OBSESSED? Never. OK, I’ll confess to watching the first episode in the new series five times, and the next three at least twice each.
And where will I be at 9pm next Tuesday? Do you even need to ask? Is there a Life On Mars counselling line?
There’s another news story on the series in today’s MEN. You can read the online version here, along with yesterday’s latest features here and here, plus a longer chat to John Simm here.
Not all of the copy made it into today’s paper. For example:
Copies of a spoof booklet from North West District CID – The Rules Of Modern Policing 1973 Edition – are also being traded on eBay, after thousands of free copies were snapped up at cinemas across the country.
Author: ianwylie
SOMEONE asked me yesterday to list my favourite interviewees. It’s an impossible question.
You can mention the likes of Robbie Coltrane, Helen Mirren, Michael Palin, Amanda Holden, Alun Armstrong and Ray Winstone.
But the list could stretch to hundreds – not all of them famous.
It’s also a particular pleasure to interview an unknown young actor heading for their first taste of TV stardom.
The likes, for example, of Swinton’s Rob James-Collier, who has proved such a hit as factory boss Liam Connor in Coronation Street.
WHATEVER happened to Coronation Street’s Jamie Armstrong?
The schoolboy star of Weatherfield between 1994 and 1997, he was the Chesney of his day.
Jamie, played by Chorley-raised actor Joseph Gilgun, hasn’t been seen since he, mum Tricia (Tracy Brabin) and baby Brad left the cobbles behind for a new life.
The man who took them away was decorator Ray Thorpe, played by Chris Walker – who also appeared in Corrie last year as Ed, the reformed killer of Emily Bishop’s husband Ernest.
EARLY Doors star John Henshaw was on very good form at the launch of Confessions of a Diary Secretary.
The saucy ITV1 comedy drama was screened yesterday at The Hospital in Covent Garden, followed by interviews with the cast, writer and production team.
It tells the story of the two-year affair between Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and his diary secretary Tracey Temple.
Manchester-born John wears a £1,000 hand-knitted wig in the Whitehall farce, which will be screened on February 28.
THE story of how Oscar nominee Dame Judi Dench is to star in an £8m costume drama set in Cheshire could probably make a series all of its own.
It was confirmed around this time yesterday that Dame Judi is to play the lead role of Miss Matty Jenkyns in five part BBC1 serial Cranford Chronicles.
Based on three novels by Manchester Victorian author Elizabeth Gaskell, the project was originally postponed in 2005 amid claims of BBC budget cuts.
The “witty and poignant landmark drama”, to be made by the BBC and American TV company WGBH, is based on Mrs Gaskell’s childhood memories of growing up in Knutsford.
One of the main driving forces behind Cranford Chronicles is the producer, Knutsford-born Sue Birtwistle, who also worked on the 1999 adaptation of Mrs Gaskell’s novel Wives and Daughters, and global BBC1 hit Pride and Prejudice.
Sue explains: “Five years ago, I made a wish: to be allowed to conjure an entirely new drama out of three Elizabeth Gaskell novels and to persuade Judi Dench to play Miss Matty. Dream come true.”
SO much to report about the final series of Life On Mars.
Interviews and background material, all held for several months until the Manchester drama returns to the screen.
Now there’s just 14 days to go before Sam (John Simm), Gene (Philip Glenister) and the rest of the A-Division team are back on BBC1.
The first feature on the second series is in today’s MEN – click here for the online version.
There’s more from that interview with John to come, along with others, including Phil, Liz White (Annie) and Marshall Lancaster (Chris).
SO there we were, watching a preview of a new TV drama at ITV Network Centre in London.
Written by At Home With The Braithwaites creator Sally Wainwright, the first episode of Bonkers lives up to its title.
Even so, prepared as I am for most things, I have to admit I didn’t see a certain twist coming.
It involves a film star called Felix Nash and something rather strange.
HE was the leader who inspired a television generation in Granada’s glory days at Hollywood-on-Irwell.
David Plowright liked a good party – and he would have loved the one thrown in his honour last night.
The former Granada chairman, who died last August at the age of 75, was remembered at the London Television Studios on the South Bank.
It was a moving and uplifting event, full of tributes.
And with new ITV executive chairman Michael Grade the last to speak, it also stirred the very soul of British television.
LIFE on Mars star Philip Glenister wanted to take it home to speed up the weekly shop.
John Simm was frustrated he never got to play with it.
A bottle of Old Spice in the glove box, David Bowie playing on the radio and a screeching sound coming from the tyres?
Yes, we’re talking about the real star of the award-winning Manchester drama, which is to be auctioned for charity.
IT’S the best-selling show heading for a heart-stopping climax.
The return of Life On Mars is now just a matter of weeks away, with eight hotly-anticipated episodes ready to roll.
A viral marketing campaign has already begun and TV trails start on BBC1 this Saturday.
Fans will know how Sam Tyler (John Simm) and Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister) were transformed into puppets for a surreal sequence in episode five.
Life of Wylie 