John Simm

Philip Glenister has said he'd be willing to don his old camel coat again to play DCI Gene Hunt in a movie version of ‘Life on Mars’. The popular series, which ran on the BBC from 2006-2007, also spawned sequel ‘Ashes to Ashes’, but the actor says he’s spoken to co-star John Simm about a big screen version.

Philip Glenister would like to see a ‘Life on Mars’ movie.

“Oh, yeah, I’d do it. Yeah, you bet,” he told the Radio Times. “John and I were talking about it a while ago and I think he’d be up for it. Maybe to do a ‘Life on Mars’ movie in some form, if we could find an angle – I think we’d be up for that, for sure.”

Continue reading: Philip Glenister Says He's Up For Making 'Life On Mars' Movie

John Simm is a very, very good actor. We know that. Though many would argue that he's struggled to find the right television material since Life on Mars. Now, with ITV's 'Prey', Simm may have something on his hands. He plays Manchester Detective Marcus Farrow, who, when accused of a terrible crime, attempts to proves his innocence while being hunted for his former friends and colleagues.

John Simm as Marcus Farrow in ITV's 'Prey'

"We're attempting something different with Prey," said Nicola Shindler of Red Production Company when the show was announced in 2013.

Continue reading: John Simm Shows His Class In Bloody, Breathless 'Prey'

Antonia Bird, the director behind many high-profile film and television productions in the past decade, has died at the age of 54, according to a statement by her agent, made public by BBC News. 1994's Priest, 1997's Face and 1999's Ravenous, all starring Trainspotting actor Robert Carlyle. The actor mourned her death over Twitter earlier today.

Before moving on to television, Bird worked at as a theatre director at London's Royal Court. She made the move to the new medium in the late 80s, by writing several episodes of EastEnders and Casualty. In 1993, she won BAFTAs for Safe - a story about homeless teenagers written for BBC Two's Screenplay series - and Care, broadcast in 2000, which dealt with sexual abuse in a children's home. Some of her other achievements include a Bafta children's award for the 2009 BBC documentary Off By Heart, about a national poetry competition for schoolchildren, as well as the best film distinction at the Berlin International Film Festival and the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival - both for Priest.

A statement by Bird’s husband announced that Antonia had passed away peacefully in her sleep, after struggling with a rare form of thyroid cancer for several months. Bird had an operation in April to remove the tumor, however that proved unsuccessful. In the end, Bird’s husband claimed that she had come to terms with the worst possible outcome.

Continue reading: Acclaimed British Film And Television Director Antonia Bird Dies At Age 54

The Village, which aired on BBC 1 this Easter Weekend (March 30), has received an almost constant flow of praise since the first episode began to detail the trials and tribulations of a small Derbyshire village at the turn of the 20th century. The show delivers much more high drama than that lousy summarising sentence lets on though, as the BBC may have produced one of it's finest series in recent times with this historical series.

Maxine Peake delivers the goods as the domineering mother of young Bert Middleton

Writer Peter Moffat, the man behind the crime dramas Criminal Justice and Silk, has produced a show that gives it's audience a set of characters that you can instantly sympathise with, or begin to detest already, and by naming the central characters the Middletons (most likely after those Middletons), made them seem almost recognisable without even a glimpse into their back story. The titular Village is place halfway between Manchester and Sheffield in the Derbyshire countryside and although it's central character is not a direct descendant of the future Queen of England, he and his family still have plenty to tell, as it recollects the memories of England’s second-oldest man, 112-year-old Bert Middleton. The first tale to be told on Middleton's life is a love story and also one of technical innovation as the first omnibus to visit the small community arrives down the High Street, carrying the town's newest inhabitant Martha Lane (Charlie Murphy), with whomBert and his brother Joe (Nico Mirallegro) instantly fall for. Grance (Maxine Peake) and John Middleton (John Simm) are the boy's strict, lord of the manor parents.

Continue reading: Ambitious New BBC Series The Village Fails To Disappoint Following Debut Episode