The Last Weekend w/ Rupert Penry-Jones & Shaun Evans
Not that I’m being greedy or anything, but with all the particulars that are involved in ITV1’s announcement Monday both in front of and behind the camera, I need to see this now…and it needs to be a part of PBS’ Masterpiece series.
The upcoming ITV1 commissioning of Blake Morrison’s best-selling suspense thriller, The Last Weekend, will star Rupert Penry-Jones, Shaun Evans, Genevieve O’Reilly and Claire Keelan. PBS viewers in the States will immediately be familiar with the extraordinary talents of Penry-Jones from his efforts in Persuasion, 39 Steps and Spooks while waiting to experience what UK audiences already know in the talents of Shaun Evans in Endeavor, coming up later this summer on PBS’ Masterpiece series. Both sides of the pond should not forget Penry-Jones’ brilliant work in Whitechapel either.
According to ITV Press Centre official press release, Carnival Films, one of the leading independent producers in the UK of programs quite familiar to both UK audiences and PBS audiences in the States (i.e. Downton Abbey, Rosemary & Thyme, Agatha Christie’s Poirot, Whitechapel), have secured the talents of writer Mick Ford (Ashes to Ashes, Single Father,George Gently) to adapt the Morrison’s compelling thriller.
The release goes on to quote Executive Producer, Sally Woodward Gentle as saying, “The Last Weekend is a brilliantly written, evocative portrayal of modern male jealousy. Superbly crafted and tightly structured, Mick has brought Morrison’s claustrophobic thriller to life with exquisite menace”.
I don’t know about you, but using the words ‘claustrophobic thriller’ and ‘exquisite menace’ along with ITV’s promise of a horrendous and catastrophic outcome for all set amongst oppressive weather and dormant sexual tensions, they had me just by naming those in front of and behind the camera.
Can’t wait.
