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Jason Watkins (other)
Jason Peter Watkins (born 28 October 1962) is an English stage, film and television actor. He played the lead role in the two-part drama ''The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies'', for which he won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor. He has also played William Herrick in '' Being Human'', Gavin Strong in '' Trollied'', Simon Harwood in '' W1A,'' Gordon Shakespeare in the film series '' Nativity'', British Prime Minister Harold Wilson in Season 3 of '' The Crown'' and Detective Sergeant Dodds in '' McDonald & Dodds''. Early life Watkins was born in 1962, in Windsor Road, Albrighton, Shropshire, where he lived until the age of seven, when his parents moved to Wolverhampton. His father Alan was a metallurgist at Marston in Wolverhampton and his mother a teacher at Albrighton's primary school. He credits his introduction to entertainment to taking lessons in clowning at Bridgnorth from mime artist Ben Benison, also a presenter on TV programme '' Vision On''. Being dyslexic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Albrighton, Bridgnorth
Albrighton is a large village and civil parish in Shropshire, England, northwest of Wolverhampton and northeast of Bridgnorth. The village has a railway station on the Shrewsbury to Wolverhampton Line, and close by is RAF Cosford and the M54 motorway. It is the most easterly settlement in Shropshire. Immediately to the north is the hamlet and parish of Donington, separated from Albrighton by Humphreston Brook. History Mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as ''Albricston(e)'' or the home/farm of Albric/Aethelbeorht, it received its charter granting Borough status in 1303, which was renewed in 1662 for rather unusual reasons. The charter declared that "because Albrighton (then) adjoined Staffordshire on the east, south and west sides, felons and other malefactors fled Staffordshire to escape prosecution because there was no resident justice of the peace in that part of Shropshire" and on account of its remoteness from Shrewsbury, Shropshire's county town. The Boroug ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vision On
''Vision On'' was a British children's television programme, shown on BBC1 from 1964 to 1976 and designed specifically for children with hearing impairment. Concept and production ''Vision On'' was conceived and developed by BBC producers Ursula Eason and Patrick Dowling to replace a monthly series ''For Deaf Children'' (1952–64), a programme paced slowly enough for children to read captions and subtitles. It was noted in surveys that a favourite for deaf children was ''Top of the Pops'', due to its lively and fast-moving format and that even the profoundly deaf could still enjoy the music's lower frequency notes. There was initial disagreement as to whether lip-reading or British Sign Language would be more appropriate. Eventually it was decided that, since the new programme was intended as entertainment rather than education, communication would be entirely visual, the amount of text would be severely limited and, except for a few repeated statements, speech would be ab ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Funland (TV Series)
''Funland'' is a comedy / thriller serial, produced by the BBC that was first screened from 23 October 2005 to 7 November 2005, on the digital channel BBC Three. Created by Jeremy Dyson (of ''The League of Gentlemen'') and Simon Ashdown, the series consists of a fifty-minute opening episode followed by ten half-hour instalments. Plot A prudish couple, Dudley ( Kris Marshall) and Lola (Sarah Smart), arrive in Blackpool by bus from Stoke-on-Trent, and find themselves in a seedy boarding house run by the sinister Leo Finch ( Philip Jackson). At the same time Carter Krantz (Daniel Mays) arrives from London, thrown out of a car naked and carrying only a key and a piece of paper with the name "Ambrose Chapel". He thinks that this is a man responsible for his mother's murder, but after roughing up an innocent taxidermist, Ambrose ''Chapfel'', (Mark Gatiss), he discovers it is actually a disused church, now a nightclub called "Sins" which is run by Shirley Woolf (Ian Puleston-Davies). ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conviction (2004 TV Series)
''Conviction'' is a British television crime drama that premiered on BBC Three on 7 November 2004. The six-part series stars William Ash, David Warner, Ian Puleston-Davies, Reece Dinsdale, Nicholas Gleaves, Laura Fraser, Jason Watkins and Zoe Henry. The series was created and was written by Bill Gallagher (previously known for ''Clocking Off'' and '' Out of the Blue''), produced by Red Production Company, and directed by Marc Munden (''Vanity Fair'', ''Canterbury Tales: The Knight's Tale''). The producer was Ann Harrison-Baxter (''The Second Coming'', ''The Cops''), with Nicola Shindler and Gareth Neame as executive producers for Red Production Company and the BBC respectively. The storyline was later used as the basis for the movie ''Blood'', starring Paul Bettany, Mark Strong and Brian Cox. Premise The series is centred on the Fairburn family, all of whom live in an edgy Lancashire town with a growing tendency towards vigilante justice. All three of the Fairburn sibli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
EastEnders
''EastEnders'' is a British soap opera created by Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the East End of London, the programme follows the stories of local residents and their families as they go about their daily lives. Within eight months of the show's original launch, it had reached the number one spot in BARB's television ratings and has consistently remained among the top-rated series in Britain. Four ''EastEnders'' episodes are listed in the all-time top 10 most-watched programmes in the UK, including the number one spot when over 30 million watched the 1986 Christmas Day episode. ''EastEnders'' has been important in the history of British television drama, tackling many subjects that are considered to be controversial or taboo in British culture, and portraying a social life previously unseen on UK mainstream television. Since co-creator Holland was from a large family in the Eas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theatre Royal Haymarket
The Theatre Royal Haymarket (also known as Haymarket Theatre or the Little Theatre) is a West End theatre on Haymarket in the City of Westminster which dates back to 1720, making it the third-oldest London playhouse still in use. Samuel Foote acquired the lease in 1747, and in 1766 he gained a royal patent to play legitimate drama (meaning spoken drama, as opposed to opera, concerts or plays with music) in the summer months. The original building was a little further north in the same street. It has been at its current location since 1821, when it was redesigned by John Nash. It is a Grade I listed building, with a seating capacity of 888. The freehold of the theatre is owned by the Crown Estate. The Haymarket has been the site of a significant innovation in theatre. In 1873, it was the venue for the first scheduled matinée performance, establishing a custom soon followed in theatres everywhere. Its managers have included Benjamin Nottingham Webster, John Baldwin Buck ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frozen (play)
''Frozen'' is a play by Bryony Lavery that tells the story of the disappearance of a 10-year-old girl, Rhona Shirley. The play follows Rhona's mother and killer over the years that follow. They are linked by a doctor who is studying what causes men to commit such crimes. The themes of the play include emotional paralysis and forgiveness. In 2019, ''Frozen'' was listed in ''The Independent'' as one of the 40 best plays ever written. Productions The play was first performed at Birmingham Repertory Theatre in 1998 and won the Best New Play Award from the Theatrical Management Association. It later made its debut at the National Theatre's Cottesloe Theatre on 3 July 2002. The play was revived at the Theatre Royal Haymarket starring Jason Watkins, Suranne Jones and Nina Sosanya for a strictly limited season from February 2018. ''Frozen'' opened Off-Broadway in February 2004 at the Manhattan Class Company Theatre starring Swoosie Kurtz, Brían F. O'Byrne and Laila Robins. It trans ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bryony Lavery
Bryony Lavery (born 1947) is a British dramatist, known for her successful and award-winning 1998 play ''Frozen''. In addition to her work in theatre, she has also written for television and radio. She has written books including the biography '' Tallulah Bankhead'' and ''The Woman Writer's Handbook'', and taught playwriting at Birmingham University. Biography Lavery grew up in Dewsbury. Having begun her career as an actress, she decided that she was fed up with playing poor parts in plays, such as the left arm of a sofa, and decided to write plays with better parts for women. Early in her career she founded a theatre company called Les Oeufs Malades with actors Gerard Bell and Jessica Higgs, she also founded Female Trouble, More Female Trouble and served as artistic director of Gay Sweatshop. Her plays have a feminist undertone in them [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joe Penhall
Joe Scott Penhall (born 1967) is an English-Australian playwright and screenwriter, best known for his award-winning stage play '' Blue/Orange'', the award-winning West End musical ''Sunny Afternoon'' and creating the Netflix original series ''Mindhunter''. Early life Penhall was born in London, and raised in Melbourne, Australia. Career Penhall's first major play, ''Some Voices'', premiered at the Royal Court Theatre's upstairs playing space in London in 1994. It was very well-received, winning the John Whiting Award, and has since been played off-Broadway twice. In 2000 Penhall adapted the play for a film with the same name directed by Simon Cellan Jones, starring Daniel Craig and Kelly Macdonald, which premiered at the Cannes Directors' Fortnight. Penhall returned to the Royal Court Theatre with his second full-length play ''Pale Horse'', which also played in the Theatre Upstairs and featured Ray Winstone, who had starred in ''Some Voices''. A dark play, ''Pale Horse'' te ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a West End theatre#London's non-commercial theatres, non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England. In 1956 it was acquired by and remains the home of the English Stage Company, which is known for its contributions to contemporary theatre and won the Europe Theatre Prize, Europe Prize Theatrical Realities in 1999. History The first theatre The first theatre on Lower George Street, off Sloane Square, was the converted Nonconformist Ranelagh Chapel, opened as a theatre in 1870 under the name The New Chelsea Theatre. Marie Litton became its manager in 1871, hiring Walter Emden to remodel the interior, and it was renamed the Court Theatre. Several of W. S. Gilbert's early plays were staged here, including ''Randall's Thumb'', ''Creatures of Impulse'' (with music by Alberto Randegger), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rafts And Dreams
''Rafts and Dreams'' is a play by English playwright Robert Holman that was first performed in 1990, and published in 1991. Plot Beginning as a seeming domestic drama, ''Rafts and Dreams'' shows the relationship between obsessive-compulsive mysophobe Hetty and her soldier husband Leo, and their neighbour Neil – a victim of childhood sexual abuse who is now studying to be a doctor. However, when Leo and Neil remove a tree stump from Leo's garden they find an underground lake under all London which expands to flood the entire world. Leo makes a raft from their living room and as they float they meet the wife of the man who abused Neil. Productions ''Rafts and Dreams'' was first presented at the Royal Court Theatre in 1990. The production was directed by John Dove and the cast was: Neil Bell – Jonathan Cullen Hetty – Adie Allen Leo – Jason Watkins Jo – Natasha Pyne Alex – Ilan Ostrove Woman – Maureen Hibbert In 2003 the play was revived at the Royal E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ambassadors Theatre (London)
The Ambassadors Theatre (formerly the New Ambassadors Theatre), is a West End theatre located in West Street, near Cambridge Circus on Charing Cross Road in the City of Westminster. It is one of the smallest of the West End theatres, seating a maximum of 444, with 195 people in the dress circle and 251 in the stalls. History The theatre was, along with the adjacent St Martin's conceived by their architect, W. G. R. Sprague, as companions, born at the same time in 1913, but the First World War interrupted the construction of the latter for three years. The Ambassadors was built with the intention of being an intimate, smaller theatre and is situated opposite the renowned restaurant The Ivy, favourite haunt of the theatrical elite. The theatre was Grade II listed by English Heritage in March 1973. New Ambassadors era In 1996, the venue was bought by its namesake the Ambassador Theatre Group, now the largest operator of theatres in the West End. It was first split into t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
