Sense and Sensibility

David Morrissey, Dominic Cooper, Dan Stevens, Mark Williams, Janet McTeer and Mark Gatiss lead an all-star cast in Andrew Davies' romantic and stylish three-part adaptation of Sense and Sensibility.


Sense and Sensibility is a story of two young sisters on a voyage of burgeoning sexual and romantic discovery. Rational Elinor Dashwood and her romantic sister Marianne are played by sensational newcomers Hattie Morahan (Elinor) and Charity Wakefield (Marianne).

The death of Elinor and Marianne's father throws their privileged world into chaos. With no entitlement to his estate, they are forced to live in poverty. Although the sisters' chances of marriage seem doomed, attractive men are drawn to the girls.


Elinor becomes attached to the highly eligible Edward Ferrars (Dan Stevens - The Line of Beauty) - but why is he so guarded and secretive? Marianne attracts both war hero Colonel Brandon (David Morrisey - State of Play) and glamorous Willoughby, played by Dominic Cooper (The History Boys).

Do these attachments represent true love, or are the men simply amusing ourselves with our young heroines? With a sub-plot that features the seduction and abandonment of a 15-year old schoolgirl - not to mention a duel - the stakes are high.


Multi-award winning writer Andrew Davies (Bleak House and Pride and Prejudice) says, "The novel is as much about sex and money as social conventions. This drama is more overtly sexual than most previous Austen adaptations seen on screen and gets to grips with the dark underbelly of the book."

Kate Harwood, Head of Series and Serials adds, "It's a passionate and powerful piece, filled with a rich mix of both emerging and established talent. With Andrew's fairydust sprinkled over it, this production is destined to evolve into a classic."


Filmed on location in Berkshire, Surrey, Buckinghamshire and Devon, Sense and Sensibility is directed by John Alexander and produced by Anne Pivcevic.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/senseandsensibility/

Gosford Park

Gosford Park is a 2001 British mystery film directed by Robert Altman and written by Julian Fellowes. The film stars an ensemble cast, which includes Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith, Derek Jacobi, Eileen Atkins, Alan Bates, Kristin Scott Thomas, Clive Owen, Emily Watson, Charles Dance, and Michael Gambon. The story follows a party of wealthy Britons and an American and their servants, who gather for a shooting weekend at Gosford Park, an English country house. A murder occurs after a dinner party and the film goes on to present the subsequent investigation into it from the servants' and guests' perspectives.



Development on Gosford Park began in 1999, when Bob Balaban came to Altman and asked if they could develop a film together. Altman suggested a whodunitand asked Fellowes to write the script. The film went into production in March 2001 and began filming at Shepperton Studios with a production budget of $19.8 million. Gosford Park premiered on 7 November 2001 at the London Film Festival. It received a limited release across cinemas in the United States in December 2001, before being widely released in January 2002 by USA Films. It was released in February 2002 in the United Kingdom.

The film was successful at the box office, grossing over $87 million in cinemas worldwide, making it Altman's second most successful film after MASH. It received multiple awards and nominations, including seven Academy Award nominations and nine British Academy Film Awards nominations.

The TV series Downton Abbey was originally planned as a spin-off of Gosford Park, but instead was developed as a stand-alone property inspired by the film, set decades earlier.[3]




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gosford_Park

The King's Speech

2010 Film
After the death of his father King George V and the scandalous abdication of King Edward VIII, Bertie who has suffered from a debilitating speech impediment all his life, is suddenly crowned King George VI of England. With his country on the brink of war and in desperate need of a leader, his wife, Elizabeth, the future Queen Mother, arranges for her husband to see an eccentric speech therapist, Lionel Logue. After a rough start, the two delve into an unorthodox course of treatment and eventually form an unbreakable bond. With the support of Logue, his family, his government and Winston Churchill, the King will overcome his stammer and deliver a radio-address that inspires his people and unites them in battle.

Cast

Colin Firth
King George VI

Helena Bonham Carter
Queen Elizabeth

Geoffrey Rush
Lionel Logue

Guy Pearce
King Edward VIII

Michael Gambon
King George V

Downton Abbey

Downton Abbey is a British period drama television series created by Julian Fellowes and co-produced by Carnival Films and Masterpiece.[1] It first aired on ITV in the United Kingdom and Ireland on 26 September 2010 and on PBS in the United States on 9 January 2011 as part of the Masterpiece Classic anthology. Four series have been made so far; a fifth is planned for 2014.

The series, set in the fictional Yorkshire country estate of Downton Abbey, depicts the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants in the post-Edwardian era—with the great events in history having an effect on their lives and on the British social hierarchy. Such events depicted throughout the series include news of the sinking of the RMS Titanic in the first series; the outbreak of the First World War, the Spanish influenza pandemic, and the Marconi scandal in the second series; the Interwar period and the formation of the Irish Free State in the third series; and the Teapot Dome scandalin the fourth series.

Downton Abbey has received critical acclaim from television critics and won numerous accolades, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Miniseries or Television Film and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries or Movie. It was recognised by Guinness World Records as the most critically acclaimed English-language television series of 2011. It earned the most nominations of any international television series in the history of the Primetime Emmy Awards, with twenty-seven in total (after two series).[2] It was the most watched television series on both ITV and PBS, and subsequently became the most successful British costume drama series since the 1981 television serial of Brideshead Revisited.[3] By the third series, it had become one of the most widely watched television drama shows in the world.[4]




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downton_Abbey

The White Queen

The White Queen The Cousins’ War Series



The first in a stunning new series, The Cousins’ War, is set amid the tumult and intrigue of the Wars of the Roses. Internationally bestselling author Philippa Gregory brings this extraordinary family drama to vivid life through its women – beginning with Elizabeth Woodville, the White Queen. Elizabeth Woodville, of the House of Lancaster, is widowed when her husband is killed in battle. Aided and abetted by the raw ambition and witchcraft skills of her mother Jacquetta, Elizabeth seduces and marries, in secret, reigning king Edward IV, of the family of the white rose, the House of York. As long as there are other claimants to Edward’s throne, the profound rivalries between the two families will never be laid to rest. Violent conflict, shocking betrayal and murder dominate Elizabeth’s life as Queen of England, passionate wife of Edward and devoted mother of their children. 

In The White Queen Philippa Gregory brilliantly evokes the life of a common woman who ascends to royalty by virtue of her beauty, a woman who rises to the demands of her position and fights tenaciously for the survival of her family, a woman whose two sons become the central figures in a mystery that has confounded historians for centuries: the Princes in the Tower whose fate remains unknown to this day.

 From her uniquely qualified perspective, she explores this most famous unsolved mystery, informed by impeccable research and framed by her inimitable storytelling skills.

Read more at: http://www.philippagregory.com/books/the-white-queen

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