Monthly Archives: October 2010

Poirot Halloween Special Preview {TV}

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Halloween’s as much about guilty little treats as it is about undead souls. This Halloweens treat is a special episode of Agatha Christie’s Poirot. Possibly the most dark and sinister Poirot yet starts out with a children’s Halloween party complete with witches, eerie music, jack o lanterns, fire a haunting game of snap dragon and of course a death. Add into the mix a cast of suspicious characters and an un co-operative police officer in a rural setting and you tada, one classic who dunnit.

Award winning actress Zoë Wanamaker makes a welcome return, alongside David Suchet, as Ariadne Oliver in Hallowe’en Party.

Adapted by actor, screenwriter and novelist, Mark Gatiss, Hallowe’en Party also stars Amelia Bullmore, Deborah Findlay , Georgia King, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Sophie Thompson, Paul Thornley, Eric Sykes, Fenella Woolgar and Timothy West.

When Ariadne Oliver attends a children’s Hallow e’en party in Woodleigh Common with her friend Judith, a young girl boasts of having witnessed a murder years before. Later that evening, the girl, Joyce Reynolds is found dead, drowned in an apple-bobbing bucket in the library. It appears that any one of the guests could have slipped out in the dark during a game of Snapdragon and murdered her.

At the request of Ariadne, Hercule Poirot arrives at Woodleigh Common to investigate the murder. Though Joyce was dismissed as a fantasist, Poirot is convinced her story has some truth to it. When he seeks out the local gossip, he discovers that there have been a number of suspicious deaths in the village in recent years which Joyce could have witnessed. But while Poirot pieces together the facts, another child is found murdered. Could a forged codicil, a missing au pair and a secret love affair be the key to solving the crime?

Watch the Poirot Halloween Special in ITV1 at 8pm on Wednesday 27th October.

Keira Knightley returns to the West End {Theatre}

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According to the Stage Keira Knightley is set to return to tread the boards in London’s West End next year in Lillian Hellman’s ‘The Children’s Hour’.

Keira will be playing alongside Elizabeth Moss (Mad Men), this production will be Moss’ West End debut. The two stars will play teachers who run a girls’ boarding school in America in the early Thirties and are accused by a malicious child of conducting an affair with one another. It’s a lie that’s to have grave repercussions as fur flies and legal action ensues.

The Children’s Hour will be directed by Ian Rickson, who directed Jerusalem at the Royal Court and in the West End and produced by Sonia Friedman Productions and Scott Landis.

Full casting and production information are to be announced.

BBC turns back the clock on high street stores {TV}

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High streets across the UK are going back in time this autumn as part of an exciting new BBC Learning Hands On History project and landmark BBC One series.

Across weekends in October, November and December, an empty shop in 11 different towns will be transformed into a Thirties grocer store, giving today’s shoppers the chance to travel back in time and experience living history.

The project, which is set to visit Armagh, Bradford, Chatham, Clacton, Louth, Paisley, Poole, Stockport, Sunderland, Truro and Wolverhampton, will give communities the chance to learn more about their local history in a fun, exciting and hands-on way.

Visitors will be able to touch, hear and even smell what life was like on their local high street around 80 years ago, as well as share their own memories, photographs and mementoes.

With the help of local history groups, museums and archives the BBC Learning team aims to explore the past of other shops in the towns using documents such as posters, ads, bills and letters, all helping to create a high street time line.

Communities can also help create a photographic “Now and Then” archive of their area with the project’s dedicated Flickr group, or download a special guide to researching the history of their high street at the BBC History website.

The shops are part of the new six-part BBC One series Turn Back Time – The High Street, which takes four empty shops back to the 1870s and propels them through 100 years of change.

Turn Back Time will see a group of shopkeeping families from a variety of trades travel back in time where they’ll face the challenge of living and working in six very different eras of British history, from Victorian Britain right through to the Seventies, all recreated in Shepton Mallet, Somerset. Turn Back Time starts in November.

And to bring the High Street history strand right up to date, BBC English Regions TV current affairs series Inside Out will be examining how our modern day High Streets are coping with the challenging economic climate across each of its 11 regional programmes. The films will be broadcast on BBC One across England in early December.

Launching the Turn Back Time shops, BBC Learning campaign executive Nina Bell said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to bring history alive and give everyone a chance to celebrate their high street. And it’s not just about the high streets with pop-up shops – BBC Learning is working with local history partners right across the UK to develop engaging, hands-on events to bring the history of their local area to life and encourage Britain to fall in love with its high streets again. You can find all the details on our website at bbc.co.uk/history/handsonhistory.”

X Factor and BGT here at least until 2013 {TV}

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ITV has signed a new, three-year deal with The X Factor & Britain’s Got Talent, keeping Simon Cowell in work for at least another 3 years.

As part of this renewed collaboration with Syco Entertainment and FremantleMedia, the broadcaster has also secured exclusive UK broadcast rights to the American version of The X Factor and America’s Got Talent for ITV2.

Simon Cowell said: “I am thrilled this deal has been concluded with ITV to enable our relationship to continue to develop. I am committed to making sure both shows get bigger and better every year. I have a lot to thank ITV for; they have been key in making The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent the UK’s biggest television shows.”  

The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent are the UK’s most popular entertainment television programmes on any channel.  The two shows provided the most watched television moments of 2009 with peak audiences of 19.3 million for The X Factor final and 19.9 million for the Britain’s Got Talent Final.
This year’s seventh series of The X Factor has been the most popular ever with viewing figures across every stage reaching record levels. Almost 17 million watched the second Judges’ houses show, and yesterday’s second live results show peaked at an enormous 15.2 million; the highest ever at this stage of the competition.
Online, ITV.com/TheXFactor attracted over 95 million page views during the 2009 series with over 30 million video views across the run.

Wallace & Gromit want your inventions{TV}

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To launch the brand new BBC One series, Wallace And Gromit’s World Of Invention, world-renowned inventor Wallace and his ever faithful sidekick, Gromit, are asking the UK to get inventing.

From their self-built basement television studio in 62 West Wallaby Street, the inimitable pair are trying to track down Britain’s best amateur invention. Wallace and Gromit are asking enthusiastic kids and crackpot inventors to invent their very best contraption. The winner – chosen by a panel of judges, led by Nick Park – will be given the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have themselves or their invention immortalised in a future Aardman production.

To celebrate Wallace and Gromit’s debut as TV presenters, BBC One are unveiling a website and nationwide series of regional roadshows, that hope to get Britain inventing. In their brand new BBC One series the inimitable pair present a factual series for the very first time, uncovering the quirky, inspiring and accident-prone world of inventions.

But not everyone is as expert an inventor as Wallace, so the pair are planning to kickstart the UK’s inventive spirit through a series of regional inventors roadshows that will provide the tools and motivation needed to root out the inventor in all of us.

Nick Park, Oscar-winning creator of Wallace and Gromit, said: “It is an enormous honour for Wallace and Gromit to be asked to take up the torch (all be it solar powered) and shine it on the world’s top and most innovative inventors.”

Create your own cracking contraption:

Wensleydale-loving inventor Wallace knows just how powerful a great idea combined with only a little bit of engineering know-how can be. So, inspired by his favourite contraption, LAD, Wallace is asking the British public to unleash their inner inventor and create their own device. He’s asking budding inventors (complete novices included) to design and build their most inventive contraption, made entirely from bits and pieces around the home. It could be something that wakes up Wallace, helps Gromit complete his household chores or moves one (or both of them!) from A to B – anything goes, as long as it meets the judges’ criteria, which are available online.

Anyone can enter – individuals, teams of friends or even entire school classes. Entrants need to record a short video (maximum three minutes) of their creation, and upload it onto the BBC’s Wallace And Gromit website.

For full details, including judging criteria and terms and conditions, visit bbc.co.uk/wallaceandgromit.

Inspiring invention

The BBC have teamed up with Aardman Animations to create an exciting new roadshow event to accompany the new BBC One series Wallace and Gromit’s World Of Invention. Inspired by Wallace’s love of inventing, the BBC Learning roadshows will give budding inventors the opportunity to step into the world of Wallace and Gromit.

The tour will visit six UK shopping centres throughout November and December 2010 and will be open to the public on both Saturday and Sunday.

The roadshows will be accompanied by an entire Wallace and Gromit world online. To find out more about the secrets of invention, play in Wallace’s Workshop and find out more about the regional roadshows, visit bbc.co.uk/wallaceandgromit.

Alesha Dixon: Don't hit my mum. Alesha tackles domestic abuse.

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It’s a little known fact that 2 women a week die form domestic violence on the UK. At Frost we will be tuning into Alesha Dixon;s new show and urge you to as well.

At least 75,000 children per year witness domestic violence at home. ALESHA DIXON witnessed her mother suffer domestic violence between the ages of eight and ten. She has never spoken about the experience until now, twenty-one years later.

In an intimate and unsettling 60-minute documentary from the producers of Alesha Dixon: Who’s Your Daddy?, ALESHA finds her voice in the hope that, through hearing what she and others have experienced as children, others may be encouraged to speak out too. The Department of Health states that children who experience domestic violence at home are more likely to go on to suffer behavioural problems and mental health difficulties of their own. We know the impact of witnessing abuse as a child can be profound, so how do we go about dealing with this and getting children to a point where they can talk about what’s going on at home?

The singer and Strictly Coming Dancing judge goes in search of answers by talking to victims and experts, examining the emotional and physical implications of witnessing domestic violence, and investigating how it hinders their development and takes away their right to be a child. On her journey, ALESHA meets several brave young girls and boys who talk about their experiences and hears a heartbreaking story from a mother who has been abused. She joins a patrol team from Avon and Somerset Constabulary who deal with domestic violence on a daily basis – their region covering both rural and urban environments offering a snapshot of the rest of the country. ALESHA also meets CAMILLA BATMAN-GHELIDJ, chief executive of charity Kids Company, who is currently working alongside some of Britain’s top neuroscientists, to examine why some abused children go on to abuse, and others do not. Finally, ALESHA meets a dad who has abused, but has now acknowledged his mistakes by joining a perpetrator programme.

ALESHA’S aim, along with all the film’s contributors, is to portray why the support system could be even stronger for children affected by domestic violence. The government recently launched a 2 million pound ad campaign designed to help teenagers recognise abuse within their own relationships. This followed a study by the NSPCC and Bristol University which suggested a quarter of girls aged thirteen to seventeen had experienced physical violence from a boyfriend, and a third had been pressured into sexual acts they didn’t want. ALESHA goes to a sixth-form college to see how a group of teenagers react to the ad campaign and get them talking. Should the government now perhaps reach out to even younger children who are affected by domestic abuse? Should schools be taking more steps to raise awareness and offer more support to children affected by domestic violence? And should awareness around the issue become part of the National Curriculum?

Don’t Hit My Mum will transmit on BBC ONE, 15th November at 10.35pm

Inside out back on the London scene. {Social Diary}

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INSIDE OUT FESTIVAL 2010

When: Monday 25 – Sunday 31 October 2010

www.insideoutfestival.org.uk

The Inside Out Festival is set to return this October in association with New Statesman with an even bigger and better programme of talks, debates, exhibitions and performances.

The popular annual event celebrates the exciting and often unexpected contribution made by London universities to the cultural life of the capital. This year festival-goers will be able to hear from some of the most inspiring and experimental thinkers, writers and artists of the day and get creative themselves.

Goldsmith’s, Birkbeck, Central St Martin’s, the London College of Fashion, the Courtauld Institute of Art and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama are amongst the nine university institutions throwing open their doors for the week of public events which will include film screenings, music and theatre performances, art and fashion exhibitions, and talks with well-known academics and high-profile commentators. The events will take place all over London at cultural venues such as the Barbican, the National Portrait Gallery and Somerset House, and in rarely-seen spaces in the universities.

Sally Taylor, Inside Out Festival Director, said: “There is certainly no shortage of festivals in London but this is an arts festival with a distinct twist. The sheer breadth of talent in the nine universities involved is staggering. We want as many people as possible to come and enjoy the fruits of this talent and passion in October. From the art of Cézanne to the art of war, from the abuses of contemporary history to the history of men’s underwear, this year’s Inside Out Festival will be a feast – a cultural ‘pick and mix’ – for bright thinkers and art lovers, young and old.”

Jason Cowley, Editor of New Statesman, said: “We are delighted to be associated with Inside Out. As a magazine, we like to look beyond the obvious and seek out the unusual, the witty, the irreverent and the thought-provoking. In this festival we have found all of these things and more.”

Festival highlights will include:

* A debate on New Labour Literature with author and academic Blake Morrison, comedy scriptwriter John O’Farrell and Robert Hampson, Professor of Modern Literature at Royal Holloway. Chaired by Jonathan Derbyshire, Culture Editor of New Statesman
* The Art of War – a panel discussion on war as entertainment led by Iain Burnside, Guildhall School academic, pianist and Sony-Award-winning radio presenter, drawing on his current theatre piece Lads in Their Hundreds. With human rights barrister Philippe Sands QC, veteran war reporter Kate Adie and official Iraq war artist Xavier Pick
* An exhibition of Japanese fashion at the Barbican Art Gallery including a talk with experts from the University of the Arts London
* A debate on the uses and abuses of contemporary history with historian and former journalist Peter Hennessy, Tessa Jowell MP, and Professor Timothy Garton Ash, Professor of European Studies at Oxford University

· The launch of a new history of men’s underwear by Shaun Cole, principal lecturer in history and culture at the London College of Fashion

· A Q&A with Harvey Cohen of King’s College London on his new book Duke Ellington’s America followed by music from the Guildhall Jazz Band

* Exclusive late viewing of the Courtauld Gallery’s landmark Autumn exhibition of portraits by Paul Cézanne
* Publishing a first novel – an opportunity to hear from recently published authors Penny Rudge and Kristan Hawkins, literary agents Judith Murray and Caroline Wood and tutors from City University’s highly successful Certificate in Novel Writing, as well as an opportunity to compete to have your work read by a literary agent
* A London film history walk led by expert Professor Ian Christie followed by an illustrated lecture at Birkbeck’s state-of-the-art cinema in Bloomsbury
* Creative writing workshops led by academics and writers from Birkbeck
* Minute Maestro – a conducting masterclass, following which participants have the opportunity to conduct a string quartet

The Festival will open on Monday 25 October with a high-profile panel debate – ‘Should the university survive in its current form?’ – at the University of London Senate House. Panellists will include David Willetts MP, Minister of State for Universities and Science, May Chien Busch, former COO of Morgan Stanley Europe, Professor Geoffrey Crossick Vice-Chancellor of the University of London and Professor AC Grayling, Professor of Philosophy, Birkbeck University. The event will be chaired by political columnist Anne McElvoy.

Booking for the Inside Out Festival is now open at www.insideoutfestival.org.uk

Greening the Screen with BAFTA. {Social Diary}

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Where: BAFTA, 195 Piccadilly, W1J 9LN
When: 18 October 2010

At an unseemly early time – 9am – I joined Alistair McGowan, Tim Bevan and a host of other filmmakers to discuss climate change. The film industry can be an incredibly wasteful place and time restraints make recycling hard. However, a number of companies are tackling this, Including Greenshoot. A company who managed to recycle 95% of the sets from Nanny McPhee 2.

The event was chaired by Alistair McGowan, who was on top form.

Other people who were there; Jonathon Porritt, founder director of Forum for the Future and former Chairman of the UK Sustainable Development Commission; Paul Evans, CEO, Greenshoot; Andy Whittaker, CEO, Dogwoof; Fergus Rolfe, Low Carbon Innovation Centre; Tim Bevan, Working Title and Chair of the UK Film Council, but unfortunately Amanda Berry, Chief Executive, BAFTA; couldn’t make it due to illness.

Afterwards there was a educational free market where a list of companies gave free advice and help on reducing the carbon footprint of companies. AECom; BSI British Standards; Carbon Aware Productions; Cinema Exhibitors’ Association; Davis Langdon; Dogwoof Greenshoot; Julie’s Bicycle; Low Carbon Innovation Centre Magnificent Revolution; Nice and Serious; Red Redemption; South East Media Network; Wedlake Bell all made an appearance. I found the people form 10:10 particularly helpful.

Frost Magazine will be doing a series of article on the environment and how to reduce your carbon footprint soon.