The first confirmed cast for the BBC One mini-series, in association with HBO, adaptation of JK Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy has been announced today.
The confirmed cast includes Michael Gambon, Keeley Hawes, Rory Kinnear, Monica Dolan, Julia McKenzie, and introduces Abigail Lawrie.
BAFTA Award-winning actor Michael Gambon (Quirke, The Singing Detective) is set to play Howard Mollison, owner of the Pagford delicatessen, with Julia McKenzie (Notes On A Scandal, Shirley Valentine) playing his wife Shirley. Howard’s son Miles is being played by Rufus Jones (Bill, W1A) with his wife Samantha Mollison being played by Keeley Hawes (Line Of Duty, Ashes To Ashes). Rory Kinnear (Skyfall, Penny Dreadful), who recently won the Olivier Award for Best Actor for his role as Iago in Nicholas Hytner’s production of Othello at the National Theatre, is to play Barry Fairbrother, Keeley Forsyth (Coronation Street, Emmerdale) is playing Terri Weedon with newcomer Abigail Lawrie cast as her daughter Krystal Weedon.
Monica Dolan (Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa, Sightseers), who won a BAFTA Award for her portrayal of Rose West in Julian Jarrold’s Appropriate Adult, will play Tess Wall with Simon McBurney (Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy, Last King Of Scotland) playing her husband Colin Wall. Richard Glover (A Field In England, Sightseers) has been cast to play Simon Price alongside Marie Critchley (In The Flesh, Emmerdale) playing his wife Ruth Price. Michelle Austin (Secrets & Lies, Another Year) will play Kay Bawden.
Other cast soon to be announced includes Parminder, Vikram and Sukhvinder Jawanda, Gaia Bawden, and other key characters including Mary Fairbrother, Maureen Lowe, Lexie and Libby Mollison, and Andrew and Paul Price.
The BBC One miniseries, in association with HBO, is an adaptation of JK Rowling’s global bestseller The Casual Vacancy and consists of three one-hour parts. Production begins on 7 July in South West England.
The Casual Vacancy centres on Pagford, a seemingly idyllic English village with a cobbled market square and ancient abbey. Behind the pretty façade, however, is a town at war: rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils.
The Casual Vacancy is being produced by Bronte Film and Television, the independent production company run by JK Rowling and Neil Blair, who is executive producing with Paul Trijbits (Saving Mr. Banks, Golden Globe winner Dancing On The Edge”) and Rick Senat. It was commissioned by Danny Cohen, Director of BBC Television, and Ben Stephenson, Controller of BBC Drama.
The miniseries is written by Sarah Phelps (the BBC’s Great Expectations and The Crimson Field), produced by Ruth Kenley-Letts (The Tunnel, the Emmy winner The Hour) and will be directed by Jonny Campbell (BAFTA winning mini series In the Flesh, BAFTA winner Eric & Ernie). Lucy Bevan (Maleficent, Cinderella) is the show’s Casting Director. Tony Slater-Ling (The Politician's Husband, In The Flesh) is the show’s Director of Photography. Production Design is by Sami Khan (Catch Me Daddy), the Costume Designer is Rhona Russell (Scott and Bailey) and Editor Tom Hemmings (Misfits, The Tunnel).
JK Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy has sold more than six million copies worldwide since its publication in 2012.
The confirmed cast includes Michael Gambon, Keeley Hawes, Rory Kinnear, Monica Dolan, Julia McKenzie, and introduces Abigail Lawrie.
BAFTA Award-winning actor Michael Gambon (Quirke, The Singing Detective) is set to play Howard Mollison, owner of the Pagford delicatessen, with Julia McKenzie (Notes On A Scandal, Shirley Valentine) playing his wife Shirley. Howard’s son Miles is being played by Rufus Jones (Bill, W1A) with his wife Samantha Mollison being played by Keeley Hawes (Line Of Duty, Ashes To Ashes). Rory Kinnear (Skyfall, Penny Dreadful), who recently won the Olivier Award for Best Actor for his role as Iago in Nicholas Hytner’s production of Othello at the National Theatre, is to play Barry Fairbrother, Keeley Forsyth (Coronation Street, Emmerdale) is playing Terri Weedon with newcomer Abigail Lawrie cast as her daughter Krystal Weedon.
Monica Dolan (Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa, Sightseers), who won a BAFTA Award for her portrayal of Rose West in Julian Jarrold’s Appropriate Adult, will play Tess Wall with Simon McBurney (Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy, Last King Of Scotland) playing her husband Colin Wall. Richard Glover (A Field In England, Sightseers) has been cast to play Simon Price alongside Marie Critchley (In The Flesh, Emmerdale) playing his wife Ruth Price. Michelle Austin (Secrets & Lies, Another Year) will play Kay Bawden.
Other cast soon to be announced includes Parminder, Vikram and Sukhvinder Jawanda, Gaia Bawden, and other key characters including Mary Fairbrother, Maureen Lowe, Lexie and Libby Mollison, and Andrew and Paul Price.
The BBC One miniseries, in association with HBO, is an adaptation of JK Rowling’s global bestseller The Casual Vacancy and consists of three one-hour parts. Production begins on 7 July in South West England.
The Casual Vacancy centres on Pagford, a seemingly idyllic English village with a cobbled market square and ancient abbey. Behind the pretty façade, however, is a town at war: rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils.
The Casual Vacancy is being produced by Bronte Film and Television, the independent production company run by JK Rowling and Neil Blair, who is executive producing with Paul Trijbits (Saving Mr. Banks, Golden Globe winner Dancing On The Edge”) and Rick Senat. It was commissioned by Danny Cohen, Director of BBC Television, and Ben Stephenson, Controller of BBC Drama.
The miniseries is written by Sarah Phelps (the BBC’s Great Expectations and The Crimson Field), produced by Ruth Kenley-Letts (The Tunnel, the Emmy winner The Hour) and will be directed by Jonny Campbell (BAFTA winning mini series In the Flesh, BAFTA winner Eric & Ernie). Lucy Bevan (Maleficent, Cinderella) is the show’s Casting Director. Tony Slater-Ling (The Politician's Husband, In The Flesh) is the show’s Director of Photography. Production Design is by Sami Khan (Catch Me Daddy), the Costume Designer is Rhona Russell (Scott and Bailey) and Editor Tom Hemmings (Misfits, The Tunnel).
JK Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy has sold more than six million copies worldwide since its publication in 2012.
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I don't get it. The book is supposed to be just ok, the critics were lukewarm at best and now it is a series?
ReplyDeleteI know they are milking the JK Rowling name, but if great, amazing books usually turn out to become mediocre series... I'm not really expecting much of this one. Of course that a great production, great actors and quality scripts can make it work, but I'm still very "meh" abut this.
Casual Vacancy suffered from the expectations of Harry Potter. It's a good book, if a little too desperate to shed her image as a kids writer. It's obvious it exists because Rowling is the most prolific writer in the world and anything she writes is going to have adaptations, but I think there is a show here.
ReplyDeleteI don't actually think "great, amazing" books often turn out to be mediocre series. I actually can not think of a single case where I find that be true. Shows like True Blood and Dexter, even though they struggled in later seasons, were far better than the tish that their creators wrote. Game of Thrones is a good series based on a great series of books (although I think the last two books are highly overrated), but I would FAR from call the show mediocre. Even the teen stuff I've seen and attempted to read, like Gossip Girl and The Vampire Diaries, were better in the first few seasons than their awful source material.
I've read the book and i don't see a lot of tv series material here, the main reason being that there is not a sympathetic character in the whole novel...
ReplyDelete