Photo courtesy: PBS Masterpiece and Playground Based on the novels by Georges Simenon, the first contemporary television adaptation of Georges Simenon’s beloved novels about the streetwise Parisian Chief Inspector (Police Judiciaire detective Commissaire) Jules Maigret has gone into production in Budapest which, once again, doubles for post-WWII France. According to Masterpiece and Playground, the Golden Globe […]
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To mark the 40th anniversary of one of the most iconic of British comedy series, a painting was placed in Audley End House in Essex recently. Orchestrated by UK TV’s Gold, the carefully commissioned portrait achieved its purpose as visitors who stumbled across the oil painting hanging in the Great Hall of the historic Jacobean […]
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Let me just go ahead and start with the following observation and get it out of the way. There’s NO WAY Blackadder is 40 years old, is there? As the series ran from 1983-1989, 2023 marks the 40th anniversary of the Richard Curtis/Rowan Atkinson/Ben Elton series so, it must be so. To celebrate, UK’s Gold Channel […]
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Fresh off a successful return to telly as part of last months Red Nose Day, Sir Tony Robinson is teasing a possible return by suggesting a Blackadder linked project is ‘in the works’. While this doesn’t quite fall into the ‘I’ll believe it when I see it’ category given the endless rumors that have surrounded a possible return of Blackadder over the years, I do find myself cautiously optimistic even though it doesn’t appear that Rowan Atkinson is involved.
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While there have been endless rumors over the years of a Blackadder re-boot, it seems as though the most recent idea flooding the Internets of a Blackadder reunion for this years Red Nose Day might actually have legs. Unfortunately, however, it appears that this ‘reunion’ will be sans Rowan Atkinson and may feature only Tony Robinson as Baldrick. With director […]
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Rowan Atkinson turned 68 on Friday. From this end, all we can do is wish him a very Happy Belated Birthday. All he’s done is give the world the gift of laughter over the years beginning with Not the Nine O’Clock News, then Blackadder, Mr. Bean and, finally, The Thin Blue Line. Stops along the […]
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The Christmas gift-giving season will get started a bit early this year as over the next few months, a number of PBS stations across the country will be giving viewers an early comedic gift of Happy Birthday Mr. Bean, a celebratory documentary looking back at the thirty years since comedy legend Mr Bean landed on our screens. […]
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Only the brilliant comedic genius that is Rowan Atkinson could build antcipation for an entire comedy series around one man’s fight with….a bee! When the former star/co-creator of such British comedy classics such as Mr. Bean and Blackadder is given a platform to showcase his physical comedy capabilities, it does spell the potential for comedy gold. In Man vs. Bee, […]
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Full disclosure. Re-makes tend to scare me, whether it’s big or small screen. Pre-Endeavour, prequels used to scare me too. Neither really ever came close to meeting expectations based on the original until Shaun Evans brought a young Detective Constable Endeavour Morse to life during his early career with the Oxford City Police CID.
While I’m reserving judgement on an announced 2023 release of Wonka, given it will be really hard to touch Gene Wilder’s definitive 1971 portrayal of the iconic children’s literary character, recent announcements as to casting may just have me looking forward to this one.
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Most fans of any television series are satisfied enough to just buy the entire series on DVD. Some may visit the town where a favorite series was filmed such as Port Isaac (Doc Martin), Holmfirth (Last of the Summer Wine) or, on my personal bucket list travel destination, Portmeirion (The Prisoner). For some lucky buyer, Edmund Ramsdale took his love of a certain British comedy series to not just the next level but far beyond that.
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