![]() If there’s source material there, films or other things to compare to, I usually shy away from it. “I thought first of all, ‘I’ve got to read the book.’ I don’t usually think that. It is part of a special BBC Dickens season marking the 200th anniversary of his birth on Feb 7 2012. ![]() The two-part adaptation, screened at 9pm on Tuesday and Wednesday,(Jan 10/11) also features former Coronation Street actress Ellie Haddington. ![]() Sacha starred in the original stage production of Alan Bennett’s The History Boys, reprising the role both on Broadway and in the film version. Mrs Gaskell later moved to Plymouth Grove, Longsight and was a good friend of Dickens. They included Dickens’ correspondence with with Knutsford-raised Cranford author Elizabeth Gaskell, who had died five years before. The search for clues in Dickens’ last novel also led her to study letters he had written over the years. Gwyneth had worked with Sacha before in the BBC1 drama Five Days. I can’t believe how pleased they were when they got the parts.” ![]() It’s very different to a lot of Dickens’ novels and should hook viewers.”ĭrood director Diarmuid Lawrence says: “Sacha and Amber were so made up to be cast in the only two Asian roles in the whole of Dickens. “It’s a bit of a TV first and a character with real substance who creates a lot of mystery. “I spend half the year now in Los Angeles and half here and my family were very proud when I got the role in Drood. So to be part of that was really exciting for me. The highly prized parts went to Sacha, who trained at Manchester’s Laine-Johnson Theatre School, and Amber Rose Revah as his twin sister Helena. “With great enthusiasm, the production team put two young British Asian actors into starring roles in a costume drama for the first time,” explains Gwyneth. She searched the book and its original cover for clues as to where the story was heading and decided the Landless twins were Tamils from Ceylon – now Sri Lanka – with a British father. Now he’s about to help solve one of Britain’s great literary puzzles in a two-part BBC2 adaptation of the unfinished Charles Dickens novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood.įormer Aquinas College student Sacha plays fiery Neville Landless, an orphan twin who is a crucial figure in the new drama.Ĭrime writer Gwyneth Hughes took on the challenge of finishing the story, left hanging when Dickens died in 1870. The Bramhall actor won new fans in the USA as call centre worker Manmeet in NBC comedy Outsourced, made by the producers of the stateside version of The Office. TV star Sacha Dhawan has landed the role of a lifetime after finding fame in America. The second and concluding episode is a real rollercoaster with several twists.ĭavid Dawson shining as Bazzard alongside Alfie Davis as urchin Deputy.Īnd more than repays the investment of having stuck with the sometimes strange and haunting first hour. With the cathedral interiors shot at Saint Bartholomew the Great at West Smithfield in the City of London. The exterior Drood scenes were filmed at Rochester in Kent, which became Dickens’ home town. Plus several links, including one to short video extracts from the BFI Q&A. You can also read on for more from those later chats with Freddie and Rory. My story on Sacha is in today’s MEN – and below. I also spoke to Freddie, Sacha and Rory later that evening. ![]() With Dickens casting his eye over our attitudes and prejudices.ĭiarmuid and Anne were joined on stage for the post-screening Q&A by Freddie Fox and Rory Kinnear, who plays the Rev Septimus Crisparkle. This adaptation by Five Days crime writer Gwyneth Hughes also portrays twins Neville (Sacha Dhawan) and Helena (Amber Rose Revah) Landless as half Tamil. The darker side of Jasper has a murderous hatred of his nephew Edwin Drood (Freddie Fox) who, as we meet the characters, is set to marry Rosa. “It was only meant to be 20 odd instalments and he died in the middle of chapter 12.”ĭrood is the sometimes strange tale of troubled choirmaster John Jasper (Matthew Rhys) who is addicted to both opium and 17-year-old Rosa Bud (Tamzin Merchant). The story Charles Dickens was writing when he died.Įxecutive producer Anne Pivcevic explained how the TV team set about solving the puzzle The Mystery of Edwin Drood director Diarmuid Lawrence speaking at the British Film Institute in London last month.Īhead of the two-part BBC2 adaptation at 9pm tonight (Tuesday) and tomorrow. “My wife calls me, ‘The man who’s finished off Dickens.’ “IT’S not a challenge you could turn down. John Jasper (Matthew Rhys), Rosa Budd (Tamzin Merchant) and Edwin Drood (Freddie Fox) ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |