Chris McCausland & Lee Mack Set For Sky Festive Special
British comedians Chris McCausland and Lee Mack will front Sky festive special Bad Tidings, about two perpetually feuding neighbors in Northern England who become unlikely heroes after saving their street from notorious burglars with wacky booby traps and British banter. Laurence Rickard & Martha Howe-Douglas are writing, with production commencing this month at Sky Studios Elstree. Also cast are Rebekah Staton, Sarah Alexander, Ben Crompton, Emily Coates, Josiah Eloi, Millie Kiss, Tupele Dorgu, Sunil Patel, Susan Kyd and Donna Preston. Sky Studios is producing, with Tim Kirkby directing. Adnan Ahmed from Sky Studios is the producer and Ail Gupta exec produces. Sky’s Comcast stablemate NBCUniversal Global TV Distribution will handle international sales. Bad Tidings is the latest Sky original festive special, following last year’s The Heist Before Christmas, 2022’s Christmas Carole and 2021’s The Amazing Mr Blunden.
British comedians Chris McCausland and Lee Mack will front Sky festive special Bad Tidings, about two perpetually feuding neighbors in Northern England who become unlikely heroes after saving their street from notorious burglars with wacky booby traps and British banter. Laurence Rickard & Martha Howe-Douglas are writing, with production commencing this month at Sky Studios Elstree. Also cast are Rebekah Staton, Sarah Alexander, Ben Crompton, Emily Coates, Josiah Eloi, Millie Kiss, Tupele Dorgu, Sunil Patel, Susan Kyd and Donna Preston. Sky Studios is producing, with Tim Kirkby directing. Adnan Ahmed from Sky Studios is the producer and Ail Gupta exec produces. Sky’s Comcast stablemate NBCUniversal Global TV Distribution will handle international sales. Bad Tidings is the latest Sky original festive special, following last year’s The Heist Before Christmas, 2022’s Christmas Carole and 2021’s The Amazing Mr Blunden.
- 4/8/2024
- by Jesse Whittock, Hannah Abraham and Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Sherlock co-creator Mark Gatiss has adapted a short story from the detective’s creator, Arthur Conan Doyle, as his annual Christmas ghost story for the BBC. Kit Harington (Game of Thrones) and Freddie Fox (Slow Horses) are attached to star.
Gatiss has penned a version of Conan Doyle’s Lot No. 249, having adapted various Sherlock Holmes novels for the Beeb betweenn 2010 and 2017, alongside former Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat.
The special will air as part of the BBC’s winter schedule and comes after Gatiss adapted The Tractate Middoth in 2013, The Dead Room (2018), Martin’s Close (2019) The Mezzotint (2021) and Count Magnus (2022) – four of which were based on works by M.R James.
Lot No. 249 follows group of Oxford students, one of whom undertakes research into the secrets of Ancient Egypt and becomes the talk of the college. “Can these experiments truly breathe life to the horrifying bag of bones which is the mysterious Lot.
Gatiss has penned a version of Conan Doyle’s Lot No. 249, having adapted various Sherlock Holmes novels for the Beeb betweenn 2010 and 2017, alongside former Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat.
The special will air as part of the BBC’s winter schedule and comes after Gatiss adapted The Tractate Middoth in 2013, The Dead Room (2018), Martin’s Close (2019) The Mezzotint (2021) and Count Magnus (2022) – four of which were based on works by M.R James.
Lot No. 249 follows group of Oxford students, one of whom undertakes research into the secrets of Ancient Egypt and becomes the talk of the college. “Can these experiments truly breathe life to the horrifying bag of bones which is the mysterious Lot.
- 10/19/2023
- by Jesse Whittock and Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
It’s Christmas Eve, and you’re as ready as you’ll ever be. Presents under the tree? Check. Turkey in the fridge? Check. Mince pie for Father Christmas and a carrot for Rudolf on the hearth? Check. The thinning of the veil between this world and the next, allowing unquiet spirits to walk the Earth and the long shadows in the moonlit, frosty lanes to shift and darken with things not of this world? Check, check and check.
Because while Christmas might traditionally be the season of goodwill, comfort and joy, it is also very much the time of ghosts. And no one appreciates that quite as much as Mark Gatiss.
Gatiss is one of our most recognisable TV actors and writers, making his name with the surreal comedy of The League of Gentlemen and cementing his reputation with a starring role in Sherlock, his TV take on Dracula,...
Because while Christmas might traditionally be the season of goodwill, comfort and joy, it is also very much the time of ghosts. And no one appreciates that quite as much as Mark Gatiss.
Gatiss is one of our most recognisable TV actors and writers, making his name with the surreal comedy of The League of Gentlemen and cementing his reputation with a starring role in Sherlock, his TV take on Dracula,...
- 12/23/2022
- by David Barnett
- The Independent - TV
When it comes to the tradition of telling ghosts stories during Christmas, Charles Dickens still reigns supreme, with medieval scholar M.R. James in a very close second place. But in recent years, actor, writer, and director Mark Gatiss has quickly earned mention alongside those two by reinvigorating the United Kingdom’s heritage of holiday horror.
Best known for his work on Doctor Who, Sherlock, Dracula, and the comedy troupe League of Gentlemen, Gatiss has become the force behind the BBC’s revival of A Ghost Story for Christmas series of television films. The original run of annuals was largely helmed by Lawrence Gordon Clark, and aired from 1971 until ’78, before returning sporadically in 2005. Gatiss made his directorial debut in 2013 with The Tractate Middoth, the Ghost Story adaptation of James’ work. He has since written and directed three more for the series — James adaptations Martin’s Close and The Mezzotint, and the...
Best known for his work on Doctor Who, Sherlock, Dracula, and the comedy troupe League of Gentlemen, Gatiss has become the force behind the BBC’s revival of A Ghost Story for Christmas series of television films. The original run of annuals was largely helmed by Lawrence Gordon Clark, and aired from 1971 until ’78, before returning sporadically in 2005. Gatiss made his directorial debut in 2013 with The Tractate Middoth, the Ghost Story adaptation of James’ work. He has since written and directed three more for the series — James adaptations Martin’s Close and The Mezzotint, and the...
- 12/21/2022
- by John Saavedra
- Den of Geek
BAFTA nominees Lindsay Duncan and Simon Callow join Joe Stephenson’s upcoming “Doctor Jekyll,” starring Eddie Izzard.
Also added to the cast are Jonathan Hyde Tony Jayawardena (“The Crown”) and Robyn Cara.
In the film, a modern interpretation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s iconic 1886 novella “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde,” Izzard plays Dr. Nina Jekyll, a recluse who finds friendship with her newly hired help, Rob, played by emerging actor Scott Chambers (“Chicken”) and they must work together to prevent Hyde from destroying her life. The screenplay is by first time writer Dan Kelly-Mulhern.
Joe Stephenson, director of Edinburgh and Busan selected film “Chicken” and feature documentary “McKellen: Playing the Part,” directs.
The film is produced by London based B Good Picture Company in association with Fluidity Films (“Journey’s End”). Stephenson produces with Guy de Beaujeu (“The Laureate”) with Liam Coutts (“The Good Drug”) associate producing. Christian Angermayer...
Also added to the cast are Jonathan Hyde Tony Jayawardena (“The Crown”) and Robyn Cara.
In the film, a modern interpretation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s iconic 1886 novella “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde,” Izzard plays Dr. Nina Jekyll, a recluse who finds friendship with her newly hired help, Rob, played by emerging actor Scott Chambers (“Chicken”) and they must work together to prevent Hyde from destroying her life. The screenplay is by first time writer Dan Kelly-Mulhern.
Joe Stephenson, director of Edinburgh and Busan selected film “Chicken” and feature documentary “McKellen: Playing the Part,” directs.
The film is produced by London based B Good Picture Company in association with Fluidity Films (“Journey’s End”). Stephenson produces with Guy de Beaujeu (“The Laureate”) with Liam Coutts (“The Good Drug”) associate producing. Christian Angermayer...
- 3/16/2022
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
126 domestic UK features contributed £221m to the total film production spend of £1.55bn.
The post-lockdown boom in UK film and high-end TV (Hetv) production was confirmed today by official BFI statistics showing that total spend reached £5.64bn in 2021, a new record.
The combined production spend by film and Hetv during 2021 is £1.27bn higher than for the pre-pandemic year 2019, according to figures from the BFI’s Research and Statistics Unit.
Hetv was largely responsible for driving overall production levels to the new record, topping £4.09bn, nearly double pre-pandemic 2019 levels. This figure includes £737m from an increased number of single long-form ‘film...
The post-lockdown boom in UK film and high-end TV (Hetv) production was confirmed today by official BFI statistics showing that total spend reached £5.64bn in 2021, a new record.
The combined production spend by film and Hetv during 2021 is £1.27bn higher than for the pre-pandemic year 2019, according to figures from the BFI’s Research and Statistics Unit.
Hetv was largely responsible for driving overall production levels to the new record, topping £4.09bn, nearly double pre-pandemic 2019 levels. This figure includes £737m from an increased number of single long-form ‘film...
- 2/4/2022
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
126 domestic UK features contributed £221m to the total film production spend of £1.55bn.
The post-lockdown boom in UK film and high-end TV (Hetv) production was confirmed today by official BFI statistics showing that total spend reached £5.64bn in 2021, a new record.
The combined production spend by film and Hetv during 2021 is £1.27bn higher than for the pre-pandemic year 2019, according to figures from the BFI’s Research and Statistics Unit.
Hetv was largely responsible for driving overall production levels to the new record, topping £4.09bn, nearly double pre-pandemic 2019 levels. This figure includes £737m from an increased number of single long-form ‘film...
The post-lockdown boom in UK film and high-end TV (Hetv) production was confirmed today by official BFI statistics showing that total spend reached £5.64bn in 2021, a new record.
The combined production spend by film and Hetv during 2021 is £1.27bn higher than for the pre-pandemic year 2019, according to figures from the BFI’s Research and Statistics Unit.
Hetv was largely responsible for driving overall production levels to the new record, topping £4.09bn, nearly double pre-pandemic 2019 levels. This figure includes £737m from an increased number of single long-form ‘film...
- 2/4/2022
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
As the days grow shorter and families hunker down cozily in front of the TV, British holiday programming has grown into a dependable export around the world, thanks to the success of Christmas specials for shows like “The Office” and “Gavin & Stacey.”
“Demand for British content is higher than ever across the board,” says Louise McNab, director of content sales at BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the U.K. public broadcaster. “International audiences appreciate the ambition and creativity of British shows, as well as the level of authorship.”
Sally Habbershaw, executive VP for the Americas at All3Media, likens holiday specials for top offerings like “All Creatures Great and Small” and “The Larkins” to “a cup of warm tea and a blanket.”
“You snuggle and enjoy them,” says the executive, who notes that holidays “ideally represent some form of nostalgia and security.”
Despite the increasing audience fragmentation caused by individual media devices,...
“Demand for British content is higher than ever across the board,” says Louise McNab, director of content sales at BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the U.K. public broadcaster. “International audiences appreciate the ambition and creativity of British shows, as well as the level of authorship.”
Sally Habbershaw, executive VP for the Americas at All3Media, likens holiday specials for top offerings like “All Creatures Great and Small” and “The Larkins” to “a cup of warm tea and a blanket.”
“You snuggle and enjoy them,” says the executive, who notes that holidays “ideally represent some form of nostalgia and security.”
Despite the increasing audience fragmentation caused by individual media devices,...
- 11/27/2021
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
The former League of Gentlemen star on his love of low-budget British spinechillers, his loathing of Brexit and a slew of projects opening this winter
Mark Gatiss scans the breakfast menu at an east London restaurant with a famished eye. We’re at the hinge moment between the nightlife of an A-lister, who attended the James Bond premiere the previous evening, and the day job as an actor who, by his own account, could only land a role he had wanted all his life by writing the play himself. “It was a long evening,” he says of No Time to Die. He hadn’t had dinner and was trying to stave off the hunger pangs by sipping water, but not too much, because he couldn’t get out to the loo: “So I’m just really hungry.” He’s like a jovial Eeyore, painting himself into a lugubrious picture of the turnip fields of celebrity,...
Mark Gatiss scans the breakfast menu at an east London restaurant with a famished eye. We’re at the hinge moment between the nightlife of an A-lister, who attended the James Bond premiere the previous evening, and the day job as an actor who, by his own account, could only land a role he had wanted all his life by writing the play himself. “It was a long evening,” he says of No Time to Die. He hadn’t had dinner and was trying to stave off the hunger pangs by sipping water, but not too much, because he couldn’t get out to the loo: “So I’m just really hungry.” He’s like a jovial Eeyore, painting himself into a lugubrious picture of the turnip fields of celebrity,...
- 10/31/2021
- by Claire Armitstead
- The Guardian - Film News
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