Jenna-Louise Coleman, the actress who played murdering lesbian Jasmine Thomas in ITV’s Emmerdale, may have had her new Doctor Who character named as Clara!
According to fans of the iconic sci-fi show, they have heard Coleman’s character referred to as ‘Clara’ on the set of the new series, which is currently being filmed.
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It was revealed earlier this year that veterinary saga Wild at Heart was being shelved at the end of the next series due to a fall in viewer numbers when compared with hit period drama Call the Midwife.
However, in today’s Daily Mirror, some of Wild at Heart’s cast and production team claim that what sunk their show was actually the huge cost of making Julian Fellowes’ mini-series, Titanic.
But somewhat ironically, episodes of Wild at Heart have been averaging about 5.7million viewers per episode – but peaking at 7.5million – while just 3.5million of us tuned in to the final episode of Titanic last weekend.
A Wild at Heart insider told the paper, “The feeling is that they sunk so much money into Titanic that they are having to make savings elsewhere and we are bearing the brunt of that… Read more & comment »
So after three weeks of mediocre action and under-written characters it was time for the Titanic to finally go under and the main question we’re meant to ask is who survives? That is if we were given any reason to care about the multitude of characters presented to us over the previous episodes some of whom have barely featured.
Going into the finale I thought we were to follow some of the first class passengers, who had only been given brief introductions in episode one however that wasn’t the case. Take the case of Grace and Joseph Rushton, played by Celia Imrie and Peter Wight, we know they are a new money couple who the rest of the passengers find beneath them but we have heard little of their past before boarding the ship. The same can be said of American actress Dorothy Gibson or unmarried European couple Mr Guggenheim and Madame Aubart who have all been forgotten about, yet we have to care when they are separated from loved ones.
Julian Fellowes’ mini-series Titanic concludes tomorrow night on ITV1, and in it, we’ll see which of the characters we’ve followed in the previous three episodes make it off the ship alive…
But today in the Sun, there are extracts from a book written by real-life Titanic survivor John Thayer, which reveals in harrowing detail how those who couldn’t get into a lifeboat desperately screamed for help as the ship sank and they went to a watery grave.
John, who was just 17 years old when the ship sank – he’d been a first-class passenger along with his parents – wrote his memoirs about the fatal night soon after the tragedy, but the book remained undiscovered until 28 years later, after John committed suicide.
Entitled ‘A Survivor’s Tale’ the book has now been adapted by David Lowe and published by Thornwillow, priced at £25… Read more & comment »
As we approach the coming week I will once again take you through my TV highlights.
Titanic/Words of the Titanic (ITV1, Sun, 9pm/10pm)
It’s been dubbed Drownton Abbey by some and the majority of the viewers have actually jumped ship since Julian Fellowes’ version of the Titanic story started three weeks ago. Those of you who have read my reviews now that I have found it a struggle at times and I’m really not a fan of the narrative structure that sees the same people drowning week after week. In this final instalment we get to see who lives and who dies while catching up with some of the snooty first class characters we met all the way back in episode one. Following on from the dramatized version of the story we have another retelling of the Titanic in one-off documentary Words of the Titanic. In a similar fashion to the Captain Scott programme that aired a couple of weeks ago this show will use the diaries and letters written by passengers and crew to tell the story in their words. These letters are read both by actors, such as Roger Allam and Richard E Grant, and family members of those onboard the ship which should give Words of the Titanic an even more personal feel. So if you’re after a programme to respectfully mark the anniversary of the Titanic’s sinking I would hold out for the documentary rather than the overblown drama.
So far in these reviews of ITV1′s Titanic series, we’ve seen a mediocre first episode and a much improved second part which certainly showed promise to a programme that some had already written off.
I would put this third episode, which deals almost exclusively with the lower classes, somewhere in the middle as overall I found it rather bland. The focus this week was on two relationships that between Jenna-Louise Coleman’s maid Annie Desmond and Italian steward Paolo Sandrini as well as the forbidden love that exists between electrician’s wife Mary Maloney and swarthy Eastern European Peter Lubov. In fact it is Peter’s background that is explored in more detail at the beginning of the episode, as he is a fugitive on the run after, having killed several policemen and he changes his surname to disguise his identity so he can depart Europe. In fact Peter’s escape is one of the only scenes on dry land and again gives Julian Fellowes his excuse to bring in a little more historical context in the form of a cameo from Winston Churchill.
Madness front man Suggs is to present a documentary entitled, Titanic: The Band Played On, which features the story of the doomed liner’s band, who, as the title suggests, played on while the ship sank on her maiden voyage.
And in the film, which will air on Yesterday, Suggs pays particular homage to the heroism of the Titanic’s band leader Wallace Hartley, who was one of three of the ship’s musicians whose bodies were recovered after the disaster in 1912.
Speaking to TV Choice magazine about the show, and when asked why he decided to make it, Suggs said, “It is a remarkably romantic story, which is why it still resonates.”
And of Wallace Hartley in particular, Suggs said, “From what I’ve learnt, he did genuinely think that music could have a calming and positive effect on people who were obviously terrified and knowing they were going to die… Read more & comment »
Linus Roache, who is of course the son of Corrie veteran Bill Roache – who plays Ken Barlow – has been talking to The Sun’s TV Buzz about his role on Julian Fellowes’ new mini-series Titanic, and about his famous dad.
Linus, who plays the role of Hugh, the Earl of Mantonin on Titanic – he formerly starred as Ken Barlow’s thieving nephew James on Corrie – began by saying, “I haven’t played too many aristocrats.
“It’s actually quite challenging trying to appreciate that degree of entitlement, what it’s like to be someone who simply knows that the world is for them.
“I was mostly with all the other poshos during filming, but the great thing about this show is that when the iceberg hits, everyone gets intermingled.”
Linus went on to say that the Earl’s wardrobe helps him to get into character… Read more & comment »
It was of course announced recently that former Emmerdale star Jenna-Louise Coleman is to be the next Doctor Who sidekick…
And in an interview with the Sun’s TV Biz, she talked about how much she’s looking forward to commencing filming, and working with Matt Smith, who of course plays the Time Lord.
But first, Jenna, who of course is currently starring in Julian Fellowes’ new epic mini-series Titanic, explained that her character, Annie Desmond, is about to find love on the doomed ship.
She said, “Annie is a second-class stewardess and is in charge of the servants of the first-class passengers’ dining room. She’s so chatty and friendly and just loves her job.”
But she’s about to find herself ever more drawn to Italian waiter, Paolo. Of that, Jenna said, “Annie is a very pragmatic girl, who knows her place in life and doesn’t expect anything more.
“Paolo is a romantic, optimistic guy, who thinks anything is possible and she soon falls for him…” Read more & comment »
After writing my review of the first episode of Julian Fellowes’ Titanic I thought I was being a little harsh on the show however after reading some of your comments maybe I wasn’t nearly harsh enough.
I have to say, for me at least, episode two is an improvement as the focus is on some of the more sympathetic characters and we are also able to fill in some of the blanks from last week’s instalment. We start with the finishing touches being made to the Titanic by Stephen Campbell Moore’s Thomas Andrews, one of the ship’s builders, along with his uncle the investor Lord Pirrie played by Timothy West.
Maria Doyle Kennedy, who you may recall starred in Downton Abbey as wicked Vera Bates – and who’s formerly starred in hit film, The Commitments – has been talking to What’s On TV about her role in Titanic as feisty Muriel Batley.
Of her role, Maria said, “When I read the script I thought Muriel was the most fantastic character.
“Plus, I liked the idea of being part of something so huge and epic, which I hadn’t done before. I thought it would be really enjoyable – and it was.”
When asked why Muriel seems to be rather bitter and angry, Maria said, “I think Muriel and her husband John (Toby Jones) came together through a great love and a mutual admiration… Read more & comment »
Just days before the doomed Titanic sank, with the loss of over 1,500 lives, Captain’s steward, Arthur Paintin, wrote a letter to his parents saying that the ship was cursed by “bad luck.”
Arthur, who was last seen alive on the ship’s bridge with Captain Edward Smith, told in the letter how the Titanic nearly collided with another vessel as it left port, and he feared that was a bad omen.
The letter is being auctioned this weekend – along with a number of artifacts from the doomed vessel – and is expected to bring around £36,000.
The Sun reports that Arthur wrote, “We have now commenced the quick voyages all the summer (bar accidents).
“I say that because the Olympic’s bad luck seems to have followed us…” Read more & comment »
Jenna-Louise Coleman, who is of course to be the new companion for Doctor Who, has revealed that she’s come to believe that 7 is her lucky number, and that while filming for Titanic, she’s got used to pretending to be talking to someone while filming…
And as of course many of Doctor Who’s plotlines feature characters who are CGI animations, that’s a skill she’s going to find very handy!
But first, of her lucky number being 7, Jenna – who formerly starred in Emmerdale as Jasmine Thomas – told the Sun’s TV Biz, “I worked out that Men On Waves is an anagram of Woman Seven, because this is the seventh (revived) series.
“Weirdly, seven is my lucky number and this is my seventh job.”
Jenna went on to reveal that as many of her scenes in Titanic required that she speak to someone who wasn’t actually present – and would be added in by editors later – she used a paper cup to “aim” her lines at… Read more & comment »
Given that on April 15th it will be exactly one hundred years to the day since the Titanic sank on her maiden voyage, there is of course a good deal of media coverage about the tragedy, including Julian Fellowes’ mini-series Titanic, which debuted last night.
In addition, there have been – and will be more – documentaries on various channels which proffer several theories on why the ship sank.
But today, in the Sun, it’s been reported that a new book entitled, Who Sank The Titanic? The Final Verdict, has pointed the finger of blame at Winston Churchill.
In the book, which will be published by Pen & Sword Books and will be released next month at an RRP of £19.99, its author Robert Strange claims that Churchill had a previously unrecognised, “inglorious role” in the 1912 tragedy.
Strange writes, “Churchill was fatally distracted from his vitally important safety duties by a combination of burning political ambition, wounded pride and the pursuit of his future wife Clementine… Read more & comment »
Titanic is a four part serial created by BAFTA-winning producer Nigel Stafford-Clark (Warriors; The Way We Live Now; Bleak House) and written by Oscar and Emmy winner Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park; Downton Abbey) to mark the hundredth anniversary of the world’s most famous maritime disaster in April 1912. It sets out to tell the story not just of a single ship, but of an entire society – one that was heading towards its own nemesis in the shape of the First World War as carelessly as Titanic towards the iceberg.
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