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Keeley Hawes has been a familiar face on British TV for many years now, with roles in Spooks, Ashes to Ashes, Identity and Upstairs, Downstairs to name but a few.

She is currently on our screens playing Detective Inspector Lindsay Denton in BBC Two's Line of Duty and will join Peter Capaldi in Doctor Who.

In honour of her contribution to drama and film, Digital Spy presents ten things about... Keeley Hawes.

1. Hawes's dad and two older brothers are all London taxi drivers and she is the only one in her family to have pursued acting. The family are very supportive of her work though, and her dad often spreads news of all her latest roles to everyone he picks up to help with the ratings!

2. During filming for Line of Duty Hawes had to have her head flushed down the loo and undergo some other very unglamorous task for the role.

Over at Scribble Junkies, professor Patrick Smith launched an ambitious series of articles on crafting stories for short films. I read the intro, which has loads of great, helpful advice I agree with, but you might want to read the whole series and get yourself an online education. Other installments: The Image, The Conflict and Resolutions and Endings.Speaking of education, donna k. gives an example of why it’s important to rope kids early into the history of our medium.Super preservationist Mark Toscano writes about preserving Peter Mays’ 1966 underground film The Death of the Gorilla, which is typically ignored in most underground film histories.Electric Sheep interviews Ruggero Deodato about Cannibal Holocaust.In this news article about the New Jersey Chapter of Media Communications Association Professionals (McA-i), Kevin Lonano of Robot Hand! gets a shout-out and a quote.Ay-yi-yi, SnuffBox Films lets us know that the recently released...

The Fall TV Season presentations for all the new network shows take place this week with the third announced today. Here's a full breakdown of which concepts have made the final list over on ABC.

With one strong reality performer ("Dancing with the Stars"), one solid light procedural ("Castle"), one acclaimed comedy ("Modern Family"), one decent rated comedy ("Cougar Town"), and two former flagship sudsers past their best buy date ("Desperate Housewives," "Grey's Anatomy"), the Alphabet is in need of hits to fill some big gaps in its schedule.

Only two shows last season survived and both are modest raters at best - meaning this year the network is trying out thirteen new shows, easily more than any other, in their efforts to score hopefully a few hits. Seven of them will launch in the Fall and six more around mid-season.

The network is keeping most of its returning shows...

Angela Bassett has signed up for a lead role in ABC drama pilot Identity. The project, a remake of the UK series, will follow an elite police unit who investigate cases of identity theft and related crimes. Deadline reports that Bassett will play Martha, the special agent placed in charge of the squad. The role was played by Ashes To Ashes star Keeley Hawes in the ITV original. Bassett's (more)...

Bonnie Somerville (Cashmere Mafia) has been cast as the female lead in ABC's comedy pilot Other People's Kids. Johnny Sneed (Unhitched) has also been cast in in the pilot, which centers on Adam, a 32-year-old guy with no responsibilities who suddenly finds himself with an insta-family when he falls in love with the little older Michelle (Somerville) who has 2 kids, an ex-husband (Sneed), and ex-in-laws. Julie White has joined the ABC multi-camera comedy pilot Smothered, from Andrew Reich and Ted Cohen. The project centers on young couple Zack (Kyle Howard) and Gillian who find themselves smothered by their two very different sets of parents. White will play Gillian's scrappy mom who is a real mother hen. The Tony winner, repped by Paradigm and Himber Entertainment, will next be seen recurring on Damages and in Transformers 3. Beverly D'Angelo has joined NBC's untitled Whitney Cummings comedy pilot. The project, written by Cummings,...

Orlando Jones has reportedly closed his deal with ABC for a role in the network's pilot Identity. The project is based on the British series of the same name, which aired last year and starred Aiden Gillen and Keeley Hawes. The show focuses on a group of police officers who are involved with fighting identity theft. According to Deadline, Jones has signed up to (more)...

ITV has decided to axe crime drama Identity after only one series, a report claims. The programme - which stars Keeley Hawes and Aidan Gillen - saw a drop in ratings throughout its six-episode run which began last month, The Sun reports. It pulled in a strong 5.6m (23.9%) viewers for its first episode but that fell to 3.4m (14%) for its final (more)...

ITV has decided to axe crime drama Identity after only one series, a report claims. The programme - which stars Keeley Hawes and Aidan Gillen - saw a drop in ratings throughout its six-episode run which began last month, The Sun reports. It pulled in a strong 5.6m (23.9%) viewers for its first episode but that fell to 3.4m (14%) for its final (more)...

I have an extraordinarily enlightened view of British television. I try to watch at least one hour of British TV a day, and that's probably more than 95 percent of Americans, but still, it can't possibly account for all of British TV. So, my perception of Brit TV would probably be that of a foreigner who only watched "The Wire," "Six Feet Under," The Sopranos," "Arrested Development," and "Dexter," and drew conclusions about American television based only on those shows. Granted, I still don't really get a lot of the broader British laugh-track-y comedies, like "The It Crowd," "Black Books," "Absolutely Fabulous," or any of the British sketch comedies (I almost liked "Green Wing," but for the irritating slowing down and speeding up of the film), but I've yet to see a British Drama that hasn't won me over at least a little (although, I eventually did bail on "Wire in the Blood,...

Game of Thrones

Irish actor Aidan Gillen (TV's "The Wire," "Queer as Folk") has joined the cast of HBO's fantasy epic "Game of Thrones" says Reuters.

Gillen plays Littlefinger, an adviser to King Robert who takes advantage of those in power to fit his own agenda. Production kicks off in Northern Ireland later this month with the majority of the pilot to be reshot after the network recast several roles.

Gillen is the lead of "Identity", the currently airing ITV drama series about police pursuing cases of identity theft which also stars Keeley Hawes ("Ashes to Ashes").

CSI:ny

Sela Ward will replace Melina Kanakaredes as the female lead for the upcoming seventh season of the spin-off. Ward will play "an experienced investigator from Washington, D.C., whose work is driven by her empathy for the victim" according to CBS press release.

Kanakaredes's contract was up at the end of the...

Aiden Gillen has revealed that likes to destroy his scripts once he completes a role. The Irish actor, who is currently starring alongside Kelley Hawes in ITV drama Identity, admitted that the process helps him to forget about the character, reports the Pa. "Sometimes I really like just forgetting about them forever and cutting up scripts - literally cutting them up with scissors and burning them," he said. "But then it's always interesting when you're on stage doing a play and it's the last performance and you're saying these words and you know (more)...

ITV's new crime drama Identity debuted to strong audience figures on Monday evening, according to overnight viewing data. The identity theft programme, which stars Aiden Gillen and Keeley Hawes, was watched by 5.6m (23.9%) on ITV1 in the 9pm hour, comfortably beating Crimewatch, which pulled in just 3.25m (13.8%) on BBC One. Earlier on BBC One, Countryfile's Summer Special took 3.77m (19.2%) in the 7pm hour, before Panorama averaged 2.55m (11%) between 8.30pm and 9pm. Sitcom Rev suffered a 610k week-on-week ratings drop to 1.59m (7.7%) on BBC Two between 10pm and 10.30pm. New series Antiques Master appealed to 2.11m (9.1%) on BBC Two between 8.30pm and 9pm, and it was followed by Mary Queen Of Shops, which pulled in 2.75m (11.7%) in the 9pm hour. Channel 4's new strand of religious films, titled 4ThoughtTV, (more)...

Aidan Gillen has revealed that starring in The Wire "raised the bar" for him. Gillen, who is currently appearing in ITV's Identity, explained that working on such an acclaimed show has made him look out for more good drama. "It definitely raised the bar, which you can look at in two ways," he told The Daily Telegraph. "You can say, 'Is anything else I do going to be as good?' Or maybe, by setting a standard, The Wire will make everything else a bit better." He continued: "There's a lot of reality TV around these days and it's nice to see straight drama making an impact. You can still find good television dramas but there's not as many as there used to be. When I was 16, there were loads of good things on - The Singing (more)...

Identity star Keeley Hawes has revealed that viewers will find out more about her character Martha as the series continues. Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, the former Spooks actress explained that there is more to the role than meets the eye. "[There's] lots to find out about Martha," she said. "It's only at the very end of the series that we see the other side of her. It's good for her to be a little bit mysterious.

"Martha appears to be a very strong woman, like most women who are everybody's boss, regardless of whether they are or not. But she is flawed and she's really human underneath the tough cookie exterior." Hawes admitted that she enjoys playing strong women (more)...

The last time fans saw Keeley Hawes, It was as Di Alex Drake in the BBC series 'Ashes To Ashes' where she was solving the day-to-day crimes of a 1980's London. Fans that have missed their weekly dose of Hawes will be pleased to know that she will be returning to UK television screens on Monday in a brand new style of cop show. "Identity" deals with the complex crime of identity theft. The series centres on Dsi Martha Lawson (Keeley Hawes) and her specialized team, which is tasked with solving these types of crimes. Speaking in a recent interview for UK Television Listings Magazine TV & Satellite Week, both the shows star Hawes and series creator...

Keeley Hawes has claimed that there are no comparisons between her new Identity character and her former Ashes To Ashes alter ego Di Alex Drake. The 34-year-old actress, who portrayed the time-travelling police officer for three series of the sci-fi sequel, insisted that Dsi Martha Lawson in the ITV six-part drama has a completely different personality. She told The Sunday Telegraph: "Every week it’s a really strong story, which makes it totally different to Ashes - which was all about the characters. "It's different, too, in that there was always a bit of will-they-won't-they (more)...

We all know we should shred old bank statements and destroy used credit cards, but do we also want to watch a cop drama about identity theft? The makers of ITV1.s new six-parter Identity certainly hope so, but here at TV.com we.re still undecided.

Set in London.s elite Identity Unit, the show.s case is helped by two attractive, talented leads. Keeley Hawes (Ashes to Ashes) plays the team.s ultra-composed boss Dsi Martha Lawson, while More >>...

New, six-part police drama Identity begins tonight. The series charts the trials and tribulations of a crack team of coppers, tasked with tackling the modern-day crime of identity theft. Ashes to Ashes fans could be forgiven for thinking that Di Alex Drake has returned to the present day as actress Keeley Hawes returns to our screens and she struts her stuff in a modern police room in new six-part cop drama, Identity.

Keeley Hawes has admitted that she was attracted to the strength of her character in new police drama Identity. The actress plays Dsi Martha Lawrence in the upcoming six-part series, which starts on ITV1 on July 5 at 9pm. Hawes told Stylist: "She's the one who originally gets the unit green lit because she thinks they need a specialist team to fight identity theft. "As a character she was very appealing because she's this strong woman - or so we think. I think lots of people, not just women, have their public face at work and their private (more)...

Keeley Hawes has revealed that she thinks her new show Identity could return for a second series. Speaking about the programme, which begins next month, Hawes explained that the theme of identity theft allows for a number of different storylines. "It's quite amazing that it hasn't come to TV before," she told The Mirror. "It's so sort of rich in terms of storylines." She (more)...

Keeley Hawes has revealed that she likes playing a "flawed" character on Identity. The Ashes To Ashes star appears in the ITV show as Dsi Martha Lawrence, who forms a new unit to fight identity crime. "Martha appears to be a really strong women, like most women who are everybody's boss," Hawes said. "They all have to appear to be a really strong woman regardless of whether they are or not." She continued: "She's flawed, like everybody else. So there's a lot more than meets the eye when you see her." Hawes suggested (more)...