Kicking off ‘Sherlock 2 week’ at Trinity Hall

Last night was a fitting kick-off to the long-awaited broadcast of Sherlock 2 which premieres next Sunday, May 6, on PBS’ Masterpiece. About 150 fans of the BBC/PBS series braved the sunny, 70 degree weather to venture out to Trinity Hall Irish Pub for a great night of trivia and the opportunity to get an advance preview of next Sunday’s premiere of Sherlock “A Scandal in Belgravia”.

A record number of trivia teams, 36 to be exact, braved the elements to compete for the distinction of claiming the title of the first-ever Sherlock themed trivia pub quiz at Trinity Hall. A huge thank you to Marius, Roger, Patrick and all the great folks over at Trinity Hall for making it a very special evening for KERA Sherlock fans who haven’t had much to smile about since season one ended back in late 2010. Special thanks, also, to the number of Tellyspotting readers who came out in support of KERA and Sherlock, including Julie Barrett, who has not only been a reader from day one, but who contributed an amazing homemade deerstalker hat as one of the grand prize giveaways. More photos from Sundays screening and more on this great hat that no self-respecting Sherlock fan should be without later this week.

The new season of, perhaps, the best television show on television begins this coming Sunday, May 6, at 8:00pm CT/9:30pm ET on PBS stations nationwide. After “Scandal…”, the 13 May episode will be “Hounds of Baskerville” and the series 2 finale will be 20 May and “The Reichenbach Fall”. Sadly, I must warn you. Savor every moment of these three episodes as from the looks of things, series 3 won’t even begin filming until early 2013 given massive commitments from those in front of and behind the camera.

Naming rights to Only Fools and Horses USA

Looks like plans for a U.S. version of Only Fools and Horses is moving right along. Should the pilot, starring John Leguizamo as Del Boy, Dustin Ybarra as Rodney and Christopher Lloyd as Grandad, be picked up for a full series, it would air later in 2012 on ABC. The series has just recently added Bridesmaids star, Wendi McLendon-Covey, who will play Ruby, the ex-wife of Del Boy. The equivalent role of Raquel in the UK original was played by Tessa Peake-Jones.

Great, we have a cast, but what do we call it?

ABC has taken to Facebook to come up with a name for their upcoming re-make of the classic British situation comedy, Only Fools and Horses. Placing the poll on the Modern Family Facebook page and, unfortunately, giving readers only two options to choose from, Only Fools and Kings of Van Nuys has opened the floodgates for some much more creative options to be posted. Describing the plot of the show as “Two fumbling brothers are just one scheme away from striking it rich“, ABC has, seemingly, abandoned any thought of titling the show after the British original, which has long been heralded as the most popular British situation comedy of all-time.

While a popular suggestion on the site was Fool’s Gold, my personal favorite, for obvious reasons, was the person who suggested Canceled After 5 Episodes. Anyone else?

Dawn French on writing with Jennifer Saunders

When the great comedy duo of French and Saunders (Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders) went their separate ways back in 2010 following the end of Jam and Jerusalem, there was more than a bit of sadness in the air. Wanting a bit of time to focus on individual projects sounded great on paper, but there was no joy in Mudville with the thought of no more French and Saunders in the foreseeable future.

On the upside, there has been some brilliant work that has come out of these ‘individual projects’ with Dawn French’s recent series, Roger and Val Have Just Got In with Alfred Molina while Jennifer Saunders has had great success with the return of Absolutely Fabulous along with her upcoming PG Wodehouse adaptation of Blandings. Still, however, no French and Saunders.

That may change soon as it has been hinted in recent weeks that the band may be getting back together to work on projects when she commented about Dawn by saying, “There are moments when I really miss working with her and doing the sketches.“. According to Dawn French, they are both set to reunite this summer with the rest of The Comic Strip crew (Rik Mayall, Adrian Edmondson, Robbie Coltrane), the group in which they got their big comedy break some 30 years ago back in 1982.

During our 2010 interview with Dawn French for PBS’ Behind the Britcom: From Script to Screen, Dawn spoke on the general concept of writing comedy and how she and Jennifer worked and wrote together in the early days of French and Saunders. Seeing the twinkle in her eye when reliving her days of working with Jennifer, getting the band back together can’t come soon enough for me.

No middle-aged spread visible in ‘official’ Red Dwarf X photo

With all the Downton Abbey and Sherlock talk circulating around the Internets lately, let us pause for a moment and not forget the brilliance that is Red Dwarf. As we get closer to the targeted September 2012 premiere for Red Dwarf X on Dave, the self-decribed Home of Witty Comedy Banter, images are starting to emerge from series X filming which took place at Shepperton Studios at the end of 2011 and in early 2012.

Early on, before filming began, Craig Charles (Lister) joked that the show’s costumes would have to be let out to compensate for the cast’s middle-age spread. Charles, jokingly, took a swipe at his fellow cast members by saying, “Kryten’s going to be a much wider robot and Cat wears a wig so you can’t see his grey hair. And Rimmer – he’ll need a touch up. Noticeably absent, however, were any mentions about Lister’s potential wardrobe issues….

Sensing a possible groundswell of comments following yesterday’s release of the first ‘official’ photo, Robert Llewellyn (Kryten) was quick to respond by taking his case to Twitter to say, “Okay, steady with all the ‘Kryten looks old’ comments. The poor fella’s been tapping away with a smeg hammer for 3 million + years.”

Lest we forget, huge props to everyone that attended any or all of the six filming dates at Shepperton Studios who have not even once lobbed any internet grenades out there and spoiled it for the rest of the planet. Even though we all know you gave it a thought, you quickly came to your senses so as to not be called out by the Red Dwarf Nation.

Middle-aged spread or not, September can’t get here soon enough. In the meantime, Smoke me a kipper, I’ll be back for breakfast.

A bit of PG Wodehouse ‘comedy brilliance’ on the BBC horizon

As we reported back in February, a bit of PG Wodehouse brilliance is on the horizon with the commissioning of Blandings by the BBC. At the time, Jennifer Saunders (Absolutely Fabulous, Jam and Jerusalem) was the only cast member that had been announced. Now, according to comedy.co.uk, filming has begun and the supporting cast has been announced. In addition to Timothy Spall (Harry Potter, The King’s Speech) and Saunders, who will star as the amiable, yet befuddled, Lord Emsworth, and his indomitable sister Connie, there are both big names and relative newcomers that have been added. Mark Williams (Harry Potter, Fast Show) will play Beach, the long-suffering loyal butler to Lord Emsworth while newcomer, Jack Farthing, has been tagged as Lord Emsworth’s financially irresponsible son Freddie. David Walliams (Little Britain) will appear in a couple of episodes of Blandings as Clarence’s new secretary, Rupert Baxter.

For those few that may be a bit unfamiliar with Wodehouse’s Blandings series, he wrote the first story in 1915. Fourteen novels and five collections of short stories later, he died in 1978, leaving Sunset At Blandings unfinished. Set in 1929, the series is currently being filmed on location in at Crom Castle in Northern Ireland and will follow the Blandings family as they struggle to keep itself in order.

BBC One controller Danny Cohen says: “PG Wodehouse was a comic master, and we are very excited about bringing his stories to life for a new generation of television viewers. I’m sure that the equally brilliant Timothy Spall and Jennifer Saunders will do justice to Wodehouse’s work, and I hope Lord Emsworth can put up with all the noise of the production.’

“…you had me at Jennifer Saunders”

Also announced in the cast is the great Jessica Hynes (Twenty Twelve, Spaced) so this has immediately become another BBC commissioned comedy project that is well worth keeping an eye on. 2012-2013 is definitely looking up….