JAMES NORTON TO LEAD THE TV SERIES ADAPTATION OF WAVEWALKER: BREAKING FREE MEMOIRS BY SUZANNE HEYWOOD

  JAMES NORTON TO LEAD 

WAVEWALKER: BREAKING FREE TV SERIES

After we see him as Harold Earl of Wessex in King and Conqueror epic TV series at BBC later this year, James Norton will take another series lead: he will topline four part series adaptation of WAVEWALKER: BREAKING FREE memoir by Suzanne Heywood. He will also produce the series which tells how Heywood's parents took her on a trip around the world on a sailing boat when she was aged 7, in a journey which ended up lasting for a decade. He will play the roguish father who paints this beautiful picture about the trip that is meant to take a year or two, but takes about 10. The two children were basically enslaved by their father as crew members on this boat. He denied them a youth and an education.

SHERIDAN SMITH AND MICHAEL SOCHA TO PLAY CASINO ROBBERS IN NEW BBC MINI SERIES CAGE

   BBC'S CAGE DRAMA  

ADS SHERIDAN SMITH AND MICHAEL SOCHA

BBC One has commissioned a new six part  crime drama CAGE set in the world of a Liverpool Casino with Sheridan Smith and Michael Socha in the lead roles. When Leanne (Smith) and Matty (Socha) discover they are both robbing from the safe at the inner- city casino they work in, their lives are set on a collision course; with each other, the local gangster they’re stealing from, and the police. The show is created by Tony Schumacher.

SAM CLAFLIN AND KALEY CUOCO TO LEAD NEW PARIS SET MYSTERY TV SERIES VANISHED

   VANISHED TV SERIES  

WITH SAM CLAFLIN AND KALEY CUOCO

Coming from David Hilton and Preston Thompson is a new mystery Paris set series VANISHED which does not yet have a broadcaster but it has Sam Claflin and Kaley Cuoco as leads. They will be Alice and Tom, a couple whose romantic getaway to Paris takes a dark turn after Tom suddenly disappears aboard a train to the south of France. Alice is plunged into a web of intrigue and danger, uncovering shocking secrets about the man she thought she knew. Matthias Schweighöfer and Karin Viard will also star. Beside Lazarus and Barbaric this is Sam's third upcoming new series.

SEE FIRST IMAGES FROM 1920'S SET HISTORICAL SERIES CONSTANTINOPLE ON THE EXILED REFUGEES OF THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

   CONSTANTINOPLE  

FIRST IMAGES FROM HISTORICAL SERIES

You can always count on brothers Russians to have some new historical series for us. Today you can check out first images from their upcoming new war series CONSTANTINOPLE from director Sergei Chekalov and with our dearest Vyacheslav Chepurchenko in the lead role beside Sergei Marin and Alexander Ustyugov. Done for NTV and Ivi streamer it is set at the beginning of the 20th century following  Russian officers in exile who are trying to survive in Constantinople among other refugees. The series will be filmed in Moscow, St. Petersburg with Baku, the Azerbaijani capital, acting as Constantinople.

 

THE ACTION TAKES PLACE IN NOVEMBER 1920

White Guard officer Sergei Neratov (Alexander Ustyugov) arrives from Crimea to Constantinople together with the remnants of Wrangel's defeated army and civilian refugees. Alone and broken, having lost absolutely everything in the revolution and the Civil War - the army was defeated, his wife and children died - Neratov becomes the head of the Russian emigration. In Constantinople, where the Russian refugees had pinned their hopes for salvation and freedom, they are met with a cold reception. Sergei Neratov is a principled Russian officer who puts duty and honor above personal gain. He finds himself in a completely alien world, where refugees from Russia are perceived as “second-class” people – outcasts doomed to poverty and death. But Neratov is able to defend the right of his compatriots to a decent life. He will be able to protect the Russian world from tyranny.

 

1920'S SPAIN SET SUPER LAVISH CULINARY TV SERIES LA FAVORITA 1922 IS NOW AIRING, SEE THE TRAILER AND NEW IMAGES

  LA FAVORITA 1922  

SPANISH PERIOD SET SERIES IS NOW AIRING

The series started airing this week

Back in October, ahead of Mipcom in Cannes your trusted spy informed you first about  LA FAVORITA 1922 seven episode mini TV series and now it has finally started airing as of March 17th over in Spain on their Telecinco. Love, intrigue, humor and a touch of thriller come together in a carefully crafted production. The series, which will also be present next week at this year's Series Mania, has already been sold to many broadcasters around Europe and South America and will also stream on PBS service Walter Presents at some point for the viewers in USA and Canada. The series was shot on massive 2000 square meters set with over 500 costumes used in the process of production.

  SERIES SET IN MADRID

 follows Seville’s Marquise Elena de Valmonte (Veronica Sanchez), who battles to turn an abandoned restaurant into the capital’s finest eating establishment. With the story set in the 1920s, Marquise Elena de Valmonte explores her passion for cooking, as a means of evading her authoritarian husband. An incident makes her and maid Cecilia (Raquel Querol) fugitives. They reopen an abandoned restaurant as 'La Favorita Bistro'. Luis Fernández stars as Julio, the owner of the premises. Andrea Duro, Maribel Salas, Elena Maroto give life to Ana, Lourdes, Rosa, employees of the restaurant; Fernando Cayo as César, the father-in-law of Elena Valmonte; Joel Sánchez in the skin of Roberto, waiter and friend of Julio; Javier Lago and Manuel de Andrés as the mobster Don Benito and his henchman Armando; and Ángela Vega plays Consuelo,the owner of the fill-master. Check out the trailer below and tell us what you think, will you be giving it a go if you come upon it in your country?

 

EL TURCO EPIC TV SERIES WITH CAN YAMAN AND WILL KEMP LAUNCHES THIS WEEKEND AROUND THE WORLD! SEE NEW ENGLISH TRAILER

  EL TURCO SERIES  

LAUNCHES THIS WEEKEND WORLDWIDE

While we are waiting for his Sandocan series, Turkish super star Can Yaman is hitting broadcasters around the world from March 21st with historical adventure EL TURCO  a six-episode series with international cast including actors from nine different countries! From this weekend it is available on Voyo in Romania, on IVI in Russia, and on Globoplay Brazil. In Italy  it is out March 27 on Mediaset’s Canale 5. It will also start March 23 on Teleonce in Honduras and on April 2 on Gaín in Turkey. It will also start April 18 on Starz in the Middle East and North Africa.

 

IN EL TURCO EPIC TV SERIES

Can Yaman plays 17th Ottoman soldier Hasan Balaban, who was wounded during the Turkish army’s campaign to conquer Vienna in 1683 and ended up some 200 kilometers away in the Italian Alpine village of Moena. Nicknamed “El Turco” by the villagers, he led the locals to a clamorous revolt against unfair taxes that made him a local hero. In the 17th century, the villagers erected a monument to the Turkish janissary on their main square, where during the first week of August they still hold the Moena Turkish Festival to celebrate “El Turco”. The show, which will have airing dates for other regions announced in due time also stars Will Kemp, David Nykl, Kieran O’Reilly, Veronica Ferres, Slavko Sobin, Nick Wittman, Caroline Boulton and Maddalena Aragão. 

 

BROOKE SHIELDS AND DAVID SPADE TO LEAD ALMOST PARADISE MULTICAMERA SITCOM AS A COUPLE STRANDED ON A DESERT ISLAND FOR DECADES

    ALMOST PARADISE   

NEW BROOKE SHIELDS SITCOM AT FOX

According to Deadline, Fox has set Brooke Shields and David Spade as leads in their new multi camera sitcom ALMOST PARADISE from Danny Zuker. New comedy series is described as The Blue Lagoon meets Gilligan’s Island. Just your everyday, normal married couple facing all the everyday, normal challenges of being stranded on a desert Island for decades. Think Blue Lagoon, the family sitcom. Fox has apparently ordered scripts for two episodes. Shields previously led Suddenly Susan multicam.

TRAILER FOR APPLE TV'S FRENCH HISTORICAL SERIES CAREME ON 19TH CENTURY 1ST EVER CELEBRITY CHEF WITH BENJAMIN VOISIN, JEREMIE RENIER, LYNA KHOUDRI

 APPLE TV'S CAREME 

1ST 19TH CENTURY CULINARY SERIES TRAILER

Two years ago I told you that  Benjamin Voisin will lead Apple TV's new French historical original series CAREME on the famous 19th century chef turned spy and now we have the first trailer for the show that will launch April 30th.  Set in the 19th century, the eight episode series, directed by Martin Bourboulon who helmed The Three Musketeers, will follow the sprawling story of Antonin Carême, who rose from humble beginnings in Paris to the height of culinary stardom in Napoleon’s Europe. He not only became an iconic chef, he also became a spy for France as his talent and ambitions attracted the attention of powerful politicians, including Napoleon. The series will shed light on the miserable reality of 19th century kitchens, contrasting with the opulence of the mansions and sophisticated of aristocrats. Jérémie Renier will play Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, a Machiavellian diplomat who was minister of foreign affairs in the government of Napoleon Bonaparte; and Lyna Khoudri will appear as Henriette, Carême’s lover and most dangerous threat. The series is inspired by Ian Kelly book “Cooking for Kings: The Life of Antonin Carême – The First Celebrity Chef”! 

 

MIA MCKENNA BRUCE IS ROYAL DRESSER TURNED MURDERER IN THE LADY SERIES WITH NATALIE DORMER, ED SPELEERS, MARK STANLEY, SEAN TEALE, PHILIP GLENISTER

   CAST SET FOR THE LADY  

NEW ITV'S BRITISH COURT SCANDAL SERIES

ITV and Britbox have announced lead cast for their four part TV series THE LADY which describes the rise and fall of former royal dresser Jane Andrews, whose rags to riches fairy tale fell apart when she was convicted of murder. Once a young working-class girl, Jane answered an advertisement in a magazine and to the astonishment of her friends and family, became the

Ed Speleers, Mia McKenna Bruce and Natalie Dormer will lead

Duchess of York’s dresser at Buckingham Palace. Moving amongst the highest social circles in Britain, Jane managed to secure a place in the upper-classes, only to lose her job with the Duchess after nine years of service. Still reeling from her fall from grace, Jane went on to meet charismatic businessman Thomas Cressman and fell deeply in love. Soon cracks began to develop in the romance Jane had pinned all her hopes on, with disastrous consequences.

Sean Teale, Mark Stanley and Laura Aikman will also star

Mia McKenna-Bruce will play the former royal aide and dresser who was convicted of murder, with Natalie Dormer as Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York. Ed Speleers is Thomas Cressman, Andrews’ former partner who she was convicted of murdering in 2001. The cast will also have Philip Glenister, Claire Skinner, Laura Aikman, Ophelia Lovibond, Mark Stanley, Daniel Ryan and Sean Teale.

SEE JACOB ELORDI IN THE TRAILER FOR PRIME VIDEO NEW HISTORICAL WW2 ASIA SET SERIES NARROW ROAD TO DEEP NORTH

 NARROW ROAD TO DEEP NORTH 

TV SERIES TRAILER WITH  JACOB ELORDI

Prime Video Australia has unveiled a trailer for their new five part historical series THE NARROW ROAD TO THE DEEP NORTH based on Richard Flanagan's novel which will stream from

The series streams April 18th

April 18th. Set against the shadows ofWorld War II, it tells the epic story of Lieutenant Dorrigo Evans (Jacob Elordi, with Ciaran Hinds as the older version), and how his all-too-brief love affair with Amy Mulvaney (Olivia DeJonge younger version, Heather Mitchell older) shaped his life. The story is told over multiple time periods, as we journey from Evans’ childhood to his experience as a prisoner-of-war on the Thailand-Burma Railway as a young man, and later in life, as a respected surgeon and Australian war hero. Simon Baker will also star alongside Essie Davis, William Lodder, Eduard Geyl, Thomas Weatherall, Christian Byers and Sam Parsonson. This love story that will take audiences through the darkest of times, an intimate character study illustrating the strength of the human spirit in the face of adversity, and an investigation into a marriage and an unforgettable love affair. Check out the trailer below for the series that premiered at Berlin Festival.