Tag Archives: Sky1 HD

Sky bringing Sinbad into the 21st Century {TV}

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The search is on to find a leading man to play Sinbad in a contemporary re-imagining of the 8th Century legend for Sky 1 and BBC Worldwide.

The new Sinbad will be treading the line between Hero and Villain. On the run from his home town of Basra and under a curse for a killing that led to the death of his much-loved brother, the streetwise Sinbad finds himself cast out to sea. Surviving a violent and magical storm, both Sinbad and his intriguing fellow ship-mates are forced to band together to face their inner demons, hopes, loves and fears. Our flawed hero embarks on an epic and emotional quest to rid himself of the curse and embrace his destiny. “When mystical meets muscle anything can happen…”

Produced by Impossible Pictures (who also produced ITV’s Primeval), Sinbad is part of Sky1’s multi-million pound HD drama investment fund.

Elaine Pyke (Head of Drama, Sky 1) commented: “Our SINBAD is 21, reckless, utterly charming and cursed. Mysticism, magic, monsters and high octane action adventure, this SINBAD is always exciting and sometimes challenging. This unique series will have the ambition of LOST, the pace of 24 and take the viewer to visually stunning locations on both sea and land. Sky’s SINBAD will be a multi-layered series for today’s prime time audience.”

Sophie Gardiner (Exec Producer, Impossible Pictures) added: “This is a hugely ambitious project and we’re thrilled to partner with Sky to reinvigorate this much loved action hero. We’re confident that SINBAD will confound audience’s expectations and create a big, noisy series for Sky 1.”

Shooting is expected to start in February 2011 in Malta and Sinbad is scheduled for premiere on Sky 1 HD in Winter 2011.

Stuart Murphy also unveiled a whole host of new commissions and acquisitions including:

Dogumentary, A brand new observational documentary from the makers of Pinapple Dance Studios (Pulse Films) centres on the world of dog grooming salons, doggy day care centres and vets’ clinics where cameras will follow the people who work at them, as well as their clients. But in Dogumentary the stars of the show are the pampered pooches themselves, and these are no ordinary canines – they can actually talk. In surreal moments, the mutts talk to each other in funny and off-the-wall exchanges about their lives, loves and observations on the world.

Ross Kemp Extreme World. The BAFTA®-winning documentary team (Tiger Aspect) return as Ross Kemp reports from some of the most dangerous places on Earth. Over five hard-hitting episodes, Ross travels to Mexico, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan and Chicago to learn how international organised crime, terrorists and local criminal networks have created alliances that are destroying millions of lives. Plus, in a UK-based episode, he reveals the grim truth about people trafficking in Britain.

Prince William and The Tusk Trust Project (Working Title). In an exclusive 1hr long documentary by Spun Gold, presented by conservationist and adventurer Ben Fogle, Sky 1 HD gains unprecedented access to Prince William’s first official visit to Africa as he travels to Botswana, the home of wildlife conservation charity Tusk Trust. Marking the charity’s 20th anniversary, royal patron Prince William talks about his love of Africa, his passion for conservation and staying grounded, before challenging Ben to run a fund-raising marathon in Kenya.

Also announced are aquisitions from the US including: Raising Hope from the makers of My Name Is Earl. The Middle, from Warner Bros International about an ordinary family struggling to survive life – and each other – in Middle America. Ride-Along, A gritty new police drama from The Shield creator Shawn Ryan and Lone Star, a 20th Century Fox Production in which newcomer James Wolk is Robert/Bob Allen, a charismatic schemer who has meticulously constructed two lives for years without arousing any suspicions… until now.

This follows the news that Sky has agreed to become the UK home for HBO.

Time runs out for 24 {TV}

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After the eight longest days of Jack Bauer’s life and 194 hours of incredible television, 24’s final episodes will be broadcast this Sunday night at 9 o’clock on Sky1 and Sky1 HD. The era-defining series, about the heroic Counter Terrorist Unit agent played by 1980s film star Kiefer Sutherland and his battles to prevent terrorist plots against a background of intrigue at the White House, will continue to live on in a series of motion pictures over the coming years, but the television series is coming to an end. First broadcast in 2001 just weeks after the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, the series has drawn on the fears and anxieties of the “War on Terror” with it’s myriad of biological, nerve-gas and nuclear threats, while in many ways being a good-fashioned action thriller, full of unexpected twists and explosive set-pieces.

The series’ most innovative gimmick has been the use of real-time, with each episode taking place over an hour and the story continuing, unseen, during commercial breaks. This was more closely observed in earlier seasons, when greater care was taken to ensure journeys took realistic lengths of time. Nonetheless, the use of split-screens and the iconic ticking yellow clock are still a fantastic way to ramp up the tension and keep viewers at the edge of their seats.

Over the eight seasons, 24 has developed a few predictable quirks – there’s always a mole or two at CTU, there’s always a moment that Jack has to go rouge because his bosses are getting it wrong, and the bad guy at the start of the season always turns out to be a small part of the picture, with the big boss only revealed a few episodes before the end. But it never fails to surprise, with the ability to shock over and over again. Memorable moments down the years have included the jaw-dropping ending to the first season with Jack’s wife Terri being tragically shot just as it seemed that all was well, Bauer being forced to kill his own boss, Ryan Chappelle, the killing of several main characters at the start of season five and the nuclear explosion in downtown Los Angeles in season six.

This season has seen attempts to sign a peace deal at the United Nations in New York between American President Allison Taylor and the fictional Islamic Republic of Kamistan, with the Republic’s President being kidnapped and eventually murdered. As ever, it’s now emerged that the IRK rebels we thought were responsible at the start of the season were only a small part of the plot, with the Russians turning out to be behind it. We go into the final two hours with Jack Bauer on a revenge mission against those responsible for the shocking murder of his lover, ex-FBI agent Renee Walker. Unfortunately for him, it means going against President Taylor who is committed to getting the peace deal signed, no matter how, and has even accepted help from the brilliantly villainous Nixon-like former president Charles Logan (Gregory Itzin) to make it happen. This means that every fan’s favourite quirky CTU analyst Chloe O’Brian (Mary Lynn Rajskub), now temporarily in charge of CTU, and field agent Cole Ortiz (Freddie Prinze Jr) are having to instigate a manhunt to capture Jack, last seen wearing some sort of Iron Man-like protective suit as he went on the rampage against the bad guys like never before. It’s all coming down to a showdown between Chloe’s instincts to protect her friend, who she knows has always been right before, and her duty to follow orders.

Executive producer Howard Gordon has promised that the series will end in a way that feels consistent with what we’ve seen over the last eight seasons. Gordon says that Jack Bauer finds himself “in a compromised place morally, ethically and emotionally. This show is a tragedy, and to give Jack a happy ending didn’t feel authentic. Chloe and Jack are in a real face-off, Chloe has to decide between her duty and friendship to Jack. It’s about as hairy a confrontation as you can possibly imagine.”

One thing’s for sure – however the TV series comes to an end, this isn’t the last we’ve seen of Jack Bauer.

TV: Lost – The End

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Was it really six years ago that LOST first crashed onto our screens? ‘Breaking ground’ all over the place; LOST has since picked up a raft of awards including an Emmy® for Outstanding Drama Series, a Golden Globe® for Best Television Series (Drama), and Screen Actors Guild and Writers Guild Awards.

In 2007, Lindelof and Cuse made the bold decision to announce that LOST would comprise six seasons in total and reach its conclusion in 2010, allowing them to map out exactly how the series would unfold over the final two seasons, whilst also providing dedicated viewers with an endgame.

The sixth season, which debuted on Sky1 HD in February 2010, has answered many long-standing questions posed back in the early days of the show. In perhaps one of the most revealing scenes so far, Jacob (Mark Pelligrino) used the metaphor of a wine bottle to explain the importance of the Island, the true nature of the Man in Black and how and why he must be prevented from fulfilling his wish of escaping. “Think of this wine as… Hell… malevolence, evil, darkness, and here it is – swirling around in the bottle unable to get out, because if it did, it would spread. The cork, is this island, and it’s the only thing keeping the darkness where it belongs.” Now with the Man in Black taking on the form of the deceased Locke (Terry O’Quinn), the final episodes are building towards his potential escape. But will Charles Widmore (Alan Dale) or Jacob’s yet-to-be-decided successor “The Candidate”, be able to stop him?

Executive producers and writers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse recently put the finishing touches on the final script, and explained that answers to the mysteries will continue to unravel. Cuse commented: “It was very profound for us, as we had written a cryptic scene, and we thought, no, these characters are actually at the place where they can have a discussion about what is going on here. It was very weird to take these closely held secrets and actually put them in the scene. It was very liberating and exciting.”

George Lucas sent an open letter to executive producers Lindelof and Cuse the show on its run and offering some words of support. Poking fun at the producers he says: “Congratulations on pulling off an amazing show. Don’t tell anyone … but when ‘Star Wars’ first came out, I didn’t know where it was going either. The trick is to pretend you’ve planned the whole thing out in advance. Throw in some father issues and references to other stories — let’s call them homages — and you’ve got a series.”

If you’ve never watched LOST, I’d love to give you an overview of what you’ve missed, except I’m still not sure myself. Watch this video and anyone would think that even the script writers get confused.

The final season has also introduced the concept of flash-sideways, portraying two parallel universes. The scenes on the island depict a universe where the bomb failed to detonate and the survivors remained, whereas the flash-sideways show a world where Oceanic 815 landed and the passengers never ended up living together. However, destiny appears to be drawing them together regardless as their lives end up colliding despite the reversal of history. Indeed, following a recent meeting with Charlie (Dominic Monaghan), Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) starts to feel as if he has led another life before and plans to ‘awaken’ the other passengers on Oceanic 815 – starting with crashing his car into Locke as he crosses the road.

On Friday 28 May at 7pm, Sky1 HD and Sky1 will kick off an evening celebrating LOST with a two hour US special entitled LOST: THE FINAL JOURNEY. The documentary will take a retrospective look at the past six seasons of the series and delve into what has transpired during the current season as a primer leading into the finale.

At 9pm, it’s time for LOST: The End, a two and a half hour conclusion to a television phenomenon and an unmissable landmark event in television history. Fans need not despair as at 11.30pm, two of Sky1 HD’s specials, THE END IS NIGH and TOP 10 GREATEST SCENES will follow.

by Genevieve Sibayan

TV; Fringe comes to a head – Season Finale.

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The second season of The brainchild of LOST mastermind JJ Abrams and the creative team behind ALIAS and Star Trek; FRINGE is almost at an end.
It has established itself as one of the weirdest, action-packed and thrilling sci-fi dramas on television. The series follows the extraordinary exploits of FBI Agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv), eccentric scientist Dr Walter Bishop (John Noble) and his son Peter (Joshua Jackson) as they cut through the bureaucracy of otherworldly atrocities.

While I don’t want to give too much away; FRINGE follows the FBI’s ‘Fringe Division’ team, headed up by Agent Phillip Broyles (Lance Reddick) as they investigate ‘The Pattern’, a series of unexplained, strange and often stomach churning occurrences that are linked to an alternative universe. So far in the second season, Olivia, Peter and Walter have continued to experience their fair share of spine-tingling encounters, including a town full of people deformed by a scientific experiment and a lethal virus that causes its victim’s veins to explode.

While investigating these events, the characters have to deal with problems of their own. In perhaps one of the series’ most revealing episodes, ‘Peter’, a flashback reveals how Walter ended up kidnapping Peter’s alternative self from the parallel universe following his death in the real world. Walter had been battling with whether to tell Peter, especially since Olivia had discovered the truth, but it was not long before Peter found out of his own accord.

So what’s in store for the finale? There’s set to be another appearance of Leonard Nimoy as William Bell and more action from the parallel universe.

Executive Producer Jeff Pinkner said, “It really sets up a satisfying conclusion to what people have invested in this year, but also sort of opens up a whole other level of understanding that hopefully will propel us into season three and further. [There are] a lot of very exciting things that we’ve come up with that we’re really excited to tell.”

The second season finale of FRINGE, airing Tuesday 1 June at 10pm, exclusively on Sky1 HD and Sky1.

Strike Back {TV Preview}

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Next Wednesday night at 9 o’clock, Sky1HD will show the first two episodes of its new drama series based on former SAS operative Chris Ryan’s bestselling novel Strike Back. Ryan is best known as being the only member of the famous Bravo Two Zero patrol in the first Gulf War to evade capture. After writing a book about his long journey by foot to Syria, thought to be the most difficult escape a British solider has ever made, he began a successful career as a novelist.

It’s the last of the three novels Sky bought the rights to adapt two years ago as part of a £10m commitment to home-grown drama, following Tim Roth’s starring role in David Almond’s Skellig and the excellent adaptation of Martina Cole’s The Take. The route of adapting popular fiction was taken by Sky after seeing the success of their versions of some of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books, the latest of which, Going Postal, will be airing towards the end of May. The channel has also made other forays into producing drama, from being co-producers on the internationally acclaimed reimagining of Battlestar Galactica, to its little-known but fondly remembered witchcraft drama Hex, and for many years the long-running Premiership football soap Dream Team. But Strike Back is perhaps Sky’s most ambitious drama project yet.

Shot on 35mm film on location in South Africa, it’s clear that Sky are attempting to recreate the high-budget, high-octane action of its most popular American imports such as 24, which remains a big hit for the channel in it’s final season. The cinematic feel is noticed by star Richard Armitage, best known for his roles in Spooks and Robin Hood, who plays John Porter, a veteran of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

“It’s an ambitious project for television,” he says. “We’ve made three feature films on a TV budget and schedule. But the advantage of that is that these three feature films are linked together so you get a really interesting character arc through all episodes. American television is being brave and doing that at the moment, and this is stepping into that area.”

The first episode begins with events in 2003, with John Porter leading a Special Forces Unit, including Hugh Collinson (Andrew Lincoln, of This Life and Teachers), across the border into Basra. Their mission ends in disaster, something which haunts Porter for many years following his return home to Britain, when he quits the army. We then jump to 2010, and Collinson is now a senior intelligence officer. A journalist is kidnapped in Iraq, and the perpetrator has links to that fateful day in 2003. He calls Porter back into action and, keen to redeem himself, he agrees.

As Armitage mentioned, over the six-episode series three separate two-hour stories play out, first in Iraq, then in Zimbabwe, then finally in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The series will be shown over three weeks, two episodes at a time, adding to the movie-like feel. Chris Ryan was closely involved in the production, acting as series consultant and script advisor. He’s enjoying seeing his novel transferred to the screen.

Ryan says, “When you produce a novel it’s like a child and to see it put onto screen opens it up to a greater audience. I class myself as a storyteller now, and to tell that story on paper is a great privilege, then to see it on screen is even better.”

The cast also includes Ewen Bremner, Colin Salmon and Orla Brady. It’ll be interesting to follow the story of Collinson and Porter’s interlinking lives, but it’ll be just as interesting to see if Sky has finally been able to come up with an action drama series that can stand alongside the big hits from across the Atlantic.

Catch Chris Ryan’s Strike Back on Wednesday 5 May, 9pm on Sky1 and Sky1 HD.