Every month (more or less), TMINE flags up what TV events BAFTA is holding around the UK
Quite a nifty one this time, given Benedict Cumberbatch is going to be there, but booking opened today (seriously, BAFTA? Emailing me at midday about this?) so hurry!
Monday, 18 September 2017 – 6:45pm
Princess Anne Theatre, BAFTA, 195 Piccadilly, London
A BBC adaptation of Ian McEwan’s award-winning novel, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Kelly Macdonald. Followed by a Q+A with Exec Producer and actor Cumberbatch.
Written by BAFTA-nominee Stephen Butchard (Five Daughters) and directed by BAFTA-winner Julian Farino (Marvellous), this single drama follows children’s author Stephen Lewis (Cumberbatch), as he struggles to find purpose in his life after his daughter goes missing.
Stephen’s wife Julie (Macdonald) has left him and his best friends Charles (Stephen Campbell Moore) and Thelma (Saskia Reeves) have retired to the countryside, battling demons of their own. With tenderness and insight, the film explores the dark territory of a marriage devastated, the loss of childhood, the fluidity of time, grief, hope and acceptance.
Produced by Pinewood Television and SunnyMarch TV for BBC One and co-produced by MASTERPIECE. Executive Producers are Helen Gregory for Pinewood Television, Benedict Cumberbatch, Adam Ackland and David Boulter for SunnyMarch TV, Lucy Richer for the BBC, Rebecca Eaton for MASTERPIECE and Stephen Butchard.
TV’s not just for Londoners you know. Actually, probably you do know – this might just be something I’m discovering for myself. Similarly, not all TV festivals are for Londoners, either, and the Pilot Light TV festival is a prime example. Now about to enter its ‘third season’, it’ll be taking place in Manchester between 3rd and 6th May 2018:
At Pilot Light we are proud to produce a communal TV experience where fans and industry can come together to celebrate the past, present and future of television! In a very similar structure to a traditional film festival, Pilot Light TV Festival is hosted in Manchester over 4 days and will contain screenings featuring all kinds of series new & old plus exclusive panels featuring the writers, producers, directors, actors, commissioners, and more behind them!
We believe that the television industry is in a state of revolution. A large number of the best writers, directors and producers have migrated from Cinema to TV in order to tell the greatest stories in pop culture. These shows are generally produced and seen in the arenas of television networks such as HBO, AMC, C4, BBC & ITV plus web content providers such as Netflix & Amazon. In recent years there has been a surge in independently financed TV Pilot and web series production and their popularity with audiences. We aim to function as a TV equivalent of independent film festivals, by finding the best of this new episodic content from around the globe and giving the talented creative teams behind them opportunities to network with fellow creatives and to place their projects in front of the most important pairs of eyes in TV: the fans and industry professionals!
Which is nice, obviously. I’m not 100% exactly sure how it works, though, since it appears to have some special events as well that don’t take place next year and don’t all take place in Manchester. Hmm.
Anyway, the best of these events by far is a 25th anniversary showing in both London and Manchester of the rather awesome Ghostwatch, followed by a Q&A with writer Stephen Volk, director Lesley Manning, actress Gillian Bevan (London only) and the writer/director of Ghostwatch: Behind the Curtains, Rich Lawden. I might actually go to it. The London one, obvs.
Manchester Event Details
30th October 2017 // Gorilla 7pm doors // 8pm start Tickets £15ADV – 18+ TICKETS ONSALE HERE
London Event Details
31st October 2017 // Genesis Cinema 8.30pm doors // 8.45pm start Tickets £18.50ADV – 18+ TICKETS ONSALE HERE
Before then, here’s a reminder of what you’re in for:
Every Friday, TMINE lets you know the latest announcements about when new imported TV shows will finally be arriving on UK screens – assuming anyone’s bought anything, of course
A little bit earlier expected, I know, but hey – it’s nearly September and there have been a few announcements, so I figured easing back into the swing of things with a round-up of all of August’s acquisitions and premiere dates might be a good idea.
First off, in acquisitions:
The Good Doctor (US: ABC; UK: Sky Living)
Freddie Highmore is an autistic savant surgeon. Hasn’t aired in the US yet
Reformation (Germany: ZDF; UK: BBC Four)
Martin Luther biopic. Hasn’t aired in Germany yet!
Snowfall (US: FX; UK: BBC Two)
Cocaine drama set in 80s LA. I watched the first few episodes but it wasn’t that great.
Episode reviews: 1, 2, 3
The Valley (Germany: TNT Serie; UK: Shudder)
A young man who has lost his memory wakes up near the corpse of a young woman hanging in the harvested grapes.
Ronny Chieng: International Student (Australia: ABC; UK: BBC Three)
Ostensibly Daily Show correspondent Ronny Chieng in a semi-autobiographical comedy about life at an Australian University – but basically Oz’s answer to Spaced. I ended up recommending it
Episode reviews: 1-2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Marvel’s The Avengers was one of the highest grossing movies of all times. Small surprise therefore that Marvel should attempt to reproduce its unique superhero formula on the small (laptop) screen with its Netflix series, giving us four individual superheroes in their own shows before finally bringing them together in a fifth show – The Defenders.
And here we are at last. Two seasons of Daredevil (one excellent, one poor), one season of Jessica Jones (excellent), one season of Luke Cage (weak) and a season of Iron Fist (I’ve watched it three times now, so screw you, haters) has allowed some of the supporting cast to move around a bit, but here we finally are, getting all four superheroes interacting with each other, teaming up and even sometimes twatting each other with sticks.
The show picks up a few months after the other shows. Daredevil (Charlie Cox) is ostracised from his former legal partner Foggy (Elden Henson) and would-be girlfriend Karen (Deborah Ann Woll), and a bit mopey after his ex-lover Elektra (Elodie Yung) was killed by some immortal ninja called The Hand. He’s hung up his costume and is now trying to lead a normal life as a lawyer, mostly doing legal work pro bono for the downtrodden. But Foggy is looking out for his former friend and his new boss Hogarth (Carrie-Anne Moss) might have some legal work for him, too – looking after a certain private investigator friend of hers called Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter), who’s bound to get into trouble sometime soon…
Not yet, though, since she’s still buried in a bottle, following her murder of mind-controlling rapist David Tennant. Thankfully, she’s managed to brush off both the legal charges and infamy that came with that, but she’s not ready to take on any new clients yet. That is, until a woman comes to her door asking her to track down her missing architect husband and she starts to get threatening phone calls.
Meanwhile, Jones’ former boyfriend Luke Cage (Mike Colter) is just getting out of prison, thanks to some nimble legal work by Foggy, and has to work out what he can do to look after the people of Harlem, particularly the young black men who are succumbing to the allure of crime in his neighbourhood – particularly that instituted by a white clad man known only as ‘the African’ (Babs Olusanmokun).
Could it all have something to do with the errant billionaire Danny Rand (Finn Jones), currently off hunting down the Hand in the Far East with girlfriend and former Hand-member Colleen Wing (Jessica Henwick), following the Hand’s apparent destruction of the seventh city of Heaven, K’un-Lun, which Rand was charged to protect, being the immortal weapon known as The Iron Fist?
You betcha. And you can bet that somehow it’s all going to involve their various storylines intersecting at some point to fight a common enemy – Sigourney Weaver, as well as some ‘Big Bads’ from previous seasons.
Of course, the Marvel Cinematic Universe isn’t the only time that a whole bunch of superheroes with independent lives ended up uniting to defeat a baddie: the once much-adored Heroes did the same thing on the small screen. I say once because as soon as everyone got together, the whole show went to pants.
So the question is: is Marvel’s The Defenders more Avengers or more Heroes? Answer coming up after the jump. Spoilers ahoy and liable to smack you in the face.
