ELEANOR OF AQUITAINE, WIFE AND MOTHER OF KINGS, GETTING AN EPIC SERIES AT STARZ! FIRST PHOTOS OF DAWN FRENCH IN SKY'S FESTIVE COMEDY ROALD & BEATRIX: THE TAIL OF A CURIOUS MOUSE

  ELEANOR OF AQUITAINE  

EPIC TV SERIES AT STARZ

Well, I did always wonder how she did not get a series before, being the mother of Richard the Lionheart and John Lackland, the wife of two kings and witness to so many major historical events. As Deadline reports, Starz has

Playground Pictures is producing the series

optioned the rights to historian Alison Weir’s biography ELEANOR OF AQUITAINE: A Life and its companion novel Captive Queen for the first series which will be written by Cranford's and Discovery Of Witches writer Susie Conklin! Eleanor of Aquitaine was one of the great heroines of the Middle Ages, born in 1122 and dying in 1204. She was queen of France and England as a result of her marriages to Louis VII of France and Henry II of England and was independently the duchess of Aquitaine. Together with Playground Pictures, Starz is planning a whole slate of series based on the lives of female historical figures.

 

  ROALD AND BEATRIX  

1ST CHRISTMAS PHOTOS ARE IN

Beside the festive episode of Channel 5's hit series All Creatures Great And Small, another thing we can expect this Christmas on the small screens is Sky One's ROALD AND BEATRIX: THE TAIL OF THE CURIOUS

Dawn French and Harry Tayler are leading the cast

MOUSE uplifting hour and a half long comedy drama starring Britain's most beloved female comedian Dawn French, which will be the key highlight of

It will be a ninety minute long festive TV movie

Sky Ones and Now TV's Christmas schedule. Sky has released the first photos which show the festive atmosphere and magic we will be able to enjoy these holidays.

  Roald & Beatrix: The Tail Of The Curious Mouse

 is inspired by the true story of when a six-year old Roald Dahl set off on a big adventure to meet his favourite author, Beatrix Potter. It’s a

The festive movie will air on Sky One and Now TV in UK

magical story of what can happen when you are brave enough to follow your dreams… Joining Dawn French will be a cast including Jessica Hynes,

British thespian Rob Brydon also stars in the movie

Rob Brydon, Alison Steadman, Nina Sosanya, Bill Bailey and Nick Mohammed, and introducing Harry Tayler as the young Roald Dahl. As you

Hartswoods Films has produced the movie for Sky One

know Beatrix Potter is the author of children's favourite Peter the Rabit, while Roald Dahl created a whole slate of stories which have made so many

Harry Tayler plays the young Roald Dahl

childhoods more enjoyable from Witches, Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to Jack and the Giant Peach, Fantastic Mr Fox and The Big Friendly Giant. It is also interesting that Dawn French will also do three ten minute

Sky has commissioned a number of other original programmes

Christmas episodes of her classic hit comedy The Vicar of Dibley, and you also know that a feature film about Roald Dahl is also in the works with Hugh Bonneville and Keley Hawes as his Hollywood star wife.

1ST PHOTOS FROM LAVISH 13TH CENTURY SAGA GLOW AND DARKNESS ON SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI WITH DENISE RICHARDS AND JANE SEYMOUR AS MEDIAEVAL QUEENS

  'GLOW AND DARKNESS'

LAVISH NEW EPIC TV SAGA

As you probably know by now, almost all of the films, series, daily soaps and all of the pilots have halted filming due to Coronavirus outbreak, and even

The series will have three seasons

the ones that are already airing, for example sitcoms, will finish their seasons without final episodes which were mostly due to be shot this week or end of March. Out of epic shows, Witcher, See, Around the World in 80 Days, Wheel of Time, Britannia, have all stopped filming their new or first seasons. Similarly, massive new Spanish epic drama GLOW AND DARKNESS (Resplandor y Tinieblas) has also put the production of its nine episodes on hiatus, but we have the first photos from the super luxurious period set project which shares its lavish scope with the other two upcoming new Spanish historical sagas El Cid and Ines of my Soul with more than 1500 actors and extras working on the project. Denise Richards and Jane Seymour lead the cast of the English language series which will cover the life and times of some of the most important figures of the Middle Ages

Denise Richards and Jane Seymour will play famous 13th century queens

who met the protagonist Saint Francis of Assisi, during the 13th century, a a spectacular period of history ruled by ambition, cruelty, religion and the clash of Christian and Saracen cultures. Some of the historical figures he met during his life include Richard the Lionheart (Steve Buyers), queen Eleanor of Aquitaine (to be played by Seymour) and Pope Urban II (to be played by Oscar

The series will be shot in English language, but it is a Spanish production

nomine Bruce Davison), Ferdinand of Navarre (Daniel Lundh), Frederick I Barbarossa (Adrian Bouchet), Frederick of Swabia (Callum Kerr), Hermann of Thuringia (Sander Jan Klerk), Raymond III of Tripoli (Joe Layton), Henry VI (Robert Maaser), Saladin (Adam Bond), King Baldwin (Landher Iturbe), Maria of Champagne (Denise Richards), King of Jerusalem Guy de Lusignan (March Hughes), prince of Antioch Reynald De

Adam Bond is legendary Saladin famous Muslim general and sultan

Chatillon (Bart Edwards), famous knight Roger of Moulins (Aron von Adrian) and many others. Jose Luis Moreno is the executive producer, director and writer of the series for Dreamlight International production. Opulent costumes, lavish sets, spectacular battles will fill the project which is planned as a three season series. The halted shooting was to be done in Italy, France, Morocco, Egypt and Spain.

  Dezzy's History Lesson
Assisi (Italy), year 1179 In the long night of the Middle Ages, at the fall of the Roman Empire, Europe plunges into darkness. Soon an institution will emerge that will take up the torch and for a thousand years illuminate all of

The lavish project will use more than 1500 actors and extras

Christendom: the Roman Catholic Church. However, in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, the papacy once again preaches the crusades against mighty Islam while facing one of its most serious crises: the Cathar

The series will be offered to networks only after the end of production

and Waldensian heresy. Owner of large properties and lands donated by the faith of the believers - with whom they want to "buy" their place in the promised heaven - the Church accumulates great power and has stopped listening to people, who demand its renewal and return to the origins of

The sets, costumes, cinematography are done by award winning Spanish experts

Christianity. Thus, popes and cardinals will be more devoted to face the Holy Empire, after decades in dispute for dominance of the known world. It is in these moments when, providentially, a man emerges whose message of love and respect for all beings of Creation will become universal: Francis of Assisi (1181-1226).

CATHERINE THE GREAT SCRIBE PENNING NEW THREE LIONS EPIC SAGA ON RICHARD I & ELEANOR OF AQUITAINE! STEPHEN MOYER, JOHNATHAN RHYS DAVIES TO LEAD G-LOC SPACE ADVENTURE

STEPHEN MOYER

TO LEAD G-LOC SF ADVENTURE

Stephen Moyer will lead new sf adventure

In latest science fiction news, Stephen Moyer has signed on to star in British sf movie G-LOC, a space adventure directed by Tom Paton. Production is already under way for the film in which Moyer potrays a man who flees Earth through a portal called The Gate to find a hoped for home on the planet of Rhea. The cast also includes Tala Gouveia, Casper Van Dien and Johnathan Rhys Davies! Speaking of sf and Rhys Davies, he recently confirmed that he and Jerry O'Connell have had talks with NBC about the possible reboot of their cult 90s sf series Sliders to see if it could be revamped in any way.

'THREE LIONS' EPIC SERIES

ON RICHARD I AND HIS HEIRS

While we are waiting for his epic series Catherine the Great to air at HBO sometime this year, Nigel Williams has, as Deadline reports, teamed with

The series will have international cast!

European Wild Horses on an epic period drama focused around King Richard I.

THREE LIONS would be a ten part 12th century series which begins when King Richard I is shipwrecked somewhere off the coast of Trieste and his disappearance starts an epic struggle across Europe for its most powerful crown. His lawful heir Prince Arthur is being denied the throne of England by his own grandmother, Eleanor of Aquitaine who, as Regent Queen, has no intention of relinquishing her power and wants to keep the Regent position by putting her other son John Lackland on the throne. But Arthur’s mother, Duchess Constance, the ruler of Brittany, will certainly stand in her way. To claim the crown and become the most powerful King in Europe Arthur needs to stay alive, outwit the opposition and choose his friends wisely. Meanwhile the Machiavellian King Phillip of France sees an opportunity and is manoeuvring to take advantage of the English crown for himself. The series will be shot next year in Europe with an international cast!