PREMIUM SPOTLIGHT ON 'HOWARDS END' PERIOD SET BBC SERIES WITH MATTHEW MACFADYEN, HAYLEY ATWELL, TRACEY ULLMAN, JULIA ORMOND, JOSEPH QUINN

  'HOWARDS END'

BBC & STARZ PERIOD SET DRAMA

The four episode drama starts airing this Sunday

Just three days before the start of the official airing, BBC One has finally released a trailer for their new period set drama HOWARDS END which starts airing this Sunday in four episodes, with Starz broadcasting the story of two couples caught in a swirling landscape of social and class divisions in turn of the century England sometime next year for the audience in USA.

THE STORY OF HOWARDS END
 based on E.M. Forster's classic novel, focuses on Margaret Schlegel (Hayley Atwell), an intelligent, idealistic, bohemian young woman who is courted by the older Henry Wilcox (Matthew Macfadyen), a self-made conservative businessman, after his wife Ruth Wilcox (Julia Ormond) dies

Matthew MacFadyen is Henry Wilcox in the series

unexpectedly! Meanwhile, Margaret’s passionate and capricious younger sister Helen Schlegel (Philippa Coulthard) takes up the cause of Leonard Bast

Hayley Atwell is Margaret Schlegel

(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

Lovely Joseph Quinn is Leonard Bast

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.

Julia Ormond appears only in the first two episodes as Mrs Wilcox

WHAT DID THE SPY THINK?

The first episode is visually enchanting, story intriguing, performances mostly well done, but the series turns into a ghastly monotonous snobbish gibberish fest filled with shallow existentialist dialogues as early as the second episode and then finishes as an ode to blatant golddiggers with not an ounce of sense whatsoever.  

PERIOD SET SERIES SATURDAY: NEW PHOTOS FROM 'HOWARDS END' SERIES WITH MATTHEW MCFADYEN, HAYLEY ATWELL, 'PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK' WITH NATALIE DORMER

  'HOWARDS END' NEW PHOTOS

FROM BBC & STARZ MINI SERIES

With the news from the world of period set series that Hulu has ordered the second season of Harlots and that TNT is probably going to

Matthew Macfadyen plays a conservative businessman

cancel their Will series, there's also something new from Starz: they've released new photos from next year's mini series HOWARDS END an adaptation of E. M. Forster's novel.

The series is based on E.M. Forsters' classic novel

MATTHEW MACFADYEN AND HAYLEY ATWELL LEAD THE CAST   
A coproduction between BBC and Starz it will tell 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

The series will air next year both on BBC and Starz

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

Joseph Quinn, Tracey Ulman and Alex Lawther in their costumes

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

Hayley Atwell plays Margaret Schlegel

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.

  'PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK'

NATALIE DORMER TV SERIES

Amazon has, meanwhile, picked up another period set series coming from Australia PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK with Natalie Dormer as the lead star.  Based on a Joan Lindsay’s classic novel, the six part

Natalie Dormer leads the cast of the new period set series

series sees her playing English headmistress Mrs Hester Appleyard, a woman whose dead husband instructs her daily life and whose peculiarities are surely hiding dark skeletons! PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK chronicles the mysterious disappearances of three schoolgirls

The series will first air Down Under on Foxtel before moving to Amazon

and one teacher on Valentine’s Day 1900. The complex, interwoven narrative follows the subsequent investigation and the event’s far reaching impact on the students, families and staff of Appleyard College, and on the nearby township.

'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.

BBC ORDERS MAGNIFICENT SLATE OF NEW TV SERIES: PERIOD SET 'BLACK NARCISSUS' & 'LITTLE WOMEN', INDIAN SET 'A SUITABLE BOY', SF' WAR OF THE WORLDS'! 1ST 'HOWARDS END' PHOTO WITH MATTHEW MACFADYEN

 NEW BBC TV SERIES

 NEPAL SET 'BLACK NARCISSUS'

Rejoice, royal subjects! BBC has just ordered tons of amazing new TV series. I'm probably most excited about the three part adaptation of BLACK NARCISSUS since I remember how exotic the classic film with Deborah Kerr was! Rumer Godden's story is set in the 1930s following Sister Clodagh who travels to Nepal to set up a nun order in the remote palace of Mopu. In the unfettered sensuality of the so-called House of Women, Sister Clodagh finds herself increasingly attracted to the handsome and damaged land agent, Mr Dean. But as the repressed memories of Clodagh’s past become entangled with the tragic history of Princess Srimati, the Nepalese princess driven to madness and suicide in the palace after her own tragic love story, history seems doomed to repeat itself.

INDIA SET 'A SUITABLE BOY'!
If you loved Jewel in the Crown and Indian Summers, Indian settings will be seen in the eight part adaptation of Vikram Seth's A SUITABLE BOY with an entirely non-white cast! Set in the 1950's it follows a young woman’s search for love and identity in a newly independent India. Lata is growing up in northern India. Her mother is determined to find her a husband, but after her sister’s arranged marriage, Lata is not convinced she wants the same path. Torn between duty to her family and the excitement of romance, Lata embarks on an epic journey of love, desire and heartache as three very different suitors vie for her hand. Her choice will play out against the tumultuous political backdrop of India at a crossroads, looking towards its first independent general election and carving out its own destiny. Almost 1400 pages long saga will be helmed by War and Peace Andrew Davies.

 BBC IS ALSO PREPARING 'TROY: FALL OF THE CITY' EPIC TV SERIES - 17TH CENTURY 'MINIATURIST' SERIES - 'SHIBDEN HALL' 19TH CENTURY SERIES - 'GUNPOWDER' 17TH CENTURY SERIES

NEW VERSION OF 'LITTLE WOMEN'

In coproduction with PBS they will also make a new three part series adaptation of Louisa May Alcott classic novel LITTLE WOMEN! The three part series will be produced by Cranford and Call the Midwife creator. It is a truly universal coming of age story, as relevant and engaging today as it was on its original publication in 1868. Set against the backdrop of a country divided, the story follows the four sisters Jo, Meg, Beth and Amy March on their journey from childhood to adulthood. With the help of their mother Marmee, while their father is away at the civil war, the girls navigate what it means to be a young woman: from gender roles to sibling rivalry, first love, loss and marriage.

SF 'THE WAR OF THE WORLDS'
For the lovers of sf there will be a three part adaptation of H.G. Wells' novel WAR OF THE WORLDS from Poldark and Victoria's Mammoth Screen!  At the dawn of the 20th century, Horsell Common in Surrey is struck by a huge meteor, and the inhabitants of Earth slowly fall victim to a vicious invasion. The three-part drama follows one man’s attempt to escape the ruthless Martians - but they are determined to destroy all human life as they attempt to conquer the earth…

FIRST 'HOWARDS END' PHOTO

BBC and Starz have also revealed the 1st photo from their 4 part HOWARD'S END the story of two sisters and the men in their lives. Hayley Atwell’s Schlegel is an idealistic young woman who is courted by the older Henry Wilcox (Matthew Macfadyen), a self-made businessman, after his wife Ruth Wilcox (Julia Ormond) dies unexpectedly and he becomes owner of HOWARDS END. Meanwhile Margaret’s 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. In the absence of their late parents, 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.

BBC IS ALSO PREPARING 'THE WOMAN IN WHITE' VICTORIAN SERIES - 'LUMINARIES' 19TH CENTURY GOLD RUSH SERIES - SEVEN NEW AGATHA CHRISTIE SERIES - NEW 'LES MISERABLES' SERIES!

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.

MATTHEW MACFADYEN, TRACEY ULLMAN TO LEAD BBC'S 'HOWARD'S END' MINI SERIES! 'RADIOACTIVE' BIOPIC ON MARIE CURIE! TOUCHING 'MAUDIE' TRAILER WITH ETHAN HAWKE, SALLY HAWKINS

'HOWARD'S END' MINI SERIES

 MATTHEW MACFADYEN AND TRACEY ULLMAN LEAD THE CAST

In their tradition of adapting classic books into mini series BBC has already announced the new adaptation of E. M. Forster's HOWARD'S END but now we have the cast as well: Matthew MacFadyen, brilliant comedian Tracey Ullman and flop star Hayley Atwell have been hired!

To air on BBC One in UK and on Starz in USA, the four part series explores the changing landscape of social and class divisions in England at the turn of the century through the prism of three families: the intellectual and idealistic Schlegels, the wealthy Wilcoxes from the world of business and the working-class Basts. Hayley Atwell will be Margaret Schlegel, Matthew Macfadyen will be widower Henry Wilcox, and Tracey Ullman will play Aunt Juley Mund.

'RADIOACTIVE' MOVIE

A MARIE CURIE BIOPIC

Speaking of the turn of the century, 'Deadline' reports that Marjane Satrapi will helm RADIOACTIVE, a movie adaptation of Lauren Redniss graphic novel on famous scientist Marie Curie, the Nobel Prize winner, and her extraordinary scientific discoveries through the prism of her marriage to husband Pierre, and the seismic effects their discovery of radium had on the 20th century.

Born in Poland in 1867, Curie moved to France in 1891 and married Pierre in 1895. They worked together to develop the theory of radioactivity and techniques for isolating radioactive isotopes and discovered the elements polonium and radium. The pair were at the dawn of a new scientific and technological era that ushered in the nuclear age.

'MAUDIE' TRAILER

ETHAN HAWKE & SALLY HAWKINS

There's also a touching first trailer and colourful poster for British drama movie MAUDIE which, starring Sally Hawkins and Ethan Hawke, which opens up in cinemas this spring and summer following  an arthritic Nova Scotia woman who works as a housekeeper while she hones her skills as an artist and eventually becomes a beloved figure in the community. 

1ST PHOTOS FROM 'HOLLOW CROWN: WAR OF ROSES' WITH BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH, JUDI DENCH! BBC TO MAKE 'HOWARD'S END' MINI SERIES! MILO VENTIMIGLIA, MANDY MOORE, JUSTIN HARTLEY IN 'BIRTHDAY' NBC DRAMEDY

'HOWARD'S END'

TO BECOME BBC MINI SERIES

Just some TV news for you today, people! Just when we thought we're done with early 20th century England on TV with the end of DOWNTON ABBEY, the era will return to the small screen through BBC's latest order: a new TV drama based on HOWARD'S END novel by E. M. Forster! As 'Deadline' reports, Pulitzer Prize and Academy Award nominated screenwriter and playwright Kenneth Lonergan is penning the series which explores the changing landscape of social and class divisions in early 20th century England through the prism of three families: the intellectual and idealistic Schlegels, the wealthy Wilcoxes from the world of business, and the working class Basts.

HOLLOW CROWN: WAR OF ROSES

FIRST PHOTOS WITH JUDI DENCH, BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH  
You can also check out the first photos from BBC's and PBS second season of THE HOLLOW CROWN TV series, the adaptations of Shakespeare's works! This time titled THE WAR OF THE ROSES it will bring lavish adaptations of 'Henry VI', Parts I and II, and 'Richard III' describing rebellion in France, Civil War in England, rise and fall of Joan Of Arc! Benedict Cumberbatch, Judi Dench, Tom Sturidge will be wearing crowns together with the supporting cast which includes Hugh Bonneville, Keeley Hawes and Sally Hawkins!

NBC'S 'BIRTHDAY' SERIES

CASTS JUSTIN HARTLEY, MANDY MOORE, MILO VENTIMIGLIA

Over in USA, NBC is rounding up the cast for Dan Fogelman's (GALAVANT) so called BIRTHDAY dramedy series following eight leading characters who were all born on the same day! As 'Variety' reports the pilot of the potential one hour series has already gathered up some well known young faces for the cast including HEROES' and GILMORE GIRLS' Milo Ventimiglia, pop star Mandy Moore, Justin Hartley, Sterling Brown and Ron Cephas Jones. Ventimiglia and Moore will be a couple just moved into their new home in Pittsburg and expecting triplets. REVENGE's Hartley will be handsome and successful television actor with an underlining boredom in his ultimate bachelor life.