SKY & HBO MAKING 'CATHERINE THE GREAT' RUSSIAN 18TH CENTURY EMPRESS MINI TV SERIES WITH HELEN MIRREN! PARAMOUNT TV TURNS MARGARET ATWOOD'S 'MADDADDAM' SF SAGA INTO TV SERIES

  HELEN MIRREN TO RULE

Helen will portray the late life of the empress

AS EMPRESS 'CATHE- RINE THE GREAT'!

While they're currently enjoying the success of their Roman era series Britannia, which has been sold in over 120 countries around the world, and while we're waiting for the second season of their epic saga Jamestown to start in two weeks, British Sky Atlantic has just commissioned a new historical series CATHERINE THE GREAT and they hired Helen Mirren to lead the cast as the legendary Russian empress who came to power by throwing down her insane husband and then went on to make Russia's territory bigger than it ever was before! There were recently two series over in Russia on her!

The four part saga about the 18th century monarch will start shooting later this year written by Nigel Williams (Elizabeth I) and directed by Philip Martin (The Crown)! The story will depict Catherine at the end of her reign and her affair with Grigory Potemkin. HBO will air it in USA.

  'MADDADDAM'

ATWOOD'S SF SAGA TO BE TURNED INTO A TV SERIES

Paramount TV is producing the new series

And while you're waiting for the 2nd season of A Handmaid's Tale and watching Alias Grace, another of Margaret Atwood's works will be turned into TV series - her sf trilogy MADDADDAM! It is a story of a global pandemic and the end of mankind, and the small group of survivors who are left to shepherd a new race to inherit the world. The series follows Jimmy, a young boy disillusioned with the all powerful corporations who rule civilization, whose best friend will develop the drug that wipes out humanity; Toby and Ren, two members of the cult “God’s Gardeners” who fight to survive on the margins of society; and Zeb, one of the founders of “God’s Gardeners.”

SARAH GADON WOULD RATHER BE A MURDERESS THAN A MURDERER IN 'ALIAS GRACE' 19TH CENTURY SET MINI SERIES FROM MARGARET ATWOOD

'ALIAS GRACE' TRAILER FOR

SARAH GADON MINI SERIES

While some of you are enjoying the new television version of The Handmaid's Tale, another of Margaret Atwood's small screen adaptations ALIAS GRACE has just got a brand new trailer

The series will first air in Canada in September and after that on Netflix

for the mini series that will launch September 25th at CBC in Canada and then on Netflix November 3rd.

A 19TH CENTURY MYSTERY
The six part mini series follows Grace Marks (Sarah Gadon) a poor, young Irish immigrant and domestic servant in Upper Canada who, along with stable hand James McDermott (Kerr Logan), was convicted

Sarah Gadon played Luke Evans' wife in Dracula movie

of the brutal murders of their employer and his housekeeper in 1843. James was hanged while Grace was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1843. Grace claimed to have had no memory of the murder yet the

Zachary Levi also stars in the 19th century set series

facts were irrefutable. A decade after, Dr. Simon Jordan tried to help Grace recall her past. Grace was one of the most enigmatic and notorious women of her time for her supposed role in the sensational

Edward Holcroft plays the doctor in the series

double murder, but was eventually exonerated after 30 years in jail. Her conviction was controversial and sparked much debate about whether Grace was actually involved in the murder or merely an

Sarah Polley both directed and wrote the series

unwitting accessory. Zachary Levi is also in the cast alongside Reign's Michael Therriault and Edward Holcroft as the doctor! Atwood has a cameo in the series!

1ST TRAILER & PHOTOS FOR PERIOD SET SERIES 'ALIAS GRACE' WITH SARAH GADON, ZACHARY LEVI, EDWARD HOLCROFT! 1ST PHOTOS OF DAN STEVENS AS DICKENS IN 'THE MAN WHO INVENTED CHRISTMAS'

'ALIAS GRACE' TRAILER FOR

SARAH GADON MINI SERIES

While some of you are enjoying the new television version of The Handmaid's Tale, another of Margaret Atwood's small screen adaptations ALIAS GRACE has just got the first trailer and first photos for the mini series that will launch September 25th at Netflix and CBC in Canada.

A 19TH CENTURY MYSTERY
The six part mini series follows Grace Marks (Sarah Gadon) a poor, young Irish immigrant and domestic servant in Upper Canada who, along with stable hand James McDermott (Kerr Logan), was convicted of the brutal murders of their employer and his housekeeper in 1843. James was hanged while Grace was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1843. Grace claimed to have had no memory of the murder yet the facts were irrefutable. A decade after, Dr. Simon Jordan tried to help Grace recall her past. Grace was one of the most enigmatic and notorious women of her time for her supposed role in the sensational double murder, but was eventually exonerated after 30 years in jail. Her conviction was controversial and sparked much debate about whether Grace was actually involved in the murder or merely an unwitting accessory. Zachary Levi is also in the cast alongside Reign's Michael Therriault and Edward Holcroft as the doctor! Atwood has a cameo in the series!

'MAN WHO INVENTED CHRISTMAS'

DAN STEVENS PICS AS DICKENS

There are also the first pictures from another period set project, this time a movie starring Dan Stevens as Charles Dickens! THE MAN WHO INVENTED CHRISTMAS also stars Christopher Plummer as “Scrooge” and Jonathan Pryce as Dickens’ father.

THE BIRTH OF CHRISTMAS CAROL  
October 1843. Charles Dickens was broke and distressed. Despite early success, his last three books had failed. Rejected by his publishers, he set out to write and self-publish a book he hoped would keep his family afloat. This is the story of the six fever-pitched weeks in which Dickens created A Christmas Carol, the masterpiece that changed the holiday into the merry family event we know today.

TV UPDATES: 'DYNASTY' GETS A TV REMAKE! JARED HARRIS, CIARAN HINDS JOIN TOBIAS MENZIES IN 'TERROR' EPIC SERIES! JOHN LEGEND JOINS 'UNDERGROUND' SERIES! MARGARET ATWOOD'S 'HEART GOES LAST' TO BECOME TV SHOW

TELEVISION UPDATES

NEW CAST MEMBERS FOR 'TERROR' EPIC TV SERIES

A bunch of television updates for you, today, a round up of telly news I didn't get to present you this week! I've already informed you that Tobias Menzies will star in the mini TV series based on Dan Simmons novel THE TERROR and now he is joined by Jared Harris, Ciaran Hinds, Paul Ready and Adam Nagaitis. Set in 1847, it follows Royal Naval expedition crew searching for the Northwest Passage where it is attacked by a mysterious predator that stalks the ships and their crew in a suspenseful and desperate game of survival.

DYNASTY GETS A REMAKE!
Meanwhile, CW is planning a remake of famous TV soap DYNASTY. Done this time by Gossip Girls creators, and the original show creators the Shapiros,  it will follow two of America’s wealthiest families, the Carringtons and the Colbys, as they feud for control over their fortune and their children. It will be told primarily through the perspectives of Fallon Carrington, daughter of billionaire Blake Carrington, and her stepmother, Cristal, a Hispanic woman marrying into the family and America’s most powerful class.

JOHN LEGEND JOINS UNDER GROUND

And if you liked the first season of UNDERGROUND epic series which followed the destiny of black slaves in the Civil War America, you will be happy to hear that music star John Legend has joined the 2nd season cast as  iconic abolitionist Frederick Douglass, who went from a slave to a writer and a speaker.

MARGARET ATWOOD'S 'HEART GOES LAST' TO BECOME A SF TV SHOW
While Hulu is preparing A Handmaid's Tale sf series based on Margaret Atwood's novel, another of her novels THE HEART GOES LAST will be made into TV series by MGM TV. It follows a young urban couple who have been hit by bankruptcy in the midst of a nationwide economic collapse. Forced to live in their Honda, where they are vulnerable to roving gangs, they think the gated community of Consilience might be the answer to their prayers. If they sign a life contract, they’ll get a job and a lovely house for six months out of the year. On alternating months, residents must leave their homes and serve as inmates in the Positron prison system. At first, this seems worth it: They will have a roof over their heads and food on the table. But after a series of troubling events, Positron begins to look less like a prayer answered and more like a chilling prophecy fulfilled.