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The Apprentice

The Apprentice with Lord Sugar

Starts May 7th, BBC ONE

The Apprentice is back in business and Lord Sugar returns to the board room, ready to find a new key player to join his thriving company.

The new series will follow a new group of candidates who will compete in challenging tasks to decide who will go into business with the multi-millionaire tycoon Lord Sugar.

Series 9 will start on May 7th on BBC ONE, with the second episode airing the next day on Wednesday, May 8th.

The Apprentice 2013 will then continue to air every Wednesday throughout the Summer.

Karren Brady aides Lord Sugar in The Apprentice

Nick Hewer and Karren Brady will both be back to aide Lord Sugar, while the BBC TWO spin-off You’re Fired is also back to liven up our evenings.

Who will be fired, and which shining new stars will grace our screen? Don't forget to tune in on Wednesday nights to find out.

The Apprentice with Lord Sugar, Nick Hewer and Karren Brady

For more information about The Apprentice click on www.bbc.co.uk/programmes
 

Pride and Prejudice Having a Ball

Pride and Prejudice: Having a Ball

        Coming Soon to BBC TWO

In Pride And Prejudice: Having A Ball, social historian Amanda Vickery leads the action as a team of experts recreate a Regency ball in honour of the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen’s popular novel.

Joined by Alastair Sooke and a coterie of professionals – a food historian, a costume expert, music history academics and a choreographer who trains a team of dance students to take to the floor– cameras will follow the recreation inspired by Austen’s Netherfield ball. This intimate country house ball drives the plot of the Pride And Prejudice, and is a key turning point in the romance between Elizabeth Bennett and Mr Darcy.

Amanda Vickery recreates a typical Pride And Prejudice style ball

The first readers of Pride And Prejudice in 1813 would have understood the workings of a private ball, and BBC Two’s Pride And Prejudice: Having A Ball sets out to recapture this detail, enabling modern audiences to understand Austen’s novel fully by reimagining the time in which she lived.

This charming 90-minute film captures every element of a Regency ball, from the careful preparation of the food and clothes to the etiquette and manners expected of dancers in the ballroom. Amanda explores the male and female fashions of the day, and meets a make-up artist producing authentic products from scratch, including rouge worn by the women - and Red Coat officers.

Amanda Vickery explores the clothes at a typical Pride And Prejudice Regency style ball

Amanda and Alastair observe the dancers in rehearsal, revealing just how energetic the routines were and, lured by the uplifting, traditional music, even attempt a few steps themselves. As the day of the ball dawns, Alastair dons his breeches, and attempts to channel Mr Darcy’s poise and avoid the clumsy moves of Mr Collins on the dance floor.

Observing the splendour and spectacle from the side-lines, Amanda and literary expert John Mullan reflect on the importance of the ball and its role in society. As young men and women embarked on the pursuit of a partner, the Regency ball was an arena where your every move could make or break your chances in the highly competitive marriage market.

Amanda Vickery looks at the costumes at a typical Pride And Prejudice style ball

BBC Learning has contributed to the funding of Pride And Prejudice: Having A Ball, commissioning a range of additional supporting material, including Regency recipes devised by Ivan Day for the BBC Food website.

There will also be a curated Regency art feature for the Your Paintings website, period fashion and dance resources for the BBC History site and additional materials by the presenters for adult reading groups.
 

Murder on the Home Front

Murder on the Home Front

             Coming soon to ITV1

Patrick Kennedy (Boardwalk Empire, Parade’s End) and Tamzin Merchant (Jane Eyre, The Tudors) head up a cast that includes James Fleet (Four Weddings and a Funeral, The Vicar of Dibley) and Emerald Fennell (Any Human Heart, Anna Karenina) in the new crime drama, Murder on the Home Front for ITV.

It is loosely based on the memoirs of Molly Lefebure, who was secretary during the Second World War to the Home Office Pathologist and pioneer of modern forensics, Keith Simpson.

Set during the London Blitz of 1940, Murder on the Home Front, sheds a different light on the everyday horrors of living in a city where death can visit at any moment. Vibrant, defiant and energetic this is a world of people living life for the moment. It is also a world where criminals can use the blackout and devastation to hide their darkest activities.

As the Luftwaffe drop their bombs, below people are literally getting away with murder. Dr Lennox Collins (Patrick Kennedy) is a pathologist new to murder cases, obsessed with pursuing the truth through all means available. He is often at the cutting edge of new
thinking in pathology from chemical tests to the controversial inclusion of the study of the psyche.

This often pits him against his superiors and in particular the highly respected Professor Henry Stephens (James Fleet). Molly Cooper (Tamzin Merchant) is not only the first secretary to a pathologist she is the first woman allowed into a very male world. All Lennox knows is that she has a strong stomach, 60 words a minute and a keen brain. When together they discover a serial killer at large under cover of the Blitz, Lennox has his work cut out convincing his unsympathetic boss to have faith in his methods and theories.

The novel approach of preserving a crime scene, treating every bit of physical evidence as the key to a break-through and not just relying on intuition, may help Lennox and Molly
convince DI Freddy Wilkins (played by David Sturzaker) that they are about to hang the wrong man.

Patrick Kennedy talks about his role as  Lennox

Patrick Kennedy as Lennox


Patrick is no stranger to period costume having recently starred in Boardwalk Empire – now in Murder on the home Front he steps into the 1940s period which was one of the key things
that attracted him to the show.

“I love the 1940s period I think it’s a fascinating time. There isn’t really any politics in this series but politically it is an interesting era, the choices were clearer for people then. I think there is a clarity about the period which is very evocative. The Blitz wasn’t just a time that everyone looks on fondly – a time when everyone came together and had fun - there were a lot of misdemeanours going on during the blackouts.

“I liked the idea of humour being a psychological tactic for dealing with the murder and mayhem that surrounds them. One that I was particularly struck by had a giggly child-like quality after forty years of dealing with crime scenes and murders. This behaviour stuck with me and I could see how the nature of the job had psychologically affected him.

“What I like about Lennox is that there is a combination of morbid worldliness in the course
of his profession – he’s dealing with people’s deaths day in and day out but there is a naivety
and innocence about him which is partly a facet of him being a workaholic and also a protective shield against what he does and the things that he sees. I enjoy the macabre dark humour of this drama, the dryness appeals to me very much. We have tried to play off this a bit, by making a few inappropriate jokes.

"Dr Simpson dragged forensic pathology into the modern era and re-set the terms of the evaluation of evidence. He brought forensic pathology out of the shadow of another pathologist at the time called Spilsbury who loomed large over the profession and whose word was gospel,” he explains.

“My character is trying to break open that world and share the knowledge and information between disciplines. It wasn’t necessarily a huge scientific advance in pathology, we hadn’t reached DNA yet but fibres were becoming more useful and tested, including blood and saliva samples. Lennox represents a more methodical approach to a crime scene.

“Lennox sees the importance of preserving the crime scenes and this is played out by the ‘Plods’ trampling all over the evidence. We have tried to accentuate that Lennox’s obsession with the sacredness of a crime scene,” he explains “is the beginning of the forensic era of blood samples and fibres that can pinpoint the criminal.”

Tamzin Merchant as Molly

Lennox, being rather bookish and a workaholic, needs a strong and confident counterpart, which he finds in his assistant Molly. “It is quite unusual to his seniors that he has got this assistant but she proves invaluable and has that wonderfully empirical no nonsense attitude about her. She is not fazed by the gore and macabre elements of the job; she is Lennox’s right hand man.

“Lennox recognises immediately that Molly is going to be a very efficient and professional assistant and so he takes her on. Molly is much more sociable and realistic whereas my character is more academic and lab bound, more innocent in fact - or indeed that is what I am making him.”

Molly is a sensible, down to earth, no nonsense girl. She does everything that Lennox needs in terms of the logistics of the forensics and keeping the ship afloat but she also helps Lennox in his helpless moments. “It’s an incredibly efficient and humorous professional relationship”, says Patrick.

“There is a hint of ‘will they wont they’, which we are still trying to work out as actors,” he admits. “The way I see it is that it’s a wonderfully professional relationship; to go beyond that would be problematic for the characters’ jobs and very unlikely because he just wouldn’t have the time for a relationship. I think if he does have romantic episodes it’s accidental."

Patrick admits to being rather squeamish and given some more time he would like to combat this by getting some hands on experience. “Personally I don’t like gore and guts,” he reveals, “we had real people playing the dead, so I had to get over that natural barrier of the unknown. My grandfather was a doctor but I don’t have that lack of squeamishness at all. There hasn’t been too much handling of the innards and I am a great consumer of innards but not a great handler of them at this point!” he
laughs.

I have learnt a lot from our expert Pathologists” he continues, “I really want to go to an autopsy to overcome that barrier. So far I have been more interested in unravelling the psychological aspects of forensic pathology. I would like to do more research into the physical aspect of the job such as cutting up corpses and the bitty muckiness of it, that would be quite fun I think!”

Alongside the dissection of bodies Patrick’s character has a series of perplexing murders help to solve and the Blitz provides the perfect backdrop. “The Blitz was a wonderful cloak for all sorts of terrible behaviour”, he continues. “In our drama there are lots of strangulations going on and each of the victims have a signature swastika mark on their tongue. Even my character is shocked seeing this macabre detail.

We don’t know whether we are on the hunt for a Nazi killer at loose in London or whether there is something more going on” he reveals. “We have a wonderful cast of suspects from a louche soldier to a nightclub owning mobster. It has a pleasingly cynical overview on what was going on during the Blitz. There is a nice tension between the period setting and the vividly modern crimes, I think there’s lots of potential for many good stories.”
 

Paul O'Grady
For the Love of Dogs

Paul O'Grady

             Coming soon to ITV1

Paul O’Grady is back where he belongs, at Battersea Cats and Dogs Home, meeting the latest residents to trot through the front door. From assisting vets during surgical procedures, to hand-rearing puppies and helping to train a naughty beagle, Paul is determined to get his hands dirty like never before.

Paul meets the dogs who come into the home needing treatment, training and ultimately new homes. Every dog has its own story and each dog needs a new place they can call home.

There is nowhere quite like Battersea, which is tear jerking and uplifting in equal measure. And although Paul immerses himself in the positive work the charity do, he is also forced to confront the heart-breaking reality of stray dogs deserted on the streets and those left starving and mistreated.

In episode one, Paul falls in love with two-year-old Frankie, a British Bulldog with a huge personality and a very expressive face, who has problem with his legs. Battersea vet Phil can’t work out what the problem is but suspects it might be neurological. Phil says: “We’ve got some good friends at the vet college so we’re going to refer him up there for tests that we can’t do here in the home and get a better idea of what’s wrong with him.”

Next up is King, an English Mastiff, the largest dog breed in the world. He weighs in at 75 pounds and Battersea don’t even have a water bowl big enough for him. He looks intimidating but turns out to be gentle giant who loves to slobber and sleep.

King snores and has sores on his joints from sleeping on hard floors but there’s one big problem that must be resolved before he can be rehomed - he stinks! Poor King has a skin condition, which is similar to eczema in humans. Paul meets him for the first time, “Hello fella, he’s massive. What’s his surname, Kong? I’ve just got a bit of a whiff off him. It’s making my eyes water.”

King’s pong can be reduced with a regular medicated wash and Paul is given the unenviable task of helping to bathe him and improve his aroma, in a bid to get him a home. It’s not going to be easy.

While the vet waits for the test results to come back, Paul spends some more time with Frankie and their bond begins to grow. Paul says: “You’re very handsome Frankie, has anyone ever told you that? You’ve got nothing that can’t be fixed I’m sure.”

Battersea takes in any dog that comes through the gate and a litter of newborn puppies, who have been rejected by their Mum, have just arrived. The puppies need feeding every two hours, day and night, and some of the Battersea staff will be playing Mum for the next few weeks. But feeding isn’t the only maternal duty they have to deal with.

In order to encourage a puppy to go to the toilet on their own, the mother usually licks them on the bottom to stimulate their bathroom break. Paul is tasked with using a substitute to help the puppies and inevitably ends up with soaking trousers. Paul says: “I think this one’s got one coming, cos he’s making that noise that old people on commodes make. Oh look he’s peeing for England all over me. I don’t pee like that, let alone you.”

Finally, Frankie’s test results come back and after forming such a strong bong with his friend, the shocking results have Paul in tears. Head Vet Shaun breaks the news, “I’m afraid the news isn’t good. What we were all expecting was a disc compressing on the spine. But I’m afraid the bad news is, he’s actually got quite an unusual condition, a cyst on the spine. There are very few cases out there, it’s quite rare.”

With a potentially inoperable condition, Frankie’s chances of being rehomed fall sharply and Paul is devastated for his pal. Paul says: “I’m absolutely shell-shocked to be honest. I had no idea it could be this serious.”

But Sean has some good news: “We do have a potential home, a lovely lady who came here to get another dog and fallen in love with him. She lives down in Somerset. Lot of space, other dogs as well.”

There’s also some good news for King, a family have seen him on the website and decided to pay him a visit. After his medicated bath, he’s smelling must fresher but Paul has one last trick up his sleeve to help King appeal to his potential new owners: “Look what I’ve got for you, it’s a lavender bag. Old ladies put them in their knicker drawers but it makes handsome fellas like you smell nice.”

Having spent time with both dogs, Paul desperately hopes they can both find loving homes despite the problems they face. The magic of Battersea is in matching all kinds of dogs with all kids of owners.
 

An Exciting New Project for Those Over 65 and Retired

Are you over 65 and retired but still have skills and passions that you would like to share?

A major broadcaster wants to hear from retired workers about their past jobs, careers & skills for a new television series.

Are you interested in taking part in an exciting new project?

For more information please email theagency@plumpictures.co.uk

Or call 0207 184 7794 for more information

Please note that emailing or calling in doesn’t commit you to taking part in the series.
 

Entertainment


The
Politician's Husband

 
David Tennant

 From 4th - 10th May, BBC ONE


David Tennant fans will be delighted to hear that he's back on our screens again in The Politician's Husband from 4th - 10th May on BBC ONE.

Written by Paula Milne and directed by Simon Cellan-Jones, The Politician's Husband is a companion piece to the multi-award-winning The Politician's Wife.

Writer Paula Milne explains why she decided to write it

David Tennant and Emily Watson in The Politician's Husband


"When The Politician’s Wife came out in 1995, many people asked me if I would write a sequel. But I never wanted to. My instinct was that it was best to leave a good piece of work alone.

"As the years passed, however, I found myself starting to think about it again. The whole premise of The Politician’s Wife was to use marriage as a kind of prism through which to look at contemporary political life. At the time there was a lot of talk about family values; John Major had launched the Back to Basics campaign the year before, and so on. I began to think that if that template had worked then, perhaps a similar one could work now. But this time I wanted to reverse it, so that it would be about power within a marriage. I wanted to explore the way that men feel about their wives becoming more successful than them – that’s an interesting dynamic to set against the power games in Whitehall.

"To some extent there are autobiographical elements to the story. I have been married twice myself, and sadly both times they ended in divorce. It’s impossible to say whether my own success played a part in the breakdowns. That’s a very difficult thing for a man to admit. But without wanting to sound overly paranoid, I think it did. I don’t think it was the only thing, but I think it was the most constant thing. And that in itself is quite interesting; how men feel that disempowerment. That’s certainly something we see in Aiden, the main character in The Politician’s Husband.

David Tennant and Emily Watson in The Politician's Husband

"At the very start of the drama, Aiden is attempting to run for the leadership, with his wife’s support. So, initially, Freya seems like the dutiful wife who is stepping back to allow her talented husband to take the crown. The resentment she feels only becomes clear as the story unfolds. There’s a scene in episode one where she walks into the Cabinet Room. I wrote in the stage directions: “She puts her hands on the table and feels, for the first time, the thermals of power...” And I think that scene puts the audience in advance of Aiden. Because then they know something he doesn’t: that, suddenly, she feels it. She wants it. She gets sucked into that vortex of wanting power.

"Even in the first sex scene, you can see that there’s a kind of gamesmanship between Aiden and Freya. It’s mischievous, but it’s also combative. The director and I talked a lot about that, because we felt that what happens later between them shouldn’t come out of nowhere. As viewers, you should feel that there has always been an element of competition buried underneath this marriage. I don’t want to give too much away, but just as the sexual journey of the characters in The Politician’s Wife reflected the deterioration in their relationship – anger, disappointment and revenge – a similar device is used in this series. And, yes, it is quite shocking in places.

David Tennant and Emily Watson in The Politician's Husband

"From the beginning, I was very keen that the drama shouldn’t be associated with any real-life political party – because then it would just have become about the Tories, or the Labour Party, or the Coalition. I think there’s something in the bear pit of the Commons that causes all politicians to behave in rather similar ways, whatever side of the divide they’re on. On the whole, I think they go into it to do good, but somehow that gets diffused. The combative, competitive, party-line aspect of politics seems to suck out their ideology. The system seems to brutalise them. Towing the party line, subduing their own doubts for the sake of the Party, perhaps seeing their constituents suffer because of it... it’s all about the quest for power. To get power. To stay in power. Aiden says at one point, “Sometimes you have to do bad things to get into power in order to do good things when you’re there.” The problem is, if you do bad things long enough you may forget how to do good things!

"I wouldn’t say The Politician’s Husband is a totally damning portrait of politics. That’s certainly not why I started to write it. But I did want to mirror how many people feel about the current political climate. And I think in this country there is a deep-rooted cynicism about the political system. Writing the drama was an opportunity to refract those feelings of disappointment, I suppose, and to bed it into a story. Everything is of its time and I just felt this was a good time, particularly after the expenses scandal. At one point Aiden uses the expression, “If you lie down with dogs, you get fleas...” So it was really about depicting that, and also seeing how it affected Freya.

"In any case, for me, writing about politics on its own could feel a bit dry. The previous generation of dramatists who wrote about political themes were inevitably blokes. And they wrote wonderful stuff – people like Jim Allen and Trevor Griffiths and so on. As a woman, though, I think I write about politics in a different way. For instance, I once wrote a BBC drama called Die Kinder (1990); it was a story about marital kidnap, but in the end it turned into an examination of Bader Meinhof and terrorism. So you can use the emotional engine of a marriage to drive the narrative. You have to engage the audience with the heart as well as the mind.

"I think it’s possible some MPs were a bit wary of talking to me after The Politician’s Wife; when I wrote that, I was a rather unknown factor! So I didn’t speak to a great deal of MPs during research. This time round I spent more time with special advisers. I also read an awful lot of books. I wanted to get the statistical background of it, if you like. To cross-refer between all the shades of political ideologies. To make sure that things would hold up. Understanding the mechanics of politics is to some extent even more important than talking to individual politicians – because often they can’t put their heads above the bunker to see the overview. I found the same thing when I was researching a medical drama called The Fragile Heart (1996). I talked to heart surgeons and brain surgeons but they couldn’t give me the overview. They couldn’t be the Deep Throat of the health service because they were so preoccupied with their own bunker. Talking to people who were once political researchers, or people who are no longer in power, is more interesting because they have that slight sense of distance.

"One of the most important characters in the drama is Freya and Aiden’s son Noah, who has Asperger’s. He has a particular obsession with flight paths. He also doesn’t like to be touched. And you quickly see that Aiden, particularly, doesn’t know how to handle him. Even Freya admits at one point that she goes to work to get away from Noah’s endless obsessions and rituals. Neither of them wants to admit, or even believe, that they don’t love him enough. Dramatically, I think that was important. It makes them a bit bruised by life. They aren’t just the ideal family in an ivory tower. They are a family who have to deal with something – at the same time as trying to do their jobs and have political aspirations. So Noah’s place in the story was to make them seem oddly ordinary, in a way.

"I did quite a bit of research into Asperger’s before writing the drama. In fact I already knew quite a bit about it from writing something that didn’t come to fruition. My nephew has it, too, so I knew something about it firsthand. One of the interesting things about Asperger’s is that it doesn’t mask the personality as autism does. So when you’re sitting round a table with those with the condition, you see that one would be obsessed with lifts all over the world and how they worked, another was obsessed with cartoon characters, another with the history of fountain pens – but they all manifest it in different ways. I found that very interesting.

"I think David and Emily are brilliant in the main roles. The most fantastic thing about them is that you would completely believe they are married. When people say that actors have great chemistry, very often you want to yawn and say “Well, what does that really mean?” But, my God, you know when it’s not there, don’t you? And when I first saw David and Emily together, I completely believed them. I also think that David’s performance is particularly brave, because Aiden is a pretty irredeemable character. And for an actor like David who carries such a legacy of goodwill and love from an audience, it’s quite a brave thing to play a character like that. Emily’s natural gravitas gives her amazing credibility as a politician... Yet you also believe she's a mother... A tricky hire wire act!"

David Tennant talks about his role as
Aiden Hoynes

David Tennant as Aiden Hoynes in The Politician's Husband

"Paula Milne was really the first thing that drew me to The Politician’s Husband. I mean, she’s sort of television royalty, isn’t she? I just think she writes characters assiduously well, and she puts them in situations that are so dramatically delicious.

"Also, I love a bit of political drama; The West Wing is probably my favourite television series of all time. There’s just something about that world. There are very few areas in life where the stakes are so high; where the power struggles influence not just the lives of the people involved, but also the lives of everyone they represent. It’s almost Greek in that way, in terms of the stakes being so monumental and the power struggles going on in that world being so petty – and yet so universally important.

"I also remembered The Politician’s Wife being a really big deal when it came out in 1995. I came back to it before we started filming The Politician’s Husband and it was fantastically juicy to watch. Paula really caught that moment in time when a certain echelon of the ruling classes began to realise, perhaps, that they weren’t able to get away with whatever the hell they liked anymore. It was the beginning of the end for a certain type of politics – or at least of a certain type of public life, anyway. And I think she told that story very well. The Politician’s Husband isn’t a straight sequel. It’s inspired by similar territory, I suppose, but the story is very much drawn from today’s world.

"The character I play in the drama is Aiden Hoynes. He’s a member of the cabinet and he’s very well regarded. He’s clearly seen as a potential leader of the future. It’s probably not helpful to find real-life political candidates to cast him as – I didn’t base him on one particular individual (which is probably just as well because I don’t think that would have done anyone any favours!). But he’s certainly a man who’s doing very well for himself.

"So at the start of the story he feels that his moment has come, that the Prime Minister of the day is not performing as he might, and that this is his moment. He stands up in the House and argues that the Prime Minister’s immigration policies are xenophobic and that the PM’s position is effectively untenable. How much of that is driven by ideology, and how much of it is a power play? That’s a very grey area, really – it’s hard to say where one ends and the other begins. But the policy may be slightly less important than what he’s trying to achieve by wielding it.

"Aiden has a very solid marriage with Freya, played by the magnificent Emily Watson. She’s also an MP and doing quite well for herself, though she’s playing second fiddle to Aiden, who is the high flier. But they work very well together and they’ve always supported each other. In fact we learn quite early on that she writes Aiden’s speeches. They have two kids, Noah and Ruby, and a very happy family life. It’s made slightly difficult by the fact that Noah has Asperger’s and struggles a little bit with his parents’ public, high-stress lifestyle, but they manage to cope and they have a support network around them. But when the wave of support they expected to carry Aiden to his coronation evaporates in front of him, the roles are reversed. Aiden loses his frontbench job and Freya finds herself brought into the cabinet. And a marriage which had seemed so strong and impregnable suddenly finds that its fault lines have been exposed, and they have to cope with this very different power structure within their relationship.

David Tennant

"There is an aggressive streak in Aiden that emerges too. But then again he’s a man who is pushed quite far. He has had everything, and suddenly he has nothing. So I think it’s quite understandable that when he’s pushed into a corner, he comes out snarling and biting. As things go on, however, we find that Aiden and Freya aren’t quite the golden couple they believed themselves to be, and that comes out quite violently within their relationship at one point, and in quite a shocking way.

"Another key character is a politician called Bruce Babbish, played by Ed Stoppard. He and Aiden have known each other for many, many years. They’ve come up through the ranks together, though Aiden is certainly seen as the senior of the two. And Bruce is apparently right behind him, fully expected to serve in an Aiden Hoynes cabinet and to be part of his inner circle. So at the start of the story, it’s very much Bruce and Aiden who are preparing for this big moment – this moment of assassination. But, as with many things in politics, Aiden quite quickly discovers that Bruce’s friendship and loyalty aren’t necessarily all they seem. It becomes clear quite quickly that Bruce has leadership ambitions of his own, which have been subsumed in the wake of Aiden’s much more obvious route to power. It all happens within the first few minutes of the series so I don’t think it’s giving too much away to say that Bruce ends up backstabbing Aiden.

"Before filming began, I tried to do as much research as I could. There were a few different elements to delve into. Firstly, there was Noah’s Asperger’s condition. We were helped brilliantly by people coming and talking to us. I wouldn’t want to betray any confidences by going into that too much, but people were very honest with us, which was hugely humbling, actually, and very helpful for the roles. When you have a child with Asperger’s, you can’t always communicate in the way that you would normally expect. It can rob people of a normal life – and that is a huge part of the story here.

"And then of course there was the political world. Over the years I’ve talked to many politicians about what their lives are like. But for this I just decided to let the production team gather our sources. I didn’t want to use or abuse any social links, I suppose. So we had some people come in to talk to us, and they were very honest about their experiences. What I found fascinating to imagine was the sheer stress of that life – the burden of it, I suppose.

"But at the same time you could sense the buzz that people get out of it, too; the high that you get when you deliver something well in the House is like having a fantastic first night on stage and getting all the best reviews. It gives you that kind of a hit. And that’s what they’re chasing, a lot of the time. There’s something quite egotistical about that. But if it comes from a sense where they’re trying to change things for the better, I suppose it can be a pure and virtuous thing as well.

David Tennant with Lucy Hutchinson who plays Ruby Hoynes

"I had a certain amount of say in Aiden’s look. Looking at a lot of the political faces we see regularly on the news, I was struck by how coiffed they are. They often seem to go for a sort of Eighties soap star kind of look. But then of course that’s what is expected, isn’t it? You’re expected to look sleek and slick. And I guess you also need a look that you can contain through a day when you’re doing four different things at once. So I wanted to find something that gave a sense of that.

"Filming the drama certainly gave me an insight into why politics appeals to people – particularly that sense of the intoxication of power. And the fact that you’re making decisions that will change people’s lives. I can see why people are drawn to it. I can see why people devote their lives to it. There are such huge opportunities there, and such crushing disappointments, too. It’s sort of Shakespearian in that way. It’s like a history play in the making.

"What will real MPs make of the drama? I think they’ll love it. They’ll love it because at the end of the day it’s a great bit of drama. It’s got all the hooks and surprises of a thriller, but with the depth and the texture of a quality character piece – because it’s written by Paula Milne, and she knows what she’s doing. So I think everyone will love it. But I dare say politicians will love it all the more because they’ll see their own world reflected back at them. It’s a really fascinating and intriguing series."

Emily Watson talks about her role as Freya Hoynes

Emily Watson as Freya Hoynes


"The first thing that attracted me to this was that it was a cracking piece of writing. It's just a gripping story between these two characters. I also think Freya is quite an unusual female character. She's strong, faithful, sexual, political, ambitious, she's a mother; all of that rolled into one. She's a lot of different things that are usually compartmentalised into different packages in female characters.

"When we first meet her, Freya is the junior education minister. She's seen as a high flyer with big prospects. We also know that she met Aiden and Bruce at university. So the story I constructed in my head was that they were probably all at Oxford together - all very brilliant, clever young people. In the beginning I think Freya probably wanted to change lives; I think that's innate in her. But I think they also quickly learned to embrace the political way of thinking. They're people who came through the Westminster system from a young age. They probably started off as interns and have learned how to work the system.

"You don't end up being an MP or a cabinet minister without being unbelievably ambitious. But the interesting thing about Freya is that she has an emotional intelligence to go with that. Which means that she deals her cards in a more subtle way. Aiden is such a blunt instrument in the way that he tries to achieve things. He lets his lower nature get the better of him. Whereas Freya has a full orchestra of subtle, womanly ways at her disposal. And she knows how to use them.

Emily Watson as Freya Hoynes

"Outwardly they look like a normal family with a nice suburban home, a couple of kids and successful careers. But that only scratches the surface. Their sexual relationship is quite interesting, put it that way! Their sexual tastes are slightly to the left of usual; quite edgy and aggressive. I think they're the sort of couple who, if they have a problem, solve it in bed. They don't necessarily talk about things in the way they should. I think that's one of the interesting things about this drama. It takes a public couple and then shows you what happens behind closed doors, to reveal an archetypal power struggle between two individuals.

"There is one particularly shocking scene between them. I can't say too much about it, in case I give too much away, but basically Aiden's lower nature gets the better of him. It was quite hard to film. You just have to get through a scene like that, really. You have to go for it and then forget about it - and hope you don't have to emigrate! (I don't think I'll be doing the school run for a while). But it is an important scene in the drama. It's a turning point for the two of them. It sets them on a path that they can't get back from.

"Their son Noah, who has Asperger's, is a very important part of the drama, especially in terms of David's character. I think when Noah's Asperger's became evident, Aiden basically couldn't deal with it. He stepped away from him. And in a way I think he is overcompensating in politics; he becomes more and more driven because he can't find the normal solace of what a human relationship provides.

"I did quite a bit of research after taking on the role. Before filming started, Paula and the producers arranged for us to meet various different people, to get a sense of that Westminster world; the politics with a small 'p', as it were. So we met up with various MPs. It was very interesting to see what their concerns were. Some were very concerned about the party politics and the power struggles, the back-biting world of Parliament. There was an impression that that was the be-all and end-all of politics. At the other end of the spectrum you got people who were really driven to do good and to improve people's lives. And I think both the main characters in this drama, Freya and Aiden, are an interesting mixture of those two things.

"We also met with a mother whose son has Asperger's. She was a brilliant and very impressive woman, but you could see how distressing it had been for her family - what an enormous challenge it had been for them. To her it felt like something that had landed in their lives that they weren't equipped to deal with. They were just having to cope with it on a daily basis and it was never going to change, never get any better. When she turned up she basically said, "Look, I decided on the way here that I'm not going to beat around the bush - I'm going to be honest with you about how hard it is. I won't do the soft sell on it. I'm just going to tell you what it's like." And we were in tears by the end. It was really distressing. You could see how destructive it can be on family life.

"Obviously Asperger's is a huge spectrum. There are people who have it very mildly and people who have it intensely. But within that there's an awful lot of variation with a lot of different symptoms and behaviours. But I think for them it was that they couldn't go on holiday because the change of routine would have meant total disruption. Unless they kept the same routine and never did anything different, all hell was let loose. Of course some of that feeds into the drama. To be a parent in that situation and to also have a challenging job, to be relying on a nanny, and grandparents - I think Freya feels a very intense sense of guilt.

"Aiden and Freya clearly operate in a very cynical world. There's one scene for example where Freya has to make a speech in Parliament. It's her maiden speech in the House of Commons and it's a complete bear pit. Everyone's yelling at her. And it goes very well. But if you actually analyse the speech, it's really total BS! There's nothing to it. It's just a sort of point-scoring exercise. So she manages to be a complete success without saying anything of substance whatsoever. I thought that was really interesting. And I have to say I got a real kick out of filming that scene. It was really fun.

Emily Watson in The Politician's Husband

"The House of Commons scenes were filmed in Wimbledon, in the studios where they used to film The Bill. There's a permanent set down there, which is about three quarters the size of the actual House of Commons. But we also did quite a bit of filming in the real parliamentary offices - for Aiden's office, and Bruce's flat. You could see Parliament from the windows. It was pretty cool to feel that we were right at the heart of things. We even had a security scare. Fortunately it was nothing serious. Somebody's car had broken down in the street so they closed the whole thing down and we couldn't get in.

"For me, one of the most interesting moments in the drama was being interviewed by Kirsty Wark. In one scene in episode one, Freya agrees to an interview with her, and she gets a grilling. Obviously Kirsty filmed those scenes herself. It was amazing to meet her. I've followed her career and feel like I've grown up with her. And she was lovely. In the scene she basically turns on me and goes in for the kill. I have to say that felt quite real.

"I've never really been involved in politics myself. I think I went on a couple of marches when I was at Bristol, but that was about it. I didn't take it any further. It's not really my world. As for actually being an MP? I'd be hopeless, hopeless, hopeless! I'm just not organised enough. I need other people to organise me. I have enough difficulty running my own life, let alone other people's."

The Politician's Husband was commissioned by Janice Hadlow Controller, BBC Two and Ben Stephenson, Controller, BBC Drama Commissioning.

Sixtyplusurfers Competition

Win The Great Gatsby on DVD

Win The Great Gatsby on DVD

 

Sixtyplusurfers has teamed up with ITV Studios Global Entertainment to offer five lucky readers the chance to win The Great Gatsby on DVD.

ITV Studios Global Entertainment is proud to announce the release of The Great Gatsby. Based on the book by F. Scott Fitzgerald and directed by Robert Markowitz, the DVD is released on 6th May 2013.

Starring Mira Sorvino, Toby Stephens and Paul Rudd, Academy Award winner Mira Sorvino heads a prestigious cast in this sumptuous adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel of doomed love and ambition, considered by many to be the one of the greatest American love stories.

Toby Stephens and Mira Sorvino in The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby is set in the volatile Jazz Age of the 1920’s. It is the story of Jay Gatsby (Toby Stephens), a poor boy whose love for rich golden girl Daisy Buchanan (Mira Sorvino) is the catalyst that leads to his rise, and ultimate demise, in the society whose respect he craves

The story is seen through the eyes of Nick Carraway who moves from the Midwest to live in New York. Nick is a bond salesman who finds himself the neighbour of the mysterious and wealthy Jay Gatsby, but all is not as it seems.

As the story unfolds we discover that Gatsby is a bootlegger and forger, who has a huge estate bordering Nick's modest cottage. Gatsby is well known for throwing fabulous, hedonistic summer parties in 1922 West Egg, Long Island and it is not long before he receives an invitation.

Gatsby befriends Nick and enlists him in to set up a meeting between him and his former love Daisy Buchanan, Nick's cousin. She is now married to the snobbish and selfish Tom Buchanan, who flaunts an extramarital affair he is having with the wife of a local garage owner. Nick agrees to arrange the meeting with Gatsby and Daisy, a rendezvous that will have tragic consequences ....

Watched and enjoyed

Mira Sorvino in The Great Gatsby


The Great Gatsby is one of my favourite books so I was delighted to receive the DVD for review. With a star studded cast, the story keeps closely to the book with Toby Stephens very well cast as the wealthy Jay Gatsby who cannot let go of the past and forget his long lost love for the rich and unobtainable Daisy Buchanan.

Gripping, poignant and elegantly set, this lively adaptation accurately captures the lavish lifestyles of the rich and glamorous in the 1920s Jazz Age, mirroring the exuberant and heady lifestyle of the author, F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda. Mira Sorvino is thoroughly convincing as Daisy Buchanan, beautiful, spoiled and selfish and Paul Rudd plays the disillusioned Nick Carraway with plenty of charm and youthful innocence.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching this glittering adaptation of The Great Gatsby, one of the 
most celebrated novels in American literature and I would heartily recommend it.

The Great Gatsby retails at £7.99 and running time is 90 minutes. Distributed by ITV Studios Global Entertainment it is available to pre-order now from www.amazon.co.uk Amazon.co.uk and available for general release on 6th May 2013.

We would like to thank ITV Studios Global Entertainment for supplying the prizes.
 

For Your Chance to Win

Tell us the name
of the author of
The Great Gatsby?

 a) Henry James
 b) William Faulkner
 c) F. Scott Fitzgerald
 d) Ernest Hemingway

 To Enter the Competition

Tell us the name of the author of
The Great Gatsby? Then send in
your answer, together with your full name, postal address and telephone number to the Sixtyplusurfers email address as shown below:

sixtypluscomp@hotmail.co.uk

* Please label your entry
The Great Gatsby Competition

 
* This competition is open to
our UK readers only

 

Perspectives with Hugh Laurie: Copper Bottom Blues

Hugh Laurie


Sunday 5th May, ITV1,
10.00pm - 11.00pm


Hugh Laurie makes a musical pilgrimage across America to delve into the story of the country’s blues music in this final documentary in the series.

When Hugh Laurie was a boy he heard a recording of a concert so amazing it would have a profound effect on his life. It featured the blues legend Professor Longhair playing aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California.

In tribute to this great performance we join Hugh Laurie as he gigs his way across America from the Eastern seaboard of New York to the West Coast of LA playing a concert in homage to his music hero aboard the very same ship.

Hugh Laurie

Along the way Hugh plays the music that influenced him and helped him release a successful album in his own right. We learn why, as an Englishman raised on American music, Hugh has such a strong passion for the Blues. The finale is his performance aboard the Queen Mary.

Hugh visits the studios of Ray Charles and plays the blues star’s own piano. He meets Muddy Waters’ son Mudd Morganfield, and duets with Jools Holland. Hugh’s long -time friend and fellow actor Stephen Fry drops into Hugh’s rehearsals to offer his support for the big finale.

Hugh explains the reason for his pilgrimage. “Every good blues song tells a story and in every good story there is a journey. This is a film of my journey and the culmination of a dream I’ve had since I was a teenager.

“As a child there was one musician in particular I loved and that is where the story begins.

“The Queen Mary was the site of a recording by Professor Longhair, the record was called Professor Longhair on the Queen Mary. It was an absolutely seminal record. We are going to the Queen Mary not to recreate the night of that recording but to offer a kind of tribute to a musician who just changed everything for me.

“Growing up not far from the Thames I didn’t know where the blues came from. I just knew I didn’t want to live without it.

“When I first heard that sort of wailing blue note it was like a door opening to this magical kingdom. I hear it as music of great joy and passion and love, and it’s funny a lot of the time. Of course it has pain and heartbreak in it too. In fact I think all human life is in it.

“Growing up in England being a blues fan was a fairly isolating experience, devotees like me tended to be hidden away in our bedrooms listening to the latest US imports and trying to learn every note.”

Hugh Laurie

Hugh shares his passion for the blues with Jools Holland, and visits him at home to duet with him. He reveals how he had asked Jools to teach him to play the blues on the piano. The response had been he would if Hugh would teach him how to act.

Hugh says, “As a child the piano was a place I got lost in and I would play for hours. I couldn’t believe how wonderful it was and how wonderful it made me feel. I have always just loved this music, listening to it and doing it."

Professor Longhair is credited as the man who put funk into music. He first gained national attention in the 1950s with his rumba boogie style of piano playing. But like many blues artists he fell into obscurity with the rise of sixties’ pop.

But then a blues devotee tracked him down and suddenly a new generation discovered his unique sound. His rebirth culminated in his Live on the Queen Mary album in 1975. From that point to his death in 1980 he was celebrated as a living legend, and was later inducted into the blues hall of fame.

“My view of life, such that it is, was influenced by the sounds and stories of Professor Longhair, now in appreciation of his music I am going to travel across the US, starting in New York ending in California, along the way I am going to be gigging in the towns where so many of the songs I love come from, discovering the roots of the music which raised me.

“I realise now being in New York it is an act of straightforward madness for an Englishman to come here and try and enchant audiences with American music. But mad challenges are good."

Hugh Laurie

Hugh Laurie gathered together a band of like minded talented musicians for his journey.

“My passion is music, always has been. Acting is something I find very difficult. Not that I don’t find music difficult; I sweat and curse over music too. But I find it a much more freer and more passionate experience.

“I have never been confident of anything ever. I am not confident the sun is going to come up. It is not my natural state. I predict disaster almost every day. For that reason I am almost always delighted and relieved by the way the day turns out.”

The band’s tour kicks off in Manhattan, then they head to the birthplace of the blues - New Orleans.

Hugh meets one man who proves you can play the blues no matter where you come from. Jon Cleary from Kent, England, moved to New Orleans 30 years ago as a teenager on his own and completely skint with a dream of playing with the blues greats. Since then he has become a bit of a legend himself.

Jon says that when he got to New Orleans there weren’t many people playing piano so he got to play with his idols who had just been names on the backs of records. Jon has played with the greats including B.B. King and John Booker, and then he gets to play with Hugh Laurie.

Hugh journeys onto Chicago the mecca for musicians from all over the world. Its most famous migrant was the father of Chicago Blues, Muddy Waters. His son Mudd Morganfield is an internationally known musician in his own right. He agreed to play with Hugh while he was in town.

The day of reckoning is approaching - Hugh’s tribute performance aboard the Queen Mary. There is one stop to make for a final burst of inspiration before his finale concert. Hugh drops off at the former studio of one of the greatest musicians of all time, Ray Charles. Since his death in 2004 the studio has been kept as a memorial by Valerie Ervin, president of the Ray Charles Foundation, who worked with Ray for the last decade of his life.

“To come here into the room he actually designed and sit at his piano and actually brush against the marks his fingernails left, it is slightly unnerving. I feel like I have broken into a cathedral and I am desecrating it by breathing the air.”

As Hugh plays Ray Charles’ piano, Valerie says, "it was like a touch of Ray coming into the studio."

Hugh says, “Up until a couple of years ago playing music was my own private escape but since I released my first album I have had the chance to fulfil several dreams at once. I am seeing America in a way I never have before. But I am also about to play a tribute to my musical hero Professor Longhair by performing a gig aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach.

“It will be a combination of many things; exciting thrilling, awe-inspiring, terrifying or just a flat out disaster. There is no way of knowing the blend of ingredients and how it will all work out.
But that’s the fun of it.

“This whole experience for me has been a bit like shoplifting, not that I am experienced you understand. but from the moment that I embarked on this musical journey, set out with a band, made a record, started going on tour kept expecting somebody to shout ‘stop that man’.

"For whatever reason that hasn’t happened yet. I feel they are going to set the dogs on me at any moment but it hasn’t happened yet and it is an amazing experience.

“I’m feeling very jittery. Performing before an audience will always get the juices flowing, but particularly this one, its not a tribute exactly, but a musician who has meant so much to me, this feels like a very holy place and a holy undertaking, and I am crapping myself.”

Hugh’s good friend and fellow actor Stephen Fry popped into to watch Hugh and the band rehearse, and to lend his support.

Hugh Laurie

Stephen Fry says, “The BBC asked Hugh and me if we would do a TV series together, A Bit of Fry and Laurie, and one of the things we puzzled over is the opening music and Hugh said ‘ you know Professor Longhair’ and I said ‘is that a cartoon character?’ I’d never heard of Professor Longhair. Hugh played this recording Professor Longhair made on the Queen Mary, I think it was called Mardi Gras. It was just a perfect introduction to a comedy show.

“I am so proud of him, and at the same time I am fully aware of the amount of work he puts in. I have known Hugh for over 30 years and there almost hasn’t been a day when he hasn’t played the piano, he hasn’t practiced, and hasn’t got better and better.”

The film concludes with the grand finale aboard the Queen Mary greeted by rapturous applause from the audience.
 

Caroline Quentin's National Parks

Caroline Quentin

 

Starts Tuesday 7th May on ITV1


“It’s over 60 years since our first National Park was created and they remain as stunning and as popular as ever,” says Caroline Quentin.

Actress and presenter Caroline Quentin visits three of Britain’s most popular National Parks in this new three-part documentary series, to celebrate some of the areas of outstanding natural beauty that are right on our doorstep.

Caroline immerses herself in every aspect of park life, from taking part in an unusual race against a steam train through the valleys of Snowdonia, to spending the night counting bats on an island in Loch Lomond and rounding up wild ponies for auction in the New Forest.

On her travels Caroline meets the extraordinary people who live and work in the Parks and witnesses some of the incredible wildlife that roams free. In doing so, she appreciates why so many people choose to visit these spectacular National Parks. Caroline Quentin’s National Parks is new and exclusive to ITV.

In episode one, Caroline visits Loch Lomond and the Trossachs, nestled in the South-West of Scotland. The park sits on the boundary between the highlands and the lowlands and it’s an area steeped in the very best of Scottish lochs, scenery, wildlife and history. It is the largest national park in Scotland, stretching over 700 square miles.

Caroline Quentin

To appreciate the breath-taking views in style, Caroline enjoys a trip by sea-plane over Loch Lomond and the mountains, captained by ex-British Airways pilot David West. Loch Lomond itself is just one of 22 lochs in the park but it’s by far the largest and the deepest, at 24 miles long and 600 feet deep. The Trossachs in the park’s name refers to the area of glens and hills off to the east and

Caroline is stunned by the beautiful landscape, she says, “It’s quite epic actually isn’t it, the scenery. One moment it looks quite domestic and quite small and the next minute it’s really quite grand and it takes your breath away.”

On the outskirts of the park is Inveraray Castle, which hosts it’s annual Highland Games every July, an opportunity for the community to come together and take part in traditional events in celebration of all things Scottish. After enjoying local delicacies such as roast salmon and smoked mussels, Caroline watches the Scottish dancing contest, as girls as young as six compete for a medal.

Caroline Quentin

It is believed that the Olympics were conceived in the 19th century based on the Highland Games, which is why we see so many of the same events today, such as the shot-put and hammer. A lesser-known heavy event is the caber-tossing contest and the world championships are held at Inveraray. Steven King has won the world title four times and agrees to give Caroline a quick lesson, something she comes to regret, much to Steven’s amusement.

Caroline says, “This is the most horrible thing I’ve ever done, it’s really frightening, and I’ve done some quiet scary things. Because when you’re looking up it gives you vertigo, and it’s incredibly heavy.”

Unable to lift the huge beam of wood Caroline jokes, “If I had a sports bra on, I’d have that up by now!”

Caroline Quentin

Loch Lomond is a haven for wildlife and Caroline agrees to spend the night with a group of volunteers who are monitoring the bats on one of the loch’s most picturesque islands, Inchcailloch. Despite having not slept in a tent since her teenage years,

Caroline keeps watch with the team using a bat detector and is surprised by how enjoyable she finds the task. “What’s incredible, is that standing here, in the dark and the quiet, with a load of people I have never met before, is one of the most enjoyable things I’ve ever done. Who knew? Who needs Bingo?!”

Caroline Quentin

The following morning, Caroline enjoys the beautiful views from the island for a moment of quiet reflection. “A lot of the people who come here to the Island find it incredibly healing. And I can really see how that’s the case. My mum, my little mum, Katie, died about two weeks ago and I spent a lot of last night thinking about her. And of course I’m sad, but actually, this place is really special and it does wonderful things, nature, it really puts things in perspective.”

Loch Lomond and the Trossochs is home to 61 protected bird species including Ospreys, Golden Eagles and Peregrine Falcons and Caroline helps the Park Rangers tag a roost of tiny three-week old owl chicks, as part of a project to protect the barn owl population.

Caroline Quentin

Caroline continues to throw herself into every aspect of life in the stunning National Park and joins a wild swimming enthusiast for a dip in Loch Lomond, despite the torrential rain.

As she braves the icy cold water in her wetsuit, Caroline admits, “I was slightly dreading this, I have to be honest, but now I’m in, it’s incredibly invigorating, and the water is so clear and so beautiful.”

Before bidding farewell to the park, there is just time for Caroline to put on her dancing shoes to take part in the liveliest of Ceilidhs.