Category Archives: TV

Interview with Homeland creators Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa

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Writers and creators, Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa talk 24, the process behind Homeland and ‘misunderstanding’ while shooting in Israel with Claire Danes.

When did you first become aware of Gideon Raff’s original Israeli television series Prisoners of War upon which Homeland is based, and what was the thinking surrounding the decision to adapt a U.S. version from the Israeli original? How is it similar/different to its predecessor?

Howard: I became aware of Prisoners of War when I got a call from my agent, Rick Rosen, who was stepping off a plane from Israel. He represents Keshet – the television company responsible for In Treatment, among other formats – and he said, pretty definitively, “I have your next show.” He described it briefly and it sounded good, and I suggested that it might be something Alex and I could do together (since Alex also happens to be a client of Rick’s). But the truth was, Alex and I were both so deep into the eighth season of 24 that when we agreed to do the project, we had no idea how different our final product would be from the original. So while the source material offered some compelling ideas for us to work with, making it work as a series for a U.S. and, really a global audience, required some wholesale reinvention from us.

What were some of the challenges in both story and character with translating Gideon Raff’s original vision? What are some of the factors involved in writing for an Israeli audience versus and American audience?

Howard: The imagined homecoming of two long-time POWs was really the dramatic engine of Gideon’s story. While this has a deep and immediate resonance with Israeli society (the capture of Gilad Shalit by Hamas for the last five years has been a national crisis) we have no analogous situation in the U.S. While Gideon’s was essentially a family drama, ours became a psychological thriller when we posited the possibility that the returning soldier had been turned into a terrorist and was being sent back here as the tip of the spear of a major terrorist attack on U.S. soil.

How did your experience on working on 24 influence your decision to do Homeland?

Howard: It felt like an opportunity to explore some of the same themes which we are still grappling with ten years after 9/11 – national security versus civil liberties, the nature of real threats versus imagined threats which we create out of our fear – but in a more nuanced way than we would ever achieve in the relentless pedal-to-the-metal narrative that 24 required. And while 24 was born and came of age in the shadow of 9/11, so much has changed in the world since then, the complexities and tangled consequences of our military actions being one of them, and Homeland lives in this far more complex world we now find ourselves trying to navigate as a nation.

Homeland premiered in the US almost directly after the 10th anniversary of 9/11. Was that a conscious decision?

Howard: It was just a confluence of events, which in the end turned out to be quite fortuitous, as did a number of other things. Osama bin Laden was killed when we were on Episode 2, eerily like the scene of Damian’s rescue; the Arab Spring. So a lot of the issues, you know, that seem to be a conflation of war on terror and the two wars we find ourselves in. This is after Abu Ghraib, after Guantanamo, after the prosecution of two wars of questionable merit. So this looks at the price to this country of what happened to us ten years ago. So the timing of it, I think, is significant, accidental, and fortuitous.

Both 24 and Homeland share similar themes of national security, terrorism and politics. Can you talk about your interest in exploring these subjects and how the two shows differ in their approaches?
Howard: Although the real-time format of 24 gave it a certain energy and a seeming realism, the fact that it told a story inside the course of a single day inevitably made it embrace improbabilities. So the idea of exploring themes like national security, terrorism and politics was subverted to the rigorous requirements of an almost impossible format. Because Homeland isn’t bound by the real-time format, we’re able to dramatise relationships and story arcs that take place over a longer time period, which has given us an opportunity to explore some of the same themes in a deeper and more nuanced way.
Alex: We also wanted to address the experience of veterans. The conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq are arguably the longest wars in U.S. history. Members of the armed forces are struggling with Post-Traumatic Stress and physical disabilities in record numbers. How will their experiences overseas find a context once these soldiers are back home? Brody’s journey is a way to ask that question in depth. What was he was fighting for? Just what are the values of his homeland? “24” existed in a real post9/11 world. And Jack was an action hero. In response to that, ten years later, things have become deeper and more complex. And the heart of this show is really psychological, how America is dealing with that tenyear period. And now it’s post Osama bin Laden.

Tell us about the cast. How did Claire Danes and Damian Lewis come to join the production? And can you describe the greatest attribute and flaws in the characters they play – Carrie Anderson and Sgt. Nick Brody?

Howard: Claire Danes was our first choice from the moment we sat down to write the pilot. She had just appeared in Temple Grandin and we were blown away by her performance. We even named the character Claire in our first draft. As much as Alex and I were fans of Damian’s from Band of Brothers, he became our first choice when we saw him in an independent movie called Keane.
Alex: Carrie has an extraordinary passion for life; her mental illness gives her an unparalleled intuition and appetite. But the highs give way to crippling lows, and that can be an intensely lonely experience. Brody trained as a sniper. He’s focused. He has incredible will. He’s survived an experience that would break most people. He’s also a soldier with a strong sense of duty and justice. As the season unfolds, we’ll learn how his eight years in captivity changed him, or just uncovered something he always carried inside him. Carrie and Brody are a great match in this season-long cat and mouse game. Each harbours secrets. And each understands the other in a way that no one else can. They have an intense connection-despite the fact that they might have radically opposing goals.

What can you tell us about the end of these 13 weeks? Will you solve the mysteries of Damian’s character?

Howard: This is a very, very interesting narrative experience. We’ve all discussed it. The first conversation we had with Damian and Claire was, how long can we keep the “is he or isn’t he” of it alive without feeling like we’re annoying the audience. And I think we have found a really satisfying way to tell that story where this uncertainty is actually compelling. And the answer is that we hope, that we answer those questions at the right time.

Are you working with any official consultants from the CIA or another government agency to advise on storylines? How do you make the plotlines authentic?

Howard: Alex and I have very different processes when it comes to this. Alex tends to do a lot of research, and I tend not to because I’m lazy and I prefer to keep my imagination unencumbered by the facts – and usually find myself able to retrofit reality to what I need the characters to do. I find that plotlines are authentic when the characters are authentic – which is to say, act like people you recognise.
Alex: At the writers’ office, we do a significant amount of research in order to get the details right – and given the subject matter, it wouldn’t be a surprise to find that we’d been flagged for the terrorist watch list. We’re very lucky to have a few official consultants, including a contact at the CIA and the representatives of Muslims On Screen & Television. We even have an imam on set to work with non-Muslim actors to perfect their salat prayer rituals. But, as Howard says, the authenticity of the characters comes first.

Where is production set? Did any of the filming be on location in the Middle East?

Howard: The production is set in Charlotte, North Carolina, which will double as Washington DC and Virginia. For the pilot, we were able to film in Israel, which doubled as Baghdad. There was a little misunderstanding with the location person, and so there was a little bit of an adventure while we were there.

What do you mean by “misunderstanding”?

Howard: Well, it wasn’t like shooting in L.A. where you lock down a street and, you know, get a license from the city. This was a little bit more ad hoc than that, and so let’s just say certain people didn’t get distributed their location fee. And then the rumour circulated that we were actually CIA plants, and then you can imagine what happened.
Alex: And the next thing –
Howard: The next thing, Claire was being rushed away in a van by security.
Alex: Claire was in the back of a car going a hundred miles an hour out of town. We got it on film
Howard: We hope we’ll have the chance in the future to do some more remote shooting in that part of the world.

Frost would like to thank Channel 4 for this interview.

Damian Lewis Interview.

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Damian Lewis is sitting opposite me, drinking tea in a wood-panelled library in a discreetly opulent Central London hotel. With his clipped Old Etonian accent and understated self-confidence, he seems the epitome of Englishness. Which is why it’s surprising that so many of his highest profile roles have been Americans.

His latest drama, Homeland, is no exception. Lewis plays US Marine Sergeant Nicholas Brody, who has been held as a prisoner of war for eight years by Al Qaeda. On his return, he is feted as a hero. But CIA officer Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) believes that, far from being an All-American patriot, he has been turned, and represents a grave threat to national security.

Here, the charming and affable Lewis talks about the series, his career to date, and how he’d give it all up in a heartbeat just to change one single moment from his past.

You had a great education, went to Eton, and at the end of it, you turned around and said to your parents that you wanted to go into the most capricious business imagineable. Parents dread their children wanting to act. How did yours react?

They were brilliant, and oddly supportive. They had seen me on stage at that point. A group of us put on a play at school, and my parents saw me, and I think they decided that it wasn’t going to be a complete waste of time. And so in the last two years, when I should have been working for my A levels, I decided that I wanted to go to drama school. I’d stopped working, and my shocking A level results reflected that. So I was only going to go off to a not very exciting university anyway, and so I went to drama school. My mum said “Go, with our blessing.” And what she really meant was “And that means you can stay at home with me for another three years.” I grew up in London, so I lived at home throughout drama school. It was a very un-studenty three years. I went back to a nice family house every night where, if I was lucky, mum had left out a fishcake.

You went to The Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Have any of your contemporaries from there gone on to stardom?

There was a very rich seam of talent all around us. Joseph Fiennes was a contemporary of mine. Ewan McGregor was in the year ahead, Daniel Craig was in the year ahead of him. Just in front of them were people like Ben Chaplin and Rhys Ifans. Dominic West was just behind me.

And from there you went on to the RSC. Was that a valuable part of your education as an actor?

Yes it was. It gave me a campus life that I hadn’t had. It was a bit like going through another training – you’d have voice lessons and verse lessons, and you’d rehearse all day and perform all night. And you just happened to be living in a small wendy house of a 17th Century workman’s cottage right next to the River Avon, with Shakespeare’s graveyard 300 yards one way and where he lived a couple of miles the other way. It was a rather extraordinary, rarified existence for a year. I loved it. And I would imagine, having visited Oxford and Cambridge many times to go and see my friends who were studying there, and I played cricket there quite a lot *cough* – where I scored a century – (the only one I’ve ever scored, and it was against a team called The Grannies!) I imagine our existence [at the RSC] was quite similar, just living in these beautiful, bucolic surroundings.

Jumping forward a bit, somewhat out of the blue, you land the lead in the most expensive TV show ever made [Band of Brothers]. That must have carried quite a lot of pressure with it.

It was totally out of the blue, because they didn’t know me from Adam. I think part of the reason I got that role was because he was a 1940s war hero, and even though he was an American, there was something old-fashioned about him, and upright. I think they felt they might find him in England, in a stiffer, more upright actor than a cool American hipster. It was a big sea change, and it was a huge hit, although it had a pretty inauspicious start, because the second week it was on air, 9/11 happened, and people’s appetite for death and destruction and a rather realistic vision of war – it just wasn’t what people wanted at that point. But it sort of regenerated itself. It’s the most extraordinary beast, Band of Brothers. It still feels like it only happened last year, because people are still so connected to it. It’s ten years ago now, and people are still watching it for the first time, or for the 100th time, and people still want to come up to me and talk about it. Armed forces in Afghanistan watch it as inspirational tools, soldiers are actually taught it for lessons in leadership. And the manoeuvre that Winters perfected the day after they landed at Normandy, when he took the four 88s shelling the beach- that’s taught in West Point. I was filming in Crete about five years ago, and the US Navy landed, and they’d been watching it. It’s got an extraordinary reach. And I did feel pressure. There’s a huge responsibility – as there always is if you’re playing somebody who’s alive – to represent him well. And as Tom Hanks said, as we started the whole endeavour, on our first day at boot camp, “Don’t think of this as making a piece of TV. Think of this as an historical document. That’s what we’re going to try and recreate here.” It was brilliant.

Where does Band of Brothers sit in terms of work that you’re proud of, and what else is up there?

It sits right up there; it’s certainly the thing that I think I’ve done that’s had the biggest profile. One of the things that’s had the smallest profile is arguably what I’m most proud of, which is a small independent film called Keane, which I made about four years ago. I’m very proud of The Forsyte Saga, I enjoyed that enormously, and an Ibsen I did at The National Theatre, Much Ado About Nothing for the BBC, I loved doing that. And I’m extremely proud of Homeland.

Moving on to Homeland, what attracted you to the role?

After my experience on Life, which I loved, but it was at quite a lot of personal cost, from a family point of view – that sounds a bit melodramatic, we’re all still together! – but it was long hours working with Helen sitting in the house with the kids. I wasn’t prepared for quite the workshop hours you work on some American TV shows. So I said to my agent ‘Only if it’s extraordinary, and if it’s on Cable TV, so it’s a five-month commitment rather than a ten-month commitment. [Cable series tend to be 12 episodes as opposed to 24 on networks.] Unbelievably fortunately, this thing came my way, and I very nearly said no to it, for all the reasons I’ve just explained. But it was really compellingly written. The pilot – which was all I read – had political ambition, it was psychologically detailed and specific, dark in places, and so ambitious. It was tapping into conditions that interest me – Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and men returning from war, and bipolar disorder in Claire’s character. While tackling these rather serious issues, it also managed to be a page-turner. And it also managed to be a political show at the same time, posing the question ‘In our pursuit of terrorists, have we gone about it in the right way?’ It just seemed brilliantly representative of a slightly uncertain, paranoid world we live in now. It’s a bold claim for one hour of TV, but I spoke to them, and they convinced me that these were all themes that they wanted to pursue. And they sustain it. They’re brilliant, and I’m unbelievably lucky to be working with them. Thank God I said yes to it.

Is it quite attractive playing a character who’s so ambiguous, who might be good, or might be very, very bad?

Yeah, ambiguity is a complex thing to play. It can leave you being a little unspecific, if you’re not careful – if you’re consciously vague, and you then allow the audience to project onto you. But if you’re doing it well, the reverse is true – you commit yourself to decisions totally, and it’s just about how adroit you are with your changes, that is in the end what creates the ambiguity. You have to be lightning quick and nimble, there’s a mental and imaginative agility in the performance which is really fun. It’s a challenge – there are so many things to play, and if you try and play everything at once, then it’s a bit of a pudding, so you have to make specific choices and then just change on a sixpence. Another thing that really appealed to me is it’s very subversive. It’s very controversial to have a US Marine, who is as great a symbol as anyone or anything you can think of that upholds our Western freedoms and our beliefs, and goes and fights on our behalf all over the world. To have one of those people ‘changed’ is very controversial.

How was it working with Claire Danes?

Lovely. She’s whip-smart, and extremely committed and focused. Quite disconcertingly, sometimes. She can be in this extraordinary scene, and the director says cut, and before you’ve turned around, she’s walking back to her chair and just out of character. She plays ‘Words with Friends’ endlessly, which is that interactive Scrabble game. She’s always got about five or six games going on with different people around the world. It’s her way of relaxing. She’s got half the crew doing it with her as well. She’s just lovely. I love being in scenes with her, it’s thrilling.

The drama touches on PTSD, terrorism, death, torture and mental illness. It’s not a knockabout comedy. Does that affect your mood during filming? Do you take any of that home with you?

No, I don’t take work home. Stay an American all day long, that’s one thing I do do. It’s too confusing to switch in and out of accents. So I go to work as an American, and until my make-up’s taken off at the end of the day, I remain that way. And then I actually switch off from work alarmingly quickly. I have to rev myself up quite a lot to go back into work, because I’m quite good at down time.

Homeland has been described as 24 for grown-ups. What do you make of that?

I think the parallel with 24 is inevitable, because Howard [Gordon] is a co-creator on this, and had run 24 for the last four or five seasons – he took over from Joel Surnow. It’s not really 24. It’s far more of a psychological, political drama – I think the paranoia plays much more strongly. Just the style in which it’s filmed is very different. It takes its time, it allows it to breathe, whereas 24 was a high-octane, crack-like experience. It made me just feel extraordinarily uneasy, watching 24, it was a very uncomfortable feeling. I think Homeland is too, because of the subject matter, but there’s an enjoyment in just being able to sit in things a bit more. I think this allows you to do that.

Is it true you used to practice being interviewed by Wogan in front of the mirror at the age of ten?
I did. And now I’ve been on Wogan. Finally! I did his radio show.

The ten-year-old you craved that fame and adulation. Now you have it, how does it feel?

It sounds awful, doesn’t it? I’m not very good at just sitting and considering. I’m always on the charge a little bit. But sitting and reflecting now, I suppose it’s quite romantic, when you put it like that. Yeah, I did used to do that as a ten-year-old. When I couldn’t sleep, I would get out of bed in my pyjamas and turn on the light in the bathroom upstairs and just talk in different accents and pull faces in the mirror, pretending I was being interviewed by Wogan. He’s part of our cultural history. He’s commentated on something I’ve done before – a celebrity golf thing or a celebrity football thing I did.

Ah, the celebrity football match in which you lobbed Arsenal and Germany keeper Jens Lehmann from 25 yards, and hit the bar. How much of your success and your gongs would you give up to have that shot go six inches lower?

All of it! It was unbelievable. 70,000 people at Old Trafford. It was about the 15th minute. I was playing alongside Jamie Redknapp in the centre of the park. I just looked up and saw him inching out of his six yard box, and I just went for it. And I saw him, he had that look in his eyes as he backpedalled, saying “F*** me, I’ve been done”. And it just rattled the crossbar. The last thing Bryan Robson said to me – he was our coach – he said “Damo, you’re on Zidane. Keep yer legs closed.” And I clattered into him – I’ve always been a shocking tackler, I’m like Paul Scholes. I’m always late, and just bad at it. I clattered him. Jamie Redknapp came over and said “Damo, Damo, calm down. You can’t clatter into Zizou like that. You could’ve broken his ankle.” I thought “Alright, it’s just that the twice-world footballer of the year was a bit quicker than me!” And in about the 30th minute, we were right by the touchline, and I thought “He’s going nowhere!” And he just looked at me, and nutmegged me – straight through my legs! And the whole stand erupted in spontaneous laughter. Still, I suppose he’s nutmegged much better players than me!

Frost would like to thank Channel 4 for this interview. Homelands will be aired in the UK by Channel 4.

True Blood is Back!

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True Blood is back with fairies, panthers, wolves, vampires and witches all in one tiny American town. This should be interesting….

Spoiler Alert

Sookie is back after going missing for two years.(she was hanging out with fairies and her dead grandfather) A lot has changed since she left and her brother has sold her house. But who bought it? Eric, and not surprisingly, that causes some problems.

Season 4 Episode 1 “She’s Not There”

Sookie journeys away from Bon Temps leaving Eric and Bill to win back the human public.  Elsewhere, Jason learns that no good deed goes unpunished.

Season 4 Episode 2 “You Smell Like Dinner”

After returning to Bon Temps, Sookie adjusts to the town’s new realities. Meanwhile, Bill reveals more about his past and Eric crashes a witches meeting. The witches put a spell on Eric and he loses his memory. Sookie ends up looking after him. Little does she know that her brother has been kidnapped and someone is trying to use him to have babies with.

True Blood is pure fantasy. It is lots of fun and it is also very adult. Not one for kids but a good evenings entertainment.

True Blood is on FX every Sunday, 10pm.

Billie Piper Interview: A Passionate Woman.

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A Passionate Woman: Billie Piper plays Betty in the Fifties

 

Are you a fan of Kay Mellor?

“Yes, I loved Band Of Gold – it was my favourite show and one of the reasons I wanted to start acting. I couldn’t believe how compelling Samantha Morton was. It was a great series and Samantha was incredible. I’ve always loved Kay’s work.”

Did you feel pressured playing a character based on Kay’s mother?

“Naturally. It must have been quite emotional for Kay to watch this story being played out before her, however it was helpful and essential to have her around. Kay was able to paint a very detailed picture of her mother and she was keen for me to think about her mum in that situation.”

What drew you to the role of Betty Stevenson?

“I felt profoundly moved by the story. I’ve just had my first child and my marriage is young, it’s a testing time. I think Kay was reluctant to cast me – I begged for an audition. I felt confident with the accent but I’m sure that will be up for discussion! It was a tough job – lots of crying and screaming but well worth it though.”

Tell me about your character?

“Betty is a young wife – quite a peaceful character. She is emotional, sensitive, thoughtful, and compassionate. Not outspoken or feisty. Betty is very poor and lives in a block of flats with her husband, Donald. She loves her son, Mark – and it’s quite desperate love. She absolutely lives for him which plays out in the Eighties episode where Sue Johnston plays the role of Betty.”

Betty’s relationship with Donald seems complex – do you think she has ever been in love with him?

“Betty has an old fashioned relationship with her husband. He goes to work all day, doesn’t really talk to her that much, doesn’t ask her how she is doing – it’s all very practical. They don’t talk about how they are feeling. They both put up and shut up. Betty spent all day at home with the baby – she is not a modern woman, unlike her sister, Margaret.”

Betty seems to fall for Craze immediately…

“Betty is completely bowled over by Craze, this reckless polish neighbour who moves in. He is married to Moira who is the complete polar opposite to Betty. Moira is very liberal, outspoken, sexual – a great spirit which Betty is incredibly jealous of. I don’t think Betty has ever felt love or passion or lust like it before in her life. Craze sexually liberates her and teaches her things she never knew existed. Betty becomes obsessed with him which starts to become quite destructive.

“She has this enormous secret and she eventually confides in her sister Margaret – who is fiercely expressive, a rebel. She hates her husband and is desperate to sleep with someone else! She is so very different and the only one privy to Betty’s secret about Craze.”

Did you get to meet Sue Johnston, who plays Betty 30 years on?

“Yes, I did. We had a day’s crossover during filming – she’s so lovely and an amazing actress, I’ve always loved her. Sue sent me a lovely note to say if there is anything you want to know or talk about regarding the character to let her know.

“People change a lot over all those years and what happens when you are younger really shapes you as a person and so I didn’t want to mimic or do some imitation of her as Betty. We were doing our own interpretation of the character at that time – knowing what they know.”

Tell me about your character’s Fifties-style dresses?

“I really liked them. I find costumes massively helpful especially when you’re playing quite a well turned out character. Betty was obviously very poor although every button was sewn on properly; there were no loose hems, the collars were stiff – the clothes do start to relax after she meets Craze and they become more colourful and passionate! I love costumes and I love period costumes.

“It was freezing up there though and there aren’t enough clothes in the world to keep you warm – cold like I’ve never known it before!”

How do you think you’d have coped living Betty’s life the Fifties?

“I thought about it the whole time and it must have been just so hard. It’s not massively dissimilar to stories my Gran would tell me about how she brought her family up – seven kids, small house. It was so different for wives and mothers then. Never having enough money or having desires outside of the family home.

“Nowadays, we have a lot of opportunities as women to go out and work, socialise, confide in lots of people, network and we are endlessly banging on about how we feel. It was just taboo – those kinds of subjects. I have a very fortunate lifestyle.”


The inspiration for my Passionate Woman By Kay Mellor

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The inspiration for my Passionate Woman

by Kay Mellor

I must have been about 28 when my mother told me. She was at the sink washing up at the time and I was drying the pots. It’s hard to remember what’s fact and what’s fiction now, but I’ll try.

“We had a bit of a thing,” was how she described her affair with the Polish neighbour that lived in the two-roomed flat below her. I thought I was hearing things. One minute we were talking about me and my husband having a bit of a fall out and somehow the conversation turned to Mum telling me how she’d committed adultery with a Polish fairground worker.

 

Now you’d have to have known my mum to realise how shocking that was. She was the most ordinary woman, very mumsy, not a vain bone in her body. She wasn’t one to show her emotions, she was strong but affectionate with me and my brothers. She wasn’t a man’s woman, she had three sisters and was, in her own way, a bit of a feminist – way ahead of her time.

My dad had a violent streak and she divorced him when I was three, refused to wear a wedding ring, wouldn’t accept money off him and refused to take ‘handouts’ from the state, preferring to work full time as a tailoress instead. It sounds nothing now, but you’ve got to remember this was the 1950s, people didn’t get divorced. You married and that was it – for better or worse. I remember the other kids off the council estate making fun of me and my brother, saying we didn’t have a dad.

Anyway I digress.

“His name was Craze and I loved him with every breath in my body,” she continued. She’d mentioned a man and the word love in the same breath – it was unheard of for her to say that; even her second marriage had not been successful.

But even more shocking than that, I realised that tears were falling from her eyes into the washing up bowl. I tried to reassure her.

“I’m happy for you Mum, I’m glad you found someone to love.”

“He was murdered.”

“What? In Leeds?”

“In a fairground brawl. I’ve never been able to tell anyone.”

It was hard to take it all in and then I realised that not only had Mum never told anyone about this affair, she’d never been able to grieve properly for the man she’d loved and lost.

For the best part of thirty years she’d held onto this grief – it had been locked in. No wonder her marriages hadn’t worked and she found it difficult to show emotion. She had no trouble showing emotion now – 30 years of tears cascaded into the washing up bowl as she continued with her story. At the end of it she was exhausted.

“You won’t ever tell anyone will you?” She made me promise. And I didn’t – for 10 years. Then it was my younger brother Philip’s wedding and I could see this really pained her as she faced a life alone with my stepfather Alan.

He was a good man and the marriage should’ve worked. He was the same religion (my dad was a Catholic, Alan was Jewish) and he was political – a strong socialist, but they clashed.

 

The look in my mother’s face reminded me of the day she told me about Craze. Somehow these two events – my mother’s affair and her youngest son getting married – were linked.

A play was burning inside of me and I started to write it for the West Yorkshire Playhouse. I called it A Passionate Woman – because I realised that’s what my mother was.

I set it on the day of her son’s wedding. Betty climbs into the loft to escape from all the arrangements and chaos and drops the flap shut! Her dead lover Craze comes to her and she relives her time again with him. Her son and husband realise she’s in the loft and try and coax her down to the wedding, but she’s not going anywhere – except up!

The play went into rehearsal with the glorious Anne Reid playing the middle-aged Betty. Two days before press night, I thought I should take Mum to see the play. It was essentially Mum’s story, but I’d changed loads of things and I was interested to see if she realised it was her story. She absolutely loved it, wanted to see it again.

The second time she saw it, she turned to me at the end and with tears and bewilderment in her eyes she said: “This is my story.”

I reassured her. “Yes, but I’m not going to tell anyone and you’re not, so who’s going to know?”

Then came the opening night of the show. All the press were there. The play went well and as is customary with a new play, the cast, myself and the director David Liddiment all sat on the stage to answer questions. One particular journalist kept asking me where I got the idea for the play – “Did something or someone inspire it?”

I could see my mother sat in the middle of the audience – I had to protect her and keep my promise. I replied: “Yes, someone did inspire me to write it, but I’m not at liberty to say who it was.”

And then from the middle of the auditorium came –

“It was me!”

I looked up. My mother was waving her hand in the air; her eyes were gleaming with pride. “It’s MY story!”

And as the press turned to interview her, I watched the years of shame and secrecy drop away. My mother came out publicly – she’d had an affair, she’d known love, she had a sexual awakening, she was A Passionate Woman.

Two years later the play opened in the West End to rave reviews. The play ran for a year at the Comedy Theatre and has toured extensively all over the world. Film rights were fought for, but I held on to them tightly as I didn’t want Cher playing my mum on a rooftop in Detroit.

It’s still running in Poland I think.

Kay Mellor is the writer of A Passionate Woman.

 

Sue Johnston On A Passionate Woman

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A Passionate Woman: Sue Johnston plays Betty in the Eighties

 

How easy was it to portray Betty – the character Kay’s mother is based upon?

“Kay told me the whole story about how her mother admitted to a lost love. There is a scene in the second episode where I tell Mark (Andrew Lee Potts) about Betty’s affair and the fact she never loved her husband and that’s what happened to Kay – she came up to me afterwards in tears.

“It added a certain kind of pressure and in a way, the compliment that she wanted me to play her mother gave me confidence and there must have been some essence of her mother that she saw in me.”

What happens to Betty 30 years on from the affair?

“Betty has a mini-breakdown. She leaves her son, Mark’s wedding and eventually finds herself on the roof – you don’t know whether she is going to throw herself off or not…”

How do you feel about Billie Piper playing Betty 30 years younger?

“I was flattered and I kept thinking – as long as they don’t show my nose… Betty must have fallen over at some point and broken it! We both had brown hair for the character and I wore brown contact lenses.

“When I look at old photographs of me at 19 and 20 I don’t look anything like I do now! Billie is lovely – sure she’ll be brilliant. I met her as I was finishing and she starting. We had a drink and had a chat.”

You have played wife to Alun Armstrong before?

“It’s my third time married to Alun Armstrong! Donald is a different character – very loving. He is taken for granted though and is the safe one Betty married. She carries this yearning, and of course she’s put it all into her son – the love that she thought she’d lost.

“The biggest loss is when she discovers he is going to Australia to live with his new wife – that’s the breaking point.”

Do you get the impression that Betty is not happy because of this marriage?

“You get the impression that she’s lived through her son, so she has been happy as she has had him. Donald’s always on the outside and she never realises – when it all comes to a head, that’s his point – Donald is upset as he says to her that she has never needed him, and never wanted him. Betty and Mark have been a tight unit and she’s lived her life through him so now she doesn’t feel that she has anything left to live for…”

Do you think people will identify with the character of Betty and her situation?

“I think they might, I know I did because my mother lived a lot of her life through me and when I left and went to live in London she said: ‘My life’s ended now’, which felt terrible! Not bad enough to say: ‘Well, ok, I won’t go’, though!”

Did you spend any time on the roof when you were doing the shoot?

“I spent about three days on that roof. We had a stunt woman, but I like getting up there and doing it myself and I was well supported. Once you’re up there it’s quite amazing. Alun made me laugh when he was climbing up the roof, I think he was waiting for them to shout cut but they didn’t so he kept going and his face was very funny!”

What are you most passionate about?

“Liverpool Football Club, I’m afraid!”

 

Covert Affairs Season Two Review

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Really. Mondays, 9pm

Covert Affairs is the show that fills in the Alias shapped holes in  spy fans lives. A well written CIA drama with an attractive young women at the helm.
Piper Perabo is an incredibly talented actress, making Annie Walker both vulnerable and capable. I’m a fan of this American spy drama. It’s American entertainment at it’s best. Walker reminds me of the Ginger Rogers/Fred Astaire quote; “Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, but backwards and in heels”. Walker is a women in a man’s world kicking ass and taking names. A great thing to see.

 

Golden Globe nominee Piper Perabo returns for another brand new and exclusive series of the hit US spy show.

Annie Walker (Perabo) is a smart, stunning and very recent CIA field operative in one of the organisation’s most secretive branches, the Domestic Protection Agency. Dressing up in weird and wonderful disguises to infiltrate the bad guys? Check. Running and shooting in six-inch heels? No problem. No matter how hotshot she becomes, not being able to sort out her own love life? Sigh.

There was high drama at the end of the last series – Annie’s ex Ben, the man who disappeared after a holiday romance in Sri Lanka, walked into CIA headquarters and gave himself up, confessing that he was a rogue agent. Sent with Annie back to Sri Lanka to prove he’s one of the good guys and crack an arms dealing ring, we last saw the reunited love birds on a helicopter zooming out of the country, Ben laying in Annie’s arms.

Series two starts much as series one did. Just as Annie thinks that there might be a future for her and Ben, he buggers off again. Men! But there’s no time to think – Annie is assigned to protect an Estonian tennis player who is considered a CIA asset.

Starring Piper Perabo, Christopher Gorham, The O.C.’s Peter Gallagher, Lost’s Sendhil Ramamurthy and 24’s Kari Matchett.

 

Suits Review

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Suits

Dave. Tuesdays, 9pm

 

I wanted to see this legal drama since seeing the adverts for it on the tube. The trailer made me more interested. Although Suits was hyped, I am glad to say it didn’t disappoint. It is a smart, classy and witty legal drama. It is well acted and the writing is top notch. A great way to spend an evening.

Harvey and Mike are representing Wyatt, a client who has invented a satellite phone that can fit into a pocket. Whilst Harvey gets the glory of sitting in on the high-stakes investor meeting, he orders Mike to take the less glamorous role of filing the patent update.

Not impressed with this, Mike decides to take a short cut and asks fellow colleague Gregory to file the patent in exchange for proofing Gregory’s active brief. The brief turns out to be thousands of pages long and after pulling an all-nighter, Mike still doesn’t complete it. As a result of this, Gregory refuses to file the patent update and another party beats them to filing for the patent first.

Upon hearing news of this, Harvey is fuming at Mike for jeopardising the multi-million investment. However, all is not as it seems, as it turns out Mike isn’t the only one who has hindered things. Harvey receives harsh penalties from the courtroom for turning up late and having his mobile phone switched on. After confronting Judge Pearl about his rationality, Pearl reveals to Harvey that he doesn’t like him professionally or personally considering he slept with his wife.

Now Harvey and Mike must do ultimate damage control if they even want a chance of winning this case. This includes visiting Pearl’s wife, who might not be as honest as she looks.