The Village (BBC One)

[lizann]

John Simm and Maxine Peake are to star in new BBC One drama The Village.

The series - penned by Peter Moffat (Silk) - follows the residents of one English village across the 20th century and their turbulent lives.

Newcomer Bill Jones will play Bert Middleton, the youngest child of a poor family whose parents John (Simm) and Grace (Peake) struggle to provide for him. Upstairs Downstairs actor Nico Mirallegro will also star as their second son Joe, who works at the Big House and comes into contact with the troubled Caro (Emily Beecham).

Charlie Murphy (Misfits) will play village newcomer Martha Lane, who has a big impact on Bert's life, while Anthony Flanagan (Being Human), Annabelle Apsion (Shameless), Joe Armstrong (Robin Hood), Matt Stokoe (Misfits) and Stephen Walters (The 51st State) will also star.

John Simm said: "I'm delighted to be working with such a great director (Antonia Bird) and brilliant writer in Peter - I've long been a fan of both, alongside such a great cast.

"Beautiful writing - a period piece when we're not focusing on the decision makers but the working people," Maxine Peake added. "It is so great to see the other side - changes within a chain of social and political life, in minutiae.

"My character Grace channels all her energy into her family with a focus on ambition and the idea of freedom for her sons. Women moving into the workplace as the men went to fight and finding independence."

The six-part series of The Village will film on location in the Peak District and will broadcast on BBC One in 2013.

[alan45]

he Village is an epic drama series for BBC One starring Maxine Peake and John Simm, charting the life and turbulent times of one English village across the whole of the 20th century. The Village is written by Bafta-winning writer Peter Moffat.

The camera never leaves the village. Births, deaths, love and betrayal, great political events, upheavals in national identity, ways of working, rules kept and rebellions made, sex, religion, class, the shaping of modern memory – all refracted through the lives of the villagers and the village.

One man, Bert Middleton lives across the entire hundred years and his life story from boyhood to extreme old age provides the narrative backbone. His last great act of remembering is our way in to an examination of our recent past.

The series begins in 1914. Young Bert Middleton (introducing Bill Jones) is growing up in extreme poverty on a family farm in Derbyshire. His parents John (John Simm – State of Play, The Devil’s Whore) and Grace (Maxine Peake – Silk, Criminal Justice, Shameless) struggle to provide for Bert and his adored older brother Joe (Nico Mirallegro – My Fat Mad Teenage Diary, Upstairs Downstairs). John is proud, unyielding and haunted by his past. Grace devotes her life to protecting her sons from the violence of his despair. Is her sacrifice sustainable? Is John capable of redemption? Will Bert’s funny, gentle ways and rich imagination survive? Joe supplements the family income by working at the Big House, where he comes into contact with the troubled and deeply unstable Caro (Emily Beecham – The Runaway).

The first episode opens with the arrival of the first bus ever to stop in the village. Everyone gathers to see it and off the bus steps the beautiful, headstrong Martha Lane (Charlie Murphy - Misfits, Love Hate). Bert Middleton’s world will never be the same again.

Jim Cartwright (writer of Road and The Rise and Fall of Little Voice) plays Peter Baslow, the Landlord of the village pub. Other cast includes: Anthony Flanagan (Being Human), Annabelle Apsion (Shameless), Joe Armstrong (Robin Hood), Matt Stokoe (Misfits), Augustus Prew (The Borgias) and Stephen Walters (The 51st State).

John Simm says: “I’m delighted to be working with such a great director (Antonia Bird) and brilliant writer in Peter - I've long been a fan of both, alongside such a great cast”.

Maxine Peake says: “Beautiful writing - a period piece when we're not focusing on the decision makers but the working people, it is so great to see the other side - changes within a chain of social and political life, in minutiae. My character, Grace channels all her energy into her family with a focus on ambition and the idea of freedom for her sons. Women moving into the workplace as the men went to fight and finding independence”.

[alan45]

he Village is an epic drama series for BBC One starring Maxine Peake and John Simm, charting the life and turbulent times of one English village across the whole of the 20th century. The Village is written by Bafta-winning writer Peter Moffat.

The camera never leaves the village. Births, deaths, love and betrayal, great political events, upheavals in national identity, ways of working, rules kept and rebellions made, sex, religion, class, the shaping of modern memory – all refracted through the lives of the villagers and the village.

One man, Bert Middleton lives across the entire hundred years and his life story from boyhood to extreme old age provides the narrative backbone. His last great act of remembering is our way in to an examination of our recent past.

The series begins in 1914. Young Bert Middleton (introducing Bill Jones) is growing up in extreme poverty on a family farm in Derbyshire. His parents John (John Simm – State of Play, The Devil’s Whore) and Grace (Maxine Peake – Silk, Criminal Justice, Shameless) struggle to provide for Bert and his adored older brother Joe (Nico Mirallegro – My Fat Mad Teenage Diary, Upstairs Downstairs). John is proud, unyielding and haunted by his past. Grace devotes her life to protecting her sons from the violence of his despair. Is her sacrifice sustainable? Is John capable of redemption? Will Bert’s funny, gentle ways and rich imagination survive? Joe supplements the family income by working at the Big House, where he comes into contact with the troubled and deeply unstable Caro (Emily Beecham – The Runaway).

The first episode opens with the arrival of the first bus ever to stop in the village. Everyone gathers to see it and off the bus steps the beautiful, headstrong Martha Lane (Charlie Murphy - Misfits, Love Hate). Bert Middleton’s world will never be the same again.

Jim Cartwright (writer of Road and The Rise and Fall of Little Voice) plays Peter Baslow, the Landlord of the village pub. Other cast includes: Anthony Flanagan (Being Human), Annabelle Apsion (Shameless), Joe Armstrong (Robin Hood), Matt Stokoe (Misfits), Augustus Prew (The Borgias) and Stephen Walters (The 51st State).

John Simm says: “I’m delighted to be working with such a great director (Antonia Bird) and brilliant writer in Peter - I've long been a fan of both, alongside such a great cast”.

Maxine Peake says: “Beautiful writing - a period piece when we're not focusing on the decision makers but the working people, it is so great to see the other side - changes within a chain of social and political life, in minutiae. My character, Grace channels all her energy into her family with a focus on ambition and the idea of freedom for her sons. Women moving into the workplace as the men went to fight and finding independence”.

[tammyy2j]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=HZVioINe2kA

Begins on Easter Sunday on BBC1

[tammyy2j]

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[Katy]

Im looking forward to this, it looks good.

[Perdita]

21st April

ohn and Grace Middleton struggle to cope when baby Mary falls dangerously ill with scarlet fever. In a desperate attempt to save her, John steals some animal medicine from the Big House estate farm - but at what cost?
A surprising relationship unfolds between Agnes and Bairstow. He and Edmund Allingham plot to use this for their own ends.

It's an important date for the village; today is the Rondo, an annual wheelbarrow race, run around the perimeter of the cricket pitch. Many of the village’s men are away fighting so this year, for the first time in history, the race will be run by the local boys. Bert decides that winning this race is a matter of life or death; if he wins, his soldier brother Joe will be kept safe.

Unbeknownst to the village, the date of the Rondo coincides with the first day of the Battle of the Somme. There’s a rumour that a big offensive is about to be launched in France and that the local Pals’ battalion is to take part. Bert has received a field service postcard from Joe, with a coded sign that means Joe will be 'going over the top'...

[Perdita]

5th May 2013

1920. The war is over, and the village tries to come to terms with its loss.
Eyre returns to the village on his release from prison as a conscientious objector. Everywhere he sees evidence of change. Returning soldiers want their jobs back and the women factory workers have joined the union. Bairstow has become Edmund’s political agent and is establishing himself at the Big House, much to Clem’s disapproval.

Bert is now 18. He invites his old teacher to stay at the farm, to John’s evident hostility. The family is struggling to come to terms with Joe’s death.

The date of the unveiling of the War Memorial draws close as the inhabitants debate how best to honour their dead.

Grace learns that Joe will not join the list of the fallen. And Margaret is distraught to hear that her boy’s body will not be brought home. Divisions open up at the heart of the village community.

[tammyy2j]

BBC One has released the first trailer for the upcoming second season of their drama series The Village.

Created by Peter Moffat, The Village tells the story of one village over the period of 100 years, told through the memories of Bert Middleton who has been a resident in the village for the full century that the series will cover. The drama series is produced by Company Pictures and stars Maxine Peake, John Simm, Bill Jones, Nico Mirallegro, Emily Beecham, Charlie Murphy, Jim Cartwright, Anthony Flanagan, Annabelle Apsion, Joe Armstrong, Matt Stokoe, Augustus Prew and Stephen Walters.

The show’s second season opens in 1923 and examines life after the Great War. Now in a world of boom and bust, motor cars and the Charleston, the twenties bring a blast of energy and freedom to the village; as the outside world continues to break down barriers, bringing with it the big dramas that change will always generate. Cast additions for season two include Julian Sands (24) and Phoebe Dyneover (Waterloo Road)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvHhfXtkxpw&feature=player_detailpage

[tammyy2j]

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[tammyy2j]

I hope John will be ok, don't like what they are doing to him and Grace this series