ITV Drama

Downton Abbey Series 5 Launch: Q&A

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THE opening titles and theme music remain reassuringly unchanged.

Unlike the world around Downton Abbey.

It’s 1924 with a Labour government in Britain for the first time in history.

Lord Granthan (Hugh Bonneville) is convinced this threatens the Downton way of life as never before with that modern world continuing to encroach on the family.

I attended the London launch today of Downton Abbey series five – eight episodes plus a Christmas special, all written by Julian Fellowes.

Due on screen in the UK next month and in the USA in January.

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Prey: Interviews

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“IT was a very physical role, lots of running, hanging off bridges and climbing fences, hard work.

“But I must say I absolutely loved it.”

John Simm talking about his lead role as Det Sgt Marcus Farrow in Prey, a three-part ITV thriller written by Chris Lunt.

I spoke to John on location during filming on a cold and wet day at the start of January.

And again later when he had returned from making the first episodes of Intruders in Vancouver and was about to begin work on The Village 2.

While Chris and I chatted at ITV’s new Trafford / Media City HQ on January 6 – the official first day in that site’s history after the move from Quay Street in Manchester.

A fresh and exciting TV writer – currently bound for Hollywood – at the dawn of a new era for ITV in the North West.

You can read my interviews via the link to the ITV press pack / production notes below.

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Mr Selfridge 2: Interviews

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JEREMY Piven has plenty in store for viewers when he returns tonight in Mr Selfridge.

I was delighted to be asked by ITV to write the cast interviews for this 10-part second series.

Having also done the same for the opening season.

And on the first of a number of visits back to the Mr Selfridge set in London last year it was immediately clear the bar has been raised.

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Farewell Roger Lloyd Pack

As Owen Nevitt in The Vicar of Dibley 1994.
As Owen Newitt in The Vicar of Dibley 1994.

The death of Roger Lloyd Pack last night is a great loss.

He will, of course, be remembered in headlines as Trigger in Only Fools And Horses and Owen in The Vicar of Dibley.

But as many have already pointed out, his TV, film and stage career encompassed a huge variety of roles.

Including a truly extraordinary performance in a two-hour ITV drama called What We Did On Our Holiday, screened in October 2006.

It made a big impact at the time and still resonates today.

My 2006 feature on Roger is below.

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The Bletchley Circle 2: Interviews

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“I gather there was a lot of excitement online.

“We trended on Twitter as #ladynerds – which I love.

“Bletchley and these girls represent everything that is brilliant about Britain.

“They’re eccentric, non-conformist and think outside the box.”

Rachael Stirling talking to me about series one of The Bletchley Circle and reprising her role as Millie in the second series.

Which begins on ITV at 9pm on Monday (January 6).

I was delighted to be asked to write the cast interviews for the new series, as I had done for the first one.

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Lucan: Interviews

Rory Kinnear as Lord Lucan.
Rory Kinnear as Lord Lucan.

“THERE are an awful lot of things that are plausible and just a few things that are probable.”

Rory Kinnear talking to me about new two-part ITV drama Lucan, which tells a story most will not know.

He plays the Lord who created a headline-grabbing mystery after murdering his children’s nanny Sandra Rivett (Leanne Best).

Having mistaken her in a darkened basement kitchen for his wife Lady Lucan (Catherine McCormack).

And then vanishing – never to be seen again.

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Breathless: Interviews

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Perfect lives built on lies.

Breathless is a six-part ITV drama starting at 9pm this Thursday (October 10).

Set in 1961, it is stylish, compelling and one of the best new drama series you will see this year.

The cast – led by Jack Davenport – doing full justice to top class writing, directing and photography.

Not forgetting the production team behind some memorable costumes, sets, locations and all round attention to period detail and feel.

Or the Anne Dudley soundtrack and a collection of inspired episode music choices.

Drawing you into a pre-swinging sixties’ world where everything may not be as it first seems.

I was asked to write the interviews for ITV’s press pack / production notes.

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Downton Abbey Series 4: Ray of Light

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THE big house is in pitch black gloomy darkness.

Aside from one solitary light in a top floor window.

Downton Abbey series four, episode one.

It is 1922 and six months on from the death of Matthew Crawley (Dan Stevens).

His baby son George is crying in the nursery.

Somewhere else in the house Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) lies awake in bed.

Night turns to day and an early morning mist cloaks the trees on the Downton estate.

As a specially composed variation of Downton Abbey’s opening titles music heralds the new 2013 series.

Or the 2014 season – from January 5 – if you’re watching in America.

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Love And Marriage Q&A 2

Graeme Hawley and Zoe Telford as Martin and Michelle.
Graeme Hawley and Zoe Telford as Martin and Michelle.

IT starts on ITV at 9pm tonight (Wed June 5).

And comes recommended.

Presuming you have already read the background at:

Love And Marriage: Q&A 1

…here, as promised, is my transcript of the second Q&A at the London press launch.

With all the remaining main cast members, aside from Ashley Jensen (Sarah) who did not attend.

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Love And Marriage: Q&A 1

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“DO not go gentle into that good night.”

There’s no drifting away in new TV drama series Love And Marriage.

The six part serial follows three generations of the Paradise family and has every chance of becoming another drama hit for ITV.

Written by Stewart Harcourt and directed by Debbie Isitt and Roger Goldby, it begins with Pauline Paradise (Alison Steadman) retiring from her job as a school lollipop lady.

She’s married to ‘Silent Ken’ (Duncan Preston) – a man of few words and, it appears, even fewer to say to his wife after 41 years of marriage.

As Alison Steadman explained at the press launch: “They forget to look and see the other person.”

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