ITV has commissioned a new one-off drama about Sir Winston Churchill set in the 1950s. Churchill’s Secret will star Michael Gambon (Harry Potter) as Churchill and Lindsay Duncan (Birdman) as Clementine Churchill. The feature-length film is based on Jonathan Smith’s recently published book, The Churchill Secret: KBO, and adapted by Stewart Harcourt (Treasure Island). ITV’s … >
BBC Two has announced the cast of Close to the Enemy, a new drama written and directed by Stephen Poliakoff. The six-part series is mainly set in a bomb-damaged London hotel in the aftermath of the Second World War. Jim Sturgess (One Day) leads the cast, alongside Freddie Highmore (Bates Motel), Angela Bassett (American Horror … >
After last week’s instalment, in which Hugo Blick ramped up the sex and death to Doorsian levels, one might be forgiven for thinking the final episode was more a coda than anything else: when the music’s over, turn out the lights. Yet while ‘The Paring Knife’ is less incendiary than its predecessor, it matches – … >
Maggie Gyllenhaal (The Dark Knight) and Andrew Buchan (Broadchurch) star in BBC Two’s new political thriller, The Honourable Woman. Written, directed and produced by Hugo Blick (The Shadow Line), the eight-part series is set against the present day backdrop of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and explores “a range of complex and provocative themes of conflict, deception … >
‘Have you been watching the TV?’ Sir Hugh Hayden-Hoyle (Stephen Rea) asks with mock good cheer as the penultimate part of The Honourable Woman builds to a crescendo. ‘It’s really very exciting.’ Not half. The last six weeks have been enthralling, plotted tighter than an Edwardian corset and as tense as a gazelle at a … >
The Honourable Woman is hardly a light-hearted comedy romp at the best of times, but the sixth episode – which opens with a rape and ends with a young boy shooting himself – is bleaker than a Dartmoor funeral. Like a spindle of black cotton unravelling, ‘The Mother Line’ is dark from the first and … >
‘Secrets are weird,’ Ephra Stein (Andrew Buchan) tells sister Nessa (Maggie Gyllenhaal). ‘People think you share them – but you don’t.’ Not if you’re a selfish, narcissistic, emotionally-stunted handpump hopelessly in thrall to the Israeli government, MI5 and your own penis, perhaps. But if you’re the best British drama series of 2014 (note to Hugo … >
The Honourable Woman writer Hugo Blick has revealed that BBC Two’s political thriller will not continue for a second series. Currently airing at 9pm on Thursday nights on BBC Two, the eight-part series is set against the present day backdrop of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The cast includes Maggie Gyllenhaal (The Dark Knight), Andrew Buchan (Broadchurch), … >
Giving drama a backdrop of contemporary world events is a double-edged sword. While it lends realism and gravitas to a story that might otherwise be as fantastic as it is fantastic (as it were), it can also be like trying to use a live tiger as a sofa: there’s a real danger of it biting … >
It’s probably a bit early to be reaching for True Detective-sized superlatives when discussing The Honourable Woman. Yet with each instalment surpassing the last, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to resist. Comparisons with Nic Polazzo’s acclaimed thriller are both fitting and inappropriate. The suspense that hangs over Hugo Blick’s serial like Victorian smog, making it almost … >