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Extending from 1914 to 1920, the first series of epic new series The Village written by Peter Moffat comes to BBC One Sunday 31st March at 9pm.

The series stars John Simm and Maxine Peake as impoverished, alcoholic Peak District farmer John Middleton and his wife, Grace.

13-year-old newcomer Bill Jones, a member of the Nottingham-based Television Workshop, stars as young Bert Middleton, whose long life is central to the anticipated on-going serial. Bert is growing up in extreme poverty on a family farm in Derbyshire. He is twelve years old at the start of the series, and his days are filled with school, his friends, working in the fields with his father and secret swimming lessons with his brother Joe, whom he adores. Young Bert, like his brother, falls in love with new arrival Martha Lane the moment she arrives in the village. He is very confused as he watches the...

Irish co-produced feature film 'This Must Be The Place' has won the best director prize at Italy's Silver Ribbons film awards.Director Paolo Sorrentino took the award for the film that was partly shot in Dublin during August 2010 and featured Sean Penn as a retired musician. 'This Must Be The Place' was co-produced by Ireland's Element Films alongside Indigo Film and Lucky Red. Ed Guiney (The Guard, All Good Children) and Andrew Lowe (The Guard, Single-Handed) produced for Element.

Tribeca Films have picked up the Us distribution rights to Irish director Thaddeus O'Sullivan's (Single-Handed, Into The Storm) latest film 'Stella Days' from Film Distributions. The film which was produced by Newgrange Pictures has been nominated for a staggering nine Irish Film and Television Awards at this year's IFTAs. It stars American actor Martin Sheen (The Departed, The West Wing) and Irish talent such as Amy Huberman (Threesome, Rewind) and Marcella Plunkett(Raw, Love At The End of The World).

The latest 'Jack Taylor' movie is currently shooting in Galway. It has also been announced that there are three new editions to the cast for the upcoming movie 'Jack Taylor; The Magdalene Martyrs'. Iain Glen (Game of Thrones, Downton Abbey), Nora Jane Noone (The Runaway, Small Change) and Killian Scott (Love/Hate, Single Handed) will all reprise their roles. Joining the cast for this movie are Aaron Monaghan (The Other Side Of Sleep, Single-Handed), actress Emma Eliza Regan (Love Eternal, The Shadows), Gavin Drea (Love Hate series 2, What Richard Did)...

Full listing of Game of Thrones Season 2 New Characters and Actors. Major and minor characters for Game of Thrones: Season 2 have been casting for months now. We have compiled a list of them all from different sources so that you will know what characters will be in Season 2 of HBO‘s Game of Thrones and who would be playing them. There are major spoilers below, especially if you have not read the A Song of Ice and Fire books so be warned. I personally have only shimmed over the detailed information below as I want characters and their motivations kept in shadow as much as possible. The list will be updated when new characters are cast so you might want to bookmark this page.

We previously posted on casting for Season 2 of Game of Thrones here: Game of Thrones: Season 2 Casts Liam Cunningham, Carice van Houten, Stephen Dillane,...

RTÉ's brand new four-part drama series 'Amber' will finish filming tomorrow (October 5th). The series will be edited by Tony Cranstoun (Death of a Superhero, When Harvey Met Bob) at Meatball Facilities in the Liberties between now and January 2012. The sound mix and the grade will be completed in The Factory in January and February 2012. The 4x52 drama series, which is directed by Ifta winning Thaddeus O'Sullivan (Single-Handed, Into the Storm, Stella Days), was shot on location in suburban Dublin from late August. The drama stars Eva Birthistle (Walking the Dead, Glenroe) and David Murray (Zonad, Raw)...

Cameras are rolling on a new four-part RTÉ drama 'Amber' in the Dublin suburbs. The missing person 4x52 drama series 'Amber' is to be directed by Thaddeus O'Sullivan (Single-Handed, Into the Storm) and will feature stars Eva Birthistle (Waking the Dead, Glenroe) and David Murray (Zonad, Raw). The drama is currently filming in Suburban Dublin and principle photography will continue until early October.

Single Handed Season Two co. ITV

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The BBC and ITV have positioned themselves for a sizzling summer showdown as two of the most anticipated dramas of 2011 go head to head at 9 pm on Thursday 14 July. The makers of Torchwood: Miracle Day which airs in the USA on the Starz network on 8 July, will hope to draw in the kind of audiences that so eluded the expensive BBC sci-fi flop Outcasts. Meanwhile ITV, are hoping that the second season of the hit cop show Single-Handed can attract the kind of viewing figures that helped Injustice to fend off the BBC’s Case Histories during the month of June.

Buy advance tickets to Transformers: Dark of the Moon and be entered to win an iPad 2.

Both shows are being co-produced by foreign networks and in fact, the first season of Single-Handed was solely produced by Irish network Rte.

Owen McDonnell in Single Handed. Co. ITV

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ITV have announced that Owen McDonnell is set to return to our screens as Jack Driscoll in the hit drama Single-Handed. The first season of the show was shown on the channel after being bought from Irish network Rte. The second season is co-produced by ITV and Rte. Simone Lahbib, Sean McGinley and Matthew McNulty are the other prominent members among the cast for season two of the show. Filming took place in Connemara earlier this year and the second season begins where the last season left off with Jack Driscoll struggling to cope as a lonely cop in the west of Ireland.

The first episode begins with Jack being called to investigate the murder of Seamus Devlin, an elderly recluse. He soon corners a suspect and calls his deputy Finbarr back from paternity...

Bosnian war drama As If I Am Not There received three Ifta awards for Best Film, Director and Script for the film's Irish writer/director Juanita Wilson at tonight's Ifta awards, celebrating the Irish film and television industry.

Martin MCCann was named Best Actor for 'Swansong - Story of Occi Byrn', while Amy Huberman was got Best Actress for 'Rewind.'

Pierce Brosnan and Saorise Ronan took home the supporting honours at the awards with Brosnan winning Best Supporting Actor for his role in 'The Ghost', while Ronan's part in The Way Back earned her the supporting actress honour.

In the international categories, 'The Social Network' won the best international film, with its star Jesse Eisenberg winning Best Actor. Annette Bening took Best Actress for 'The Kids Are All Right'.

Winners Of The 8th Annual Irish Film & Television Awards:

Outstanding Contribution to Industry...

The original British series, Being Human, premieres in the UK with season three on Sunday, January 23, 2011 on BBC3. According to show creator Toby Whithouse, season three takes the “best bits” of the first two seasons for a brand new look into the supernatural lives of Mitchell, George, Annie, and Nina. Read the official press release along with Whithouse’s comments about season three below:

Being Human, BBC Three‘s hit drama series about supernatural friends trying to live normal lives despite their unusual afflictions, is back – and, says writer creator Toby Whithouse: “It is, without doubt, our best series yet.

“A third series is a unique opportunity because it allows you to take all the best bits of series one and series two,” he says. “What we took from series one is the domestic element and very strong stories of the week with very strong guest characters. Series two...

DVD Playhouse December 2010

By

Allen Gardner

America Lost And Found: The Bbs Story (Criterion) Perhaps the best DVD box set released this year, this ultimate cinefile stocking stuffer offered up by Criterion, the Rolls-Royce of home video labels, features seven seminal works from the late ‘60s-early ‘70s that were brought to life by cutting edge producers Bert Schneider, Steve Blauner and director/producer Bob Rafelson, the principals of Bbs Productions. In chronological order: Head (1968) star the Monkees, the manufactured (by Rafelson, et al), American answer to the Beatles who, like it or not, did make an impact on popular culture, particularly in this utterly surreal piece of cinematic anarchy (co-written by Jack Nicholson, who has a cameo), which was largely dismissed upon its initial release, but is now regarded as a counterculture classic. Easy Rider (1969) is arguably regarded as the seminal ‘60s picture, about two hippie drug dealers (director Dennis Hopper...

Two new installments of the West of Ireland set drama, 'Single-Handed', directed by Anthony Byrne (How About You?) and starring Owen McDonnell, will air this Easter Bank Holiday weekend on Sunday 12th April 2009 and Monday 13th April 2009 on Rte One at 9.30 pm. The new episodes entitled 'The Drowning Man' marks the third series of the drama which was filmed on location in the West of Ireland last year and is co produced by the UK's Touchpaper Television Productions and Dublin's Element Pictures.