Fly on the wall? Pah! The wall is all the way over there! These days, viewers want to be flies buzzing right around the noses of the people making the headlines, close enough to tell what they had for breakfast. And thanks to true story TV dramas, they can.
It’s been a long time since ropey Lifetime Movies were as good as it got for true story TV. In recent years, British production companies have stepped up in a big way to serve a growing appetite for fact-based drama, but all too often the real-life TV dramas of today focus on haunting tales of history’s most gruesome murders. If you’re sick of serial killers, there are plenty of non-murder true stories to enjoy in drama form, from very public scandals to ordinary people doing extraordinary things, to the kinds of tragedies it’s important that we never forget.
It’s been a long time since ropey Lifetime Movies were as good as it got for true story TV. In recent years, British production companies have stepped up in a big way to serve a growing appetite for fact-based drama, but all too often the real-life TV dramas of today focus on haunting tales of history’s most gruesome murders. If you’re sick of serial killers, there are plenty of non-murder true stories to enjoy in drama form, from very public scandals to ordinary people doing extraordinary things, to the kinds of tragedies it’s important that we never forget.
- 8/12/2023
- by Louisa Mellor
- Den of Geek
Ben Whishaw could well be Emmy bound for his acclaimed portrayal of Adam Kay in the Hulu miniseries “This is Going to Hurt.” Kay just won a BAFTA Craft Award for adapting his bestselling memoir of the same name that chronicled his time as a junior doctor in his native England. And Wishaw contends at the upcoming main ceremony on May 14.
Kay works in a chaotic obstetrics and gynecology ward in an NHS hospital. He has to deal with a whole array of medical nightmares as he struggles to balance his work and home life. The series juggles black comedy with brutal drama. While Kay can be thoroughly unlikeable character, Whishaw’s boyish charm and snarky humor always keep you on his side. His fourth-wall breaking moments are sharp and punchy, while his breakdown in the season finale feels like an earned moment of emotional relief after he has taken...
Kay works in a chaotic obstetrics and gynecology ward in an NHS hospital. He has to deal with a whole array of medical nightmares as he struggles to balance his work and home life. The series juggles black comedy with brutal drama. While Kay can be thoroughly unlikeable character, Whishaw’s boyish charm and snarky humor always keep you on his side. His fourth-wall breaking moments are sharp and punchy, while his breakdown in the season finale feels like an earned moment of emotional relief after he has taken...
- 4/26/2023
- by Jacob Sarkisian
- Gold Derby
The director of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantamania has admitted that he was “surprised” by negative reviews of the new film.
The superhero movie, starring Paul Rudd, Jonathan Majors, and Evangeline Lily, was released in cinemas earlier this month.
It has received some terrible reviews, and has since become the lowest-scoring sequel in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
Speaking to The Daily Beast, the screenwriter, Jeff Loveness, said he had not anticipated the movie’s poor reception.
“To be honest, those reviews took me by surprise,” said Loveness. “I was in a pretty low spot… Those were not good reviews, and I was like, ‘What the…?’”
He continued: “I’m really proud of what I wrote for Jonathan [Majors] and Michelle Pfeiffer.
“I thought that was good stuff, you know? And so I was just despondent, and I was really sad about it.”
Loveness recalled that he had watched a...
The superhero movie, starring Paul Rudd, Jonathan Majors, and Evangeline Lily, was released in cinemas earlier this month.
It has received some terrible reviews, and has since become the lowest-scoring sequel in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
Speaking to The Daily Beast, the screenwriter, Jeff Loveness, said he had not anticipated the movie’s poor reception.
“To be honest, those reviews took me by surprise,” said Loveness. “I was in a pretty low spot… Those were not good reviews, and I was like, ‘What the…?’”
He continued: “I’m really proud of what I wrote for Jonathan [Majors] and Michelle Pfeiffer.
“I thought that was good stuff, you know? And so I was just despondent, and I was really sad about it.”
Loveness recalled that he had watched a...
- 3/1/2023
- by Annabel Nugent
- The Independent - Film
Bear Grylls has opened up about his concerns with Spencer Matthews leading an expedition to find his brother, Michael Matthews, who died after summiting Mount Everest in 1999, aged 22.
The former Made In Chelsea star turned broadcaster, 34, stars in Disney Plus’s one-off documentary, Finding Michael, which tells the story of his brother’s disappearance and his family’s journey to recover Michael’s body 20 years later.
Michael Matthews was the youngest Briton to summit Everest. Three hours after he reached the peak, however, he went missing. His brother, Spencer, who was aged 10 when Michael went missing and died, had always struggled to accept his death, in part because his family did not have a body to mourn.
In 2017, Spencer’s family was sent a picture by a climber that showed what appeared to be a dead body buried in the snow, in a similar location to where Michael went missing on the mountain.
The former Made In Chelsea star turned broadcaster, 34, stars in Disney Plus’s one-off documentary, Finding Michael, which tells the story of his brother’s disappearance and his family’s journey to recover Michael’s body 20 years later.
Michael Matthews was the youngest Briton to summit Everest. Three hours after he reached the peak, however, he went missing. His brother, Spencer, who was aged 10 when Michael went missing and died, had always struggled to accept his death, in part because his family did not have a body to mourn.
In 2017, Spencer’s family was sent a picture by a climber that showed what appeared to be a dead body buried in the snow, in a similar location to where Michael went missing on the mountain.
- 2/28/2023
- by Ellie Muir
- The Independent - TV
Kevin Costner’s Yellowstone co-star has addressed rumours that the actor is leaving the series.
Fans of the Western drama were recently shocked by the claims that Costner would step away from his role as the head of the Dutton family.
The reports stated that Costner’s alleged decision had prompted creator, Sicario and Hell or High Water writer Taylor Sheridan, to bring the show to an end. A spin-off starring Matthew McConaughey is said to be in the works.
It had previously been claimed that Sheridan locked heads with Costner, who won a Golden Globe for his role in January, over the actor’s shooting schedules for another project, which left the Yellowstone crew with minimal time to complete filming.
The actor’s attorney refuted this claim, stating: “The idea that Kevin was only willing to work one week on the second half of season five of Yellowstone is an absolute lie.
Fans of the Western drama were recently shocked by the claims that Costner would step away from his role as the head of the Dutton family.
The reports stated that Costner’s alleged decision had prompted creator, Sicario and Hell or High Water writer Taylor Sheridan, to bring the show to an end. A spin-off starring Matthew McConaughey is said to be in the works.
It had previously been claimed that Sheridan locked heads with Costner, who won a Golden Globe for his role in January, over the actor’s shooting schedules for another project, which left the Yellowstone crew with minimal time to complete filming.
The actor’s attorney refuted this claim, stating: “The idea that Kevin was only willing to work one week on the second half of season five of Yellowstone is an absolute lie.
- 2/28/2023
- by Jacob Stolworthy
- The Independent - TV
It’s official – The Night Manager is returning for a surprise second season.
Tom Hiddleston is set to reprise his role as Jonathan Pine in a second series of the hit John Le Carré adaptation, produced by Amazon Prime Video and the BBC.
Deadline reports that season two will begin filming later this year in London and South America, under the codename Steelworks.
Alongside Hiddleston, David Farr – who wrote the original – will return as a writer on the second season.
The hugely popular 2016 show also starred Elizabeth Debicki, Tom Hollander, Olivia Colman, David Harewood and Hugh Laurie.
The release of a forthcoming second season has been speculated ever since.
As per Deadline, series two will be set in the present day and see Hiddleston’s protagonist face a “new, even more deadly challenge” after he is informed that Laurie’s British arms dealer Richard Roper is dead.
The first season,...
Tom Hiddleston is set to reprise his role as Jonathan Pine in a second series of the hit John Le Carré adaptation, produced by Amazon Prime Video and the BBC.
Deadline reports that season two will begin filming later this year in London and South America, under the codename Steelworks.
Alongside Hiddleston, David Farr – who wrote the original – will return as a writer on the second season.
The hugely popular 2016 show also starred Elizabeth Debicki, Tom Hollander, Olivia Colman, David Harewood and Hugh Laurie.
The release of a forthcoming second season has been speculated ever since.
As per Deadline, series two will be set in the present day and see Hiddleston’s protagonist face a “new, even more deadly challenge” after he is informed that Laurie’s British arms dealer Richard Roper is dead.
The first season,...
- 2/28/2023
- by Annabel Nugent
- The Independent - TV
Norman Scott has condemned his portrayal in the BBC’s A Very English Scandal.
The English model was played by Ben Whishaw in the 2018 miniseries. Whishaw won an Emmy, Bafta, and Golden Globe for his performance.
A Very English Scandal saw Hugh Grant play former Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe, who was acquitted of conspiring with a hitman to kill his alleged ex-lover Scott. Homosexuality was illegal at the time.
Scott appeared on the podcast British Scandal: Jeremy Thorpe, and praised Whishaw’s performance but admitted that he was “very cross” over his portrayal in the drama.
Scott, 83, said: “Ben was being a very good actor, he had met me, he knew me, and I hoped that he would be me…
“I think it was very – I can say it because it’s what I believe – it was a black comedy. It was very unkind. But Ben played me very well.
The English model was played by Ben Whishaw in the 2018 miniseries. Whishaw won an Emmy, Bafta, and Golden Globe for his performance.
A Very English Scandal saw Hugh Grant play former Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe, who was acquitted of conspiring with a hitman to kill his alleged ex-lover Scott. Homosexuality was illegal at the time.
Scott appeared on the podcast British Scandal: Jeremy Thorpe, and praised Whishaw’s performance but admitted that he was “very cross” over his portrayal in the drama.
Scott, 83, said: “Ben was being a very good actor, he had met me, he knew me, and I hoped that he would be me…
“I think it was very – I can say it because it’s what I believe – it was a black comedy. It was very unkind. But Ben played me very well.
- 2/28/2023
- by Annabel Nugent
- The Independent - TV
Exclusive: The BBC has mined the 1960s and 1970s for its award-winning A Very English Scandal strand but, for the next one, viewers could be treated to a modern-day saga they are slightly more familiar with.
Deadline can reveal that a retelling of the Wagatha Christie drama is in early stage development as the potential third instalment of the hit series and Paramount+’s Flatshare scribe Rose Lewenstein is attached. The show once again comes from Sony-backed Blueprint Pictures and was initially rumored to be penned by Poldark writer Debbie Horsfield before Lewenstein came on board.
The as-yet-untitled latest in the Scandal series, which Deadline understands is one of a number of stories being considered and may not be greenlit at all, will cover one of the hottest British legal disputes of the past few years and comes fresh off the back of a Channel 4 factual drama titled...
Deadline can reveal that a retelling of the Wagatha Christie drama is in early stage development as the potential third instalment of the hit series and Paramount+’s Flatshare scribe Rose Lewenstein is attached. The show once again comes from Sony-backed Blueprint Pictures and was initially rumored to be penned by Poldark writer Debbie Horsfield before Lewenstein came on board.
The as-yet-untitled latest in the Scandal series, which Deadline understands is one of a number of stories being considered and may not be greenlit at all, will cover one of the hottest British legal disputes of the past few years and comes fresh off the back of a Channel 4 factual drama titled...
- 1/11/2023
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
In 2021, “WandaVision” star Paul Bettany made history as the first man to be Emmy-nominated for a lead performance on a Marvel TV series, thus laying the groundwork for 2022 hopefuls Tom Hiddleston (“Loki”), Oscar Isaac (“Moon Knight”) and Jeremy Renner (“Hawkeye”). Although he lost the last Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actor race to Ewan McGregor (“Halston”), he may now get an immediate second shot at the same prize based on his work on “A Very British Scandal.” Luckily for him, there is ample precedent for back-to-back bids in this category.
The first man recognized twice in a row for TV movie and/or limited series roles was Mickey Rooney. His example has been followed by 16 others, beginning with George C. Scott. Next came Hal Holbrook and Laurence Olivier, the latter of whom then became the category’s first three-time consecutive nominee with his 1975 bid for “Love Among the Ruins.”
SEEClaire...
The first man recognized twice in a row for TV movie and/or limited series roles was Mickey Rooney. His example has been followed by 16 others, beginning with George C. Scott. Next came Hal Holbrook and Laurence Olivier, the latter of whom then became the category’s first three-time consecutive nominee with his 1975 bid for “Love Among the Ruins.”
SEEClaire...
- 6/22/2022
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
“We are nothing but a pair of old queens,” Hugh Grant tells his dining companion in the House of Commons near the start of Amazon’s new limited series “A Very English Scandal.” The frankness is startling given what we know about Grant, the leading man in any number of straight romantic comedies. And it comes to seem yet more striking as Grant’s character, the real-life member of Parliament Jeremy Thorpe, obfuscates endlessly about his desire through the series’s three-hour running time. He’s rarely ever open about desire, treating it as an embarrassing biological fact to be sated on brief hiatuses from heterosexual life.
The series, which first aired overseas on BBC One in May and comes to Amazon June 29, comes by its title honestly. U.K. talent (including director Stephen Frears and stars Grant and Ben Whishaw) suffuse the proceedings with a curious reticence, an enigmatic...
The series, which first aired overseas on BBC One in May and comes to Amazon June 29, comes by its title honestly. U.K. talent (including director Stephen Frears and stars Grant and Ben Whishaw) suffuse the proceedings with a curious reticence, an enigmatic...
- 6/20/2018
- by Daniel D'Addario
- Variety Film + TV
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