News

Former BBC News chief James Harding will deliver the annual Edinburgh TV Festival MacTaggart lecture as the fest turns 50.

Harding, who is the founder of Tortoise Media and is now editor-in-chief of The Observer, will “examine challenges to truth and trust in the media.”

“In this moment of reckoning, Harding’s lecture will prove a bold and provocative analysis of a media industry at an inflection moment and suggest dynamic solutions to the industry challenges that lie ahead,” said the festival.

Harding was director of news and current affairs at the BBC from 2012 to 2018 and prior to that was editor of The Times. He oversaw huge stories during his BBC tenure including the first Trump presidency, Brexit and the Jimmy Savile scandal.

After leaving the BBC, he set up slow journalism and podcast outfit Tortoise Media, which controversially acquired The Observer from The Guardian owner earlier this year.

Harding said: “Some years ago,...

The world loves a sports drama, and now one of the most controversial former Time Lords on Doctor Who is set to star in one. Jodie Whittaker, best known for playing the Thirteenth Doctor in the sci-fi series, is one of the more contentious leads in the show's modern history, thanks in no small part to a poor behind-the-scenes production helmed by Chris Chibnall. In fact, apart from Doctor Who, Whittaker's reputation as a top actress is impeccable, having dazzled in the likes of Toxic Town and Broadchurch.

Now, she is set to join the ensemble of the BBC's Dear England, an upcoming adaptation of the hugely successful stage production that dramatizes the journey of the England national men's football team under the tutelage of manager Gareth Southgate. Whittaker is confirmed via Radio Times to be starring as team psychologist Pippa Grange, alongside a cast already bursting at the seams with talent.

The BBC has finalised casting on Dear England, with filming now underway on the small-screen adaptation of James Graham’s acclaimed stage play chronicling Gareth Southgate’s rebuilding of the national football team. Joseph Fiennes will reprise his Olivier-nominated turn as Southgate, anchoring a sweeping ensemble drawn from both stage and screen. Jodie Whittaker joins as Pippa […]

Joseph Fiennes Leads Expansive BBC Cast in Football Drama Dear England...

The BBC has confirmed that Jodie Whittaker and Jason Watkins will join Joseph Fiennes in Dear England, a four-part dramatization of James Graham’s hit play about Gareth Southgate’s cultural reboot of the national football team, now filming in Sussex and Kent for a 2026 premiere on BBC One and iPlayer.

Whittaker portrays sports psychologist Pippa Grange, while Watkins steps in as former Football Association chairman Greg Dyke; Daniel Ryan, Sam Spruell and John Hodgkinson round out Southgate’s back-room staff. A roster of young actors—led by Will Antenbring as Harry Kane and Edem-Ita Duke as Marcus Rashford—recreates the Euro-era squad, many reprising their stage roles.

Writer-executive producer Graham adapts his Olivier-winning script, with Rupert Goold sharing directing duties with Paul Whittington and Left Bank Pictures producing. Graham said the story’s themes of “redemption, resilience, kindness and compassion” are “kicking off a new journey on screen.

Super Stories

“Superman” star David Corenswet is trading his cape for a children’s book as he prepares to read a CBeebies Bedtime Story on July 11, the same day the film hits theaters. Corenswet will read Rachel Bright‘s “What Does Daddy Do?” a tale about young Daisy trying to figure out her father’s mysterious job. While her friends’ dads have clear professions – fireman, doctor – Daisy only knows her daddy climbs “mountains of paperwork,” has to “fly,” and reports to a dragon boss. Could he possibly be an “explorersuperknight?”

The bedtime story marks another star-studded addition to CBeebies’ roster, which has featured everyone from Olivia Colman and Tom Hardy to Harry Styles and the Spice Girls. The beloved children’s program, airing weekdays on CBeebies and BBC iPlayer, has been a family favorite since the channel’s 2002 launch.

With over 300 archived episodes available on BBC iPlayer, CBeebies Bedtime Story has achieved numerous milestones,...

The BBC has confirmed the full cast for Dear England, a four-part drama based on James Graham’s Olivier Award-winning play about Gareth Southgate and the England men’s football team. Dr. Who star Jodie Whittaker, The Crown alum Jason Watkins and British actor Daniel Ryan (The Bay) are new additions to the ensemble cast.

Shakespeare in Love and The Handmaid’s Tale actor Joseph Fiennes will reprise his stage role as Gareth Southgate, the England manager who took over a team with a historically poor record in penalty shoot-outs. Whittaker will play team psychologist Pippa Grange. Watkins will portray former Football Association chairman Greg Dyke. Ryan plays former assistant manager Steve Holland.

Several castmembers from the play will reprise their roles for TV, including John Hodgkinson, returning as former Fa chairman Greg Clarke, Adam Hugill playing Harry Maguire, Josh Barrow as Jordan Pickford and Lewis Shepherd as Dele Alli.

Other...

The BBC has unveiled the full cast for its six-part drama Dear England, adapted from James Graham’s hit National Theatre play about Gareth Southgate and his campaign to turnaround the fortunes of the England men’s football team.

Jodie Whittaker joins the cast as Pippa Grange, the England men’s team psychologist, while Jason Watkins is former Fa chairman Greg Dyke and John Hodgkinson reprises his stage role as former Fa chairman Greg Clarke.

Daniel Ryan is Steve Holland, former assistant manager for the England men’s team. Sam Spruell will also star as fictional coach, Mike Webster.

The production has also unveiled the cast for the soccer players.

Adam Hugill (Sherwood), Josh Barrow (Hostage) and screen newcomer Lewis Shepherd reprise their respective stage roles as Harry Maguire, Jordan Pickford and Dele Alli.

Paddington The Musical has found a home. The show will pirouette into London’s Savoy Theatre for its world premiere November 1, producers announced Thursday.

Creatives led by director Luke Sheppard have held several workshops and word on the street is that the show’s great.

Tom Fletcher of boy band McFly fame and now a bestselling children’s author has written Paddington’s music and lyrics, while filmmaker, screenwriter and playwright Jessica Swale has penned the book.

‘Paddington in Peru’

Choreographer Ellen Kane’s name has not been included in the Savoy Theatre announcement but Deadline can reveal that she has come up with some stunning, show-stopping choreography. Paddington will be dancing on all paws. And there’s chatter about a chorus line of dancing bears chomping away on marmalade sandwiches. And why not? We shall see if that comes to pass.

Kane used to assist...

Warner Bros’ A Minecraft Movie leads new titles in UK and Ireland cinemas this weekend as the video game adaptation opens in 675 locations.

This is slightly fewer screens than Universal’s fellow videogame adaptationThe Super Mario Bros which launched in 721 cinemas in 2023. That scored £8.7m in its opening weekend and went on to gross a mega £55m.

A Minecraft Movie is based on the multibillion-dollar sandbox game Minecraft in which players are free to build, create and form communities. Films based on video games have proved successful in the territory – all three Sonic The Hedgehog titles opened above £4m while...

Warner Bros’ A Minecraft Movie leads new titles in UK and Ireland cinemas this weekend as the video game adaptation opens in 675 locations.

This is slightly fewer screens than Universal’s fellow videogame adaptationThe Super Mario Bros which launched in 721 cinemas in 2023. That scored £8.7m in its opening weekend and went on to gross a mega £55m.

A Minecraft Movie is based on the multibillion-dollar sandbox game Minecraft in which players are free to build, create and form communities. Films based on video games have proved successful in the territory – all three Sonic The Hedgehog titles opened above £4m while...

The Crown EP Andy Harries is moving from CEO to Executive Chairman of Left Bank, the storied British indie he founded nearly two decades ago.

Harries will remain CEO until next year while a successor is sought.

His indie is best known for Netflix royal smash The Crown.

Left Bank said Harries’ newly-created post will see him continue to provide oversight and guidance on the creative direction of the Sony-owned company while playing a role in its long-term goals. A new CEO will likely be unveiled over the coming months. Harries will continue to EP shows including the forthcoming adaptation of James Graham’s Dear England; Stephen Butchard’s This City Is Ours – which is being launched this week at the London TV Screenings – and Scott Frank’s Department Q for Netflix, which is due in the early Summer.

Harries said: “These are interesting times. Our business is changing at lightning speed,...

Jane Tranter has been named advisory chair for the 50th Edinburgh TV Festival as the fest overhauls the way in which it compiles its program and gets rid of its advisory committee.

Tranter, who runs Doctor Who producer Bad Wolf, will work closely with Creative Director Rowan Woods to set the editorial agenda and lead the curation of this year’s Festival. That agenda will be guided by an open call for session ideas, an open call for session producers and a series of open hall town meetings with industry across the UK attended by Tranter and creative director Rowan Woods to discuss key issues and themes for the sector. This will replace the previous advisory committee model, which saw dozens of industry figures come together to compile the program and has been scrapped.

The news comes as the 2025 edition is set to be the 50th for the festival that...

Exclusive: The adaptation of Booker Prize-winner Shuggie Bain has emerged as one of the BBC’s “stuck in limbo” projects as drama boss Lindsay Salt blames a “perfect storm” for the funding crisis but says “we are as creatively ambitious as ever.”

BBC shows that have been greenlit but do not have the budget to get to screen have been the talk of UK TV circles ever since super-producer Jane Featherstone told a public inquiry that the BBC has “multiple shows which through no fault of their own they can’t fund.”

Two weeks later, the BBC acknowledged in a submission to the same parliamentary inquiry that it is struggling to get shows across all genres into production, “even those that have been greenlit by our commissioners.” Wolf Hall director Peter Kosminsky said in his submission that there are 15 such shows across the BBC, ITV and Channel 4, with BBC...

The BBC has landed on what it hopes will be its next big adaptation, a TV series version of Caleb Azumah Nelson’s buzzy debut Open Water, while drama boss Lindsay Salt has outlined ambitions for a new crime show that “tests the boundaries.”

Open Water follows Marcus and Effie. From the moment they meet, they feel an immediate, undeniable connection. But, as Marcus soon learns, Effie is in a relationship with Marcus’ friend Samuel. It’s a boundary that Marcus is unwilling to cross, but a shared project, photographing and documenting Black creatives in London, draws them into each other’s orbit.

Banijay-backed Mam Tor, which is also producing Richard Gadd’s next project, is making the series alongside Newen Studios-backed B-Side Productions, with Nelson serving as the drama’s lead writer, director and executive producer. Open Water was critically acclaimed when it was published in 2021 and Nelson’s second novel,...

Exclusive: Alliance Media Partners (Amp) has taken world sales rights (excluding North America) to UK psychological thriller Restless, which debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival.

In the movie, a mild-mannered care-worker’s peaceful existence is disturbed when an intimidating party animal moves into the house next door. Subjected to endless sleepless nights, she is pulled into an escalating war of attrition which tests her resolve and sanity to the limit.

The film stars Lyndsey Marshal (Rome), Barry Ward (Jimmy’s Hall), Aston McAuley (The Refuge), Kate Robbins (After Life) and Denzel Baidoo (Dear England).

Produced by Benedict Turnbull (whose 2020 short Goldfish was BAFTA nominated) at Haus Pictures, pic marks the debut feature film from writer-director Jed Hart. It premiered in the Viewpoints strand at this year’s Tribeca Festival.

Hart said: “I set out to make a film that would place the audience squarely in our lead character’s point of view,...

James Graham’s BBC crime drama “Sherwood” has been renewed for Season 3.

Graham is the talent behind projects including play “Dear England,” which is being adapted for the BBC, and “Quiz” starring Michael Sheen.

The drama, starring David Morrisey, is made by House Productions. The first two seasons are available in the U.K. on iPlayer and in the U.S. on streamer Britbox.

Clio Barnard (“Ali & Ava”) directed Season 2 alongside Tom George. As well as Morrissey, the series also stars Monica Dolan, David Harewood, Lorraine Ashbourne, Robert Lindsay, Perry Fitzpatrick, Christine Bottomley, Michael Balogun, Oliver Huntingdon, Bethany Asher and Lesley Manville.

“Sherwood” was inspired by the so-called “Shottingham” gang wars that blighted Nottinghamshire where Graham grew up.

“It continues to be the greatest privilege to tell stories set in and inspired by the history of my home county of Nottinghamshire,” said Graham. “Having a returning series on the...

Oscar-nominated Rosamund Pike will make her debut at London’s National Theatre in 2025, and they’ve given her the starring role in the world premiere of a new work by Suzie Miller, the playwright who created Prima Facie, the legal drama that catapulted Jodie Comer to Olivier and Tony Award trophies.

Pike has been cast in Miller’s Inter Alia, in which she’ll play a British High Court judge forced to reckon with conflict in her private and professional life. The production will reunite Miller with director Justin Martin, who also directed Comer in Prima Facie in the West End and on Broadway.

Inter Alia will be part of the final season of National Theatre director and co-chief executive Rufus Norris, who steps down from his post on March 31, 2025 after a decade at the helm of the UK’s flagship theatrical institution. Norris...

Nathan Gary is stepping down as the president of Megan Ellison’s Annapurna, a post he has held since 2021, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. Gary will also be departing the company.

The co-heads of Annapurna’s indie gaming division, Deborah Mars and Nathan Vella, are also departing.

Hector Sanchez recently rejoined Annapurna from Epic Games and was named the company’s president of interactive and new media. (Sanchez helped launch Annapurna Interactive in 2016.) He will oversee the company’s indie gaming efforts as Annapurna is also looking to expand into Aaa, or large-budget, games.

Under Ellison and her senior leadership, the company will integrate its in-house gaming operations with the rest of Annapurna’s divisions, which include film, TV and theater.

Gary was elevated to president following his time as chief of interactive, co-founding the company’s gaming division. In the past couple of years, Annapurna has ascended in the indie gaming space,...

James Graham, the creator of Sherwood, Dear England and Brexit: The Uncivil War, has urged the creation of “new universes” and greater risk taking in place of TV’s gatekeepers “falling back on tried and tested IP.”

Delivering this year’s Edinburgh TV Festival MacTaggart lecture, the prolific British scribe argued passionately for greater working class representation in the TV industry, along with criticizing commissioners’ ongoing temptation to opt for “source material, adaptations and expanded universes.”

Graham used the annual Edinburgh platform to plead for “new universes, which means – taking risks.”

He added: “New stories have to be at the heart of commissioning – scripted, non-scripted, factual, fictional … even in the most difficult climate, where the temptation, and we’re witnessing it, is to fall back on tried and tested IP.”

The industry should see “risk” as a long-term “vital” investment in the future health of the sector, Graham said, coming...

Anne Mensah, Netflix’s U.K. VP of content, is one of the streamer’s most senior U.K. executives, overseeing scripted, unscripted, film and acquisitions. “Any content that comes out of the U.K. slate I look after in some way,” she explains before adding: “Or, more specifically, somebody who’s better than me looks after it and I cheer in the background.”

It’s a statement typical of Mensah, who throughout our hour-long interview is always quick to give credit to the colleagues and creatives she works with both locally and internationally as well as being unabashedly enthusiastic about the content. Before I’ve even managed to hit “record” on our conversation, we’re chatting about “The Gentlemen,” which has been renewed for a second season, and “Love Is Blind U.K.,” which is just about to launch when we speak. When I tell her I’ve seen the first four episodes under embargo,...

James Graham’s smash-hit reckoning with Nottingham’s industrial past returns for a second season at the end of the month. Here’s the new Sherwood trailer.

Apparently attempting to challenge Jack Thorne for the Britain’s-most-prolific-playwright-turned-screenwriter crown, Dear England and The Way scribe James Graham is returning to his Nottinghamshire roots with the second season of hit BBC One crime drama, Sherwood.

After debuting to widespread critical and commercial acclaim in 2022, the first season became one of the BBC’s most-watched dramas of the year.

Check out the new trailer for Sherwood season two below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQKU36O6TPk

This time around, the show introduces two new families into the weapon-hoarding Sparrows, while a newly-elected mayor fights against the construction of a new coal mine, which threatens to bring up a few memories that might be better off left in the dirt…

Oh, and...

Football and TV collabs of the past have yielded Ted Lasso, All or Nothing and The English Game, and the field is now set for another player.

Sony Pictures Television (Spt) and City Football Group (Cfg), the parent of English Premier League champions Manchester City, have struck a strategic deal to co-develop and produce scripted, non-fiction and kids programs for a global audience.

The plan will incorporate Cfg’s global network, sports expertise and access to football talent, facilities and its City Studios production division with Spt’s production smarts. Cfg’s main focus is Manchester City, who have dominated English football over the past decade and won the Champions League in a treble-winning season in 2022/23, but also has ownership stakes in New York City Fc, Melbourne City, Mumbai City, Troyes, Montevideo City Torque, Lommes, Bahia and Palermo and minorities in several other teams.

Manchester City were the first football...

The Handmaids Tale star Joseph Fiennes and Designated Survivors Natascha McElhone are officially joining the cast of Amazon MGM Studios upcoming Young Sherlock series. This marks Fiennes first project with real-life nephew Hero Tiffin Fiennes, who is set to portray the teenage version of the titular detective.

According to Deadline, Fiennes and McElhone have been cast for the respective roles of Silas and Cordelia Holmes, who will be introduced as Sherlock Holmes parents in the Prime Video series. Silas is described as a "scientist, explorer and self-made businessman," while Cordelia is characterized as a "devoted mother, artist and matriarch of the Holmes clan." Besides Young Sherlock, The Shakespeare in Love actor is also currently attached to lead the cast of the upcoming sports drama Dear England, which will see Fiennes playing football manager Gareth Southgate. As for The Truman Show actor, McElhone is currently starring and producing Paramount+s Halo series,...

Joseph Fiennes and Natascha McElhone have joined the cast of Amazon Prime Video’s “Young Sherlock” as series regulars.

Fiennes — the uncle of Hero Fiennes Tiffin, who plays Sherlock Holmes — has been cast as Silas Holmes, Sherlock’s father, who is described as a “scientist, explorer and self-made businessman.”

McElhone will play Cordelia Holmes, described as “Sherlock’s devoted mother, artist and matriarch of the Holmes clan.”

Fiennes is best known for playing William Shakespeare in 1998’s “Shakespeare in Love” and Commander Fred Waterford in the first four seasons of Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale.” His other prominent credits include starring in “The Mother” opposite Jennifer Lopez, the Cate Blanchett-led biopic “Elizabeth” and Jean-Jacques Annaud’s “Enemy at the Gates.” Most recently, he led the James Graham play “Dear England.” Fiennes is repped by the Artists Partnership and WME.

McElhone is best known for playing Karen Van Der Beek...

Guy Ritchie’s Young Sherlock series has cast the boy genius’s parents.

Sherlock’s dad Silas will be played by Joseph Fiennes, while Natascha McElhone is Sherlock’s mum Cordelia. Fiennes, who we revealed earlier today is starring in the BBC’s drama about Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, joins his real-life nephew Hero Fiennes Tiffin, who is playing the protagonist.

Sherlock’s father is a scientist, explorer and self-made businessman, while his mum is described as a devoted mother, artist and matriarch of the Holmes clan.

Inspired by Andy Lane’s critically acclaimed book series, Prime Video’s show follows the 19-year-old, disgraced, raw, unfiltered, and unformed genius, when he finds himself caught up in a murder mystery at Oxford University that threatens his freedom. Diving into his first-ever case with a wild lack of discipline, Sherlock manages to unravel a globe-trotting conspiracy that will change his life forever. Ritchie is...

Exclusive: Narges Rashidi and Joseph Fiennes are the actors who have been secretly portraying Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian charity worker falsely accused of spying and detained in Iran for six years, and her husband Richard Ratcliffe, who campaigned tirelessly for her release, in a TV drama, Deadline can reveal.

Earlier this month, my Deadline colleagues Jake Kanter and Max Goldbart broke the news that the BBC had commissioned the factual drama based on the chilling real-life story of Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Richard Ratcliffe.

The actors have been shooting the four-part BBC factual drama under wraps for the past three weeks on locations in the UK and Europe.

Because of the story’s sensitivity, BAFTA-winning director Philippa Lowthorpe has been filming against a backdrop of strict secrecy.

Lowthorpe’s production, made by Fremantle-backed Dancing Ledge Productions, has been adapted...

Lecture

British writer James Graham will deliver this year’s flagship James MacTaggart Memorial Lecture at the Edinburgh TV Festival, supported by Screen Scotland. Graham, known for his sharp political insights and popular dramas, has made significant contributions to stage, television and film.

His works include the BAFTA-winning “Sherwood,” which returns to BBC later this year, and the acclaimed “Quiz.” On stage, he brought “Dear England” to the West End, adapted “Tammy Faye” for Broadway and reimagined “Boys from the Blackstuff.” Graham’s political narratives include “Brexit: An Uncivil War” and “Coalition.”

In his lecture, Graham will discuss TV drama’s role in shaping political discourse and social justice. He will emphasize the importance of diverse representation in media, particularly working-class voices, and explore the future of public service broadcasting in a changing cultural landscape.

Festival Movement

Anupama Chopra has stepped down as director of the Mumbai Academy of Moving...

British playwright and dramatist James Graham will deliver the flagship address of this year’s Edinburgh TV Festival, the James MacTaggart Memorial Lecture.

Graham’s work includes the BAFTA and Rts-winning Sherwood, starring David Morrissey and Lesley Manville, set against the backdrop of his hometown of Ashfield in Nottinghamshire which returns to BBC later this year, as well as The Way, a collaboration with Michael Sheen and Adam Curtis. The award-winner was also the mastermind behind the hugely popular Quiz starring Matthew Macfadyen and Sheen.

Recent stage work includes Olivier award-winning Dear England starring Joseph Fiennes which debuted at the National Theatre and transferred to the West End earlier this year and is currently being adapted into a TV series for BBC and his new musical Tammy Faye, written with Elton John and Jake Shears, which is soon to debut on Broadway.

Graham has also penned a range of political projects,...

Prolific British scribe James Graham will ask “why television has a problem with the working classes” in the Edinburgh TV Festival MacTaggart lecture this year.

Graham, whose credits include Sherwood, Dear England, Brexit: The Uncivil War and Quiz, will deliver the 49th address in two months time, an agenda-setting speech that has been helmed down the years by the likes of Michaela Coel, Kevin Spacey and three Murdochs.

The British playwright and screenwriter will “explore why television has a problem with the working classes and how drama can shape the political agenda,” posing questions over how the push for greater representation can more confidently include social class and regionality.

Across a 20-year career, Graham’s oeuvre has repeatedly addressed these topics and recent works include a theater version of Alan Bleasdale’s Boys from the Blackstuff and political thriller series The Way with Michael Sheen and Adam Curtis. He has...

Exclusive: James Graham sets a mental timer of strictly 45 minutes for a conversation that will encompass tonight’s gala opening at London’s National Theatre — en route to a run at the Garrick Theatre — of his sublime stage adaptation of Alan Bleasdale’s landmark 1982 television drama Boys from the Blackstuff; followed by updates about the BBC TV version of his Olivier Award-winning soccer play Dear England, which will see him doing on-the-ground research at next month’s Euros in Germany; plus revelations about an epic new show he’s developing with House Productions that will explore the “mood sweeping across Europe.”

The 45-minute time-frame is kinda apt because each half of a soccer game is three-quarters of an hour.

So let’s kick off with the football, and I’ll fill you in on Boys from the Blackstuff farther down the column.

The playwright’s Dear England is ostensively about...

Sean Bean is to star as a gang leader in Stephen Butchard’s epic Liverpool-set crime series This City is Ours [working title] from The Crown producer Left Bank.

The two-time BAFTA winning Game of Thrones alum will play Ronnie Phelan in the series, which will also feature James Nelson-Joyce as Ronnie’s friend, Michael Kavanagh, Hannah Onslow as Diana Williams, Michael’s partner, and Jack McMullen as Ronnie’s son, Jamie Phelan. Also joining the cast are Laura Aikman as Rachel Duffy, Kevin Harvey as Bobby Duffy, Saoirse-Monica Jackson as Cheryl Crawford, Mike Noble as Banksey, Bobby Schofield as Bonehead, Darci Shaw (Judy, A Thousand Blows) as Melissa Phelan, and Stephen Walters as Davy Crawford.

James Graham’s double-OIivier Award winning play Dear England is hitting TV screens and the prolific creator is thinking about whether any former soccer players could make the cut.

Speaking to Deadline outside last night’s prestigious London theater awards, Graham floated the likes of Match of the Day host Gary Lineker and former England goalkeeper David Seaman as potentials, although no approaches have been made. Watch the full clip below.

“It’s a drama first and foremost so of course we need good actors but [the question of having real soccer players in it is] a good question,” said Graham. “Do we get the real Gary Lineker? Do we get the real David Seaman? It’s a good question as [the show] should have that sense of fun and playfulness as well.”

Earlier this year, Match of the Day pundit Ian Wright featured in Daniel Kaluuya’s Netflix directorial debut The Kitchen, while footballers such as Vinnie Jones and Eric Cantona...

Nicole Scherzinger, Succession star Sarah Snook, Game of Thrones and Sherlock actor Mark Gatiss, a revival of the musical Sunset Boulevard and the play Stranger Things: The First Shadow were among the winners at the 2024 Olivier Awards, which celebrate achievements in London theater. The ceremony at Royal Albert Hall in the British capital was hosted by Ted Lasso star Hannah Waddingham.

The revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber‘s Sunset Boulevard, which has starred Scherzinger as Norma Desmond and is set to come to Broadway this year, won the best musical revival award, the best actress honor for the former Pussycat Dolls singer and five other honors after also leading the nominations with 11.

Stranger Things: The First Shadow, a prequel to the Netflix hit series, which has hinted at its Broadway ambitions, won the best new entertainment or comedy play award, as well as the Olivier for best set design.

Dear England,...

Succession star Sarah Snook and singer-actress Nicole Scherzinger were among the big winners at the 2024 Olivier Awards, which were revealed this evening at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Scroll down for the full list of winners.

Snook picked up the Best Actress gong for her multi-character performance in the Sydney Theatre Company’s version of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. The play also picked up Best Costume Design for Marg Horwell. Scherzinger landed Best Actress in a Musical for her turn as Norma Desmond in the recent revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Broadway-bound Sunset Boulevard.

Elsewhere, the Best Director award went to Jamie Lloyd for the Savoy Theatre production of Sunset Boulevard while Vanya starring Andrew Scott landed Best Revival. Mark Gatiss won Best Actor for The Motive and the Cue. Will Close nabbed Best Supporting Actor for his role in the National Theatre’s...

A TV adaptation of the National Theatre play Dear England is heading to BBC, who beat Netflix in a bidding war.

We got a sneak peek at BBC’s upcoming slate of dramas in February. Among those was a TV adaptation of Dear England, the hit play which has been charming football-friendly audiences in the London theatre scene since its debut in June 2023.

Deadline now reports that Dear England could have very narrowly been a Netflix production instead. There was a fierce bidding war over the rights and according to Deadline, Netflix made a “more lucrative” offer but writer James Graham and Left Bank Pictures chose the BBC instead.

The outlet also reports that the reason behind Graham and Left Bank’s decision was because the team “view Dear England as a national story that should be told by the UK’s national broadcaster.”

Dear England is a fictionalised narrative...

Exclusive: The BBC was victorious in a bidding war with Netflix for Dear England amid fears for the future of British storytelling on television.

Deadline hears that Left Bank Pictures and Dear England writer James Graham wanted the stage play to be adapted on the BBC, despite a more lucrative offer from Netflix.

The four-part series was announced by the BBC last month and will be based on Graham’s National Theatre play, which provides a fictionalized account of England’s soccer team.

Fiennes (The Handmaid’s Tale) featured as waistcoat-wearing England manager Gareth Southgate in the stage show and will reprise his role for the BBC series.

Sony Pictures Television-backed Left Bank and Graham chose the BBC over Netflix because they view Dear England as a national story that should be told by the UK’s national broadcaster.

Financials for the deal were not disclosed and Left Bank will...

Andrew Scott has been awarded Best Actor at the 33rd Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards. The win makes the Irish actor the first performer to be handed top honors from both of the UK’s national critics bodies.

Scott won the Theatre Awards award for his performance in Vanya, a one-man Chekov adaptation during which Scott plays eight different characters in conversation with each other. Scott landed the same award late last year from the Film Critics Circle, also under the UK Critics’ Circle umbrella for his performance in Andrew Haigh’s enigmatic feature All Of Us Strangers.

Sarah Hemming, the chief theater critic of the Financial Times, described Scott’s performance in Vanya as “tremendously moving, dialing up the empathy at the heart of that great, humane play and at the heart of live theatre” when she presented him with the award.

The Trewin Award for Best Shakespearean Performance went...

In the final two months of the 2023-2024 Broadway season, seven new plays and play revivals join a slate of 15 total dramas eligible for the 77th Tony Awards. With so many buzzy revivals and new works set to begin performances in the few weeks before the Tony nominations are announced on April 30, our users have been busy updating their choices for the most likely nominees in seven of the 11 play categories. See below for a breakdown of how our official odds have changes in the top categories since our last predictions center update on March 12, according to the 800 users currently making their picks. Scroll to the bottom of the article for a tall of nominations by show in seven of the 11 play categories.

Up

“Prayer for the French Republic” — Although this critically-acclaimed production closed on Broadway on March 3, it has been gaining momentum in our predictions center. We had previously...

Sony Pictures Television’s President of International Production, Wayne Garvie, has said the scripted TV landscape in the post-peak TV era is like “going back to the future” — especially with his Netflix hits The Crown and Sex Education coming to an end.

During a keynote interview here at Series Mania in Lille, France, Garvie acknowledged that levels of global drama production had fallen, and that working with traditional networks and streamers on projects of all types would be critical going forwards.

He added: “The ecology of TV production is a very fragile thing,” and said: “The future is going to be more about collaboration,” but refuted the idea the market is depressed. “Everyone knows that not as much drama is being commissioned as was being commissioned, but more drama is being commissioned now than at most times in human history.”

Spt itself is it gearing up for a slate that...

We are still approximately six weeks away from learning the nominees for the 77th Tony Awards, but across the pond the finalists for the 2024 Olivier Awards were just announced. A radical new remounting of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Sunset Boulevard” directed by Jamie Lloyd and starring Nicole Scherzinger is the most nominated show of the year with 11 citations. Another musical revival is nipping at its heels: the immersive “Guys and Dolls” scored 10, as did new play “Dear England,” which centers on England’s national men’s football team and stars Joseph Fiennes as Gareth Southgate. Scroll down to see a complete list of 2024 Olivier Awards nominations.

American audiences will be familiar with many of the plays, musicals and performers nominated this year. The Best New Musical category includes Tony Award-winning shows “Next to Normal” and “A Strange Loop,” while Best Musical Revival boasts productions of “Groundhog Day” and “Hadestown.” Caissie Levy,...

Sarah Snook, Sarah Jessica Parker, Andrew Scott and David Tennant were among the nominees for the 2024 Olivier Awards, which celebrate achievements in London theater.

Parker was nominated for best actress for her role in Plaza Suite, opposite her husband, Matthew Broderick, while Snook was nominated in the same category for her one-woman take on The Picture of Dorian Gray. Tennant was nominated for best actor for his role in Macbeth, in the same category as Andrew Scott, in a one-man version of Vanya.

Sunset Boulevard, which starred Nicole Scherzinger, who is also nominated, and is set to come to Broadway next year, received 11 nominations, while Dear England, a play by James Graham about an English football manager, received nine nominations. Stranger Things: The First Shadow, a prequel to the television series, which has also hinted at its Broadway ambitions, is up for best new entertainment or comedy play.

The Olivier...

Stars including Sarah Jessica Parker, Sarah Snook, Andrew Scott and David Tennant will compete for Olivier Awards at the UK’s most prestigious theater ceremony next month.

The Sex and the City stars is up for Best Actress for her performance in Plaza Suite – her first Olivier – while Succession’s Snook has picked up a nod for her critically-acclaimed performance as 26 characters in The Picture of Dorian Gray.

In the Best Actor category, Scott’s performance in Vanya will come up against Tennant’s role in Macbeth, while the starry nominee list also includes Joseph Fiennes for Dear England, which is being made into a BBC series, Mark Gatiss for The Motive And The Cue and James Norton in A Little Life.

Other notable nominations include for singer Nicole Scherzinger in Sunset Boulevard, where she has picked up a nod for Best Actress in a Musical. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s...

Prolific British screenwriter and playwright James Graham has revealed he has been diagnosed as a workaholic and described the addiction as “no different really from drink, drugs or sex.”

Graham appeared on the BBC’s Desert Island Discs yesterday and opened up about the problem, which he said led him to seek help from family and friends and eventually attend Workaholics Anonymous meetings.

“I knew something wasn’t quite right in my late 20s,” said the Sherwood and Brexit: The Uncivil War writer. “I would go into periods where I would be far too isolated or would self-sabotage relationships as soon as they became intimate and important. I was working around the clock continually and not looking after myself.”

He added: “The moment I realized I had a problem was when I had started to lie to family and friends about stupid things like I’d say I got up at 8 a.