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This Year... Sci-fi Pilots Dark Smile return to their roots with a series of Sci-fi releases. The Paradox Suite is now broadcasting..... |
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Out Now...
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The latest Made In
Manchester / Dark Smile drama
‘As We Forgive
Them’
is now live at
www.independent.co.uk/drama
together with our previous dramas –
Death in Genoa,
Turing’s Test
- and Suzie Pugh
and a Monster Too
which can be found at
www.independent.co.uk/childrensdrama America, November 2008: the new President is elected amidst an ‘audacity of hope’. For newly elected Democrat Congressman, John Daniels, this should be a time of celebration. Instead he must decide the fate of his daughter’s murderer: should he exact revenge or grant redemption …..or both? |
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Coronation Street star Vicky
Binns is the latest actor to take to the web as she becomes the voice of a brand
new character for children.
Vicky, who plays Molly in
Britain's most popular TV soap opera, is taking on the role of Suzie Pugh in
Suzie Pugh and a Monster Too - a new radio adventure for children, made
by Made in Manchester, and downloadable via The Independent's website this
Christmas.
The kids story is part of a
wider initiative by Made in Manchester/Dark Smile to bring original short-form
radio drama and comedy to new audiences.
Vicky Binns says: "I'm very
passionate about this initiative to get new writing out there via radio drama. I
started out working in radio and continue to do so. It is a wonderful medium for
drama and comedy.
Anything that gets people to use their imaginations through the power of speech
and sound is a great thing."
Suzie
Pugh creator and writer Phil Collinge says "I'm really pleased that Made in
Manchester and Dark Smile have been able to bring this story to The Independent
for this Christmas.
Phil added: "I think radio
is an ideal medium for Children's storytelling. After all children have such
vivid imaginations - and they're going to need them, because we're off on a
rollercoaster adventure! I really hope that people like Suzie Pugh, and that we
can take her on some more adventures. I think it's time for a new children's
hero, and why shouldn't that hero be an ordinary girl from the north of England?
Stranger things can happen - just ask Suzie Pugh!"
Suzie Pugh and Monster Too
stars Vicky Binns as Suzie Pugh and Steve Murphy (Life on Mars/Shameless/The Street) as Smert (the monster) and is live via The Independent's website over the Christmas period at www.independent.co.uk/childrensdrama-----------------------------
www.independent.co.uk/drama
from Friday 4th December 2009
Legendary stage and screen
actor Simon Callow stars as Oscar Wilde in a
ground-breaking new online drama about a little
known period in the life of the 19th
Century writer, wit and raconteur.
Death in Genoa
is an imaginative dramatic reconstruction of the
time Wilde spent in Italy in February 1899, when
he visited the grave of his wife, Constance - a
poignant and little known episode in his life.
The radio drama is the
second to be promoted and premiered via a
national newspaper’s website and marks the
launch of
Independent Drama
following the cementing of a relationship
between the paper and award-winning production
company, Made in Manchester (MIM)
Last month, a 30 minute radio
drama about persecuted Enigma Code breaker Alan
Turing was promoted in the newspaper and
premiered online. Turing’s Test
which starred History Boys actor Samuel Barnett
was regularly in the Top 20 in its category on i-tunes.
Death in Genoa
is written by Thomas Wright. He’s been
studying the life and times of Oscar Wilde for
two decades and is author of Oscar’s Books
(Chatto and Windus 2008).
He says: “I’ve always been
fascinated by the post-prison Wilde. Most people
seem to think that Wilde died in prison, yet he
survived his appalling sentence, and lived on
for three years after his release, wandering
around the continent under the alias Sebastian
Melmoth.
“They were years of pleasure
for Wilde, with brandy and young men in
plentiful supply, years of marvellous spoken
stories and witty conversation. They were also
years made up of poverty, insults, failed
attempts at writing, and reflection – on his
past, on his sexuality, on his imprisonment, and
on his extraordinary achievements as an artist.”
Thomas adds: “Wilde’s visit
to his wife’s grave in Genoa in February 1899
provided me with the perfect subject for a drama
that contained all of these tragi-comic
elements. While ‘Death in Genoa’ is based on the
few facts we have, it is a work of fiction.”
Death in Genoa
also stars History Boys and Desperate Romantics
actor Samuel Barnett as Omero and Blake
Ritson (Emma and The League of Gentlemen) as Dr
Carlo Bazzani.
The new initiative to bring
regular radio drama via The Independent
newspaper is being supported by a whole host of
top actors, writers, directors and producers.
MIM Creative Director and
Independent Drama Executive Producer Ashley
Byrne says: “Apart from a limited number of
slots on the BBC, there’s little opportunity for
writers or actors to get to grips with radio
drama.
“But with the internet and
ipods, listening is enjoying something of a
renaissance and now is the time to capitalise on
that and really excite people about the
extraordinary possibilities with radio drama and
to introduce it to fresh audiences.”
Ashley adds: “Everyone’s
talking about what the internet can do but
there’s little focus on the quality of the
content. Our task is to create original drama
which people actually want to stream and
download. And that is not simply an add-on or a
catch up service from existing mainstream TV or
radio.”
Actor Simon Callow says:
“Anything which reaffirms the greatness of that
extraordinary medium, radio, is to be
encouraged. What is especially exciting about
Made in Manchester’s outfit is the speed with
which they can commission and produce plays and
get them on the air, where whole new audiences
can experience them. Great stuff.”
It’s also hoped that
Independent Drama, which Made in
Manchester will make in conjunction with
post-production house Dark Smile, will also be a
way to premiere new writing and acting talent.
Eastenders actor and TV
writer Chris
Coghill says: "As an actor and a writer
looking to get into radio, I have always found
it something of a closed shop with very specific
and limited boundaries. Therefore I am delighted
to take this opportunity to get involved with
Made In Manchester/Dark Smile.
“Bringing writers, producers
and actors together to pool creative resources
in an exciting and less traditional way, this is
a truly innovative platform to deliver original
work to new audiences.”
Among others supporting Independent Drama
are Vicky Binns from Coronation Street,
radio and theatre director Joyce Branagh,
Doctors writer and director Adrian Bean,
writer Tim Fountain, Reggie Perrin
creator and writer David Nobbs and poet
Ian McMillan.
Ø
Death in Genoa
is written by Thomas Wright and stars Simon
Callow as Oscar Wilde, Samuel Barnett as Omero
and Blake Ritson as Dr Carlo Bazzani. It is
directed by Joyce Branagh and Neil Gardner and
Produced by Ashley Byrne and Iain Mackness. It
is a Made in Manchester/Dark Smile Co Production
for The Independent.
