IAN HARDING SET AS LEAD OF RIPPLE TV SERIES OVER AT HALLMARK PLUS STREAMER

   IAN HARDING TO LEAD  

RIPPLE TV SERIES OVER AT HALLMARK

Hallmark + streamer has started its life last month and is now gathering cast for their new original series RIPPLE which  revolves around four strangers whose

Ian Harding is already known to Hallmark audience

lives start to serendipitously intersect. Ian Harding has been cast as the lead together with Frankie Faison, Julia Chan and Sydney Agudong. Set in New York City, the series follows the four, Walter (Faison), Kris (Chan), Nate (Harding) and Aria (Agudong), who have unknowingly crossed paths many times but never met. As they each face life’s challenges, their actions create a ripple effect that ultimately connects them. Ripple delivers a powerful message of hope: just wait for the rainbow, some of the best things in life can’t happen without the storm. The series is now shooting in Canada in Toronto and will stream next year on Hallmark's brand new streamer.

POMPEII SET EPIC SERIES A DAY OF FIRE SET AT AMAZON STUDIOS WITH TUDORS AND VIKINGS CREATOR AS A SHOWRUNNER

    A DAY OF FIRE   

POMPEII SERIES SET AT AMAZON

According to Variety, Amazon is planning to adapt A DAY OF FIRE: A POMPEII NOVEL into a mini TV series with Vikings and Tudors Michael Hirst set as writer, executive producer, and showrunner together with Horatio Hirst and with Ridley Scott as a producer. Written by Kate Quinn, Stephanie Dray, Ben Kane, Eliza Knight, Sophie Perinot, and Vicky Alvear, the book takes place in the lead up to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which utterly destroyed Pompeii and killed many of its residents. It tells a series of overlapping stories of people living in Pompeii and what their lives were like before fire rained down from the sky.

MICHELE RIONDINO TO PLAY ANTONIO VIVALDI IN PRIMAVERA 18TH CENTURY VENICE SET BIOPIC ON THE FAMOUS COMPOSER

   ANTONIO VIVALDI  

GETS PRIMAVERA MOVIE BIOPIC

The latest one of the big composers to get a biopic is Antonio Vivaldi the Italian Baroque composer and violinist who composed “The Four Seasons”! As Variety reveals, PRIMAVERA will be the feature debut of Damiano Michieletto, an opera director. Set in 18th century Venice, the movie follows Cecilia (Tecla Insolia), a 20-year-old violin virtuoso who lives at the Pièta orphanage. Despite her talent, Cecilia remains confined within the orphanage, knowing that marriage is the only way out. Yet, her life takes a turn after she meets Antonio Vivaldi (Michele Riondino), a brilliant and ambitious composer who becomes the new violin teacher. Guided by Vivaldi and his music, Cecilia finds the strength to challenge the destiny that once seemed inevitable!

FIRST IMAGES FROM CAN YAMAN'S EL TURCO EPIC HISTORICAL SERIES WHICH LAUNCHES THIS MONTH AT MIPCOM

  EL TURCO SERIES  

TO GET A LAUNCH AT MIPCOM

While we are waiting for his Sandocan series, Turkish super star Can Yaman has another epic series in his sleeve: historical adventure EL TURCO should have it's world launch over at Mipcom TV Market in Cannes later

Can Yaman leads El Turco epic TV series

this month. The English language drama was originally done for Disney Plus but they opted out of it and the series will be shopped elsewhere. The six-episode series which aims to be inter-  national with cast including actors from nine different countries will combine history, action-adventure and romance done by Turkish distributor Madd Entertainment, who are planning for the show to get a global release in February 2025.

 

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 has already been sold to Russia, Italy, some Balkan countries and Middle East also stars Will Kemp, David Nykl, Kieran O’Reilly, Veronica Ferres, Slavko Sobin, Nick Wittman, Caroline Boulton and Maddalena Aragão. 

 

ALAN RITCHSON TO LEAD NEW NICHOLAS SPARKS MOVIE ADAPTATION COUNTING MIRACLES

  ALAN RITCHSON TO LEAD  

NEW NICHOLAS SPARKS MOVIE ADAPTATION

Although we mostly see him as an action hero, Alan Ritchson has just got himself a role in a drama: he will lead the movie adaptation of Nicholas Sparks' book COUNTING MIRACLES which is currently the  best selling title in USA and his 20th number one.

Alan Ritchson will take the lead role in the adaptation

In the movie done at Amazon MGM Studios, Ritchson will play former Ranger who returns to his small hometown with one mission: to find the father he never knew. While there he crosses paths with a doctor who is balancing her own life as a single mother of two and a reclusive old man with a mysterious past, leading to unexpected connections and a journey toward belonging. Ritchson is also doing WAR MACHINE sf epic over at Netflix which follows the final 24-hours of the world’s toughest selection program, as a team of Army Rangers encounter a threat beyond their imagination. Dennis Quaid, Jai Courtney, Daniel Webber and Blake Richardson also star.

SEE STEVE COOGAN AND HARRIET WALTER IN FIRST IMAGES FROM BRIAN AND MARGARET STEPHEN FREARS' MINI SERIES ON THATCHER

  BRIAN AND MARGARET  

FIRST LOOK FROM NEW TV SERIES

Channel 4 will release it sometime next year, but we have the first images from their two part mini series BRIAN AND MARGARET by Stephen Frears, which features Steve Coogan as Brian Walden, the much feared inquisitor and Harriet Walter as prime minister Margaret Thatcher. The series is based on Rob Burley’s book Why is This Lying Bastard Lying to Me?: Searching for the Truth on Political TV.

  THE STORY OF THE SERIES IS SET

in 1989. When Brian and Margaret came together for their last ever TV interview, little did they know they were about to embark on one of the most famous political exchanges of all time. The 45-minute showdown became a national talking point and set in train a series of events that ended with Margaret’s resignation. Afterwards, they never spoke again…

 

SEE FIRST JAMES NORTON, BILL NIGHY TRAILER FOR NETFLIX JOY MOVIE ON THE FIRST IN VITRO FERTILISATION BORN BABY

  FIRST JOY MOVIE TRAILER  

STARRING BILL NIGHY AND JAMES NORTON

Netflix has sent us the fist trailer for their new British movie JOY about the first in vitro fertilisation born baby. Directed by Ben Taylor and spanning from 1968 to 1978, it will follow three trailblazers facing opposition from the church, state, media and medical establishment, in their pursuit of the world’s first ‘test tube baby’, Louise Joy Brown. The three figures are a young nurse (Thomasin McKenzie), a visionary scientist (James Norton) and an innovative surgeon (Bill Nighy)! The film will open this month at London Film Festival, and should hit cinemas in November and Netflix November 22nd.

ISABEL ALLENDE'S A LONG PETAL OF THE SEA TO GET A TV ADAPTATION

   ISABEL ALLENDE'S  

A LONG PETAL OF THE SEA TO BE ADAPTED

Aitor Gabilondo will be the showrunner

According to Variety, Chile’s Fabula and Spain’s Alea Media have unveiled they will turn A LONG PETAL OF THE SEA 2019 novel by Isabel Allende into a TV series. It will be her latest novel  to be adapted after “The House of the Spirits,” “Of Love and Shadows” and “Inés of My Soul”. The story begins in the Spanish Civil War when a young doctor, Victor Dalmau, together with his friend, pianist Roser Bruguera, flee Barcelona. They end up sailing to exile in Chile on the Winnipeg, a ship chartered by larger-than-life poet Pablo Neruda which carries 2,000 Spaniards to Valparaíso. Doing so the two embark on a journey in search of the peace and freedom they lacked in their homeland. The title of the novel itself was taken from Neruda.

SEE OLIVER JACKSON COHEN, ANJELICA HUSTON, MATTHEW RHYS IN FIRST TOWARDS ZERO NEW BBC AGATHA CHRISTIE TV SERIES PICS

   FIRST TOWARDS ZERO  

NEW BBC AGATHA CHRISTIE SERIES IMAGES

Although I thought they might air it on Christmas, it seems BBC is keeping their latest TV series adaptation of an Agatha Christie work TOWARDS ZERO for next year, but they did release today first images from the new series to entice you with our dearest Oliver Jackson Cohen in the lead role with Anjelica Huston and Matthew Rhys also in the cast. I think that Britbox will stream it for the viewers in Canada and United States sometime next year as well. 

 

 WHAT IS THE STORY ABOUT?

Featuring coastal views, heated summer soirees, and a trip to Wimbledon Centre Court, the series is set in England, 1936. After a scandalous celebrity divorce, Nevile Strange (Oliver Jackson Cohen) and his ex-wife Audrey (Ella Lilly Hyland) make the unthinkable decision to spend a summer together at Gull’s Point, their childhood home and the coastal estate of Nevile's aunt, Lady Tressilian (Anjelica Huston). With unfinished business between the former childhood sweethearts, plus the presence of Nevile’s new wife Kay (Mimi Keene), tensions are running high. Add to this a long-suffering lady’s companion, a mysterious gentleman’s valet, an exiled cousin with a grudge, a venerable family lawyer, an inquisitive orphan and a French con man, and soon there will be murder. A troubled detective must rediscover his purpose to untangle a toxic web of jealousy, deceit and dysfunction. Can he solve the crime before another victim meets their death? An explosive love triangle, a formidable matriarch and a house party of enemies. All compelled… Towards Zero. Clarke Peters, Anjana Vasan, and Jack Farthing are also seen in the new pictures from the series, which co-stars Jackie Clune, Grace Doherty, Khalil Gharbia and Adam Hugill.

 

FIRST IMAGES FROM NEW HISTORICAL SERIES KING OF THE NIGHT SET AT THE BEGINNING OF 20TH CENTURY IN ST. PETERSBURG

    KING OF THE NIGHT   

FIRST IMAGES FROM NEW HISTORICAL SERIES

Straight over from Russia, which never has a shortage of new period series, we have first images from their new historical drama KING OF THE NIGHT (Царь ночи) which will depict the history of one family against the backdrop of tragic events. Elizaveta Boyarskaya, Vladimir Vdovichychenko, Alexander Galibin, Maxim Mityashin, Alexey Yarmukchi, Alice Refer, Alexey Ukhov are set to star in the series done for Premier online cinema streamer. The series finished shooting this month over in St. Petersburg.

 

NEW SERIES HAS THE STORY SET  

at the beginning of the 20th century in St. Petersburg. After the death of their father, young brother and sister, Jacob and Sophia, lose each other. To meet again, they have to go through street gangs, a revolutionary underground, intrigues of political police and high society and be at the center of a conspiracy, the purpose of which is the destruction of the Russian Empire. Will they be able to hear the only person who calls for salvation through love and faith and make the right choice between good and evil when the world is collapsing around them?