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Post by fenris on Feb 16, 2008 13:57:00 GMT
Helping Galvin to train Luke in his quest is the beautiful but icy cold Mina Harker, a blind concert pianist with a history, who is also the foremost authority on the undesirable entities preying on humanity. [/color][/quote] Thanks for tracking down this info, orokiah. The more I hear about this show, the better it sounds. Two possibilities about Zoe's character - either she's a descendant of the Mina Harker in Stoker's novel, or at some point it'll be revealed that she's the original Mina, rendered immortal by supernatural means. If it's the latter, she'll basically be this series' equivalent of Ella.
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Post by fenris on Mar 4, 2008 19:42:48 GMT
Have been searching on-line for any further developments regarding The Last Van Helsing, without much luck I'm afraid. However, several news sites report that The Last Van Helsing is merely a working title, and ITV are apparently referring to the series internally as "the untitled Van Helsing project". Here's a link to one report I've found, which contains a few scraps of info, including confirmation of two more of the show's writers. The article also notably places extra emphasis on the series' connections to Hex; www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/feb/13/television1?gusrc=rss&feed=media
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Post by orokiah on Mar 8, 2008 17:30:51 GMT
The Radio Times site is listing Zoe Tapper as part of the cast for The Curse of Steptoe and Son, which airs on BBC4 on Wednesday 19th March at 9pm. However, several news sites report that The Last Van Helsing is merely a working title, and ITV are apparently referring to the series internally as "the untitled Van Helsing project". I think they're just hedging their bets in case they come up with something snappier. Personally I like The Last Van Helsing as a title. It's so widely known as that now that I'd be surprised if it didn't stick, but it'll be interesting to see what other titles emerge as the air date gets closer.
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Post by orokiah on Mar 20, 2008 16:53:59 GMT
There's an article on The Last Van Helsing/Untitled Van Helsing Project in the news section of this month's SFX (April), which includes a picture of the principal cast: Holliday Grainger, Christian Cooke, Philip Glenister and Zoe Tapper.
I think most of what else is revealed about the show is already in the public domain, but it's the quotes and little insights from Johnny Capps of Shine that really make the article. Van Helsing buzz aside though, I thought his comments about Hex made for interesting reading:
It's the creation of Shine Productions, the outfit who made Hex, and they reckon their experiences on the now-defunct Sky One show have been crucial. "We learned a huge amount doing Hex and made lots of mistakes and had successes in it as well," explains Johnny Capps, producer of the Untitled Van Helsing Project. "We were really keen to develop other high concept shows, and the one problem that we always came back to on Hex was that our mythology wasn't quite solid enough, and we had to keep reinventing it to make the show work. So we decided that we would find a mythology that was around and develop that, and there were two areas that hadn't been done recently. One was taking a spin on the Merlin legend [Shine has a series in development with the Beeb] and the other was looking at Van Helsing."
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Post by fenris on Mar 24, 2008 20:29:30 GMT
Since Shine have a track record of reusing actresses whom they know to be reliable (as witnessed by Jemima Roper and Anna Wilson-Jones turning up in several of their series), I've been wondering if - in addition to Zoe Tapper - any of the other Hex girls would be appearing in The Last Van Helsing (or whatever they eventually decide to call the show).
Well, I can apparently wonder no longer. According to the IMDB (admittedly not the most reliable source of information), Katrine De Candole - the delectable Perie - will be appearing in the third episode as a character called Anika.
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Post by orokiah on Mar 27, 2008 19:06:19 GMT
I'm really looking forward to this show...and the more ex- Hex actors they cast, the better it sounds. Thanks for the heads up fenris.
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Post by fenris on Mar 31, 2008 17:44:56 GMT
There's an article on The Last Van Helsing/ Untitled Van Helsing Project in the news section of this month's SFX (April), which includes a picture of the principal cast: Holliday Grainger, Christian Cooke, Philip Glenister and Zoe Tapper. Here's a link to a scan of Philip Glenister and Zoe Tapper in that picture (in my humble opinion, Ms Tapper has never looked foxier); i123.photobucket.com/albums/o307/pinklady_035/album/scan00099.jpg No dispute with Mr. Capps on that score. As already discussed at length on other threads, the bedrock of mythology that was laid down during Hex's first season (the Medenham witches, the McBain bloodline, etc) never got a chance to be built upon. Instead it had to be ejected, due to Christina Cole's departure.
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Post by girlhexx on Mar 31, 2008 22:50:20 GMT
why did christins cole depart the show
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Post by orokiah on Apr 1, 2008 12:53:15 GMT
why did christins cole depart the show She left because she wanted to move on to other projects. To my knowledge she's never been quoted on that but Jemima Rooper has talked about it in a couple of interviews. From The Northern Echo: The first series of Hex was such a hit on Sky that a second was more or less inevitable, especially as US finance was available. The format, though, was dictated by who was available for the series. "It was weird because initially Christina Cole and I were approached together and talked to the producers about the possibility of a second series," explains Rooper. "There were no scripts, no story development, but because we were the two core characters, they needed an answer so they could progress.
"Christina wanted to move on and I thought at first that my character doesn't exist without her. I said if Christine didn't do it, I didn't want to do it either.
"Eventually, she did two and a bit episodes which gives time to establish Thelma on her own. The producers said to commit to seven episodes and see how I felt."
She stayed for all 13 episodes over the nine months' filming, finishing a week ago.
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Post by fenris on Apr 9, 2008 18:29:45 GMT
There's an article on The Last Van Helsing/ Untitled Van Helsing Project in the news section of this month's SFX (April). Interesting to compare the amount of coverage that the various UK sci-fi/fantasy magazines have given the announcement and commencing of production of The Untitled Van Helsing Project so far. While SFX had their enthusiastic two page feature, Starburst have only given the show a single paragraph, while Cult Times, TV Zone, Sci-Fi Now and Death Ray haven't mentioned it at all (!!). I guess SFX weren't kidding when they said their article was an exclusive.
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Post by orokiah on Apr 19, 2008 11:33:52 GMT
Zoe Tapper's episode of Hotel Babylon is being repeated on Living this Monday (21/04/08) at 10pm.
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Post by orokiah on May 22, 2008 13:13:25 GMT
One of Zoe Tapper's earlier projects, Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont, is finally getting a Region 2 release on 7th July: www.a2mediagroup.com/?c=137&a=22637Another bit of news is that the Sarah Waters episode of The South Bank Show is scheduled for 8th June. From the press release: The South Bank Show on Sunday 8 June features the highly acclaimed, best-selling novelist Sarah Waters.
In this South Bank Show, Melvyn Bragg talks to Sarah about the way her work has reclaimed lesbian sexual history. They also look at how lesbian sexuality has been used within pornography, about male impersonation (cross-dressing), and about her own risqué and often bawdy subversion of these themes in her work.
The popularity of her novels is due in part to her extraordinary gift for story telling, and several of her books have now been adapted for television. Tipping the Velvet and Fingersmith were made for the BBC, and Affinity will be shown on ITV.
In the programme, Sarah Waters talks to the screenwriter Andrew Davies (adapter of Tipping the Velvet and Affinity), about their collaboration, and about the infamous ‘dildo scene’ in Tipping the Velvet. Sarah also visits the medium, Sally Morgan, for a reading, pursuing a private curiosity that earlier led her to the gothic world of Victorian spiritualism in Affinity.
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Post by orokiah on May 30, 2008 16:35:54 GMT
And the projects just keep coming: Zoe Tapper's been announced today as part of the cast of the BBC's 'reimagining' of Survivors. The cast also includes Who's Freema Agyeman. Source: BBC Press OfficeBrief character bio from the above: Dr Anya Raczynski (Zoë Tapper) Anya is a young doctor who does her best to save as many people as she can when the virus that wipes out most of humanity hits. But there is no cure and no vaccine and all her skill ultimately proves fruitless. While she struggles with the enormity of it, she is forced to stand by helplessly as her former girlfriend Patricia is among those brought to the hospital in the grip of the illness...
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Post by orokiah on Jul 15, 2008 19:21:41 GMT
ITV announced a new drama called Trinity today, to be shown on ITV2. Christian Cooke, who plays the lead in what we currently know as The Last Van Helsing, is part of the cast. The show sounds quite promising but what got my attention is the way Cooke's credits are noted next to his name in the press release: Christian Cooke (The Last of the Van Helsings, Echo Beach/ Moving Wallpaper). So...is The Last Van Helsing, aka Untitled Van Helsing Project, now going to be called The Last of the Van Helsings? It's a bit of a mouthful. I think I preferred the original title.
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Post by fenris on Jul 16, 2008 19:55:29 GMT
So...is The Last Van Helsing, aka Untitled Van Helsing Project, now going to be called The Last of the Van Helsings? It's a bit of a mouthful. I think I preferred the original title. That is a mouthful. You'd think they'd at least drop the ' The' at the beginning. Even if they do, I still won't think much of it. Considering that the initial press release stated that the original Van Helsing was a legendary 'smiter' of monsters, I think they should just call the series ' Smite!' - it's far from ideal, but I prefer that to the alternatives.
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