Okay, I've already reviewed this. I know. But my wife wanted to see it, and she was gutted when we couldn't use the free tickets Fat Pig's PR guy offered us – two hours before the performance was due to start, mind – so I thought I'd treat her to dinner and the theatre yesterday. Cos I'm nice.

The thing about both movies and TV shows, though, is that they're always the same. Once recorded, they're immutable. But theatre changes every night. The actors can improve or vary their performance, be tired one night and turn in a dodgy performance, get bored, or ad lib, for example. Mistakes can be fixed – or new ones can turn up.

So two weeks on, is Fat Pig better or worse?

Continue reading "Review: Fat Pig (again)"

Read other posts about: Gavin and Stacey, Peep Show

Today's biggish news is that famed director and writer Jonathan Miller has decided to have a go at West End casting practices - and in particular the casting of David Tennant (and Jude Law) in Hamlet.

Apparently, he's been trying to get his no-star version of Hamlet into the West End but can't, even though he reckons the performances are bound to be better than either Tennant's or Law's.

So the question for you, my friends, is does he have a point? Or do West End producers have a point?

For my own part, I'm very easily swayed by some big film or TV names into turning up at a theatre when I otherwise wouldn't: my most recent theatre attendances (off the top of my head) have included Fat Pig (Joanna Page, Robert Webb, Kris Marshall, Ella Smith), Art (bloke off Dalziel and Pascoe, Sean Hughes and Alistair McGowen if I recall correctly), A Few Good Men (with Rob Lowe and John Barrowman), The Master Builder (Patrick Stewart and Kelly Reilly), Patrick Stewart's one-man version of A Christmas Carol, and Sexual Perversity in Chicago (Matthew Perry, Minnie Driver, Hank Azaria, Kelly Reilly).

That's money in the pockets of theatres that they otherwise wouldn't have had with less well-known casts. And the West End isn't exactly cheap.

More to the point, are celebs possibly the best choices? Maybe they're famous because they have talent. David Tennant isn't exactly unknown in theatre.

In fact, is Miller just grumpy because he couldn't get his own production off the ground? Why have a go at a version of Hamlet that hasn't even started performing? 

Fat Pig is the most obvious piece of TV celeb casting at the moment, so why not pick on it? Is it because, way back in 2002, he cast the RADA-trained Joanna Page in his production of Camera Obscura at the Almeida (to generally excellent reviews), and so wouldn't have had much of a leg to stand on?

What do you think? Are good actors being overlooked? Are they being overlooked in favour of better, more famous actors? Or is celeb casting a necessary evil in a competitive market?

Read other posts about: Gavin and Stacey, Peep Show, Studio 60, The West Wing, Torchwood

Where: Trafalgar Studios, Studio 1
When: 7.30pm Mondays–Saturdays, 2.30pm matinees on Thursdays and Saturdays
How long: Two hours with a 15 minute interval
How much: £25-£45 (+ £1 restoration levy)
Tickets from: 0870 060 6632 or www.theambassadors.com/trafalgarstudios

My free tickets never arrived. Gosh. How can that be after all my publicity work? Maybe they got lost in the post.

Turns out the Fates wanted me to see it anyway.

You see, I was supposed to be going out to see a movie last night with my sister. But last week, she emails me. There's been a terrible mix-up with a theatre booking and she's ended up with matinee tickets which she can't use. But the box office has been able to sort it out and instead get her tickets for the night we were supposed to be going to the movie – do I mind seeing Fat Pig?

Oh.

Fat Pig starring Robert Webb (Peep Show), Kris Marshall (My Family), Ella Smith (Cape Wrath/Meadowlands) and Joanna Page (Gavin & Stacey)?

Well, it would be a shame for them to go to waste…

Continue reading "Review: Fat Pig"

Read other posts about: Gavin and Stacey, Peep Show

Film

• Tom Cruise to play US president in Phillip Noyce's 28th Amendment?
• Michael Fassbender to play Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights
• George Clooney to stare at goats

Commercials

• Rob Lowe latest star of Orange cinema ads

British TV

• ITV buys Scandi indie Silverback for £14m
• Julie Walters playing Mary Whitehouse for BBC2
• Peep Show gets sixth series
• Kangaroo/SeeSaw planning Autumn roll-out

US TV

• Fox shows to benefit from fewer ads
• Kelly Preston joins Suburban Shootout, Adam Goldberg joins The Unusuals
• Robert Carlyle to play Jack Bauer's mentor in Africa in 24 prequel
• Six Feet Under stalker to play House private eye?
• Mutant X alum to replace Jorja Fox on CSI
• New interns for Scrubs
• Green Arrow back on Smallville?

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Anna's mentioned it, I've mentioned it in passing, but Fat Pig's PR company has just asked me very nicely to point out that performances of Fat Pig are starting on May 16th. And since it stars Robert Webb (of Mitchell and Webb, Peep Show and those Apple ads), Kris Marshall (My Family, My Life in Film and those BT adverts), Ella Smith (Meadowlands/Cape Wrath) and blog-favourite Joanna Page (Gavin & Stacey), why not?

Apparently, they would be really appreciative, as would everyone else involved with the show (probably). Do you reckon that means free tickets? And could my editorial independence be even more compromised if it does?

KRIS MARSHALL & JOANNA PAGE, ELLA SMITH & ROBERT WEBB TO STAR IN THE UK PREMIERE OF THE COMEDY “FAT PIG”
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY NEIL LaBUTE
OPENING AT THE TRAFALGAR STUDIOS IN LONDON ON TUESDAY 27 MAY WITH PERFORMANCES STARTING ON 16 MAY

Kris Marshall will star as ‘Carter’, Joanna Page as ‘Jeannie’, Ella Smith as ‘Helen’ and Robert Webb as ‘Tom’ in the UK premiere of Neil LaBute’s comedy “FAT PIG”, which will open at the Trafalgar Studios in London on Tuesday 27 May, following previews from 16 May. The limited season will finish on 6 September.

Robert Webb is one half of the duo ‘Mitchell & Webb’, who are one of the most popular comic acts in the country and who are behind hit television shows, such as “Peep Show” and “That Mitchell & Webb Look”. Kris Marshall was recently on the West End stage with Billie Piper in ‘Treats’ and his television credits include starring as ‘Nick’ in “My Family”; his film credits include “Death at a Funeral”, “The Merchant of Venice” and playing ‘Colin’ in “Love Actually”. Joanna Page stars as ‘Stacey’ in the BBC comedy series “Gavin and Stacey” and can also currently be seen in “Love Soup”; her film credits include “Gideon’s Daughter” and starring in “Love Actually” and she was recently seen with Ian McKellen in the Old Vic stage production of “Alladin”. Ella Smith was a regular character in the television drama series “Cape Wrath” and has recently starred opposite Kris Marshall in the BBC drama “Sold”.

“FAT PIG” will be directed by its author Neil LaBute.

When Tom first meets Helen there is an instant connection, but it's not exactly love at first sight... Helen is a bright, funny, sexy young woman who happens to be plus-sized - and then some - and it’s only so long before the insults start to fly from Tom's shallow yet shockingly funny office buddies. Television's hottest young comedians star in this searing, funny and ultimately touching love story.

“FAT PIG” in London will be produced by Howard Panter for Ambassador Theatre Group and Broadway producer Barry Weissler, responsible for the New York and London hit musical “Chicago”.

Performances at the Trafalgar Studios will be at 7.30pm on Mondays – Saturdays, with 2.30pm matinees on Thursdays and Saturdays. Tickets priced from £25-£45, with previews priced at £30 and day seats at £25, are available from the Trafalgar Studios Box Office on 0870 060 6632 or online at www.theambassadors.com/trafalgarstudios.

There's a web site, too.

Read other posts about: Gavin and Stacey, Peep Show

Doctor Who

• More on the Torchwood radio episode

Film

• Jordan to be the new Elvira?
• Lost's Emilie De Ravin to appear in Michael Mann's Public Enemies
• Trilogy for Iron Man?
• Mike Judge to direct Jason Bateman in Extract

Events

• Highlights of the Welsh BAFTAs

British TV

• ITV Prisoner remake still happening. Any minute now...
• Peep Show to run forever?
• Richard Hammond's C4 pilot not picked up
• Axe taken to cast of Coronation Street

US TV

• Rachael Leigh Cook to appear in Psych
• Hilary Duff to star in 90210 spin-off?
• NBC staying quiet about Scrubs' move to ABC
• Angela Bassett to be ER regular next season
• Jay Mohr and Jaime King to star in CBS comedy pilot

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Doctor Who

• Relationships will 'develop' in Torchwood [spoilers]

Film

• The Rock to star in Witch Mountain!
• Zack Snyder to direct The Illustrated Man remake
• Withnail and I back in cinemas next month

British TV

• The Famous Five grow up
• Chris Morris and Peep Show writers join forces [free registration required]
• NBC buys up the international Hallmark channels [free registration required]
• Kim Cattrall wants to be on The Catherine Tate Show?
• No more Cape Wrath/Meadowlands

US TV

• Former Supergirl Helen Slater to play Superman's real mom in Smallville
• James Van Der Beek to appear in Ugly Betty
• Heather Locklear to guest on Rules of Engagement
• Jason Alexander to guest on The New Adventures of Old Christine
• Gordon Ramsay comments on that lawsuit
• Ted Danson talks about Damages and needing an acting coach
• No Kevin Smith for BSG after all
• Heroes mockumentary viral goes online

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Read other posts about: Battlestar Galactica, Chris Morris, Gordon Ramsay, Heroes, Peep Show, Smallville, Torchwood, Ugly Betty

There's just so much happening in Edinburgh.

Doctor Who

• David Tennant was in awe of Paul McGann
• Doctor Who wins programme of the year at Edinburgh
• Bernard Cribbins to cameo in series four

Film

• Keanu Reeves to star in Day The Earth Stood Still remake
• Nicolas Cage as Magnum PI?
• Russell Crowe to appear in the next Batman movie?

Comics

• Dan Dare to return for comics and a possible movie

British TV

• ITV confesses to making 'similar' shows to other channels
• No remake of The Prisoner after all
• Alan Davies would love to do more Jonathan Creek
• Shooting style made Peep Show less successful
• No Celebrity Big Brother next year
• Five to reduce US content
• And so is Channel 4
• More4 to do less drama

US TV

• Tim Minear sells Miracle Man to ABC
• Kevin Smith to direct an episode of Battlestar Galactica
• An interview with James Marsters (no Torchwood talk, though)
• Eliza Dushku signs development deal with Fox
• Donal Logue gets another comedy pilot
• Jeff Fahey joins Lost
• Lynda LaPlante writing Mafia Wives
• Dexter writer initially worried by Michael C Hall casting

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Read other posts about: Dexter, Lost, Peep Show, Torchwood

I keep hearing the sound of drums. Is that bad?

Doctor Who

• James Marsters (Spike in Buffy) is currently filming in Cardiff for Torchwood

Film

• Neil Gaiman's Interworld has been optioned by Dreamworks Animation
• Aardman's working on four films, including one by the Life on Mars writers and one by Peter Baynham
• Ridley Scott directs a movie based on Monopoly????
• Price cuts strike: The $40,000 Man is coming
• Russell Mulcahy to direct a Scorpion King movie
• Batman's Batbike is unveiled. Plus some Dark Knight rumours

British TV

• Bernard Manning has died
• Beeb says it's not impartial [free registration required]
• Interview with Olivia Colman of Peep Show et al
• Baby Cow is making an online sitcom

US TV

• NBC wants to do something with Jon Stewart
• Supreme Court judge Antonin Scalia reveals his deep man love for 24
• Oh crap. We couldn't stop it getting made, now a second season of My Friends Tigger & Pooh is on the way

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Read other posts about: 24, Life on Mars, Peep Show, Torchwood

As you may recall, I went on my pilgrimage to Miami last month. Silly, forgetful me has neglected to stick with tradition, however, and talk about the quality of BA's in-flight entertainment – just so budding travellers know whether to pack their iPods, books, etc or to sit back and relax.

Continue reading "BA's in-flight entertainment system"

Read other posts about: Peep Show