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Directed by Guillem Morales, “The Wasp” is a two-hander psychological thriller with Naomie Harris and Natalie Dormer. The film follows a sinister plan brewed by a married woman to seek revenge for her troubling past and repellent marriage. Harris plays the married woman in this equation, and Dormer plays her old-school friend. Written by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm, the screenplay is based on Malcom’s own 2015 play. It examines power equations in different settings to build a taut tale of vengeance that stings even more than it bites.

Spoilers Ahead

The Wasp (2024) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:

“The Wasp” follows Heather, a married woman who meets Carla, her childhood friend, after years with a strange proposal. Through their discussion, old wounds resurface, leading them on a wild ride. Before reading further, please note that the film covers themes of domestic abuse and childhood trauma.

What happens in Naomie Harris starrer ‘The Wasp...

Jim Sheridan and David Merriman’s real crime re-imagination “Re-Creation,” Alberto Rodríguez’s big-scale “Los Tigres,” Paz Vega’s directorial debut “Rita” feature in Spain’s lineup at this year’s AFM.

They are joined at the Spanish Screenings on Tour by “Nightfall,” a Federico García Lorca focused real life horror film from “Wounded” director Fernando Franco, and “Wolf Night,” the latest from Guillem Morales.

Rich on crime thrillers, this year’s Spanish slate also plays to two of Spain’s strengths, the subject of Spanish Screenings showcases, which luckily enough are also proved to be of general market demand: animation and genre/fantasy. The Screenings also highlight just a few of the Spanish companies which have scored recent market hits. Very few were around before 2010 – a sign of Spain’s relatively recent dramatic growth.

Spanish Screenings on Tour

Animation Showcase

“Ages of Madness,” (Miguel Miranda, 3Doubles Producciones, Spain)

From go-ahead Tenerife-based 3 Doubles,...

Eva Longoria in a deleted steamy scene with a co-star, adding behind-the-scenes drama. (Photo Credit – Instagram)

Eva Longoria has proved she could rule Hollywood even without needing a script. The multitasker actress who somehow manages to become a glam icon while stealing the spotlight rose to fame as the glamorous and fiery Gabrielle Solis on the hit TV show Desperate Housewives. Her role catapulted her into stardom, making her a household name and one of the most recognizable Latinas in Hollywood. Before performing in Desperate Housewives, the actress starred in more minor roles on shows like The Young and the Restless. Although her TV magic started to fizzle a bit after Desperate Housewives was wrapped in 2012, she starred alongside Jack Whitehall in a 2017 miniseries, Decline and Fall.

Decline and Fall was a British comedy mini-series based on the satirical novel by Evelyn Waugh. Directed by Guillem Morales, the show takes...

We are all familiar with modern horror films that have figures lurking in the shadows or rooms so dark that you find yourself squinting at the screen. But what about when the main character is blind and the audience is forced to see through her eyes? Julias Eyes, also known as Los Ojos de Julia, is a 2010 Spanish horror and psychological thriller directed by Guillem Morales and produced by Guillermo del Toro that changes how the audience interacts with the content.

Early on in “The Wasp,” Naomie Harris provides an elaborate description of tarantula hawks, a species of spiders that feeds on other tarantulas. They paralyze their prey before eating them alive. It’s a gruesome idea that writer-director Guillem Morales clearly intends to circle back around to in his twisty two-hander, which stars Natalie Dormer and Harris as two former friends embroiled in a cat-and-mouse game of violence and intimidation. Unfortunately, Harris’ monologue marks the highlight of the film. None of the plot swerves — and there are far too many of them — manage to reach that apex of encroaching dread.

Harris is Heather, a wealthy childless Londoner in a tense marriage with Simon (Dominic Allburn). In middle school, she was friends with Carla (Dormer), who’s now a grocery store cashier with four kids, a fifth on the way and a hopeless drunk gambler for a husband. The disparity in...

The Wasp is finally making its way to theaters nationwide after a successful run on the festival circuit, and audiences aren't prepared for the cinematic feast that awaits them. Spanish filmmaker Guillem Morales directed the project from a screenplay by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm, who adapted her stage play for the screen with aplomb. The story follows a troubled woman named Heather (played by Naomie Harris) whose unhappy marriage leads her to seek out an estranged childhood friend, Carla (played by Natalie Dormer of Game of Thrones fame).

Rather than seeking to reminisce or recapture her youth, however, Heather's reconciliation with Carla is focused on creating a future without her husband Simon in it. Dominic Allburn and Jack Morris also star in The Wasp as the two women's husbands, but it is the complicated layers of friendship and betrayal that demand the viewer's attention. The movie is a powerfully crafted thriller...

After a stellar run in festivals, The Wasp is finally releasing in theaters nationwide. Directed by Guillem Morales from a screenplay by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm (and incidentally based on her stage play), the stress-inducing thriller pits Naomie Harris and Natalie Dormer against each other and offers them awards-worthy material to chew on. The plot's many twists and turns are best witnessed without prior preparation, but the story follows Heather (Harris) as she seeks a way out of her unhappy marriage with help from her estranged childhood friend Carla (Dormer).

Harris and Dormer are joined by Dominic Allburn and Jack Morris, who play their respective husbands, but The Wasp is primarily focused on the dynamic between the two women. As they plot their tenuous future together, their difficult past starts coming to light and threatens to upend their carefully laid plans. The genre is thriller without a doubt, but the movie...

“The Wasp” is a new ‘psychological thriller’, directed by Guillem Morales, starring Naomie Harris, Natalie Dormer, Dominic Allburn, Jack Morris, Leah Mondesir-Simmonds, Rupert Holliday-Evans, Naomi Richards and Evelyn Temple, opening August 30, 2024 in theaters:

“…estranged childhood friends, ‘Heather’ and ‘Carla’, reunite for a cup of tea after not having spoken in many years.

“But at their meeting, Heather presents a very unexpected proposition …

‘…asking her to kill the abusive man in her life, that will change their lives forever…”

Click the images to enlarge...

Guillem Morales’s thriller The Wasp is about two women, Heather (Naomie Harris) and Carla (Natalie Dormer), who haven’t spoken since high school. They both still live in the same English town, and their houses are probably only a brief bus ride apart. But they live in different worlds, mostly because only one of them would ever take the bus.

Living a prettified suburban existence, Heather has a posh accent, a beautiful home, and a stylish wardrobe. Her husband, Simon (Dominic Allburn), is successful, though the audience never finds out exactly what he does, just that his is the sort of job that involves hobnobbing with other elegantly dressed people over bottles of presumably expensive wine.

As for Carla, she huddles up with her four kids inside a cramped apartment alongside her husband, Jim (Rupert Holliday-Evans), who seems to divide his time between snoozing in his armchair and gambling away their rent money.

Naomie Harris and Natalie Dormer lead director Guillem Morales’s psychological thriller The Wasp, adapted from Morgan Lloyd Malcolm’s acclaimed stage play. Morales crafts an unnerving tale of two former friends whose chance meeting turns ominous.

Heather, a housewife feeling trapped in her marriage, seeks out Carla after years apart. Once classmates, their lives have diverged greatly. Heather now lives comfortably but struggles with isolation and infertility. Meanwhile, single mother Carla scrapes by on low wages, with money troubles adding to daily stresses.

When these women meet again, it’s not for a pleasant catch-up. Heather has a disturbing proposal for Carla – she wants her to commit murder. Kill Heather’s husband in exchange for a handsome payoff. Shocked but desperate, Carla hears Heather out. Their teacup chat soon reveals hidden depths to both characters, and dark secrets from their shared past.

As tensions rise, memories emerge of childhood events that shaped these friends-turned-foes.

Shout! Studios will be giving the psychological thriller The Wasp, starring Naomie Harris of Skyfall and Natalie Dormer of Game of Thrones, a theatrical release on August 30th, and with that date just eight weeks away a trailer for the film has made its way online. You can check it out in the embed above.

Julia’s Eyes director Guillem Morales was at the helm of The Wasp, working from a screenplay written by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm, based on Malcolm’s stage play of the same name. Harris and Dormer are said to deliver captivating performances in this “tense, twist-filled” film as two estranged friends who reunite over tea, only to unveil a dangerous and deceptive plot that will irrevocably alter their lives.

Dominic Allburn (A Place to Call Home), Jack Morris (Into the Deep), Rupert Holliday-Evans (Silent Witness), Naomi Richards (The Ballad of Lucy Sands), Jake Donald-Crookes (Hill of Vision...

I can guarantee, you've never seen Naomie Harris and Natalie Dormer quite like this. Last month's Tribeca Film Festival here in New York gave attendees a unique opportunity to get in on the ground floor for a number of the best and most fascinating non-franchise movies of the year. Of all the standouts, however, "The Wasp" was one that managed to crawl under our skin and bury itself down deep as one heck of a dark, disturbing, and unforgettable experience. Playing out almost like a stage play -- which was not a coincidence, given that it's adapting Morgan Lloyd Malcom's play of the same name -- the plot follows estranged childhood friends Heather (Harris) and Carla (Dormer), who reconnect as adults under awfully inauspicious circumstances: a good ol' fashioned murder for hire.

This afternoon, Shout! Studios and XYZ Films released the first official trailer for "The Wasp" and, while marketing...

“The Wasp” is a new ‘psychological thriller’, directed by Guillem Morales, starring Naomie Harris, Natalie Dormer, Dominic Allburn, Jack Morris, Leah Mondesir-Simmonds, Rupert Holliday-Evans, Naomi Richards and Evelyn Temple, opening August 30, 2024 in theaters:

“…estranged childhood friends, ‘Heather’ and ‘Carla’, reunite for a cup of tea after not having spoken in many years.

“But at their meeting, Heather presents a very unexpected proposition …

‘…asking her to kill the abusive man in her life, that will change their lives forever…”

Click the images to enlarge...

Naomie Harriss (No Time to Die) head is buzzing with revenge in Colliders exclusive trailer for Shout! Studios The Wasp. But exactly who shell be enacting that revenge on becomes less and less clear throughout the sneak peek. Joining her in the psychological thriller will be Game of Thrones alum, Natalie Dormer, and The Models Dominic Allburn, with filmmaker, Guillem Morales (Julias Eyes) standing at the helm and directing from a script penned by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm. A tale of lifelong bonds, deception, brutality, and vengeance all lie ahead for viewers in this exclusive first look.

The tension and suspense in The Wasp is incredible, leading to wild and engaging twists. Natalie Dormer and Naomie Harris deliver exceptional performances that leave a lasting impact. The directing and writing of The Wasp are top-tier, creating a thrilling and enthralling viewing experience.

Adapting a play into a film is no easy task. Something that can be so intimate onstage may not always translate well onscreen. But the way in which director Guillem Morales interprets Morgan Lloyd Malcolms material in The Wasp a script Malcolm adapted herself is truly transcendent. Naomie Harris and Natalie Dormer give awards-worthy performances, trusting each other and the filmmakers to deliver intense, nail-biting portrayals of characters who are each deserving of sympathy. I didnt really know what to expect from The Wasp, but I can say the less you know about its plot, the better.

The Wasp (2024)

Director Guillem MoralesRelease Date June 8, 2024Writers Morgan Lloyd MalcolmCast Jake Donald-Crookes,...

Reconnecting with a childhood friend is always a little strange, but "The Wasp" takes it to a whole other level. This psychological thriller is all about Heather (Naomie Harris), a seemingly put-together, well-off woman who reaches out to Carla (Natalie Dormer), a standoffish pregnant former classmate who barely seems to remember her. Heather wants to hire Carla to do a dangerous, morally dubious task, but more importantly she wants to talk through everything that happened back when they were kids. Their childhood friendship fell apart the day young Carla killed a wounded bird in front of young Heather; as we learn throughout a suspenseful, emotional 96 minutes, things are weird between them for reasons far more complicated than that. 

I hesitate to say more about the plot, because "The Wasp" is one of those movies where it's best to know as little as possible going in. It's a film split into three clear acts,...

Guillem Morales’ adaptation of Morgan Lloyd Malcolm’s play The Wasp is an unsettling drama-thriller that delves into the complexities of its characters with precision in a way that is chilling and engrossing. The film stars Naomie Harris, Natalie Dormer, and Dominic Allburn, each delivering powerful performances that elevate this story of revenge and unresolved childhood bullying.

The film opens with Heather (Naomie Harris) crying alone in a dreary park, a setting that perfectly encapsulates the somber tone of the narrative. The camera follows the sound of buzzing flies into her pristine kitchen, where a wasp hovers over the window. Heather traps the wasp under a glass, a metaphor for her own trapped and anxious state. She asks her indifferent husband, Simon (Dominic Allburn), if he’s called the exterminator about the wasp nest. It becomes clear that Heather is deeply unhappy and struggling to conceive, her detachment and unease palpable.

Warning: this Inside No. 9 review contains spoilers.

The curse of the ninth. What could be a more fitting inspiration for one of these demonically clever stories? If it hadn’t already existed, they’d have had to invent it.

Inside No. 9’s creators Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith didn’t invent this superstition but they used it to make perhaps their most elegant story yet.

The plot was a trap, avoided. Composer Nathaniel Burnham (Eddie Marsan) had taken his own life after being haunted by a curse that struck artists upon reaching their ninth symphony. Years later, his cash-strapped widow Lillian (Natalie Dormer) ensnared piano tuner Jonah (Reece Shearsmith) to first grave-rob and then complete Nathaniel’s unfinished work, intending to sacrifice him to the fatal curse so that she could profit from the final product. Instead, Jonah turned the tables on Mrs Burnham and, in a sequence beautifully presented by director Guillem Morales,...

Exclusive: In a seven-figure deal, Shout! Studios has acquired all North American rights to The Wasp, a psychological thriller starring Academy Award nominee Naomie Harris (Moonlight) and Natalie Dormer (Game of Thrones), which adapts the play by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm.

Written by Malcolm and directed by two-time BAFTA nominee Guillem Morales (Inside Number 9), in his English-language debut, the film will be released in theaters this summer.

In The Wasp, Heather (Harris) and Carla (Dormer) agree to meet after having not spoken in years. Over tea, Heather presents a very unexpected proposition that will change their lives forever.

Nate Bolotin and Maxime Cottray from XYZ Films produced, with James Harris and Leonora Darby of Tea Shop Productions, Sean Sorensen of Royal Viking Entertainment and Matthew B. Schmidt of Paradise City Films also producing. Julie Dansker and Jordan Fields of Shout! Studios are executive producers. XYZ Films financed in association with Ipr.Vc and Three Point Capital.

Cadiz-based festival kicks off today with gala for refugee drama ’La Ley Del Mar’.

The inaugural South International Series Festival has unveiled its industry programme which runs alongside its progamme of public screenings and events from October 6-12.

Based in the ancient port city of Cadiz, the festival launches today with an opening gala for refugee drama La Ley del Mar, starring Luis Tosar and Blanca Portillo, produced by Studio 60, Rtve and A punt. Some 45 series will play in the festival’s official selection in five different sections. Another 60 titles, spanning both fiction and non-fiction, will have previews and screenings.

With temperatures starting to drop and darker nights drawing in here in the UK, reminding us that summer is almost over, doesn’t a TV festival on the sunny south coast of Spain sound pretty glorious right now?

We certainly think so, and the first ever edition of the new South International Series Festival, set to be held in Cadiz from 6 October, fits the bill perfectly. Created for the public and industry professionals alike, the South International Series Festival is the first festival of its kind in southern Europe, and was created with the intention to promote the audiovisual small-screen offerings from this region and beyond.

Over seven days, attendees can enjoy a programme including the very best of fiction and unscripted series, some undiscovered gems, and displays of cutting-edge innovation in the industry, with a focus on European and global Spanish-language series, and a spotlight on African nations. The...

Naomie Harris and Natalie Dormer are teaming up to star in “The Wasp,” a psychological thriller based on Morgan Lloyd Malcolm’s play of the same name.

“Moonlight” Oscar nominee Harris and “Game of Thrones” actor Dormer will play Heather and Carla, who meet up for tea after not having spoken in several years. Heather presents a shocking proposition that will change their lives forever.

Guillem Morales (“Inside No. 9”) will direct, with Malcolm writing the screenplay for producer XYZ Films.

Also Read:

‘House of the Dragon’ Opening Credits Opt for ‘Game of Thrones’ Theme Over New Music (Video)

Nate Bolotin and Maxime Cottray will produce for XYZ Films. James Harris and Leonora Darby of Tea Shop Productions, Sean Sorensen of Royal Viking Entertainment, and Matthew B. Schmidt of Paradise City Films will also produce. XYZ is financing in association with Ipr.Vc, and will handle worldwide sales at the upcoming Toronto Film Festival.

Exclusive: Naomie Harris (Moonlight) and Natalie Dormer (Game of Thrones) have been tapped to lead the psychological thriller The Wasp, which BAFTA winner and two-time nominee Guillem Morales (Inside No. 9) is directing for XYZ Films.

The film based on Morgan Lloyd Malcolm’s play of the same name, which ran in 2015 at London’s Hampstead Theatre, follows Heather (Harris) and Carla (Dormer), who agree to meet after having not spoken in years. Over tea, Heather presents a very unexpected proposition that will change their lives forever.

Malcolm adapted the screenplay for the film, slated to enter production in Bath, UK in November. Nate Bolotin and Maxime Cottray will produce for XYZ Films, along with James Harris and Leonora Darby of Tea Shop Productions, Sean Sorensen of Royal Viking Entertainment, and Matthew B. Schmidt of Paradise City Films. XYZ is financing, in association with Ipr.Vc, and handling worldwide sales at the upcoming Toronto Film Festival.

Exclusive: Hot off wrapping season one of Amazon’s mega-budget The Lord Of The Rings series, Saint Maud star Morfydd Clark is attached to star alongside Sam Riley (Control) and Dominic Cooper (Preacher) in revenge thriller The Duchess Of Malfi.

Guillem Morales (Julia’s Eyes) is helming the project from Miriam Segal’s Good Films Collective (Postcard Killings). Luke Garrett has adapted the classic Jacobean play by John Webster. The story follows the recently widowed Duchess (Clark) who falls in love with her steward Antonio. Their union sets in motion a conflict with her cruel and vengeful brothers, thde Cardinal and Ferdinand, who enlist the spy Bosola to keep her from escaping their control.

WestEnd Films has picked up worldwide sales rights and will introduce the project at the virtual Toronto market. Filming is set to start in November in Italy.

Additional cast includes Freddie Fox (The Three Musketeers) and Frank Dillane...

Some of the most imaginative, thought-provoking, and downright terrifying horror movies come from the minds of Spanish filmmakers, whose works have enjoyed a bit of a renaissance in the last few years. Even Mexican horror maestros like Guillermo del Toro have made it a point to produce movies in Spain, and feature the country and its culture in the settings for their most macabre creations.

Related: 10 Best Modern Horror Movies, Ranked According To IMDb

Cinematic auteurs like Juan Antonio Bayona and Pedro Almodóvar often blend devout iconography and sensuality into a powerful amalgamation that is uniquely Spanish, and relative newcomers like Jaume Balagueró and Guillem Morales focus on psychological escapades into the mazes of the human psyche that are reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock's finest (but much more passionate). Ranked by IMDb, these movies offer a thrilling journey into the rich tradition of Spanish horror.

“Julia’s Eyes” helmer Guillem Morales is readying 1980s-set psychological thriller “Brother,” with WestEnd Films set to launch sales at the Cannes virtual market later this month.

Morales, one of Spain’s top genre auteurs, is best known for 2010 Spanish horror “Julia’s Eyes” (pictured), which was produced by Guillermo del Toro. The director recently won a BAFTA for his work on the hit BBC dark comedy anthology series “Inside No. 9.”

“Brother” is set in the early 1980s and located in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains. The pic turns on the depraved Morrow family, which lives off the beaten path and preys on young women whom they kidnap from the side of the highway. There’s unrest within the family, however, as their 19-year-old son Michael Morrow tries to break free from their clutches and escape his past.

“Set in the early eighties, just as Kubrick’s ‘The Shining’ was released in theaters,...

Warning: this Inside No. 9 review contains spoilers.

Having met his servants in ‘The Trial of Elizabeth Gadge’ and ‘The Harrowing’, it was only a matter of time before Old Scratch turned up on Inside No. 9. This series has always had one cloven hoof dipped in the fantasy-horror genre, so it’s ripe for a visit from the devil himself.

‘How Do You Plead?’ was a choice vehicle, both for the character, and for Sir Derek Jacobi, whose guest performance was perhaps the best this show has had.. Here, Jacobi played Mr Webster, a dying barrister whose term was about to expire on the Faustian contract he’d signed in 1972. Reece Shearsmith played his kindly nurse with the unusual name of Urban Bedford, whose soul Webster attempted to sacrifice in his stead.

Speaking of names, though the full title of Jacobi’s character was never spoken, his initial ‘D’ must have stood for Daniel,...

Michaela Coel’s “I May Destroy You” won two BAFTAs in a year where there was no single dominant winner at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts’ (BAFTA) Television Awards on Sunday.

The BBC/HBO show won best mini-series and leading actress for Coel, who dedicated the award to the production’s director of intimacy Ita O’Brien.

“Thank you for your existence in our industry, for making the space safe for creating physical, emotional, and professional boundaries so that we can make work about exploitation, loss of respect, about abuse of power, without being exploited or abused in the process,” Coel said.

Paul Mescal won leading actor for BBC/Hulu show “Normal People.”

In the coveted drama series category, Lennie James’ Sky Atlantic show “Save Me Too” won over fancied rivals “The Crown,” “Gangs of London” and “I Hate Suzie.”

At the BAFTA TV Craft Awards that were announced in May,...

Warning: contains spoilers for Inside No. 9 series 6 episode 2 ‘Simon Says’.

From exsanguination to decapitation, Inside No. 9 episodes have never shied away from grisly murder, and so far, series six is no different. Opener ‘Wuthering Heist’ was a bloodbath, while follow-up ‘Simon Says’ gave us a total of four deaths – two faked and two real.

One of the real ‘Simon Says’ deaths was made to feel all the more authentic for filming choices made by director Guillem Morales. After Simon (Reece Shearsmith), the scheming fan of a fantasy TV series, blackmails its writer Spencer (Steve Pemberton) into remaking the show’s unpopular finale, a misunderstanding leads to Spencer smothering Simon to death.

Speaking on the weekly BBC Sounds ‘Inside Inside No. 9’ podcast, which also includes great insights from the show’s musical composer Christian Henson, the co-creators describe Morales’ intention with the smothering scene. To contrast with the heightened, lavishly scored fake murder that precedes it,...

Warning: contains spoilers for Inside No. 9 series 6 episode 2.

The online petition to ‘Remake Game of Thrones Season 8 with competent writers’ currently has over 1.8 million signatures. Despite the series having ended two years ago and HBO politely declining the opportunity to bin its $100m first attempt and have another go, people continue to add their names. Call it love or call it entitlement, some fans can’t move on.

That’s the context for ‘Simon Says’, a dark story about the writer of a fictional fantasy TV epic with a famously unpopular ending. When fans Simon and Gavin (Reece Shearsmith and Nick Mohammed) blackmail Spencer Maguire (Steve Pemberton) into remaking the season seven finale of The Ninth Circle, they unexpectedly end up starring in finales of their own. After their scheme goes badly wrong, Maguire murders one, and then kills the other to cover his tracks.

With its heightened tone, scheming power-grabs,...

Series five took Inside No. 9 to new and unusual places: the changing room at a premier league football match, a Louisiana prison, a cemetery at night, Wood Green… In fan-treat episode ‘Death Be Not Proud’, it even revisited an old haunt. Co-creators Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith welcomed new guest stars including David Morrissey, Ralf Little, Jenna Coleman, Phil Davis and Maxine Peake.

The series earned Bafta nominations for Best Scripted Comedy and Best Male Performance in a Comedy Programme, to go with Steve Pemberton’s 2019 Bafta win for the previous series. It offered laughter, tears, blood, a gristly beheading, and most of all, it offered variety. Streaming now on BBC iPlayer in the UK, find all the series five episode details and links to our spoiler-filled reviews below.

The Referee’s a W***er

Directed by: Matt Lipsey

Guest cast: David Morrissey, Ralf Little, Dipo Ola, Steve Speirs...

This Inside No. 9 review contains spoilers.

There’s old school comedy of the ‘Frank Spencer roller-skating under a lorry’ kind, and then there’s old school comedy of the ‘clowns, dukes, ruffs and rhyming couplets’ variety. The Inside No. 9 series six opener draws on the latter, improbably combining 16th century commedia dell’arte with a modern-day jewel heist. It’s proof, if any were needed, that there really is no formula to this show. Peculiarity is its only genre.

Commedia dell’arte sounds complicated because it’s Italian, but so does bruschetta, and that’s just tomato on toast. The term describes a form of historical theatre using a group of stock characters wearing masks and doing gags around a familiar plot.

‘Wuthering Heist’ explains its conceit early on with a self-aware to-camera monologue by Columbina, a servant played by the always-great Gemma Whelan. She tells us the reason...

Steve McQueen’s anthology series leads the pack with 15 nominations.

Small Axe leads the nominations for this year’s Bafta Television and Bafta Craft awards, which take place on June 6 and May 24, respectively.

The BBC mini-series, created and directed by Steve McQueen, is up for 15 awards (six television and three craft), including best mini-series, John Boyega and Shaun Parkes for leading actor, Letitia Wright for leading actress, and Malachi Kirby and Michael Ward for supporting actor.

Small Axe was produced by Turbine Studios and Lammas Park alongside the BBC and Amazon Studios. Two episodes – Mangrove and Lovers Rock – were picked...

2021’s totally online NATPE Virtual Miami is just but half over. Some inkling of how it might shape out, however, is fast falling into place.

Basically, streaming stole the show. Yes, Fox did announce during NATPE that the Jay Leno-hosted “You Bet Your Life” reboot, bowing this fall, has sold in 85% of the U.S. Yet a once annual launchpad for shows seeking U.S. syndication was dominated this time round by the seismic pivot of Hollywood’s majors and other players into global VOD platforms, and the impact of this tectonic shunt on the industry at large.

Dominating NATPE-related business announcements and online panel discussions, that impact is inevitable.

But it didn’t always play out in the most obvious fashion.

Following, six – somewhat provisional – takeaways from this year’s NATPE Miami, focused on its international business:

The Big Swings

During NATPE, Paramount Plus set a March 4 launch date for the U.

Madrid-based international TV powerhouse The Mediapro Studio has sold banner series “The Head” to HBO Max for the U.S. as it powers into English-language production, partnering with John Turturro, “Casualty” writers Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin, U.K. producer Big Talk and London-based director Guillem Morales.

The drive into U.S. and now most especially U.K. production marks the latest strategic growth in one of the fastest ramp-ups in drama series production in Europe, spearheaded by Laura Fernández Espeso, appointed The Mediapro corporate director in October 2019 and chief executive last month.

“We are making a large bet on fortifying our position in the U.S., U.K. and Latin America, and feature film production, and are proud to be working with a huge range of high-caliber partners,” Fernández-Espeso told Variety.

Underscoring her point, she noted four U.S. projects now in development; a production alliance with Erik Barmack,...

Madrid — Amazon Prime Video has announced a slate of three new Spanish original series set for 2020, which will strengthen the streamer’s domestic catalog in the country. It also shared the first trailer for its second Spanish soccer docu-series “El corazón de Sergio Ramos” (The Heart of Sergio Ramos).

In “El Cid,” popular Spanish actor Jaime Lorente, a lead player in Netflix’s two biggest Spanish hits thus far “Money Heist” and “Elite,” will play Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar in a series inspired by the legendary medieval war hero, whose deeds inspired one of the most important of medieval Spanish epic poems, “El Cantar de Mio Cid.”

“’El Cid’ will be a unique and ambitious series that requires a cast with incredible talent and agility,” said Georgia Brown, Amazon director of European Original series in a press release. “Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar is a fascinating figure, a true hero whose...

Two weeks after HBO’s Southern gothic thriller “Sharp Objects” revealed its twisted ending, another drama featuring a dollhouse is opening its doors to welcome viewers into a meticulously crafted world. “The Miniaturist,” based on Jessie Burton’s novel of the same name, is PBS’ three-part adaptation that satisfies the “Masterpiece” aesthete’s hunger for beautiful visuals, lavish costuming, and mesmerizing performances.

Set in the 17th century, “The Miniaturist” follows Petronella “Nella” Oortman (“The Witch” and “Split” star Anya Taylor-Joy), a wide-eyed 18-year-old from Assendelft, who has traveled to Amsterdam to join the household of her new husband, Johannes Brandt (Alex Hassell). On the surface, it appears to be the usual sort of marriage contract: She and her family benefit from his wealth and status, while he receives a youthful bride to help continue the Brandt line and look pretty while doing it. The latter, in fact, appears to be...

Aliya Whiteley Dec 27, 2017

Spoilers ahead in or review of BBC One's sumptuous Christmas drama, The Miniaturist...

This review contains spoilers.

See related 35 must-watch movies in 2017

Boxing Day evening has become a strong slot to kick off dark BBC drama, with two excellent Agatha Christie adaptations being shown in recent years that have relished in the kind of misdeeds that suit the post-gift comedown. This year we had a break from the golden era of crime for something contemporary: Jessie Burton’s bestselling novel The Miniaturist, published in 2014, adapted for the screen by John Brownlow. Still firmly in the realm of mystery, this was not about murder, but offered a very intriguing set of puzzles to be solved - although the answer were, perhaps, less suited to the screen than the page.

Some elements were a gift to the eyes: seventeenth century Amsterdam brings to mind the paintings of masters such as Rembrandt and Vermeer,...

Anya Taylor-Joy, Romola Garai and Alex Hassell have been set to star in BBC One and Masterpiece's period thriller The Miniaturist, based on the best-selling novel by Jessie Burton. They'll be joined in the three-part series, which is currently filming, by Paapa Essiedu (A Midsummer Night's Dream), Hayley Squires (I, Daniel Blake) and Emily Berrington (Humans). Fleming and Sylvia scribe John Brownlow pens the series while Guillem Morales directs. Story is set in 1686, when…...

Louisa Mellor Mar 14, 2017

The latest Inside No. 9 is a dark tale of obsession guest-starring Keeley Hawes. Spoilers ahead…

This review contains spoilers.

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3.5 Diddle Diddle Dumpling

As if we needed more proof of this strand’s ingenuity, the latest No. 9 was neither a house or a room, but a shoe. A lack of walls didn’t make it any less encompassing or prisonlike for the story’s lead David, a character played with painful depth by Reece Shearsmith.

What started as a light and witty portrait of an eccentric obsession ended as the darkest picture of a mind unhinged by grief. Over a spring, summer and winter, a lone shoe seemingly discarded in front of his house became the focus of David’s spiralling breakdown. Though as the CCTV footage playing over the end credits showed,...

Louisa Mellor Mar 7, 2017

All change for Inside No. 9 series 3, which delivers a quasi-musical in karaoke-themed instalment, Empty Orchestra…

This review contains spoilers.

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3.4 Empty Orchestra

“When you’ve cut someone’s bum off and eaten it, you kind of go, well, better try something different!” Steve Pemberton told us at the Inside No. 9 series three launch. In Empty Orchestra, a (whisper it) love story with a (keep whispering) happy ending, something different is exactly what he and Reece Shearsmith have done.

Compared to the thoroughgoing nastiness of The Riddle Of The Sphinx, this one’s as refreshing as a sea breeze. The baddies are punished, the goodies are rewarded, and the viewer can skip happily to bed...

Louisa Mellor Feb 28, 2017

Inside No. 9 series 3 pays homage to Sleuth in a delightfully nasty, slippery story themed around cryptic crosswords…

This review contains spoilers.

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3.3 The Riddle Of The Sphinx

With its single location, limited cast and playful, macabre twists, the 1972 film Sleuth starring Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine is a godfather of sorts to Inside No. 9. This week’s especially slippery episode pays homage to Anthony Shaffer’s warped story of revenge between two rivals in love.

It’s the most complicated tale Inside No. 9 has ever spun. As co-creator Steve Pemberton told us at the series three press launch, “If you missed two sentences in a row, you’d be like ‘what?’ Even I was thinking how are people following this?...

Louisa Mellor Feb 21, 2017

Inside No. 9 returns with a very fraught, very funny episode co-starring Philip Glenister and Jason Watkins. Spoilers ahead…

This review contains spoilers.

3.2 The Bill

“People arguing over a bill - how the hell are you going to keep that going for half an hour without becoming boring?” asked Inside No. 9’s Steve Pemberton here. He and writing partner Reece Shearsmith know full well how; by performing their show’s best trick and twisting the quotidian into lurid, unusual shapes.

The intrigue as to who’s conning who in The Bill motors us through the half-hour—this is Inside No. 9 so we know something’s up—but there’s plenty to admire on the way to our destination. Before it becomes a blood-bath and then an episode of Hustle, The Bill works as an entertaining look at passive aggression and competitiveness.

The dialogue fizzes along,...

[caption id="attachment_50966" align="aligncenter" width="389"] Decline and Fall image via Hachette Book Group./caption]

As expected, Eva Longoria has joined the cast of the Decline and Fall TV show comedy at BBC Two. James Wood is the first writer to adapt the late Evelyn Waugh's novel for television. Production in Wales begins in July. Decline and Fall is slated for a late 2016 debut. Longoria's recent sitcom, Telenovela, was cancelled by NBC after one season.

The Decline and Fall TV series cast also includes: Jack Whitehall, David Suchet, and Penny Dreadful's Douglas Hodge. Decline and Fall is planned as a three-part comedy satire. Ben Cavey, Will Gould, and Wood are executive producing, with Guillem Morales directing.

Read More…...

Shearsmith and Pemberton's Inside No. 9 delivers a well-crafted, moving character study that proves this show is much more than a novelty...

This review contains spoilers.

2.2. 12 Days Of Christine

This week’s instalment of Inside No. 9’s six standalone mystery plays took a drastically different turn from twisty series 2 opener La Couchette. Also directed by horror director Guillem Morales, The 12 Days of Christine moved from following a group of people in (almost) real time as they deal with a particular set of difficulties and instead introduced one central character as the focus. Here we were invited to spend time with Sheridan Smith’s Christine over the course of 12 important days of her life – a seemingly simple set up that, as to be expected from No. 9, was cunningly deceptive…

Beginning with an establishing shot of a tower block of flats, with the sound of city sirens in the distance, we...

Here's a spoiler-free look at what to expect from the second series of Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith's glorious Inside No. 9...

Inside No. 9 returns to BBC Two on Thursday the 26th of March for six more ingenious genre slices of horror, suspense and psychology. Those who were rattled and gripped by the first round of half-hour plays from Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith know to expect to be skilfully sucker-punched with sharp, tricksy writing and well-drawn characters.

Viewers engrossed by the psychological character focus of series one’s Tom & Gerri, the jump scares of series finale The Harrowing, and the unexpected emotional sting of opener Sardines have lots to look forward to from the second series’ first brace of episodes. La Couchette and The 12 Days Of Christine tell the respective stories of a fraught overnight train journey and a woman plagued by a mysterious visitor, featuring guest roles from Mark Benton,...

★★★★☆Take your seats for the next performance of Eugenio Mira's preposterous but breathlessly entertaining thriller, Grand Piano (2013). It's a genre piece packed with the kind of knowing Hitchcockian thrills peddled by Mira's fellow Spanish contemporaries like Guillem Morales (Julia's Eyes) and J. A. Bayona (The Orphanage), but the Usp here is the additional Speed-like high concept device, transposed to a more sedate setting while still delivering on the excitement. The eternally pixie-like Elijah Wood takes the lead as Tom Selznick, a young pianist virtuoso preparing for his big return to the limelight and a chance to tackle his demons after developing a disastrous bout of stage fright just five years earlier.

Forty Canadian and international producers will head to the Ontario Media Development Corporation’s annual International Financing Forum in Toronto.Scroll down for full list of projects

The ninth-annual International Financing Forum (Iff), a feature co-financing market for English-language projects, will run Sept 7-8 during Toronto International Film Festival (Sept 4-14).

The two-day event includes one-on-one meetings, an industry panel discussion, roundtable meetings, a networking luncheon, and a producers’ opening night networking reception.

Iff partners include Telefilm Canada, UK Trade and Investment (Ukti), and Toronto Film Commission & Entertainment Industries.

Among this year’s international projects are:

The Lunchbox producer Guneet Monga with sci-fi drama Punha, starring Kanal Nayyar of The Big Bang Theory;

Land Ho! producers Mynette Louie and Sara Murphy reteaming with director Aaron Katz on Settlers;

former Screen International Future Leader Sol Bondy of Germany’s One Two Films with Us-based Jennifer Fox with her thriller The Tale to star Laura Dern, Ellen Burstyn and [link...

Produced by Guillermo Del Toro, this Spanish chiller tells the story of Julia (The Orphanage's Belen Rueda), a woman who is slowly losing her sight while trying to prove the mysterious hanging of her twin sister was not suicide. Director Guillem Morales weaves a tense tale with the neat premise that the more Julia's vision fails the more she sees the truth. This isn't the sunny Spain of summer holidays but a bleak, foreboding place where nothing is as it seems.

Exclusive Media has scored the international rights to two supernatural thrillers and a crime caper.

The first is Guillem Morales's "Shomer" which deals with a religious overnight vigil of a corpse that results in a demonic encounter. Aneurin Barnard stars in the film which is currently in pre-production.

The second is Luís Quílez's "Out Of The Dark" which stars Julia Stiles and Scott Speedman as a couple in Colombia who discover a shocking family secret. It is currently in post-production.

The last is Gillian Greene's "Murder Of A Cat" which is also currently in post-production. It follows an oddball who tries to uncover the truth behind his murdered cat. Fran Kranz, Nikki Reed, Jk Simmons, Blythe Danner and Greg Kinnear all star in that one, while Sam Raimi is producing.

Source: Screen...