British comedy scattershooting – Sherlock, Frankenstein, Alan Partridge and more…
Lots to follow-up on with respect to recent posts, comments from the tellyspotting mailbag, rumors swirling around on the Internets and questions from the voices in my head these days. While this might not be the equivalent of Anything You Ever Wanted to Know, hopefully, it will be close to a This May Be All I Found, But Something Will Be of Interest post today.
1. Alan Partridge’s Mid Morning Matters – I wish it would
– As we recently reported, Mid Morning Matters was set to “premiere” on Thursday as a web-based series of 12-13 minute features as part of the Australian beer giant, Fosters, Fall funny campaign. Not sure if anyone else tried to watch on Thursday or not, but if you did, you were greeted with a quite tasteful graphic that very politely stated,
“This video contains content from Fosters, who has blocked it
in your country on copyright grounds”
My immediate thought was, “Hey, Fosters, what’s up with this?” and the other, after a weak moment of putting the Alan Partridge return ahead of Conan’s return on Monday (and, after being shown the error of my ways on Twitter by loyal follower, Jessica), I see the light and am now a full-fledged member of TeamCoco and can’t wait for Monday. I publicly apologize, Jessica.
2. Suffering from Sherlock separation anxiety?
– Fear not! For those that don’t know, a second set of the brilliantly updated Steven Moffat/Mark Gatiss Sherlock series, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman has been commissioned and is “in-production”. If you can’t wait until late 2011 for it to premiere, we found the next best thing. Seems as though Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock) has just signed on to co-star in Frankenstein alongside Jonny Lee Miller (Trainspotting) taking on alternate roles as both the mad scientist and his creation in London’s National Theatre production of the Mary Shelley 1918 horror classic will be directed by Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) and will begin in February 2011.
3. Not so fast, Red Dwarf fans
– much like the old Mark Twain quote about the rumors of his death being greatly exaggerated, the rumors of a fully commissioned new season of the British comedy are just that, rumors. A simple tweet by the great Doug Naylor, co-creator/co-writer of Red Dwarf, along with Rob Grant, earlier today said “Sorry, not true. If it happens, you’ll hear it here first“. If you want first hand notification if, and when, this happens, you can follow Doug here @DougRDNaylor.
4. Stephen Fry abandons Twitter – again
– Surprise! Stephen Fry’s latest Twitter abandonment due to his being misquoted in The Observer, lasted almost a day. Might be a record. Fortunately, Mrs. Stephen Fry, the wife you never knew he had, did defend his honor in The Guardian.
5. Hugh Laurie lends voice to new Wallace & Gromit flick
– slated for release late November 2011, the new Aardman Animations W&G film, Arthur Christmas, has just added not only Hugh Laurie to that stellar voice cast, but also Bill Nighy, Jim Broadbent and James McAvoy. The stamps that were released on Tuesday were one thing, but I really can’t wait for this.
Keep the comments coming. Feel free to contact us at any time if you have a question, comment or take on anything concerning “all-things British”. Until next time….
