Characters (2009). DVD extras include highlights from Coogan’s Australia tour, Paul and Pauline Calf animations and “Steve Coogan: An Inside Story.” The Trip is coming soon to the shop, and Steve Coogan Live will be available on February 7, 2012.

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December 23rd, 2011

Christmastime with the Doctor

Doctor Who: The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe

When we last mentioned this year’s Doctor Who Christmas Special, The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe, the North American air date was still unconfirmed. We are happy to report that the much-anticipated special will air on December 25th at 9pm Eastern / 8pm Central on BBC America and in Canada on Space. But that’s not all, in both countries the lead-in at 8pm Eastern / 7pm Central will be Doctor Who: The Best of the Christmas Specials. This will be the first time the Specials have reached back to cover the David Tennant years, and we hear that the Tenth Doctor has quite a few fans among the regular commentators.

Speaking of the Best of Specials, the first three (shown last summer on BBC America) will be DVD extras when The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe comes out on DVD and Blu-ray on February 14.

Fan Alert: On December 24th at , BBC America will air a Year in Review special of The Nerdist, with exclusive pieces filmed in London with David Tennant and Simon Pegg (Spaced).

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December 9th, 2011

Sweetie darling! Ab Fab’s back!

Absolutely Fabulous

The essential Absolutely Fabulous ensemble – Jennifer Saunders, Joanna Lumley, Julia Sawalha, June Whitfield and Jane Horrocks – is reuniting for three 20th Anniversary specials. These are the first new episodes since “White Box” aired seven years ago, and we can hardly wait to see which of the world’s latest obsessions will spawn the next classic one-liners from Jennifer Saunders. Most of all, we’re looking forward to more of Patsy and Edina. As Jennifer described their special chemistry in a Radio Times interview: “When I’m being Edina and Joanna [Lumley, of course] becomes Patsy, I think there’s no happier place to be, because it’s total escape. It must be, for us, like meditation is for other people.”

BBC America will run the first special on Sunday, January 8. (Canadian broadcast details are not yet known.) The DVD will have to wait until after the summer to include the third special, which is inspired by the 2012 Olympics hosted in London. Until then, the next best thing is Absolutely Fabulous: Absolutely Everything, whether you’re catching up on the whole hilarious saga, or snagging the perfect gift for the fashionista or fashion victim on your list.

Thanks to all of you who have posted holiday memories and greetings on our Facebook page!

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December 2nd, 2011

Captain Jack’s back in Torchwood: Miracle Day

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!

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November 30th, 2011

Remembering Ken Russell

Oliver Reed

Ken Russell, who sadly died on Sunday, is best known for directing Women in Love in 1969. It is a masterpiece in which his sensibilities dovetailed so well with those of D.H. Lawrence and the burgeoning sexual revolution that few Americans realized how personal Ken Russell’s vision was. British audiences familiar with his earlier films (as seen in Ken Russell at the BBC) would have witnessed his iconoclasm from the beginning. These films, centered on the lives of composers and painters and quite unforgettably dancer Isadora Duncan, laid the groundwork for his later impassioned but irreverent theatrical films. His highly personal montages to the rhythms of classical music thrilled some and enraged others, who must have breathed a sigh of relief when he took his visionary style from symphony composers to the film of the rock opera Tommy.

You can find out more about Ken Russell on the BBC News site.

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November 23rd, 2011

The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe

Doctor Who Christmas 2011

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.

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