William Shatner Has Got News For YouBookmark and Share

Thursday, 10 May 2012 - Reported by John Bowman
ShatnerWilliam Shatner is to be the guest host on the BBC One panel show Have I Got News For You for the first time.

His appearance on the comedy quiz will go out on Friday 25th May at 9pm. Recordings usually take place the day before, and a 45-minute version of the half-hour programme – Have I Got A Bit More News For You - is usually shown on either the following Saturday or Sunday.

The 81-year-old actor, who most famously played Captain – and Admiral – James T Kirk in the TV series Star Trek and its subsequent films, will appear alongside regular team captains Ian Hislop and Paul Merton plus guest panellists Charlie Brooker and Andy Hamilton on the show.

Shatner said that he was looking forward to his first stint in the host's chair, adding: "English sense of humour is different from American sense of humour. Luckily I'm Canadian."

(newslink: BBC Media Centre)






FILTER: - BBC - Comedy

From Primeval to Shetland via The SilenceBookmark and Share

Tuesday, 8 May 2012 - Reported by John Bowman
BBC_One_Scotland_logoFormer Primeval star Douglas Henshall is to appear as the lead character in a new BBC One crime drama.

He will play Detective Jimmy Perez in the two-part murder-mystery Shetland, which has been adapted by David Kane from the books by Ann Cleeves.

Set against the backdrop of the Shetland Isles, the drama, which will be directed by Peter Hoar, centres on the native Shetlander Perez, a widower who has returned home after a long spell away and has "a bone-dry sense of humour and an idealistic desire to protect his beloved Shetland Isles from inevitable change".

When a young archaeologist discovers a set of human remains, the island community is intrigued to know if it's an ancient find or a contemporary mystery. And when an elderly woman is shot on her land in a tragic accident, Perez and his team find themselves at the centre of two feuding families whose envy, greed, and bitterness has divided the surrounding community.

Henshall, who also starred in the 2010 BBC One drama The Silence alongside Dervla Kirwan and Hugh Bonneville, said: "I am very much looking forward to working with David Kane, filming in Scotland, and being back on BBC One."

Further casting is yet to be announced. Shetland is being produced by Sue De Beauvoir for ITV Studios through BBC Scotland. The executive producers are Elaine Collins for ITV Studios and Christopher Aird for BBC Scotland.

BBC Scotland's drama department is home to Waterloo Road (BBC One), Lip Service (BBC Three), Field Of Blood (BBC One Scotland), and River City (BBC One Scotland).

(newslink: BBC Media Centre)






FILTER: - BBC - Drama

Wallace and Gromit Diamond Jubilee Short MadeBookmark and Share

Monday, 7 May 2012 - Reported by John Bowman
A special Wallace and Gromit short has been created by Aardman Animations to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

The one-minute film, called Wallace and Gromit's Jubilee Bunt-a-thon, took 30 people three months to make and will be shown at 14 National Trust properties. It starts with Gromit making bunting for National Trust locations and later shows the dog and Wallace scaling ladders to put the decoration up at a manor.

The duo's creator, Nick Park, said:
I think it's a great marriage for Wallace and Gromit and the National Trust to get together like this, because they're both very British institutions. It's a great privilege and a great honour for Wallace and Gromit to be chosen to be involved in all the things British this year, because they are often described as a British institution.

The National Trust has a special place in my heart, from a childhood memory of completing a paint-by-numbers at Stourhead to Montacute House on which we based Tottington Hall in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

At Aardman we are thrilled that Wallace and Gromit have had a chance to explore all the Trust has to offer – from helping to put up bunting to enjoying their Wensleydale cheese platter at a picnic. Wallace and Gromit are in for a cracking summer at the National Trust.

Tony Berry, the National Trust's visitor experience director, said:
The National Trust and Wallace and Gromit are two of Britain's greatest treasures and we felt it fitting that in this summer of celebration we should bring them together. It was made exclusively for the National Trust and we are really excited that it will encourage the nation to join us for an extra-special Diamond Jubilee celebration.

The short will premiere at the following sites on Monday 4th June: Anglesey Abbey, Cambridge; Attingham, Shrewsbury; Basildon Park, Reading; Belton, Grantham; Beningbrough Hall, York; Castle Ward, Downpatrick; Felbrigg Hall, Norwich; Morden Hall Park, London; Springhill, Magherafelt; Penrhyn Castle, Bangor; Powis Castle, Welshpool; Tyntesfield, Bristol, and Wallington, Northumberland, and will be shown at Quarry Bank Mill in Cheshire on Sunday 15th July.

Six images have been released, as shown here. For bigger versions, click on the thumbnails.

Jubilee-Bunt-a-thon-1Jubilee-Bunt-a-thon-2Jubilee-Bunt-a-thon-3Jubilee-Bunt-a-thon-4Jubilee-Bunt-a-thon-5Jubilee-Bunt-a-thon-6

















For a behind-the-scenes look at the film's making click here. A teaser can also be seen below



The news comes following the announcement of a Wallace and Gromit Prom to be held at the Royal Albert Hall on Sunday 29th July, which will include new animations showing the pair's backstage exploits in preparation for the premiere of Wallace's new Proms commission, My Concerto in Ee, Lad, as well as a screening of A Matter of Loaf and Death to a live orchestral soundtrack.




FILTER: - Animation - Wallace and Gromit

Red Dwarf X - The First Official PictureBookmark and Share

Friday, 4 May 2012 - Reported by John Bowman
The first official publicity picture from the forthcoming new series of Red Dwarf has been released by UKTV.

The image shows, from left to right, Danny John-Jules as The Cat, Chris Barrie as Arnold Rimmer, Craig Charles as Dave Lister, and Robert Llewellyn as Kryten aboard the eponymous mining spaceship. Click on the thumbnail on the right for a bigger version.

The recordings for the tenth series' six episodes took place at Shepperton Studios on 16th and 23rd December 2011 and 7th, 13th, 20th, and 27th January 2012. Free tickets to attend the studio sessions were made available on 11th November and, somewhat unsurprisingly, demand was so high that the website of the supplier, Lost In TV, crashed and applications had to be made by e-mail instead, with all the dates getting booked up within about an hour.

The series is currently in post-production and due to air on digital channels Dave and Dave HD this autumn.




FILTER: - Red Dwarf - Comedy - Dave

Iconic Film Costumes To Go On ShowBookmark and Share

Thursday, 3 May 2012 - Reported by John Bowman
TravisBicklecostumeDorothyGalecostumeIconic film costumes spanning a century in cinema are to go on display in London later this year.

The exhibition Hollywood Costume will feature more than 100 clothes worn by such memorable characters as Dorothy Gale, as played by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz, and Travis Bickle, portrayed by Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver, both pictured right.

Other outfits at the V&A exhibition will include those of Darth Vader and Indiana Jones, as well as Captain Jack Sparrow, Scarlett O’Hara, and Holly Golightly, while the 2002 film version of Spider-Man, whose costumes were designed by James Acheson, will also be featured.

The three-gallery display will be divided into sections (or Acts), namely Deconstruction, Dialogue, and Finale, starting in the Charlie Chaplin era and finishing with the cutting-edge design of today.

Deconstruction "puts us in the shoes of the costume designer and illuminates the process of designing a character from script to screen", while Dialogue "examines the key collaborative role of the costume designer within the creative team", and Finale "celebrates the most beloved characters in the history of Hollywood and the 'silver screen'".

The promotional material adds:

Costume designers are story-tellers, historians, social commentators, and anthropologists. Movies are about people, and costume design plays a pivotal role in bringing these people to life. Hollywood Costume illuminates the costume designer's process in the creation of character from script to screen, including the changing social and technological context in which they have worked over the last century.

Billed as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see film costumes that have previously never left their private and archival collections in California, the exhibition, which is being curated by Professor Deborah Nadoolman Landis (who is married to the film director John Landis), Professor Sir Christopher Frayling, and Keith Lodwick, runs from 20th October 2012 to 27th January 2013.




FILTER: - Exhibitions - UK

Sherlock Is Named Best TV DramaBookmark and Share

Tuesday, 1 May 2012 - Reported by John Bowman
Sherlock has added another gong to its collection after being named Best TV Drama at today's South Bank Sky Arts Awards.

The BBC One series was co-created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, and in an interview, which can be seen by clicking on the BBC News link below, Moriarty actor Andrew Scott praises the writing - with a subsequent forthright show of gratitude by Gatiss for his comment! During the interview, Gatiss refers to his and Moffat's "love of Conan Doyle's genius".

The BBC's mockumentary series Twenty Twelve, which had been nominated for Best Comedy, lost out to Channel 4's Fresh Meat at the awards ceremony, which was held at The Dorchester in London.

The first series of Sherlock won last year's BAFTA Television Award for Best Drama Series, and Martin Freeman, who plays Dr Watson, won the BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor. Series 1 also scooped the Arqiva award for Best Terrestrial Show at last year's Edinburgh International Television Festival, Charlie Phillips won the 2011 BAFTA Television Craft Award for Editing: Fiction, and the show has bagged five BAFTA Cymru honours.
(newslink: BBC News)







FILTER: - BBC - Twenty Twelve - Comedy - UK - Drama - Sherlock