Last week our most favourite (the whole day today is about some of our utterly favourite actors starring in new festive flicks) Julian Morris came officially out of the closet and admitted he has been with his boyfriend for 18 years now (no, sadly, it is not me, alas), but he will still be sharing his love with us as he is starring in A ROYAL QUEENS CHRISTMAS which airs on Hallmark this Saturday, December 11th. Also starring Megan Park, this royally romantic movie drama will see Julian Morris play a prince who finds his way to Queens during Christmas when a local woman enlists his help with a children’s Christmas show.
MISTLETOE IN MONTANA
WITH MELISSA JOAN HART
Mistletoe in Montanta arrives December 17th
Meanwhile, another of our favourites, Melissa Joan Hart will also visit our small screens during the holidays as she is starring in MISTLETOE IN MONTANA which arrives to Lifetime December 17th! In this festive romantic movie she appears as Merry Cartwright, a Big Sky wrangler who gets roped into an unexpected romance when a dashing single dad (played by NCIS' Duane Henry) and his kids (Hero Hunter and Mallian Butler) book a holiday stay at her dude ranch. The story of the film is inspired by the real life story of one of Melissa's cousins. This is the fifth year that she has been starring in Lifetime's festive movies at the end of the year.
THE HOLIDAY FIX UP
STARRING RYAN MCPARTLIN
Holiday Fix Up arrives December 11th
And yet another of our absolute favourites, lethally gorgeous Ryan McPartlin is the star of THE HOLIDAY FIX UP which will air on Lifetime December 11th. When Sam (Jana Kramer), the designer behind a popular home renovation show, returns to her hometown during the holidays to help renovate the Bell Harbor Inn, she gets paired with Coop (Ryan McPartlin) as her lead contractor. The only problem – he’s the guy who broke her heart and she’s the one who got away. Sparks fly as they work closely to get the renovations done in time for the inn’s annual Christmas Eve Harborfest. Will they be able to fix the mistakes of their past to build a future together? Maria Menounos also stars.
If you were worried we won't be seeing our baby boo Sihtric on the small screens after The Last Kingdom ends next year on Netflix, worry no more:
Arnas Fedaravicius will play a soldier
Arnas Fedaravicius has just joined the second season of another epic series THE WHEEL OF TIME together with Guy Roberts and Da Vinci's Demons' Gregg Chillin! The series follows Moiraine (Rosamund Pike), a member of the incredibly powerful all female organization called the Aes Sedai, who embarks on a dangerous, world spanning journey with five young men and women, one of whom is prophesied to be the Dragon Reborn, who will either save or destroy humanity. Guy Roberts will play Uno Nomesta, a gruff one eyed soldier and tracker who serves Lord Agelmar, while Arnas
Gregg Chillin will be a new lord in season two
Fedaravicius
will be Masema, a quiet and intense warrior who also serves Lord Agelmar. Gregg Chillin portrays Ingtar Shinowa, a lord and soldier from war ravaged lands.
Thomas Chaanhing guest stars as Lord Agelmar himself, and Sandra Yi Sencindiver as Lady Amalisa.
SANDITON SEASON 2
TAKE A LOOK AT THE BOYS
Well, you all know I thought the first season was embarrassingly bad, but the reason I will give the second one a go are the new boys in the cast and today
Ben Lloyd Hughes is lord Colbourne
you can feast your eyes on them and let us just say: even though Theo James and Leo Suter have left the town of SANDITON, there will be some nice gents to fill up their breeches, mainly our dearest Tom Weston Jones alongside Ben Lloyd Hughes. Starting next March, the six new episodes of ITV and Masterpiece PBS drama pick up nine months after the events of Season 1, as Charlotte returns to the beautiful seaside resort and soon attracts the attention of not one, but two new men. Tom Weston Jones will be Colonel Francis Lennox, the leader of the military regiment taking up residence in Sanditon, who soon shows that first impressions aren’t everything, and next to him in the photo are Captain Declan Fraser (Frank
Maxim Ays, Tom Weston Jones and Frank Blake
Blake) and Captain William Carter (Maxim Ays), who both strike up an acquaintance with Charlotte’s younger sister Alison. Ben Lloyd Hughes will play Alexander Colbourne, a man of wealth who is thoughtful, cerebral, and
Alexander Vlahos will be Charles Lockhart in season two
antisocial to the point of reclusiveness! Meanwhile, Alexander Vlahos will play enigmatic and worldly Charles Lockhart, a Byronic artist, lover, critic, and explorer in equal measures!
Premiering at London Film Festival and then January 21st on Netflix is new war drama movie MUNICH: THE EDGE OF WAR for which today I can show you the first trailer which features a rather strong cast
Munich will stream this January!
indeed: our favourite German superstar wildly charismatic Jannis Niewöhner, George MacKay and Jeremy Irons! Based on a novel by Robert Harris, the film is set in Autumn, 1938: once again Europe is on the brink of war as Hitler eyes the nation of Czechoslovakia for his expansion of Nazi Germany. In Britain, the Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain (Jeremy Irons), is desperately seeking a peaceful resolution to the conflict, in the hope to avoid a catastrophic war.
Meanwhile, a British civil servant, Hugh Legat (George Mackay), and the German diplomat Paul von Hartmann (Jannis Niewöhner), travel to
Our beloved Jannis Niewohner takes the lead role
the Munich conference. Political Subterfuge threatens to
destroy any hope of peace, as the pair face real danger while the eyes
of the world are watching, in the hopes war will be averted. Jessica Brown Findlay plays Legat's wife.
SAVE THE CINEMA TRAILER
WITH SAMANTHA MORTON
Sky has sent us the trailer for their original movie SAVE THE CINEMA starring Samantha Morton, Jonathan Pryce and Tom Felton in the story of Liz Evans, who lives in Carmarthen South West Wales, and starts a
Save the Cinema will in cinemas and Sky Cinema
campaign in the 90s to save the local Cinema. With the help of a local politician they get Steven Spielberg to show a premiere of Jurassic Park at the Lyric in a bid to Save the Cinema.
RAISED BY WOLVES SF SERIES
SEASON TWO TRAILER!
HBO has released first trailer for the second season of their wildly crazy sf series RAISED BY WOLVES which arrives February 3rd to HBO Max. In season two Android partners Mother (Amanda Collin) and Father (Abubakar Salim), along with their brood of six human children, join a
The second season arrives this February
newly formed atheistic colony in Kepler 22 b’s mysterious tropical zone. But navigating this strange new society is only the start of their troubles as Mother’s “natural child” threatens to drive what little remains of the human race to extinction.
Ich will tell you an eine kleine secret, my lieblings spylings, so listen very carefully - I spy with my little eye that the highlight of this year's festive television programmes won't be some cute and cosy little British series or
Sisi will be the highlight of holiday programmes
some of them sweet Hallmark movie lemonades, but a six part German saga SISI. Why, you may ask? Because it will air these holidays in the larger part of Europe. As of December 12th it will stream on RTL PLus in Germany and air on France television, and after the streaming premiere it will also air on regular mothership channel RTL on December 28th, 29th and 30th and also on Austrian national broadcaster ORF. Before that, from December 26th it will start airing on Epic Drama Serbia and in all other Balkan countries that
Dominique Devenport plays Empress Sisi in the series
have that channel on their cable systems. And it might air in some other countries too, like Hungary, Slovakia etc, but I'm not informed currently. So there you go, most of Europe will enjoy young Sisi's road to become one of
Jannik Schumann is Austrian emperor Franz Joseph
Austria's most famous empresses after hunting down one of Europe's most eligible imperial bachelors Franz Joseph. If the show turns out nice and you find yourself wanting for more, don't forget that Netflix will stream their own
The series will air in six episodes or in three two hourlong ones
Sisi series The Empress sometime next spring and that we also have Corsage movie coming up with Vicki Krieps playing the empress in her later years when, superficial and vain, she couldn't really handle the fact she was getting old so she started using all kinds of insane cosmetics treatments while calming her imperial nerves with bad old cocaine. That pretty much turned her into Europe's original rock star after her death and the legend of her beauty and vanity resulted in merchandise about her selling like hot cakes at the end of the 19th century.
SISI THE SERIES
tells the love story of two young people between personal
desires and political constraints. How do they bring power, feelings and
political duties together?
Sisi starts airing December 12th
Elisabeth of Austria-Hungary, who is called
Sisi (Dominique Devenport), is considered to be the most beautiful woman in Europe. She defies
courtly customs and uses her popularity for her ideals. Her partner,
Franz Joseph I (Jannik Schuman), feels the weight of the crown and finds an unusual ally
in Sisi.The series tells of the dichotomy between personal desires and
political pressures, between power and vulnerability of an extraordinary
woman. Duchess Elisabeth in Bavaria, called Sisi, is a carefree
teenager who falls head over heels in love with a man who is powerful,
attractive and
The series was shot earlier this year on locations around Europe
desirable - but also has a dark and dangerous side: Franz
Joseph I, Emperor of Austria. Sisi rises to the challenge and develops
from a Bavarian girl to a self-confident, adult empress. But on her way,
Sisi has to learn to make difficult decisions, to deal with loss and to
play an independent role as a modern empress.
EUROPEAN LOCATIONS The drama series is a modern retelling of the subject of the Empress of Austria-Hungary, which has already been adapted many times. The version is based on historical events and shows Sisi as a complex personality from heryouth. It was shot in various European locations to capture the historical flair. These include the old town of Riga, the Latvian capital, and Lithuania's capital Vilnius, which stand for historical Vienna. In Vilnius, for example, the
Julia Stemberger,Marcus Grusser,Pauline Renevier as Sisi's family
National Philharmonic and Vilnius University acted as filming locations, which can be seen in the series as the Vienna Hofburg. German locations can also be found in the series: scenes were filmed in Würzburg's residence and in Berchtesgadener Land in Bavaria. The quarry north of Zill, the
Giovanni Funiati,David Korbmann,Yasmani Stambader also star
Schwarzbachalm and the Höglwörther lake with the monastery on the shore served as the backdrop. The four-month filming time also took the Sisi production team to locations in Austria and Hungary's capital Budapest, where Sisi spent many years of her life at Gödöllő Castle.
In period set movie department today we have first poster and photos from Italian historical drama THE MUTE MAN OF SARDINIA (Il Muto di Gallura) from Matteo Fresi, a sophisticated western set in Sardinia in 1850 which explores an historic family feud and is currently competing over at the 39th Torino Film Festival starring Romulus' star Andrea Arcangeli. In the true life story about the feud between the Vasa and Mamia families, which caused the deaths of more than 70 people in mid-19th century Sardinia, he
Andrea Arcangeli takes the lead role in this movie
plays deaf and mute Bastiano Tansu, who – mistreated and marginalized all his life – turned into a feared assassin, driven into a killing frenzy following
The film is currently competing over at Turin Film Festival
his brother’s murder. Back in 1884 Enrico Costa wrote a book about this story famous in its region but not so much in the rest of Italy.
1883 SERIES TRAILER
WITH TIM MCGRAW & faith hill
Paramount TV has released first longer trailer for their new series 1883 which arrives to the small screens December 19th! The prequel to
Tim McGraw takes the lead role of the head of the Duttons
Yelllowstone, starring Tim McGraw and his real life wife Faith Hill, follows the Dutton family who embarks on a journey west of the Great Plains to the
Faith Hill takes the lead female role in the new series
last untouched fort of America. This is a clear indication of western expansion and the promised land of America. A thorough study of a family fleeing
The series starts December 19th on Paramount Network
poverty to seek a better future in Montana! Billy Bob Thornton also stars as a marshall. Taylor Sheridan created series will air in ten episodes this winter.
The four part mini series on the last emperor of Mexico has found its writer at High End productions: as Deadline reports William Boyd will pen the
The series will be done in four episodes
$20 million epic series MAXI MILIAN AND CARLOTTA on the tragic life of Emperor Maximilian of Mexico and his wife Charlotte of Belgium, which will start shooting next year in Austria, Northern Italy, France and Mexico! The young Hapsburg, who was Kaiser Franz Josef’s brother, and his Belgian princess allowed themselves to be persuaded by Napoleon III to sail to the other end of the world in 1864. They sought to do justice to both their own progressive ideals and the political interests of the major European powers as rulers of the Mexican people and were used as political pawns in European colonial politics.
THE CHRISTIE AFFAIR
MINI SERIES ON AGATHA
The book hasn't been released yet
Miramax TV will create a mini TV series out of Nina de Gramont's upcoming book THE CHRISTIE AFFAIR about Agatha's legendary 11 day disappearance. In 1926, when her husband’s affair became public, Agatha Christie vanished for eleven days. This reimagining is told through the eyes of her husband’s mistress, Nan O’Dea (a fictionalized version of his real-life paramour, Nancy Neele). Agatha and Nan transform from competitors to unlikely allies while the world around them remains cloaked in the dark, unable to grasp the complexities of each woman’s relationship to her past and her female identity. The series will mostly be set in the beautiful and historic British spa town of Harrogate.
If you were wondering what will air on UK TV these holidays other than Around the World in 80 Days and The Tourist over at BBC, we're here to inform you: Channel 5 will traditionally air festive episode of ALL
Channel 5 is bringing us festive All Creatures episode
CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL on Christmas Eve December 24th! In the Christmas special, it’s Christmas in Darrowby, and Helen and James (Nicholas Ralph) realise they haven’t agreed on where they’re spending
Tristan and Siegfried will be donning some fine looking costumes
Christmas Day. Mrs Hall (Anna Medeley) is expecting them at Skeldale and Jenny is expecting them at Heston Grange, and the pair are reluctant to disappoint either of them. When a beloved local pet is taken seriously ill,
Season two has aired on Channel 5 earlier this Autumn
Siegfried (Samuel West) has to bring it into the practice for emergency treatment. In the face of such an emergency, Helen ends up feeling like a spare part at the Skeldale Christmas party! Tristan (Callum Woodhouse) learns
Will Thorp might be Mrs Hall's new love interest
that it might be time to take himself more seriously and reveals some important news, while a card from James’s father asking him to phone them on Christmas Day leaves James on tenterhooks about whether he can make amends with his family.
HOLIDAYS WITH THE LARKINS
BBC's
biggest rival ITV has decided to take us to the idyllic Kent
countryside village on
Christmas, December 25th, where THE LARKINS family live in the 1950s, and this will be a holiday special episode of
the series that just ended its first season run on ITV. In the holiday
special, Mariette and
ITV will season their Christmas with some Larkins' fun
Charley take their love to the next level and Pop
(Bradley Walsh) and Ma (Joanna Scanlan) are overjoyed to have the pair
back for Christmas, but when Charley’s parents arrive to meet the Larkin
clan, and the entire village is left without lighting and heating
following a power cut, chaos descends on the Larkins farm.
THE AMAZING MISTER BLUNDEN
Sky will, meanwhile, regal us on Christmas Eve with their TV movie THE AMAZING MR BLUNDEN in which the Christmas adventure arrives for London teenagers Jamie and Lucy Allen in the form of a mysterious old man,
We are waiting for Amazing Mr Blunden trailer from Sky
Mr Blunden, who offers their mum the opportunity to become the caretaker of a ruined country house – one that’s said to be haunted. Within its neglected, overgrown grounds, Jamie and Lucy have an encounter with what appears to be a pair of ghost children. Simon Callow, Mark Gatiss, Tamsin Greig star.
Apple TV + is joining Alfonso Cuaron in producing new mini series DISCLAIMER which he also wrote and will direct and they've cast Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline as leads. Blanchett plays Catherine Ravenscroft, a successful and respected television documentary journalist whose work has
Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline will take the lead roles
been built on revealing the concealed transgressions of long respected institutions. When an intriguing novel written by a widower, played by Kline, appears on her bedside table, she is horrified to realize she is a key character in a story that she had hoped was long buried in the past. A story that reveals her darkest secret. A secret she thought was hers alone.
THE TOURIST TRAILER
STARRING JAMIE DORNAN
The series will also stream on HBO Max in March
BBC has released a trailer for Jamie Dornan's new thriller TV series THE TOURIST which debuts on BBC One January 1st. It will also air on HBO Max later next year. In the miniseries, a British man finds himself in the glowing red heart of the Australian outback being pursued by a vast tank truck trying to drive him off the road. An epic cat and mouse chase unfolds and the man later wakes in hospital, hurt, but somehow alive. Except he has no idea who he is. With merciless figures from his past pursuing him, The Man’s search for answers propels him through the vast and unforgiving outback. Full of shocking, surprising, funny
Jamie Dornan plays the lead role in the six part series
and brutal turns, this six episode drama is set in a world populated by quirky, enigmatic characters and off-beat comedy punctuates high-stakes action.
We have been mentioning her often lately, first for The Pact movie that follows later years in the life of famous Danish writer Karen Blixen, and then
Connie Nielsen will take the lead role
because her book Ehrengard will be turned into a movie, but now we have news that after Meryl Streep who played her in Out of Africa, now Connie Nielsen will play Karen Blixen in six part mini TV series THE DREAMER - BECOMING KAREN BLIXEN for Nordic streamer Viaplay. The series which has been shot already and is now, as Screen Daily reports, in post production, has the story set in the 1930s, and follows the author’s return to Denmark after many years in East Africa. Penniless, sick and divorced, the series depicts her journey from this point to becoming a renowned writer. The series will air next year and will be sold internationally as well.
VIKINGS VALHALLA
GETS NETFLIX AIRING DATE
In other news from the period set genre, Netflix has revealed streaming dates for some of their new series coming up next year and among them is the
The first of the three ordered seasons will have eight episodes
long awaited historical adventure from Michael Hirst VIKINGSsequelVALHALLA which will bring Vikings to the streamer February 25th. They've
Leo Suter, right, leads the new Vikings Valhalla series
also given us some new photos from the new saga that has already finished shooting second season and will, set in the early 1200s, a 100 years after the
Sam Corlett is famous Leiff Eriksson in the new series
original series, follow famous warriors and kings Leif Eriksson, Freydis Eriksdotter, and Harald Sigurdsson as they fight for survival and glory. Our dearest boy Leo Suter, Sam Corlett and our beloved David Oakes lead the
Leo Suter is famous king Harald Sigursson in the series
cast. Netflix has also confirmed that THE WITCHER: BLOOD ORIGIN will also arrive sometime next year.
1200 years before the world of The Witcher: Blood Origin - we visit the creation of the first prototype Witcher, and the
The series already has shot and produced second season
events that lead to the pivotal conjunction of the spheres, when the worlds of monsters, men, and elves merged to become one.
years when, superficial and vain, she couldn't really handle the fact she was getting old so she started using all kinds of insane cosmetics treatments while calming her imperial nerves with bad old cocaine. That pretty much turned 
her into Europe's original rock star after her death and the legend of her beauty and vanity resulted in merchandise about her selling like hot cakes at the end of the 19th century.
confident, adult empress. But on her way,
Sisi has to learn to make difficult decisions, to deal with loss and to
play an independent role as a modern empress. 
youth. It was shot in various European locations to capture the historical flair. These include the old town of Riga, the Latvian capital, and Lithuania's capital Vilnius, which stand for historical Vienna. In Vilnius, for example, the
also be found in the series: scenes were filmed in Würzburg's residence and in Berchtesgadener Land in Bavaria. The quarry north of Zill, the 
production team to locations in Austria and Hungary's capital Budapest, where Sisi spent many years of her life at Gödöllő Castle.
