Blog posts by year and monthDecember 2011
Posts (8)
Great Expectations: Falling in love with Miss Havisham
I wanted to play Miss Havisham because she's an iconic character who pervades our world in various forms. So many people have written about her or based other characters on her over many decades. I was interested in what it was that was so appealing about her, what it is that seems to get un...
Ab Fab: A minute with June Whitfield and Joanna Lumley
Twenty years after the first broadcast, Absolutely Fabulous is back on BBC One on Christmas Day - in the first of three 30-minute special episodes. June Whitfield and Joanna Lumley had a brief moment to answer some questions about the new series, written by and starring Jennifer Saunders. ...
Filming Lapland: The comedy and tragedy of Christmas
Lapland covers quite touching issues that are affecting the Lewis family - like the loss of their family patriarch - and then my character, the holiday rep Jingle Jill interrupts with quite hilarious material. It's very much a comedy drama. I remember when I read the script how moving and tou...
Merlin: From nerve-wracking audition to series finale
As the fourth series of Merlin draws to a close I find it hard to believe it's almost three years since I auditioned for the part of Sir Leon. I had 24 hours' notice and I'd missed the first series as I was working when it came out. So I bought the DVD and watched as many episodes as I could...
Money: How I made Forty Grand
I had the idea for Forty Grand when money was very much in the news, at the time when various MPs were in the headlines for fiddling their expenses. I wondered if in some bonkers self-justifying way, the MPs felt they were underpaid, so I worked out how much their net income was. Then ...
Public Enemy: Prophets Of Rage
If, like me, you grew up in the 80s, loved loud music and winding up your parents, there's a good chance you were into Public Enemy. At one point they were the biggest thing in hip hop and were hugely popular in the UK with both indie kids and rock fans alike. I was definitely one of the...
Inside Facebook: What's Mark Zuckerberg like?
Everyone's first question when they heard I was working on a programme about Facebook for BBC Two, was "Are you going to meet Mark Zuckerberg?" The truth was, I didn't know. But I knew it would be seen as a failure if we didn't get an interview. As a director and producer, I have made doc...
America in Pictures: The photojournalism of Life magazine
Portrait and fashion photo photographer Rankin reveals what it was like to meet five pioneering Life magazine photographers.
