After castingMatthew MacFadyen as the lead in their LEGACY OF SPIES TV series adaptation of John Le Carre's The Spy Who Came In From the Cold book, in which he stars as the iconic George Smiley, alongsideCharlie Hunnam as Alec Leamas, the maverick field operative, Daniel Brühl as Josef Fiedler, a methodical Stasi intelligence strategist, Devrim Lingnau
as Doris Quinz, a young and dynamic East German woman whodelivers
vital intelligence from the heart of the East German operatio, and Dan Stevens as Bill Haydon, a brilliant and enigmatic Circus insider, BBC has also added Hugh Laurie, Joe Alwyn, James McArdle, Adam Hugill and Goran Bogdan to the eight part series.
After castingMatthew MacFadyen as the lead, BBC keeps adding names to their LEGACY OF SPIES TV series adaptation of John Le Carre's The Spy Who Came In From the Cold book. MacFadyen stars as the iconic George Smiley, alongside Charlie Hunnam as Alec Leamas, the maverick field operative, Daniel Brühl as Josef Fiedler, a methodical Stasi intelligence strategist, and Devrim Lingnau as Doris Quinz, a young and dynamic East German woman who delivers vital intelligence from the heart of the East German operation. Dan Stevens joins them as Bill Haydon, a brilliant and enigmatic Circus insider in the eight part espionage thriller.
Peacock has released a full trailer and April 9th start date for a series based on a short story by Manuel Gonzalez. THE MINIATURE WIFEwill be high-concept marital dramedy examining the power (im)balances between spouses Lindy (Elizabeth Banks) and Les (Matthew Macfadyen) who battle each other for supremacy after a technological accident induces the ultimate relationship crisis! Jennifer Ames and Steve Turner will be the executive producers and show runners. It will stream on Sky in UK and Stan in Australia.
Peacock has released a teaser and April 9th start date for a series based on a short story by Manuel Gonzalez. THE MINIATURE WIFEwill be high-concept marital dramedy examining the power (im)balances between spouses Lindy (Elizabeth Banks) and Les (Matthew Macfadyen) who battle each other for supremacy after a technological accident induces the ultimate relationship crisis! Jennifer Ames and Steve Turner will be the executive producers and show runners.
According to Deadline, our dear Matthew MacFadyen has joined Rachel Weisz in the SEANCE ON A WET AFTERNOON movie adaptation. It follows Myra, a self-proclaimed medium, who convinces her husband, Billy, to kidnap the son of a wealthy family so she can lead the police to the “missing” child and legitimize her psychic abilities. When Myra’s true intentions come to light, however, Billy realizes her plan threatens to consume them both.
Netflix has finally released a trailer for their new historical thriller mini TV series DEATH BYLIGHTNING which will arrive November 6th with Matthew MacFadyen and Michael Shannon leading the cast as American president James Garfield and his killer Charles Guiteau!
BASED ON THE NOVEL
Destiny Of The Republic by Candice Millard, the series follows Garfield who
was President in 1881 and was assassinated later that year,
having previously served nine terms as a Congressman. He was elected as a
Senator but declined this when he became President, despite having not
sought the office.
He was shot by Guiteau, who felt he had played a major role in
Garfield’s election. Nick Offerman as vice president Chester Arthur, Betty Gilpin as the first lady Crete Garfield, Tuppence Middleton,
Ben Miles, Kyle Soller will also appear in the cast of this period set
series which arrives to the streamer next month.
As Variety reports, Matthew MacFadyen is set to lead new TV series based on LEGACY OF SPIES by John Le Carre, a series of novels about intelligence officer George Smiley. The project is described as an amalgamation of a number of le Carré’s novels, including “The Spy Who Came In From The Cold,” “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” and “The Honorable Schoolboy,” as well as others and some unpublished work. The show is being pitched both in USA and UK. Gary Oldman, Rupert Davies, Alec Guiness have previously played the spymaster in other adaptations. As you know, Matthew will also lead Death by Lightning series at Netflix and The Miniature Wife at Peacock.
Netflix has announced a very dull 2025 movie and series offer this week, and among them is new historical thriller mini TV series DEATH BY LIGHTNING which we first announced back in February last year when it was revealed that Matthew MacFadyen and Michael Shannon will lead the cast playing American president James Garfield and his killer Charles Guiteau, and now we have the first images from it.
BASED ON THE NOVEL
Destiny Of The Republic by Candice Millard, the series follows Garfield who
was President in 1881 and was assassinated later that year,
having previously served nine terms as a Congressman. He was elected as a
Senator but declined this when he became President, despite having not
sought the office.
He was shot by Guiteau, who felt he had played a major role in
Garfield’s election. Nick Offerman as vice president Chester Arthur, Betty Gilpin as the first lady Crete Garfield, Tuppence Middleton,
Ben Miles, Kyle Soller will also appear in the cast of this period set
series which should arrived to the streamer later this year.
Peacock has ordered a series based on a short story by Manuel Gonzalez. THE MINIATURE WIFE will be high-concept marital dramedy examining the power (im)balances between spouses Lindy (Elizabeth Banks) and Les (Matthew Macfadyen) who battle each other for supremacy after a technological accident induces the ultimate relationship crisis! Jennifer Ames and Steve Turner will be the executive producers and show runners.
Netflix has announced that Vikings: Valhalla (with final season), Hundred Years of Solitude (with first season) and The Empress (with second season) will be arriving later this year, but that is not all from the historical front as they have also announced Michael Shannon as assassinated President Garfield and Matthew Macfadyen as his killer Charles Guiteau in a new series DEATH BY LIGHTNING. Garfield was President in 1881 and was assassinated later that year, having previously served nine terms as a Congressman. He was elected as a Senator but declined this when he became President, despite having not sought the office.
He was shot by Guiteau, who felt he had played a major role in Garfield’s election.
The first new series to officially open the upcoming 2023 is STONEHOUSE three part mini series which hits ITV and their brand new streamer ITVX January 2nd
The series starts January 2nd on ITV
with real life couple Matthew MacFadyen and Keeley Hawes in the lead roles.
STONE HOUSE explains how a high-flying member of British government,
vanished from the beach of a large luxury hotel in Florida in November
1974, leaving a neatly folded pile of clothes as he swam into the sea,
intent on faking his own death. The MP for Walsall North left behind his
loving wife Barbara and three young children as a shocked public and
media presumed he had drowned or been eaten by sharks. Charismatic,
oozing with charm and brimming with confidence,
It will be a three part event series
Stonehouse had impressed
Prime Minister Harold Wilson and Labour stalwarts from an early stage
in his parliamentary career.
From a working-class background, he’d graduated from the London School
of Economics, was in the RAF during the War and seemed the ideal
candidate for a life in politics. It soon becomes apparent his
reputation as a devoted family man masked the truth, as he’d embarked on
an extra marital affair with his secretary and acted as a spy for the
Czech Secret Service in the 1960s. His complex financial status and
relationships eventually took their toll, with Stonehouse deliberately
stealing the identity of a recently deceased constituent. Stonehouse
applied for a passport in the dead man’s name and began to weave an
elaborate conspiracy, seeking a new life in Australia.
But his plans soon turned sour as Stonehouse was arrested by Australian
police who had been under the mistaken impression that he was the
fugitive peer Lord Lucan. Brought back to the UK by Scotland Yard
detectives, Stonehouse found that he was crucial to keeping the Labour
government in power with its wafer-thin majority.
Launching later this year, ITV's official streaming channel ITVX (which will be separate from Britbox which ITV has together with BBC) will have a number of period set shows. Some of them will stream there at least six
A Spy Among Friends will launch the streamer at the end of the year
months before moving over to ITV motherchannel. Among those are A SPY AMONG FRIENDS cold war drama in which Damian Lewis and Guy Pearce play best friends who spy for opposite sides, NOLLY in which Helena Bonham Carter plays the soap opera star who gets
Sophie Cookson on the set of Confessions of Frannie Langton
unceremoniously sacked after decades of career, and THE CONFESSIONS OF FRANNIE LANGTON a four part costume drama set in the dazzling opulence of Georgian London. Meanwhile, after airing the first episode on ITV some series will immediately have the whole season available on ITVX and
Matthew MacFadyen as the disgraced prime minister in Stonehouse
such will be the case with STONEHOUSE in which real life married couple Matthew Macfadyen and Keeley Hawes following the life and times of disgraced Labour minister John Stonehouse who faked his own death back in the 70s. ITVX plans to launch at least one flagship show per week!
THE WAR OF THE ROHIRRIM
LORD OF THE RINGS ANIMATED MOVIE SETS VOICE CAST
New Line Cinema has set voice cast for their animated epic movie LORD OF THE RINGS: THE WAR OF THE ROHIRRIM which will follow the House of Helm Hammerhand, the mighty King of Rohan voiced by Brian Cox! The story is set 183 years before the original movie trilogy. A sudden attack by Wulf (Luke Pasqualino), a clever and ruthless Dunlending lord seeking vengeance for the death of his father, forces Helm and his people to make a daring last stand in the ancient stronghold of the Hornburg – a mighty fortress that will later come to be known as Helm’s Deep. Finding herself in an increasingly desperate situation, Hera (Gaia Wise), the daughter of Helm, must summon the will to lead the resistance against a deadly enemy intent on their total destruction. Miranda Otto will narrate the story as Éowyn, Shieldmaiden of Rohan! The film will arrive April 12th, 2024!
Reallife couple Keeley Hawes and Matthew MacFadyen will lead together new ITV series STONEHOUSE! The three part series will tell the life and times of disgraced Labour minister John Stonehouse.
It will depict
Keeley Hawes and Matthew McFadyen will lead the cast
how Stonehouse, a high flying member of Harold Wilson’s (Kevin R McNally) Government, vanished from the beach of a large luxury hotel in Florida in November 1974, leaving a neatly folded pile of clothes as he swam
Exclusive first look at Matthew as Stonehouse
into the sea, intent on faking his own death. He apparently wanted to start a new life in Australia under a fake name. Keeley will play his wife Barbara with Emer Heatley as his mistress Sheila Buckley!
THE HOLIDAY SERIES
STARTS MARCH AT CHANNEL 5
Channel 5 has released a trailer for their new four part series THE HOLIDAY based on T.M. Logan's book which arrives March 1st in a four day event! The story follows what appears to be a perfect family holiday until
The Holiday will air next week from Tuesday till Friday
Kate (Jill Halfpenny) discovers that her husband (Owen McDonnell) is having an affair with one of her best friends. One of these women is willing to sacrifice years of friendship and destroy her family. But which one? As Kate
Jill Halfpenny is leading the cast of The Holiday
closes in on the truth in the stifling Mediterranean heat, she realises too late that the stakes are far higher than she ever imagined! The cast also includes Lara McDonnell and Aidan McCann as the couple's children,
Liv
First look at the whole cast of The Holiday four part series
Mjones and Siobhan Hewlett as Kate's friends and Aidan McArdle and Andrew Macklin as their respective husbands.
Also on the cast are Molly McCann, Cat Simmons and Shaun O’Callaghan Wade as Jake.
SeeSaw Films has published first photos from their new historical movie OPERATION MINCEMEAT which should arrive at the very beginning of January, to Netflix, possibly, as well. Colin Firth and MatthewMacFadyen play two intelligence officers who, during WWII, use a corpse and false papers to outwit German troops. Directed by John Madden, the film also stars Kelly Macdonald, Penelope Wilton, Jason Isaacs, JohnnyFlynn, Mark Bonnar, and Matthew's nephew Lorne MacFadyen, Simon Russell Beale, Hattie Morahan, Mark Gatiss and Paul Ritter.
THE STORY IS SET IN 1943
when the Allies were determined to break Hitler’s grip on
occupied Europe, the remarkable true story follows intelligence officers
Ewen Montagu (Firth)
Matthew MacFadyen, Colin Firth, Johnny Flynn
and Charles Cholmondeley (Macfadyen) who conjure
an inspired and improbable disinformation strategy centered on the most
unlikely of secret
Johnny Flynn is unrecognisable in the film as Ian Fleming!
agents: a dead man. They would trick the Nazis into
thinking that Allied forces were planning to attack southern Europe by
way of Greece rather than Sicily.
The film is based on an extraordinary true story!
Their plan was to get a corpse, equip
it with misleading papers, then drop it off the coast of Spain where
Nazi spies would take the bait. It was a plan that helped turn the tide
of the whole war.
NIGHT COURT MULTICAM
SITCOM ORDERED AT NBC
Speaking of first photo, here's one from a new multicam sitcom that NBC has just ordered into series: NIGHT COURT will be a follow up to the classic sitcom following an unapologetic optimist judge Abby Stone (Melissa
It is not known if the sitcom arrives midseason or next season
Rauch), the daughter of the late Harry Stone, who follows in her father’s footsteps as she presides over the night shift of a Manhattan arraignment court and tries to bring order to its crew of oddballs and cynics, most notably former night court prosecutor Dan Fielding (John Larroquette is reprising his role from the original).
VIKINGS: VALHALLA
1ST EPIC SERIES TRAILER
Netflix has released the first teaser for their epic series VIKINGS VALHALLA which is coming to the streamer next year! Set 100 years after the events of Vikings, Valhalla stars Sam Corlett as Leif Eriksson, the famed
Sam Corlett takes the lead role in the series
explorer who, according to Viking lore, sailed to North America five centuries before Christopher Columbus. It will also chronicle the adventures of other legendary Vikings from history, including Freydis Eriksdotter (Frida
Leo Suter is Harald Hadrada in the series
Gustavsson) Harald Hardrada (Leo Suter), and the Norman King William the Conqueror. Laura Berlin stars as the ambitious Emma of Normandy, Bradley Freegard as the Danish King Canute, Johannes Haukur
The series comes from Tudors' Michael Hirst
Jóhannesson as Harald’s half-brother Olaf; David Oakes as the English counselor Earl Godwin, Caroline Henderson as the Kattegat Jarl Haakon, Pollyanna McIntosh as the Danish Queen Ælfgifu, and Asbjorn Krogh Nissen as Jarl Kåre.
According to Deadline, Netflix has just paid $15 million for World War 2 movie OPERATION MINCEMEAT from John Madden which has
Colin Firth will lead the Operation Mincemeat
a star studded cast lead by Colin Firth, Matthew Macfadyen, Kelly Macdonald, Penelope Wilton, Jason Isaacs, Johnny Flynn, Simon Russell Beale, Hattie Morahan, Mark Gatiss and Paul Ritter. Set in 1943 when the Allies were determined to break Hitler’s grip on occupied Europe, the remarkable true story follows intelligence officers Ewen Montagu (Firth) and Charles Cholmondeley (Macfadyen) who conjure an inspired and improbable disinformation strategy centered on the most unlikely of secret agents: a dead man. They would trick the Nazis into thinking that Allied forces were planning to attack southern Europe by way of Greece rather than Sicily. Their plan was
Matthew MacFadyen will play an intelligence officer in the film
to get a corpse, equip it with misleading papers, then drop it off the coast of Spain where Nazi spies would take the bait. It was a plan that helped turn the tide of the whole war.
PAUL MESCAL
TO LEAD BRING THEM DOWN
Breaking star Paul Mescal, who is currently finishing a movie adaptation of popular opera CARMEN down in Australia (a modern day reimagining directed by Benjamin Millepied in which he plays Don Jose),
Paul Mescal is currently shooting Carmen
will move over to his homeland of Ireland later this summer to shoot Irish thriller BRING THEM DOWN in which he and Tom Burke will visit the wild landscape of the West of Ireland, with the story following an Irish shepherd who is drawn into violent conflict with a neighbouring farm when his sheep are massacred by unknown men. Mescal is also starring in THE LOST DAUGHTER movie which Maggie Gyllenhaal directed and which also stars Peter Saarsgard, Dakota Johnson, Ed Harris, Jessie Buckley, and Oliver Jackson Cohen. The story of that one focuses on a woman's beach vacation which takes a dark turn when she begins to confront the troubles of her past.
Charlie Hunnam as Alec Leamas, the maverick field operative, Daniel Brühl as Josef Fiedler, a methodical Stasi intelligence strategist, Devrim Lingnau
as Doris Quinz, a young and dynamic East German woman who
delivers
vital intelligence from the heart of the East German operatio, and Dan Stevens as Bill Haydon, a brilliant and enigmatic Circus insider, BBC has also added Hugh Laurie, Joe Alwyn, James McArdle, Adam Hugill and Goran Bogdan to the eight part series.
Charlie Hunnam as Alec Leamas, the maverick field operative, Daniel Brühl as Josef Fiedler, a methodical Stasi intelligence strategist, Devrim Lingnau
as Doris Quinz, a young and dynamic East German woman who
delivers
vital intelligence from the heart of the East German operatio, and Dan Stevens as Bill Haydon, a brilliant and enigmatic Circus insider, BBC has also added Hugh Laurie, Joe Alwyn, James McArdle, Adam Hugill and Goran Bogdan to the eight part series.
