Upstart Crow, the BBC2 comedy starring David Mitchell as William Shakespeare, will return later this year for a second series with several new cast members in tow. Emma Thompson (Brideshead Revisited, Love Actually, Harry Potter, Howards End, Fortunes of War) and Noel Fielding (The Mighty Boosh) are joining the cast of Upstart Crow. Thompson will […]
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The ultimate BBC satire about itself is back…almost. The greatness of Hugh Bonneville and Jessica Hynes will be returning later this year in the brilliant W1A as filming is set to being next month and will, once again, follow nightmare PR Siobhan Sharpe (Hynes) as well as Ian Fletcher (Bonneville) and his team during and post […]
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Fasten your seatbelts, America, the British sitcom, Raised by Wolves, starring Rebekah Staton (Ordinary Lies), Philip Jackson (Poirot, Robin of Sherwood), Helen Monks (The Archers, Holby City, Upstart Crow) and Alexa Davies (The Detectorists) is headed to the States. The critically-acclaimed series ran the gamut of being called ‘refreshingly honest’ to ‘a bloody mess’ by […]
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Gorden Kaye, who played cafe owner René Artois in the BBC sitcom, ‘Allo, ‘Allo, died yesterday at a care home facility at the age of 75. Set in the occupied portion of France during World War II, ‘Allo, ‘Allo tells the story of Artois, a small-town French café owner in German-occupied France, who spends his time juggling […]
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There are several new British comedies headed to a number of public television stations over the course of the next few months. Having touched briefly on both Still Open All Hours and W1A, we turn our attention to Ordinary Lies, a series that starts a bit slow, can be a bit gripping at times but is, ultimately, brilliant […]
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I may be in the minority here, but one of my most favorite British situation comedies of all-time is Open All Hours. Written by Roy Clarke (Last of the Summer Wine, Keeping Up Appearances) and starring comedy legends Ronnie Barker and David Jason, Open All Hours ‘premiered’ in 1973 as a last-minute addition to Barker’s comedy anthology series, Seven […]
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There is definitely something in the water when it comes to British actors that places them a cut above their American counterparts as it relates to stage and screen. Some point to the ‘formal’ theater training that makes them more than capable to handle both the most serious role one week and a drop-dead comedic […]
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2016 has stuck once again as beloved British actress Liz Smith, best known for role as the brandy-loving grandmother Norma Jean Speakman, a.k.a. Nana, in Royle Family, passed away on Christmas Eve at the age of 95. Smith’s career spanned more than four decades and included a supporting appearance in Peter Sellers’s Pink Panther movies as well as […]
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This 1968 gem from a pre-Monty Python’s Flying Circus’ Terry Gilliam is what the internet was made for. In those early days, Gilliam was kicking around London, working as an animator. He was asked to put together an animated segment for a Christmas show, so he hopped over to the Tate and photocopied a bunch of Victorian Christmas […]
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While 2016 has not been particularly kind when it comes to those we have lost (David Bowie, Prince, Gene Wilder, Alan Rickman, Gary Shandling, Muhammed Ali and Robert Vaughn, to name a few), it has been a banner year from a telly standpoint. The year started off with the Sherlock one-off, “The Abominable Bride”, followed by the […]
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