Friday News Roundup: Diamond Jubilee Edition
So, today’s News Roundup is in honor of Her Majesty, long may she continue to reign. (She’s a bit under four years away from becoming England’s longest reigning monarch!) Click through for the best tidbits from around the world of British entertainment this week, including Sherlock, Downton Abbey, Black Mirror, Doctor Who, the always amazing Eurovision song contest, a sprinkling of early Diamond Jubilee coverage and more!
Hurrah! Undershaw, the former home of Sherlock Holmes author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, was saved from development (being turned into flats) this week via judicial review.
Sweden wins the Eurovision 2012 song contest. Seriously, Eurovision is amazing. I wish America could actually manage to remake this sort of show instead of trying to do Only Fools and Horses or whatever! For more on Eurovision, including some clips of the um.. intriguing performances, click here.
From the “this is kind of weird” files, apparently British children are using American English in their writing assignments more and more often.
Steven Moffat, executive producer of BBC’s Sherlock, is apparently “not impressed” with CBS’ modern Holmes adaptation Elementary. He also explains how the failure of CBS’s program could potentially damage the brand of his BBC series.
There’s also an interesting speculative piece on Elementary in the Telegraph this week.
Speaking of Sherlock, it was the most popular show on BBC’s iPlayer device in the past year. Apparently 190 million programs a month are streamed via iPlayer in the UK.
Relatedly, demand for BBC programming on tablet and mobile devices has nearly doubled over the last year. (All I can say is: just you wait till you give us global iPlayer, BBC!)
Moffat also says that there’s “no chance of the BBC giving up on Doctor Who” in response to rumors that the network is trying to cut back on episodes.
Benedict Cumberbatch raves about his experience filming the Star Trek sequel; his co-star Simon Pegg weighs in on the rumors circulating about the identity of the film’s villain.
Cumberbatch also admits he is “flattered” by the fact that he was voted world’s sexiest man by The Sun’s readers, says he doesn’t quite get it. He says, “I’m barely the sexiest man in my flat and I’m the only guy living there.” (All together now: Awwwwww!)
While there are currently no concrete plans to do another series of Black Mirror, Charlie Brooker has apparently “spoken to lots of writers” about the show’s future. All of my extremeties are crossed!
The BBC may create a junior/kids version of popular reality competition The Voice. (Why????)
Downton Abbey stars Michelle Dockery and Jessica Brown Findlay were honored at the Glamour Women of the Year awards over the weekend.
Pictures from the 2012 BAFTA TV Awards!
Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations are this weekend in the UK – so much great stuff online surrounding it – Prince William talks about his relationship with his grandmother, the BBC uncovers new home video footage of the Royal family, Prince Charles has made a personal TV tribute to his mother which will air on BBC One, and, again, I wish I was in London to see this amazing pageant on the Thames this weekend.
How to watch the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations if you’re in America.
Yahoo!UK has created a pretty awesome Diamond Jubilee hub online with loads of pictures, FAQs and general coverage of the celebration.
Is new Doctor Who more literary than old Doctor Who?
Dame Maggie Smith is the 2012 recipient of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival’s Legacy Award and will be honored at a gala in Toronto this September.
Mark Gatiss has revealed that he’s writing the first episode of Sherlock Series 3, set to begin filming in January
The BBC quietly announced that it has canceled Dirk Gently, the BBC Four show based on Douglas Adams’ novel.
Check out some photos of Doctor Who star Matt Smith carrying the Olympic Torch through Cardiff. Even more on Smith with the Torch can be found here – including video!
Doc Martin makes the Washington Times’ list of Top 20 medical TV shows.
The National Post has a new photo gallery of Highclere Castle, the estate which stands in for Downton Abbey in the show.
Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Fassbender, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Brad Pitt and more are set to star in Steve McQueen’s new film Twelve Years a Slave.
This woman is definitely a bigger Downton Abbey fan than I am – she spent $20,000 (for charity) to go on a date with star Brendan Coyle!
Variety weighs in on PBS’ success with broadcasting British dramas.
The Emmys are combining lead and supporting actor nominations in the TV movie or miniseries category. Since Maggie Smith won the Best Supporting Actress in a TV movie or miniseries Emmy last year for Downton Abbey, this displeases me.
Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes apparently is in talks to write the book for a musical version (why??) of Slumdog Millionaire.
