Hi everybody, my school mate Jak is in the final of  Got to Dance on SKY1 tonight.  6.30 p.m.  He is fantastic, you need to see it to know how good he is. He is dancing with his dancing partner Tobias Mead. They met at a dance competition and got together to form a duo. They are quite unique and brilliant. Watch tonight and VOTE for them.

 vote for Duplic8 

I have had a bit of a lazy time after getting back from my camping holiday with my brother.  We had a great time, fishing, coasteering and mountain biking.

However, this week,  I went for the read through on the new BBC Drama ‘Outcast’ and met a lot of well known actors.  We all sat around a big table and read through our parts.  I also had to go and do some physical practise for the part, I won’t give anything away!

My hair has grown longish again but it is coming off on Saturday for the new drama,  another short back and sides!  Shooting starts on Saturday and I am really looking forward to it.   Luckily my hair grows quickly and it will be long again in 5 months if I can leave it.

It will be good fun because there are a lot of kids in it.  I like playing  games in the breaks like Trivial Pursuit, Scrabble and Pointless and everybody joins in, including the adults!

This Sunday is really, really exciting because I will be going to the London screening of ‘The Altar’ a feature film written and directed by Nick Willing.  I will try and get some photos.

It is a horror story and is really scary.   Olivia Williams, Matthew Modine, Me and Antonia Clarke

My mate Jamie nominated me for the Macmillan Trust Ice Bucket Challenge.   You can text to 70550 to donate £3.00 to the charity.  Here is the link to my attempt at the challenge.  I have nominated:-  Darren Jeffries, Antonia Clarke and Matthew McGreevey, forgive meeee…

http://youtu.be/fbEql1o4mW8

James Nesbitt was recently interviewed by Yahoo T.V.  about the new BBC Drama series ‘The Missing’

Tony (James Nesbitt) in ‘The Missing’

James Nesbitt  plays Tony Hughes. While on holiday, he and his wife, Emily (played by Frances O’Connor, of Mr. Selfridge), lose their son, and for the next eight years, Tony maintains a relentless attempt to find the boy.

What can you tell us about the show?

“It is an eight-part drama about a family — an ordinary, pretty happy family. One child, devoted to their only child. They go on holiday, annual summer holiday, and a terrible series of events unfolds. We lose our son, and The Missing tells the story of a family shattered and of a father — from my point of view as a father — whose life becomes about finding out what happened to his son between 2006 and 2014.

We start the show in 2014, where Tony, my character, has uncovered a piece of evidence that he thinks could help find out what happened to his son and possibly locate him. But it’s really about an obsession; it’s about the impact of something so unimaginable and horrible on the individuals around him .”

The Starz/BBC drama will premier on the 15th November 2014 simultaneously in the UK and America.

I am really looking forward to going to the cast and crew screening of ALTAR at the end of the month.  The Film is going to the Toronto Film Festival 2014 . Here is a bit from Screen Yorkshire:-

Altar is written and directed by Nick Willing (Neverland, Close Your Eyes, Alice In Wonderland) and produced byMichele Camarda (Wonderland, Close Your Eyes, This Year’s Love).  Adam Thomas Wright (The Physician, The Awakening)  Antonia Clarke, (Les Miserables). Steve Oram (Sightseers).   American artist, Alec Hamilton, Mathew Modine , (Full Metal Jacket, The Dark Knight Rises),  his British wife Olivia Williams, (An Education, The Ghost Writer) and their two children begin renovation work at a remote English estate where strange things begin to happen. Years ago, the estate’s owner killed his wife in a demonic ritual, and exacted her revenge by haunting him, driving him to madness and suicide. As the new family takes possession of the house, something takes possession of Alec—artistically, physically and spiritually—and he is now bent on recreating the ritual.

Executive producer is Robert Halmi Sr. who spearheads the production, comprising The Halmi Company and Great Point Media (where Robert Halmi Jr execs) in association with Sandover Productions. The feature is supported with investment from Screen Yorkshire through the European Regional Development Fund. Executive producers alongside Robert Halmi Sr are Robert Halmi Jr. and Jim Reeve for Great Point Media and Hugo Heppell for Screen Yorkshire. Content Film is handling distribution and is expected to premiere Altar at the Toronto Film Festival

On Thursday I went to try on various costumes for my next assignment.  I have never been to Angels before and I was amazed at the size of the place.   As the world’s largest supplier of outfits to cinema, stage and television, Angels is home to more than eight miles of clothing rails. There was everything you could think of with rows and rows of  tweed jackets and military uniforms,  sc-fi outfits etc: etc:

There has been six generations of Angel’s working at the costumers which started in 1840 .  Angels has absorbed several other clothing archives, including the BBC’s costume collection.

In 1840 Morris Angel, the founder of the Company, opened a second-hand clothing shop in the Seven Dials area of London (near Covent Garden) providing a service for those who wanted good quality clothes at reasonable cost. When an actor asked if he could rent a suit rather than buy it, and the hire business took off. The company remains a family enterprise with the 6th generation of the Angels family working in the company.

I would have liked to try on some of the medieval armour outfits that I saw but I wasn’t able to.  Angels have supplied the costumes for over 34 Films which  have won Oscars for ‘Best Achievement in Costume Design’ and the same amount of Bafta Credits, according to their website:-

  http://www.angels.uk.com/

The company are now based in Hendon and sometimes they arrange tours for people to have a look around, check out the website above.

If you missed the first episode of  Charles II, Part One: Through the World in Various Fortune, you can still catch it on BBC iPlayer. The second episode is on tomorrow at 3.00 p.m. BBC Radio 4

From now, there is only 18 hours left to listen to the first episode on iPlayer.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04d11l4

By Mike Walker

Charting the early life of Charles II, as a young boy in the court of his father and during the Civil War, his life in exile during the interregnum, and later his failed attempts to regain the crown. When news finally reaches him of Oliver Cromwell’s death, Charles plots his return once more.

Directors: Marc Beeby & Sasha Yevtushenko

Olivia Williams, Mathew Modine, Antonia Clarke

and Adam Thomas Wright star in the occult classic ALTAR!

The first photograph released from the feature film Altar as we head for the Toronto Film Festival in September.

I got the news on Friday that I will be doing a new BBC Radio 4 drama which is going to be a Christmas Special.  Very exciting….. and then…. I also got the go ahead on a new BBC T.V. Drama.   I did audition for a different role but I didn’t get it, however, I was lucky enough to be offered another role in this production called The Outcast.

Source:  The Knowledge News

This week has been busy and yesterday, right after I finished my riding course, I got changed and jumped on a train to the  WARNER BROS. DE LANE LEA  STUDIOS in London.

I attended the screening of a short film I did about a year ago called The Keys which was directed by William Peschek  – WEP FILMS (WEP Productions & WEP UK Productions)  It was nice to meet up with everyone again and the film is off  on the festival trail, I don’t know which ones yet but I will find out.  The story is around a boy who seems to have special powers.

www.wepfilms.com