Martin Compston: new 'Marple' film role

'Marple': New ITV film
Fresh Meat's Kimberley Nixon and ex-Busted musician Matt Willis have won roles in ITV's latest Marple film. Greenshaw's Folly will also star Martin Compston (Line of Duty), Fiona Shaw (True Blood), Sam Reid (Spooks) opposite Julia McKenzie as Miss Marple.

Completing the cast lineup are Robert Glenister (Hustle), Julia Sawalha (Absolutely Fabulous), Rufus Jones (Hunderby), Judy Parfitt (Call the Midwife), John Gordon Sinclair (Gregory's Girl) and Jim Moir - also known as Vic Reeves.

Filming has commenced on location in Hertfordshire on the film, the second of three TV movies commissioned by ITV.

Greenshaw's Folly has been adapted by Tim Whitnall (The Best Possible Taste) from two Agatha Christie short stories - Greenshaw's Folly and The Thumb Mark of St Peter.

The three new Agatha Christie Marple films are set to broadcast on ITV in 2013.

Source: Digital Spy 

 

Image coutesy of The Wee Man website

David Tennant: new TV series, 'True Love' update, video interview

• David Tennant to star in new ITV drama

The Sun reports that the former Doctor Who actor will play a police officer in a forthcoming ITV drama series inspired by the hit Scandinavian drama series The Killing which stars Sofie Grabol and airs on BBC Four in the UK. The new drama will be made by Kudos whose previous hits include spy drama Spooks and con-drama Hustle.

    “This is not just another detective show with a quirky sleuth. There is more to it. It will be in the same vein as The Killing in that it will be suspenseful — just when you think you know what’s going on, David’s character will turn the whole thing on its head. It’s a challenging role but one he is relishing.” 
– A “source” quoted by The Sun.

The drama is expected to begin filming later this year for broadcast in January 2013.  

David Tennant shot to fame in BBC drama Casanova which led to him being cast as the 10th Doctor in Doctor Who. Tennant starred in the BBC sci-fi series until 2010 when he handed over to Matt Smith – he also appeared in spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures in 2009.

Since leaving Doctor Who the actor has made a wide variety of roles appearing in BBC One drama Single Father opposite Suranne Jones, narrating BBC comedy series Twenty Twelve, Sky comedy This Is Jinsy and is currently filming new BBC Four drama Spies of Warsaw.

Source: ATV Today 
Also reported by Unreality Primetime  and The Sun

More information about the series, entitled Broadchurch, can be found on the David Tennant on Twitter blog 
For daily news updates, check the main David Tennant on Twitter site

• 'True Love' update and audiobook release date

The BBC Media Centre has announced that the time of David Tennant's episode of True Love will be from 10.35pm until 11pm on Monday 18th June. As previously announced, the other four episodes will broadcast on subsequent evenings that week at the same time.


The David Tennant read Rhyming Rabbit audiobook will be released on Thursday 7 June

 Source: David Tennant on Twitter


 

• David Tennant, Hugh Grant and Peter Lord discuss some of their favourite funny film influences

 
Source: Comedy Central

Douglas Henshall: Doors Open and other updates

Doors Open

Stephen Fry and Douglas Henshall are to star in new ITV drama Doors Open.

‘Not only a crime with no victims but one that appears never to have been committed’

A self-made millionaire, an art professor and a banker come together to undertake an audacious art heist in Doors Open, a fast paced, warm and witty drama set in the underbelly of Edinburgh’s world of corporate banking and fine art. Filming begins on April 23rd.

Read more here. 

Also reported in more detail by Inside Media Track

Hotel Taliban / The Kidnap Diaries

According to imdb, Hotel Taliban, in which Douglas Henshall stars as Sean Langan is now known as The Kidnap Diaries. 

Meanwhile here are some stills from Hotel Taliban.

The Snipist

There is now a gallery for The Snipist, taken from The Snipist video trailer.

The Snipist starring Douglas Henshall is to be broadcast on Sky Arts 1 HD on May 24th 2012 at 9pm. Read more about the drama here.

Source: DouglasHenshall-LiveJournal 

Dougray Scott to portray Captain Scott in ITV drama-documentary

The letter is touching: a dispatch from a wife to a husband thousands of miles away, full of gentle reminders to brush his hair and not to smoke too much. But more than that, it overflows with hope that he'll return safely. It was not to be: Captain Robert Falcon Scott clutched the missive to his chest as he lay freezing to death in his tent in the Antarctic, thinking of the wife and son he would never see again.

Now, for the first time, the last letter received by Scott as he embarked on his ill-fated expedition into the Antarctic wilderness is to be made public.

Written by his wife Kathleen 100 years ago, the deeply personal correspondence has been kept within the Scott family since it was found by a search team a century ago on the doomed adventurer's body. Her note and his own final dispatch – which he wrote to his wife when he knew he was dying – together paint a portrait of a loving relationship that lasted only four years.

The 29th of this month marks the centenary of the death of the explorer and his team, who all perished on his second trip – The Terra Nova expedition – to the Antarctic in 1912.

Ironically, the letter reveals his wife's optimism and her belief that he would return in triumph. "When you come home we'll feel closer and closer together and the long time we've been apart will seem only a little hour," she writes. "Now don't forget to brush your hair – and don't smoke so much and altogether you're a ducky darling and hurray for you!"

Other personal effects found on Scott's body and never before seen in public include an initialled case in red morocco leather containing a picture of his wife and young son, Peter. The letters will be brought to life in a new ITV drama-documentary, Words of Captain Scott, to be broadcast on 30 March, with Dougray Scott as Captain Scott.

The explorer's grandson, Falcon Scott, who inherited the letters from his father, Sir Peter Scott, the naturalist, said he decided to release them this year to mark the centenary of his grandfather's death: "Despite revealing the contents, I've kept the actual letter because it's quite personal and I'm just not ready to put it into a museum just yet. I think that my children have the right to make that choice during their lives. But the next best thing is to publicise what we have got and ensure the public do have access to it in some way."

Scott and his men – Edward Wilson, Henry Bowers, Lawrence Oates and Edgar Evans – died from starvation and extreme cold on their way back from the South Pole. Despite reaching the historic marker on 17 January 1912, they found that the Norwegian Roald Amundsen had beaten them to it by five weeks. Such was the disappointment felt by Scott at the defeat that he would later describe the Antarctic in his diaries as "an awful place".

Hailed as a hero by his nation, once news of his death had reached Britain, his status was reappraised and attacked some 50 years later as various historians gathered evidence to suggest that Scott was ill-prepared and made many mistakes on his journey.

Mr Scott admits his grandfather's failure lay in not paying enough attention to his sled dogs: "It was really just the dogs. They weren't as strong as they could have been and that was unfortunate because they were a key support during the expedition."

"You can level lots of criticism against anyone who does anything. People make mistakes. We're human, all of us. They did make some mistakes, but at the same time a lot of the people criticising him haven't actually experienced how hard it is."

Yesterday, a blue plaque was unveiled for Captain Lawrence Oates, who heroically stepped outside his tent after he became unwell, telling his colleagues: "I am just going outside and may be some time."

The 31-year-old walked out of the camp barefoot in a blizzard, never to be seen again. His body was never recovered. The plaque was unveiled in Meanwood Park in Leeds, which his family once owned.


Source: The Independent