Radio Times
type: channel
link: https://www.radiotimes.com
date: 2024-05-30T18:01:04.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: Star Trek: Discovery's Sonequa Martin-Green says "door is open" for her return
items: Star Trek: Discovery season 5 ending explained - What happened to Burnham?
items: Star Trek: Discovery star is "at peace" with series ending with season 5
items: Best Star Trek captains ranked - from Kirk to Picard
items: Star Trek series ranked from worst to best
items: How we made The Sarah Jane Adventures: 'We were like a family, and it was beautiful'
items: Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù speaks out on James Bond rumours: 'It's the pinnacle of action roles'
items: Gangs of London's Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù on filming season 2 in a pandemic, season 3 plans
items: Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù reveals why Mothering Sunday was an opportunity to "flex a different muscle"
items: How we made Class: team behind Doctor Who spin-off reflect on cancellation and series 2 plans
items: How we made Robin Hood: the cast and crew of the BBC series look back 15 years later
items: Primeval's cast and crew on unanswered cliffhangers, Doctor Who rivalry and dinosaur co-stars
items: Sophie Rundle on 'loyalty' to Peaky Blinders and 'liberating' production venture in thriller Rose: A Love Story
items: It's A Sin's Omari Douglas on why Russell T Davies' new drama is timeless: 'People might pick up on moments that ring true of what we're living through now'
items: Doctor Who's Mandip Gill on challenges in new interactive film Five Dates and what the future holds next

Star Trek: Discovery's Sonequa Martin-Green says "door is open" for her return
type: item
date: 2024-05-30T18:00:46.000Z
creator: Alex Moreland
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Exclusive
subject: News
subject: Star Trek (franchise)
description: She's not ruling out a comeback.
encoded: After five seasons and 64 episodes over seven years – making it, chronologically speaking, the longest-running Star Trek series ever – Star Trek: Discovery has come to an end. The series finale Life, Itself saw a final confrontation between Starfleet and the Breen, and followed Michael Burnham as she solved the mystery of the Progenitors – before flashing forward in time to reveal that Burnham would go on to become an admiral and start a family with partner Cleveland Booker. Of course, just because the series has ended doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the last time we’ll see any of these characters – yes, we know that Burnham becomes an admiral, and that Tilly becomes the longest-tenured instructor Starfleet Academy ever has, but there are a lot of stories in those intervening years. Might we one day see Sonequa Martin-Green return to the captain’s chair and fill in some of those stories? After all, Patrick Stewart returned to the role of Captain Picard in Star Trek: Picard, decades after the end of The Next Generation, for example, while Kate Mulgrew similarly reprised the part of Captain Janeway in Star Trek: Prodigy in 2021, long after the end of Star Trek: Voyager. According to the actor herself, who spoke to RadioTimes.com ahead of the premiere of Discovery’s fifth season, it’s certainly possible. "Well, the door is definitely open," Martin-Green smiles, obviously fond of playing Michael Burnham. "Right? You know, there's no real goodbyes in Trek. So, I would definitely be willing – I think we all would, you know, it's in a special place in our hearts." Whether we’ll see Martin-Green return to the bridge of a starship in decades to come (Star Trek: Burnham in 2045, perhaps?) or see the crew of the Discovery lead a guest lecture or two in the upcoming Star Trek: Starfleet Academy spin-off is anyone’s guess for the moment. Still, even if it’s too early to say whether we’ll see these characters again, it’s easier for Martin-Green to say what she hopes viewers will ta…

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Star Trek: Discovery season 5 ending explained - What happened to Burnham?
type: item
date: 2024-05-30T09:00:18.000Z
creator: Alex Moreland
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: On demand
subject: Paramount Plus
description: Everything you need to know!
encoded: Warning: Full spoilers ahead for Star Trek: Discovery season 5 episode 10. The Star Trek: Discovery finale Life, Itself opens in the midst of battle. As the USS Discovery and her crew take on the Breen, Michael Burnham wakes up in a strange and unfamiliar environment. She’s unable to get in touch with anyone from Discovery, or make sense of any of her tricorder data – she’s in a vast, seemingly infinite corridor, the walls made up of a series of a windows. The windows, Burnham speculates, are portals of some kind: possibly viewing stations for the Progenitors to monitor the progress of different planets, or maybe the mechanism they used to seed life through the galaxy in the first place. It’s an extended sequence that follows Burnham alone, a reminder as the series comes to a close of how important Sonequa Martin-Green’s expressive performance has been as an anchor for Star Trek: Discovery over the years. Read on for our spoiler-filled summary of the Star Trek: Discovery finale, with a full breakdown of what happened to Michael Burnham, the answer to the mystery of the Progenitors’ tech, and where the crew of the USS Discovery eventually find themselves. What happened to the Breen in Star Trek: Discovery? Outside the Progenitors’ realm, the crew of Discovery and the rest of Starfleet are taking steps to find Burnham. Things are looking increasingly tense because of the imminent arrival of Tahal, a brutal Breen primarch – as Commander Rayner prepares the Discovery for battle, Saru argues with Admiral Vance that he should be allowed to attempt a diplomatic approach. Both are risky ventures, but everyone is running out of options – the Progenitors’ tech can’t be allowed to fall into the wrong hands. Book resolves to fly directly towards the Progenitors’ portal – Doctor Culber insists on joining him, believing that this is the answer to the spiritual absence he’s felt since the zhiantara ritual on Trill. Meanwhile, Saru – accompanied by Commander Nhan – engages with Tah…

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Star Trek: Discovery star is "at peace" with series ending with season 5
type: item
date: 2024-04-03T18:00:31.000Z
creator: Alex Moreland
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Exclusive
subject: News
subject: On demand
subject: Paramount Plus
subject: Star Trek (franchise)
description: "We've had a good run."
encoded: "We've had a lot of time to process it," says Sonequa Martin-Green, discussing the end of Star Trek: Discovery ahead of the debut of its fifth and final season. "We found that after the fact, right – we had shot all of season 5, and thought it was just another season, and then found out a few months later, after we had wrapped [that it would be the final season]." "Then we went back to do a shoot, and really wrap up the series," continues Martin-Green, who has played Michael Burnham since Discovery began in 2017. "And yes, it was bittersweet, but I always felt a great sense of peace about it. TV has changed, and we're in the streaming era, and so I feel that five seasons is solid. I think we had a good run, you know? So I always felt peace." It's a sentiment shared by the rest of the cast, according to Martin-Green: "I've been saying three words, especially, that I feel have really settled in me is a sense of achievement, ownership and gratitude. I think all of us feel that way." <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2024/04/DISCO503MGG07266612-1RTCredit-Marni-Grossman-Paramount-2cb3dc0.jpeg" width="6000" height="4000" alt="David Ajala as Book, Sonequa Martin-Green as Burnham and Wilson Cruz as Culber in Star Trek: Discovery, season 5 standing by rocks holding weapons" title="David Ajala as Book, Sonequa Martin-Green as Burnham and Wilson Cruz as Culber in Star Trek: Discovery, season 5," /> Of course, Star Trek: Discovery is ending in a very different place to where it began. When we were first introduced to Michael Burnham in 2017, Discovery was the first new Star Trek series to debut in nearly 15 years – now, it’s one of several series running concurrently, having ushered in a whole new Star Trek universe. How did that change their experience of making the series, going from the Star Trek show to a Star Trek show? "I think the first time we heard about the very first – I won't say spin-off but, well, I guess technically speaking [la…

Best Star Trek captains ranked - from Kirk to Picard
type: item
date: 2024-02-08T11:00:37.000Z
creator: Alex Moreland
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Star Trek (franchise)
description: Which is your favourite?
encoded: As each new Star Trek ship starts its ongoing mission – whether it’s to seek out new life and new civilisations, or to simply complete the long voyage home – there’s always one presence at the heart of the show. Star Trek is usually more of an ensemble drama than anything else, but often you can’t help but focus on the captains at least a little bit (even in series like Discovery or Lower Decks, where attention is deliberately placed elsewhere). After nearly 60 years of sequels and spin-offs, comparisons eventually start to spring up – which Star Trek captain is the best one? Or, if you like, it’s the only question a Star Trek fan ever thought was hard: do they like Kirk, or do they like Picard? Best Star Trek captains ranked 10. Gabriel Lorca (Discovery) At face value, Lorca is one of the most interesting captains we’ve seen in Star Trek. There’s something a little darker about him, something troubled, and he regularly seems to come into conflict with his more conventional crew, but beneath all that there’s an apparently sincere investment in trying to return to the ideals of science and exploration Starfleet has had to move away from. It’s eventually revealed, though, that his troubled side wasn’t a piece of clever character writing, but a clue that he was a cackling villain from the Mirror Universe. Oh. (Maybe Jason Isaacs could return as Prime Lorca in a future episode of Strange New Worlds?) 9. Philippa Georgiou (Discovery) We don’t spend much time with Captain Georgiou of the Prime Universe – over the course of Star Trek: Discovery, it’s her mirror universe counterpart who takes centre stage. But you get the sense in Discovery’s two-part premiere (and in occasional flashback sequences) that Georgiou was very much the Captain Picard of her era, perhaps a character meriting further exploration – maybe that long-developing Section 31 movie with Michelle Yeoh should be a Star Trek: Shenzhou prequel instead? 8. Jonathan Archer (Enterprise) Scott Bakula takes to the…

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Star Trek series ranked from worst to best
type: item
date: 2024-01-30T11:38:23.000Z
creator: Alex Moreland
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Evergreen
subject: Star Trek (franchise)
description: From The Original Series to Lower Decks.
encoded: Star Trek began nearly 60 years ago and, in that time, it’s grown from a sci-fi Western that was almost always on the verge of cancellation to a vast franchise encompassing thousands of hours of television, with countless spin-offs and sequels and prequels and reinventions along the way. Of course, that raises the question: which of them is the best? Does Voyager win out over Enterprise? Is Strange New Worlds’ modern take on the Star Trek pilot stronger than The Original Series? Could Picard ever really compare to The Next Generation? So, without further ado, here's our ranking of Star Trek series from worst to best… Every Star Trek series ranked 9. Star Trek: Picard Must a Star Trek series be 'good'? Isn’t it enough for Patrick Stewart just to have a fun time on set? If it is enough (and, honestly, it might be) then Star Trek: Picard is an obvious success. If not, then Star Trek: Picard’s awkward first season, meandering second, and overly nostalgic third – not to mention the regular behind-the-scenes shake-ups that left each new instalment feeling like it had little interest in following coherently on from what came before it – adds up to what can only be considered the most disappointing Star Trek series in the galaxy. View Affiliate Playlist on the source website 8. Star Trek: Enterprise Coming at the end of a near-unprecedented production run, you can forgive Enterprise for feeling a little bit tired at times. Every so often it’d throw out a new idea, from the prequel setting it began with to its experiments with more serialised storytelling in its third and fourth season - but for the most part, Enterprise feels like it demonstrates the natural endpoint of a particular style of Star Trek on TV. Still, though, it has its charms (including – genuinely – the theme song). 7. Star Trek: Voyager <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2024/01/GettyImages-906870-Cropped-d520cdc.jpg" width="2263" height="1508" alt="Cast of Star Trek: Voyag…

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How we made The Sarah Jane Adventures: 'We were like a family, and it was beautiful'
type: item
date: 2022-01-01T09:00:22.000Z
creator: Alex Moreland
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
description: To mark the 15th anniversary of the first episode, the cast and crew of the Doctor Who spinoff reflect on their favourite moments, how to tell stories for children, and working with Elisabeth Sladen
encoded: Today marks fifteen years since The Sarah Jane Adventures began, with the hour-long special Invasion of the Bane first broadcast on New Year’s Day 2007. To celebrate, writer/producer Phil Ford and stars Anjli Mohindra (Rani Chandra), Daniel Anthony (Clyde Langer) and Sinead Michael (Sky Smith), as well as Porsha Lawrence-Mavour (Kelsey Hooper) from that very first episode, look back on the series, and explain how The Sarah Jane Adventures was made, tell us their favourite episodes, and remember what it was like to work with Elisabeth Sladen. After the success of Doctor Who on BBC One, and with Torchwood in development at BBC Three, CBBC approached Russell T Davies about a Doctor Who spinoff of their own. Originally pitching him an idea about the Doctor’s childhood adventures on Gallifrey, Davies instead suggested a show called Sarah Jane Investigates; his plan was to build the series around Elisabeth Sladen, who had recently reprised her role as Sarah Jane Smith alongside David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor. Over five series and fifty-three episodes, Sarah Jane and the Bannerman Road gang faced Sontarans and Slitheen, Gorgons and Graske, Mrs Wormwood and General Kudlak, Androvax the Veil and Oddbob the Clown, and of course the Trickster too. But what were each of their personal highlights of their experience on The Sarah Jane Adventures? “The great thing about the show was that it was a huge team effort,” says Phil Ford, who wrote twenty-two episodes of The Sarah Jane Adventures. “I didn't find that many shows are quite as collectively supportive as everybody was on Sarah Jane, because I think we all loved what we were doing. I mean, the writers, we were all huge fans of Classic Doctor Who, we'd all been brought up on it – simply the fact that we were writing for Sarah Jane was a massive buzz for all of us. We’d all fallen in love with her as a kid.” “I was a huge fan of The Sarah Jane Adventures growing up,” says Sinead Michael, echoing the same sentiment experienced deca…

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Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù speaks out on James Bond rumours: 'It's the pinnacle of action roles'
type: item
date: 2021-11-13T09:00:59.000Z
creator: Alex Moreland
subject: Movies
subject: Exclusive
subject: News
description: The Mothering Sunday and Gangs of London star has been rising up the bookies' odds.
encoded: With the release of No Time to Die, Daniel Craig has played James Bond for the last time – and now everyone is wondering who his successor as 007 might be. Asked whether he’d be interested in the role, Gangs of London star Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù smiles – it’s clearly not the first time the idea has been put to him. (At time of writing, Dìrísù is currently 16/1 odds to star as the secret agent next.) "That question is going around a lot more recently, because No Time to Die has just come out," he told RadioTimes.com while promoting new film Mothering Sunday. "[It] is an excellent film, I was really fortunate to get to go to the premiere of it, it was such a grand occasion. "I really enjoy the rough and tumble of action sequences, and I try to do all of my own stunts. I think that the role of James Bond – wow – is the pinnacle of those things, you know?" "I think Barbara [Broccoli, series producer] and everybody at EON are constantly striving to keep [Bond] at the forefront of that genre,” he continued. "I have no idea if they'll come to me with that, but I want to continue to put myself in a position and do the work that would make them consider me – but also work that I'm proud of, that engages me and engages audiences. If it was Bond… then we'll see when we get there." Bond isn’t the only character the actor has expressed an interest in – earlier this year, in an interview with Esquire, Dìrísù said he wants to “create what is ostensibly a Black Indiana Jones, and sprinkle in some real lost African history into those films.” Are there any other characters he’d be interested in playing, or genres he’d be interested in working in? "I love discovering new things," he said. "I did The Huntsman: Winter’s War. That was quite fantasy, and I enjoyed the taste of that – I'd love to do more fantasy stuff. I suppose the closest I’ve come to sci-fi would be Humans or Black Mirror – but neither of those were in space! “There are loads of films that I saw growing up that I'd love to taste …

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Gangs of London's Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù on filming season 2 in a pandemic, season 3 plans
type: item
date: 2021-11-12T11:53:47.000Z
creator: Alex Moreland
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Exclusive
subject: News
description: New episodes of the no-holds-barred thriller starring Dìrísù as an undercover cop are on the horizon.
encoded: Production on Gangs of London season two – the follow-up to Sky Atlantic’s biggest ever original drama launch – is currently underway, with the crime drama due to return in 2022. Filming the ambitious second series has proven logistically complicated, however, because of the safety precautions needed to film during the ongoing pandemic. (Earlier this year, production halted on the Sky drama for 10 days after a crew member tested positive for coronavirus.) How has star Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù found it, making the series under such challenging circumstances? "It was fantastic to be back at work," Dìrísù told RadioTimes.com while promoting new film Mothering Sunday. "And also to have the attitude that we were going to overcome this and create something beautiful." "I don't think we would have been able to start the second season of Gangs of London when we were shooting Mothering Sunday," he explained. "There was too much that we needed to do in terms of distancing that we couldn't have a massive [production].” "Gangs of London is so expansive – the other day, we were shooting, and I think we had 60 or 70 supporting artists in the room. It was ventilated, we were wearing masks when we were shooting, we're still adhering to the guidelines as much as possible, but that would not have run this time last year. "It's good that there's been a relaxation of the rules, whilst still being as safe as possible, to allow us to continue to make those large-scale productions – but we wouldn't have been able to shoot Gangs of London had we not had projects like Mothering Sunday last year to show that it was possible, step by step." Gangs of London co-creator, writer/director Gareth Evans, explained to RadioTimes.com last year that “it took us three years to get [season one] designed and done and out”, noting that the “weird, unprecedented times at the moment” would likely impact production on season two. Nonetheless, the first season of the drama starring Dìrísù as undercover cop Elliot Finch wa…

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Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù reveals why Mothering Sunday was an opportunity to "flex a different muscle"
type: item
date: 2021-11-11T12:25:25.000Z
subject: Movies
subject: Exclusive
subject: News
description: Playing Donald in Eva Husson's drama was Gangs of London star Dìrísù's first post-pandemic role.
encoded: "Mothering Sunday was an opportunity to flex a different muscle and explore a different part of my craft," says Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù, explaining what drew him to his latest film, a 1920s-set period romance co-starring Odessa Young and Josh O’Connor. "It requires a different sort of discipline or a different sensibility: I think lots of things are like muscles where if you don't use them, you'll lose them." "I think it's interesting to see how far we've come from times, and also how far we haven't come as well,” continues Dìrísù, talking about why he enjoys period drama. "Part of the magic of performance is being transported, and you get that a bit more viscerally when you're doing a period drama than when you’re doing a modern-day piece." Key to this is Dìrísù’s interest in "the lived experience, and either documenting that or interrogating it." "A big one that I can't escape is race, and race relations, racial politics. Donald [Dìrísù’s Mothering Sunday character], in the time 1920s-1940s, had a very specific experience and interrogating how he had to navigate that compared to how I navigate it today is creatively interesting." Mothering Sunday is set in March 1924 and charts maid Jane Fairchild (Young)'s secret relationship with Paul (O'Connor), while Dìrísù plays Donald, a man who plays a significant role in Jane's later life. The film was Dìrísù’s first post-pandemic role, coming at a point when the creative industries were still adjusting to COVID-19, and when he wasn’t sure if there would be any roles available. "When the pandemic hit, I was very conscious that I may not work for the rest of the calendar year," he remembers. "In late May/June time, some auditions started coming. Normally I would be in London and [audition] there. "But because that wasn't an option, I was [recording self-tapes] in my childhood bedroom, basically, with my sister. But it was a wonderful thing to do with her, it really brought us closer together. I think actually that would be one of my f…

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How we made Class: team behind Doctor Who spin-off reflect on cancellation and series 2 plans
type: item
date: 2021-10-21T09:00:39.000Z
creator: Alex Moreland
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: RT Rewind
description: The cast and crew of Class on making a Doctor Who spin-off, their untimely cancellation, and series two plans for a Weeping Angel civil war.
encoded: “I loved every minute of it,” says Patrick Ness of his Doctor Who spin-off Class. “I’d be doing it now if they’d let me.” Following a group of students at Coal Hill school, Class was Doctor Who’s third spin-off since its 2005 revival. With a celebrated young adult author at the helm, Class was a series in the same vein as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, always bursting with ideas and deeply invested in its characters. After the success of The Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood, Class seemed set to reach similar heights – until it didn’t. Five years since the show was first released on October 22nd 2016, creator Patrick Ness, director Ed Bazalgette, and stars Greg Austin, Sophie Hopkins, and Jordan Renzo look back on Class – reflecting on its complicated relationship with Doctor Who, their experiences making the show, its untimely cancellation, and the series two episodes we never saw. Class began life when Patrick Ness was asked to write for Doctor Who. “It was a bit unexpected,” he remembers. “[The BBC] approached me to see if I’d be interested in writing episodes of Doctor Who, but I declined, feeling like I really wanted to work on my own creations at that point. To my surprise, they said, ‘Well, we’ve got this other idea…’” “They had been inspired by The Caretaker, where the Doctor was undercover at Coal Hill. Their first idea was to have another caretaker-type character,” Ness continues. “I remember they’d mentioned Frank Skinner as a possible idea – but I said, with the greatest respect to Frank Skinner, if you do that in a show for teens, what you’ve got is a bunch of teens waiting around for an adult to take action.” “I argued that you’d have to get it away from what Sarah Jane Adventures did so beautifully and make it for older teens, who are all about having their own agency and making their own choices. In other words, they’re the centre of the show, not the authority character.” “They liked that idea, and my pitch for the show came together really fast” says …

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How we made Robin Hood: the cast and crew of the BBC series look back 15 years later
type: item
date: 2021-10-07T08:00:57.000Z
creator: Alex Moreland
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: RT Rewind
description: The cast and crew of Robin Hood on getting the BBC onboard, filming in Hungary, and living up to the legend.
encoded: “It's what you dream of as a kid,” says Jonas Armstrong of Robin Hood, “practicing how to fire bow and arrows, riding horses, doing stunts. Getting to play Robin Hood and the band of outlaws!” Today – 5th October, 2021 – marks 15 years since the premiere of Robin Hood. The series, which aired on BBC One from 2006 to 2009, reinvented the legend of Robin Hood for a whole new era: it presented a much younger, more dynamic version than audiences had seen before. Lead actors Jonas Armstrong (Robin Hood), Lucy Griffiths (Marian) and Keith Allen (the Sheriff of Nottingham), as well as executive producers and co-creators Foz Allan and Dominic Minghella, look back on the series – explaining how they found their own distinct take on the myth, what it was like to film the show in Hungary, and more. The series began life when Doctor Who first went into production. “I said to Greg Brenman, then Head of Drama at [production company] Tiger Aspect, if Doctor Who works they're going to want more of these family dramas,” remembers Foz Allan. “Foz had been into the BBC and said – there was big excitement around Doctor Who on Saturday night – there should be room in the schedule for another show like it as well. They weren't hugely interested!” says Dominic Minghella. “But then Peter Fincham joined as controller of BBC One. He had young kids at the time, as did Foz and I, and arrived asking why isn't there a Robin Hood on Saturday nights? That was where all the creative energy was focused, Saturday night,” continues Minghella. “They said to him ‘oh we’ve been talking about that actually’, and quickly called Foz.” “I was in the middle of Doc Martin when Foz asked if I could do Robin Hood. It sounded like a great opportunity: it came at a time in my career where I realised I wanted to be a producer as well as a writer,” says Minghella, explaining what drew him to the show. “I didn’t have a burning ambition to retell the tale of Robin Hood, but Foz was somebody who was secure enough in hi…

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Primeval's cast and crew on unanswered cliffhangers, Doctor Who rivalry and dinosaur co-stars
type: item
date: 2021-08-19T09:30:27.000Z
creator: Alex Moreland
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: BritBox
subject: On demand
description: As the ITV sci-fi series comes to BritBox, we delve deep into the behind-the-scenes ups and downs of Primeval with the cast and creatives.
encoded: “I've always been obsessed by dinosaurs and monsters, all that kind of stuff, since I was a boy,” says Douglas Henshall, explaining what drew him to a certain ITV drama, the first two series of which are available on BritBox today. “Primeval was kind of a hang-over from childhood, a way of vicariously satisfying the old childhood memories.” It was also a series that almost always seemed on the brink of extinction. Following a team of scientists investigating the appearance of temporal "anomalies" which delivers both prehistoric creatures and future predators to the present, Primeval began life at the BBC, under a very different title. “I'd made a [documentary-style series] called Walking with Dinosaurs for the BBC back in 2000,” recalls co-creator Tim Haines, previously a science journalist with a background in zoology, “and it struck me that all that technology [could be] used for a drama. Because the BBC wanted a recognisable piece of IP, we made Arthur Conan Doyle’s Lost World first. I then came up with the idea of Cutter's Bestiary, and developed a script with another writer, which didn't go anywhere.” It's at this point that Adrian Hodges – who had recently won a BAFTA for Charles II: The Power and Passion – came on board. “One day I went into [BBC Head of Drama] Laura Mackie’s office, and she asked me what I wanted to do next. She suggested Bleak House – I’d already done David Copperfield, so I said no, I don't want to do another Dickens, thank you. I want to do something that's fun, like Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I'd just watched all of Buffy, I thought it was a brilliant show. I wanted to do something with the same vibe, the same feel to it.” “She then suggested something called Cutter's Bestiary - a terrible title, but that's what it was at the time,” continues Hodges. “I spoke to Tim, and he said, ‘I want to do dinosaurs in the modern day’, which is brilliant. I'd also just been to the Natural History Museum and I'd thought, why on earth isn't anybody doin…

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Sophie Rundle on 'loyalty' to Peaky Blinders and 'liberating' production venture in thriller Rose: A Love Story
type: item
date: 2021-04-04T08:00:46.000Z
creator: Alex Moreland
subject: Movies
subject: On demand
subject: The Big RT Interview
description: Alex Moreland talks to Sophie Rundle as her new film Rose: A Love Story is released.
encoded: “I was looking for a while to make another step from just being an actor,” explains Sophie Rundle, “to producing and having a seat at the table and starting to have more autonomy in the decisions I make.” Rose: A Love Story, she says, ended up being “the perfect project” to take that step. Not only does Rundle star in the film, she also produced it, and was involved in the film since the start of its development. It’s a story about a young couple, isolated in the woods, living under the shadow of a mysterious condition that causes violent, feral outbursts – as the film progresses, their relationship is strained by the burden of that illness and threatened by the rapid intrusion of the outside world. “Matt [Stokoe, Rundle’s partner] wrote it, just for the exercise of writing and wanting to explore that genre,” she continues. “He very flippantly said ‘oh, do you want to be in it?’ And I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, sure,’ thinking, ‘Oh God. I hope it’s good!’ “But then when he sent it to me, I just loved it. It’s such a clever take on a genre and a style that we're so familiar with, the vampire story – you sort of think ‘well, I don’t know how you could put a fresh spin on that’, but then when I read his script, I just thought it was so smart.” “It was so clever to frame it as this couple, one of them dealing with this life-changing illness that's all consuming. I hadn't thought about that before, and I thought it was so tenderly drawn and it was such a beautiful musing on a relationship and what the burden of illness can do to a couple. I just loved it. So, he sent it to me and then I said, ‘Well, no, actually I'd really like to be in it’” From there, the next step was finding a director: Jennifer Sheridan. Introduced by Rob Taylor (who also eventually acted as an executive producer on the film himself), Rundle explained: “We really liked her vibe, so then she came on board. For a first-time project, I think it's a very bold step to write something and be in it and produce i…

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It's A Sin's Omari Douglas on why Russell T Davies' new drama is timeless: 'People might pick up on moments that ring true of what we're living through now'
type: item
date: 2021-01-18T18:00:05.000Z
creator: Alex Moreland
subject: Drama
subject: News
subject: TV
subject: The Big RT Interview
description: Alex Moreland talks to Omari Douglas about his breakout role in new Channel 4 drama, It's A Sin.
encoded: “I don't think I ever would have expected to jump straight into something of this magnitude,” says Omari Douglas. “I feel really lucky to have had this opportunity.” We’re discussing It’s A Sin – Russell T Davies’ new five-part drama for Channel 4, and Omari Douglas’ first television role. Douglas plays Roscoe Babatunde, described by Channel 4 as “a wild, brittle party boy, always on the run”; Roscoe is one of six friends in London, the series tracing their lives across a decade alongside the AIDS crisis. One thing that’s clear about Douglas is how much he values collaboration, how important that is to his creative process. Asked about his biggest influences, he doesn’t highlight a particular childhood inspiration as many actors often do, but instead talks about how much he’s learned from the people he worked with on It's A Sin. “I was learning as I went on. I was surrounded by so many brilliant people – I was inspired every day just seeing the work of my friends, the people I was acting alongside.” “But then wider than that,” he elaborates, “just the craftsmanship that goes into putting a piece of this scale together, so many different departments coming together. There are hundreds more people working on a television production than you'd find in theatre, but it was [just as] collaborative. And I was really grateful for that, I felt supported. I felt invigorated and inspired every day.” He emphasises that again later in our conversation as we discuss what he’d like to do next in his career; he’s enjoyed a lot of early success so far in the theatre, with rave reviews for his performances in Wise Children and Rush in particular, but It’s A Sin nonetheless represents a big personal and professional step. In fact, Douglas has already started appearing on rising star lists, and deservedly so, raising the question of what he’ll do with the increased profile that his first major television role will bring. “I don't really like to put goalposts on anything – I feel like i…

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Doctor Who's Mandip Gill on challenges in new interactive film Five Dates and what the future holds next
type: item
date: 2020-11-14T09:00:38.000Z
creator: Alex Moreland
subject: Movies
subject: News
subject: TV
subject: The Big RT Interview
description: Alex Moreland chats to Mandip Gill about her new interactive rom-com in this week's The Big RT Interview.
encoded: Understandably, Mandip Gill wasn’t expecting to film anything new during lockdown. Work had finished on Doctor Who for the year, and when production shut down on Suspicion – an upcoming Apple+ thriller starring Uma Thurman, in which Gill has a supporting role – she’d already completed most of her scenes. Then came Five Dates. It’s an interactive romcom – think Black Mirror’s Bandersnatch, but with romance, and also comedy – styled as a series of video calls between Vinny (Taheen Modak) and his five different dating app matches (one of whom is played by Gill). “Obviously, I saw the word interactive, but didn't really think too much on it,” explains Gill. “I just was like, ‘Yeah, cool. I like this. I'd like to get involved if I can’ – it just naturally happened that way.” It proved to be a surprisingly straightforward filming experience, despite the complexities of the format. “I didn't know how you’d film it, because it was massive – the script was massive, apparently 700 different endings. I was like, ‘How, what? I don't get it. How am I going to remember this?’ But Paul [Raschid, director] had scheduled it in such a way that so many of the outcomes just flowed naturally.” “My fear was that, because there's so many lines, I don't know how I'm going to remember the reaction to it - because you do two versions as well! You don't want to go on a date with him, do want to go on a date with him, don't drink, do drink. How am I going to remember all that? But it was scheduled and written so well, that that actually wasn't [a problem]. After the first day and a half, I was like, ‘I could do this for another day and a half. I've got another day and a half of flow charts in me.’” Five Dates is something of a departure for Gill in other ways, too, not just because of its unique format and filming conditions. First, there’s the comedy. “I've always said I'm not very good at improvisation, I don't like trying to be funny, but with Five Dates, there was proper space for it, and …

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