Samuel West - Hitler's Children, Mr Selfridge

Sam narrates the BBC2 documentary Hitler's Children which will be broadcast Wednesday 23 May at 9pm (GMT) (via his Twitter, @exitthelemming).

A tweet from him about filming Mr Selfridge:

"Filming Mr Selfridge for ITV for the next squillion weeks. Now heading to Chatham to do reverse of a shot we began in Soho on Sunday. Odd."

Samuel West - Facade and Off By Heart Shakespeare

[updated 24 May]


(Screencap from Off By Heart Shakespeare)

Sam and Rohan McCullough will narrate Façade by Walton at the Ryedale Festival, 20 July. He previously narrated the piece with Prunella Scales at the Proms in 2002.

Off By Heart Shakespeare was televised on Saturday on BBC2. Sam judged the finals for the event, which had taken place in January.

Close the Coalhouse Door - radio recording and press

[updated 22 May]



Screencaps from the play's trailer (click the thumbnails for full size).

This week, Close the Coalhouse Door will be performed at the Lawrence Batley Theatre.

Sam has been interviewed for this week's "Big Interview" in the Yorkshire Post.

Last week, a radio version of the play was recorded at BBC Manchester. It will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 around September (Sam's Twitter, @exittthelemming). Pictures from the recording have been tweeted by Louisa Farrant (1|2|3|4), David Nellist and Sam Kenyon.

The following review excerpts refer to performances at the Lowry and the Richmond Theatre.

The Daily Post
"The cast and Samuel West’s fine direction ensure that the true stars of this highly entertaining piece are Plater’s writing, together with Glasgow’s songs."

Evening Standard
"Samuel West’s perkily Brechtian production extracts every drop of drama from the myriad mini-scenes and tips knowing winks at gags us soft southerners are unlikely to get."

whatsonstage.com
"Featuring the talents of Lee Hall - who adds additional material to Alan Plater's original play, directed with verve and passion by Samuel West - this is a play that demands to be seen."

Dan Stevens

Series 2 of Downton Abbey will premiere in Australia tonight.
Dan and Hugh Bonneville have been submitted for consideration at the Emmys.

Dan is attached to star in The Catastrophist, a film adaptation of Ronan Bennett's novel.

Samuel West - Hyde Park on Hudson trailer screencaps

A trailer for Hyde Park on Hudson is now available to view at Yahoo Movies (via @SimplerDave).

Click the thumbnails below to view full sized screencaps.

Samuel West - Television - Mr Selfridge

Sam is currently filming the ITV1 drama Mr Selfridge, in which he plays Frank Edwards (United Agents). The series stars Jeremy Piven as Harry Gordon Selfridge and Katherine Kelly as Lady Mae. It will be broadcast next year (Katherine's Twitter, @katherine_kelly).

Radio - Betrayal

Charles Edwards, Andrew Scott and Olivia Colman have been recording a radio adaptation of Betrayal by Harold Pinter (Charles' Twitter, @cedwardsactor).

Samuel West - The Wildlife Trusts, Poetry Please, High Table Lower Orders

Sam narrates the documentary The Wildlife Trusts: 100 years of nature conservation. An abridged version can be viewed on Youtube.

Sam, Seán Gleeson and Barbara Barnes are the readers for this Sunday's episode of Poetry Please.
Series 1 and 2 of High Table, Lower Orders are being repeated on BBC Radio 4 Extra. Episodes 1 and 2 from series 1 are currently available on iPlayer.

Dan Stevens

Filming photos and a still from Summer in February are now available. The film will be shown at festivals later this year.
The North London Book of the Dead will be shown in the Keep Calm & Carry On shorts package at the Seattle International Film Festival on 27 May.

Pictures from Downton Abbey: Marie Claire UK has some photos from series 3 filming and Nick Biggs' site has stills from series 1 and 2.

Dan, Lindsey Marshal, Samantha Bond and Alex Lanipekun are the readers for the audio version of Jubilee Lines, an anthology edited by Carol Ann Duffy.

Dan will be making his Broadway debut this year, in a revival of The Heiress.

Other: "My Week" for the Telegraph, 'Harbour' Exhibition & Latitude 2012.

Samuel West - Equity elections, Shakespeare and Love, Love Letters in a Time of War

Sam is a candidate for the Council General List in the 2012 Equity elections.

The Stage's review of his episode of Shakespeare and Love highlighted his references to pop culture, "During a compelling 15 minutes, West spoke about the strangeness of love in Shakespeare... Throughout his entertaining analysis, the actor and director also cleverly used contemporary references [an example: comparing a Beyonce song to a speech from Romeo and Juliet]."

He portrays Ernest Hall and Alvar Liddells in Love Letters in a Time of War, a CD produced by English Serenata.

Close the Coalhouse Door media update

Chris Connel as Jackie and Jane Holman as Mary (Photo: Keith Pattison. Source: Northern Stage - used with permission).

Close the Coalhouse Door will be performed at the Richmond Theatre next week, 9-12 May. It will then be performed at The Lowry (15-19 May).

While at The Lowry, it will be recorded for Radio 4 (comment from Haze).

A review of the production from the Guardian has called it "exuberant" and the cast has been described as "an engaging ensemble of actor-musicians." Similarly, David Williams has praised Sam's direction as "lively and gorgeously irreverent" and the versatility of the cast.