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Writer Jimmy McGovern has penned an original 90 minute drama for the BBC, and details have been released. More here.

The BBC has announced that a new, feature-length drama written by Jimmy McGovern is in production. Currently untitled, the new film is “set and filmed in Liverpool. The fictional drama centres around the Mitchell family who are dealing with the devastating aftermath of an act of abuse, and the knowledge that it was perpetrated by a member of their own family who, after serving his sentence, has just been released from prison”.

Anna Friel, who was BAFTA-nominated for her previous work with Jimmy McGovern in Broken, leads the cast alongside Bobby Schofield, Anna Maxwell Martin, David Threlfall and Mark Womack.

Julia Ford is directing.

McGovern said “I can’t believe the cast and crew that have been assembled for this production. It’s a challenging film, yes, but I can’t...

U.K. producer Nicola Shindler received on Tuesday the third Women in Series Award at Series Mania, Europe biggest TV festival.

Few awards seem such just reward. From serving as a script editor on “Cracker” (1993), Jimmy McGovern’s breakout, to producing his “Hillsborough” (1995) and executive producing “Queer as Folk” (1999) which heralded Russell T. Davies as a major writing talent, very few producers have been so consistently successful down the decades.

Shows produced by Shindler in just the last 10 years take in Sally Wainwright’s “Happy Valley” (2014), Harlan Coben’s “The Five” (2016) and “Safe” (2018), Davies’ “Years and Years and It’s a Sin, his consecration, and now “Nolly,” made by Shindler out of Quay Street Productions, her new label launched in 2021 as part of ITV Studios.

“Her lineup is amazing,” said Francesco Capurro, head of the Series Mania Forum, introducing the Award on Tuesday.

All of which raises the huge question of...

Not unlike the previous year, a whopping eight thousand plus short films were submitted to Sundance this year. Among some of the filmmaker names that we are already familiar with, we find several feature filmmakers moonlighting back to the short form; basically the short is healthier than ever. Topping the 2015 crop, we have Jake Mahaffy (whose feature, Free in Deed appears to be somewhere in post) who contributes to our understanding of 13th century rule with the year specific, A.D. 1363, The End of Chivalry. We have Cutie and the Boxer helmer working in the fiction form with Hugh the Hunter and form the same vintage 2013 year, fellow feature film helmer Shaka King (director of Newlyweeds) turns in a short in Mulignans (see pic above). Michael Mohan who has been to Sundance with features One Too Many Dates and Save the Date, returns with Pink Grapefruit.

Crossing into the international shorts,...

Top brass have announced 60 films culled from 8,061 submissions across four categories – Us and international narrative, documentary and animation.

“This year’s short film-makers have broken through their limited timeframe with a high level of artistry and story that will resonate with audiences long after each film has ended,” said senior programmer Mike Plante.

The Short Film programme is presented by YouTube.

Sundance 2015 is set to run in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah, from January 22 to February 1.

All synopses provided by the festival.

Us Narrative Short Films

Actresses

Jeremy Hersh

The film follows the relationship between a young, aspiring actress and an established off-Broadway star.

A.D. 1363, The End Of Chivalry (USA-New Zealand)

Jake Mahaffy

A little-known historical catastrophe leads to the definitive end of the era of chivalry and questing.

Color Neutral

Jennifer Reeves

A color explosion sparkles, bubbles, and fractures in this handcrafted 16mm film. Jennifer Reeves utilises...

There will be some Eloise and Lena Dunham, protests from Hong Kong, self-declared pop-ups from Canada, and unbelievable animated images of the final moments of a World War II hero. Those are just a few of the offerings among the 60 short films revealed today by the Sundance Film Festival. In the last of its four official announcements, the 31st annual Park City shindig rolled out an eclectic mix culled from the 8,061 submissions in the category that perhaps shows the true scope of Sundance most acutely.

The fest runs January 22-February 1. (As in past years, Deadline co-Editor-in-Chief, Film Mike Fleming Jr. and myself will be in Park City.)

Here is the full short films list:

U.S. Narrative Short Films

Actresses / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Jeremy Hersh) — The film follows the relationship between a young, aspiring actress and an established off-Broadway star.

A.D. 1363, The End of Chivalry / U.

Jimmy McGovern’s new one-off BBC drama, Common, seeks to highlight the controversies of the Joint Enterprise doctrine…

Feature

In 1846, two men named John Swindall and James Osborne engaged in a cart race on a public road that caused the death of a pedestrian. Only one vehicle had killed the victim, but as both had encouraged the other to drive dangerously, Swindall and Osborne were judged to be acting on a common intention and were both charged with manslaughter. The case ushered in the Joint Enterprise doctrine in English law, whereby two or more people who agree to commit a crime together are liable for the criminal actions of other members of their group.

Joint Enterprise. It sounds like a judicious scheme. Why should members of a group who set out with the common goal of murder evade justice only because they didn’t - or it couldn’t be...

Happy birthday to Christopher Eccleston, who turns 50 today (Sunday, February 16).

A stalwart of television, film and theatre, Chris has played some of television's most iconic characters (from Our Friends in the North's Nicky Hutchinson to Doctor Who's titular hero), brought life to numerous 'everyman' roles with extraordinary performances and used his work to explore themes of justice, loyalty and friendship.

To celebrate Christopher's half-century, Digital Spy has chosen ten standout performances from his film and television work, presented in chronological order. Given his acting career spans almost 25 years, a few didn't make our personal top ten, but as always, do tell us about your favourites in the comments section...

Shallow Grave (1994)

Danny Boyle's dizzying breakthrough movie Shallow Grave not only launched the career of Ewan McGregor, it propelled Christopher Eccleston - already an established TV star - into the big league.

Chris's portrayal of chartered accountant...

Happy birthday to Christopher Eccleston, who turns 50 today (Sunday, February 16).

A stalwart of television, film and theatre, Chris has played some of television's most iconic characters (from Our Friends in the North's Nicky Hutchinson to Doctor Who's titular hero), brought life to numerous 'everyman' roles with extraordinary performances and used his work to explore themes of justice, loyalty and friendship.

To celebrate Christopher's half-century, Digital Spy has chosen ten standout performances from his film and television work, presented in chronological order. Given his acting career spans almost 25 years, a few didn't make our personal top ten, but as always, do tell us about your favourites in the comments section...

Shallow Grave (1994)

Danny Boyle's dizzying breakthrough movie Shallow Grave not only launched the career of Ewan McGregor, it propelled Christopher Eccleston - already an established TV star - into the big league.

Chris's portrayal of chartered accountant...

Interview Simon Brew 28 Oct 2013 - 06:32

We chat to Christopher Eccleston about sci-fi, Thor, 28 Days Later, Let Him Have It, Star Trek, Blade Runner and more...

"I'm Chris", says Christopher Eccleston as I walk into the room, standing up to shake my hand. It's a warm welcome, and the prelude to an interesting chat where we took in his breakthrough role in Let Him Have It, and went through Blade Runner, Thor: The Dark World, Alan Taylor, cut scenes, Anthony Hopkins and what he's up to next.

Here's how we got on...

Can we start with Let Him Have It? I was in my later teens when I stumbled into a cinema to see the film, which of course was the story of Derek Bentley, who was hung on what's since been desribed as 'highly suspect evidence' for murder. What struck me about the film was that was quite an un-British film at the time.

Feature Jamie Andrew 18 Oct 2013 - 07:00

Jamie salutes the might of Jimmy McGovern's Cracker, starring Robbie Coltrane and now celebrating its twentieth anniversary...

Whenever I'm asked to name the best TV dramas of all time I have no hesitation in trotting out the holy trinity of The Sopranos, The Wire and Breaking Bad. If I'm in a 'Top Ten' situation, the contest for the remaining seven places is usually fought between other Us shows. And then, mid-compilation, a feeling passes through me like I've just forgotten my nephew's birthday, and an angry Robbie Coltrane dive-bombs into my consciousness. 'Cracker...' I gasp. 'How could I have forgotten about Cracker?'

How indeed. Cracker is a beautiful and brutal cocktail of gruesome entertainment, savage social commentary and unflinching truth, brought to life by the angry genius of writer/creator Jimmy McGovern and the succulently human, career-defining performance of Robbie Coltrane...

Sex, power, politics... The first trailer for House Of Cards has hit and suggests a show as sinuous and sly as you would expect from the minds behind Zodiac and The Ides Of March. David Fincher is executive producing the 13-part series, written chiefly by Beau Willimon and due to stream – in its entirety – on Netflix from February 1. brightcove.createExperiences();Based on the 1990 BBC TV series, itself an adaptation of Michael Dobbs’ novel, it’s a political thriller which stars Kevin Spacey as the ruthless Francis Underwood, a Us politician who, betrayed by his superiors, is out for revenge.“Francis is not amoral – actually, I guess he is amoral – but he’s apolitical,” says Fincher. “He’s in it for the ground acquisition of people like himself. He’s not betrayed by a differing belief system. He’s betrayed by politics. And his retribution is political.”The other directors are...

The Seinfeld star discusses the episode that ended his standup career, Daniel Radcliffe and Jon Hamm get revolutionary – and an unexpected side to Bruce Forsyth

The week's comedy news

This week, we finally get the perpetrator's version of one of the most notorious blowouts in recent comedy history, as Seinfeld star Michael Richards opens up to Jerry himself about his racist tirade in a comedy club six years ago. Richards was Seinfeld's guest last week on the latter's new web series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, and towards the end of the video the erstwhile Kramer addresses the onstage rant – which took place at the Laugh Factory in West Hollywood in 2006 – that seems to have ended his live comedy career. (He hasn't performed since.) In the footage, Richards is undeniably penitent: "Somebody interrupted my act," he remembers, "and said some things that hurt me, and I lashed out in...

… but the Shallow Grave actor is considering a move into comedy after primal scream soul-baring of Lennon Naked

Back in 1994, when Christopher Eccleston was playing a psychotic chartered accountant in Shallow Grave, he spent the best part of a day in a working mortuary pretending to be dead. There wasn't enough money to recreate the mortuary in a studio and, anyway, director Danny Boyle wanted to keep it real. So Eccleston, then 30 and best known for playing Derek Bentley in Let Him Have It three years earlier, was put in a drawer with a Glaswegian member of the crew.

"I was stark bollock naked and the Glaswegian, who was dressed in a parka, Doc Martens and jeans, kept saying, 'Are we finished? 'Cos I'm fucking freezing, by the way.' And all this time, I'm lying not only naked but next to a head that had recently been fished out of the River Clyde.

What do the makers of drama-documentaries owe to the people whose stories they are telling? Everything, says film-maker Jimmy McGovern

A rule I stick to: you don't write drama-docs to further your career. You write them because the victims or their families have asked you to write them.

In 1995, after the success of the film Priest and the drama series Cracker, I was one of the hottest writers around. I could have done anything. But two women who had lost children in the Hillsborough football disaster turned up on my doorstep and asked me to write their story. I said yes.

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