Claudie Blakley- Actor of the Week

Claudie Blakley

Claudie Blakley is already a treasure of the English stage and screen. She has a face which can be period or modern as the role requires and we have enjoyed her talent in quite a few in the past few years! She is the daughter of Alan Blakley of The Tremeloes (Silence is Golden always makes me think of Colin Firth in Love Actually!)

Claudie Blakley and Jeremy Northam in Gosford Park

Most of us first saw her as Mabel Nesbitt in Gosford Park. She was lovely as the glove manufacturer's daughter whose husband treats her badly after her fortune disappears. I rather loved Mabel with her green dress that Maggie Smith poked fun at.

Fenella Woolgar, David Tennant and Claudie Blakley in He Knew He Was Right

As the hilariously nutty Camilla French in He Knew He Was Right, competing with her sister Arabella for the affections of Reverend Gibson (played to a tee by David Tennant) she gave this miniseries some much needed levity.

Camilla: You don't touch me! I'll stab you in the heart! And her, and him, and then myself! And then you'll all be sorry!

Uncle: Well that's a great deal of stabbing my dear. You'd best get on with it.

Claudie Blakley as Charlotte Lucas

In Pride and Prejudice 2005, Claudie absolutely nails the character of Charlotte Lucas. I love the story that her confrontation scene with Lizzy about Mr. Collins was written by Emma Thompson, who is given a thanks credit in the film, for additional dialogue. This scene really sounds like Emma Thompson doesn't it?

Elizabeth Bennet: Charlotte!
Charlotte Lucas: My dear Lizzie. I've come to tell you the news. Mr. Collins and I are... engaged.
Elizabeth Bennet: To be married?
Charlotte Lucas: Yes of course. What other kind of engaged is there?
[Lizzie looks shocked]
Charlotte Lucas: Oh, for Heaven's sake! Don't look at me like that Lizzie! There is no Earthly reason why I shouldn't be as happy with him as any other.
Elizabeth Bennet: But he's ridiculous!
Charlotte Lucas: Oh hush! Not all of us can afford to be romantic. I've been offered a comfortable home and protection. There's alot to be thankful for.
Elizabeth Bennet: But...
Charlotte Lucas: I'm twenty - seven years old, I've no money and no prospects. I'm already a burden to my parents and I'm frightened. So don't you dare judge me Lizzie. Don't you dare!

Charlotte Lucas with feather

And surely I wasn't the only one who was absolutely transfixed by the feather in Claudie's hair seeming to be alive as she walked into Lady Catherine de Bourgh's drawing room. I rather love that scene now.

Claudie in Bright Star

Claudie was lovely in Bright Star as Maria Dilke, wife of Charles Wentworth Dilke. This is a lovely film, which never fails to make me cry.

Jem Hearne and Martha in Cranford

As Miss Matty's beloved servant and friend Martha in Cranford, Claudie Blakley gives one of her many brilliant performances. I love this photo of Jem and Martha having a cuddle and a serious chat.

Claudie Blakley as Cynthia Lennon in Lennon Naked

I did not see Lennon Naked, but this photo of Claudie as John Lennon's first wife Cynthia makes me want to see it. Can anyone recommend this?

Emma and Robert Timmins in Lark Rise to Candleford

Opposite Brendan Coyle in Lark Rise to Candleford, Claudie Blakley is absolutely perfection. Sigh. She has given us a gift hasn't she?

So here is another supremely talented English actress and we look forward to more brilliant work from her. Thanks Claudie!

Brendan Coyle- Actor of the Week

Brendan Coyle

An obvious choice for actor of the week (thanks for the suggestion sis!) is Brendan Coyle, as we have been enjoying him so much recently as Mr. Bates in Downton Abbey. And yet, he has done so much more period drama than just Downton Abbey.

Brendan Coyle as Nicholas Higgins and Richard Armitage as Mr. Thornton in North and South

If you haven't yet seen North and South, then you have a real treat in store for you. Brendan Coyle plays a working man in the North of England, a "hand" in a cotton mill and Richard Armitage plays the sexy Mr. Thornton, a mill owner. There is romance, politics, romance, strife and...romance? OK, Mrs. Gaskell does kill off a few too many of her characters, but otherwise this is the perfect book/miniseries combo.

Claudie Blakely and Brendan Coyle as Emma and Robert Timmins in Lark Rise to Candleford

In Lark Rise to Candleford, Brendan Coyle plays the intelligent but sometimes opinionated and difficult stonemason Robert Timmins. Again, he brings this working class man to life with a tempestuous but loving relationship with his wife Emma, played by the always brilliant Claudie Blakely.

Brendan Coyle as Mr. Bates in Downton Abbey

Brendan Coyle seems quite bewildered by the sex symbol status he has achieved with his Mr. Bates, the valet to the Earl of Grantham. We got attached to his character in the first series as he struggled with his injury from the Boer War and his new position at Downton. Now we are cheering on his romance with Anna. Go Bates!

Brendan Coyle as Manuel Mendoza from The Glass Virgin 1995

Mmmmm...this is one miniseries I have got to get my hands on. Based on a Catherine Cookson book, The Glass Virgin is a 1995 miniseries (1995 again-what a great year for period drama!), IMDb gives this description:

"Set in 1870s England, the story tells of Annabella Lagrange and the terrible secret her wealthy parents have kept from her. When she finally learns the truth, she runs away and eventually finds solace in the company of her family's former groom, a young Irishman with the very Spanish name of Manuel Mendoza. Together they travel the Northumbria countryside from job to job in his horse and caravan, Annabella trapped in limbo between her upper class upbringing which has rejected her, and the working class who are sometimes suspicious of her, only Manuel understanding her situation."

Apparently there are a whole slew of Catherine Cookson's novels which were dramatized in the last 20 years by the BBC. Sounds like another order from Amazon for me!!!!

Lately Brendan has been working on a Victorian thriller called The Raven, "a fictionalized account of the last days of Edgar Allan Poe's life, in which the poet pursues a serial killer whose murders mirror those in the writer's stories."    He is also working on a new TV series called Starlings, about a typical working class family in Derbyshire.

Brendan Coyle. Small baby or big hands?

And to leave you with, here is a photo which may give you baby lust (if not Brendan Coyle lust). The infant he is holding is, I believe, the offspring of one of his colleagues on Starlings. And by the way ladies, he is straight and he is single!

Julia Sawalha- Actor of the Week

Julia Sawalha

Julia Sawalha is a bit of a chameleon actress so I thought I would highlight her this week as my actor of the week.  Many people who have seen her in various roles don't realize that it is the same actress.

Julia Sawalha as Dorcas Lane in Lark Rise to Candleford

She did a wonderful job as Dorcas Lane, the wise and wonderful Postmistress in Lark Rise to Candleford. Her costumes alone make the show worth watching, but it so much more. 40 episodes of great stories, acting and period costumes and sets. Loverly!

Julia Sawalha as Lydia Bennet in Pride and Prejudice 1995 with Adrian Lukis as Wickham

I first became aware of Julia's talents when I saw her in Pride and Prejudice 1995 as Lydia Bennet/Wickham. Although she was much older at the time than Lydia's 15 years, she easily captured the energetic ditziness of the character. "Ooooh, I want to go to Brighton!"

Julia Sawalha as Saffron (Saffy) Monsoon with Jennifer Saunders as her wacky mother Edina in AbFab

As long suffering daughter Saffy in Absolutely Fabulous Julia really gets to use her vast comedic talents. How she keeps a straight face while Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley bounce their way through the episodes of AbFab is beyond me. I would be rolling on the floor! Edina and Patsy...what a pair!

Julia Sawalha as Miss Jessie Brown in Cranford

Ever a sucker for a bonnet fest, Julia also played the spinster daughter Jessie of Captain Brown (Jim Carter) in Cranford. She wasn't afraid of being portrayed as an older single lady who had "lost her bloom". Great story line for this character I thought.

Ginger in Chicken Run voiced by Julia Sawalha

If you didn't recognize her as Ginger in Chicken Run you would certainly be forgiven. I love the way she is wielding that fork!

Here is a quote from BBC Entertainment : Ironically, Julia Sawalha has taken a fancy to living like her ‘Lark Rise to Candleford’ alter ego. Well, not quite. But a few years back she ditched her urban London pad in favour of rural living and growing her own vegetables. The 40-year-old actress now lives in a West Country cottage and believes that countryside dwellers are much happier and polite than their city-based counterparts. "It took me two years to realise that if someone smiled at me in the corner shop, it was just to be friendly, not because they wanted something," explained Julia, who now finds it "weird" walking down busy city high streets, where there are "people with their bad manners, barging into you". How very Dorcas Lane of her!

Julia Sawalha claims she likes costume dramas because she likes dressing up.

And here is one from BBC TV blog by Pam Downe costume designer:  Julia Sawalha, who plays Dorcas, has a particularly malleable waist and I find it amazing how small a waist we managed to achieve with her.  Julia loved to wear her corset. Most of the cast found them uncomfortable and wanted to take them off at lunch time to have more freedom.  The only problem was that they then had to put them back on again and wear them for another five hours which they found even harder to take. 

Here's hoping that Julia keeps dressing up in corsets and entertaining us for years to come. It may take a good script to lure her away from her cottage in Somerset!

Anyone interested in seeing her on Who Do You Think You Are, researching her Jordanian and French Huguenot ancestry can find it on YouTube via my link above.

Lark Rise to Candleford- My One Weakness!

Lark Rise to Candleford from the BBC starring Olivia Hallinan

For anyone who has seen even a few episodes of Lark Rise to Candleford, you will know what I mean when I say this show is my "One Weakness". Actually, you can read that a few different ways. It is an "in joke" of the production that one of the main characters, Postmistress Dorcas Lane played by Julia Sawalha is always claiming different things to be her one weakness. But on another level, although this is a luscious and darling production, it is not an adaptation of high literature. It's a sort of 19th century soap opera and I love it!

Laura Timmins, Gabriel Cochrane, Dorcas Lane and Minnie

This wonderful loose adaptation of Flora Thompson's autobiographical novel set in late 19th century rural Oxfordshire, travels beween the sleepy hamlet of Lark Rise to the wealthier market town of Candleford. If you want car chases and excitement, this is not for you. If you want to step back in time and be entertained by great stories, wonderful acting and some seriously gorgeous scenery and costumes this is your show.

Claudie Blakely and Brendan Coyle as Emma and Robert Timmins

If you are reading my blog you will likely love this series. They made 40 episodes over 4 years, ending in 2011 so the story spans a large time period and has many actors and characters. I have watched the first season in order and have caught occasional episodes from subsequent seasons on BBC Canada or from PBS. It is pretty easy to pick up an episode here and there without seeing the previous ones.

Dawn French as the ever entertaining Caroline Arless

There are an abundance of real characters in this show from the lusty Caroline Arless as played by Dawn French to the hilarious Pratt sisters (the dressmakers who dress alike). The story centres around the Timmins family comprised of stonemason Robert Timmins and his wife Emma and 5 children who live in Lark Rise and whose eldest daughter Laura goes to Larkrise to work in the post office with Emma's cousin Dorcas.

Matilda Zeigler and Victoria Hamilton as Pearl and Ruby Pratt

Having said how much I love this program let me add that my family does not share my affection for the show. My husband (The Squire) leaves the room rolling his eyes and saying "Oh no, not THAT show!" if I yield to temptation and pop it in the DVD player. So you may have to indulge your one weakness in private as I do if you succumb to the charms of this series. But I mean look at this view...

The gorgeous sleepy hamlet of Lark Rise

Even the laundry on the line looks appealing to me. Anyway, I'm off to work now but when I get home, I think I know what I'm putting on the telly (in another room from The Squire of course).

See you tonight Queenie and Twister!

P.S. Inspiration for this post came from Jane's recent post at her blog Reading, Writing, Working, Playing and from interest from one of my new readers Suzan.   Also the great buzz about the new season of Downton Abbey on Charleybrown's blog Enchanted Serenity of Period Films had me thinking about the wonderful talents of Brendan Coyle. If you want more info on Lark Rise, there is a great fan website called The Candleford Chronicle if you'd like to check it out.