PREMIUM SPOTLIGHT ON BBC'S EPIC NEW TV SERIES 'GUNPOWDER' WITH KIT HARINGTON, TOM CULLEN, LIV TYLER! NEW TRAILER!

  'GUNPOWDER' EPIC MINI SERIES

 FIRST EPIC TRAILER RELEASED!

Your Monday delight is the first trailer released by BBC for their new three part mini series GUNPOWDER which will start airing Saturday October 21st! Kit Harington plays famous rebel Robert Catesby who, back in 1605

Kit Harington has revealed that he is actually related to Catesby

tried to blow up the king and the parliament. Guy Fawkes, another famous rebel, is played by Tom Cullen, with Liv Tyler also in the cast.

BLOW UP THE KING AND ALL HIS MEN TO HELL
England, 1603. Elizabeth I is dead and King James of Scotland has taken the throne. With the country at war with Catholic Spain, English Catholics are

The series hits the small screens in two weeks

persecuted and priests caught saying Mass are punished with death. Several attempts have already been made on the new King’s life. All so far have failed.

Tom Cullen is famous Guy Fawkes the symbol of the rebellion

But deep in the heart of the Warwickshire countryside a new plot is brewing. A plot that will become legend, and leave a mark on the country that will still be felt over 400 years later. The three part historical drama follows the story of

Derek Riddell plays the infamous King James

the Gunpowder Plot, the attempt by a group of provincial English Catholics to blow up the House of Lords and kill King James I in order to help restore

The series will have a Saturday evening airing slot

a Catholic to the throne. Although to this day people mostly associate the famous Gunpowder Plot with Guy Fawkes, the mastermind was nobleman Robert Catesby, a 30 year old committed Catholic at a time when Protestant

Liv Tyler plays Catesby's cousin who is worried about the success of the plot

England persecuted the church’s members relentlessly. He himself lost both his father and wife and is forced to raise his little himself on his own. That is when he starts recruiting help for his plot among family and supporters. Liv

Guy Fawkes is still celebrated with bonfires every November 5th!

Tyler plays his cousin Anne Vaux, who gets caught up in the plot. The cast also includes Peter Mullan, Edward Holcroft, Shaun Dooley, Robert

The last episode will air November 4th, a day earlier than the famous date

Emms, Derek Riddell and Mark Gatiss as Robert Cecil, the chief of the king's spies whose network of informants pursued the plotters in a game of cat and mouse.

OUR VERDICT  Borderline unwatchable due to its bloodthirsty depiction of violence under the superficial guise of historical accuracy, this monotonous, dragged out piece of television programming with Kit Harington's utterly bland acting and lack of any expression, is an unnecessary, base and vulgar gorefest catering to the insatiable hunger of modern audience for savage brutality.

REMEMBER, REMEMBER 5TH OF NOVEMBER? BBC RELEASES PHOTOS AND TRAILER FOR 'GUNPOWDER' EPIC MINI SERIES WITH KIT HARINGTON, LIV TYLER

  'GUNPOWDER' EPIC MINI SERIES

BBC RELEASES FIRST TRAILER AND PHOTOS WITH KIT HARINGTON

Something positively delicious this Monday! BBC has released first images and a promo teaser for their upcoming new epic mini series GUNPOWDER which should air sometime this Autumn (twould be fun if it starts on the 5th of November!)! Kit Harington plays famous rebel

Kit Harington has revealed that he is actually related to Catesby

Robert Catesby who, back in 1605 tried to blow up the king and the parliament. Guy Fawkes, another famous rebel, is played by Tom Cullen, with Liv Tyler also in the cast.

BLOW UP THE KING AND ALL HIS MEN TO HELL
The three part historical drama follows the story of the Gunpowder Plot, the 1605 attempt by a group of provincial English Catholics to blow up the House of Lords and kill King James I in order to help restore

The series will have a Saturday evening airing slot

a Catholic to the throne. Although to this day people mostly associate the famous Gunpowder Plot with Guy Fawkes, the mastermind was nobleman Robert Catesby, a 30 year old committed Catholic at a time when Protestant England persecuted the church’s members

Liv Tyler plays Catesby's cousin who is worried about the success of the plot

relentlessly. He himself lost both his father and wife and is forced to raise his little himself on his own. That is when he starts recruiting help for his plot among family and supporters. Liv Tyler plays his cousin Anne Vaux, who gets caught up in the plot. The cast also includes Peter

Guy Fawkes is still celebrated with bonfires every November 5th!

Mullan, Edward Holcroft, Shaun Dooley, Robert Emms, Derek Riddell and Mark Gatiss as Robert Cecil, the chief of the king's spies whose network of informants pursued the plotters in a game of cat and mouse.

'LAST MAN STANDING' GETS SHOCKING CANCELLATION BY ABC! NEW BBC DRAMAS TRAILER GLIMPSES INTO 'POLDARK', 'GUNPOWDER', 'TROY FALL OF THE CITY', 'WOMAN IN WHITE', 'MINIATURIST', 'HOWARDS END'! JESSE EISENBERG, PIERCE BROSNAN, VANESSA REDGRAVE IN 19TH CENTURY 'MEDUSA'

 NEW BBC DRAMAS TRAILER

 A PEEK INTO NEW TV SERIES

 Some great news and some sad news today! Good ones come from BBC One which has just released an epic trailer announcing all the new dramas coming up our way this year at the British broadcaster giving us exciting first peeks into their new epic series GUNPOWDER with Kit Harintgon, Jessie Buckley's Victorian thriller THE WOMAN IN WHITE, the adaptation of THE MINIATURIST, new mini series on HOWARDS END with Matthew MacFadyen, epic adventure TROY: THE FALL OF THE CITY, gay drama MAN IN ORANGE SHIRT with Oliver Jackson Cohen and Vanessa Redgrave, and the first scenes from POLDARK season 3! Feast your eyes on the trailer below:

 'THE MEDUSA' 19TH CENTURY

MOVIE CASTS JESSE EISENBERG, VANESSA REDGRAVE AND PIERCE BROSNAN

Another period set project will be a movie on famous painter Théodore Géricault THE MEDUSA depicting the tragic events that inspired his harrowing and politically significant masterpiece The Raft Of The Medusa. As 'Deadline' reports Jesse Eisenberg will play the painter, with Pierce Brosnan as his uncle and nemesis, Caruel, and Vanessa Redgrave as his anti royalist innkeeper. Peter Webber of Girl With a Pearl Earring is directing.

Set during the turmoil of post Napoleonic France, the story centres on Géricault, artist and enfant terrible, who learns that his best friend has died after the Naval vessel Medusa runs aground near Senegal. His death and those of over 100 others were horrific due to incompetence on the part of an aristocratic captain.

 'LAST MAN STANDING'

 PREMATURELY KILLED BY ABC

The saddest of news people! The most wholesome of sitcoms on the telly which offered good natured family friendly humour and multiple perspectives on modern day life and politics  LAST MAN STANDING has been cancelled by ABC after the end of its sixth season (which is a great long running number for any sitcom, admittedly). It hasn't been revealed why ABC cancelled it, since it averaged 8 million or more viewers per each episode for six years ruling Friday night evenings in USA (a viewership that most of your favourite shows never had especially not on Friday nights which are considered a graveyard for ratings). It is also not clear whether ABC is looking to cancel its Friday night comedy block and whether the sitcom, which has been done under syndication so far, might get another network. With its friendly but also contemporary and very relevant humour wrapped in warm family stories with highly moral educational messages of tolerance and compromise, Tim Allen's beautiful sitcom was one of the last ones of its kind on the small screens.Tim commented on the cancellation with: Stunned and blindsided by the network I called home for the last six years.

TOM CULLEN JOINS KIT HARINGTON'S 'GUNPOWDER' BBC 17TH CENTURY EPIC MINI SERIES! CATHERINE ZETA JONES AS OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND IN 'FEUD' SERIES, 2ND SEASON ABOUT PRINCE CHARLES & DIANA

'GUNPOWDER' EPIC TV SERIES

TOM CULLEN JOINS KIT HARINGTON AS GUY FAWKES

I informed you last week that Liv Tyler and Mark Gatiss have joined Kit Harington's BBC epic series GUNPOWDER and now they have new cast additions lead by Tom Cullen whom we will also be seeing next season in History's KNIGHTFALL epic series. The three part series will see Harington playing Robert Catesby, the 30 year old Warwickshire gentleman who masterminded the failed assassination attempt on King James in the famous 17th century GUNPOWDER treason.

As Radio Times confirms, Mark Gatiss has been cast as the lead spymaster Robert Cecil, Liv Tyler will be Catesby’s cousin Anne Vaux who becomes suspicious of her relation's activities, while Tom Cullen will play famous Guy Fawkes the legendary conspirator against the king who will be played by Derek Riddell! Shaun Dooley plays Sir William Wade, Lieutenant of The Tower and Cecil’s right hand man, with David Bamber as the Earl of Northumberland and Kevin Eldon as Sir Joseph Hawksworth. Edward Holcroft (photo below) will appear as Catesby’s friend and co-plotter Thomas Wintour, and Robert Emms  as Father Gerard, a firebrand young priest.The series will portray Catesby as a committed Catholic in Protestant England who struggles to bring up his young son in an increasingly intolerant society, having recently lost both his wife and father. It would be such a thrill if BBC airs the series in November!

FIRST 'FEUD' TV SERIES LOOK

AT CATHERINE ZETA JONES AS LEGENDARY OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND

Meanwhile, you can check out a gorgeous photo of Catherine Zeta Jones as Hollywood diva Olivia de Havilland from FEUD anthology series which starts this Sunday starring Susan Sarandon and Jessica Lange as Oscar winners Bette Davis and Joan Crawford in the story of their legendary rivalry! It has been announced today that the second season, ordered today, will focus on the royal FEUD between Prince Charles and Lady Diana. Seems tasteless to me, just like anything else Ryan Murphy produces.

LIV TYLER JOINS KIT HARINGTON'S 'GUNPOWDER' 17TH CENTURY TV SERIES! JACK DAVENPORT TO LEAD 'DOOMSDAY' ABC SERIES! JULIA ORMOND, JOSEPH QUIINN JOIN MATTHEW MACFADYEN'S 'HOWARD'S END' MINI SERIES

'GUNPOWDER' EPIC TV SERIES

LIV TYLER JOINS KIT HARINGTON

OK, people, we're back after a three day break, the longest one in our history (not that any of you lazy bastards actually noticed - which makes the spy a bit depressed), we were without internet, but I do have delish news, beginning with new casting update for GUN POWDER epic mini series which I announced last winter. Joining Kit Harington in the lead role are now Liv Tyler and Mark Gattis!

It will be the story of GUN POWDER Plot, the 1605 attempt by a group of provincial English Catholics to blow up the House of Lords and kill King James I in order to help restore a Catholic to the throne. The plot was foiled on November 5 when authorities at Westminster Palace found Guy Fawkes guarding the explosives. While he played a pivotal role, Fawkes did not devise the plan. The man behind it was Robert Catesby (Harington), a 30 year old Warwickshire gentleman and committed Catholic at a time when Protestant England persecuted the church’s members relentlessly. Harington, who is a direct descendant of Catesby, is also producing!

'DOOMSDAY' ABC SERIES

JACK DAVENPORT TO LEAD

Meanwhile, another of our fave epic stars, always delightful Jack Davenport has been cast by American ABC to lead the pilot for their DOOMSDAY about U.S. government's secret think tank featuring the most creative minds in science and entertainment that is tasked with dreaming up man made disaster scenarios and their possible solutions. When a catastrophe occurs that’s ripped from the pages of the missing doomsday book, the team is brought back to work to prevent the disasters of their own making. Davenport will play Warren, a well-known intellectual playwright turned middle brow action screenwriter. Member of the former Doomsday Project think tank, he is imaginative and creative and sees the world like a story which helps him think like (and even empathize with) the enemy.

'HOWARD'S END' MINI SERIES

 LIV TYLER, JOSEPH QUINN, JULIA ORMOND JOIN THE CAST

I announced last week that BBC and Starz are going to produce period set mini TV series on HOWARD'S END with Matthew MacFadyen and now we have new cast members including Joseph Quinn (whom we fell in love with in Dickensian), Julia Ormond and Alex Lawther among others!

Telling the story of two couples caught in a swirling landscape of social and class divisions in turn of the century England, the four part series focuses on Margaret Schlegel (Hayley Atwell), an idealistic, woman who is courted by the older Henry Wilcox (Matthew Macfadyen), a conservative businessman, after his wife Ruth Wilcox (Julia Ormond) dies unexpectedly. Meanwhile, Margaret’s passionate and capricious younger sister Helen Schlegel (Philippa Coulthard) takes up the cause of Leonard Bast (Joseph Quinn), a young bank clerk who falls on hard times at work and at home with his partner Jacky (Rosalind Eleazar). In the absence of their parents, who have died, the sisters’ loving but interfering Aunt Juley (Tracey Ullman) tries to keep the young ladies and their brother Tibby (Alex Lawther) on the straight and narrow.

KIT HARINGTON TO LEAD BBC 17TH CENTURY DRAMA 'GUNPOWDER' ON GUY FAWKES? BBC WW2 MINI SERIES 'CLOSE TO THE ENEMY' WITH JIM STURGESS, ALFIE ALLEN, ALFRED MOLINA!

KIT HARINGTON TO LEAD

'GUNPOWDER' GUY FAWKES BBC PERIOD SET SERIES?

Now here are most exciting news for you, spylings: as latest rumours from United Kingdom suggest, Game of Thrones star Kit Harington could go back to costume drama again (to which he is no stranger because he also starred in Pompei and Seventh Son) as the lead in BBC's new epic series

GUNPOWDER! He will also produce the three hour long episode mini series on the 17th century Guy Fawkes from the famous gunpowder treason in which he and his Catholic supporters were planning to set the explosive powder under the House of Parliament and thus assassinate King James I! The plot gave birth to the famous saying 'Remember, remember the 5th of November, the gunpowder, treason and plot?' Michael Fassbender played the part in 2004. TV movie

'CLOSE TO THE ENEMY'

 BBC WW2 JIM STURGESS DRAMA

Another period set drama coming from BBC and Acorn TV in USA, ready to air later this year is CLOSE TO THE ENEMY! Seven part series will star Jim Sturgess, Alfie Allen, Alfred Molina, Angela Bassett and Freddie Highmore in a story set in a bombed London hotel in the aftermath of WWII following intelligence officer Captain Callum Ferguson (Sturgess) whose last task for the Army is to ensure that a captured German scientist, Dieter urgently starts working for the British RAF to develop the jet engine. Callum uses unorthodox methods in his attempt to convince Dieter and the two form a friendship. But tensions soon arise, as all is not as it seems.