Clearly there's some common DNA in all my protagonists. On the left we've got Rufus Sewell as Eleventh Hour's Jacob Hood, on the right is Stephen Tompkinson as Jim Harper in my Oktober miniseries.The two were contemporaries at London's Central School of Speech and Drama, old mates and no doubt old rivals too.
I just heard from JBTV that CBS have ordered another five Eleventh Hour shows. As TV Tattle puts it, "The British remake is inching closer to a full season with 18 total episodes."
More on that soon. And in case you hadn't noticed, there's now a free Christmas story available for download - check out the link in the sidebar.
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6 comments:
I loved Oktober. Do we know if anyone over here has picked up Eleventh Hour?
Also, you mentioned some time ago that you'd recorded a DVD commentary for one of your old Doctor Who stories. Well, it's coming out in January and I reported it today on the blog that accompanies my podcast.
http://cadmium2.wordpress.com/
I haven't seen Warriors' Gate in years, so I need to re-evaluate. Particularly as I love the book and have read that more than I've seen the programme...
Which reminds me... Why John Lydecker and not Stephen Gallagher?
Actually, having looked closer, you're listed in the documentary but not the commentary. Presumably this means you've done Terminus then too?
Oh the joys of DVDs...
Indeed... I wasn't actually available for the WG commentary and that's why I'm not on it -- I'm sworn to secrecy over the one I did contribute to, but as I only wrote the two stories it can't be much of a secret now.
Around the time I did that commentary I also did a couple of on-camera interviews which covered Warriors' Gate, so when I couldn't make the dates I suggested they draw on those and also on Keith Barnfather's Mythmakers footage.
Why John Lydecker and not Stephen Gallagher?
Just to separate my novelising from my novel-writing -- the name came from a character in one of my Radio 4 plays, AN ALTERNATIVE TO SUICIDE. For that I'd stolen it from Howard and Theodore Lydecker, the fx guys who made Captain Marvel fly.
Well, you learn something new every day. Have you novelised anything since then?
Off-topic a bit but as I was typing I suddenly remembered a show you wrote years ago that sent shivers down my spine and that was "Here Comes The Mirror Man". (1995/6?)
If I recall correctly, it had a young John Simm and Paul Reynolds in it. It had a fantastically uncomfortable atmosphere - but the bit that always stays in my head is the scene at the end where John Simm is standing on the hillside, crying that "Matthew" (I think it was Matthew) has 'left' him. He's carted off as a loony by an ambulance and as Phyllis Logan gets in her car and breathes a sigh of relief, she glances in her rear view mirror and Paul Reynolds demonic face appears.
Not wishing to be indelicate but it scared the sh!t out of me at the time.
Chiller got unfairly shunted around the ITV schedules (a bit like BUGS in the end - I miss BUGS) and some really good stories got lost along the way I think.
Sorry, you may have noticed that I like my cult British TV...
Ah, Chillers... available on DVD, but only from Australia!
A really nice early performance from John Simm, I thought. I remember that he injured his leg shooting the climactic chase and they had to wait until it had healed before they could go back and complete the show.
Early ratings for the series were good but then because it was an anthology series, it was an easy target when they were looking for something to pre-empt for a sports fixture. Which always drives numbers down, and cost us the second season.
Have you novelised anything since then?
Not for some time, and I think I only used the Lydecker name again once.
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