News round-up: Love Hurts, The Older Woman, Ode to Joy and Nicholas Hammond as Sam Wanamaker in Tarantino film

27 July 2018 23:08

Watch Love Hurts on Acorn TV from 30 July

A reminder for US fans that you can watch Love Hurts series one from this Monday, 30 July. The first ten episodes of the classic BBC comedy-drama, starring Zoë and Adam Faith, will be available to stream on Acorn TV. To the best of my knowledge, this marks the first time Love Hurts has been shown in the US since BBC America aired it over ten years ago.

If you’re not familiar with the show, let me bring you up to speed. Zoë plays Tessa Piggott, a high-flying corporate exec who was, for years, the boss’s mistress. After being unceremoniously dumped one lunchtime, she decides to change her life by putting her skills to use in the charity sector. Tessa also decides to avoid any more romantic entanglements – but fate has other ideas when cheeky chappy and self-made millionaire Frank Carver averts a crisis on the night of an all-important charity event.

Witty scripts and sparkling performances made Love Hurts a huge hit when it originally aired in the UK from 1992-4. The shoulder pads are big, as are the mobile phones, but the relationship issues and social problems at the heart of the series are as relevant as ever.

Catch up with The Older Woman

Zoë stars as one half of another will-they-won’t-they couple – tough, fortysomething teacher Jane Callaghan and love-struck, thirtysomething former pupil Roy Hitchcock – in distinctive comedy-drama The Older Woman (1993). Her co-stars include Martin Clunes and Toyah Willcox.

The imaginative, acerbic series, which recently made a welcome return to BBC Radio 4 Extra, will conclude on 30 July at 7am (repeated 5pm and 31 July at 5am). You can catch up with the previous five episodes now.

Ode to Joy gets film festival screening

The documentary Ode to Joy (2014), narrated by Zoë, will be screened as part of the inaugural Watford Short Film Festival on 4 August. The brief but fascinating film explores the life and career of talented, Watford-born animator Joy Batchelor. She's perhaps best known for the 1954 film adaptation of George Orwell's allegorical novella, Animal Farm.

Tickets to the festival are available online.

Nicholas Hammond to play Zoë’s dad in Tarantino film

Nicholas Hammond (who you may remember from The Sound of Music and 70s TV series The Amazing Spider-Man) has been cast as Sam Wanamaker in major director Quentin Tarantino’s forthcoming film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which is currently in production.

It’s not yet clear what role Zoë’s dad will have in the plot of the film, which is set in Los Angeles during the infamous summer of 1969 and blends history with fiction. Film resource Screen Rant suggests that he’s most likely to be involved with (fictional) TV actor Rick Dalton’s storyline. That sounds plausible, given Sam Wanamaker's extensive TV acting and directing experience.

Dalton (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) and his stunt double, Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), are attempting to make the leap from the small screen to Hollywood blockbusters. Events take a horrifying turn, however, one August night. Dalton’s neighbour is Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie), the real-life rising star who was murdered, along with several others, at her home by followers of the criminal Charles Manson.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is due to be released in summer 2019.

Thanks to Karoline for her help.

perma-linktweet this