The actor’s ruined handsomeness was perfect for his portrayal of a psychopathically violent gangster in this classic 1971 thriller
Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais are renowned for small-screen comic masterpieces such as Porridge and The Likely Lads, but in 1971 they scripted the deadly serious and horribly gripping London crime picture Villain, now rereleased on Blu-ray. It’s an extremely lairy and tasty piece of work in which Richard Burton gave one of his best, most lip-smackingly gruesome performances: this film’s easily as good as the far better known Get Carter with Michael Caine, released that same year.
Villain is based on the novel The Burden of Proof from pulp author James Barlow, reportedly an inspiration for Jake Arnott’s The Long Firm. Producer Elliot Krasner had originally commissioned a treatment from Hollywood actor-writer Al Lettieri, (who played the drug lord Virgil Sollozzo in The Godfather), but Clement and...
Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais are renowned for small-screen comic masterpieces such as Porridge and The Likely Lads, but in 1971 they scripted the deadly serious and horribly gripping London crime picture Villain, now rereleased on Blu-ray. It’s an extremely lairy and tasty piece of work in which Richard Burton gave one of his best, most lip-smackingly gruesome performances: this film’s easily as good as the far better known Get Carter with Michael Caine, released that same year.
Villain is based on the novel The Burden of Proof from pulp author James Barlow, reportedly an inspiration for Jake Arnott’s The Long Firm. Producer Elliot Krasner had originally commissioned a treatment from Hollywood actor-writer Al Lettieri, (who played the drug lord Virgil Sollozzo in The Godfather), but Clement and...
- 3/26/2020
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Twiggy, Joan Collins and Paul McCartney reminisce with the Alfie actor about a decade of smiley hippies and grumpy people in bowler hats
The enduring mystery of what Michael Caine is thinking and feeling remains intact during his watchable, if somewhat exasperating docu-reminiscence of 1960s swinging London. It certainly doesn’t say anything revealing or new about the man itself. With many images of smiley hippies and apoplectic people in bowler hats, the film is narrated by Caine in his inimitably measured and inscrutably deadpan style: the script is evidently the work of Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais whose 60s TV classic The Likely Lads sadly goes unmentioned.
David Bailey, Joan Collins, Sandie Shaw, Twiggy and Paul McCartney are interviewed here by Caine, though oddly and disappointingly off camera, their voices the accompaniment to old footage. Caine has said that he didn’t want the audience distracted by these faces all looking shockingly older.
The enduring mystery of what Michael Caine is thinking and feeling remains intact during his watchable, if somewhat exasperating docu-reminiscence of 1960s swinging London. It certainly doesn’t say anything revealing or new about the man itself. With many images of smiley hippies and apoplectic people in bowler hats, the film is narrated by Caine in his inimitably measured and inscrutably deadpan style: the script is evidently the work of Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais whose 60s TV classic The Likely Lads sadly goes unmentioned.
David Bailey, Joan Collins, Sandie Shaw, Twiggy and Paul McCartney are interviewed here by Caine, though oddly and disappointingly off camera, their voices the accompaniment to old footage. Caine has said that he didn’t want the audience distracted by these faces all looking shockingly older.
- 3/16/2018
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Chicago – Rarely does a filmmaker have a long or influential enough career to revisit a story and characters that they’ve explored in a previous film. Oscar winner Danny Boyle has both qualifications, as he again takes on – 20 years after its 1996 release – his classic film “Trainspotting, which is elegantly titled “T2 Trainspotting.”
The boys of the original “Trainspotting” have reunited for the outing, portrayed by Ewan McGregor, Robert Carlyle, Ewen Bremner and Jonny Lee Miller. Middle age angst is the theme, as each of the characters are going through some life changes, but the spirit of their larcenous souls are still intact. The first film launched the uber-careers of Ewan McGregor and director Danny Boyle, and the re-exploration of the energetic style and quick-cutting scene work are back in the new story as well.
Jonny Lee Miller and Ewan McGregor in ‘T2 Trainspotting,’ directed by Danny Boyle
Photo credit: Sony Pictures Releasing...
The boys of the original “Trainspotting” have reunited for the outing, portrayed by Ewan McGregor, Robert Carlyle, Ewen Bremner and Jonny Lee Miller. Middle age angst is the theme, as each of the characters are going through some life changes, but the spirit of their larcenous souls are still intact. The first film launched the uber-careers of Ewan McGregor and director Danny Boyle, and the re-exploration of the energetic style and quick-cutting scene work are back in the new story as well.
Jonny Lee Miller and Ewan McGregor in ‘T2 Trainspotting,’ directed by Danny Boyle
Photo credit: Sony Pictures Releasing...
- 3/22/2017
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Surprised by Peter Kay's 'Gor blimey!' Cockney accent in BBC Two's Cradle to Grave? Series creator Danny Baker says you'll get used to it.
Speaking at a press screening, Baker said that "authenticity" isn't all that important in terms of how a TV character speaks.
"It's a shock when Peter Kay don't talk like Peter Kay - and it takes a bit to get over that," he acknowledged.
"But after a while, hopefully, he's that character - that's who he is, that's how he walks, that how he talks."
Cradle to Grave is based on Baker's youth, with Kay playing the young Danny's hot-tempered father Fred.
"I grew up with Harry Corbett in Steptoe and Son, what part of London was that?" Baker asked. "James Bolam in The Likely Lads - that ain't Geordie! But that's how that character speaks."
Baker added that Bolton-born Kay worked closely...
Speaking at a press screening, Baker said that "authenticity" isn't all that important in terms of how a TV character speaks.
"It's a shock when Peter Kay don't talk like Peter Kay - and it takes a bit to get over that," he acknowledged.
"But after a while, hopefully, he's that character - that's who he is, that's how he walks, that how he talks."
Cradle to Grave is based on Baker's youth, with Kay playing the young Danny's hot-tempered father Fred.
"I grew up with Harry Corbett in Steptoe and Son, what part of London was that?" Baker asked. "James Bolam in The Likely Lads - that ain't Geordie! But that's how that character speaks."
Baker added that Bolton-born Kay worked closely...
- 9/3/2015
- Digital Spy
Remember Kinvig, Clone, Not With A Bang? These are the UK sci-fi sitcoms you’re unlikely to see on comedy best-of lists…
With E4 sci-fi comedy commissions, Tripped and Aliens, and in-development Channel 4 projects, Space Ark and Graham Linehan/Adam Buxton collaboration The Cloud, in the works, a new crop of sci-fi sitcom could be making its way to UK TV.
Making funny sci-fi on a small-screen budget is tough enough without the additional pressure of having to attract viewers more traditionally down-to-earth in their sitcom tastes. Sci-fi sets and effects can be seen as prohibitively expensive by comedy commissioners (which is perhaps why the best UK sci-fi sitcoms of recent years has been on BBC Radio), and the genre’s niche status doesn’t scream mainstream hit. Over the years, one or two stand-outs have managed to straddle the sci-fi and comedy TV worlds, but plenty more have stumbled in the attempt.
With E4 sci-fi comedy commissions, Tripped and Aliens, and in-development Channel 4 projects, Space Ark and Graham Linehan/Adam Buxton collaboration The Cloud, in the works, a new crop of sci-fi sitcom could be making its way to UK TV.
Making funny sci-fi on a small-screen budget is tough enough without the additional pressure of having to attract viewers more traditionally down-to-earth in their sitcom tastes. Sci-fi sets and effects can be seen as prohibitively expensive by comedy commissioners (which is perhaps why the best UK sci-fi sitcoms of recent years has been on BBC Radio), and the genre’s niche status doesn’t scream mainstream hit. Over the years, one or two stand-outs have managed to straddle the sci-fi and comedy TV worlds, but plenty more have stumbled in the attempt.
- 7/23/2015
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
UKTV Gold has ordered three new original comedies.
Henry IX, Marley's Ghosts and Bull will air on the channel in late 2015 and early 2016.
Henry IX will be a three-part series set in the fictitious court of Henry IX, who finds himself trapped in a life he doesn't want. The series comes from the team behind Porridge, The Likely Lads and Auf Wiedersehen, Pet.
Marley's Ghosts, another three-parter, follows a woman with a rare gift of being able to talk to the dead, but things get a bit awkward when both her husband and her lover are added to that list.
Meanwhile, Bull focuses on a man who runs an antiques shop alongside staff he may regret hiring. The series comes from first-time sitcom writers Gareth Gwynn and John-Luke Roberts.
Richard Watsham, UKTV's Director of Commissioning, said: "The first three of our new commissions for Gold offer a fantastic range of different stories and comic styles.
Henry IX, Marley's Ghosts and Bull will air on the channel in late 2015 and early 2016.
Henry IX will be a three-part series set in the fictitious court of Henry IX, who finds himself trapped in a life he doesn't want. The series comes from the team behind Porridge, The Likely Lads and Auf Wiedersehen, Pet.
Marley's Ghosts, another three-parter, follows a woman with a rare gift of being able to talk to the dead, but things get a bit awkward when both her husband and her lover are added to that list.
Meanwhile, Bull focuses on a man who runs an antiques shop alongside staff he may regret hiring. The series comes from first-time sitcom writers Gareth Gwynn and John-Luke Roberts.
Richard Watsham, UKTV's Director of Commissioning, said: "The first three of our new commissions for Gold offer a fantastic range of different stories and comic styles.
- 5/28/2015
- Digital Spy
BBC Two is 50 - the British Broadcasting Corporation's second eldest child hits the half-century mark today - Sunday, April 20.
Picking out the greatest shows from five decades of broadcasting seems like a near-impossible task, but never say that Digital Spy is easily cowed. These are - in our humble opinion - the channel's finest ever offerings.
BBC Two is 50: The Hour, Bottom and more shows to bring back
The rules are as follows: shows like Red Dwarf that originated on BBC Two are eligible, but shows better associated with another channel are not - say Top of the Pops, which aired on BBC One for the majority of its run but shifted to the sister channel for its final episodes.
Oh, and we're talking only original commissions - so no Us imports either. But even that barely narrows it down, so if you think there are any glaring omissions,...
Picking out the greatest shows from five decades of broadcasting seems like a near-impossible task, but never say that Digital Spy is easily cowed. These are - in our humble opinion - the channel's finest ever offerings.
BBC Two is 50: The Hour, Bottom and more shows to bring back
The rules are as follows: shows like Red Dwarf that originated on BBC Two are eligible, but shows better associated with another channel are not - say Top of the Pops, which aired on BBC One for the majority of its run but shifted to the sister channel for its final episodes.
Oh, and we're talking only original commissions - so no Us imports either. But even that barely narrows it down, so if you think there are any glaring omissions,...
- 4/20/2014
- Digital Spy
BBC Two is 50 - the British Broadcasting Corporation's second eldest child hits the half-century mark this Sunday (April 20).
But which shows from those five decades on air were given short shrift? Did your favourite drama or comedy not get a fair shake?
BBC Two is 50: Share your memories and thoughts
Other channels have plundered BBC Two's back catalogue with results ranging from the sublime - Sky's Alan Partridge revival - to the disastrous - Gold's Yes, Prime Minister rehash.
But with just two days to go until Two hits 5-0, here's five more shows - from the '60s to the '00s - that deserve another shot.
The Likely Lads (1964-66)
"Oh, what happened to you? Whatever happened to me?" - Yes, its more distinguished follow-up Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? might have graduated to BBC One, but its 1960s predecessor was a BBC Two staple.
But which shows from those five decades on air were given short shrift? Did your favourite drama or comedy not get a fair shake?
BBC Two is 50: Share your memories and thoughts
Other channels have plundered BBC Two's back catalogue with results ranging from the sublime - Sky's Alan Partridge revival - to the disastrous - Gold's Yes, Prime Minister rehash.
But with just two days to go until Two hits 5-0, here's five more shows - from the '60s to the '00s - that deserve another shot.
The Likely Lads (1964-66)
"Oh, what happened to you? Whatever happened to me?" - Yes, its more distinguished follow-up Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? might have graduated to BBC One, but its 1960s predecessor was a BBC Two staple.
- 4/18/2014
- Digital Spy
BBC Two is 50 - the British Broadcasting Corporation's second eldest child hits the half-century mark this Sunday (April 20) and, in those five decades, has delivered some phenomenally popular and powerful programming.
Kim Shillinglaw has a lot to live up to - with every channel controller from the very first, Michael Peacock, to the most recent, Janice Hadlow, serving up a range of diverse, entertaining and even groundbreaking shows.
Since 1964, BBC Two has become renowned as a home for great comedy - from the surreal The League of Gentlemen and Shooting Stars, to much-loved classics like The Likely Lads and The Goodies and modern favourites such as The Trip and The Wrong Mans.
But there's a tradition of fine drama too - running from the original The Forsyte Saga (1967) to Line of Duty (2012-present) and taking in such iconic series as I, Claudius (1976) and Edge of Darkness (1985).
Meanwhile, popular entertainment and...
Kim Shillinglaw has a lot to live up to - with every channel controller from the very first, Michael Peacock, to the most recent, Janice Hadlow, serving up a range of diverse, entertaining and even groundbreaking shows.
Since 1964, BBC Two has become renowned as a home for great comedy - from the surreal The League of Gentlemen and Shooting Stars, to much-loved classics like The Likely Lads and The Goodies and modern favourites such as The Trip and The Wrong Mans.
But there's a tradition of fine drama too - running from the original The Forsyte Saga (1967) to Line of Duty (2012-present) and taking in such iconic series as I, Claudius (1976) and Edge of Darkness (1985).
Meanwhile, popular entertainment and...
- 4/14/2014
- Digital Spy
BBC Two has announced a series of special programmes to mark its 50th anniversary.
The channel celebrates the milestone on April 20, and will broadcast several one-off programmes featuring the likes of Dara Ó Briain and Sue Barker.
Earlier today (March 19), it was announced that Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse will star in a spoof look back at the history of the channel in The Story of the Twos, while there will also be a one-off Goodness Gracious Me reunion.
Ó Briain will host All About Two, a 90-minute quiz and celebration of BBC Two. Pointless star Richard Osman will reveal facts and figures, while celebrity teams and special guests will also appear.
50 Years Of BBC Two Comedy will look back at the channel's biggest comedy programmes and performers, including Fawlty Towers, Spike Milligan, Shooting Stars, The Office, Victoria Wood, and The Fast Show.
The two-hour special will feature Armando Iannucci,...
The channel celebrates the milestone on April 20, and will broadcast several one-off programmes featuring the likes of Dara Ó Briain and Sue Barker.
Earlier today (March 19), it was announced that Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse will star in a spoof look back at the history of the channel in The Story of the Twos, while there will also be a one-off Goodness Gracious Me reunion.
Ó Briain will host All About Two, a 90-minute quiz and celebration of BBC Two. Pointless star Richard Osman will reveal facts and figures, while celebrity teams and special guests will also appear.
50 Years Of BBC Two Comedy will look back at the channel's biggest comedy programmes and performers, including Fawlty Towers, Spike Milligan, Shooting Stars, The Office, Victoria Wood, and The Fast Show.
The two-hour special will feature Armando Iannucci,...
- 3/19/2014
- Digital Spy
New Tricks
Kieran Kinsella
Costume drama lovers are in for a treat as Acorn Media are set to release the 2007 multi-national production of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace on DVD on 24 September. Originally broadcast in France and Belguim, the production has never aired in the U.S. although it was available on Acorn’s streaming service earlier this summer. While there have been many adaptations of this Russian classic, few if any can boast a cast that includes such luminaries as Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange), Clemence Poesy (Birdsong) and Brenda Blethyn (Vera). The director, Austrian film-maker Robert Dornhelm is no slouch either, having been been behind the lens for hits including the Oscar nominated The Children of Theatre Street.
War and Peace is so long and so impressive that it makes “epics” such as Dr Zhivago look like short children’s stories. It features a colorful cast of...
Kieran Kinsella
Costume drama lovers are in for a treat as Acorn Media are set to release the 2007 multi-national production of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace on DVD on 24 September. Originally broadcast in France and Belguim, the production has never aired in the U.S. although it was available on Acorn’s streaming service earlier this summer. While there have been many adaptations of this Russian classic, few if any can boast a cast that includes such luminaries as Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange), Clemence Poesy (Birdsong) and Brenda Blethyn (Vera). The director, Austrian film-maker Robert Dornhelm is no slouch either, having been been behind the lens for hits including the Oscar nominated The Children of Theatre Street.
War and Peace is so long and so impressive that it makes “epics” such as Dr Zhivago look like short children’s stories. It features a colorful cast of...
- 9/24/2013
- by Edited by K Kinsella
Tube Talk Gold is all about nostalgia, but rarely are the shows we cover in this feature actually *about* nostalgia - that feeling of looking at the past through rose-tinted specs. This week's entry is an exception - the only thing to look forward to was the past in BBC One's classic '70s sitcom Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?
Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? - Originally broadcast from January 9, 1973 – December 24 1974
© Rex Features / Moviestore Collection
Acclaimed writing duo Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais are responsible for a number of shows that could easily be granted Tube Talk Gold status - Porridge, Lovejoy and Auf Wiedersehen, Pet are among their most fondly-remembered works - but their first major UK TV offering was the warm and witty working-class sitcom The Likely Lads.
The sitcom, which ran for three series between December 1964 and July 1966, followed two young men from Newcastle upon Tyne - smart-mouthed,...
Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? - Originally broadcast from January 9, 1973 – December 24 1974
© Rex Features / Moviestore Collection
Acclaimed writing duo Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais are responsible for a number of shows that could easily be granted Tube Talk Gold status - Porridge, Lovejoy and Auf Wiedersehen, Pet are among their most fondly-remembered works - but their first major UK TV offering was the warm and witty working-class sitcom The Likely Lads.
The sitcom, which ran for three series between December 1964 and July 1966, followed two young men from Newcastle upon Tyne - smart-mouthed,...
- 2/2/2013
- Digital Spy
Review Louisa Mellor Jan 10, 2013
David Tennant stars in BBC Four two-parter Spies Of Warsaw, adapted from Alan Furst's 2008 novel...
This review contains spoilers.
Title-wise, Spies of Warsaw doesn’t mess about. No figurative Parade’s End or The Crimson Petal and the White evasion for this BBC period adaptation; it’s a story about spies, in Warsaw. Specifically, it’s a story about a French spy - David Tennant’s Jean-François Mercier - in 1937 Warsaw, so is packed with European interbellum angst and dramatic irony of the ‘Bah! Germany won’t attack France through Belgium!’ sort.
Part one sees Col. Mercier, a widowed French noble turned spy, posing as attaché to the Embassy while attempting to uncover German invasion plans. When he’s not burrowing under enemy barbed wire or getting in punch-ups with would-be kidnappers, Mercier spends his time exuding twentieth century ennui at expensive drinks parties and making...
David Tennant stars in BBC Four two-parter Spies Of Warsaw, adapted from Alan Furst's 2008 novel...
This review contains spoilers.
Title-wise, Spies of Warsaw doesn’t mess about. No figurative Parade’s End or The Crimson Petal and the White evasion for this BBC period adaptation; it’s a story about spies, in Warsaw. Specifically, it’s a story about a French spy - David Tennant’s Jean-François Mercier - in 1937 Warsaw, so is packed with European interbellum angst and dramatic irony of the ‘Bah! Germany won’t attack France through Belgium!’ sort.
Part one sees Col. Mercier, a widowed French noble turned spy, posing as attaché to the Embassy while attempting to uncover German invasion plans. When he’s not burrowing under enemy barbed wire or getting in punch-ups with would-be kidnappers, Mercier spends his time exuding twentieth century ennui at expensive drinks parties and making...
- 1/10/2013
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
“Three. That's the magic number.” So claimed legendary rappers De La Soul in the Daisy Age of 1989. And it would seem that everyone's favourite Time Lord agrees too. Back in 1972, three incarnations of The Doctor were needed to defeat the awesome might of Time Lord pioneer Omega and his lumbering jellies. Three is normally the number of seconds afforded by gun-totin' maniacs such as The Brigade Leader, before the trigger is pulled. And in Earth's future, it seems that only three Daleks are needed to create fear and terror throughout the land, while hiding in a cramped metal box.
The Power Of Three extended to the latest triple whammy shenanigans in Doctor Who. Now this doesn't relate to a killer phone network, nor does it relate to a clandestine Time Lord code – in fact, it refers to the penultimate hurrah of the ongoing Tardis trio. The Power Of Three revolves...
The Power Of Three extended to the latest triple whammy shenanigans in Doctor Who. Now this doesn't relate to a killer phone network, nor does it relate to a clandestine Time Lord code – in fact, it refers to the penultimate hurrah of the ongoing Tardis trio. The Power Of Three revolves...
- 9/28/2012
- Shadowlocked
You may find the new Ben Stiller movie The Watch strangely familiar. But that's not necessarily a good thing
You might be forgiven for thinking that you've seen The Watch before. Not because Ben Stiller's character is the same uptight blowhard that he has played in everything for the past 15 years, or because Richard Ayoade is basically just Moss from The It Crowd again, or because Vince Vaughn remains content to sit back and bibble out the same directionless patter that has been his stock in trade for what seems like centuries.
No. The reason is because, once you've scraped away all the sex jokes and clanging Costco product placement, you're basically left with Dad's Army. Both are essentially stories about a group of ill-prepared middle-aged incompetents trying to escape the monotony of their day-to-day lives by fudging together a defence against an enemy they don't fully understand. With The Watch,...
You might be forgiven for thinking that you've seen The Watch before. Not because Ben Stiller's character is the same uptight blowhard that he has played in everything for the past 15 years, or because Richard Ayoade is basically just Moss from The It Crowd again, or because Vince Vaughn remains content to sit back and bibble out the same directionless patter that has been his stock in trade for what seems like centuries.
No. The reason is because, once you've scraped away all the sex jokes and clanging Costco product placement, you're basically left with Dad's Army. Both are essentially stories about a group of ill-prepared middle-aged incompetents trying to escape the monotony of their day-to-day lives by fudging together a defence against an enemy they don't fully understand. With The Watch,...
- 8/16/2012
- by Stuart Heritage
- The Guardian - Film News
Yep. They've found plenty of other great places for screenings as local likely lad Ian la Frenais returns home for the third Whitley Bay Film Festival. Alan Sykes potters round
Having a film festival in a town with no cinema might not seem the most obvious idea. However, organisers of the Whitley Bay Film Festival make a virtue of necessity by using some of the town's most iconic venues for screenings instead. In their first year they showed Steven Spielberg's Jaws on the beach in front of Spanish City. One local resident, after last year's festival, commented:
I doubt that any screening in the country could match the pleasure of seeing The Fog at St Mary's lighthouse.
Now in its third year, the festival's screenings and events take place at venues including the attractive 125 foot high St Mary's Lighthouse, the astonishing grandeur of Vanbrugh's Seaton Delaval Hall, a shopping mall,...
Having a film festival in a town with no cinema might not seem the most obvious idea. However, organisers of the Whitley Bay Film Festival make a virtue of necessity by using some of the town's most iconic venues for screenings instead. In their first year they showed Steven Spielberg's Jaws on the beach in front of Spanish City. One local resident, after last year's festival, commented:
I doubt that any screening in the country could match the pleasure of seeing The Fog at St Mary's lighthouse.
Now in its third year, the festival's screenings and events take place at venues including the attractive 125 foot high St Mary's Lighthouse, the astonishing grandeur of Vanbrugh's Seaton Delaval Hall, a shopping mall,...
- 8/15/2012
- by Alan Sykes
- The Guardian - Film News
British actress Mary Tamm, known for playing the first incarnation of Romana during Doctor Who’s “Key To Time” season in 1978 and 1979, has died of cancer. She was 62. The child of Estonian refugees, Tamm graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, starting her career in the early 1970s with appearances in British TV shows like Coronation Street, as well as the films The Odessa File and The Likely Lads. She joined Doctor Who in the sci-fi series’ sixteenth-season opener “The Ribos Operation” as the haughty but inexperienced Time Lady Romanadvotrelundar—"Romana" for short—who ...
- 7/27/2012
- avclub.com
Tributes have been paid to Doctor Who actress Mary Tamm, who died in a London hospital today at the age of 62 after an 18-month battle with cancer.
She played Romana (pictured above and below), a Time Lady who was companion to Tom Baker's fourth Doctor from 1978 to 1979. Tamm opted not to return for another series and the role was recast with Lalla Ward.
The daughter of Estonian refugees, Bradford-born Tamm trained at Rada. Her first professional job was at the new Birmingham Repertory theatre where she spent nine months working alongside Derek Jacobi, Joan Sims and Ronnie Barker.
She also appeared on the big screen in The Odessa File and The Likely Lads and after leaving Doctor Who was in numerous other TV shows including EastEnders, Brookside and Wire in the Blood.
Doctor Who returns to our living rooms for a seventh series in August, with guest stars including Stratford-upon-Avon actor David Bradley,...
She played Romana (pictured above and below), a Time Lady who was companion to Tom Baker's fourth Doctor from 1978 to 1979. Tamm opted not to return for another series and the role was recast with Lalla Ward.
The daughter of Estonian refugees, Bradford-born Tamm trained at Rada. Her first professional job was at the new Birmingham Repertory theatre where she spent nine months working alongside Derek Jacobi, Joan Sims and Ronnie Barker.
She also appeared on the big screen in The Odessa File and The Likely Lads and after leaving Doctor Who was in numerous other TV shows including EastEnders, Brookside and Wire in the Blood.
Doctor Who returns to our living rooms for a seventh series in August, with guest stars including Stratford-upon-Avon actor David Bradley,...
- 7/26/2012
- by David Bentley
- The Geek Files
Mary Tamm has died at the age of 62. The former Doctor Who star lost her 18-month battle with cancer in London this morning (July 26), her agent confirmed. Tamm was perhaps best known for her role as Romana, the companion of Tom Baker's Doctor in the 1978-79 Key to Time series. "She had a great zest for life. She was a fantastic actress - she played stage parts of such range, parts that would take your breath away. She could play any role, and do so wonderfully," her longtime agent Barry Langford told Pa. The stage and screen actress starred in a number of films including The Odessa File and The Likely Lads. Following Tamm's role in Doctor (more)...
- 7/26/2012
- by By Tom Eames
- Digital Spy
Actor played Doctor's companion Romana opposite Tom Baker and also starred in The Odessa File and The Likely Lads
The Doctor Who actor Mary Tamm has died aged 62, her agent has said.
Tamm, who played the Doctor's companion Romana alongside Tom Baker, died at a hospital in London on Thursday morning. She had been suffering from cancer for 18 months.
The actress was born in Bradford, West Yorkshire, the daughter of Estonian refugees, and had a long career on stage and screen. She starred in the films The Odessa File and The Likely Lads and had recurring roles in the soaps Brookside and EastEnders.
Tamm leaves her husband Marcus Ringrose, daughter Lauren and seven-year-old son Max.
Barry Langford, her agent of 22 years, said: "She had a great zest for life. She was a fantastic actress – she played stage parts of such range, parts that would take your breath away. She could play any role,...
The Doctor Who actor Mary Tamm has died aged 62, her agent has said.
Tamm, who played the Doctor's companion Romana alongside Tom Baker, died at a hospital in London on Thursday morning. She had been suffering from cancer for 18 months.
The actress was born in Bradford, West Yorkshire, the daughter of Estonian refugees, and had a long career on stage and screen. She starred in the films The Odessa File and The Likely Lads and had recurring roles in the soaps Brookside and EastEnders.
Tamm leaves her husband Marcus Ringrose, daughter Lauren and seven-year-old son Max.
Barry Langford, her agent of 22 years, said: "She had a great zest for life. She was a fantastic actress – she played stage parts of such range, parts that would take your breath away. She could play any role,...
- 7/26/2012
- The Guardian - Film News
David Tennant and Janet Montgomery have been cast in an adaptation of The Spies of Warsaw. The Doctor Who and Human Target stars will appear in two 90-minute instalments of Alan Furst's novel to air on BBC Four and Poland's Tvp. Tennant is set to portray Colonel Jean-Francois Mercier, a decorated war hero who begins an affair with Montgomery's Parisian lawyer Anna in the run-up to World War Two. The Spies of Warsaw, which takes place in London, Paris, Berlin and Poland, is penned by The Likely Lads writers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais. BBC Four controller Richard Klein said: "Spies of Warsaw is Alan Furst at his best - a tense, passionate and sexy love story set against the increasingly strident clang of coming war. "I think David Tennant playing Mercier and Janet Montgomery (more)...
- 4/3/2012
- by By Daniel Sperling
- Digital Spy
What did director Franc Roddam do after Quadrophenia? He moved to La, tried to woo Robert Redford – and ended up making MasterChef.
'You go to Hollywood," says Franc Roddam, "and the better you are at mediocrity, the better you'll get on. I tried to make personal films, which was a mistake." The director of Quadrophenia is explaining why he hasn't made a film in 20 years. After the huge success of his 1979 debut, the screen version of the Who's rock opera, Roddam headed to California with dreams of joining the gang.
He signed a three-picture deal with Fox, aiming to make ambitious, political, principled films. First up was Rainforest, a story about the destruction of the Amazon. Roddam spent six months in South America, honing his concept, befriending the locals. Meanwhile, Robert Redford was umm-ing and ahh-ing about signing on as his lead.
"I spent 18 months nurturing Redford," says Roddam. "He...
'You go to Hollywood," says Franc Roddam, "and the better you are at mediocrity, the better you'll get on. I tried to make personal films, which was a mistake." The director of Quadrophenia is explaining why he hasn't made a film in 20 years. After the huge success of his 1979 debut, the screen version of the Who's rock opera, Roddam headed to California with dreams of joining the gang.
He signed a three-picture deal with Fox, aiming to make ambitious, political, principled films. First up was Rainforest, a story about the destruction of the Amazon. Roddam spent six months in South America, honing his concept, befriending the locals. Meanwhile, Robert Redford was umm-ing and ahh-ing about signing on as his lead.
"I spent 18 months nurturing Redford," says Roddam. "He...
- 11/10/2011
- by Henry Barnes
- The Guardian - Film News
The Inbetweeners: The Movie sees Will, Simon, Neil and Jay transported, in all their puerile glory, to Crete. But do the writers and cast realise this is the end?
The feature film-of-the-sitcom is one of the less heralded genres in cinema. Forty years ago, when Hollywood's vision of a low-budget hit was the cool and radical Easy Rider, the British film industry couldn't have been eulogising a less glamorous form of transport, when Hammer brought the sitcom On the Buses to the big screen.
That first On the Buses film made more than a million pounds, and sparked a gold rush. 1973 saw nine films based on sitcoms, including Love Thy Neighbour, Father, Dear Father and even For the Love of Ada. By the end of the decade, though, the notoriously thin quality of the adaptations meant the genre had become irrevocably tarnished.
But in 1997, the astonishing success of Bean,...
The feature film-of-the-sitcom is one of the less heralded genres in cinema. Forty years ago, when Hollywood's vision of a low-budget hit was the cool and radical Easy Rider, the British film industry couldn't have been eulogising a less glamorous form of transport, when Hammer brought the sitcom On the Buses to the big screen.
That first On the Buses film made more than a million pounds, and sparked a gold rush. 1973 saw nine films based on sitcoms, including Love Thy Neighbour, Father, Dear Father and even For the Love of Ada. By the end of the decade, though, the notoriously thin quality of the adaptations meant the genre had become irrevocably tarnished.
But in 1997, the astonishing success of Bean,...
- 7/15/2011
- by Jim Shelley
- The Guardian - Film News
'The working-class have been purged from our screens. Time to put them back?' is an article by Owen Jones, written exclusively for Pure Movies. The launch of Coronation Street on ITV in 1960 was a mini-revolution. For the first time, there was a TV series that revolved around sympathetic, realistic working-class characters and looked at how they lived their lives. It struck a chord and within months attracted over 20 million viewers. It rode the wave of so-called Northern Realism, a new genre of film that explored the realities of working-class life. Saturday Night and Saturday Morning, A Taste of Honey, Room at the Top and Cathy Come Home were classic examples. While working-class people were the starts of favourites like The Likely Lads, it was middle-class people who could find themselves the butt of jokes in The Good Life and other series. There was even a popular sitcom in the...
- 6/20/2011
- by Owen Jones
- Pure Movies
From synth pop to Hollywood remakes to collecting manual typewriters, we're busy plundering the past. But why the fatal attraction?
There's no single thing that made me suddenly think, Hey, there's a book to be written about pop culture's chronic addiction to its own past. As the last decade unfolded, noughties pop culture became steadily more submerged in retro. Both inside music (reunion tours, revivalism, deluxe reissues, performances of classic albums in their entirety) and outside (the emergence of YouTube as a gigantic collective archive, endless movie remakes, the strange and melancholy world of retro porn), there was mounting evidence to indicate an unhealthy fixation on the bygone.
But if I could point to just one release that tipped me over the edge into bemused fascination with retromania, it would be 2006's Love, the Beatles remix project. Executed by George Martin and his son Giles to accompany the Cirque du Soleil spectacular in Las Vegas,...
There's no single thing that made me suddenly think, Hey, there's a book to be written about pop culture's chronic addiction to its own past. As the last decade unfolded, noughties pop culture became steadily more submerged in retro. Both inside music (reunion tours, revivalism, deluxe reissues, performances of classic albums in their entirety) and outside (the emergence of YouTube as a gigantic collective archive, endless movie remakes, the strange and melancholy world of retro porn), there was mounting evidence to indicate an unhealthy fixation on the bygone.
But if I could point to just one release that tipped me over the edge into bemused fascination with retromania, it would be 2006's Love, the Beatles remix project. Executed by George Martin and his son Giles to accompany the Cirque du Soleil spectacular in Las Vegas,...
- 6/2/2011
- by Simon Reynolds
- The Guardian - Film News
Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais. Their names might not instantly ring a bell but their work will; television gold in the shape of 'Porridge', 'Tracey Takes On. . . ', 'The Likely Lads' and 'Auf Wiedersehen, Pet', alongside cinematic treats such as 'The Commitments', 'Still Crazy' and current release 'Killing Bono' all came from the scribbling of the British pair who spoke with Iftn for our Screen Masters Series about absurdities in 'The Commitments', what broadcasters want nowadays and writing for Will Smith.
- 4/6/2011
- IFTN
The Irish Film and Television Academy, in association with Bai, is to host a screenwriting event entitled Writing for Film & Television - An Evening With... Dick Clement & Ian La Frenais on Tuesday, March 22nd. Ifta Academy Members are invited to attend the event where the BAFTA and Emma winning writing duo behind hits such as 'Porridge', 'The Likely Lads', 'The Commitments' and upcoming feature 'Killing Bono' will discuss their careers and writing for television.
- 3/7/2011
- IFTN
Ant and Dec have admitted that they would like to return to their acting roots. The presenting duo, who rose to fame on children's TV show Byker Grove, revealed that they have been offered various roles but are yet to find time to fit the jobs into their busy schedules. Ant McPartlin told The Sun: "We would both love to do some more acting. It's where we came from after all. We did Byker Grove for all those years and we did Alien Autopsy and The Likely Lads a few years ago. "We've been getting offered lots of bits and bobs and we're very interested in them - both TV and films. Some would surprise you because they've (more)...
- 2/12/2011
- by By Colin Daniels
- Digital Spy
George Harrison's widow Olivia has slammed British actor Rodney Bewes for protesting about a security fence her late husband erected after he was attacked in his home. Harrison, who passed away in 2001, had surrounded his property with the wire fencing as a precaution after an intruder broke in and stabbed him in 1999.
Olivia Harrison had applied for planning permission to replace the razor wire fence around her lavish Oxfordshire, England estate, but came up against complaints from neighbors, including Bewes, who branded the security measure "inappropriate". The Likely Lads star claimed his pet cat was injured by the wire.
Despite the opposition, Olivia was granted permission to re-build the eight foot fence to keep up security at the estate last year - but now she's revealed that because of Bewes' protests, she has taken it down. She tells Britain's Sunday Telegraph, "You may remember there was a terrifying incident at my home.
Olivia Harrison had applied for planning permission to replace the razor wire fence around her lavish Oxfordshire, England estate, but came up against complaints from neighbors, including Bewes, who branded the security measure "inappropriate". The Likely Lads star claimed his pet cat was injured by the wire.
Despite the opposition, Olivia was granted permission to re-build the eight foot fence to keep up security at the estate last year - but now she's revealed that because of Bewes' protests, she has taken it down. She tells Britain's Sunday Telegraph, "You may remember there was a terrifying incident at my home.
- 7/12/2010
- by AceShowbiz.com
- Aceshowbiz
Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant have given us a lively Likely Lads throwback, says Peter Bradshaw
Like Clement and Le Frenais or Waterhouse and Hall, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant have written a big-hearted movie about working-class lads from the sticks who want to get off with girls and get on with their lives, but feel a gravitational, detumescent pull of loyalty, to each other and to their boring, boring hometown. And they've got a sinking feeling that this sinking feeling is the natural order of things, however big their dreams. Coming down in the world at last, like a punchline to a lugubrious gag, is the way it has to be.
It's a film which is at once dated and backdated: the British kitchen-sink genre this superficially resembles conjures up the monochrome image of the late 1950s and early 60s. But Gervais and Merchant have chosen the 70s as...
Like Clement and Le Frenais or Waterhouse and Hall, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant have written a big-hearted movie about working-class lads from the sticks who want to get off with girls and get on with their lives, but feel a gravitational, detumescent pull of loyalty, to each other and to their boring, boring hometown. And they've got a sinking feeling that this sinking feeling is the natural order of things, however big their dreams. Coming down in the world at last, like a punchline to a lugubrious gag, is the way it has to be.
It's a film which is at once dated and backdated: the British kitchen-sink genre this superficially resembles conjures up the monochrome image of the late 1950s and early 60s. But Gervais and Merchant have chosen the 70s as...
- 4/15/2010
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.