View Full Version : Mrs Biggs
tammyy2j
21-02-2012, 11:23
ITV has announced that Sheridan Smith is to play the title role of Charmian Biggs in the five part ITV drama Mrs Biggs produced by ITV Studios.
The US-based actress will be joined by Danny Mays who assumes the iconic role of Charmian’s infamous ex-husband Ronnie Biggs.
Written by Jeff Pope, Mrs Biggs, will chronicle Charmian’s life from the fateful moment that, as a teenager on a train, she first met and fell in love with the flirtatious and worldly Biggs.
Smith said: "When I received the call to say that I'd got this job I burst into tears. Charmian is an incredible woman, and I'm so lucky that she'll be on hand to support me and give me advice during the shoot. I hope that I can do her story justice".
Set on location in London, Surrey, Buckinghamshire, Adelaide and Melbourne Mrs Biggs is a co-production with Melbourne based December Media for Seven Network in Australia.
tammyy2j
16-08-2012, 10:50
Sheridan Smith stars as Charmian Biggs in ITV1's tale of her life on the run with Great Train Robber hubby Ronnie, who's played by Daniel Mays. Mrs Biggs premieres in early September
There is already a thread about this programme.
Mrs Biggs’ is the true story of the woman behind Britain’s most famous villain, Great Train Robber Ronald Biggs. Over five, hour-*‐long episodes we go on an astonishing journey with her, from naïve young woman to reluctant gangster’s moll; from a stifling, choking life at the hands of an overbearing father, to the joy of freedom and motherhood. ‘Mrs Biggs’ gives us the inside story on one of the most infamous crimes of the twentieth century; but more than anything it is a sweeping love story told across three decades and from one side of the world to the other.
Episode One
(90 Minutes)
Charmian Brent is a young girl on a train. Unable to take up the place she won at university because her father has refused to support her any more, she works as a clerk at a bullion dealer’s in Soho. Frustrated and disillusioned with life, she is chatted up on the train by Ron Biggs, a tall handsome Londoner nearly ten years her senior. He conceals that he is actually a carpenter by wearing smart clothes and carrying his tools in a briefcase. But Charmian is smitten, and they start dating. When her father Bernard finds out that Ron has convictions for petty crimes he hits the roof, forbidding Charmian to see him any more. But the young couple decide to elope with £200 Ron has forced her to steal from her employers to fund their escape. They hide out on the Dorset coast but are eventually caught after a dramatic car chase and pursuit through a forest. Ron is given six months imprisonment, Charmian a suspended sentence. She waits for him and when he is released she becomes pregnant to force her father to consent to her getting married. Charmian gives her whole life to Ron but asks only that he never becomes involved in crime again. Ron agrees and, for a while, life settles down into domestic bliss. They have two sons in quick succession and Ron’s building business is doing well. The only cloud on the horizon is that their rented home is about to be sold. They have first refusal but need to scrape together £500 for the deposit. All their money is tied up in the business so, desperate, Ron goes to see an old friend to ask if he can borrow it. The friend is Bruce Reynolds, at that moment planning the biggest robbery in British history. Reynolds’ money is tied up in a plan to rob a Royal Mail train, packed with used bank notes, on its journey down from Glasgow to London. He offers Ron a place on the job but Ron refuses. Reynolds learns Ron is friendly with Peter, a retired train driver -*‐ the missing piece of the jigsaw for Reynolds’ master plan. He offers Ron £40,000 to bring Peter in on the job and Ron’s resistance is worn down. The episode concludes as Ron, Peter and Reynolds’ gang head towards the location where the heist is to take place.
Mrs Biggs
Episode: 2*of*5
Wednesday, 12 September 2012,*9:00PM*-*10:30PM
With Charmian completely in the dark, Ron takes part in the robbery and the gang net slightly more than £2.5m giving them each shares of £140,000. Ron is rich beyond his wildest dreams.
But Charmian is distraught; as he tips his share out in front of her she can’t believe Ron would put their life in jeopardy in this way.
Without a family to support her, she feels she has no option but to stick with Ron and help him disperse the money to safe houses. For a while she enjoys the good life, but the police soon come calling and Ron is arrested.
Charmian struggles to keep it together as the press descends on her and fringe villains threaten her for a slice of Ron’s money. She is helped by Ruby and Alan Wright, a mother and son who are friends of Reynolds. But when Ron is found guilty and sentenced to 30 years imprisonment her world collapses. She is forced to move into a dingy flat, cut adrift by her family and friends. Entirely alone.
Ms BiggsEpisode: 3 of 5
Wednesday, 19 September 2012, 9:00PM - 10:00PM
Urged by Ron to do ‘whatever it takes’ to keep herself happy, Charmian embarks on an ill advised affair with Alan.
When she falls pregnant she can’t risk an abortion at a clinic and has to use a back street abortionist. She falls seriously ill but manages to pull through.
Then she hears the news she’s been waiting for --- Ron is planning to escape. She helps organize the attempt, getting money to the gang helping Ron and giving herself a cast iron alibi by taking the boys to Whipsnade Zoo.
The escape attempt succeeds spectacularly and Ron becomes Britain’s most wanted man. Charmian is put under close observation but she bides her time and finally, after being separated from him for almost a year, meets up with Ron in Paris.
His appearance alarms her, he has undergone crude and largely unsuccessful plastic surgery. They talk about the life they had together and Charmian wonders if they will ever be able to return to it. Ron tells her she must keep faith. He is planning on them all starting a new life in Australia. It will cost him over half of his robbery money, but they will be able to turn over a fresh leaf in a country that asks no questions. A country big enough for them to lose themselves in.
Six months later Charmian arrives with the boys in Darwin, but Ron is not there to meet her. Forced to spend the night on camp beds in the airport toilet, she considers getting the next plane home.
But then Ron turns up at her hotel – it’s all been a misunderstanding. He was at the airport but she looked right through him (in fact she hadn’t seen him), and he thought she was giving him a signal.
The family buy a car and set off through the outback to Adelaide, where Ron has lined up work and a rented home. Charmian soon falls pregnant again and the family live a tightrope, constantly trying not to let slip their true identities.
But Ron gets a job and when baby Farley arrives they appear to be settling back into normal family life. Then Reynolds is arrested in the UK… bringing sharp focus to the fact that their past could catch up on them at any moment.
As we head into the autumn months ITV1 is pulling out its drama big guns, and its new series about Ronnie and Charmian Biggs is one of its most highly-anticipated shows of 2012.
Made by the team who produced BAFTA award-winning Appropriate Adult, Mrs Biggs is based on the true story of Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs and his lover Charmian. With a well crafted script and emotional and intelligent performances from the two leads - Sheridan Smith and Danny Mays - this hard-hitting series packs a punch.
Digital Spy caught up with Danny Mays to get his perspective on the show and the controversial subject matter.
There are a lot of false preconceptions about Ronnie Biggs aren't there...
"Oh, totally. I had to go to the doctors before I went to Australia for filming and I told him I was playing Ronnie Biggs and he said, 'Oh he killed someone, didn't he?' The number of people who have said that to me is unbelievable. And it's untrue.
"Lots of people have this perception of him as a cockney oik train robber... scum of the earth. My main memories of him were sticking fingers up to authority and the establishment in Rio. But it's when you do your research, watch documentaries, speak to Charmian, you just think, 'No'. There was so much more to him.
"There was an attractiveness, a charming sophistication, he was a lover of jazz, he wanted to better himself. He was so aspirational. I think we all try and strive for that, so there was something admirable in him in that respect."
How much did you know about him before the project?
"I knew of the Great Train Robbery and little bits. But the main thing I knew about him was when he came back in 2001 to serve his sentence when he had ill health. But in terms of his whole life and the monumental journey that he went on, I knew very little. It's an extraordinary life and it's the biggest role I've ever had. To play someone throughout their life was a massive undertaking - for me and Sheridan. The shoes were huge."
Is it the toughest role you've taken on?
"I do play quite troubled people [laughs]. I did Public Enemies with Anna Friel, and that character was very intense and troubled, but for some reason I found that much, much easier to come out of. Even though Ronnie has a carefree element and enigmatic character, despite that fun side to him, I struggled with the Rio stuff in this. To see him sink into oblivion like that, that downward spiral he went on, it was the most intense job ever."
I liked when he sang God Save The Queen with the Sex Pistols.
I enjoyed the first episode,Sheridan Smith and Danny Mays were both good as the two lead actors.
I was surprised that a house in the 60's only cost £4,000 with a first payment of £400,how things have changed since then.
parkerman
06-09-2012, 18:21
Ronnie Biggs was a legend.
Plus a thief, a crook and a thug.
parkerman
06-09-2012, 18:21
Ronnie Biggs was a legend.
Plus a thief, a crook and a thug.
Plus a thief, a crook and a thug.
and a party to manslaughter.
Plus a thief, a crook and a thug.
and a party to manslaughter.
Plus a thief, a crook and a thug.
But nevertheless still a legend.
parkerman
07-09-2012, 17:13
To be classed as a legend must have a very low threshold where you come from.
But nevertheless still a legend.
You should ask the family of Jack Mills if they agree with you. I for one cannot understand the mentality of anyone who glorifies career criminals:hmm:
parkerman
07-09-2012, 18:49
Couldn't agree more. Alan.
Wednesday, 26 September 2012, 9:00PM - 10:00PM
Drama
Ron’s picture appears in an Australian magazine. They decide he doesn’t look different enough and feel they have no alternative but to up sticks again.
They pack themselves into a battered old van, the last of the robbery money gone, and set off for Melbourne.
Resourceful and determined, Charmian is now working in a biscuit factory and Ron is foreman at a building site. The boys are at school and the ‘Cook’ family live unobtrusively in a Melbourne suburb.
But the past is never far behind and a London ‘grass’ lets slip to the authorities that Ronnie Biggs is hiding ‘somewhere in Australia’. Ron’s picture flashes up on the evening news in Melbourne. Surely, now, the game is up.
But still Charmian won’t allow him to give in, and insists he hides out for the night at a motel. As she is on her way to take him a change of clothes the police pounce – if they’d followed her for another ten minutes they’d have found him. She is arrested and the boys are taken in to care.
It is the lowest point for but she agrees to sell her story to the Packer organization in exchange for a lawyer to represent her in court.The lawyer wins her freedom and helps her get the boys out of care.
With Ron still in hiding, he and Charmian risk it all by meeting one last time before he skips the country, on a steamer heading to Rio De Janiero. It’s an emotional farewell with the couple facing an uncertain future and aware that this could be their last encounter.
N.fan, I have deleted your post as it was in extermely bad taste and others also found it offensive. I believe everyone is entitled to an opinion and you are not alone in your worship of Biggs but please try not to make remakes about the dead in such a way.
N.fan, I have deleted your post as it was in extermely bad taste and others also found it offensive. I believe everyone is entitled to an opinion and you are not alone in your worship of Biggs but please try not to make remakes about the dead in such a way.
I in no way intended to offend anyone,and I appologise if I did.And I DO NOT worship Biggs.
As you may have noticed, a number of post have been deleted or edited. N. Fan has apologised and we should just leave it at that. This is not for a debate on who is attacking who.. please stick to the topic.. Thank you.
Mrs Biggs
Episode: 5 of 5
Wednesday, 3 October 2012, 9:00PM - 10:30PM
Drama
Having used the Packer money to buy a new house for herself and the boys, Charmian misses Ron desperately. He is lonely too, barely scraping a living as a roofer in a dingy Rio suburb.
Then, tragedy strikes when their eldest son, Nicky, is killed in a car crash. Charmian has to smuggle out a letter to Ron telling him of the terrible news. Charmian and Ron are broken by the death of Nicky, but each deals with it in a different MRS BIGGS 29 way.
Charmian resolves to keep herself as busy as she can – maniacally so – by taking on a degree as a mature student. Ron slides into a pit of drink, drugs and women.It is at this point he meets a beautiful young Brazilian dancer by the name of Raimund.
But jaded by life, Ron decides to arrange one last payday then turn himself in. He meets up with a Daily Express journalist in Rio to sell him his life story. The journalist betrays Ron by tipping off the police and an old adversary, Detective Chief Inspector Jack Slipper, arrests Ron in Rio. He is thrown in prison in Brasilia, facing extradition, and without even the comfort of a cheque from the Express for Charmian and the boys.
Then he discovers that Raimunda is pregnant, and that if the baby is his, the Brazilian authorities might not deport him. Charmian flies out to Rio for an emotional reunion, only to be told by Ron that he wants her to divorce him. He tells her it is for cosmetic reasons only – so that he can be ‘free’ to marry Raimunda, but she is badly shaken.
However, when Ron’s extradition is refused, she busily plans for life in Rio as a family unit again, and this time there will be no need to hide. When she takes her sons Chris and Nicky out to meet their father for the first time in nearly five years, Ron is cold and distant; he is curt with Charmian too.
Tension builds until, in an emotional confrontation, he admits to her that his freedom has become more important to him than his family. That he wants to stay free whatever the cost; and that with the Brazilian media watching him for signs of a weakening of commitment to Raimunda, his ‘English family’ are the price he must pay.
He asks Charmian to live with him and Raimunda in Rio as one, big happy family but she refuses and walks out on him forever. She knows she must put the boys first now. On the way back to Australia she goes to see her family for the first time in over a decade.
Her father is overjoyed when she tells him she and Ron are to divorce, and that he was ‘right’ about Ron all along. But when her father assumes she will now move back to the UK, she tells him her life is now in Australia, a country that wants her, and where she won’t just be ‘Mrs Biggs, the wife of the Great Train Robber’.
Mrs Biggs
Episode: 5 of 5
Wednesday, 3 October 2012, 9:00PM - 10:30PM
Drama
Having used the Packer money to buy a new house for herself and the boys, Charmian misses Ron desperately. He is lonely too, barely scraping a living as a roofer in a dingy Rio suburb.
Then, tragedy strikes when their eldest son, Nicky, is killed in a car crash. Charmian has to smuggle out a letter to Ron telling him of the terrible news. Charmian and Ron are broken by the death of Nicky, but each deals with it in a different MRS BIGGS 29 way.
Charmian resolves to keep herself as busy as she can – maniacally so – by taking on a degree as a mature student. Ron slides into a pit of drink, drugs and women.It is at this point he meets a beautiful young Brazilian dancer by the name of Raimund.
But jaded by life, Ron decides to arrange one last payday then turn himself in. He meets up with a Daily Express journalist in Rio to sell him his life story. The journalist betrays Ron by tipping off the police and an old adversary, Detective Chief Inspector Jack Slipper, arrests Ron in Rio. He is thrown in prison in Brasilia, facing extradition, and without even the comfort of a cheque from the Express for Charmian and the boys.
Then he discovers that Raimunda is pregnant, and that if the baby is his, the Brazilian authorities might not deport him. Charmian flies out to Rio for an emotional reunion, only to be told by Ron that he wants her to divorce him. He tells her it is for cosmetic reasons only – so that he can be ‘free’ to marry Raimunda, but she is badly shaken.
However, when Ron’s extradition is refused, she busily plans for life in Rio as a family unit again, and this time there will be no need to hide. When she takes her sons Chris and Nicky out to meet their father for the first time in nearly five years, Ron is cold and distant; he is curt with Charmian too.
Tension builds until, in an emotional confrontation, he admits to her that his freedom has become more important to him than his family. That he wants to stay free whatever the cost; and that with the Brazilian media watching him for signs of a weakening of commitment to Raimunda, his ‘English family’ are the price he must pay.
He asks Charmian to live with him and Raimunda in Rio as one, big happy family but she refuses and walks out on him forever. She knows she must put the boys first now. On the way back to Australia she goes to see her family for the first time in over a decade.
Her father is overjoyed when she tells him she and Ron are to divorce, and that he was ‘right’ about Ron all along. But when her father assumes she will now move back to the UK, she tells him her life is now in Australia, a country that wants her, and where she won’t just be ‘Mrs Biggs, the wife of the Great Train Robber’.
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