The wait is nearly over... hot new BBC 3 comedy The Gemma Factor hits our screens on Tues 9 March at 10:30pm. This six-parter stars Anna Gilthorpe in the title role and Angus Barnett as her sleazy agent.
Gemma Collinge has only one ambition – to be famous by the time she's 21 - and the clock is ticking. Living in a tiny backwater, Gemma dreams of escaping to the Big Smoke for the bright lights and all its trappings – soon.
Gemma is sweet, desperately naïve and will stop at nothing to achieve her goal. An agent who has a criminal record for allegedly selling a panto dancer into the white slave trade is no barrier, nor are a string of gigs barely touching the periphery of the entertainment business. Gemma remains undeterred, relentlessly optimistic and wholly endearing.
A breath of fresh optimism through the eyes of a determined starlet, The Gemma Factor stars newcomer Anna Gilthorpe as Gemma, Angus Barnett as her agent Kenny and Claire King as Jeff's Ab-Fab-style Mum.
Dean Lennox Kelly has just been cast as the infamous John Lennon in a re-make of the Beatles classic, The Yellow Submarine which is being made by Disney.
A singing group of four British young men are asked to help a cartoon land that has been taken over by the Blue Meanies. They are recruited by an escapee to come and bring joy and music back to the land.....
Directed by the legendary Robert Zemeckis ("Forrest Gump", "Back to the Future I - III" etc), this film will be made in the Motion Capture technique that has been used in features such as "Beowulf", "The Polar Express", " A Christmas Carol" and "Monster House".
Omid Djalili plays the title role in The Infidel which also stars the wonderful Amit Shah as his son and Joanna Brookes in a lovely cameo role.
The film penned by David Baddiel tells the story of Mahmoud, a dedicated Muslim who finds out he is adopted and subsequently discovers that he is in fact Jewish. This leads him on a moving but often hilarious journey as he seeks to discover who 'Mahmoud' actually is... Also stars Richard Schiff as an American Jewish cabbie who enlightens Mahmoud on all things Jewish.
"Omid was excellent and Richard Schiff was inspired casting - I really enjoyed it when it was basically a film about their friendship. Some of the lines were very funny and I thought they got the tone just about right - it could easily have gone over the top but resisted the obvious urge to do that." Matthew Turner - View London
Dean Lennox Kelly stars as the useless but lovable 'Dickie' in Married, Single, Other for ITV. He joins a great cast in this new six-part romantic comedy drama made by Leftbank Pics and produced by former ITV Drama Executive, Andy Harries.
The Series promises to be 'a mix of laugh out loud humour, high emotion and true romance brought to the screen by a wonderful ensemble cast...'
It starts on Monday 22 February at 9.00pm on ITV1.
Tariq Jordan is currently filming a lovely supporting role in director Hadi Hajaig's latest offering Clean Skin. He joins a cast which includes Sean Bean, Charlotte Rampling and Ruth Wilson.
Clean Skin is a thriller which follows Ash who is a recent recruit to a terrorist cell and Ewan an MI5 Agent who will stop at nothing to destroy him and bring an end to his ploy.
Doreen Mantle has joined a lovely cast including Isabella Rossellini and William Hurt in feature Late Bloomers. It is being directed by French Director Julie Gavras and is being co-produced by The Bureau in London.
Set in London, this low-budget comedy tells the story of a couple who face difficulties growing old together.
Doreen will play 'Nora' the mother to Isabella Rossellini's character, 'Mary'... a matriarch with a zest for life and a hidden secret.
Also joining the cast is Frances Jeater in a lovely cameo role.
Sharlene Whyte joins the cast of popular BBC show Waterloo Road. She will play Adanna Lawal, the new head of Pastoral Care. Adanna is described as a 'big personality' and Sharlene will surely shine in this fabulous role.
Following his huge success at The National in Every God Boy Deserves Favour, Adrian Schiller can be seen taking on another convict as 'Hennessey' in Being Human. He joins the show as a guest role in three episodes and his next episode can be seen on Sunday 21 February at 9:00pm on BBC 3.
Well, the 2009 series of Strictly Come Dancing is now over and we have all had time to catch our breath after the rollercoaster ride Ali Bastian took us on. Week after week Ali and her professional dance partner Brian Fortuna wowed the viewers with their beautiful ballroom and worked their socks off to get the latin dances to the same superb standard. Ali was the first contestant to be awarded the top mark of forty and was "the last woman standing" in the semi-final, where she scored a top mark of fifty, before losing out to Chris Hollins and Ricky Whittle in the public vote. Never mind, she had more than proved herself by this point and fans should not be disappointed as she will be appearing in the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special at 7pm on Christmas Day and then, after a week's well deserved rest, she will be going out with the Strictly Come Dancing UK Tour.
David Ryall is to play the part of Elphias Doge in the final instalment of the the Harry Potter series, The Deathly Hallows. David was most recently seen as Grandad in the hit comedy series Outnumbered and he will be joined in the film by Joshua Herdman who will be reprising the role of Gregory Goyle.
Congratulations to our rising star Wunmi Mosaku who has just won Best Actress in a Miniseries at the Rome Fiction Festival for the BBC 2 Joe Penhall drama Moses Jones.
Wunmi is currently in rehearsals for Hurricane Katrina with Jonathan Holmes, the writer/director of Fallujah which was a hit in 2007 starring Harriet Walter, Imogen Stubbs and Irene Jacob.
Wunmi Mosaku is predicted as a 'Star of Tomorrow' in Screen's latest pick of new talent by Patricia Dobson. She joins a selection of actors, writers and film-makers all selected to be our hot new stars of tomorrow. Wunmi shone in Moses Jones for BBC Two recently and has just completed filming on her feature debut, "Womb" which is directed by Benedek Fliegauf opposite Matt Smith and Eva Green. Look out for her in "Father and Son" for ITV with Dougray Scott and Sophie Okonedo and BBC One drama, "One Night in Emergency".
Clint Eastwood's hotly anticipated feature INVICTUS, which features Julian Lewis Jones in a supporting lead role is now in cinemas nationwide. The film stars Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela and Matt Damon as Francois Pienaar and they are both nominated for Oscars.
