Sue Townsend, 2 April 1946 – 10 April 2014
Very sad to read of the death of Sue Townsend, creator of Adrian Mole. There is a wonderful obituary written at The Guardian, here.
Many of us entered adulthood to be entertained for years by Sue’s superb creation, Adrian Mole. Her work lives on; may she rest in peace.
The Guardian has reported today that BBC2 has commissioned not just a third series of police corruption drama Line of Duty but also a fourth. Read more here.
The shortlist for the Baileys Women’s Prize of Fiction 2014 was announced earlier this evening:
The Kindle Spring Sale is now underway with many bargains in the crime and thriller fiction line. Click HERE for the full sale. Some highlights include:
99p
In Threes Please!
Alex Marwood’s staggeringly good The Wicked Girls is £1.99. Don’t let that one pass you by.
These are just tasters, there are more. Click HERE for the whole lot. There’s no excuse for a non-thrilling Easter.
Yes, from today, all individual tickets are now on sale. Here’s the programme and you can book from there. Some events are already sold out. (Hardly surprising!) But you can get them covered by buying a relevant rover ticket.
The BAFTA TV Awards 2014 nominations have been announced today and we can see crime drama featuring yet again. The awards ceremony will be held on Sunday 18 May. Nominations:
LEADING ACTOR
LEADING ACTRESS
SUPPORTING ACTOR
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
SINGLE DRAMA
MINI-SERIES
DRAMA SERIES
INTERNATIONAL
RADIO TIMES AUDIENCE AWARD (voted for by members of the public)
Further (non-crime drama) nominations follow the ‘read more’ link: Continue reading
News just in: S4C has just confirmed that bilingual Welsh crime drama TV series Y Gwyll / Hinterland will return for a second series, production beginning in September 2014. Series two will consist of five parts. Read the press release here.
The longlist for this year’s Desmond Elliott Prize was announced today.
‘Launched in 2007, The Desmond Elliott Prize has quickly become established as the premier prize for new fiction.
Every year, a panel of three judges are asked to look for a novel which has a compelling narrative, arresting characters and which is both vividly written and confidently realised. Books from all fiction genres are considered.
Worth £10,000 to the winner, the Prize is intended to support new writers and to celebrate their fiction. It was created in memory of the charismatic publisher and literary agent Desmond Elliott, who died in August 2003. He stipulated that his estate should be invested in a charitable trust that would fund a literary award “to enrich the careers of new writers”.’
This year’s longlist comprises:
The Radio Times led the field with the news on 21 March that ‘the BBC1 series starring Rupert Penry-Jones, Maxine Peake and Neil Stuke will not return for a fourth run because lead writer Peter Moffat and Peake are keen to go out on a high.’ Then the following day the BBC’s Media Centre carried the press release and noted that Moffat had hinted at a shocking twist at the end of the final episode, to be aired on Monday 31 March – tonight.
Moffat is to be applauded for that wish to go out on a high. Sadly, many don’t pursue that route leaving audiences with ever-decreasing dregs; failed, failing or flailing ideas; and the consummate ever-decreasing audience figures before the bean counters come along and pull the plug, putting all out their misery.
I will watch this final episode but I don’t agree it’s going out on a high; sorry Mr Moffat.
The first series was excellent and very promising. There have been a few legal series before this one, but Silk was a cut above. But series two left me nervous. The feel of a drama seeped in reality with decent attention to detail was starting to descend into the slightly sensationalist with its gangsters-getting-personal plotting. The addition of Frances Barber as Caroline Warwick was optimistic, even it did arrive feeling out of place. Here we had a rather brilliant and scary female barrister always teetering on the edge due to a – she hoped secret – drink problem.
But in series three Silk has become rather strange and rather soapy, adrift in Dreft. Clive’s now a QC and sometimes playing grown-up to the no longer cutting edge Martha who has taken to dirty dancing in unsuitable places. What’s more, as if he thinks he’s on the set for a Merchant Ivory film, Clive is making declarations of love and packed his penis firmly back in his trousers.
Practice Manager Harriet Hammond arrived in the form of Miranda Raison with no reason given. This character is just a plot ploy to increase the tension on Billy (Neil Stuke) as if his prostate cancer treatment wasn’t enough. What sensible chambers would employ a Practice Manager and keep on the senior clerk (Billy, Neil Stuke) whose practices they are trying to improve? Meanwhile, Billy’s character arc across the series has gone from real and believable character to an overly long audition for a shouty part in EastEnders or a lead in panto.
Head of Chambers, Alan Cowdrey (Alex Jennings) dominated the first story with a personal case that led to his decision to move on. Perhaps the fact he was forced to focus on his son for a while led to the lack of explanation for the introduction of the Practice Manager. Handy though, as his departure has led to a fight for the new Head of Chambers which should resolve tonight.
Once of so much promise, Caroline Warwick has been the token older female in series three and completely side-lined apart from scenes to acknowledge that the demon drink is now a force field and other scenes for us to remember she’s still actually around.
Attention to detail in the plotting has not been impressive in series three; indeed on times it’s been more noticeable for its absence.
Perhaps this will all round off nicely tonight. But somehow, I don’t think many of those facts above will be covered.
It’s not entirely over for those who want still more. The Radio Times reported that ‘there is some small comfort in the news that Mick Collins, one of the writers behind the TV series, will be bringing three new dramas focusing on the show’s clerks to Radio 4 next month.’
If you are in or near Newcastle on Saturday, 3rd of May get thee hence! All these authors are fantastic public performers. Call the Lit and Phil on 0191 232 0192 to book/reserve your tickets. From the Lit & Phil’s website:
Saturday 3rd May | 2pm | Crime Saturday | £5/3 per session or £12/8 for all three
An estimated 45% of the fiction borrowed from the Lit & Phil falls into the category of crime. Our fascination with the subject seems to be not only ongoing but continually branching out into new areas. Join us for Crime Saturday and meet some of the authors responsible for this interest. We are hosting literary panels of experts discussing their particular area of crime fiction.
Historical Crime 2.00 – 3.30pm
Aly Monroe is the author of the Peter Cotton series. Her third novel Icelight, was awarded the 2012 CWA Historical Dagger. Samantha Norman is finishing Winter Siege, a book started by her mother, the historical thriller writer Ariana Franklin who died in 2011. John Lawton has written seven novels, the last of which A Lily of the Field was named Daily Telegraph Thriller of the Year in 2011.
Women in Crime 4.30 – 6.00pm
Mari Hannah won the Polari First Book Prize for her debut novel, The Murder Wall and a Northern Writers’ Award for her second, Settled Blood. Zoë Sharp has written a standalone crime novel, various short stories and ten books featuring bodyguard Charlotte ‘Charlie’ Fox. M J McGrath is the author of the Edie Kiglatuk series of Arctic mysteries. The first in the series, White Heat, was nominated for a CWA Gold Dagger.
Icelandic Crime 7.00 – 8.30pm
Ragnar Jonasson is an Icelandic writer of the Dark Iceland crime series set in Northern Iceland, currently being developed as a TV series. Yrsa Sigurðardóttir is the bestselling and award-winning Icelandic crime author of the Thóra Guðmundsdóttir series. Quentin Bates is writing a series of crime novels set in present day Iceland. Cold Steal will be published in April 2014.
In association with Northumbria University.
