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The filmmakers of the British drama, Joy, were tasked to find a cast of talented actors to help in recreating the events of one of the biggest medical breakthroughs in history. Directed by Ben Taylor, Joy follows a surgeon, Patrick Steptoe, and a scientist, Robert Edwards, who team together with embryologist nurse Jean Purdy to work on solving the medical puzzle of infertility. The trio pioneers the breakthrough of in vitro fertilization, which ultimately leads to the birth of the world's first IVF baby, born in 1978.

Joy portrays the determination and dedication that the three have in terms of their research, and helping women who are struggling with fertility. But as shown in the Joy movie trailer, it also masterfully displays the media scrutiny, religious outrage and public scorn they were forced to endure in the process. Critics on Rotten Tomatoes have described the movie as a triumphant representation of...

Gregor Fisher and Greg McHugh star in Scottish sitcom Only Child, and the BBC has released a first trailer. More here.

Gregor Fisher will always be inextracably intertwined with Rab C. Nesbitt, the permanently plastered Glaswegian festering in squalor alongside long suffering wife Mary Doll, played by Elaine C. Smith. The show became so popular that writer Ian Pattison adapted it into a stage show, and stars like Sylvester McCoy, Stanley Baxter and Richard E. Grant appeared in the show. Series 3 episode Touch features a very early television appearance by David Tennant, who guest stars as barmaid Davina.

As we approach the festive season, Fisher also features in arguably the sweetest story in Richard Curtis’ Love Actually, about the friendship between his character Joe and Bill Nighy’s rock star Billy Mack.

Now though? Gregor Fisher is returning to the small screen for sitcom Only Child.

Watch the trailer below:

According to the BBC,...

How difficult is it to write a convincing hit record for a film or TV show? Just take one look at the Harry Connick Jr rom-com Find Me Falling, streaming on Netflix…

There are all kinds of elements that, even in the best-written or best-directed films or TV shows, can pull the viewer out of the moment: it might be an off-key performance, an unconvincing prop or a special effect that doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. One thing that can be particularly difficult for filmmakers to get right, though, is to write a song that, in the movie or show’s fictional world at least, is a much-loved, multi-platinum hit.

This brings us to Find Me Falling, a romantic comedy by writer-director Stelana Kliris that appeared on Netflix on the 19th July. The premise is quite a good one: Harry Connick Jr plays John Allman, a creatively exhausted, middle-aged...

There’s much more to Nighy than playing grumpy but lovable men – think Pinter, Palace and Pokémon to name just three. Get your questions in by 10am on Thursday

When it comes to grumpy but lovable men, Bill Nighy has it nailed. He plays Simon Pegg’s grumpy zombie step-dad in Shaun of the Dead with lovable charm, and washed-up grumpy rockstar Billy Mack in Love Actually, for which he won a Bafta for best supporting actor. In 2006, he won a Golden Globe for TV movie Gideon’s Daughter where he plays an, um, grumpy publicist on the verge of a nervous breakdown. In 2022, he was nominated for an Oscar for Living in which he plays an, erm, grumpy 1950s bureaucrat. He plays a grumpy vampire elder in the Underworld series and, less grumpy because he’s near immortal, Davy Jones in Pirates of the Caribbean. He’s fairly grumpy also...

Love Actually's short sequel, Red Nose Day Actually, provides updates on the fates of beloved characters like Juliet, Peter, and Mark. Prime Minister David and Natalie are still together, with David continuing his iconic dance moves. Karen and Harry's relationship is strained but they're still together, while characters like Billy Mack and Rufus are still pursuing their passions.

Love Actually is one of the most beloved rom-coms that has become a holiday tradition for many to rewatch annually, and despite the fact that a full sequel was never released, many of its characters' fates received updates after the movie ended. Because of its popularity, Love Actually's ensemble cast returned for a short sequel 14 years after the 2003 movie's conclusion, in 2017's 17-minute Red Nose Day Actually short film. The Notting Hill filmmaker Richard Curtis decided to bring back many of the actors and answer some questions about what happened to...

Bill Nighy is a British actor. He is best known for his roles in Love Actually (2003), the Pirates of the Caribbean series (2006-2007) and the Underworld series (2003-2009).

Bill Nighy Biography: Early Life, Age, Family, Education

Bill Nighy (William Nighy) was born on December 12, 1949 (Bill Nighy: age 73) in Caterham, Surrey, England to Catherine and Alfred Nighy. He has two older siblings, a brother Martin and a sister Anna.

Nighy went to the John Fisher School and was a member of the school theatre group. He later went to the Guildford School of Acting.

In an exclusive interview with uInterview, the actor described how he got into acting.

“Well I never got a bug for acting and I never made a decision that this was what I wanted to do with my life, it just sort of happened and I did it rather than have to do anything else,” he began.

For the first ten years of his career, Bill Nighy trod the boards in the U.K. He never saw a camera. He figured he’d be a theater actor for the rest of his life. In that time, just a few British stars were in the movies: Albert Finney, Michael Caine, Tom Courtenay, Peter O’Toole. “I was perfectly content,” he told me on Zoom. “I didn’t imagine I’d ever be on television particularly, or certainly not in a film. It was different times. My expectations were low, because I never expected to be an actor. And I never expected to be paid money for doing plays.”

Nighy’s world shifted when the late great casting director Mary Selway snuck him into a reading for Richard Curtis’ Christmas comedy “Love, Actually.” He got a couple of laughs. And landed the role of aging pop star Billy Mack, who...

The festive season has rolled around again, bringing with it endless repeats of Love Actually on TV and streaming services.

But while Richard Curtis’s star-studded romcom may be a Christmas viewing staple, few fans know about one highly emotional LGBT+ relationship that ended up on the cutting room floor.

The plotline centred around an older lesbian couple who were connected to Karen (Emma Thompson) and her family.

It saw Anne Reid play the headmistress at the school attended by Karen’s son, while Frances de la Tour appeared as her terminally ill partner Geraldine.

The film was meant to feature a moving scene in which the pair bicker over their differing tastes in fancy sausages and display their wicked senses of humour, before cuddling up at night. It is later revealed during a school assembly that Geraldine died shortly before Christmas.

However, the story didn’t make the final cut,...

The festive season has rolled around again, bringing with it endless repeats of Love Actually on TV and streaming services.

But while Richard Curtis’s star-studded romcom may be a Christmas viewing staple, few fans know about one highly emotional LGBT+ relationship that ended up on the cutting room floor.

The plotline centred around an older lesbian couple who were connected to Karen (Emma Thompson) and her family.

It saw Anne Reid play the headmistress at the school attended by Karen’s son, while Frances de la Tour appeared as her terminally ill partner Geraldine.

The film was meant to feature a moving scene in which the pair bicker over their differing tastes in fancy sausages and display their wicked senses of humour, before cuddling up at night. It is later revealed during a school assembly that Geraldine died shortly before Christmas.

However, the story didn’t make the final cut,...

There’s nothing quite like grabbing a nice, warm blanket and a cup of hot chocolate to make yourself comfortable on the couch with a heart-warming holiday classic. Love Actually is a wonderful choice for this comfy movie night setup. Read on to find out more about this beloved movie and enjoy it for yourself on Amazon.

Breaking Down The Many Characters Of The Film

Love Actually is set during the month before Christmas in London, England and follows nine different stories in its 135-minute run-time. With its gamut of characters, Love Actually has you emotionally invested in and rooting for so many stories of personal growth and discovery as you watch each character face their own unique set of challenges.

There is the eccentric Billy Mack, played by Bill Nighy, who is a rock-and-roll singer that is releasing a Christmas single in hopes that it will become number one on the charts.

When the 2003 Christmas classic Love Actually entered the world, it was like a stuffed stocking, filled to the brim with some of Britain’s greatest actors.

From Hugh Grant and Emma Thompson to Alan Rickman, it attracted some of the best performers of the era.

The film also launched the careers of Thomas Brodie-Sangster and Olivia Olson, who were children when they starred in the romcom.

It’s been almost 20 years since Richard Curtis’s film was released, and they’ve all been very busy since then.

Some of the stars of the movie have gone on to work with Curtis again, while others have had huge franchise roles or become synonymous with certain characters, like Martin Freeman’s Dr John Watson in Sherlock.

Here’s a rundown on the Love Actually cast’s varied careers, from 2003 to now…

Bill Nighy

After playing rock and roll legend Billy Mack in Love Actually,...

Love Actually star Bill Nighy says that his rock star character Billy Mack is not based on an actual musician. Directed by Richard Curtis, the classic 2003 Christmas film Love Actually features an impressive ensemble including Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson, Liam Neeson, and Hugh Grant. A seasonal romantic comedy, the movie follows many characters as they navigate nine interconnected love stories. Nighy stars in the film as Billy Mack, a washed-up rocker introduced before any of the other major characters as he re-records a classic Troggs song as a Christmas song, which the character hilariously hates.

Nighy's character has an amusing and emotional trajectory in Love Actually as he attempts a comeback to the world of rock, seeking glamour and renewed fame before ultimately realizing that all he really wants is to spend the holiday with the person who means the most to him, his manager Joe (Gregor Fisher). Due to...

Which bit of Love Actually disturbs you the most? For me, personally, it’s when Kris Marshall’s character is about to board a plane to find some hot American chicks to bang, and he bellows, “Here comes Colin Frissell… and he’s got a bigggg knobbbb.” Obviously if I saw the man from My Family shouting that at an airport, it would ruin not just my holiday but my entire Christmas. But what’s bothering me more about Love Actually, actually, is the way that bashing Richard Curtis’s Now 45 compilation of a Christmas film has become an annual sport. At this time of year, the takes really are all around. People declare this fluffy film problematic. Anti-feminist. Practically the anti-Christ. Earlier this week, Jeremy Vine’s Channel 5 show even had a segment that explored the film’s “red flags” and asked if we should stop watching it all together.

Ah, Love Actually. It’s the convoluted Christmas movie of choice for many of us year after year, and we love it despite its many flaws, which have only grown in number as we’ve become more aware of things like the Bechdel test, how unfunny fat jokes are and that not all relationships are between heterosexual white people.

As romcoms go, Love Actually is certainly ambitious, telling nine different stories over the course of two hours, which makes it even more unbelievable that Richard Curtis originally wanted there to be a whopping fourteen storylines.

The ones that made the cut range from the slightly icky to full-blown swoon fests, so let’s rank them to find out which is the most romantic Love Actually storyline:

9. Harry, Karen and Mia

There is no romance here at all. Not in the way Harry (Alan Rickman) takes his brilliant wife Karen (Emma Thompson...

Is it even Christmas if you haven’t rewatched Love Actually for the twelve-thousandth time? It’s become a yearly tradition for some to revisit this classic Richard Curtis romantic comedy, reminding ourselves of the questionable early noughties fashion, the sometimes problematic storylines, the lobster-heavy nativity play and the image of Bill Nighy as rock has-been Billy Mack grinding his nether regions up against poor, undeserving Michael Parkinson’s face. And, of course, to raise a glass to the late, great Alan Rickman, even though his character is a bit of a wrong’un.

The urge to watch Love Actually became even stronger in 2022, when ABC announced it was airing a brand-new documentary The Laughter and Secrets of Love Actually: 20 Years Later, a nostalgic two-hour reunion featuring Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Laura Linney, Bill Nighy and Thomas Brodie-Sangster.

Sure, we’ve all got a copy of the DVD somewhere, but...

Emma Thompson has revealed Hugh Grant’s unconventional first reaction to watching Love Actually.

The two actors starred in the 2003 Christmas romcom directed by Richard Curtis.

In a forthcoming 20th anniversary special for the film, Diane Sawyer interviews the cast, including Thompson, Grant, Laura Linney, and Bill Nighy.

In a preview for the special, Thompson recalls the first time that she and Grant watched the finished film.

While the viewer response to Love Actually was positive, the Notting Hill star’s reaction was less predictable.

“Hugh came up behind me as we were walking out and said, ‘Is that the most psychotic thing we’ve ever been in?’” Thompson said.

Grant appeared not to remember their interaction, responding: “Did I say that?”

In the hit movie, Grant played the Prime Minister who falls for a Downing Street staff member Natalie, played by Martine McCutcheon.

The role involved a solo dance...

Bill Nighy has predicted that a famous quote from the 2003 romcomLove Actuallywill be at the top of his obituary one day.

In the hit Richard Curtis movie, Nighy played ageing rocker Billy Mack, who has a penchant for hard-partying, promiscuity and drugs.

Speaking on ITV’s This Morning on Friday (11 November), Nighy reflected on the scene where Billy says to a TV camera: “Hiya kids. Here is an important message from your Uncle Bill. Don’t buy drugs. Become a pop star, and they give you them for free!”

“If I get an obituary, that will be on it,” Nighy, 72, told hosts Dermot O’Leary and Alison Hammond. “Kids used to run after me in my district, shouting that line.”

He also told the presenters he will “never be sick of people talking about Love Actually”, adding: “It was a big and important thing for me and changed the way I went to work.

Bill Nighy has predicted that a famous quote from the 2003 romcomLove Actuallywill be at the top of his obituary one day.

In the hit Richard Curtis movie, Nighy played ageing rocker Billy Mack, who has a penchant for hard-partying, promiscuity and drugs.

Speaking on ITV’s This Morning on Friday (11 November), Nighy reflected on the scene where Billy says to a TV camera: “Hiya kids. Here is an important message from your Uncle Bill. Don’t buy drugs. Become a pop star, and they give you them for free!”

“If I get an obituary, that will be on it,” Nighy, 72, told hosts Dermot O’Leary and Alison Hammond. “Kids used to run after me in my district, shouting that line.”

He also told the presenters he will “never be sick of people talking about Love Actually”, adding: “It was a big and important thing for me and changed the way I went to work.

Love Actually (2003)

Love Actually has become a classic for Christmas that tells stories of love and kindness and all such things, which are so representational of, as were they following a Kantian principle, this marvelous time of year. It is written and directed by a very inspired Richard Curtis.

Considering the actors who accepted to participate in the project, almost all is said: Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson, Collin Firth, Laura Linney, Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Keira Knightley… and many others, who did not doubt is saying yes to collaborate in what has become the last modern Christmas classic to date.

And the thing is that movies, irrespective if their theme, can actually turn out well when they have a good screenplay as foundation, even Christmas movies.

Love Actually (2003) Premise

It follows the lives of eight very different couples dealing with their love lives, in various loosely and interrelated tales, all...

Musical drama secures hat-track of nominations including a best actress nod for Jessie Buckley.

Musical drama Wild Rose, featuring a breakout performance from Jessie Buckley, leads the pack at this year’s Bafta Scotland awards with three nominations.

Tom Harper’s film about a troubled young mother from Glasgow who dreams of being a country singer picked up a best actress nod for Screen Star of Tomorrow Buckley, best writer for Nicole Taylor and a nomination for best feature film.

The film took £2.89m at the UK box office when it was released in April, following a strong reaction at its Toronto world premiere.

With the holiday season fast approaching movie-mad readers may well be plundering the dustier sections of their DVD shelves, or flicking through the carefully curated offerings of their streaming service of choice, for the perfect Christmas movie. While many of you will find festive fun in Home Alone, Elf, Die Hard (yes… of course it is), Scrooged and so on there will be a hefty subset who turn to Richard Curtis’s 2003 sugar high of a film, Love Actually.

Time seems to be impervious to the perennial seasonal cheer of Curtis’s film. It is mawkish perhaps, ludicrously well-off certainly, but utterly charming nonetheless. One of the stories Curtis and his team follow in the film is that of faded rock star Billy Mack (a phoenix-like performance from national treasure Bill Nighy), whose seemingly disastrous final shot at fame all comes good with his ultimate triumph – a Christmas No. 1.

The...

When it comes to holiday movies that will rip your heart out, rip it into a thousand pieces, then put it back together and somehow leave you with a restored faith in humanity, Love Actually is one of the best. By now, you’re familiar with lots of trivia from the cult classic — yes, the opening scene in the airport features real people; yes, that is actually Olivia Olson belting “All I Want for Christmas Is You” — so we combed every corner of the Internet to find 15 more things you need to know. Read it, re-watch Love Actually for the thousandth time,...