Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton are bringing their anthology show Inside No 9 to the West End stage, it’s been announced.

Wednesday will see the start of the ninth and final series of Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton’s much-loved anthology show, Inside No 9. In the meantime, West End play called Stage/Fright has been announced. Written by and starring Pemberton and Shearsmith, the play will be directed by Simon Evans, and will run at the Wyndham’s Theatre in London from the 18th January to the 5th April 2025.

The play will not be an adaptation of any existing episodes, with Pemberton and Shearsmith penning an original tale which takes full advantage of the live setting. The description reads as follows:

Welcome to a world of intrigue, as we invite you to step Inside No 9 for a theatrical experience like no other. Expect the unexpected as the...

Two of the UK’s top comedy stars, Richard Ayoade and Jonathan Ross, have received backlash on social media after reviewing The It Crowd writer Graham Linehan’s memoir.

Irish scribe Linehan has gone from the writer of much-loved Channel 4 comedies The It Crowd, Father Ted and Black Books to an outspoken anti-transgender activist in recent years, leading many in the UK and Ireland to boycott him.

His book, Tough Crowd, has gone on pre-sale on Amazon this week. Its reviews section displays favorable quotes from talk show host and writer Ross and actor-director Ayoade, who starred in The It Crowd between 2006 and 2013. Other advocates include author John Boyne, anti-trans journalist Helen Joyce, comic Simon Evans and British TV director Lissa Evans.

Ross was quoted saying the book is “one of the most compelling and unflinchingly honest memoirs I’ve read in many years. It’s also the funniest,...

There’s never been a better year to be a David Tennant fan – the man’s the very definition of “booked and busy”.

You could have been forgiven for thinking he’d had a pretty unbeatable year back in 2005, when (among other things) he starred in two of that year’s biggest TV and film successes, both beginning his tenure as the Tenth Doctor in Doctor Who and playing Barty Crouch Jr in Harry Potter and The Goblet Of Fire.

But almost 20 years later, Tennant’s demand has only continued growing, so much so that these days it’s almost easier to list the blockbuster shows and franchises that don’t involve David Tennant.

Add to that acting roles for Georgia Tennant, his wife, and three of their five children (so far!), and there’s a whole smorgasbord of Tennant talent on offer.

Let’s take a look at what...

Staged is returning for a third season and the comedy series will have a new home. Episodes will air on BritBox in the UK and likely in the US, as well. The first season of the series was released on Hulu, but episodes are no longer available on that streaming service.

A British comedy, Staged stars David Tennant and Michael Sheen with Simon Evans, Georgia Tennant, Anna Lundberg, and Lucy Eaton ins supporting roles. The series launched during the pandemic and saw fictionalized versions of Tennant and Sheen trying to rehearse a play during lockdown over Zoom. The second season followed "real" versions of the actors coping with the idea that Staged was going to be remade as an American series, without Sheen or Tennant. A New Year's special was released last December 31st on BritBox's YouTube channel.

Read More…...

James Corden welcomes his friend David Tennant to the show, and David immediately sets the tone for a great chat thanks to his pink blazer. After the two discuss the pains of homeschooling, James asks David about Melissa Von Stressel, the name of his fake assistant that he used to get out of gigs and requests he didn't have the heart to say no to directly. And David talks about the process of making 'Staged' with his wife, Georgia, Michael Sheen and Simon Evans.

Thinking about where the characters of “Staged” end and the performers themselves begin was hard enough in the show’s opening season, a set of six episodes that debuted on the BBC in the early months of last year’s lockdown. The show saw Michael Sheen and David Tennant playing slightly outsized versions of themselves, fumbling through their attempts to put on a virtual play.

The show drew on their past working relationship while finding the precise right level of industry references to play with. Sheen and Tennant would make the occasional nod to their turns on “Good Omens” with some sprinkling of “Frost/Nixon” and “Doctor Who”-related jabs. (The season-long running gag about billing order was as delightful in its simplicity as it was in its execution.) Amidst failed rehearsals and spats over wounded prides, the main focus remained the evolution of their friendship while being wedged on opposite sides of the country.

BritBox UK Launches On Amazon Prime Video Channels

BBC and ITV streamer BritBox UK is rolling out on Amazon Prime Video Channels from today, making it accessible on more than 40 million devices. Will Harrison, BritBox UK’s managing director, said: “We are excited to bring the very best British entertainment to an even wider audience through Amazon Prime Video Channels, especially as we launch even more original content in the spring, summer and beyond.” BritBox originals include Spitting Image and the upcoming drama The Beast Must Die.

Sky, WarnerMedia, ViacomCBS Team For Kids Campaign

Sky, WarnerMedia, and ViacomCBS are coming together to help improve children’s literacy by launching a Turn on the Subtitles campaign. Together, they will make subtitles available on more than 500 of their most popular episodes of kids’ content after research showed that it can help children become proficient readers. Sky’s director of kids content Lucy Murphy...

Hulu has announced a premiere date for the second season of the Staged TV show. Starring David Tennant and Michael Sheen, season two of the British comedy series will be released on the streaming service on Tuesday, March 16th. There are eight episodes this time around, up from the freshman season's six installments.

Initially airing on BBC One, the first season of the Staged TV series stars David Tennant, Michael Sheen, director Simon Evans, Georgia Tennant (David's wife), Anna Lundberg (Michael's girlfriend), and Lucy Eaton (Simon's sister) playing fictionalized versions of themselves. Samuel L. Jackson, Adrian Lester, and Judi Dench guested. In the first season, bickering David and Michael try to rehearse a performance of Luigi Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author during lockdown via videoconference. The production's underconfident director, Simon, struggles to keep control.Read More…...

BBC One renews “Staged”; Tencent strikes European deals; U.K. Producers’ Guild launches diversity plan; India’s PVR adds former IMAX chief; and Channel 4 orders royal documentary series.

U.K. broadcaster BBC has ordered a second season of comedy “Staged,” created by Simon Evans and Phin Glynn, and starring Michael Sheen (“Good Omens”) and David Tennant (“Des”) from Infinity Hill and Gcb Films.

Shot during lockdown, the first season starred Tennant and Sheen as two actors whose West End play has been put on hold due to Covid-19, but whose director has persuaded them to carry on rehearsing online. The new series sees the pair attempt to navigate their new normal at home with their increasingly exasperated families, while simultaneously trying to tackle the world of virtual Hollywood.

Following on from the surprise appearances in season one of Judi Dench and Samuel L. Jackson, this season will have more celebrity guests.

One of the biggest surprise hits coming out of our enforced lockdown was the joyous reunion of David Tennant and Michael Sheen in the BBC’s Zoom-recorded series ‘Staged’. The good news is the bickering duo will be back for more.

The new series sees the pair attempt to navigate their ‘new normal’ at home with their increasingly exasperated families whilst simultaneously trying to tackle the world of ‘virtual Hollywood’ and their ever more fragile egos.

Also returning for the new series are Georgia Tennant, Anna Lundberg and Lucy Eaton alongside Nina Sosanya and Simon Evans with a new addition to the regular cast Primetime Emmy winner Ben Schwartz, playing the assistant to Michael and David’s American agent.

Also in news – Jon M. Chu to helm ‘Willow’ series at Disney+

Following on from the surprise appearances in series one of Judi Dench and Samuel L Jackson, this series sees...

The BBC has commissioned a second season of Staged, the lockdown comedy starring Good Omens actors David Tennant and Michael Sheen that secured pick-up from Hulu in the U.S.

The first season of the Infinity Hill, Gcb Films and No Mystery-produced show featured Tennant and Sheen mounting Zoom rehearsals for their furloughed West End theatre production during the pandemic.

Season 2 sees the pair attempt to navigate the world of “virtual Hollywood” while keeping their increasingly fragile egos intact. Parks and Recreation star Ben Schwartz joins the cast as an assistant to their American agent.

#DavidTennant and @MichaelSheen return with more #Staged for @BBCOne: https://t.co/2wVydhm8vM pic.twitter.com/ZVUEjpRTUe

— BBC Press Office (@bbcpress) October 22, 2020

Georgia Tennant, Anna Lundberg and Lucy Eaton, Nina Sosanya and Simon Evans also return for the second run of the show, which was created by Evans and Phin Glynn.

Evans writes and directs.

In today’s Global Bulletin, BBC acquires Anna Kendrick HBO rom-com “Love Life”; Rainmaker sells lockdown comedy “Staged” globally; Wooden Horse hires Coeli Cutliffe; Zinc launches Red Sauce label; Marrakesh workshop goes online; and Edith Bowman hosts BAFTA Scotland awards.

The BBC has acquired romantic comedy anthology series “Love Life,” featuring Oscar-nominee Anna Kendrick, from Lionsgate Television. The series has been one of the top performers on HBO Max, streaming in the U.S., and will be imminently on BBC One and BBC iPlayer as a boxset.

Stars also include Zoë Chao (“Downhill”), Peter Vack (“Someone Great”), Sasha Compere (“Miracle Workers”) and Jin Ha (“Devs”).

The series was acquired for the BBC by Sue Deeks, head of program acquisition. It is produced by Lionsgate Television and Feigco Entertainment. The series is from creator Sam Boyd “(In A Relationship”), who co-showruns with Bridget Bedard (“Transparent”). Boyd and Bedard serve as executive producers alongside Anna Kendrick,...

Exclusive: Staged, the Michael Sheen and David Tennant-starring lockdown comedy that has been a breakout hit after broadcasting on BBC One in the UK, has landed a U.S. streaming deal with Hulu.

Rainmaker Content, the recently launched international distributor specializing in drama, factual and special event programming, boarded the project’s sales rights back in June and has now also closed deals with Shout! Studios (Home Entertainment and TV in North America), Netflix (UK secondary rights), ABC (Australian TV) and Huanxi Media Group (all rights in China).

Created by Simon Evans and Phin Glynn and write and directed by Evans, the 6×22’ series chronicles the cast of a furloughed West End theatre production during the coronavirus pandemic. Georgia Tennant, Anna Lundberg and Lucy Eaton also feature.

The show has been viewed more than 20 million times in the UK, according to the producers. It is an Infinity Hill and Gcb Films production.

Lawrence Osborne, the Asia-based writer who has recently enjoyed a spate of film deals for his own novels, is poised to adapt Jon Swain’s Vietnam War-era memoir “River of Time.” Film rights to Swain’s book have been optioned by Indochina Productions for Osborne to script and executive produce.

Swain, an award-winning correspondent for the Sunday Times of London and Afp, went to South-East Asia, only 22 years old, having previously been in the Foreign Legion. Famously arriving in Pnomh Penh on the last flight out of Bangkok before the Khmer Rouge took power in Cambodia, Swain witnessed the Cambodian genocide. He covered Vietnam and Cambodia from 1970-1975, and became a key figure among the war correspondents based in the city.

The book, “River of Time” was released originally in 1997 and is Swain’s love song to a disappeared world, full of surprisingly influential culture. “The result is maybe the...

Exclusive: Aneurin Barnard (Dunkirk) has been cast opposite Alex Pettyfer (Magic Mike) in thriller Hunters In The Dark, which Ddi is selling this week at the Cannes virtual market.

As previously announced, cast also includes Tzi Ma (Mulan), Ellen Wong (Glow) and Elodie Yung (Daredevil).

Veteran theater director Simon Evans is making his feature filmmaking debut on the film, which has revered cinematographer Christopher Doyle (In The Mood For Love) also aboard.

The film tells the story of 28-year-old English school teacher Robert Grieve (Pettyfer), who unexpectedly wins a bag full of cash. Adrift in Cambodia and eager for a way out of his life of quiet desperation, he decides to take a journey deeper into the wilder aspects of the country, coming up against a scheming American, a crooked police officer and a darker side of Cambodia.

Producers are Axel Kuschevatzky (The Secret In Their Eyes) and Phin Glynn...

The current Covid-19 pandemic is wreaking havoc on everyone’s professional lives, even such esteemed actors as Michael Sheen and David Tennant. The struggle to maintain public interest in the well-known British performers’ West End play, which was previously scheduled to run during the quarantine, is highlighted in the new comedy show, ‘Staged.’ With the help […]

The post Simon Evans Tries to Convince David Tennant and Michael Sheen to Trust Them on Staged appeared first on Shockya.com.

Lockdown has inspired some great satirical art. Only yesterday I saw a dog waste bin in my local woods affixed with a picture of Dominic Cummings. Our movements, like those of the dogs of Blean Nature Reserve, may be contained, but our creativity runs free.

In the case of Staged, a six-part BBC One comedy starring David Tennant and Michael Sheen, containment was both inspiration and form. Conceived by Simon Evans and Phin Glyn, the series was made and set during UK lockdown. The episodes were all filmed, by necessity, inside the cast’s homes, and scenes were spliced with stock footage of the two main locations in London and Wales.

Unlike some lockdown TV projects which have been borne forth on a wave of gratitude for the efforts made to keep calm and telly on, Staged is the real deal. It’s perfectly suited to the format and properly funny.

Staged, the lockdown comedy series written and directed by Simon Evans which debuts on BBC One on Wednesday, has been boarded by the newly-launched Rainmaker Content for international distribution. David Tennant and Michael Sheen lead the cast of the six-episode show, which chronicles the cast of a play as they try to keep rehearsals on track after being furloughed. The project is produced by Infinity Hill and Gcb Films.

VFX and animation studio Cinesite has made two new hires and a key promotion to its offices in London and Montreal. Melissa Taylor joins from Framestore as General Manager in London, Siobhan Bentley joins from Mpc as Head of Production VFX in London, and Tamara Boutcher is bumped up to Global Head of Production for feature animation from the company’s Montreal HQ. Recent credits for Cinesite include No Time To Die and Netflix series The Witcher.

The Edinburgh International Film Festival,...

New distributor Rainmaker Content has secured global rights excluding the U.K. to BBC One lockdown comedy “Staged,” starring David Tennant and Michael Sheen.

Launching on BBC One today, the Infinity Hill and Gcb Films Production six part series is written by Simon Evans. It features the cast of a play – the cream of acting talent – who are furloughed when their upcoming production is suddenly brought to a halt. The series follows the cast as they try their best to keep the rehearsals on track in lockdown.

“Staged’s” lineup also includes Georgia Tennant, Anna Lundberg and Lucy Eaton as well as a selection of guest stars.

Rainmaker was set up earlier this year by former Kew Media president of distribution Greg Phillips and ex-Kew Media senior vice president, acquisitions and business development, distribution Graham Begg. Kew Media Distribution (Kmd) was the profitable British sales arm of Canadian TV group Kew Media,...

David Tennant and Michael Sheen have been cast in a brand new lockdown comedy from the BBC titled ‘Staged’.

The 6 episode series features the cast of a play – the cream of the crop of British acting talent – who are furloughed when their upcoming West End production is suddenly brought to a halt. It follows the cast as they try their best to keep the rehearsals on track in lockdown. ‘Staged’ takes on the challenges of creating a drama in lockdown, on stage and off.

Based on an original idea by Simon Evans and Phin Glynn – the series is written and directed by Evans and is an Infinity Hill/Gcb Films production for BBC One. It was commissioned by Charlotte Moore, Director of BBC Content. Phin Glynn, Victor Glynn and Georgia Tennant produce. Tennant and Sheen are also executive producers of the series. Executive Producers for Infinity Hill are Axel Kuschevatzky...

Good Omens stars David Tennant and Michael Sheen are reuniting for a brand new BBC comedy series which they’ve filmed from their homes during lockdown. Titled Staged, the pair – who previously starred together in Amazon’s fantasy comedy-drama as Crowley the demon and Aziraphale the angel – will be playing the cast of a West End theater production who’ve been furloughed during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Tennant and Sheen will be joined by other house-bound actors, too, including Lucy Eaton, Anna Lundberg and Tennant’s wife Georgia Tennant. Staged will be a six-part series made up of 15-minute episodes. It will follow the cast as they attempt to keep up rehearsals on their play remotely, though the synopsis teases that their efforts will border “on the absurd and the humorous.” You can check out a short promo for Staged, featuring Tennant and Sheen, via the tweet below.

New comedy series #Staged,...

Good Omens stars David Tennant and Michael Sheen have signed up for a BBC lockdown comedy in which they will play the cast of a furloughed West End theatre production during the coronavirus pandemic.

From Infinity Hill and Gcb Films, Staged follows the cast as they try to keep rehearsals on track during lockdown, with their efforts often bordering on the absurd and the humorous.

Tennant and Sheen will be joined by yet-to-be-confirmed guest stars for the series of six, 15-minute episodes. The confirmed cast does include Tennant’s wife Georgia Tennant, as well as Lucy Eaton and Anna Lundberg.

Staged was created by Simon Evans and Phin Glynn, with the former writing and directing. The producers are Glynn, Victor Glynn and Georgia Tennant. Tennant and Sheen are executive producers alongside Axel Kuschevatzky and Cindy Teperman for Infinity Hill, and Geoff Iles for Gcb.

The series will premiere next month...

Following Amazon Prime Video’s big hit with “Good Omens,” David Tennant and Michael Sheen will reteam to star in a brand new BBC lockdown comedy “Staged,” produced for BBC One by Infinity Hill and Gcb Films and due to air in June.

“Staged” turns on the cast of a play, described as the cream of British acting talent, who, furloughed when their upcoming West End production comes to a halt, attempt to keep rehearsals on track despite lockdown, BBC announced Friday.

The set up looks set to play with on-stage and off-stage fiction and true-life reality, with a dose of bathetic realism added by self-shooting and video conference technology as well as Tennant and Sheen’s portraying lockdown at the expense of their own dignity. The line-up also includes actor Georgia Tennant (“In the Dark”) and Anna Lundberg, Tennant and Sheen’s partners in real-life, as well as theater actress Lucy Eaton.