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Plot: After jumping back into the dating pool, single mother Bridget Jones finds herself caught between a younger man and her son’s science teacher.

Review: Back in 2001, there was some slight controversy surrounding Renee Zellweger being cast as the frumpy, overweight character of Bridget Jones. Known for her svelte physique, the pounds Zellweger gained for the role in the adaptation of the Helen Fielding novel was just the right amount to make the romantic comedy co-starring Hugh Grant and Colin Firth a hit with critics and audiences. The sequels, 2004’s Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason and 2016’s Bridget Jones’s Baby, brought in less than their predecessor at the box office, with the second film lambasted by critics. The newest entry in the series, Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy, has arrived directly to Peacock with a global theatrical release slated for outside of North America. Bringing back...

Renée Zellweger returns for the legendary diary’s last chapter. Here’s our Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy review.

Like Top Gun: Maverick and Puss In Boots: The Last Wish before it, it’s doubtful anyone thought they needed a Bridget Jones 4. Since the UK’s favourite middle-class mess stumbled into cinemas in 2001, both the inevitable follow-up (The Edge Of Reason) and late-2010s revival (Baby) have struggled to recapture the original’s magic. In the nine years since we last saw Bridget, an avalanche of legacy sequels, requels, reboots and marketing slogans have us beaten into submission; do we really need another one? The answer, resoundingly, is yes.

Now, Bridget’s middle-class malaise has “oh fuck”ed its way cheerfully into the 2020s: her best friend Miranda (Sarah Solemani) complains about spending too much time in Soho House; Shazzer (Sally Phillips) has a podcast, and her new nanny...

Studios and theater owners are hoping for a huge Valentine’s Day-Presidents Day boost at the box office, led by the year’s first superhero tentpole, Marvel Studios’ Captain America: Brave New World.

If tracking and exhibitor predictions are right, Captain America — which should open to $90 million-plus over the long four-day weekend, one of the top showings ever for the holiday. That’s the same weekend the first Deadpool opened, as well as Marvel’s Black Panther. Likewise for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantamania, which debuted to $120 million over Presidents Day weekend in 2023.

Overseas, Brave New World opens everywhere, including in China, Japan and South Korea. It could collect $100 million overseas.

Marvel, which had to take serious stock of its strategy and future after several films faltered, culminating with The Marvels, is in a far better place now thanks to the stunning success of Deadpool & Wolverine, which became the...

As the world prepares to wave goodbye — at least, for now — to Bridget Jones, maybe no one will miss her more than Renée Zellweger.

“I don’t think I’ll ever let go of Bridget,” the star tells The Hollywood Reporter (no shred of her impeccable British accent discernible — a Texan through and through).

Bridget Jones first landed on our screens nearly 25 years ago in Bridget Jones’s Diary when Zellweger embodied Helen Fielding’s titular protagonist like the character had been written for her. The movie was based on Fielding’s first book of the same name, which was an instant ’90s hit and sold over two million copies worldwide by 2006.

In its 2001 film adaptation, Zellweger fell headfirst into life as a London girl and audiences around the globe fell in love with a verbally incontinent spinster who drinks like a fish, smokes like a chimney and dresses like her mother.

“Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy”, directed by Michael Morris, is the fourth rom-com installment in the “Bridget Jones” film series, based on Helen Fielding’s 2013 novel, starring Oscar-winner Renée Zellweger, releasing February 14, 2025 in theaters:

“…now in her fifties, ‘Bridget Jones’ gets back on track following the death of her husband. As she opens her door to dating once again, she will enter a new decade and a new diary…

Cast also includes Emma Thompson as ‘Doctor Rawlings’, Hugh Grant as ‘Daniel Cleaver’, Jim Broadbent as ‘Colin Jones’, Gemma Jones as ‘Pamela Jones’, Sarah Solemani as ‘Miranda’, Sally Phillips as ‘Sharon’, Shirley Henderson as ‘Jude’, James Callis as ‘Tom’, Celia Imrie as ‘Una Alconbury’, Chiwetel Ejiofor as ‘Mr. Wallaker’, Leo Woodall as ‘Roxster, Isla Fisher as ‘Rebecca’ and Nico Parker as ‘Chloe’.

Click the images to enlarge…

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There may have been some flustering over certain new additions to the Bridget Jones cast Wednesday night (ahem, looking at you, Leo Woodall and Chiwetel Ejiofor), but most of the love was thrown right at Renée Zellweger and Hugh Grant.

The pair, who first starred in the movie adaptations of Helen Fielding’s wildly popular novels in 2001, arrived on the pink carpet in London’s Leicester Square for the world premiere of the fourth and final chapter in Jones’ diary, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy.

While Colin Firth and Emma Thompson were notably missing from the ensemble, their absence was soon made up for by the presence of the likes of Shirley Henderson, Celia Imrie, Gemma Jones and Sarah Solemani, alongside rising star Woodall and seasoned pro Ejiofor.

The last ride on Bridget’s journey sees her wrestle with grief four years after Mark Darcy (Firth) was killed while...

Renee Zellweger is back in London with her new movie Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy!

After filming the movie in the city in early 2024, the two-time Oscar-winning actress returned for the red carpet premiere on Wednesday (January 29) at the Odeon Luxe Leicester Square in London, England.

Renee was joined at the event by co-stars Hugh Grant, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Leo Woodall, Jim Broadbent, Gemma Jones, Isla Fisher, Josette Simon, Nico Parker, Leila Farzad, and Sarah Solemani.

This marks Isla‘s first appearance on the film’s press tour. She joined the cast as Bridget’s new neighbor and we have photos of her on set with Renee!

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy will begin streaming on Peacock in the U.S. on February 13 and the film will launch in theaters internationally on February 14. Watch the trailer!

Fyi: Isla is wearing a Marmar Halim gown. Nico is wearing Chanel.

The latest “Bridget Jones” picks up with Renée Zellweger’s iconic character four years after the death of her husband Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), now raising their two children on her own. When she finally reenters the dating pool, she finds herself drawn to Roxster, a free-spirited young man played by Leo Woodall.

Titled “Mad About the Boy,” the movie explores how Bridget’s relationship with 29-year-old Roxster helps her to heal. It’s the latest in a string of films, including Nicole Kidman’s “Babygirl” and Anne Hathaway’s “Idea of You,” that shows a woman dating a man her junior.

At the London premiere of “Mad About the Boy” on Wednesday night, Zellweger got candid about the significance of the characters’ romance playing out on screen. “I mean, I think it’s nothing new,” she told Variety on the red carpet. “But maybe the social taboos are melting away…...

Diary in hand and probably spilling chardonnay on it, Bridget Jones is returning nearly after a decade. She is older, perhaps wiser, but seemingly just as awkward. Whether you’ve been a Bridget fan since 2001 or are discovering this classic right now, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is shaping up to be one of the bigger rom-com events of 2025.

Unlike previous films, Mad About the Boy will focus on Bridget as a single mom in her fifties. The movie’s screenplay was written by Helen Fielding, the original author of the Bridget Jones books, with help from Abi Morgan and Dan Mazer. Michael Morris, credited for his chops on Better Call Saul, is directing.

A still from the trailer of Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy | Credits: Miramax, Peacock

The film will hit theaters internationally on February 14, 2025. In the U.S., fans can stream it on Peacock starting February 13, 2025. Before its release,...

“Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy”, directed by Michael Morris is the fourth rom-com in the “Bridget Jones” film series, based on Helen Fielding’s 2013 novel, starring Oscar-winner Renée Zellweger, releasing February 14, 2025 in theaters:

“…now in her fifties, ‘Bridget Jones’ gets back on track following the death of her husband. As she opens her door to dating once again, she will enter a new decade and a new diary…

Cast also includes Emma Thompson as ‘Doctor Rawlings’, Hugh Grant as ‘Daniel Cleaver’, Jim Broadbent as ‘Colin Jones’, Gemma Jones as ‘Pamela Jones’, Sarah Solemani as ‘Miranda’, Sally Phillips as ‘Sharon’, Shirley Henderson as ‘Jude’, James Callis as ‘Tom’, Celia Imrie as ‘Una Alconbury’, Chiwetel Ejiofor as ‘Mr. Wallaker’, Leo Woodall as ‘Roxster, Isla Fisher as ‘Rebecca’ and Nico Parker as ‘Chloe’.

Click the images to enlarge…...

A fourth Bridget Jones film is on the way, and some returning faces as well as new famous ones have joined the latest installment in the rom-com franchise.

Renée Zellweger, who first brought the titular character to life in Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001) will return to reprise her role in the film. The news of the fourth film first arrived in April 2024, and a cast has been rounded out. Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is the working title for the upcoming film.

For everything we know about the Bridget Jones 4 release date, cast and plot, read on below:

When will Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy come out?

As of August 2024, the film is slated for a streaming release on Galentine’s Day 2025, exclusively on Peacock.

Who will be in Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy?

Alongside Zellweger, returning cast include Emma Thompson, who appeared as Bridget’s Ob/Gyn Dr.

Renee Zellweger is back as Bridget Jones in Mad About The Boy, and here’s the trailer for the new film.

The long awaited fourth film is called Mad About The Boy, adapted from Fielding’s 2013 novel of the same name, and it’s now far away at all. As well as a returning Renee Zellweger, the cast also includes Isla Fisher, Josette Simon, Nico Parker and Leila Farzad.

Michael Morris directed the film from a screenplay by Fielding, with contributions from screenwriters Abi Morgan and Dan Mazer.

The first trailer for it is with us, and it looks like this:

Helen Fielding’s big knicker wearing, perennial singleton Bridget Jones began life as a character in a series of columns in The Independent, which became a bestselling series of novels. They were soon adapted into hugely successful films, with Renee Zellweger starring in 2001’s Bridget Jones’ Diary, 2004’s Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason...

Nearly a decade after the release of Bridget Jones’ Baby, Renée Zellweger has reprised the title role in the final installment of the beloved romcom franchise.

The new Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy trailer sees Zellweger’s Bridget navigate the single life — again — after the tragic death of her husband Mark Darcy, and her friends all have the same question for the single mother of two: “Did you have sex?”

“Yes. I did. I had a full night of utterly mind-blowing sex and it was amazing!” Bridget says at the trailer’s end,...

“Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy”, directed by Michael Morris is the fourth rom-com in the “Bridget Jones” film series, based on Helen Fielding’s 2013 novel, starring Oscar-winner Renée Zellweger, releasing February 14, 2025 in theaters:

“…now in her fifties, ‘Bridget Jones’ gets back on track following the death of her husband. As she opens her door to dating once again, she will enter a new decade and a new diary…

Cast also includes Emma Thompson as ‘Doctor Rawlings’, Hugh Grant as ‘Daniel Cleaver’, Jim Broadbent as ‘Colin Jones’, Gemma Jones as ‘Pamela Jones’, Sarah Solemani as ‘Miranda’, Sally Phillips as ‘Sharon’, Shirley Henderson as ‘Jude’, James Callis as ‘Tom’, Celia Imrie as ‘Una Alconbury’, Chiwetel Ejiofor as ‘Mr. Wallaker’, Leo Woodall as ‘Roxster, Isla Fisher as ‘Rebecca’ and Nico Parker as ‘Chloe’.

Click the images to enlarge…...

Renee Zellweger is back in “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy,” the fourth and final movie in the rom-com series that’s coming to Peacock on Feb. 13.

“Mad About the Boy” is based on the third novel in Helen Fielding’s “Bridget Jones” book series. In addition Zellweger, Hugh Grant and Emma Thompson have both returned to reprise their roles as Daniel Cleaver and Dr. Rawlings. Other returning cast members include Jim Broadbent, Sarah Solemani, Sally Phillips, Shirley Henderson, James Callis, Neil Pearson, Joanna Scanlan and Celia Imrie. They will be joined by newcomers Chiwetel Ejiofor, Leo Woodall, Isla Fisher, Nico Parker, Josette Simon and Leila Farzad.

The official plot synopsis reads: “Bridget is alone once again, widowed four years ago, when Mark (Colin Firth) was killed on a humanitarian mission in the Sudan. She’s now a single mother to 9-year-old Billy and 4-year-old Mabel, and is stuck in a state of emotional limbo,...

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy going direct to streaming is only the second biggest sequel development revealed Tuesday.

Peacock has announced that the fourth installment in the Renée Zellweger film franchise will bypass theaters in the United States. Following an international theatrical release on Wednesday, Feb. 12, the sequel will land Stateside on Thursday, Feb. 13, where it will stream exclusively on Peacock.

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Bridget’s back, and she’s still trying to figure things out.

The first trailer for Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy has been released, and Renée Zellweger’s Bridget is still looking for love as she comes to terms with the tragedy of losing Mark Darcy (Colin Firth). Yep, you read that correctly, Darcy is no more and the trailer serves up the bad news straight away.

Still, the only way is up for our Bridget as she gets on with life, and the prospect of not one but two possible romances. There’s the hunky and age-appropriate Mr. Wallaker (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a teacher at Bridget’s children’s school and the wild card of Roxster (Leo Woodall), the youthful bit of rough that should be a red flag.

‘Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy’

Mad About the Boy is the fourth film in the franchise and follows Bridget Jones’s Diary...

“Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy”, directed by Michael Morris in London UK, is the fourth rom-com installment in the “Bridget Jones” film series, based on Helen Fielding’s 2013 novel, again starring Oscar-winner Renée Zellweger’s return as the fourth installment in the Bridget Jones film series, releasing February 14, 2025 in theaters:

“…now in her fifties, ‘Bridget Jones’ gets back on track following the death of her husband. As she opens her door to dating once again, she will enter a new decade and a new diary…

Cast also includes Emma Thompson as ‘Doctor Rawlings’, Hugh Grant as ‘Daniel Cleaver’, Jim Broadbent as ‘Colin Jones’, Gemma Jones as ‘Pamela Jones’, Sarah Solemani as ‘Miranda’, Sally Phillips as ‘Sharon’, Shirley Henderson as ‘Jude’, James Callis as ‘Tom’, Celia Imrie as ‘Una Alconbury’, Chiwetel Ejiofor as ‘Mr. Wallaker’, Leo Woodall as ‘Roxster, Isla Fisher as ‘Rebecca’ and Nico Parker as ‘Chloe’.

Click the images to enlarge…...

Conspiracy theorists, have we got the show for you!

A new reality series called “Flat Earthers” will pay its players cash if they can convince a panel of (actual) experts that the world is flat. Good luck with that.

IndieWire can exclusively reveal that the recently launched streaming service The Network is in active production on “Flat Earthers” and will launch all 10 episodes this December.

“Flat Earthers” is described as part docuseries, part competition show, and it will follow five families who each genuinely believe the Earth is flat. But rather than just document their exploits, the families will each be given $50,000 worth of resources for research and will ultimately present their findings to a panel of scientists, theologians, and cartographers. If they can convince a majority of the panelists that the Earth is in fact flat, they’ll be awarded a cash prize. The amount of the cash prize was not disclosed.

I can’t help admiring the sheer audacity of Aram Rappaport. He’s the creator, writer and director behind “The Green Veil,” a drama series starring John Leguizamo that debuted with two episodes at the Tribeca fest in 2022. When he couldn’t find an outlet to pick up the full series, Rappaport decided to launch his own ad-supported streaming service — dubbed The Network — from scratch.

Set in the 1950s, “The Green Veil” takes on the history of oppression in America — and in particular, atrocities committed against the Indigenous community. Leguizamo plays a brutal FBI agent, and Rappaport believes the nature of the story was “something that’s just very hard to be greenlit anywhere else just because of the subject matter. So I feel like this is a perfect drama for us to launch with, and make a statement about what we’re trying to do with a platform like this.

The cast of Universal Pictures Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy sequel has added four more actors to its lineup, including Now You See Me and Arrested Development star Isla Fisher.

Per The Hollywood Reporter, Fisher is officially joining the latest installment in the iconic Bridget Jones franchise, which will feature Oscar winner Rene Zellweger reprising the titular role. Besides Fisher, Nico Parker (The Last of Us), Josette Simon (Anatomy of a Scandal), and Leila Farzad (I Hate Suzie) have also been tapped to play new characters in the upcoming sequel. In addition, the studio has also confirmed the return of franchise vets Sarah Solemani, Sally Phillips, Shirley Henderson, James Callis, Gemma Jones and Jim Broadbent, who have signed on to reprise their respective roles as Miranda, Sharon, Jude, Tom, Pamela Jones and Colin Jones from the first three Bridget Jones movies.

Related Zac Efron Hooks Up With Nicole Kidman...

Renée Zellweger will don the English accent for the revisit to Bridget Jones’ world. In the upcoming fourth movie in the franchise, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, the plot is said to “pick up with Bridget in her early fifties, as she navigates the challenges of modern life while juggling the responsibilities of motherhood.” Along with Zellweger, returning players from the past films are set to include Hugh Grant, and Emma Thompson.

Variety has now reported that the new installment has added some notable names to the cast. Isla Fisher will be joining the comedy along with Nico Parker (How to Train Your Dragon), Josette Simon (Anatomy of a Scandal) and Leila Farzad (Black Mirror: Joan is Awful). Additionally, Jim Broadbent and Gemma Jones are set to return as Bridget’s mum and dad. Sarah Solemani, Sally Phillips, Shirley Henderson and James Callis will be coming back to reprise...

Isla Fisher, Nico Parker, Josette Simon and Leila Farzad have been added to the cast of ‘Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy.’

Joining them on the cast and reprising their roles are Gemma Jones and Jim Broadbent who play Bridget’s mom and dad. Sarah Solemani, Sally Phillips, Shirley Henderson and James Callis will return to reprise their roles as Bridget’s friends. Neil Pearson, Joanna Scanlan and Celia Imrie also return for this latest instalment.

Also returning to the haphazard world of our beloved Bridget are British actors Hugh Grant and Emma Thompson. Franchise newbies will include Chiwetel Ejiofor and Leo Woodall.

Also in news – Andrew Scott cast in Rian Johnson’s ‘Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery’

In the forthcoming film, Hugh Grant is set to reprise his role as Daniel Cleaver. This marks the actor’s return to the film series after his character was...

“Wedding Crashers” star Isla Fisher, Nico Parker (“How To Train Your Dragon”), Josette Simon (“Anatomy of a Scandal”) and Leila Farzad (“Black Mirror: Joan is Awful”) have joined the cast of “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy,” which premieres on Valentine’s Day next year in theaters internationally and on Peacock in the U.S.

Gemma Jones and Jim Broadbent return to play Bridget’s mom and dad. Sarah Solemani, Sally Phillips, Shirley Henderson and James Callis will return to reprise their roles as Bridget’s friends. Neil Pearson, Joanna Scanlan and Celia Imrie also return for this latest installment in the “Bridget Jones” series. They join stars Renée Zellweger, Hugh Grant and Emma Thompson as well as newcomers Chiwetel Ejiofor and Leo Woodall.

“Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy” is based on the third “Bridget Jones” novel by Helen Fielding and will be the fourth movie in the franchise.

Universal Pictures and Working Title have announced new and returning cast members for Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, the fourth installment of the British-based romantic film comedy series.

Joining the cast are Isla Fisher, Josette Simon, Nico Parker and Leila Farzad. Already announced to return is Renée Zellweger to reprise her role as the lovable but flailing-at-life Jones, and Hugh Grant as rascal Daniel Cleaver. Emma Thompson, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Leo Woodall were also earlier announced for the film.

In the latest casting news, Universal and Working Title announced Sarah Solemani, Sally Phillips, Shirley Henderson and James Callis will reprise their roles as Bridget’s friends, alongside Gemma Jones and Jim Broadbent, who return as Bridget’s mother and father.

Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy, also from StudioCanal and Miramax, will additionally see Celia Imrie, Neil Pearson and Joanna Scanlan in returning roles. The film will hit cinemas...

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Its not often you come across a comedy as wickedly smart as Chivalry. Created by Aram Rappaport (Syrup), the enjoyable #MeToo era tale, which recently debuted on free streaming platform The Network, is written by Sarah Solemani (Bridget Joness Baby) and Steve Coogan. The story finds a critically acclaimed female director, Bobby (Solemani), having to doctor a troubled production run by a seasoned male producer, Cameron (Coogan). Shes also speaking up while several privileged white males around her play #MeToo catch-up and reconsider their motivations and actions.

Chivalry ComedyDrama 4.5/5

A successful producer and a woke writer and director are brought closer by a creeping attraction and a feeling that they are just pawns in the studio's agenda for a Saudi Arabian buyout.

Release DateMay 19, 2022CastSteve Coogan, Sarah Solemani, Sienna Miller, Wanda Sykes, Lolly Adefope, Aisling Bea, Adjani Salmon, Robert LonsdaleSeasons1WritersSarah Solemani...

Exclusive: The Network is the latest free streaming service to launch in the U.S. The ad-supported service, which was set up by Aram Rappaport, founder of the creative ad-agency The Boathouse, is launching April 30.

However, the service, which has backing from Bh Media Holdings, is not launching with a slew of library titles and movies. Instead, it will focus on two originals at a time.

It is launching with Chivalry, a comedy originally commissioned by the UK’s Channel 4 and starring Steve Coogan and Sarah Solemani, and The Green Veil starring John Leguizamo.

Chivalry was written by Coogan and Solemani and is set in Hollywood, exploring the nuances, advances, and limitations of the entertainment industry in a post #MeToo era. It follows a critically acclaimed female director, played by Solemani, who is brought on to right the ship of a wayward production run by a seasoned male producer,...

Exclusive: Channel 4’s drama boss and head of youth channel E4 are both expected to leave the British broadcaster as it cuts up to 250 jobs.

Deadline is told that Couple Next Door commissioner Caroline Hollick and Married at First Sight’s Karl Warner are likely to leave under the cost savings plan.

Their departure has not been finalized and Channel 4 remains in discussion with both commissioners under its 45-day consultation period.

Hollick’s TV drama department is set to be brought together with Film4 under one commissioning lead. Film 4 is run by newly-promoted Ollie Madden, who is expected to take the lead role.

E4, which Warner has overseen since 2018, is also restructuring, with commissions for the youth channel now going through relevant genres and digital commissioning reporting straight to content boss Ian Katz.

Both Hollick and Warner joined Channel 4 in the summer of 2018, soon after Katz was appointed.

What links: a drug dealer in Trainspotting, a wrestling referee in The World According to Garp, a disgruntled restaurant guest in The Night Manager, an Aunt who slaps Madeline Brewer’s face in The Handmaid’s Tale, and a police officer in Jack Reacher: Never Go Back?

Correct! They were all cameo appearances in films and TV shows made by the author of the original books. While writers are as a rule happier out of the limelight thinking up their metaphors while hunched solo over a keyboard, every so often they straighten their spines to walk self-consciously through the back of shot in a movie based on one of their books. It’s fun for them. Gets them out of the house.

Best-selling thriller author Harlan Coben (the man behind the ever-growing Harlan Coben Screen Universe) is no different. Of the dozen TV series adapted from his twist-packed novels, he’s...

The immediate flaw in any attempt to stack the twelve extant Harlan Coben TV thrillers in order of greatness is that none of them are exactly great. Pretty much all of them though, are compulsive viewing and will pull you through a bucking and twisting story at the speed of a beagle on the scent of a nearby sausage. They’re packed with incident and revelations, and are generally performed by a charismatic cast so big that you’ll never quite meet them all, let alone tire of their company. Binge-watches par excellence, each one of these series is precision-designed to be gulped down in very few bites.

As these stories all shop for plot in the same aisle, chances are that if you enjoy one Harlan Coben thriller, you’ll enjoy the others. They’re all filled with cliff-hangers, twists, secret identities, surprise resurrections, flashback wigs, and oh-no-it-was-you-all-along reveals.

Lila Rawlings, head of creative: film and TV at “Roma” filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron’s U.K.-based outfit Esperanto Filmoj, is joining British independent production company Motive Pictures as an executive producer.

Rawlings’ remit at Motive will encompass both TV and film projects as the company scales its team in the wake of its first wave of productions, including the Ruth Wilson drama “The Woman in the Wall” for BBC and Showtime.

At Esperanto, Rawlings oversaw a slate of projects with Sarah Solemani, Jack Thorne and Charlize Theron and served as executive producer on “The Shepherd,” one in a series of films financed by Disney, directed by Iain Softley and starring John Travolta. Previously, Rawlings was executive producer at Left Bank Pictures where she was responsible for several projects, including “Sitting in Limbo,” a BAFTA- winning drama for BBC One and “Electric Dreams” for Amazon, Sony TV and Channel 4.

Nicola Shindler, CEO of Quay Street Production and the producer of such acclaimed British series as It’s A Sin, Queer as Folk and Happy Valley, has been named the recipient of this year’s Woman in Series award by international television festival Series Mania.

Series Mania founder and general director Laurence Herszberg and Francesco Capurro, director of the festival’s industry section, the Series Mania Forum, unveiled the news on Wednesday, timed to International Women’s Day.

The Women in Series award, presented in association with female professionals associations the European Women’s Audiovisual Network and Pour Les Femmes Dans Les Médias, honors the vision and leadership of “a remarkable woman from the audiovisual industry.” Shindler will receive the prize at a gala ceremony in Lille, France on March 21.

A prolific producer, Shindler has been a driving force in high-end British drama for decades. She’s worked with the likes of Russell T. Davies,...

British producer Richard Johns has launched a new label, Argo Films.

Johns is best known for the 2000 Academy Award-nominated indie horror flick Shadow of a Vampire and several other films, is debuting with a slate of projects and The Shepherd, a completed short for Disney+.

The Shepherd, starring John Travolta and Ben Radcliffe, is based on the novel by Frederick Forsyth and followed the story of a pilot flying home solo for Christmas in 1957. Iain Softley wrote and directed, and Alfonso Cuarón and Bill Kenwright are co-producers.

Argo will also house scripted assets and development projects from Corona Pictures and Corona Television, the businesses Johns established with Rupert Jermyn in 2009 that produced teen horror Truth or Dare and Tim Roth-starrer The Liability and whose TV arm received investment from Fremantle. Johns purchased Jermyn’s share of the assets when the latter left the industry in 2019.

Projects include several unnamed international drama co-productions,...

Baby Cow are the production company behind some of the U.K.’s best-loved comedy shows, including “Gavin and Stacey” with James Corden and Ruth Jones, Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding’s “The Mighty Boosh” and “This Time With Alan Partridge” starring Steve Coogan as the cringe-worthy fictional television host.

It was a prescient Coogan who founded Baby Cow alongside producer Henry Normal in 1998, long before talent-led production companies were a thing. In 2016 BBC Studios took a majority stake in the company, with Coogan staying on as a shareholder and creative director. He also stars in many (although not all) of the company’s projects – which span TV, film, comedy and drama – including the recent Channel 4 series “Chivalry,” in which he plays an old-school film producer getting to grips with a changing world opposite Sarah Solemani, and upcoming feature film “The Lost King,” about an amateur historian who finds...

Steve Coogan’s production company Baby Cow has snapped up a new series from “Stath Lets Flats” star Katy Wix and Adam Drake (“The Chosen”) called “Fat Camp,” Variety can exclusively reveal.

Wix, who has also appeared in shows including “Torchwood” and “The Windsors,” has co-written the series with Drake. She will also star.

“Fat Camp” will be centered around a kids’ diet camp and set in the U.K. It was inspired by an article Wix read about real-life camps where parents send their children in a bid to help them lose weight.

Wix and Drake will also exec produce alongside Baby Cow CEO Sarah Monteith and Rupert Majendie, Baby Cow’s head of development.

Variety understands a bidding war erupted over the series before it landed at Baby Cow, which has also produced shows including “Chivalry,” starring Coogan and Sarah Solemani, Coogan’s “This Time With Alan Partridge,...

Exclusive: Sienna Miller and Sam Worthington will star with Kevin Costner in Horizon, leading the ensemble cast of Costner’s passion project Horizon. Costner, who is directing, producing and financing, is casting up the historical epic that begins production August 29 in Utah. Jamie Campbell Bower, who plays the villainous Vecna in Stranger Things, is also part of the cast, the actor announced on Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show.

Costner will produce through his Territory Pictures. He wrote the script with Jon Baird. Warner Bros./New Line will come aboard in a negative pickup capacity to release the film. Horizon, planned to be the first of a trilogy, puts the Yellowstone star back behind the camera for the first time since the 2003 western Open Range. Horizon has been a longtime passion project for Costner, and one that has the sweep of his 1990 epic Dances with Wolves, the film that won Best...

Warning: contains spoilers for Inside No. 9 episode ‘Kid/Nap’

The internet can’t decide if it was Pablo Picasso or the Dalai Lama who said “learn the rules like a pro so you can break them as an artist”, so let’s split the difference and say it was Peter Andre. What Andre’s getting at is that rules will only take an artist so far (to ‘Mysterious Girl’) but transgression of said rules is necessary for an act of true creation (‘Insania’).

In ‘Kid/Nap’, Inside No. 9 transgresses its own golden rule. Not the one about never hiring actors Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith have worked with before – that went out with Jason Watkins in series three’s ‘The Bill’ and has been snubbed several times since. Lara in this episode being played by Daisy Haggard, aka Psychoville’s Debbie, is no foul.

Instead, it’s the rule about every Inside No.

Steve Coogan has spotlighted his and Sarah Solemani’s use of comedy to tackle the #MeToo debate in upcoming Channel 4 show Chivalry and talked openly about playing Jimmy Savile, stating: “Things are better talked about than not talked about.”

The Philomena and Lost King star told Deadline the aim with Chivalry, which comes from his BBC Studios-backed indie Baby Cow, was to make a show about “love and respect” that could make people laugh, while using humor to open up a wider debate.

Coogan and Solemani play the lead roles in Chivalry, having come up with the concept during the filming of Michael Winterbottom’s Greed when they found themselves debating the issues regularly and at length.

Also starring Sienna Miller, Wanda Sykes and Aisling Bea, the show features Coogan as Cameron, a successful film producer and “ladies man,” and Ridley Road creator Solemani as Bobby, a passionate indie-darling filmmaker.

Exclusive: Princess Diana’s brother Charles Spencer’s book To Catch a King is to be adapted by Philomena and The Lost King duo Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope.

Coogan’s BBC Studios-backed indie Baby Cow won the option for the rights to the book and he will co-write with Pope, with the pair having recently penned Stephen Frears-directed The Lost King set for release later this year.

Spencer’s 2017 book, his seventh, tells the story of the 21-year-old King Charles II’s run from Oliver Cromwell’s army, who had overthrown the monarchy and publicly executed Charles’s father. Based on the account given by King Charles II along with letters and diaries, it tells of how the monarch succeeded in evading the Parliamentary troops by means of deception and disguise, including infamously hiding in an oak tree as the troops passed by below.

Coogan described To...

BBC Three Orders Comedy From ‘People Just Do Nothing’ Team

As BBC Three gears up for tomorrow’s highly-anticipated linear launch, the channel has unveiled a three-part comedy from the team behind People Just Do Nothing. Peacock follows Andy, played by People Just Do Nothing lead Allan Mustafa, a personal trainer at Sportif Leisure in the midst of an identity crisis. ITV Studios-backed indie Big Talk is behind the show, which is written by Steve Stamp and Ben Murray. People Just Do Nothing is a cult hit that ran for five seasons on BBC Three and spawned a film: People Just Do Nothing: Big In Japan. BBC Three returns to linear TV tomorrow after six years off air, with a schedule helmed by RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs The World. Other shows to air shortly include factual drama Life in the Warehouse, Sally Rooney adaptation Conversations With Friends...

Sally Wainwright, Daisy May Cooper and the hosts of Top Gear, along with senior BBC execs, will address next month’s BBC Studios Showcase, as the commercial outfit unveils a packed lineup for the online-only event.

The Showcase, which takes place from February 28 to 2 March, will also feature Romesh Ranganathan speaking about his comedy Avoidance, comedian Lee Mack on gameshow format The 1% Club and will include an interview with the stars of Friday Night Dinner creator Robert Popper’s new Channel 4 sitcom I Hate You.

Gentleman Jack creator Wainwright will give exclusive insight into the third and final series of BBC One’s Happy Valley and This Country creator Cooper’s will discuss her upcoming comedy thriller.

Meanwhile, BBC Director General Tim Davie, Chief Content Officer Charlotte Moore and new BBC Studios CEO Tom Fussell will all speak on future content trends and the BBC’s creative direction.

BBC...

BBC Studios has unveiled the line-up for its annual Showcase and it includes creatives such as “Happy Valley” creator Sally Wainwright and the hosts of “Top Gear.”

The three-day event, which will again be virtual for 2022, will be fronted by talent including “Strictly Come Dancing” co-host Claudia Winkleman, Clara Amfo and Anita Rani, as well as BBC Studios execs.

BBC Studios is the commercial arm of broadcaster the BBC and among those appearing at the Showcase will be the BBC’s director-general Tim Davie, BBC Studios CEO Tom Fussell and BBC chief content officer Charlotte Moore. They will discuss content trends as well as the BBC’s creative direction.

The three-day event also promises “dynamic genre sessions” and industry-leading insights from creatives such as Wainwright, who will give attendees an exclusive insight into the final season of “Happy Valley,” Daisy May Cooper and Selin Hizli, who will be talking about...

Sales

Studiocanal has sold a raft of global territories on four-part thriller drama series “Ridley Road.” Created by Studiocanal’s Red Production Company, commissioned for BBC One and co-produced with Masterpiece, the series will air in the U.S. on PBS Masterpiece, in France on Canal Plus, and has also been acquired by Now Studio Hong Kong, ABC Australia, Nova Greece, Yle Finland, Svt Sweden, Nrk Norway, Dr Denmark, Rte Ireland, Hot Israel, Canal Plus Poland and Disney Plus Benelux. A sale to Mola Indonesia was agreed earlier this year.

Based on Jo Bloom’s book, the series follows a young Jewish woman who falls in love with a member of the ’62 Group. She rejects her comfortable middle-class life in Manchester and joins the fights against fascism in London, risking everything for her beliefs for the man she loves.

The drama adaption is written, and executive produced by Sarah Solemani...

Channel 4 wants to be “braver” and “more ambitious,” said Jo Street, the network’s head of daytime and features.

Street made the comments during a “Commissioners” panel at the Edinburgh TV Festival alongside head of drama Caroline Hollick, head of factual, Danny Horan and head of entertainment and events Phil Harris.

“I think the next phase for us is what do we do outside of property, we get pitched that all the time,” said Street, who is also the head of Channel 4’s Glasgow hub. “I’m very much, urging people who probably will be watching this: don’t pitch us that sort of safe middle ground, we get so much of that, and I want people to be bolder with what we do. We want to be in territories that we’re not currently in.”

“We need to be more ambitious, and I think we need to kind...

Exclusive: UK publicists Donna Mills and Emma Jackson, longtime reps at London-based Premier Communications, have launched new publicity agency Tapestry London.

The company will specialise in actor and filmmaker representation, with the majority of their clients based in Europe and represented by the company globally.

Their impressive roster of clients includes Michaela Coel, Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, Claire Foy, James Norton, Ashley Walters and Sam Mendes.

Also on the roster are Agnes O’Casey , Anne-Marie Duff , Anthony Boyle, Bertie Carvel , Daisy Haggard, Denise Gough, Earl Cave , Emily Watson, George MacKay , Georgina Campbell , Dame Harriet Walter, Himesh Patel , Joe Alwyn , Joe Cole, Joe Gilgun, John Simm , Kyle Soller, Leila Farzad, Maxine Peake, Paapa Essiedu, Ruth Madeley, Sarah Solemani , Sverrir Gudnasson, Sheila Atim, Stacy Martin , Tom Hughes , Vicky Krieps, Viveik Kalra, Will Poulter and Will Sharpe.

The duo told us: “Having worked together for the best part of a decade, we couldn’t...

The BBC has revealed the first look images from the upcoming mini-series adaptation ‘Ridley Road’.

Inspired by the struggle of the 62 Group, a coalition of Jewish men who stood up against rising neo-Nazism in post-war Britain, Ridley Road sees Vivien leaving her comfortable life in Manchester and starting to work with them when she realises that Jack, her missing boyfriend (played by Varey) has been badly injured. Vivien infiltrates the Nsm, a neo-Nazi movement that is becoming increasingly prominent in London. As Vivien descends further into the fascist organisation, both her courage and loyalties are challenged.

Jack Morris (Tom Varey) – (C) Red Productions – Photographer: Matt Squire Vivien Epstein (Agnes O’Casey) – (C) Red Productions – Photographer: Ben Blackall

Also in news – Chris Noth to return as Mr. Big in ‘Sex and the City’ revival

The 4 x 60 thriller is adapted by award-winning writer Sarah Solemani (Barry, Aphrodite Fry), from the critically acclaimed novel by Jo Bloom.

Series five took Inside No. 9 to new and unusual places: the changing room at a premier league football match, a Louisiana prison, a cemetery at night, Wood Green… In fan-treat episode ‘Death Be Not Proud’, it even revisited an old haunt. Co-creators Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith welcomed new guest stars including David Morrissey, Ralf Little, Jenna Coleman, Phil Davis and Maxine Peake.

The series earned Bafta nominations for Best Scripted Comedy and Best Male Performance in a Comedy Programme, to go with Steve Pemberton’s 2019 Bafta win for the previous series. It offered laughter, tears, blood, a gristly beheading, and most of all, it offered variety. Streaming now on BBC iPlayer in the UK, find all the series five episode details and links to our spoiler-filled reviews below.

The Referee’s a W***er

Directed by: Matt Lipsey

Guest cast: David Morrissey, Ralf Little, Dipo Ola, Steve Speirs...

Baby Cow, the UK production company founded by Steve Coogan, has promoted managing director Sarah Monteith to CEO following the departure of Christine Langan last November.

Monteith will step up with immediate effect having joined Baby Cow in May 2020 from BBC Studios, where she was interim chief marketing officer and global director of brand and content marketing. She will work closely with Coogan to lead the company.

Baby Cow has a number of high-profile projects on its slate, including Coogan and Sarah Solemani’s #MeToo comedy Chivalry, which is poised to shoot in LA for Channel 4. It is also in production on The Witchfinder for BBC Two, while films The Fantastic Flitcrofts, starring Mark Rylance, and The Lost King are also in the works.

Monteith said: “I feel beyond privileged to work alongside Steve to grow this great British indie. Baby Cow is rare; it’s more than a production company,...

An inter-generational zombie horror-comedy, an Alan Partridge-presented travelogue, Rowan Atkinson fighting a bee… 2021 British TV comedy is a broad church, and that’s before we’ve come to all the stand-ups slicing up their Edinburgh shows into streaming half-hours and Daisy May Cooper playing a 17th century witch. Here’s the info about those new shows and more.

This list will be kept updated through the year as new commissions, casting and release dates arrive. Here’s a look back at the new British comedies that arrived in 2020, here are the new British dramas on their way this year, and here are 2021’s best returning British TV series.

And Did Those Feet

In addition to a second series for The One Show-spoofing This Time With Alan Partridge, the son of Norwich is back to poke fun at the history TV genre. With a working title of And Did Those Feet,...

Written by Luther creator Neil Cross, The Sister stars Russell Tovey and Bertie Carvel as acquaintances connected by a long-buried, dark secret. The four-part paranormal thriller based on Cross’ 2009 novel Burial, sees Nathan Redman (Tovey) and Bob Morrow (Carvel) tussle with their conscience when the past re-emerges and threatens to upend the lives they’ve built. Tovey and Carvel star alongside Amrita Acharia as Nathan’s partner Holly, and Nina Toussaint-White as Holly’s friend and a police officer investigating the disappearance of a young woman (Simone Ashley).

Leads Carvel and Tovey boast a long and healthy back-catalogue of stage and screen parts. See below for five of their most recognisable roles to date.

Bertie Carvel: Magician, Adulterer, Headmistress, Murdoch, Agatha Christie Jonathan Strange – Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Carvel was dream-casting for the role of mercurial magician Jonathan Strange in the 2015 BBC One adaptation of Susanna Clarke’s rich period-fantasy...