TIMOTHY SPALL TO LEAD NEW COMEDY MYSTERY DETECTIVE SERIES DEATH VALLEY AT BBC

  TIMOTHY SPALL TO LEAD  

DEATH VALLEY MINI SERIES AT BBC

Coming from BBC Wales, the comedy series will follow the unlikely crime-solving partnership between eccentric national treasure John Chapel (Timothy Spall), a retired actor and star of hit fictional detective TV show, and Welsh detective sergeant Janie Mallowan (Gwyneth Keyworth). Thrown together in DEATH VALLEY by the murder of John’s neighbour, John and Janie are an odd, yet hilarious duo with opposing instincts. Every week, they get to the bottom of gripping murders, with various stunning Welsh locations providing a backdrop to their investigations. When John and Janie are not arguing about a case, they’re inevitably up in each other’s personal business. Despite their differences, they soon realise they are the closest thing each other has to a best friend, and unwittingly help one another move on from the past.

BILL NIGHY, GEORGE MACKAY, MATT SMITH, NOAH JUPE TO LEAD MOVIE ADAPTATION OF DAVID GILBERT'S & SONS BOOK

    BILL NIGHY TO LEAD   

& SONS MOVIE WITH GEORGE MACKAY

It is actually a rather stellar cast: Pablo Trapero has set Bill Nighy as the lead in & SONS movie with George Mackay, Matt Smith and Noah Jupe as his sons. Based on David Gilbert's novel it follows Andrew, a novelist best known to the world as A.N. Dyer. He wrote his first book when he was 27 and

Pablo Trapero is helming the adaptation

 it became an instant classic, selling 45M copies and creating a cult around its elusive author. Andrew wakes up one morning convinced that he is about to die. He knows that with his time on Earth dwindling he needs to set right the major relationships of his life and so he summons his sons to be with him. It’s been almost 20 years since an ‘incident’ tore apart the Dyer home. An incident that has a name – Andy. Andy’s the reason his world-famous father, Andrew, no longer speaks to his adult age sons, Richard and Jamie, nor to his ex-wife, Isabel.
However when his sons arrive, laden with their own problems, Andrew does not seek their forgiveness, as they expected, instead he tells them something so wild it couldn’t possibly be true. Or could it?

PREMIUM SPOTLIGHT ON HOTEL PORTOFINO PERIOD SET SERIES SEASON 3 WHICH ARRIVES THIS SUMMER

    HOTEL PORTOFINO   

THIRD SEASON IS COMING THIS SUMMER

Hotel Portofino opens this summer again

I must admit I am surprised this one got pass the first season, but it seems HOTEL PORTOFINO is returning for the third one this summer Sunday July 28th on PBS. As you know, the series takes place in the late 1920s following the Ainsworth family who move from England to the Italian coastal city of Portofino to open an upscale hotel. The story is set after World War I when the world is in a global post-war upheaval. The charming Italian seaside town with its warm climate and enchanting culture and townspeople provides the perfect respite for the elite British traveler. The main characters are Bella (Natascha McElhone) and her estranged husband Cecil (Mark Umbers) together with their son Lucian (Oliver Dench), his wife Rose (Claude Scott-Mitchell) and sister Alice (Olivia Morris). If I got it right, six episode season 3 is already available in UK on BritBox before arriving to ITV later this year in linear viewing, and also on Sky Italia and Foxtel in Australia.

  IN THE THIRD SEASON OF THE SERIES

Bella is preparing for her father and sister’s arrival but is thrown off when Cecil appears requesting a divorce. Over the weeks, Bella must decide her future as well as avoid fascist leader Danioni. But with the Wall Street stock market crash, things get worse, and Bella and Cecil lose everything. Dark secrets are exposed during another adventure in this sun-soaked 1920s Italian drama. Louisa Binder returns as Constance March, Lucian's true love interest and the nanny of his sister's daughter, Pasquale Esposito as Signor Danioni, Lily Frazer as American singer and actor Claudine Pascal, who has become Bella's best friend, and Daniele Pecci as the rich Count Albani, who is Bella's advisor and Alice's love interest. Check out the third season trailer below:

 

Back again in the Italian seaside town of Portofino 🍷#HotelPortofino, Thursday 25 April at 8.30pm AEST on Showcase, or Watch On Demand on #Foxtel pic.twitter.com/fXcx2t6fN6

— Foxtel (@Foxtel) April 21, 2024

HOLY JUPITER! SEE STUNNING FIRST IMAGES FROM ANCIENT ROME SET EPIC TV SERIES THOSE ABOUT TO DIE WITH ANTHONY HOPKINS, TOM HUGHES, RUPERT PENRY JONES

  THOSE ABOUT TO DIE   

EPIC SERIES FIRST IMAGES REVEALED

It will stream on Peacock in USA from July 18th as this summer's biggest and most anticipated small screen premiere, but Roland Emmerich's wildly expensive and lavish new historical series THOSE ABOUT TO DIE has released stunning first images ahead of  its streaming launch on Prime Video around Europe! While the $150 million series will be epic in scope and have the spectacle of gladiators and chariot racing, it also has unexpected characters amidst palace intrigue and a dark criminal underworld.

 

  IN THE TEN EPISODE EPIC SERIES

Anthony Hopkins stars as Emperor Vaspasian during the height of the Roman Empire when the population - bored, restless, and increasingly violent - is kept in line mainly by two things: free food and spectacular entertainment, in the form of chariot racing and gladiator fights. The races at Circus Maximus are controlled by four Patrician-owned corporations, the Blue, Red, White, and Green factions, and shares in the four factions are the most valuable things in Rome. The large scale drama is set within the spectacular, complex and corrupt world of gladiatorial sports in Ancient Rome introducing diverse characters across the many layers of Roman society where sports, politics and business intersect and collide. Emperor Vespasian of Rome and head of the Flavian bloodline, is battle tested, a rural upstart who claimed his throne after victory in a bloody 10-year civil war. He is aging and is despised by the Patricians jockeying for position in the Empire and looking to supplant his heirs to the throne the first chance they get.

 

WHO IS IN THE CAST?

 Tom Hughes will play Titus Flavianus, the elder son of Vespasian and apparent heir to the Imperial throne, while Jojo Macari will be younger son Domitian. Sara Martins will play ruthless trader Cala, Moe Hashim is her son Kwame, Gabriella Pession is politician and ruthless patrician Antonia, and Dimitri Leonidas will portray Scorpus, the preeminent charioteer of the age. Iwan Rheon, replaces Lorenzo Richelmy as ambitious crime boss Tenax! Liraz Charhi stars as Berenice, queen of the conquered Judea’s held captive in Rome, Johannes Haukur Johannesson as imposing Norse gladiator Viggo and Rupert Penry-Jones as Marsus, a wealthy patrician and retired general who desires the throne. Eneko Sagardoy, Pepe Barroso and Goncalo Almeida will play the Corsi brothers, while Kyshan Wilson is female gladiator in training Aura. Alicia Edogamhe plays a slave who is sold to Marsus and Antonia. 

 

SEE JEAN RENO IN HEARTWARMING TRAILER FOR TRUE STORY MOVIE MY PENGUIN FRIEND

  MY PENGUIN FRIEND TRAILER  

FOR JEAN RENO HEARTWARMING MOVIE

It will be out in cinemas this August in USA and September in Russia and Europe, so we have a trailer for MY PENGUIN FRIEND movie starring Jean Reno and directed by David Schurmann. This sweeping family adventure is a triumphant tale of friendship between a lonely father and

The movie is out in cinemas this summer

a little lost penguin who recharges his spirit and heals his family with an unshakable, ocean-crossing loyalty. Humble fisherman João (Jean Reno) has turned away from the world in the wake of tragedy. But when he discovers a penguin drifting alone in the ocean, drenched in oil from a spill, his first instinct is to help. To his wife’s (Adriana Barraza) dismay, he not only rescues the sea creature, but takes the flightless bird under his wing. For the first time in years João starts to feel joy, even if he cannot fathom just how unbreakable a bond is being formed. When the penguin suddenly disappears back into the immense wilds of the ocean, João believes it is impossible that he will ever see his friend again. But thousands of miles away, the penguin is caught in misadventures of his own, determined to use his unique GPS-like powers to find his way back to the place he now considers home. Based on an emotional true story that riveted the world it is a tale that traverses the magic of the ocean, the beauty of nature, and the transformative power of love.

SEE TRAILER FOR KEVIN COSTNER'S SPRAWLING WILD WEST TWO PART EPIC MOVIE HORIZON: AN AMERICAN SAGA WITH SAM WORTHINGTON, LUKE WILSON, SIENNA MILLER

  KEVIN COSTNER TRAILER 

FROM HORIZON: AN AMERICAN SAGA

First two movies arrive this summer

After the world premiere this weekend at Cannes, Kevin Costner will split his epic movie HORIZON: AN AMERICAN SAGA into two parts with the first one opening June 28th next year, and the second one in August 16th! You can see a new trailer below! Sam Worthington, Danny Huston, Sienna Miller, Tatanka Means, Luke Wilson also star in the story that follows the 15-year span of pre- and post-Civil War expansion and settlement of the American West. Experienced through the eyes of many, the epic journey is fraught with peril and intrigue from the constant onslaught of natural elements, to the interactions with the indigenous peoples who lived on the land, and the determination and at many times ruthlessness of those who sought to settle it. Costner will start production on the third part of the envisioned four part saga next month! 

1ST IMAGES FROM PERIOD SET MOVIES THE CAPTIVE ON MIGUEL DE CERVANTES, DUSE ON LEGENDARY ITALIAN STAGE DIVA

   1ST PERIOD SET IMAGES  

FROM ALEJANDRO AMENABAR'S THE CAPTIVE

We have first images from two new period set movies today, starting with Alejandro Amenabar's THE CAPTIVE with Julio Peña as “Don Quixote” author Miguel de Cervantes, a prisoner of Ottoman corsairs, and Alessandro Borghi as his captor. The film is set in Algiers in 1575 when Cervantes, a wounded 28-year-old Spanish Navy soldier, is held prisoner by Ottoman corsairs. A cruel death awaits him should his fellow countrymen fail to pay his ransom soon; but within the confines of his cell, Cervantes discovers a surprising refuge — the art of storytelling. Crafted from resilience and hope, his stories capture the attention of Hasan, the enigmatic and feared Bey of Algiers, igniting a secret affinity between captor and captive. Suspicions rise amidst growing tensions in the city, and Cervantes, driven by an unwavering sense of optimism, devises a daring plan for freedom.

 

FROM BIOPIC ON STAGE DIVA DUSE  

Thanks to Variety, we also have the first image from Italian costume movie DUSE from director Pietro Marcello about legendary Italian stage diva Eleonora Duse (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi). Noémie Merlant plays her daughter. Duse (1858-1924), was considered by many the greatest actress of her time. The film will follow latter part of her life when she is 60 and her legendary career is now long over. But in the brutal years between the First World War and the rise of fascism, she chooses to return to where her life began: on the stage and make her art a revolutionary act!

 

RYAN CORR TO LEAD AUSTRALIAN FAMILY COMEDY MOVIE KANGAROO BASED ON TRUE EVENTS

   RYAN CORR TO LEAD  

KANGAROO FAMILY COMEDY MOVIE

In latest news from Australia, one of our favourite of their actors Ryan Corr is set to lead new family comedy movie KANGAROO based on true events around the man who opened a Kangaroo sanctuary in Alice Springs. Ryan Corr will star as ex-TV weather presenter Chris Masterman, who becomes stranded in an Outback town after a car accident and forms an unlikely friendship with an 11-year-old Indigenous girl, Charlie, played by newcomer Lily Whiteley. They work together to rescue and rehabilitate orphaned joeys in a remote but stunning Outback community, an endeavour that proves to be life-changing for them both.

CELIA IMRIE, ISLA FISHER, ANDIE MACDOWELL, FRANCO NERO, RUPERT EVERETT, ISABELLA ROSSELLINI TO STAR IN THE TEMPTATION OF GRACIE MOVIE

   THE TEMPTATION OF GRACIE   

GATHERS A RATHER STELLAR CAST

Straight from Cannes comes news that Celia Imrie will lead new movie THE TEMPTATION OF GRACIE which will also star Franco Nero, Isla Fisher, Andie

Celia Imrie will take the lead role of Gracie

MacDowell, Rupert Everett and Isabella Rossellini! Based on Santa Montefiore's novel, it will see Imrie star as Gracie Burton, an ordinary widow who lives quietly in Devon, but who splashes out on a week’s cookery course at a beautiful castello in Italy. Unbeknownst to everyone, she is hiding an extraordinary secret. With her estranged workaholic daughter Carina (Fisher) and teenage granddaughter Anastasia reluctantly in tow, the three women rediscover each other and the sensual delights of Italy. And Gracie starts to peel back the secret past she has not faced in over 40 years.

MIRANDA OTTO, DEBI MAZAR, JESSICA DE GOUV IN THE FIRST TRAILER FOR ABC'S PERIOD SET SERIES LADIES IN BLACK

  LADIES IN BLACK TRAILER 

FOR NEW ABC PERIOD SET TV SERIES

Australian broadcaster ABC has released first trailer for their new series LADIES IN BLACK a six part drama with Debi Mazar, Miranda Otto, and Jessica De Gouw as a group of women who fling open their shop doors to the fabulous 60s!  It starts airing June 16th.

FOLLOWING ON FROM THE 2018

film of the same name and drawing inspiration from the much-loved 1993 novel, the series takes place six months after the events of the original story, where amidst this backdrop of major societal shifts, the women embracing more freedom and independence are forced to confront personal choices and challenges which cast shadows over their once cherished dreams.

 

REBA MCENTIRE AND MELISSA PETERMAN FIND A HAPPY PLACE IN THE FIRST TRAILER FOR NBC'S NEW MULTICAM SITCOM

   HAPPY PLACE SITCOM  

TRAILER FOR REBA MCENTIRE NEW COMEDY

New comedy will start this Autumn on NBC

The first to release a trailer for one of their new multicamera sitcoms is NBC who have sent us a teaser for HAPPY PLACE with which Reba McEntire returns to the small screens together with Melissa Peterman. 

 

  WHAT'S THE STORY?

 Arriving this Autumn, it will see Reba playing plays Bobbie who inherits her father’s restaurant and is less than thrilled to discover that she has a new business partner in her half-sister Isabella (Belissa Escobedo), she never knew she had. Isabella is an enthusiastic 20-something, who has studied psychology and loves to analyze people. She is thrilled to start working at the tavern and is full of “great” ideas about how to bring it to life. Peterman plays Gabby, a bartender who has worked at the tavern for quite some time. She is a bit needy and dramatic and would have loved to be Bobbie’s sister. The comedy will also star Pablo Castelblanco, Tokala Black Elk and Rex Linn. Check out the first trailer for the new sitcom below and tell us what you think:

 

MAX RELEASES TEASER FOR THEIR EPIC SF SERIES DUNE: PROPHECY WHICH ARRIVES THIS AUTUMN WITH EMILY WATSON, OLIVIA WILLIAMS, TRAVIS FIMMEL, MARK STRONG

   DUNE: PROPHECY  

FIRST TEASER FOR EPIC SF SERIES

Max has released a teaser for their new science fiction series DUNE: PROPHECY which arrives this Autumn set 10,000 years before the ascension of Paul Atreides. It follows two Harkonnen sisters as they combat forces that threaten the future of humankind and in turn establish the fabled sect that will become known as the Bene Gesserit. Olivia Williams and Emily Watson star as Tula and Valya Harkonnen, two sisters who have risen to power in the Sisterhood, a secret organization of women who will go on to become the Bene Gesserit! Jodhi May is Empress Natalya, a formidable royal who united thousands of worlds in her marriage to Emperor Corrin, while Travis Fimmel is Desmond Hart, a charismatic soldier with an enigmatic past! Mark Strong also stars.

SEE HILARIOUS TRAILER FOR PRIME VIDEO'S COMEDY YOU'RE CORDIALLY INVITED WITH REESE WITHERSPOON, WILL FERRELL AND AN ALLIGATOR

 YOU'RE CORDIALLY INVITED 

TRAILER FOR PRIME VIDEO'S COMEDY

And it is quite hilarious but how could it not be with Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell in the cast. YOU'RE CORDIALLY INVITED will hit the streamer next year, January 30th! She plays a woman planning her sister’s (Meredith Hagner) perfect wedding, who, together with the father (Ferrell) of a young bride-to-be (Geraldine Viswanathan), finds out that they are double booked for their destination wedding at a remote resort on an island off the Georgia coast. When both parties decide to share the small venue, chaos ensues and disaster awaits.

SAURON IS BACK IN WILDLY MAJESTIC TEASER TRAILER FOR THE RINGS OF POWER EPIC TV SERIES SECOND SEASON

    THE RINGS OF POWER  

MAGNIFICENT SEASON TWO TRAILER

The series is back this August on Prime Video

It has been two years since the first glorious season aired, but now Prime Video has finally announced August 29th as the start date of the brand new season of the epic THE RINGS OF POWER series from the Lord of the Rings universe and they are celebrating it with a magnificent first teaser trailer which you can feast your eyes upon below. 

 

SAURON 

 (Charlie Vickers) has returned. Cast out by Galadriel (Morfydd Clark), without army or ally, the rising Dark Lord must now rely on his own cunning to rebuild his strength and energy and oversee the creation of the mighty Rings of Power, which will allow him to bind all the peoples of Middle-earth to his sinister will. Season two plunges even its most beloved and vulnerable characters into a rising tide of darkness, challenging each to find their place in a world that is increasingly on the brink of calamity. Elves and dwarves, orcs and men, wizards and Harfoots… as friendships are strained and kingdoms begin to fracture, the forces of good will struggle ever more valiantly to hold on to what matters to them most of 

 

 

all… each other. Prime Video has also published a very beautiful behind the scene featurette offering some gorgeous glimpses at the costumes and sets which you can see above the trailer.

 

SEE FIRST POSTER FOR PERIOD SET CASANOVA MOVIE A BEAUTIFUL IMPERFECTION WITH JONAH HAUER KING, DAR ZUZOVSKY, ANEURIN BARNARD

 A BEAUTIFUL IMPERFECTION 

SEE FIRST CASANOVA MOVIE POSTER

Dar Zuzovsky takes the lead role in the film

Two  years ago I told you first about this one and then I showed you first photos from Dutch director Michiel Van Erp costume movie drama A BEAUTIFUL IMPER- FECTION about Casanova and one of the women he loved. Now we have the first poster for the movie that does not have a release date nor a trailer yet.  With Jonah Hauer King and Dar Zuzovsky in the lead roles, the cast will also have Aneurin Barnard and Sam Hazeldine.  I am hoping we will get a trailer or at least a teaser soon, but until then you can enjoy the poster and the first images from this costume drama.

 

 WHAT IS THE STORY?

Based on the novel In Lucia’s Eyes by Arthur Japin, which has been sold in millions of copies around the world, it follows the love affair between notorious adventurer and womanizer Casanova and a girl who becomes disfigured by smallpox and flees Italy for Amsterdam. Sixteen years later, they meet again when she has reinvented herself as a mysterious veiled courtesan now known by the name of Galathée. Without revealing her true identity or showing her face, Lucia and Giacomo become lovers once again. Will Lucia dare to reveal herself and turn her weakness into her strength so that she can be truly free in the eyes of her great love?

 

SEE TRAILER FOR NEW RUSSIAN WW2 SET EPIC TV SERIES FIGHTERS: BATTLE FOR CRIMEA

 FIGHTERS: BATTLE FOR CRIMEA 

NEW EPIC TV SERIES FROM RUSSIA

The series started airing this week in Russia

Airing officially on Russian national broadcaster as of Monday, May 6th is their six episode historical drama FIGHTERS: BATTLE FOR CRIMEA (Истребители. Битва за Крым)

 set in year 1944!

The fighter regiment of commander Alexander Romanov (Igor Petrenko) is being transferred to Anapa to strengthen air units in the upcoming offensive on Crimea. As a result of the air battle, Alexander manages to capture a valuable trophy - a German fighter of a new modification. The enemy plane is sent to one of the design bureaus near Moscow, where work is underway on the new Soviet fighter Yak-9U. By a fateful coincidence, Romanov himself soon ends up in the design bureau. Working on a new machine in a team of engineers and test pilots, Romanov lives with the dream of returning to the skies. Here he meets true love, regains faith in himself and the opportunity to be at the front again, in his regiment.