165 Eaton Place reopens its doors on Sunday

As Downton Abbey barrels towards its second series conclusion on Sunday evening in the States, it’s time for the UK to return to 165 Eaton Place with the beginning of the second series of Upstairs Downstairs. (PBS broadcast in the States is, tentatively, Spring 2013)

On all counts it has been a tough year for the BBC’s Upstairs Downstairs having had to live in the shadow of ITV’s Downton Abbey and the immense worldwide love affair with the series. Also, the fact that Dame Eileen Atkins decided against returning to the series and with Jean Marsh having suffered a mild stroke prior to filming began, it was not to be an easy task. As scripts were quickly re-written it was clear that Marsh’s character, Rose Buck, would not appear in early episodes. While there will be no immediate match for the Dowager Countess in terms of screen greatness, Alex Kingston has been added and both Keeley Hawes and Ed Stoppard will return to 165 Eaton Place for series 2.

That said, we are talking about the BBC, so I’m guessing that there is still a lot of fight left in the Upstairs Downstairs camp when it premieres on Sunday. According to the Guardian, “Upstairs Downstairs is visually sumptuous, rich in painstakingly accurate period detail and one in the (heavily bandaged) eye for Downton’s camp tendencies towards anachronism and melodrama.“.

Personally, having seen a few clips, I think the residents of 165 Eaton Place are more than up to the challenge. As the Guardian says…may the best butler win.

The ultimate 21st century Sherlock? Up to you.

CBS gets more ‘Elementary‘ every day

We’re all aware of CBS’ plan to produce a pilot for a 21st century Sherlock series for possible pick-up by the network beginning in Fall 2012. And everyone knows how I feel about this idea given some earlier comments about NBC’s failed attempt at Prime Suspect. This one, however, just smacks of wrongness in all kinds of ways as it seems more of just a blatant jump on the bandwagon attempt at copying a brilliant idea rather than a simply trying to re-make an original British production.

Ok, I know you can’t copyright an “idea” like this, but it does seem to be getting awfully close in concept. Now to pile on, CBS has announced that Jonny Lee Miller has been cast in the lead as Sherlock, which will be set in New York City. An oddly interesting choice as, if you remember, Miller co-starred with Benedict Cumberbatch (the original 21st century Sherlock) in the National Theatre production of Frankenstein. Both Miller and Cumberbatch were brilliant as they alternated the roles of the Creature and Victor Frankenstein nightly. So much so that they were recently named co-winners of for Best Actor at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards.

Needless to say, the creators of the BBC’s Sherlock are keeping a close eye on the American production as it unfolds. In fact, Sherlock producer, Sue Vertue, recently hinted that CBS producers have been sniffing around her team for casting clues. She told The Independent: “Johnny is a very fine actor, who I saw recently in the theatre when he and Benedict played alternating roles in Frankenstein. Let’s hope their pilot script has stayed further away from our Sherlock than their casting choice.”

CBS has insisted, according to the Independent article, that their show will not infringe the copyright of the BBC series, written by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss. The broadcaster said: “Our project is a contemporary take on Sherlock Homes that will be based on Holmes, Watson and other characters in the public domain.”

Even though I will give this a chance as Jonny Lee Miller is a brilliant actor, it sounds like the same show to me. How about you?

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Doctor Who – Star Trek crossover closer to reality?

Not since the photo of the Doctor Who/Wizard of Oz mash-up with the somebody dropped a TARDIS on my sister graphic has ‘crossover’ talk hit an all-time high in the world of geek. Before a flood of comments come my way, I’m using the ‘geek’ as a good thing and in the most complimentary of ways.

Thanks to the the great folks over at Bleeding Cool looks like May is a month that needs to be marked on the calendar for the long-rumored possibility of a Doctor Who, Star Trek: The Next Generation crossover comic. As we all know, the 2012 Gallifrey One Network 23 Convention begins tomorrow in LA (17-19 February, to be exact). However, what’s fueling the rumor mill is the fact that Denton Tipton from IDW Publishing will be in attendance at the convention.

The rampant speculation is that IDW will, in May, publish a Doctor Who/Star Trek: The Next Generation crossover series of comics. As Bleeding Cool reports, the art above featuring the Doctor, Rory and Amy on the bridge of the Enterprise is, quite possibly, the cover that will be used in the series. This would be way cool.

Now….if we can just get Doctor Who and Sherlock together…..

R.I.P. – Mr. O’Reilly

David Kelly. He was Grandpa Joe Bucket in Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, rode a motorbike naked in Waking Ned Devine, starred alongside Peter O’Toole and Peter Ustinov in the Irish mini-series, Strumpet City, and played a vicar in The Italian Job. The Dublin-born actor possessed a “wicked sense of humor”, according to fellow actor and friend, Niall Tobin. David Kelly was greatness.

For British comedy fans worldwide, however, David Kelly will be most-remembered for his portrayal of the incompetent Irish builder, Mr. O’Reilly, whose major mistake in life, and undoubtedly there had to have been many, was to attempt to joke and smile during one of Sybil’s infamous tirades in “The Builders” episode of perhaps the greatest British situation comedy of all-time, Fawlty Towers.

Years later, John Cleese recalled that “The Builders” episode was not one of his favorites primarily because there seemed to be a general lack of laughter from the studio audience during the evenings recording. Cleese later found out that the reason for the audience unresponsiveness was that members of the Icelandic Broadcasting Corporation were visiting the studio that day and many of them occupied front row seats in the BBC studio that evening.

I may not know the difference between installing a wooden lintel for the support frame of a load-bearing wall as opposed to a concrete one but thank you, David Kelly, for sharing your talents with the world for the last 50 years. R.I.P.

Fawlty Towers “The Builders”, part 1

Fawlty Towers “The Builders”, part 2

Valentine’s Day – British comedy style

Nothing screams Valentine’s Day like a bit of British comedy. SInce Hallmark tells us it’s a day for couples what better way to celebrate than to take a look back at those couples that have been a part of our collective telly families for a number of years. Unlike Hyacinth, I hope you’re ok with the following level of intimacy….

Richard and Hyacinth in Keeping Up Appearances

Lionel and Jean in As Time Goes By

Tom and Barbara in Good Neighbors