Toby Whithouse’s acclaimed series continues on BBC Three on Sunday 12th February at 9pm and features an interesting new group…

Hal, Leo and Pearl – another werewolf, vampire and ghost – turn up at the house.

Leo is dying and this supernatural triumvirate believe the secret to saving the old werewolf’s life resides in Honolulu Heights.

While Annie is confident that she can channel the power to help him, Tom isn’t so sure. Nor is he best pleased at having the disdainful and arrogant vampire Hal in his home either.

But to fulfil Leo’s dying wish, the two are forced on a mission together. A fracas with a pawn shop owner bonds them temporarily, but later when Tom discovers Hal standing over baby Eve’s crib, Hal’s ultimate motives are called into question.

(Gallery provided by BBC)

This episode, written by Lisa McGee, stars Lenora Crichlow as Annie, Michael Socha as Tom, Damien Molony as Hal, Gina Bramhill as Woman, Anthony Flanagan as Fergus, Russell Gomer as Dessie, Andrew Gower as Cutler, Tamla Kari as Pearl and Louis Mahoney as Leo.

A breach in secrecy has allowed a possible description of the trailer for the twenty third James Bond film, Skyfall, to be published on the internet.

Although the source of the information, the Internet Movie Database, sometimes better known as IMDB, has not always been reliable as it is editable by the general public, it is intriguing enough to report if true.

The source of the leak, a poster at the IMDB forums named Liz, claims to be a media studies student who was allowed to view the teaser trailer for Skyfall as part of her studies.

Of course this could all be a prank, but you have to admit after reading the text below it sounds exciting if true. If it is a fake, it is a fake posted by someone who at least took the time to Google the subject itself as there are many rumors and confirmed facts about the production in the post:

“Just seen a very rough cut of the Skyfall Teaser trailer. I can’t remember everything from it, but it’s due to be released late February, that’s what the guy said anyway. About 20 or so were in the screening. They were all University Students, or I assume so anyway. I myself am a media student, and I assumed everyone else was. But anyway. The trailer roughly ran for about 1minute and 45 seconds. From what I saw, Skyfall looks really really really good. A lot better than Quantum of Solace was. I think it’s more on par with Casino Royale. Well that’s the vibe I got from it anyway, which is good in my book. Roger Deakins’ camera work is just phenomenal, there was so many beautiful shots. Too many to count really. Some very nice swooping shots of what I think was Smithfield market and London in general.

The best thing about the trailer was Bonds big reveal around half way through. When it started, you don’t even realise it’s a Bond movie. If I wasn’t in a screening for it, I really wouldn’t of known. The music was really mysterious, too. From the first 30 seconds it looked like a political thriller / present day war movie.

The first shot of the trailer, besides the opening logo’s is a really dark shot of a tall office building. I think it was China but I’m not too sure. There was a voice over from Ralph Fiennes (Love that guys voice) talking about the cold war, and it’s repercussions within MI6. This was followed by what I think was a gas attack, people were running and screaming and collapsing. Then the whole friggen set just blew up! Judi Dench appeared. She looked really old and it is revealed that she and Fiennes character are talking. Fiennes says that he’s lost too many agents in the attack (Which I assumed was before), and he needs someone to overlook the case, and find it’s source. M mentions that she has an agent in mind, or something to that degree, but he’s resigned, and they’re unable to track him down. Fiennes says that he has to be found and brought back to duty. The whole conversation with Fiennes and Dench was really heated, and it sounded as if he was blaming her, which brings me to the next part where he mentions that he’s seriously doubting whether she’s fit for duty anymore. That she’s losing her touch. There’s a few dramatic shots afterwards, of a Bond walking through a very colourful building. It looked like a nightclub, very cool. He was wearing a black jacket and gloves. Like the end of Quantum of Solace. We don’t actually see Bond until he gets in a fist fight with what looked like a Sniper. Daniel Craig looks awesome! Very cold eyes, brutal. There was one shot where everyone gasped, because it felt so real and brutal. Bond is overpowered and captured, and the next shot has Bond walking into what I assumed was his apartment. M’s standing there, and she apologises for the force she used to bring him to her. Bond says that he’s pretty much finished with the service. He’s seen loads of disturbing things and he doesn’t want to relive them. He then talks about the attacks, and M says something about her life being in danger, and Bond is the only person she trusts. She then goes on to tell him that the government is starting to collapse, and its being invaded by enemy agents. We see a few shots of Helen McRorys character, walking down a crowded street. Bond mentions that out of respect for her, and for queen and country he’ll return to duty.

Now this is where it gets good. Massive Bond theme. A new variation, and not the one that was used in the GoldenEye and BloodStone trailers etc. Sounded really exciting. It followed the same lines as the Casino Royale theatrical trailer melody wise, but it was obviously a different mix.

Couldn’t really get all of the shots because they were so fast (although brilliantly shot) but the ones I remember are Bond overpowering a guy driving a jeep, and nearly crashing the car. Tanner and Bond running down a London street with guns, in the rain. Protecting M. A train being derailed, and the carriage slowly missing Bond. Javier Bardem running through a busy street, Bond jumping over a wall. Lovely shot of Bond getting off a plane, reminded me a lot of Casino Royale. Car chase, a shot of Bond getting thrown against a dirty bathroom mirror, Bond head butting someone. Naomi Harris’shooting in the back of a jeep, in what looked like a desert, A car exploding. Bond on a motorbike, firing a machine gun. Bond jumping off a roof, and landing screaming on the floor. We have a break from the music here, and have Bond and Harris on a rooftop, Bond tells her that he’s totally lost faith, he didn’t say what in, just that he has no faith. This is followed by shots of a horse and carriage and loads of coffins. It goes back to Harris who tells Bond that he needs to continue to fight, for the good of the country. Bond mentions that he always is fighting, even though he has nothing worth living for. The music builds and we enter the climax of the trailer. Loads of shots, but I cant remember them all. Seem to remember Bond on a Jet Ski, Berinice Merhole walking down villa steps, Bond removing glasses, performing a 360 turn in the DB5. M getting thrown around in the DB5, Bond pressing a button in his car and… this leads into the big money shot, blowing up an obstacle and driving through it.. BUT the car kinda goes out of control, and it starts to overturn in mid air. Then the title and release date came up. Had a CGI shot of Bond walking in the rain, in slow motion, in an open necked tuxedo holding a silenced gun.”

Of course none of us will know if this post is rumor or fact until the trailer for Skyfall is officially released and the contents of the post are confirmed or debunked.

Skyfall will drop in cinemas on the 26th of October 2012.

(Via Bond23.net)

The end of the second series of Sherlock came as a shock to many fans who don’t want to believe that the famous consulting detective has actually died.

Well now some of Sherlock‘s followers have created a viral guerilla marketing campaign that has sprung up all over the web as well as the real world since the series concluded this past January. This is when Ear Foolish, a user on Tumblr, suggested via a post in character that Sherlock fans worldwide conduct a viral campaign in the real world with the tag “#believeinsherlock”:

  So… I guess you all have heard/read/seen the news. It’s been pretty hard to miss it – the death of Sherlock Holmes. I’m gutted but I’m doing my best to keep it together. I don’t know about you guys, but I refuse to believe it. That he was a fraud. He just can’t have been, can’t have! I saw him at a crime scene once, I had followed the sound of sirens in hope it’d be one of his cases, and there is NO WAY he was a fake. You can’t make that sort of shit up, he was too good! He was an inspiration for all of us to be more observant in our every day lives, and I won’t accept the so called truth about Sherlock that is all over the media. I know you feel like I do, and now it’s our turn to show that we haven’t lost faith in him. Sherlock might be gone, but I won’t sit silent!

#BELIEVEINSHERLOCK

Imagine being a Sherlock fan in the show universe. You’ve been following John’s blog, stalking Sherlock a bit at crime scenes, try to be within earshot so you can hear him do his deductions. You’ve got cutouts from the papers. Then the news reach you. What do you do? Some would believe the papers, but not everyone would buy it. And they would do what they could to clear his name.

This is my take on what I would like to propose as a tribute campaign, to show our love and support. Yes, in real life. We put ourselves in the mindset of the in-show fans, and we take a Bad Wolf/Who Killed Amanda Palmer twist on it. Guerilla art/campaigning. (Not sure if everyone is familiar with WKAP. Palmer is an american artist who in order to promote her album told her fans to spread rumours about her death through street art. I can’t seem find any of it documented online though I’m afraid)

Let’s scribble in bathroom stalls, back of bus seats, lamp posts. I won’t tell anyone to do anything illegal, but graffiti like in the pictures would be amazing. Paint on t-shirts, make buttons, go to the beach and write in the sand. Take photos of what you’ve done, put on twitter or tumblr and tag it!

suggestions of things to write:

* I believe in Sherlock Holmes
* Moriarty was real
* Richard Brook = FRAUD
* No doubt, Sherlock! (instead of no s___.)

Since then the campaign has inspired T-shirts and assorted knick knacks on Redbubble as well as creating inspired graffiti in places as far away from Baker Street as New York, Dallas and Rome.

Facebook groups, QR codes and various sub-campaigns have sprung up, including one run by the Baker Street Babes, who initiated ‘Operation 221B’ which included putting up flyers and altering photos to make the real world location of Holmes and Watson’s flat to look like it does in the show’s universe, as seen in the picture below:

There was also a gathering outside of Speedy’s Sandwich Shop, which is a real sandwich shop both on the telly and in real life, on the anniversary of the pairs fictional meeting at the location:

You can follow along with I Believe In Sherlock campaign by visiting this blog here, using the hash tag #believeinsherlock on Twitter or finding your own way to add to this amazing worldwide phenomenon.

I believe in Sherlock…do you?

(Via MovieViral)

The end of series three of BBC Three’s Being Human left a lot for series four to live up to. Along with the controversial (well, many fans were unhappy about it) death of charming Irish Vampire, Mitchell (Aidan Turner), at the hands of his best friend George (Russell Tovey) it also saw things being set up for what promised to be an apocalyptic plot line with the pending arrival of ‘The Old Ones’, the most ancient vampires, and George, Nina and Annie’s promise to fight them no matter what the cost.

As series 4 opens, it seems as if the cost for fighting is too high. We return to the decrepit guesthouse in Barry that our heroes made their home in the last series to find that things are far from well. Werewolf Nina has been killed, ambushed by vampires soon after giving birth to her daughter and George (Russell Tovey) is going insane with grief and paranoia. Resident ghost, Annie (Lenora Crichlow), is doing what she can to keep him sane but her characteristically enthusiastic attempts are not achieving much.

Meanwhile, Griffin, the first Old One to arrive in Britain and seen so dramatically at the end of series three, is confident of an easy victory and has plans to kidnap the child in order to present her as a gift to the other Old Ones. George, Annie and Tom McNair, another Werewolf who featured in the previous series, set out to prevent this from happening.

The above is the central plot for this episode, the main driving narrative that takes the viewer through to the quite shocking end. However, there is more to this episode that that relatively simple thread. We have flash forwards to 2037 where we see George and Nina’s daughter, now a grown woman, as leader of a beleaguered resistance force fighting the vampires who have now taken complete control.

We are also introduced to three new characters, supernaturals like our heroes who have also taken to living together in a shared house. Vampire Hal (Damien Malony), old Werewolf Leo (Louis Mahoney) and ghost Pearl (Tamla Kari) have what appears to be a similar dynamic to the one seen in earlier series with Mitchell, George and Annie and are obviously set to play prominent parts in future episodes.

Expectations for this episode were high and there is a lot of good stuff in here to fulfil that expectation. Toby Whitehouse has yet again shown that he is not afraid to mess around with a format and give the viewers a surprise or two – the death of major characters being one of them.

The vampire protagonists are suitably sinister and organized while still maintaining individual characters. One in particular, Cutler (Andrew Gover), is a real treat with his sarcasm (best line of the episode: ‘Before you reach the first major city, they will have raised an army. On Twitter’) and it is to be hoped that he will appear more in future episodes.

There was also a star turn by Mark Williams as an insane Vampire archivist who should also make a return. However, there were a number of issues. For one, the way that the lives of Hal, Pearl and Leo mirror those of Mitchell, George and Annie seems a little too pat.

Though it is apparently written into the metaphysics of the universe that this is a stable arrangement (the ancient Vampire prophesies which are clearly important to this series make that statement) it has also been stated in previous episodes that Mitchell, George and Annie were unique. I am not sure it is a good idea to remove that uniqueness.

I am also a little upset at Nina’s death.

Not only was she one of my personal favorite characters and a good example of a strong female character, I dislike the fact that her death took place ’off screen’. She deserved a better end than that. There are also likely to be the inevitable Terminator jokes about the future scenes – the vampire ruled dystopia and the way the humans deal with it is very reminiscent of a certain dystopia ruled by Skynet. There is a risk here of some overused clichés being trotted out. Alternatively, said expected clichés may well be subverted.

Time will tell if these relatively minor flaws will be significant in the rest of the series or if the excellent writing and characterization will outweigh them. Time will also tell if the series format can afford to lose not just one but three of the major characters who made the previous series so entertaining. Early indications from Twitter and Facebook are that these were not popular deaths. I certainly look forward to seeing how things turn out.

Daniel Radcliffe, star of the eight Harry Potter films, has recently admitted through various interviews that he had a drinking problem before going teetotal in 2010.

Although Radcliffe claims to have never actually drank on the sets of the Harry Potter films, he did admit to coming in to work inebriated or still under the effects of the drug during the period that Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince was made:

“I can honestly say I never drank at work on Harry Potter. I went into work still drunk, but I never drank at work. I can point to many scenes where I’m just gone. Dead behind the eyes.”

It also made Radcliffe a recluse who often drank alone:

“The drinking was unhealthy and damaging to my body and my social life. That’s beyond question.

I was a recluse at 20. It was pathetic — it wasn’t me. I’m a fun, polite person and it turned me into a rude bore.

I was living in constant fear of who I’d meet, what I might have said to them, what I might have done with them, so I’d stay in my apartment for days and drink alone”

Radcliffe battled his alcohol issues with some advice from actor Gary Oldman, who played the character Sirius Black in the Potter films, who had his own battle with abusing alcohol in the nineties:

“I did talk to him about it once. I didn’t say I had a problem — because I didn’t think I did at that point — but I told him I shared that mentality he had for actively seeking out chaos.

He just said ‘You can’t keep doing this. You’ve got too much to lose’.

And that really went in. But not even he could have stopped me alone — I had to stop myself. And stopping has shown me a world of happiness that I didn’t think was possible.”

But now it seems that the former boy wizard also has a mentality for poking fun at drinkers who overindulge since getting ‘on the wagon’:

“After our Christmas party on Broadway, I had fun going into the rooms of people I knew had got really f—– up the night before, and shouting at them. Just to be an a——-. If you’re going to be sober, you might as well be smug about it.”

Radcliffe is current project is The Woman in Black, which arrives in cinemas this week.

(Via The Telegraph)

As you’ll know, the series makes it’s long-awaited return to BBC Three on Sunday evening at 9pm with the episode Eve of the War and you can get a sneak peak below…

Starring Lenora Crichlow, Michael Socha and Damien Molony the show was created by Toby Whithouse who also writes this first episode. Viewers in the USA can catch the new series on BBC America from February 25th.

First off is a new clip from Sunday’s series opener, Eve of the War:

You can see even more Being Human series four trailers and clips here and here.

Also, a synopsis has been released for the third episode of the series, The Graveyard Shift which will air on the 19th of February:

Hal is unaccustomed to modern life, having kept himself sheltered from society to avoid the risk of killing. So when Annie and Tom tell him he needs to get a job, he is filled with dread.

Faced with the horror of working in the café with Tom, Hal is tempted by vampire Fergus to come back to the vampire fold as their new leader. Meanwhile Annie is convinced by Regus that the baby should be taken away to safety, or the vampires will surely kill their ‘destroyer’. But when Fergus and his gang attack the house, Annie needs to prove that with Tom and Hal that they are a strong enough team to protect the baby… but are they?

Starring Lenora Crichlow as Annie; Michael Socha as Tom; Damien Molony as Hal; Anthony Flanagan as Fergus; Caryl Morgan as the shop assistant; Laura Patch as Michaela and Mark Williams as Regus.

Being Human returns this Sunday at 9PM on BBC Three with Eve of the War.

By the time Red Dwarf had reached the seventh and eighth series however, the model work was used, but in addition to CGI models created by Chris Veale.

During Back To Earth in 2009 any thought of model work was thrown out due to time constraints and budget  issues and forced CGI to be used for the exterior space shots as well as the interior settings of the Red Dwarf  as well.

But the show will return to using model work and miniatures for Red Dwarf X, including a huge model of the Red Dwarf ship that was built for a video release in  1997, although the ship was rendered in CGI when it appeared in that release as well as series eight.

New model work is currently taking place by the second unit at Shepperton Studios during the final week of shooting for Red Dwarf X and is being overseen by director of photography Peter Talbot, whose past works have included such franchises as Batman, James Bond, Iron Man and the film Moon.

Here is a teaser pic of the model of  the Red Dwarf ship and there is also be a video of the model by the behind the scenes team at Dave:

Red Dwarf X will be broadcast on Dave around September of 2012.

The Reichenbach Fall

The latter comes, of course, from that ending; a dramatic final sequence that sent the media alight. You know how successful a show is when even The Daily Mail devotes an entire page to the question of how Sherlock survived.

Everybody knows what happened at Reichenbach in The Final Problem, and writer, Steve Thompson quickly got this out of the way in a scene which harked back to the very first episode of Sherlock.

Watson is, essentially, back where he started. Lost without his best friend, he has little purpose any more. He’s suffering, and thanks to Martin Freeman’s unerringly brilliant portrayal, we are too, even though we know what’s coming.

But the episode doesn’t belong to Freeman, nor his co-star, Benedict Cumberbatch, both of whom have been magnificent in every single episode of the two series. Surely Andrew Scott as the wicked Jim Moriarty then? Or Una Stubbs’ Mrs. Hudson? Lestrade? Molly?

No, this episode belongs to them all. Their performances were spectacular. The Reichenbach Fall is a tale of relationships, identity and – above all – humanity.

Series Two has seen Sherlock’s growing humanity under the microscope, aided by his friends. The episode shows that the Consulting Detective was wrong when he said he only has one friend. Watson is certainly his one constant, but Reichenbach reinforces the warm atmosphere at 221B Baker Street – then tears it away.

Moriarty’s scheme takes its toll on the Reichenbach hero – and wasn’t that worked in so cleverly? – leading to one place: the roof of St. Bartholemew’s.

Andrew Scott is incredible in every scene, and provides a constant sinister undercurrent, aided by allusions to death and three simple letters: I O U. The standoffs he has with the lead are beautifully realised; Scott manages to be creepy and imposing even when he’s just talking. Now that’s the sign of a true villain.

The death of Moriarty is genius, also riffing off the original Conan Doyle tale, but infuriating, too. I was immediately awestruck by the desperation of the situation and just how far he would go to defeat his enemy. However, this also means we won’t be getting anymore from Andrew Scott… unless, of course, it’s a trick.

Visually, the episode is stunning – all credit to Toby Haynes, who continued the eerie, complex but lavish style of the previous five episodes. The scene where Sherlock matches photos to a map of England (in his head, naturally) is wonderfully reminiscent of the ‘Mind Palace.’

And perhaps this is why The Reichenbach Fall is so successful. It feeds off all the episodes before it. I’m not saying this to discredit Steve Thompson – in fact, quite the opposite.

The final episode’s premise is set up in A Study in Pink, with everybody but his best friends considering that Sherlock is a fraud. Added to this, Donovan and Anderson are back to agitate the Reichenbach Hero and Lestrade, clearly showing how much the Detective Inspector really thinks of Holmes.

The graffiti that lurks in the background is a neat reminder of The Blind Banker, especially when Sherlock watches the lights in the opposite building flicker to reveal those ominous letters. Alongside the return of Moriarty, obviously, The Reichenbach Fall also welcomes back the Baker Street Irregulars – albeit fleetingly – last seen in The Great Game. Once more, Mycroft is there to revel in underhand dealings, while Moriarty gets at Sherlock by threatening his friends, reflecting the danger Mrs. Hudson was in at the beginning of this series. Another allusion to A Scandal in Belgravia comes in the form of the ‘final problem,’ because, to paraphrase the Consulting Criminal, he did tell us what his main trouble is – but were we listening?

The shadowy scares of The Hounds of Baskerville were continued here, laced with a macabre fairytale twist, as was the possibility that Sherlock is starting to doubt himself.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg – and these reminders of past glories make the ‘fall’ even more affecting.

How did he survive? The internet is alive with theories. Was the dummy seen hanging in 221B a hint? What about that squash ball? And was Molly involved? Well, that’s the final problem.

Molly (Louise Brealey) really showed herself to be amazing this series; smarter and more observant than Sherlock has ever given her credit for. She’s loyal and caring but can also read people, just like Mr. Holmes. She does count, after all. It’s also interesting to look at the scene where Sherlock says he needs her in a new light. Forgetting about her possibly helping with his ‘death,’ what else could this mean…?

I won’t hazard a guess at how Sherlock survived, because it seems futile. But I have every faith in the crew that it’s going to be mind-blowing – because that’s what Sherlock does best.

Specifically it is the audiobook of “The Way Back”, read by Roj Blake himself, Gareth Thomas.

From the Trevor Hoyle novelisation of Terry Nation’s opening episodes for the series, The Way Back and Space Fall, the audiobook tells the story of how Blake, Kerr Avon, Jenna and the others found their way onto the Liberator.

To enter all you have to do is leave a comment below telling us in what year Blake’s 7 ended, and click the Facebook “Like” button in the box on the right.

This is the first of several great prizes that we have lined up over the coming weeks. You can currently purchase this audiobook on Amazon for £15 or so, useful to know if you’re not lucky enough to win…

You have until February 7th, so don’t miss out!