News

If you're a history buff like I am, or if you're just interested in learning more about U.S. Presidents of the past, you're gonna want to watch this new series that The History Channel is developing. It's called The Commanders, and it's an anthology series that "will dramatize the biggest moments in American history and those that served as commander-in-chief."

The limited series is said to range from four to ten hours long and it will focus on presidents including Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, Theodore Roosevelt, James Madison, and Thomas Jefferson. According to THR, History Channel is also internally developing projects on George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Dwight Eisenhower.

The stories that the network plans on telling come from a collection of books that they have optioned including The Breach: Inside the Impeachment and Trial of William Jefferson Clinton by Peter Baker, Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris, Thomas Jefferson...

Idris Elba has launched a new 20-part interactive documentary series on new service BBC Taster.

Story of Now will see Elba exploring questions about the human condition and the history of the world from the beginning of time to now.

Episodes will look into the Big Bang, religious faith, the speed of time, AI and other subjects, featuring experts in their respective fields.

The series will be available exclusively on BBC Taster, the BBC's new online area for new and experimental projects.

Each episode of the Luther star's new project will be five minutes long, featuring games, web pages, slideshows, videos and polls.

Martin Davidson, Head of Commissioning for BBC History, says: "The creative opportunities offered by interactive video are huge.

"Story Of Now has taken full advantage, seamlessly blending classic filmmaking with cutting-edge technology, enabling us to reach new audiences with our world class content."

Elba recently said that...

It’s hard to describe the two-week long Television Critics Association Press Tour, which is going on now through August 8th in Los Angeles.

But, just so you know, it’s a flurry of new television show panels, one-on-one interviews and parties where you try to chat with as many actors, network executives and producers as possible about their respective shows.

A few have stood out so far since the TCAs started last week and so I empty out this Notebook with some insight into both the new (The Blacklist, The Originals and Hostages) and returning (Dallas) programs that I know I’m excited about...

The Blacklist The much-anticipated NBC series features James Spader as the FBI's Most Wanted, who turns himself in and helps the organization find other baddies. But the one hitch is that he will only talk with Megan Boone’s new agent.

While part of the...

BBC Two has commissioned the feature-length The Wipers Times with My Week With Marilyn‘s David Parfitt producing. Based on the true story of the creation of a satirical magazine that was published in the trenches during World War I, the film stars Ben Chaplin as Captain Fred Roberts who discovered a printing press in the ruins of Ypres, Belgium in 1916 and began publishing the blackly comic Wipers Times for troops on the Western Front. Principal photography has begun in Northern Ireland with Monty Python’s Michael Palin, Julian Rhind-Tutt (The Hour), Steve Oram (Sightseers) and Emilia Fox (Silent Witness) also starring. The Trademark Films production is directed by Andy de Emmony and written by Ian Hislop and Nick Newman. Exec producers are Ivan Mactaggart and Martin Davidson. The movie, to be delivered this summer, does not yet have a UK air date and Trademark tells me producers are hoping...

British Council films explaining cricket, fair play and democracy to the world are released online

Films commissioned more than 50 years ago by the British Council to showcase the best of Britain to the rest of the world – whether that was a sense of fair play, cricket or the joys of congregated drinking in places "called 'public' houses" – have been digitised and are being released online for the first time.

The films were made for about 20 years, between the 1930s and 1950s, and give fascinating snapshots of largely cheery lives being lived in the UK.

They would have been shown across the world in embassies and consulates, promoting democratic values and the benefits of good relations with Britain as fascism spread across Europe.

The films, kept in the BFI archive, have been largely unseen for 30 years. Martin Davidson, the British Council's chief executive, said the films were from a time when propaganda was far more important.

Star Wars actor Ewan McGregor is to swap starfighters for Spitfires as he flies in vintage planes for a new BBC film about the Battle of Britain.

McGregor, who played Obi Wan Kenobi in the space saga prequels, will take to the skies with his Raf pilot brother Colin for the one-off BBC1 documentary.

The pair will relive the experiences of young airmen to find out what it was like to live through the days of the historic air battle.

Their programme is part of a season to mark the 70th anniversary of the Second World War air campaign.

The brothers will fly in the fighter aircraft of the time to taste the pressures and strains of air combat, and compare skills with those of modern jet fighter pilots.

McGregor, whose previous TV travels have been on his motorbike, said: "The Battle of Britain was a dramatic turning point in...