Stephen Fry, Olivia Colman and Sir Derek Jacobi to appear in This Is Jinsy

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Olivia+Colman+Summer+TCA+Tour+Day+2+X-yvFAMhDa9l Stephen Fry, Olivia Colman and Sir Derek Jacobi are among the stars set to appear in the second series of comedy series This Is Jinsy.

The brainchild of Chris Bran and Justin Chubb, This Is Jinsy follows the struggle of Arbiter Maven (Chubb) and Sporall (Bran) to control the knitwear-loving residents of an extraordinary island, combining colourful adventures, musical madness and surreal invention.

The second series, consisting of eight episodes, will head back to the island to find Maven and Sporall with a host of new characters, some returning favourites and plenty of songs in the finest Jinsy tradition. And just like the first series, which saw appearances from stars such as David Tennant and Catherine Tate, there are a raft of new guests making their way to the island this year.

Episode One will see a guest spot from Stephen Fry as Dr. Bevelspepp, who uses his encyclopaedic knowledge of Jinsy to help save the island from an invasion of rampaging hair.

Others to drop in for a guest role include Katy Brand as Madame Astralina, a flamboyant psychic who obtains her readings from a pen of rats, Ben Miller as the Chief Accountant of Jinsy, and his daughter Berpetta, a drunk, hefty, buck-toothed accountant, Dame Eileen Atkins as Miss Penny, a school-mistress with a massive dome of pinned hair who teaches Extreme Etiquette for Girls and Sir Derek Jacobi as Robunce Barnatty, the eldest resident of Jinsy island, at 98 cycles old to name only a few.

The guest stars join returning series regulars Alice Lowe as Soosan Noop, Janine Duvitskias Mrs Goadion and Geoff McGivern as Trince.

This Is Jinsy will return to Sky Atlantic HD in late January 2014.

Source: atvtoday.co.uk – Stephen Fry, Olivia Colman and Sir Derek Jacobi to appear in This Is Jinsy

Olivia Colman confirmed to return for Broadchurch 2

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Olivia+Colman+Summer+TCA+Tour+Day+2+X-yvFAMhDa9lOlivia Colman has confirmed she will be returning in the sequel to ITV’s critically-acclaimed crime drama Broadchurch.

Speaking at the launch of new BBC One Christmas drama The 7.39, written by One Day author David Nicholls, Colman checked with her agent in the audience before confirming her return for a second series.

“Yes, I will be doing it,” she said, admitting she had been thoroughly enjoying four months off over the summer with her family.

“I was nervous thinking about what to do with myself but it turns out I am more than happy doing nothing,” she confessed with a laugh.

Screenwriter Chris Chibnall, who wrote the popular ‘whodunit’ earlier this year, has been guarded about revealing any plans for the sequel, refusing to say even where the drama would be set.

The series enjoyed widespread popularity earlier this year as audiences tried to guess the identity of a missing boy’s murderer, drawing peak ratings of 8.9m viewers.

Colman played Ellie Miller, a detective sergeant who discovers her husband killed 11-year old Danny Latimer, a case she had been investigating with co-star David Tennant.

Unlike Tennant, who played the troubled inspector Alec Hardy, Colman will not be appearing in the US remake of the show.

Chibnall, who is executive producer of the American remake Gracepoint, is currently co-writing an accompanying Broadchurch novel with author Erin Kelly.

Due for release next August, it promises to “delve deeper into the lives of each character from the show”.

Source: independent.co.uk – Olivia Colman confirmed to return for Broadchurch 2

Olivia Colman says thought of husband having an affair fired her fury for The 7.39 role

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olivia_colman-6542256Olivia Colman says the thought of her husband having an affair was enough to fire her fury for her latest role as a spurned wife.

The Broadchurch star plays Maggie in new BBC1 drama The 7.39, whose husband Carl embarks on an affair with a fellow commuter after hitting a mid-life crisis.

In the script Maggie and Carl, played by David Morrissey, are happily married and have been together for years, after first meeting at university.

But his head is turned by gym manager Sally, played by Sheridan Smith.

Like her character Olivia, 39, met her real-life husband Ed Sinclair when she was just 20 and describes him as her “best friend” who she “still fancies”.

Asked what she drew on to get angry as Maggie, she said: “I’m playing someone who’s married to someone who’s gone off and f****d someone else. I can imagine what that would be like, to be cross.”

In the two-part drama, to be screened later this winter, mum-of-two Olivia said she identified with how her character was feeling. “Maggie is an innocent. She doesn’t know what’s unfolding and is trying to make sense of her husband changing. I found that interesting – what happens when the person you love leaves the house.”

Writer David Nicholl hopes the themes of his drama strike a chord with the audience. “You don’t want people to sit on the sofa and glare at each other but you hope that a viewer will draw something from it that isn’t suspicion and anxiety,” he said.

Olivia said it might bring couples together: “When you’ve got kids, it’s easy to keep a tally of who got up in the night. Let that go and appreciate each other more.”

Much of the action takes place on a train into London.

Olivia experienced rush hour travelling when her acting work dried up in the early years and she worked as a temp.

“I hated the commute so much. I’m terrible in the mornings so was still struggling with gluey eyes on the train. The fists in each other’s backs used to drive me nuts. And people who have BO at 8 in the morning! Extraordinary. I used to hate it. And the monotony of it. It used to make me feel angry.”

The 7.39 will be screened on BBC1 this winter. Olivia is currently filming the third series of Rev and will make the second Broadchurch next year.

Source: mirror.co.uk – Broadchurch star Olivia Colman says thought of husband having an affair fired her fury for the 7.39 role

Rev sitcom starts filming third series

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446olivia_colmanFilming has begun on the third series of Rev, the BBC Two sitcom about the mishaps of an inner-city vicar.

Tom Hollander returns as Reverend Adam Smallbone, who will be seen facing up to the pressures of parenthood with his wife Alex (Olivia Colman).

Actor and director Dexter Fletcher and Fonejacker star Kayvan Novak will join the cast as an award-winning modern artist and local Imam respectively.

Six new episodes of Rev will be made for broadcast next spring.

Simon McBurney and Miles Jupp are among other regulars who will be back for the new series.

So will Downton Abbey star Hugh Bonneville, reprising his role as Adam’s arch rival Roland Wise.

Created by Hollander and James Wood, Rev was crowned best situation comedy at the 2011 Baftas.

Series two was screened in 2012 but producers had to delay filming another series because of the blossoming careers of its stars Hollander and Colman.

It was confirmed last year that an American version of the show, to be set in a deprived neighbourhood of Chicago, was in development.

Source:bbc.co.uk – Rev sitcom starts filming third series

Broadchurch to be adapted into a novel

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Olivia+Colman+Summer+TCA+Tour+Day+2+X-yvFAMhDa9l Broadchurch is set to be adapted into a novel which will be co-written by series creator Chris Chibnall.

The crime show starred Olivia Colman and David Tennant as detectives looking for the killer of a young boy, and a second series of the drama was announced at the end of the final episode, after the ITV series proved such a hit with viewers.

The book adaptation will look at the crime mystery in greater detail and go into the backstories of the characters who fans will know from the hit series.

Series writer Chris said: “The day after Broadchurch finished, a woman stopped me on West Bay beach and asked me ‘When’s the book coming out?’ Now I have an answer!”

Chris will be co-authoring the book with psychological thriller writer Erin Kelly and the world rights to the book have been bought by Little, Brown Book Group.

Erin said: “Like everyone else I know, I was gripped and moved by Broadchurch. I’m utterly thrilled to be writing the novel, not least because it gave me an excuse to watch the whole series again, multiple times.

“It’s testament to the writing, the performances and the photography that I was spellbound even when I knew the outcome. I can’t wait to delve even deeper into the hearts and thoughts of the characters and to bring the town to life on the page.”

uk.tv.yahoo.com – Broadchurch to be adapted into a novel

Olivia Colman to star in The Lobster

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olivia_colman-6542256PARIS – Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos’ English-language debut The Lobster has caught French star Lea Seydoux (Blue Is the Warmest Color), Brits Ben Whishaw (Skyfall) and Olivia Colman (I Give It a Year) and Australian Jason Clarke (The Great Gatsby) for its international cast.

The unusual romantic drama is set in a dystopian future where singles are forced to find a partner in 45 days or they are turned into animals and released into the woods. Before he can be transformed, a man escapes into the loners’ woods.

The script is penned by Efthymis Filippou, who previously collaborated with Lanthimos on their Oscar-nominated thriller Dogtooth, which snagged a best foreign film nom in 2009, and 2011’s ghost-story drama Alps.

Element Pictures, Scarlet Films and Lanthimos’ U.K.-based production company Limp are producing. France’s Haut et Court is co-producing.

U.K.-based Protagonis is handling international sales at AFM next month for the film, which is scheduled to begin shooting in Ireland in March 2014.

Jina Jay (The Lovely Bones) handled casting.

hollywoodreporter.com – Lea Seydoux and Jason Clarke join The Lobster

Interview: Olivia Colman and Jodie Whittaker talk ‘Broadchurch’

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olivia_colman-6542256“Broadchurch” ends its eight-episode run on Wednesday (September 25) on BBC America.

For American viewers patient enough to avoid just rushing to BitTorrent sites after getting hooked on this British murder mystery, answers are finally coming.

Yes, answers are coming in the death of Danny Latimer, but what are the chances that those answers will bring satisfaction to Detective Sergeant Ellie Miller (Oliva Colman) or closure to grieving mother Beth Latimer (Jodie Whittaker)? Well, that’s what “Broadchurch” is really about.

Back in July at the Television Critics Association press tour, I sat down for 10 minutes with Colman (“Tyrannosaur”) and Whittaker (“Venus”) to talk about their twisty, emotional murder mystery, which was a sensation in the UK. The conversation took place before the premiere, but I didn’t transcribe the interview in time and once I transcribed it, I realized it would be just as effective before the finale, since it really spoils nothing.

So warm up for Wednesday’s finale with my chat with Colman and Whittaker, after the break…

HitFix: First off, could you say your names so I’ll be able to differentiate when I transcribe?

Olivia Colman: I’m Olivia Colman.

Jodie Whittaker: I’m Jodie Whittaker.

Olivia Colman: That’s “Colman” with no “e.”

HitFix: Which I actually messed up last night when I was tweeting about how good you are in this, so you can take that as an insult or a compliment.

Olivia Colman: Oh, well it’s very hard to be cross at you then.

HitFix: So I enjoyed this a lot, but I’ll admit that at least initially, I was like, “Oh, not another long-term murder investigation drama, do we need one of those?” and then it becomes clear that it’s much more than that. Did you guys have similar thoughts when you first approached the project?

Jodie Whittaker: I don’t know if we do them as often as you guys.

Olivia Colman: No, I think that’s probably true. And also, ours are never as long, because we can’t really afford to do it. The fact that we had eight hours to do this was very unusual for us in The UK and a credit to the channel who read the script, liked it and said, “OK. Yeah. We’re gonna give you eight hours worth of slot,” which is extraordinary.

Jodie Whittaker: I think Chris [Chibnall], the writer, pitched for 10 and they went, “Alright. We’ll give you eight.”

HitFix: How did the schedule or production pace on something this long feel different from what you’ve been accustomed to doing on TV?

Olivia Colman: Well, it just means you get more chance to do it justice. Know what I mean? Every character has a full arc. They’re all multi-faceted full people. You are away from home for longer, which is hard, but being able to do it well, you feel like you can if you’ve got longer to do it.

Jodie Whittaker: And you’re in an environment where you trust all the powerful people. The directors were wonderful. The writer were there the whole way through and was at the end of the phone for any question.

Olivia Colman: Yeah, he was brilliant.

Jodie Whittaker: And the producers were fantastic. I think it’s one of the most ensemble pieces I’ve ever been a part of for that. We were a real family.

Olivia Colman: It’s lovely when you know that the people at the top… I think the commissioner of it refused to read the last episode. He wanted to enjoy it with everybody else. When you’ve got that backing, when somebody is just enjoying what you’re doing so much, it’s a lovely feeling. And it’s an unusual feeling.

HitFix: And that last script, how was it distributed?

Jodie Whittaker: We got six, seven and eight…

Olivia Colman: You keep saying this, but is that true? I think it’s not.

Jodie Whittaker: We got six, seven and eight on a Friday in Late October. I’ll set the scene.

Olivia Colman: No! No, we got six and seven and then eight didn’t come for ages. Do you remember? We were all going, “Are you kidding me?” because we’d read six and seven.

Jodie Whittaker: Oh right!

Olivia Colman: I think eight was… because he was still fiddling. We almost didn’t get it.

Jodie Whittaker: Oh right. Mine’s a better story. I’ve said it about 15 times.

Olivia Colman: So I’m gonna go with Jodie. Otherwise it makes her look really stupid. [They both laugh.]

HitFix: Regardless of exactly the timing, when you got it, how quickly did you go to read it and go to the end?

Jodie Whittaker: Oh God yeah!

Olivia Colman: Everyone.

Jodie Whittaker: No one knew. The person who did it didn’t know.

Olivia Colman: We were all filming in Bristol and by the time everyone had arrived back home in London on that Friday night, everyone had read all three, pouring through it on the trains and phoning each other. We filmed everything pretty much chronologically, so we didn’t know right up til three-quarters of the way through or later who’d done it.

HitFix: And what was your one-word immediate reaction to when you saw who it was.

Olivia Colman: Oh, we’ve gotta be careful to say the wrong thing. I think knew…

Jodie Whittaker: I knew. By then, we were all with it for four-and-a-half months and we were in it.

Olivia Colman: By that point, the “whodunnit” didn’t matter. It was a “howdunnit” and a “whydunnit.”

Jodie Whittaker: Yeah, it’s not just that.

Olivia Colman: And that was the most shocking thing for me, I think. We sorta maybe had got whodunnit, but when you get [she says the gender of the killer, laughs and corrects herself] their reasons…

Jodie Whittaker: Don’t spoil it, will ya?

HitFix: Heavens no. I wouldn’t want to. Did you guys watch it week-to-week in the UK?

Olivia Colman: Yeah, when it was on, actually I did. I didn’t see everybody else’s scenes and that’s why it’s so nice to watch. Awww… Andy Buchan…

Jodie Whittaker: The guy that played my husband in it is amazing. Every scene you did with him was an extraordinary process. But for all of us, everything to do with David Bradley and everyone, that was what was amazing, but also quite terrifying. You knew there wasn’t a weak link, so you’re like, “Please don’t be me! Please don’t be me!” So yeah, it was fun and I watched it for that. And it was bizarre, the reaction. Wasn’t it? It was a real crowd-pleaser.

Olivia Colman: I’ve only ever done stuff that not many people have watched, so to suddenly do something that everyone’s watching, well it’s so gratifying that they liked it as much as you did.

HitFix: Could you sense the buzz building and the conversation building around the show?

Olivia Colman: The previews released by the journalists were great, but seven and eight were not released to anybody so the journalists were also going with their theories and they were becoming super-sleuths themselves and that was really exciting, that those people who watch everything all the time were genuinely excited.

Jodie Whittaker: I think it’s because of the feature of the media in it as well. It’s not just about the police officers or the family. It’s about so many different elements that come into play when something like this happens.

HitFix: I know you guys said on the panel that you had a thing where you put stickers on the people you thought were involved. Was there anyone in the cast who was particularly good at that detective work? Anyone who had the right mindset?

Jodie Whittaker and Oliva Colman: No!

Olivia Colman: No. Least of all David [Tennant] and I, who played the detective. He was constantly going, “She’s got big hands. He’s got big hands.”

Jodie Whittaker: Because that’s the one clue. They’ve got big hands. [She looks down at her hands.] Little. Innocent.

HitFix: So you knew you were out from Day One?

Jodie Whittaker: Yeah, well, I didn’t know from Day One, but I kicked off a bit and was a bit like, “Chris, please! Tell me it’s not me. I can’t get my head around that. That’s not what I’ve played!” Also, I’m in scenes by myself picking up his clothes and t-shirts. That would be such a cheat for the audience, that you’ve gone there.

Olivia Colman: So he did? He put you out of your misery?

Jodie Whittaker: I think it’s fairly obvious I’m not.

HitFix: You’re one of the few people who isn’t really red herring-ed.

Jodie Whittaker: Yeah. Basically, it’s me, Oliva and David.

Olivia Colman: I tried to start a rumor, “It’s David Tennant! Because he wanted to kickstart his career again.” It didn’t really catch on.

HitFix: I know you guys also said that nobody on set was spectacularly Method-y and so you were able to leave the drama behind at the end of shooting days. But what is the key to creating an environment on set where you guys are free enough to go to some of those emotional places that you go to?

Oliva Colman: Script is always Number 1. If it’s a terrible script, to overuse an overused thing, “You can’t polish a turd.” You can’t do a good job if the script’s not there. And then we had experienced, fantastic directors and crew. We felt safe to experiment.

Jodie Whittaker: And we never pushed… There was none of this kinda amateurish thing where you’re like 50 takes later. It was like they knew they had the cast and if you give us the space, we can do it and to not be killing it for hours and hours and hours, because you get it in the first take, you get in the second take. You don’t need to do 15 from the same angle. So that’s what was brilliant. We certainly were in an environment that was aware of that.

HitFix: Last question: You both spend a lot of this series in tears. Do you think of yourselves as being good criers? Have you always been good criers? [They both laugh.]

Jodie Whittaker: I don’t know! It’s not about that!

Olivia Colman: I don’t think you should ever be considering what your face is doing.

Jodie Whittaker: Yeah, that’s what I mean. I think the thing that I would say I would compliment ourselves on is that we lack vanity in that sense. Whatever happens, happens.

Olivia Colman: Yes, that’s very handy.

Jodie Whittaker: When we watched it back, I’m sure both of us were doing things we had no f***ing clue we were doing when we did them.

Olivia Colman: I am not a pretty crier!

Jodie Whittaker: But also, if a scene says in the stage direction “She bursts into tears” and I don’t necessarily feel it in the moment, I feel no pressure to. I think we were trusted. Chris created these amazing roles, but then on the opposite of that, a lot of the time me and you weren’t necessarily meant to…

Olivia Colman: Because looking at the upset in someone’s eyes… It’s not like it’s on my CV, “I’m an excellent crier.” It’s just that I’m an incredibly emotional person.

Jodie Whittaker: And it’s the worst! There’s divorces and there’s all these horrendous things that happen, but this is the worst. It’s indescribable.

Olivia Colman: Someone young dying is the worst.

Jodie Whittaker: It’s not like easy in the sense that that’s an easy feeling, but it’s just that you don’t need a lot of help to be upset about that.

HitFix: Was it hard for you to watch those emotional scenes in those episodes?

Jodie Whittaker: Yeah.

Olivia Colman: Yeah, I can’t watch those scenes with Jodie on the beach.

Jodie Whittaker: I think for all of us, because we knew how upsetting it was to do, when you’re watching it, you go, “Well, that was a tough day, wasn’t it?”

Olivia Colman: Although we say, “Yes, at the end of the day you leave it behind,” but in the moment it’s real. It has to be in order to do it justice.

Jodie Whittaker: And also, you’re essentially playing out things that have actually happened to people and to not take that seriously or to not throw 100 percent of your energies…

Olivia Colman: You’d be doing a disservice.

Source: hitfix.xom – Interview: Olivia Colman and Jodie Whittaker talk Broadchurch

Peep show turns 10

Posted on by BeverleyButterfly

250px-Peep_Show_DVD_front_cover Birthdays are a bit awkward on Peep Show. One of the sitcom’s finest episodes was in series four, when Mark (David Mitchell) and girlfriend Sophie (Olivia Colman) stayed with her parents to celebrate her birthday. As always, it didn’t go as per Mark’s plan. He suddenly decided to propose when he saw her inheritance, but let his future father-in-law overhear him admitting he didn’t love her. There was some unsavoury business involving guns, dead animals and arson. Jez (Robert Webb) slept with Sophie’s mother. The final humiliation was a weird birthday ritual involving a pointy hat and the whole family singing Happy Birthday by Altered Images, while Mark half-heartedly joined in, clutching a glass of Liebfraumilch like his life depended on it. Which, with all those guns around, it might well have done.

Still, we shouldn’t let past history put us off marking the show’s own milestones. So happy birthday, Peep Show. First broadcast on 19 September 2003, it turns the grand old age of 10 today. By stealth, Peep Show has become the longest-running sitcom in Channel 4 history. Indeed, it’s arguably the longest-running sitcom currently on British TV (unless you count Rab C Nesbitt, which returns only sporadically and took almost a decade off).

The secret of Peep Show’s longevity and consistently high quality is really rather simple: superb scripts delivered by a cracking cast. Writing team Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong cut their teeth on sketch show Smack The Pony before creating the dysfunctional flatmate comedy, partly based on their own experience especially Bain’s. He once apprehended a burglar by sitting on him, as Mark does in series five (“I’m wrestling with the white working class! Morse never did this! I’m better than Morse!”).

The show doesn’t rely on catchphrases or pratfalls for laughs but is completely character-driven and the duo’s dialogue is sharp as a tack (“If text kisses were real kisses, the world would be an orgy”). Bain and Armstrong since turned their talents to coruscating political comedy The Thick Of It, its spin-offs In The Loop and Veep, student-com Fresh Meat, ecclesiastical sitcom Rev, Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror and jihad satire Four Lions.

They found the perfect people to bring their creations to life in Footlights alumni Mitchell and Webb, who provide additional gags. As uptight history buff Mark Corrigan and workshy wannabe musician Jeremy “Jez” Usborne (together, the tragically self-styled “El Dude brothers”), the pair became so synonymous with their characters that they starred in a series of Apple computer ads, with Mitchell representing the “square” PC and Webb as the “creative” Mac.

The supporting cast is equally strong. Colman has gone onto become one of our most-loved, best-regarded TV actresses. Paterson Joseph (who plays smarmy boss Alan Johnson), Matt King (hedonistic cult hero Super Hans) and Isy Suttie (geeky love interest Dobby) are all gifted enough to carry their own star vehicles. The show has even been graced by minor royalty in Sophie Winkleman, who’s now married to Freddie Windsor but played Jez’s ex Big Suze for five series.

Peep Show’s working title was “POV”, in reference to its unconventional filming style. The cringe-inducing events of Mark and Jez’s lives are seen predominantly from their own points of view, with their unedifying thoughts audible as voiceovers – techniques which film buffs Bain and Armstrong borrowed from Being John Malkovich and Annie Hall. Although these stylistic quirks mark Peep Show out as unique on TV, Armstrong and Bain believe the POV method prevents it from having true mass appeal. Ratings have never topped 2m, although the show has a strong afterlife on DVD, each series shifting around 400,000 copies.

However, fans like it that way – a cult gem rather than a mainstream hit, yet arguably the best Brit-com of the past decade. It’s pulled off the rare trick of getting stronger with each series, en route winning two Baftas and a Rose D’Or. Ricky Gervais, who knows a thing or two about comedy, has hailed Peep Show as “the best sitcom since Father Ted”.

Writing and shooting each run of six episodes takes nine months. With Peep Show’s creators and stars in huge demand, that’s becoming increasingly tricky to squeeze into their schedules. However, rest assured that a ninth series is in the pipeline.

“I’m amazed and grateful the programme’s lasted this long,” said Armstrong recently. “Provided we can find new humiliating things – be it physically, emotionally or relationship-wise – to subject the characters to, then we’ll do it.” There’s even been mention of a possible movie spin-off. That really would make them better than Morse.

Source: telegraph.co.uk – Peep show turns 10