James McAvoy

A TV adaptation of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials is coming to HBO this fall. Here's everything we know so far.

The BBC dropped the first trailer for its highly anticipated, star-studded television adaptation of Philip Pullman’s bestselling His Dark Materials trilogy over the weekend, and even though its only thirty seconds long and contains no dialogue, it’s still enough to have even the most casual fan of the novels suitably freaked out.

The trailer for upcoming film Victor Frankenstein features several things that are awesome – including James McAvoy and Daniel Radcliffe as the titular mad scientist and his loyal sidekick, a pretty terrifying monster (even if you only see it for like three seconds), and the most amazing hair cinematic hair accessory you’ve seen in years.

Plus, it also just looks like an interesting twist on the Frankenstein story. (But, seriously! This wig!)

The online furor surrounding the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge – an awareness-raising charity event in which you are nominated to dump water over your head and donate to support research and treatment of the neurodegenerative disease ALS – may have settled down to a dull roar over the past week, but the viral event is by no means finished.

A slew of notable British actors have already partaken in the challenge, cheerfully dousing themselves and writing checks for a good cause, and now an even greater number have signed on, including several of the most iconic performers you could possibly think of. (Though, sadly, no Maggie Smith as yet. At least we still have something to hope for. )

Anyway, here’s a second complication of British ice bucket efforts, including such luminaries as Dame Judi Dench, Sir Patrick Stewart, Dame Helen Mirren, Doctor Who star Karen Gillan and Helena Bonham Carter, among many other familiar faces.

Click through, watch and rank your faves.

The recent release of X-Men sequel Days of Future past has, predictably, given us all a bevy of interviews with its star-studded, British actor heavy cast to enjoy over the past few weeks.

This is by far the best one. By far.

It’s hard for me to believe I’ve been following this versatile actor for a decade now. Many may be familiar with this talented Scotsman for his high profile role as Charles Xavier in the most recent X-Men franchise.

But the very reason I so enjoy James McAvoy’s work is that I never know what that boy’s going to do next. For that reason I try to make a point of seeing everything he’s in even though I might not think at first glance that it’s my cup of tea.

I hope you’ll indulge me as I take you along on a tour of some of the highlights of McAvoy's career so far.

Casting buckets of British actors in your upcoming blockbuster film certainly seems to be the thing to do nowadays – The Hobbit’s bursting with Brits, and the recent Star Trek sequel had more than its fair share. And, of course, that’s not counting the art house-style films that are always packed with accent-ridden thespians, like 12 Years a Slave, Philomena or Great Expectations. Adding a bit of Britishness to your upcoming feature film certainly seems to be a popular choice amongst casting directors and producers – which means it’s basically a great time to be an anglophile who happens to live near a multiplex.

And this trend doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon. One of Summer 2014’s most-anticipated films is the sequel to X-Men: First Class, a film which was, in itself, a prequel to the super successful X-Men trilogy from the early 2000s. Yeah, it’s a bit timey wimey if you think about it too hard. Anyway, called Days of Future Past, this prequel sequel looks set to give us an amazingly good time – and will blend together the best parts of all the films, including two sets of Charles Xaviers and Erik Lehnsherrs (that’s Professor X and Magneto to y’all that don’t follow comics much), who are all British in real life.

That’s a lot to say that the first trailer for X-Men: Days of Future Past is here, and it’s kind of awesome.