Mark and Evelyn being into very left wing ideas during the 1960'we deprived our son of ITV - only Blue Peter on BBC1 and sometimes Dr. Who (cause I liked it) for ourselves mainly BBC2 - That was The Week That Was (was a favourite) and various so called very erudite programmes (Joan Bakewell and Malcolm Muggeridge comes to mind. ITV was anethema - I look back with some horror in the way we deprived him because now my son never watches ABC our equivalent of BBC1 or SBS our equivalent of BBC2 - thus a very salutory lesson! Thus I sympathise with Colin in this deprivation - but then I myself was only allowed 1 hours television during the late '40's and 50's during my schooldays. It rubbed off I suppose.

Update on Hamlet: No information is available until after New Year's. No regular staff is even there, only box office people who have no information. Mark, since you've been at Riverside Studios, the picture of one of the studios showed arena-type seating with folding chairs. The picture looked fairly dated. Is that what they have? Hanna: Nice to see that others enjoy our film discussions. But the fun is joining in yourself! Have you seen Apartment Zero? We discussed Femme Fatale in July-September 1999. While an edited version of the discussion hasn't been put up at firth.com, you can read it at Topic 98. Use this url, which will take you to the beginning of the discussion: http://www.spring.net/yapp-bin/restricted/read/drool/98.1191 As far as new films, we have "Spoiler" topics where we were free to discuss the new ones without spoiling it for those who hadn't seen them yet. Shakespeare in Love is at Topic 115 My Life So Far is at Topic 121 And then we created an all-encompassing Spoiler topic at 126, where Donovan Quick, Secret Laughter of Women and other were discussed. These weren't film discussions, but general comments and questions, etc. Re: calendar. There are no calendars commercially available to my knowledge. Sorry, but it doesn't appear to be the type of thing he would agree to.

(Mark)I once watched a Midsummer Night's Dream there with more cast members than audience members, which was a depressing experience. Well, that won't happen with ODB's Hamlet; we'll pack 'em in;-) Do they advertise? They're not listed in "London Planner", the BTA mail- out. (Karen)Mark, since you've been at Riverside Studios, the picture of one of the studios showed arena-type seating with folding chairs. The picture looked fairly dated. Is that what they have? Not what I call "intimate"...hey, by comparison makes Madison Square Garden look cozy. Bring a cush for your tush.Wonder if they have more than two stalls in the loo ;-)[ When I win the lottery, I'm going to endow an extra stall at the Donmar] (Karen)we created an all-encompassing Spoiler topic at 126, where Donovan Quick,...were discussed SUGGESTION: Why don't we all look at DQ and discuss it on 126 after the UK television Premiere tomorrow night. (Karen)Update on Hamlet: No information is available until after New Year's What's the matter with these people...don't they realize I have to make a plane reservation?Grrrrr (Hanna) I've seen FF and loved it - well CF in it Ah yes, Joe Prince. He's one of my favorites too, Hanna. But beware, we're in the minority.These pit-bulls here don't;-)

(Karen)Mark, since you've been at Riverside Studios, the picture of one of the studios showed arena-type seating with folding chairs. The picture looked fairly dated. Is that what they have? Yes, as far as I remember, bring-a-cushion is the best possible advice. I would also suggest wrap-up-warm - though I suppose a crowd of hundreds will generate more heat than an audience of twenty or so! However, it was 3 years ago that I was there, and the Riverside was recently considered prestigious enough to host the World Chess Championship match between Kasparov and Kramnik, so maybe it's been updated ? (or maybe the TV studio part of it is better; I remember TFIFriday was filming there at the time).

Oooops .... to post or not to post....

(Mark) However, it was 3 years ago that I was there So you are not letting on that you were there for their most recent production of Neil Monaghan's "Eye Contact," which starred Kelly Brook and was set in a Soho table-dancing club! From reading the review, it appears that aside from the play, temps ran high. ;-) http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/et?ac=000576481449931&rtmo=gjbjflju&atmo=rrrrrrrq&pg=/et/00/12/12/bteye12.html Argh, there's no room in our itsy bitsy suitcases for seat cushions!

Great news! ODB as Hamlet! Does Hamlet qualify as a New Play? Perhaps, if it's done with an 'avant-garde tilt.' ;-) Please let it be traditional. If the timing is right, I will be there. But the evening-only performances means my DH will throw major fit. I will make sure I bring my AC Milan seat cushion. ;-) their most recent production of Neil Monaghan's "Eye Contact," which starred Kelly Brook and was set in a Soho table-dancing club! Maybe Livia and Colin loved it so much he decided to accept the Hamlet role. ;-)))) I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas. I am exhausted but very happy with my presents. :-)

Here's the play: http://tech-two.mit.edu/Shakespeare/Tragedy/hamlet/hamlet.html or the entire play in one document: http://tech-two.mit.edu/Shakespeare/Tragedy/hamlet/full.html

Karen: So you are not letting on that you were there for their most recent production of Neil Monaghan's "Eye Contact," which starred Kelly Brook and was set in a Soho table-dancing club! The very thought! Although the last time I was at the theatre I did get to see a celebrity model strip off. Somehow Jerry Hall in The Graduate was deemed more respectable (standing in total darkness may have helped her credibility a fraction). The Daily Express recently changed management and their theatre critic Nicholas de Jongh was surprised to find himself diverted from a West End Shakespeare to the Kelly Brook show. He had to wander round Hammersmith for some time to find the Riverside according to Private Eye, so that's how "off-off-Broadway" it is. Though of course Private Eye may have "embellished" their dumbing-down story.

"Hamlet" is great news!! I would guess that it could be soon....this must be the scheduling problem that made him unable to commit to " Harrow Alley". I would also think that it could be a short run (unlike West End productions where a commitment to a (hoped for) long run is needed to break even) The last Hamlet at Riverside starred Alan Rickman (in his forties) and was a sellout even before it opened. Well promoted! Lasted three and a half hours (so cushions would be needed!) I would also think this could be a Colin-driven project....he wants to do it (and he must have turned down a lucrative movie offer to work for virtually nothing) and maybe asked Christopher Fettes to direct. It will be interesting to see who else is in the cast. Riverside sounds very innovative Riverside Studios, London The cavernous black box theatres of Riverside Studios have long been a celebrated home to a vast and diverse range of performers from around the world. Samuel Beckett, The Wooster Group, the Berliner Ensemble, Twyla Tharp, the Maly Theatre of St.Petersburg are some of the names best known but pick almost any moment over the last 21 years and you would find that a non-British theatre group, musician, artist or film director was working in the building. In distinct contrast to its glorious and heavily funded years of the '70s and '80s, Riverside Studios suffered dramatic funding cuts and near closure only a few years ago. A new model of subsistence had to be found, and television production came back to the Studios for the first time since Dr Who and Blue Peter packed their bags in 1974. The relationship goes on in a very healthy fashion: not only does television provide essential finance now subsidy is so limited, but we embrace and encourage the new dialogue between TV producers, stage designers and directors and our tenant multi-media companies which is taking place under the same roof. We hope that true advances in giving arts performance real life on screen will soon be made at Riverside. Stage performance and cinema remain at the heart of what we do, and we believe that 1999 will see Riverside Studios start to reassert its name as a home for the very best in international productions. In February, Declan Donnellan directed an all French cast in Corneille's Le Cid, a project originating at the Avignon Festival and which followed the previous year's staging of Beckett's Oh les Beaux Jours by Peter Brook. Over the last two years, companies from Armenia, Brazil, the Czech Republic Greece, Japan, Macedonia (FYR), and Vietnam have also performed at Riverside with great success. The international dimension to our cinema programme is widely known; at least 50 per cent of the ever changing programme is now comprised of non-English language films. Festivals of cinema from the Czech Republic, Greece, Italy and Norway, have recently achieved great success at Riverside. This coming September we are thrilled to host one of the greatest ever Australian theatre productions, the magical epic Cloudstreet, directed by Neil Armfield from the novel by Tim Winton, the tale of two quirky families thrown together by fortune into one house. It has been dubbed 'Neighbours re-written by a team of John Steinbeck and Gabriel Garcia Marquez' and has proved a gripping spectacle at festivals in Sydney, Perth and Melbourne. This will be followed by Teatro del Carretto from Tuscany as part of the Italian Festival, with their lavish versions of Romeo and Juliet and The Iliad. The year promises to be rounded off in true millennial style by the first ever stage production by La Fura Dels Baus with a truly demonic version of Faust in Goethe's anniversary year. Riverside Studios hopes to become even more international in its outlook in the new century, matching the diversification of London and the fluidity of movement around the world. Audiences in the capital seem just as happy to welcome great work whichever country it is from and British performers and practitioners can only gain from the inspiration of different approaches, sights and sounds. We hope that resources are made available to help open our doors to this global cultural traffic, as so often we are obliged to demand that tours come funded from their country of origin. It goes without saying that we welcome contact from companies worldwide as our power to present steadily increases. We also encourage British venues and festivals who are considering international productions to see Riverside as a potential partner. Jon Fawcett BTW, liked the article. Thought that it gave insight into CF's career choices. He seems genuinely indifferent to money...can't see him hankering after Hollywood. Interesting that he wants "overtly political" roles and would love to do Heathcliff (is anyone listening to him?!). Wonder if he'll opt for the Tony Blair/New Labour BBC drama, which is still on, apparently (Read a news item...it's very controversial ..both Labour and Tories are worried about it, esp. with an election looming). And "Wuthering Heights" has never been done properly... Heathcliff "progresses" from passionate lover to embittered and vindictive middle age, but we never see the second half!

(Mark)I would also suggest wrap-up-warm - though I suppose a crowd of hundreds will generate more heat than an audience of twenty or so! LOL. Mark, you just don't get it;-)) The heat will come from the stage.... Esp. in tight breeches (pl.god!) (Mark)The Daily Express recently changed management and their theatre critic Nicholas de Jongh was surprised to find himself diverted from a West End Shakespeare to the Kelly Brook show. Awww...it's -a- tough -job, but -someone -had- to -do -it category! ~~~~~~~~~~~ More on the Riverside Studios from my Michelin Guide: "The Riverside studios consisting of two theatres, art gallery, bookshop, restaurnat and bar, opened in 1977 in a building which started life as an iron foundry at the turn of the century before being converted to film studios between the wars." ~~~ From "warehouse" (Donmar)to "iron foundry" ..this is progress ?? ;-))

....this must be the scheduling problem that made him unable to commit to " Harrow Alley". Or to MOB.....There is a God....

the first ever stage production by La Fura Dels Baus with a truly demonic version of Faust in Goethe's anniversary year. I remember posting years ago, that I would love Colin to play Faust. I would love to see his Mephistophelian side come out. I would have prefered it to Hamlet, but I am just as well pleased. And "Wuthering Heights" has never been done properly... I agree, Bethan. There is another great role for him. I hope he skips the Blair project too. though I suppose a crowd of hundreds will generate more heat than an audience of twenty or so! So how many people fit in this theatre, Mark? I thought it was as small as the Donmar?

(Moon) Please let it be traditional. If only so we won't get a ratty green sweater that has seen better days and his Timberlands. ;-) (Mark) The Daily Express recently changed management Hmmm, this might account for their going offline mid-December. (Moon) So how many people fit in this theatre, Mark? I thought it was as small as the Donmar? There are multiple theatre spaces within the complex. Have seen references to Studios 2 and 3, although nothing for 1...so maybe it doesn't exist. The picture did not look anywhere near as small as the Donmar. Not sure, where that idea came from.

And notice that the theatres are referred to as "cavernous." Riverside is very unlike the Donmar in that it doesn't produce its own works. It is a place that hires out its space. That's all. Evidently, there was a huge scandal about 8 years ago, when Rickman formed a consortium to take over the place and it was awarded to some know-nothing organization. Press called it Rivergate~!

Bethan. he would love to do Heathcliffe Oh yes please. Incidentally the BBC are doing lots and lots of lovely trailers for DQ tomorrow, can't wait. I have seen 3 trailers just this evening!

Heathcliff, definately. With his uncanny way of doing so much without saying a word he would be a great Heathcliff. He can do more with his eyes than any Hollywood wann-be actor can with 10 pages of dialogue.

I would almost form my own production company to see Heathcliff happen. Would someone who has been around here longer than I please tell me what LOL stands for. I can't figure it out, and it's driving me crazy.

It stands for "laughing out loud." There are many variations, including ROTFLOL (rolling on the floor...) and others. Use your imagination for ROTLMAO. ;-) These are all pretty standard Internet abbreviations, like IMO and BTW. We have a Help board at 61, where you can ask away or practice techie stuff to your heart's content. Someone is usually around to answer. :-)

Interesting article from the This is London site about the theatre scene and classifications: Coming in from the fringe by Patrick Marmion Those unfamiliar with the new order in London's alternative theatre, may be surprised to learn that Erica Whyman, artistic director of the flourishing Southwark Playhouse, is taking over from Mick Gordon as artistic director of Notting Hill's venerated Gate Theatre. Both are struggling, semi-professional venues and previous winners of the Peter Brook Empty Space Award for imaginative use of a small theatre. So, in the grand scheme of things they're both essentially the same, aren't they? Answer: no. Although Whyman has turned Southwark Playhouse into a sassy, happening alternative to the Gate Theatre, Southwark is still generally classified as "fringe". It therefore attracts limited press compared to the more aristocratic Gate, which is classified as "off-West End". Whyman's move therefore serves to confirm a two-tier class system in London's alternative theatre. a distinction which, 10 years ago, didn't exist. Back then, the fringe was the spiritual home of disaffected slackers and rejects. Not any more. Famously bright and energetic, 31-year-old Whyman ditched a PhD in Heideggerian philosophy for the more people-friendly joys of the theatre. Now she gives her reasons for leaving Southwark as the greater creative freedom the Gate affords. "Affords", of course, is the operative word for a small pub theatre buoyed up by charitable sponsorship. Unlike most other down-at-heel pub theatres, the Gate manages to pay its permanent staff of five a token income of around �10,000 per annum. This relative solvency means they can also afford not to rent their space to fly-by-night fringe companies and therefore organise their own programmes instead. But Whyman's move isn't just about creative freedom, it's also about the fact that the Gate is a national institution and working there is a career move. You've only got to look at the track record of those who have passed through the Pearly Gates to realise that many have gone on to sit at the right hand of the fathers of British film and theatre. The man initially responsible for this divine intervention was Stephen Daldry, who ran the Gate between 1990 and 1992. He turned the theatre into a shop window for his precocious tastes and talents. Now the Gate is a shrine to which theatre-goers come from all over the world to see theatrical miracles. Feisty Ulsterman Mick Gordon's ascension from this Notting Hill heaven also bears this out. Appropriately enough, Gordon is currently rehearsing a revival of Godspell at Chichester for a potential West-End transfer. He is also lined up for a televised workshop with his mentor Peter Brook, the Saint Peter of modern experimental theatre. After that, Gordon goes on to direct a new Colin Teevan play at the Cottesloe. Fringe theatre ain't what it used to be and has established its own "off-West End" respectability - a theatrical version of Tony Blair's Third Way within the new world order. First to take up their beds and walk into this brave new world were the super-fringe big boys such as the Almeida and Donmar Warehouse. They now dominate the landscape, haughtily transferring their canonical programmes of star-studded classics to the West End and even Broadway. It is hard to remember that these venues were once considered in some sense "alternative", let alone classified as "fringe". But then there came the breakaway pack of venues like the Gate, BAC and The Bush, consolidating what is now popularly known as "off-West End". It was a shift up-market in the mid-Nineties facilitated by the Press and which accrued special privileges for its inner circle. Once upon a time, fringe theatre people talked idealistically of defying convention and changing the world. Now the talk is of professionalism, media profile and sponsorship deals. Today it's the fringe where actors, writers and directors go to pay their dues and learn their trade rather than practise an ideal. This is a world where meritocracy is the publicly proclaimed ideal and where exclusivity is the more brutal reality. It is a new order which conceals its struggling underclass in favour of its high-flying achievers. So, directors like the messianic Michael Kingsbury at the White Bear, fostering such writers as Evening Standard Award winner Joe Penhall, has still sometimes to subsidise the theatre's work with personal loans. Similarly, writers, such as Mark Ravenhill, who cut their teeth with Phil Willmott's Steam Industry at the Finborough Theatre, can be snapped up by any predatory theatre, film or television producer - without their paying a penny's compensation. One wonders if these smaller venues shouldn't hire a team of lawyers to fix development deals and secure their financial future. But, guess what: they can't afford the legal fees. Instead, off-West End theatres like the Gate can now be said to form part of a relatively comfortable, artistically dominant, centrist coalition, enjoying the luxury of executive media pulling power. As the outgoing Gate artistic director, Mick Gordon, says, "You really have to f*** up not to sell out at the Gate". Meanwhile, theatres like Whymark's Southwark Playhouse languish in the less-prestigious, lesser-known, cash-strapped purgatory of the fringe. No wonder Whyman decided to move on. The Off-West End Elite The Almeida and the Donmar Warehouse: undoubtedly London's most fashionable theatres. Ian McDiarmid's and Jonathan Kent's Almeida is patronised by the likes of Kevin Spacey, while Sam Mendes's Donmar Warehouse is patronised by the likes of Nicole Kidman. Battersea Arts Centre: under the visionary direction of Tom Morris, creams off the best in alternative physical and performance work. The Gate: this is the Mecca at which the most ambitious of the theatrical community pray or clamour for entry. The Bush, Soho and the Hampstead Theatre: these dominate the new writing scene being able to stage fully professional performances. Tricycle and Drill Hall: Kilburn's Tricycle specialises in Black and Irish drama, while the Drill Hall keeps the lesbian and gay community centre stage. The Young Vic, Riverside Studios and Lyric Studio: all play host to the best national touring companies. The Fringe The Southwark Playhouse: lacking subsidy but yearning for promotion to fringe premiership status of "off-West End" with bigger, flashier shows. The Bridewell Theatre: this converted church hall dreams of off-West End status with its diet of wacky musicals, but has some way to go yet. The Finborough Theatre: home of Phil Willmott's Steam Industry, which struggles to finance its own new writing programmes. The White Bear: occupies a back room of a seedy bar in Kennington, but often hosts some of the most exciting writers around - including Evening Standard Award winner Joe Penhall. The King's Head: Britain's oldest pub theatre, traditionally always on the brink of closure, still trading on an elderly reputation. The Westminster Theatre: A memento mori to all of the above theatres, in or out. Once boasting West-End status, it went dark for years, was optimistically revived as an off-West End/Fringe venue, fell flat on its face and now stares down the barrel of demolition.

http://www.ultranet.com/~luvvy/cf/images/cf-lonely-road.jpg Christopher Fettes directed CF and Anthony Hopkins in "The Lonely Road" (Fettes' own translation from the German original) at the Old Vic.

I hope you all enjoy DQ tonight and that it gets great ratings! Chiming in here on the Times article: "They cure him enough to go back to being an a***hole, because we live in a world where doing good is mocked and sophistication and jadedness are what we admire." Very perceptive and very true. Instead of using Valmont as his Tinseltown calling card, he refused all meetings out of inverted snobbery and fear. "I told myself I was a purist, but actually I was s***-scared of it all. As I always suspected, more fear than loathing. Now, if it happened to me, fine. I've dropped that pose of shunning it. ... If I could distinguish myself at those parties and chat shows, it might be easier." This is the second interview in a row in which he's mentioned chat shows, and I don't ever recall him mentioning them before. He has chat shows on the brain these days. Gee, you'd think he had a major film coming out for which the studio was pressing him to do TV publicity.;-) Colin, dear, it's like falling off a log. The show's staff interviews you ahead of time to figure out what you and the host can talk about; there are no surprises. Then, prodded by the host, you tell a couple of charming and self-deprecating anecdotes, of which you have plenty. Then they ask you about the movie and you tell them the basic plot and how wonderful it was to work with everyone on the film.;-) Then they play the clip you've brought, host proclaims it brilliant, asks you to come back and visit some time, shakes hands, then you're off. Five, ten minutes tops. Yes, it's banal, but it helps the film and that's part of your job. And you reveal far, far less of yourself than in these print interviews. Speaking of whi h . . . Actually, being with another actor is a nightmare, I promise you. Well, this is not very gentlemanly behavior, is it now? Awful statement. I suppose I'll have to assume you were misquoted.:-( I'd love to do a south London villain. Is he dropping hints here? Just read that Guy R. is looking for 2 male co-stars to play opposite the misses in his next gangster flick.;-) Have mixed feelings about Hamlet. Am delighted at the prospect of seeing him on stage again, but wish it were in something that others have not already distinguished themselves in recently. Would love to see him do something fresh, contemporary, along the lines of 3DOR, or something Stoppard.

"Now the Gate is a shrine to which theatre-goers come from all over the world to see theatrical miracles" Move over Gate, soon Riverside Studios will be the new shrine where theatre-goers from all over the world will come to ...worship;-)) Hope Christopher Fettes doesn't decide to go avant-garde on us.

(Mari)This is the second interview in a row in which he's mentioned chat shows, and I don't ever recall him mentioning them before. He has chat shows on the brain these days. Hmmmm...Leads me to think perhaps Chat Shows are in the BJD contract. Poor guy...but now he has Livia to hold his hand through it all.

(Mari) Gee, you'd think he had a major film coming out for which the studio was pressing him to do TV publicity.;-) Ya think? ;-) Great advice. Someone should print it out and send it to him. Might allay his fears. Besides, American talk show hosts are complete idiots. They fawn more than anything and act silly. Would be a snap. (Mari) Is he dropping hints here? Most likely. Also has Tarantino on the brain and Ritchie is the closest approximation that would allow him to work from home. ;-) (Mari) Have mixed feelings about Hamlet. Not moi! He really could use a healthy dose of classics under his belt. Will give him "gravitas" after those fluffy roles I won't mention. So much for doing suppporting character parts. Here's a lead which I hope leads to more. :-)

Re Hamlet, am putting feelers out to see if anything more info can be found about this and will of course keep you all posted. Personally I just love thosee intimate venues In meantime am in DQ preparation mode, wine is chilling, dinner is cooking and video recorder is in full working order....roll on 9 o'clock!

Riverside Studios Crisp Road Hammersmith W6 Box office: 020 8237 1111 On next week: The Cardoso Flea Circus Hope they know what they are doing.

Just popping back to say that DQ has just ended its showing on BBC1 this evening. It isn't a very glamorous subject and the characters certainly weren't but the story was well told although I was a little disappointed in the ending. I can perhaps see why this was not taken up as a film for cinema release although why (as has been said before on numerous occasions) it took the Beeb so long before realising this and televising it (as it was clearly intended for ) is a mystery that will ever remain so. Not particularly festive but very thought-provoking and certainly warrants a second (or third) viewing.

You'll like it more when you see it again. I personally think it's the best thing he's done since Tumbledown.And it was dynamite on the big screen.A tremendous performance and I hope it's acknowledged as such at BAFTA time.

Here's the program/time schedule of the Riverside Studios as listed on "ticketlinks": The Cardoso Flea Circus (Circus) 06 Dec 00 to 28 Jan 01 Times: 19:00 and 20:30, Sat/Sun Mats at 15:00 (except 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 Dec) Fallen Angels (Film) 27 Dec 00 to 30 Dec 00 Times: 18:45FirstCall In The Mood for Love (Film) 27 Dec 00 to 30 Dec 00 Times: 20:45FirstCall Massimo Orione (Art Event/Exhibition) 31 Dec 00 to 31 Dec 00FirstCall Mountain of Flowers (Art Event/Exhibition) 31 Dec 00 to 31 Dec 00 Greek (Play) 08 Jan 01 to 27 Jan 01 Times: Mon-Sat 19:45 Into the Mystic (Play) 31 Jan 01 to 10 Feb 01 Times: 20:00, Sat Mat 15:00 Much Ado About Nothing (Play) 31 Jan 01 to 03 Feb 01 Brundibar - Degenerate! (Opera or Operetta) 13 Feb 01 to 04 Mar 01 The Trial - Degenerate! (Play) 13 Feb 01 to 04 Mar 01 http://www.ticketlinks.com/v2/details.asp?qtix=v331

(Tracy) televising it (as it was clearly intended for ) Actually, it was made for the big screen per Donna F and David B. But glad you finally saw it. Do watch it again. Agree, it didn't belong on TV at this time of year. In the US, absolutely nothing of significance is shown during the entire month of December; it is all reruns and terrible holiday specials starring Kathi Lee. ;-)

(CF) Actually, being with another actor is a nightmare, I promise you. (Mari) Well, this is not very gentlemanly behavior, is it now? Awful statement. I suppose I'll have to assume you were misquoted.:-( Sadly, I don't think he was misquoted. I think I know what he MEANT but he didn't word it at all clearly, and he'll probably really get pounced on for this one.... I think what he meant was that "being with", i.e. maintaining a stable relationship with another actor is a nightmare in that this particular choice of career is so very demanding, even if on only one partner of a pair. It inflicts demands that will not wait or allow of personal needs, except for only the most extreme circumstances. (You can't bop off a location shoot in Columbia, just because your partner in Hartfordshire is lonely and blue, etc...each lost day costs zillions...) To have such demands placed on both halves of a pair being stretched off in different directions becomes nearly impossible very quickly. There are a very few truly successful actor/actor pairs that have made it over the long haul, and even then I think there has to be an extraordinary willingness to "give" in the give-and-take department. Hume Cronin and Jessica Tandy come to mind, but they were often cast as a pair or the one would not work when the other did. Most successful actors find it very difficult to give way when their own career is making demands on them, and it is extremely rare to find two such paired. More often one (usually the actress) gives up the career entirely for the relationship to last as a lifelong bond.

Takin' over the buses Scotland on Sunday; Dec 24, 2000 BY EDDIE GIBB HOW about this for an unlikely pitch for a television drama: Don Quixote meets Stagecoach boss Ann Gloag in a touching tale of love, disability and bus privatisation? Unlikely, for sure, but at least some of the these elements provide the basis of the ambitious film Donovan Quick, commissioned by BBC Scotland from the writer-and-director team that brought you the award-winning Takin' Over the Asylum. Colin Firth takes the titular role as a modern-day Quixote, a self-deluded dreamer who set out to right the world's injustices. He starts in Port Glasgow, where the local people are poorly served by the newly privatised bus company. With his Sancho Panza-style sidekick, a learning disabled man called Sandy who makes an enthusiastic clippie, Quick sets up a rival bus operator but quickly runs into stiff competition from a corporate bully determined to force them off the road. For the purposes of this show, the company is known as Windmill Transport but they really mean Stagecoach, right? Well, to adapt a familiar phrase from House of Cards, you might think that but the writer couldn't possibly comment. "There is really little I can say about that without losing my house," says Donna Franceschild, who scripted Takin' Over the Asylum and another BBC Scotland drama, A Mug's Game. "I've got to be real careful what I say. There are a number of bus companies that have acted in a pretty vicious way. If any company wants to say they're being libelled by this the only way they can be identified is by the practices of the company in the film. That would be like saying: 'We've run buses off the road so it must be us.' I don't think that's going to happen." Probably not, but from a Scottish perspective it is hard not to think of Stagecoach. For a start, how many major transport companies in Britain are run by a woman? Franceschild just laughs and says she sees the female bus magnate as a kind of Margaret Thatcher figure. The fact the government has been forced to blame the current rail crisis on "20 years of under-investment", shows how timely this drama is. Franceschild says that Windmill is based on a number of companies, and that the aggressive tactics it employs to stamp on the competition have all been employed by various bus operators round the country. This tale of privatisation is set on the buses, but it could have just as easily have been a railway. In fact, Franceschild and director David Blair first discussed tackling train privatisation in 1996. At that time Scotrail was in the throes of privatisation and Blair, a railway enthusiast, was particularly steamed up over the sell-off. "If you call him a trainspotter, he gets very upset," jokes Franceschild. For various technical reasons, the action was switched to buses though the fictitious Windmill runs both road and rail services. At first she didn't see how a public transport strategy could possibly make an interesting television drama, until she hit on the idea of creating a contemporary Quixote. Quick is mad enough to take on an established company on behalf of the community, and is symbolic of the current suspicion of multi-nationals that fuelled the Seattle World Trade Organisation protests. It becomes apparent that though Quick is quite mad, his actions empower the local people. This is not, as you will have gathered, run-of-the-mill TV entertainment. Franceschild, an American who has worked in the UK for 20 years, has gained a solid reputation for tackling social issues head on. Takin' Over the Asylum was set in a psychiatric hospital and was a dramatisation of the way mentally ill patients are stripped of their identity in such institutions. A Mug's Game, which was filmed in Tarbert, Argyll, where Franceschild now lives, centred on the effects of the threatened closure of a fish processing factory on a local community. There is a strong theme of social justice running through Franceschild's work. "If it's something I care passionately about, I hope other people will too," she says. "I don't know how else to write." Her next project, whose working title is The Key, is a three-part drama following the lives of three generations of women from a Red Clydesider down to the grand-daughter who is elected as a Glasgow MP. Remarkably, the BBC in London has commissioned what is essentially a history of the Scottish labour movement in dramatic form. Franceschild is fast becoming Scotland's answer to socially aware TV writers such as Jimmy McGovern and Alan Bleasdale. And like them has found it necessary to balance politics and populism. Social issues are generally regarded as ratings death by broadcasters, and Franceschild is one of the few writers who has got away with making politics so central to her work. Despite the presence of Colin Firth, there is little that is hip or slick about Donovan Quick. The female lead is played by Katy Murphy, Franceschild and Blair's favourite actress, whose plain-girl looks go against the trend in TV drama for decorative female characters. There is an inescapable worthiness about Donovan Quick, though this has been leavened with a dark strain of humour. But given that disgruntlement with public transport is at an all time high, and privatisation is widely held responsible, this could be one social issues drama that doesn't prove a turn-off to viewers. Franceschild reckons it is easy to see why: "People are suffering and companies are making big profits."

Another by James Rampton, but this time for The Independent (12/27/00), with an interesting quote from Colin at the end: A tilt at far more than mere windmills If you struggled to get home for Christmas by bus or train, Donovan Quick, a new TV drama that, with perfect timing, focuses on one man's battle with the privatised transport system, will strike more than a chord. ********* George Mackie is the sort of super-smooth executive that transport companies seem to breed. He has been sent along by his huge multinational firm, Windmill Transport, to mollify passengers fuming about the unreliability of their privatised train and bus services. As one irate commuter fires off a volley of expletives about the hopelessness of his service to work, Mackie attempts to soothe him. `'We're all endeavouring to achieve punctuality targets,'' he says in his most syrupy tones. You have to suppress an urge to punch the screen during this opening scene from Donovan Quick, a witty and touching film about the manifold failures of the privatised transport system, which is being broadcast on BBC1 on Thursday. As the transport network continues to have a collective nervous-breakdown, it is a highly topical piece that will resonate with everyone who battled to get home for Christmas by bus or train. Written 18 months ago, Donna Franceschild's script now looks like a work of supreme prescience. An ingenious recasting of the Don Quixote myth, her drama depicts a world where the needs of passengers often seem to be the last concern of the huge multinational companies now running the transport network. It is hard to avoid the impression that they consistently put profits before people. On to this stage strides the inspirational figure of Donovan Quick (played with panache by Colin Firth). An honourable but deluded man, he decides he has had enough of the hopeless transport system and resolves to have a tilt at Windmill. Furious that the company have, without warning, cut the service that takes his disabled friend, Sandy (David Brown), to his day-care centre, Donovan defiantly sets up his own one-man bus company. Rattled, Mackie (played by David Westhead) responds by swamping Donovan's route with 16 Windmill buses. He may be doomed to failure, but he is sure as hell not going to go down without a damn good fight. "For evil to triumph," he announces rousingly, "it requires only that good people do nothing." As he climbs behind the wheel on his first day, Donovan delivers a stirring cri de coeur to Sandy Pannick (read, Sancho Panza), who has become his conductor. "We are about to embark on a great mission, Sandy, a great quest to fight the mighty Windmill. And they will try to defeat us - make no mistake about that. And they won't care who they hurt because there are no people in their equations. Only `customers' and `labour units', who only exist on paper and not in flesh or blood." Donovan soon gathers popular support as the passengers turn against Windmill's bully-boy tactics. One loyal supporter of Donovan's bus tells Sandy: "The wife says that she wants to go to Amsterdam on holiday, but there's no chance. I'm not going anywhere where there are any windmills." Franceschild, the writer responsible for such well-regarded dramas as Takin' Over the Asylum, Mug's Game and Eureka Street, echoes this character in her strong views about the takeover of our national transport system by private companies. "It is an emotive issue," she declares. "Rail privatisation and bus deregulation are things that tangibly affect the lives of ordinary people. It is the aspect of the Thatcher legacy they are most pissed off about. Even though we're paying huge amounts of public subsidy, we've got worse trains. Often you don't know which train or bus to catch or how to get any information about it. Capitalism works by cherry-picking the best routes and neglecting the rest." The idea of one man taking on an apparently invincible enemy generates the conflict which is essential for any effective drama. "I wanted to find a monolithic giant against which Donovan could fight," Franceschild recalls. "I thought of creating a rapacious, Thatcherite company, and during my research, I came across a former miner in Fife who'd started up a one-man bus operation with his redundancy money and immediately fell foul of a big bus company. "Bus privatisation created ferocious dog-eat-dog competition. That kind of free-for-all brings out the worst in people. Big companies just go for the jugular of smaller companies. Competition is one thing, but this isn't fair. Of course, capitalism isn't designed to be fair. Have you ever played Monopoly?" "Windmill Transport, a giant with many arms, is a good target for Donovan to attempt to slay," Franceschild continues. "There's something noble about trying to fight such a massive foe against all the odds but for all the right reasons. I wanted to examine the lack of humanity in that system. I didn't want to write about bus deregulation as such, but create a situation where a little guy stands up to capitalism at its most voracious. Even though he technically loses, Donovan and his friends are empowered by standing up to the big guy." Donovan proves an inspiring example. "Don't we all reach a point in our lives where we want to be like Don Quixote?" asks David Blair, the director of Donovan Quick. "That David and Goliath thing of taking on the bully is something we all want to do. People relate to the rudiments of the story. The film explores the ways in which Donovan enriches people's lives subliminally. He emotionally fulfils the people with whom he comes into contact." Franceschild reckons Donovan could be a role model for anyone who wants to fire others into action. "A lot of people now are politically cynical, as Labour have turned out to be Tories, Mark II. But when true opposition comes back, it will be because of a few lunatics who are never going to win but who make us think that things can be different. "Donovan Quick is inspirational - even though he's a fool and a failure. At the end, he hangs up his lance, but you think `what a great man'. You could never make this in the States - they'd say `this guy Quick is a bit of a loser' - but I love the concept of honourable failure. "Donovan embodies the idea of fighting a giant when you're obviously going to lose, but still doing it with nobility. People respect someone who chooses to fight, even though it's already been decided that he's going to lose. Ultimately, he fails because he's just one man, but he does make a substantial difference." In a society without heroes, there is something appealingly old-fashioned and chivalrous about Donovan's fight for the underdog. Without getting too misty-eyed, it is moving that although he is condemned to defeat from the start, he never contemplates giving up. Donovan Quick is very much in the noble tradition of the eternal toiler. "Look at the myth of Sisyphus, the man who endlessly pushes a stone up a hill," says Firth. "Or the novel, The Famished Road. In that, we are shown a vision of people in a village building a road to paradise. They have only built two or three feet, but it is the most beautiful, jewel-encrusted section. They have been working on it for 2,000 years, and they will never get to paradise. "Being comfortable with that lack of resolution is as close as we're ever going to get to understanding anything. We have to accept paradoxes. Any search for clarity beyond that is doomed. Like Donovan, we make the mistake of thinking we've found the magic formula, or the system for winning at roulette, or the perfect political system. It's not about finding answers, but relentlessly pursuing them. You are always travelling; you never arrive." Particularly if you happen to be on a Windmill bus.

I personally think it's the best thing he's done since Tumbledown. I so agree. This was my first viewing. I did not watch the video because I wanted to wait. It was well worth it. My 18 year old son, who watched it with me, also loved it. Fabulous. Will post more later.

Yes, my husband also responding to it when it was shown in Australia. It was quite male orientated and thus very successful and so right for the U.K. at present, with rail, roads, bus's all affected by privatisation and snow etc. mainly caused by lack of manpower because of the need for the private companies to make a profit. Good on you Alison - yes its the best thing since Tumbledown because Colin truly believed in whast we was doing. Anne H. from Oz.

Just to say DQ has had excellent reviews in both the"Times" and "Guardian" which we get, also the preview in the Observer was excellent. I think the best, surprisingly, is in the Telegraph, which I saw when I called on my mother. They're all too long to type...are they online?

No, they are not online. If you'd like to mail them to me, I'd be more than happy to type them up to share with everyone.

(KJ)Sadly, I don't think he was misquoted. I think I know what he MEANT but he didn't word it at all clearly, and he'll probably really get pounced on for this one.... So glad to know you have a direct track to what he mean't, KJ... but sadly, we'll never know will we?*winkie*,*winkie* ~~~~~~~~~~~`` "It's not about finding answers, but relentlessly pursuing them. You are always travelling; you never arrive." I keep telling you he's got a new Italian philosopher;-) This is the second interview he's given the same quote. ~~~~~~~~~~~ So glad DQ is getting such well-deserved fabulous reviews..even during the usual Christmas schmaltz. He must feel exhilarated.First, Speaking with the Angel and now DQ. Next Hamlet. Go Colin...you're on the right track!

Bethan, do try to send the reviews to Karen. We would all love to read them. "It's not about finding answers, but relentlessly pursuing them. You are always travelling; you never arrive." (Evelyn), I keep telling you he's got a new Italian philosopher;-) No Italian philosopher. It is more oriental in tone. Maybe he has been doing the I Ching lately. ;-)

Excellent review for DQ on Teletext - "Colin Firth was in exhilarating form..."

http://www.teletext.co.uk/reviews and actually they gave it 4stars and said it was the "hit" of the festive season or soemthing like that. You may have to scroll down the page.

Sorry, you may get the home page, in which cast you will have to go to TVPLUS.

Here's The Guardian review (thanks to Jane M. ) FIRTH AMONG EQUALS Gareth McLean It's just as well Colin Firth read Cervantes' book and didn't simply rely on Nik Kershaw's interpretation of Don Quixote as the inspiration for the good deeds of Donovan Quick (BBC1). Otherwise, he'd be sporting fingerless gloves, a fluorescent snood and a spikey hairdo, and even the actor formerly known as Mr Darcy couldn't carry off that ensemble. Happily, he wore tailored suits and fresh-from-the-box boxer shorts, and arrived like an Armani-clad spectre in the dingy Pannick household with good intentions. Pannick by name, put-upon by nature, Katy Murphy was excellent as the fierce and fearful Lucy, nursing her wrath against the world and fuelling it with her own self-loathing. With a teenage son, a senile granny, and Sandy, a brother with a learning disability, to care for, Lucy was faltering under the weight of her burden, which also included a drink problem and Clive, a bullying boyfriend, played in all his impotent, delusional glory by David O'Hara. As Sandy, David Brown was incredibly watchable and Colin Firth was his usual impressive self. The casting of Liz "Nana Royle" Smith was a trifle odd, however. Given the number of accomplished Scottish actresses who could quite easily have played the part of the Pannicks' granny without an accent which wandered from Oban to Edinburgh, she was a curious choice. Nevertheless, as part of an outstanding ensemble, she was quite endearing. After years of telling Sandy to keep his head down and keep quiet, Lucy was jolted out of self-imposed servitude by Donovan's tilting at windmills - namely Windmill Transport, the multinational company which cancelled the train which took Sandy to his daycare centre. With his big bag of money - Donovan was evidently wealthy, possessing a platinum Amex and never having heard of macaroni cheese - he bought a bus, made Sandy a company director and bus conductor, and attacked his giant nemesis. The renewal of hope which this new venture instilled in the Pannicks was delightful and Donna Franceschild's script trod a fine line between truthful emotion and magical realism, only occasionally stumbling into sentiment. And the appearance of comedy nuns only detracted slightly from the credibility of the whole. Focusing on a transport company which drives its competitors out of business ("It's not enough to succeed. Others must be seen to fail", was the motto of the chairwoman, Kathleen Gorman, who may well have had a bigoted brother hanging around somewhere), Donovan Quick had an unashamedly socio-political message. Yet it was rarely worthy or heavy-handed. Rather, it was a keen, funny and moving expose of monopoly capitalism. If Naomi Klein were to collaborate with John Byrne on a screenplay, this could well be the result. And although there wasn't a hint of Nik Kershaw, we could have done with a bit less Van Morrison, too.

Here's The Telegraph review, which is excellent. Thanks to Peggy. Don Quixote rides again James Walton Last night, after a couple of creditable near-misses and some spectacular failures, Christmas 2000 finally gave us a genuinely great piece of TV drama. Donovan Quick (BBC1) could so easily have gone wrong: among the dangers it risked were sentimentality, excessive moralising and looking like a pastiche of those old Plays for Today- many of which likewise featured a plucky group of ordinary folk taking on the evil capitalists. Early on, too, the programme appeared destined only for terminal dourness. After all, the main character Lucy (Katy Murphy) was a single mother whose preferred methods of coping with a car-stealing son, a senile grandmother, a mentally-handicapped brother and an alcoholic boyfriend were straightforward ones: shouting a lot and being an alcoholic herself. But then Donovan Quick (Cohn Firth) showed up as her mysterious new lodger, and everything was transformed. Admittedly, the Don Quixote parallels werent subtle. Donovan soon turned out to be a man of almost pathological chivalry. Lucys brother- Sandy Pannick - duly became his faithful companion. The two then set off to tilt at Windmill, a company whose public motto was the suitably meaningless "Local transport for the global community". (The private version was rather more honest: "Its not enough to succeed - others must be seen to fail".) Yet, the scenes in which Quick and Pannick ran both their peoples bus-route and rings round Windmill were irresistibly exhilarating. But the goodies victories were short-lived. Lucy started out sounding depressingly fatalistic ("Big companies always get what they want") but ended up sounding merely right. Donovans commitment to social justice meant that he got beaten up on a regular basis. We also discovered that he was, indeed, technically mad - a former Windmill high-flier whod been sectioned by his family after he began acting oddly (ie decently) to opponents of the company. He was therefore carted off from Lucys house to the asylum, so that the next time we saw him hed been "cured" and was back wheeling and dealing without scruple. (As Quick had earlier said of Quixote, "He was a great madman. When they returned him to sanity, he was nothing.") All of this, as I say, could obviously have been excruciating. Instead, the always-sharp script combined with the brilliant central performances to ensure the characters and the issues complemented each other so well that Donovan Quick managed to be both emotionally stirring and intellectually troubling especially, of course, at a time when public unease about corporate power is at such a peak.

Part 1 Of The Times review (thanks to Janet) Tilting at windmills Yesterday's viewing: Paul Hoggart If nothing else, Donovan Quick (BBC1) was memorable for Liz Smith’s most outrageous Christmas performance. We have had the cameo of the old derelict in A Christmas Carol; she excelled as usual in The Royle Family. Here, however, she spent the entire film wandering around in an ill-fitting slip, saying things like “Anyone seen ma false teeth?” It takes a special quality to make batty old wreckage so engaging, and she has it by the wrinkly stockingful. But then this was an idiosyncratic drama altogether. True, there was nothing stunningly original about the big themes — a bunch of dead-beat losers take on the system and win (sort of ), led by an educated dreamer, who arrives among them like a deus ex machina and transforms their lives, while he himself is forced to confront his own inadequacies when things go horribly wrong. Well-trodden tracks perhaps, but the drama rolled along engagingly on a mixture of wry observation, absurdity and “You lookin’ at me, pal?” realism. The story was a loose updating of Don Quixote, with Colin Firth as the eponymous hero (though with a secret past). The similarity lay in the clash between Quick’s naïve idealism and the brutal, exploitative cynicism of the real world. Firth’s muted, Jane-Austen-adaptation courtesy was perfect. Yet Don Quixote was unhinged by the fantasies of popular literature, and his enemies were everyday objects, transformed into monsters by his fevered imagination. Donovan Quick, by contrast, had been driven mad by guilt. His insanity was grounded not in delusion but in the effects of his own ruthlessness. His monsters also turned out to be real, a ruthless transport corporation called Windmill, a nightmare combination of aggressive deregulated bus company and privatised railway. The writer Donna Franceschild must be delighted with the timing of her blast of political rage, as travellers of all persuasions suffer the frustrations of our choking transport systems.

Here's the rest of The Times review: But the real power of the piece lay in Franceschild's exploration of the poor and alienated struggling to survive without support in hopelessly corroded communities. Quick wanders into a cheap lodging house run by Lucy Pannick (Katy Murphy), an alcoholic with a delinquent son, a mentally disabled brother Sandy (David Brown) and a rapidly senescent grandmother (Liz Smith). Lucy also has a suspicious, defensive attitude and an obnoxious boyfriend (David O'Hara). As she explains to Quick in a painful moment of truth, the only way she can get any human warmth is to let people shag her. Quick switches into Quixote mode when Windmill arbitrarily cancels the only bus which gets Sandy to his day-centre. During a Cliff Richard hey-gang-let's-do-the-show-right-here sequence, (complete with breezy Van Morrison tracks), they set up their own one-bus company and take on the big boys. Inevitably the corporate bullies play dirty and win, and after a vicious beating Quick returns to his former self. He is, it transpires, Daniel Quinn, the Windmill executive who ordered his buses to crash through a picket line, killing a union official. In a final encounter on a station platform his re-assumed executive mask drops when he meets Lucy, now self-confident, happy and successful, her life transformed by the effects of his Quixotic aberration. It was an unusual, but often touching blend of reportage, fantasy and polemic.

Thanks, Mari, for gathering up the reviews and bringing them to us. They're wonderful. (Don't agree with that one who said we could a bit less of Van Morrison. Sheesh!) ;-)

So at last DQ has been and gone on British TV. I think in the end that the BBC did not do badly with the timing. Certainly it got a lot more coverage pre transmission than normal. And what a fantastic reaction from the Press post transmission. I certainly enjoyed it much more when I saw it again last night. I don't know if it was my imagination but it did not seem so dark and I coped much better with the accents. I agree that it is one of Colin's best efforts. I had forgotten until I saw it again last night how very good he is. Yes, I too hope this performance is remembered when it comes round to BAFTA time. Let's hope in view of all the acclaim it will be repeated again; the critics certainly went to Town with a vengence in its favour. Now we only have to wait for Hamlet................ (I just hope it's not too long a wait!!)

"And the appearance of comedy nuns only detracted slightly from the credibility of the whole." Waddsamatta y'think this was a documentary? I thought they were quite charming... I loved the track with Van Morrison....the old curmudgeon who wrote that probably expected Beethoven. Thanks Mari and pals... ODB must be on Cloud Nine!!

The Observer (abbreviated).. Whether you are a fan of Cervantes' original epic, or merely a fan of Firth, the acting in this allegory for a modern audience amkes it compelling viewing and extremely moving... This is a sentimental story for an unsentimental age, but the dialogue, the cast and the well chosen targets raise it far above expectations. The emotional points are subtly made and the story's simple portrait of personalities in a state of collapse is painfully effective. (just posted this in Bridget Jones by mistake. Sorry!)

Colin Firth was his usual impressive self. Yes! If only his agent understood this. Very happy for Colin. I wonder what other goodies might come from this. This is the time for his agent to get out there and get pushy about leading roles. Thanks, Mari and the ladies who typed it up. :-) Happy New Year! to all the faithful Firthettes.

(evelyn) So glad to know you have a direct track to what he mean't, KJ... ... Don't I wish ... Isn't speculation the name of the game here? (I thought that the qualifier "I think" made it obvious that I wasn't claiming any level of expertise here ...**Hee hee** ;-D) KJ

( ... Or do you insist on IMHO for clarity?) .. ;-D KJ

KJ, you're absolutely on course there. I can vouch for it - I spent my young life surrounded by actors and it was a huge bunch of mixed blessings (but what a priceless insight!)... And the two chief characters in that little big domestic drama of ours - my own parents - did indeed create quite a nightmare for each other as well as their offspring. (Now you know how I came to possess this curiously twisted personality which a lot of you find so abrasive...;-)) Re Colin and his agent: at the risk of getting slapped again (;-D), I shall repeat: it's no use blaming the agent if Colin will not do what the agent tells him to... Indeed, the agent has no final say in what Colin may or may not want to do. Finally, I have found the following in The Express today: it's by their theatre critic Robert Gore-Langton, it gives an outline of the UK theatre plans for 2001 and it seems to be casting a small shadow of the doubt over the possibility of a third major Hamlet this season... "Samuel West is the latest to play the Prince in a Hamlet for the RSC at Stratford in March. Also, Adrian Lester's Hamlet, recently in Paris, arrives in London in the summer."

Thank you, Echo, for understanding what I was trying (ineffectually) to say. Actually, my only intention was to depersonalize that statement. IMHO, the idea of "nightmare" had nothing to do with the person with whom one was involved, but more the difficulty in maintaining a close relationship over the long haul with anyone who was a fellow actor. In fact, I should think the greater the affection between the pair, the more agonizing the attempt would be. The observation cast no reflection on the personalities of MT or JE (or anyone else ...):-)

The difficulty in maintaining a close relationship may take various paths and shapes and be due to numerous factors which are not necessarily exclusive to actors. I am sure that people in other walks of life suffer from the same kind of problems - yet somehow among actors, artists, entertainers, etc., all these things often seem completely out of proportion - and, by the same token, long term stable relationships stand out that much clearer. In other words, maybe it's not the people but the circumstances.

(KJ)Actually, my only intention was to depersonalize that statement. IMHO, the idea of "nightmare"had nothing to do with the person with whom one was involved, but more the difficulty ......." I know, I know... Re: inside track, that's why I spelled out ;-)*winkie*.... w-i-n-k-i-e-....:-D

I don't believe anyone disagrees; however, in fairness, I think the original comment was aimed at Colin and that he should not have made the statement in the first place. That, in itself, was the "ungentlemanly behavior," i.e, don't talk about your former relationships in public. Not the validity of the statement. it seems to be casting a small shadow of the doubt over the possibility of a third major Hamlet this season... Argh! :-(

Very odd review by Michael Collins for The Independent. Appears to me, that he thinks it quite mundane. What do you all say? The landscape the viewer encountered in Donovan Quick (BBC1) was bleak. We were in that part of Scotland that TV drama visits regularly, where a solitary house stands close to a railway track. This bleakness was in striking contrast to the flashback leitmotif which punctuated a drama that took atonement and madness for its themes. When Donovan Quick (Colin Firth) retreated to the memories of his past as the businessman Daniel Quinn, the screen lit up like an Eighties video for an electro-pop duo, with his past returning to haunt him in hues of blue and white. It transpired that as the director of a company he had urged drivers to break a strike, and this resulted in the death of a picket. When he recalled the breakdown that followed the tragedy, and his time spent in an asylum, a beam of neon was added to the equation, as he sat with his head cradled in his hands and with only his shadow for company. You expected synthesisers and drum machines. During his spell of madness, he went AWOL, changed his name, and became the stranger who arrives in a strange town with a holdall stacked with cash, and who goes on to change the lives of the locals. The family he lodged with was, of course, dysfunctional. In TV terms, this is a short cut to sum up a group of characters who are strapped for cash and starved of aspiration. It saves having to bother with lengthy explanations about class and opportunity. The real problem with this family however, was that it was the kind of dysfunctional group that has previously been the stuff of comedy - as in last year's Channel 4 sitcom The Wilsons, for instance. Last night, in the absence of parents, it fell to the alcoholic daughter to organise the brother with learning difficulties, the wayward son, and Liz Smith (doing what Liz Smith seems to have been doing since I Didn't Know You Cared back in the Seventies). Of course, she does it brilliantly. Her character in Donovan Quick was occasionally lucid, always in her underwear, and never without a handbag. In short - The Gran. The Alcoholic was the last one of the quartet to fall for the charms, and into the arms, of the mysterious stranger. (A bag full of crisp bank notes? A copy of Don Quixote? Who was this man?.) But Wayward Son, Learning Difficulties and The Gran temporarily found their vocation, when Quick set up a local bus company to challenge a big transport organisation - the company where, it emerged, he had once worked. This plot development transformed the drama into something reminiscent of a musical, or something from an Ealing comedy, where the kids take on the big property developer who threatens their youth club and invariably end up doing a show in the barn, or converting a double-decker bus. Ultimately, Quick returns to his former life, and recovers from his madness. And while he believed he had left a trail of destruction in his wake, he had actually scattered the seeds of ambition and aspiration. The Alcoholic ended the drama having also found her vocation. In palma violet suit, with clipboard to hand, she was sober and successful. On the wagon, and on the buses.

You can see the BBC's commercial for DQ here: (requires Real Player) http://www.bbc.co.uk/whatson/ram/oen_52th2100_donovan_quick.ram

Agree Karen very odd indeed - what is all that stuff about 80's pop videos? Have watched DQ once more, it is indeed IMO a work of mastery (did I not give that impression before?:-P) - balancing brilliantly the dark with the humorous. Found that, having channel-hopped for a millisecond *slapped wrists*, I had missed the "macaroni cheese" moment, one of the understated comic pieces from CF. Even my, usually CF-disparaging, father - having seen only the last 45 minutes (sheesh -parents who'd have 'em) wants to borrow my vid so he can see it in its entirity- high praise indeed! Karen - Whilst I realise that DF and DB aimed for the big screen, what I meant by my comment ( and I should have put IMO there I know) was that perhaps this kind of intimate drama works better in TV format. Sadly I believe that had it got to the big screen it would have been MLSF all over again, staying in the West End for a derisory fortnight (if you're lucky) and then trickling onto VHS eventually *shaking head morosely*. The level of coverage in the press and indeed on the Beeb (thanks for the trailer BTW) in the run up to broadcast was fantastic to see - and the reviews in the main have been deservedly glowing. This surely can do ODB no harm at all ... let's hope he capitalises on it.

(Ev) Wonder if they have more than two stalls in the loo ;-)[ When I win the lottery, I'm going to endow an extra stall at the Donmar] The Evelyn B***e Honorary Potty. Reserved for Droolers Extraordinaire. Joe Prince. He's one of my favorites too, Hanna. But beware, we're in the minority.These pit-bulls here don't;-) Ouch! I'm just a chihauhau - a yapping ankle biter. I LOVE Joe Prince. Just ain't crazy about the movie (but I watch it every time it's on Lifetime.) bring-a-cushion is the best possible advice I will put my Reading Phillies cushion next to your AC Milan one, Moon. (Ev) The heat will come from the stage....Esp. in tight breeches (pl.god!) Ifi that's the wardrobe then the heat will come from the audience. I'm perspiring already. (Mari) Is he dropping hints here? Just read that Guy R. is looking for 2 male co-stars to play opposite the misses in his next gangster flick.;-) Oh Gawd, can you imagine? Mark my words, that woman is going to ruin her husband's career if he insists on casting her. And I've never been wrong before. ;-) That, in itself, was the "ungentlemanly behavior," i.e, don't talk about your former relationships in public. Ooh, let me have my say. Did he mention names? No,no,no. The poor boy forgets the reporters constantly focus on the "important" things - who has he been sleeping with? We ALL know who he's been involved with but his observation may have been more general in meaning. His transgressions are so slight, I forgive him everything. ;-) Despite the presence of Colin Firth, there is little that is hip or slick about Donovan Quick. What the heck does that mean? Sorry, just ankle biting. Very nice reviews. Tracy, your dad is very discerning.

(Tracy)Sadly I believe that had it got to the big screen it would have been MLSF all over again, staying in the West End for a derisory fortnight (if you're lucky) and then trickling onto VHS eventually *shaking head morosely* The way of all CF-starring films, because the public views him as a TV actor. I would have to agree with you, Tracy. Better to have a successful TV project. Sadly, it's just another nail in the "He's a TV actor".... But hey, a win's a win! ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Independent Review:..."This plot development transformed the drama into something reminiscent of a musical, or something from an Ealing comedy, where the kids take on the big property developer who threatens their youth club and invariably end up doing a show in the barn, or converting a double-decker bus." Huh? Did we see the same film? Sounds like another guy who doesn't like Van Morrisson, or anything else. Besides, he didn't even mention ODB. Boooooo

This one makes the other one sound nice: The Scotsman - Dec 29, 2000 BY HANNAH MCGILL The makers of Donovan Quick must have been the only people in the country who were secretly pleased when the nation's transport network deteriorated into an infernal game of snakes and ladders. They knew the rail chaos would bring their right-on public transport drama right into line with the popular consciousness - somewhere a right-on public transport drama can rarely expect to be, even if it does star the handsome Colin Firth. Bells of recognition chimed right from the opening scene, when a slick executive from a privatised rail network apologised most insincerely for "the delays and abnormalities brought about by timetabling conflicts". The executive in question was an oily deposit from a fictional Scottish company called Windmill, which occupied distinctly insalubrious ground somewhere between Stagecoach and Railtrack. Windmill thought nothing of trampling all over the little people with their ruthless profiteering. Enter Colin Firth, equipped with a dependable jawline and copious bumbling public-school charm. He moved in with alcoholic Lucy (Katy Murphy) and her shambolic family, and proceeded to plot the overthrow of the system from her spare room, aided only by her learning-disabled brother Sandy (David Brown). This Don Quixote update could have been excessively sugary - the last thing anyone needs at this time of year. However, thanks to a wonderful performance by Murphy, strong support from Brown and Firth, a fine script and a healthy degree of black humour, it was elegant, moving and heartfelt. It made no bones about its social message, and yet was subtle enough to avoid preaching. It was almost enough to make me like Colin Firth, even though he reminds me of Tony Blair and Hugh Grant sharing a bout of severe constipation.

I wish Hannah a boil on her ....nose!! That was uncalled for. Good thing it's a Scottish paper, He'll never see it.

Another Gill: Sunday Times, Dec. 31, 2000 Culture section "Not getting into the Christmas spirits" .......... Donovan Quick (Thursday, BBC1) was a play about a bus service. Now, how sorry are you that you missed that? All the fun and excitement of waiting at a bus stop and reading the schedules. I would love to have been at the planning meeting where a Tristram said: "I've got this really exciting script about public transport in Glasgow." Except he won't have said that, he'll have said: "I've got this really contemporary and relevant reworking of Don Quixote." And having never read the terminal tome, the fat controllers will have yelped: "Yes, yes, here's enough money to choke John Prescott!" What appeared on screen wasn't quite the silliest thing in this season of silly things, but it was a contender. It looked like a Romanian socialist propaganda fable crossed with Genevieve, made by a redbrick media unit - not a happy marriage, not an exciting prospect. They managed to shoehorn every Blairish minority and concern into it. There was Sancho Panza with learning difficulties and a mentally ill Don, an alcoholic Dulcinea and her Alzheimer mother, a misdirected criminal teenager and, of course, the ever-present unemployed. And that was just under one roof. You know that when we start getting this sort of milksop politics, there just has to be an election in the offing. It was television drama from the Polly Toynbee/Alastair Campbell production unit. Oh, and the wicked, ravenous national bus company was called Windmill - tilting at windmills, get it? .............. http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2000/12/31/sticultvv02003.html

This guy hated the whole Christmas telly schedule. "Christmas-holiday programming is markedly worse than all the rest of the year. The tackiness isn't joyful, it's just tacky. The sentimentality isn't sweet, it's saccharine. Altogether, Christmas on the box is karaoke telly, a sloppy cover version of the real thing...." Thankfully he didn't mention Colin by name.

"Not getting into the Christmas spirits" It appears no other thing to me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours. ;-)

I can't stand AA Gill....he's only interested in appearing "clever" at the expense of other people and always savages everything. He's from the Anne Billston (Sunday Telegraph) School of "Criticism". Apparently he's just written another article which appeared this week, entitled "My �30,000 penis extension", which I think tells you everything you need/don't need to know about the guy! Taling about the Sunday Telegraph (why do we get this paper...except I really don't like the Sunday Times!) true to form (they've yet to write anything good about Colin), the male reviewer gave DQ a reasonably good review, but trashed CF. Extracts.. "Easily the weirdest thing to hit the screen all week... A contemporary version of DQ it starred CF in one of his now familiar tortured moody roles. The combination of Ealing-type whimsy and social realism worked surprisingly well, due in roughly equal measure to DF's witty, heartfelt script, and to a terrific performance by Katy Murphy as Lucy...electrifying gusto...waves of reorse and longing swept thru' her., all to very touching effect. The problem with it was that DF was plainly more interested in Lucy as a character than in DQ. He never really sprang to life, partly because there wasn't much to him, apart from a dark secret duly revealed - and partly because CF is one of those actors who always seem to have left the handbrake on. The ending felt very perfunctory...still there was real originality and real feelings here. Don't think CF can win...he's either "familiar moody tortured" or "miscast" Overall though, the reviews are very good. The Sundays are always a downer. BTW I note Anne Billston is in her usual "kill the British film industry" form in her review of the year. "It started off brilliantly with "Sleepy Hollow" and became increasingly more depressing with British films getting so bad, I started timing my holidays so I could miss as many of them as possible" She nominates "Rancid Aluminium" with Joe Fiennes as worst Brit film (Thankfully not SLOW!). Perhaps she and AA Gill should get together and actually make a movie.

Evelyn - I wish Hannah a boil on her ....nose!! ...or boiled! CF is one of those actors who always seem to have left the handbrake on. ..a plague on both his.........houses! I sometimes wonder if any of these reviewers actually watch the performances or merely produce this c**p from their own library of prejudices.

To make us all feel better, a very good review in today's Observer - "The week's most unlikely-sounding treat was, however, DQ, in which CF played the eponymous and mysterious southern stranger with a fondness for Cervantes who turns up north of the border to rent a room from the, yes, wholly dysfunctional Pannick family. Indeed, there is unlikely to be a more affecting drama (Yesssss, my words, sorry I got carried away) set against the backdrop of rail and bus privatisation. Harassed, alcololic Lucy was in a bad relationslhip with arrogant, violent, unemployed Clive, while her younger brother, Sandy, had a learning disability and an unsuitable crush on a lovely Pakistani undergraduate; Lucy's unemployed son, Ji,, meanwhile, spent all day on the sofa fighting with Lucy's semi-senile gran (thre wonderful Liz Smith, in a slip) for control of the remote. So far, so seasonal. But when the evil Wndmill company cut out the train stop nearest to Sandy's day centre, Donovan sets up his own bus route, Quick & Pannick and employed Sandy as conductor. "Donovan's made me a company d rector!" said Sandy, proudly. "Shouldnd't you finish the rocket you were making out of a squeezy bottle first?" said Lucy, with justification. It was lovely stuff - emotionally dark, as befits any contemporary drama with aspirations to Say Something, but leavened by touches of Ealing Comedy, sharp performances and a deft script. The ending was bitter-sweet, too, but CF didn't get his kit off. Still, you can't have everything - especially at Christmas" This was after she had not been very complimentary about the other Christmas offerings. I too dislike AA Gill, he never likes anything it seems to me and quite often he tries to be so clever with his reviews that I haven't a clue what he is saying. As to the two reviewers who obviously don't like Colin, I really think it is unnecessary to be personal when writing up a review, write up about his performance by all means but they shouldn't make personal comments. Also in The Observer, is a review of the films to look out for in 2001 and BJD is mentioned with the photo of Renee and Sally Phillips smoking - "There is the daring and bos office friendly casting of Texan RSZ as the eponymous Sloane Ranger in BJD, counting the calories as well as the cost of getting invloved with unsltuiable Hoorays. Colin Firth and Hugh Grant provide the beefcake" An unsuitable Hooray, not our Colin. sorry I guess this should be on the BJD topic.

I'm enjoying reading all the reviews for DQ. It is so nice to see "attention paid" to Colin. I found this on the last (and SNOWY!) morning of 2000 at IC Show Biz: Dec 26 2000 She's one of Scotland's top actresses, and now she is playing opposite Colin Firth. By Rick Fulton, Daily Record She's one of our most experienced actresses, but filming her first nude scene was almost the ruin of Katy Murphy. The actress, who shot to fame as Miss Toner in Tutti Frutti, says she is usually overlooked for sexy roles. But in BBC Scotland's one-off drama, Donovan Quick, which also stars Pride And Prejudice's Colin Firth, she gets her fair share of love scenes with actor David O'Hara. In one shot, she is seen nipping out of bed naked and putting on a T-shirt. And Katy, 35, admits she put herself through the mill to do the scene. She says: "It was terrifying, like going to the dentist 100 times. It was embarrassing, too. I'm no spring chicken - it's not like I'm 18. "I'm usually the last person they ask to do love scenes, but I'm glad I did it. I like new experiences ... and doing nude scenes holds no terrors for me now." This high-profile role is a catapult back into the spotlight for Katy who, despite working constantly, has not had a starring role on prime-time television for a number of years. Top actress But she is still one of Scotland's top actresses, with roles in Rab C Nesbitt, Your Cheatin' Heart, Takin' Over The Asylum and A Mug's Game to her credit. Recently she starred with Paul McGann in the BBC's Fish, but it flopped. But Donovan Quick could make her a household name once again. Despite the nude scene, it is a far from glamorous role. Katy plays Lucy Pannick, an alcoholic frantically trying to keep her family from disintegrating. She has a gran who is in the early stages of dementia and wanders around the house with no clothes on, a son who steals cars and a brother with learning difficulties. Colin Firth plays the title role in the drama, which will be shown on Thursday night. Donovan is a man with a few skeletons in the cupboard who sets up a bus company to take on the big boys. Lucy is the latest in a string of feisty women Katy has played. She says: "It's always good to play a woman with spirit. I don't know what it's like to play a quiet librarian. "When you're not beautiful, you have to find something else in these characters. They're not going to be the pretty one that the man looks after. "My sort of roles have more to them than that. They deal with another area - what it's like to be a woman beyond how you look."

*sniff* Bad news! My mother didn't tape DQ:-( Why is it that every time I desperately want to see something, something goes wrong with the video? The good news is that Belgian TV is showing Blackadder Back and Forth tonight.

Whew! All these news items. Thanks. Found another v. interesting one at the site Murph used: Firth-Class TV Drama Debut (Dec 20 2000) Colin Firth sings the praises of his latest co-star. By Gavin Docherty, The Mirror Top Shakespearian actor Colin Firth has revealed how he was blown away by a remarkable performance by his new Scots co-star - a learning disabled actor making his TV drama debut. Screen heart-throb Firth, who has worked with some of Hollywood's finest including Ralph Fiennes and Willem Dafoe, described David Brown's debut as "sheer perfection". The 38-year-old amateur actor from Edinburgh was filming alongside Firth for Donovan Quick, a highlight of the BBC1 Scotland festive season, aired on December 28. "There is something fantastically pure about his performance," Firth said. "It is very unusual to see that in a piece of storytelling like this. He is delightful." In the drama, Firth stars as a mysterious nobleman who briefly enters the lives of a family of pathetic basket cases headed by alcoholic landlady Katy Murphy. He befriends her dim-witted brother Sandy, played by Brown, who can no longer go to school because a multi-national transport company have changed the routes. Donovan commandeers an old coach and suddenly the pair are in business in a David vs Goliath struggle against the big transport boys. Lifetime opportunity For David, who has a learning disability, the chance to act alongside Firth was an opportunity of a lifetime. "I loved every minute of it," he said. But Firth, who has just finished filming a Hollywood adaptation of Bridget Jones's Diary with Hugh Grant and Renee Zellweger, confessed he has a soft spot for the Scots film and its brilliant co-star. And critics were so stunned by Brown's performance, they took him for a trained actor. "It's not naive at all to think that of David," added Firth. "I have spoken to a lot of people who have not been sure. What he has done and why it is great that he did it was that he didn't play a disability. "He didn't have to do that. Nobody was in front of a camera trying to pick up an award for being learning disabled. "He played a guy. He played emotions. He was just playing a human being." Brown's big break came when Donovan Quick director David Blair spotted him rehearsing a performance of La Boheme with an Edinburgh drama group. Brown explained: "The director gave me the part after I did a reading for him. "I'd never been on a film set before and everything was new to me. Having Colin there, supporting me, gave me confidence. "He was great at giving me acting advice." Firth, 40, who has a huge following since his screen performance of Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice, said he also learned a great deal from working with David. "He was chastening for the rest of us in his diligence and all his resilience," the experienced actor explained. "Because it was a short shoot but very work intensive, tempers get frayed. You get worn down at the end of a long week of 14-hour days. "We are standing in the freezing cold and you look across and David was the one that had the most energy and willingness to keep working. "He loves acting. He is full of enthusiasm. I kept asking myself to what extent does he understand the story we are telling. How much does he understand of what we are dealing with here and why he is chosen for the part? "I didn't know or understand David well enough to be able to answer those questions." A cheeky dig at real-life A major appeal for Firth in making the film, which was shot in Glasgow, was the privatisation of the country's transport network. The bully boy-style tactics adopted by the big multi-national Windmill Transport in Donovan Quick are said to be inspired by the rise of the Stagecoach company owned by Brian Soutar and Ann Gloag. Scriptwriter Donna Franceschild, a committed socialist, has written with rattlesnake venom the greed-obsessed methods deployed by big company bosses to try to run the little guy off the road. Firth said: "I felt things about the script. "You can apply it very, very specifically, probably uncomfortably specifically right down to a specific transport company. It's very cheeky." As if the stunning confrontation between the multi-national firm and the rickety coach operated by Donovan Quick and Sandy wasn't enough, writer Franceschild rams home the point. A Gloag-lookalike - right down to the fashionable piping on her jacket lapels - is the head of the transport empire.

Thanks for the reviews. They run the gamut from love to loathing, not unusual. Agree that was an uncalled-for comment from Hannah: It was almost enough to make me like Colin Firth, even though he reminds me of Tony Blair and Hugh Grant sharing a bout of severe constipation. She liked the production, she liked him so that was out of left field. And what's wrong with a "dependable jawline"? One of my favorite features. As for Gill, thanks Bethan for letting us know his problem -"My �30,000 penis extension Obviously feeling short-changed in life. ;-) a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours. ...produce this c**p from their own library of prejudices. Agents of Satan, all. ;-) Um, the Observer's was interesting: The ending was bitter-sweet, too, but CF didn't get his kit off. I thought "kit" meant "gear". Does it mean clothing as well? Hopefully written by a woman. (Tineke) The good news is that Belgian TV is showing Blackadder Back and Forth tonight. Better luck with the video for this.

Yes Heide, "kit" does mean his clothing! in the UK.

Thanks everybody for all the reviews. Murph, Karen..that's a great review from "The Mirror"(!!of all papers). Love the opening statement ..Top Shakespearian actor Colin Firth. Wow...wait til they get a load of his Hamlet!! Agree with Heide. Generally more positive reviews than negative. He's got to feel pleased.

All too often the reviewers who give all the bad reviews are frustrated wannbe actors who could never quite make it. Their reviews are written out of jealousy.

Happy New Year to everyone. Colin and Livia especially.

Happy New Year to Colin and family and most especially to all of you droolies. Thanks so much for the stimulating and entertaining commentary you have provided this past year(and, hopefully, will continue to do so in the coming years). Health, happiness and prosperity to you all and to ODB an abundance of exciting projects, so that we have lots to discuss in 2001.

Looks as though Colin and the others are doing Conspiracy with a German accent. Should be interesting.

I just finished viewing the Wanssee Conference in German with English subtitles (I want a medal, Moon;-) If they don't change the script Dr. Stuckart has the best part. And will be greatly enhanced with German accent and mannerisms. In fact only way to do it. The film's total ambience would lose a great deal with British/American accents.Roll on April!

(Karen) Looks as though Colin and the others are doing Conspiracy with a German accent What makes you say that?

Does anyone know if and when "Donovan Quick" will be shown in the US? ...don't think I've ever posted here before so Hello to you fellow Firth-adorers and thanks for any help. Thanks, Sarah

Hamlet update Riverside Studios says it will be February 2002 and CF's agent says dates are not set but not before end of this year... sorry, but should've asked what he was doing in between but was in shock at agent actually picking up phone himself! (Sarah) Does anyone know if and when "Donovan Quick" will be shown in the US? If you mean on TV, no info on that. When we met the writer, she appeared doubtful; said BBC didn't think it would appeal to an American audience. Just for your info, DQ is not PBS or A&E fare.

Sylvia from Australia found this article in the Australian version of the International Express , Dec 26 2000 and Jane typed it in. It seems a variation of other articles we have seen before Forever Darcy Colin Firth knows he's synonymous with Austen's brooding hero - but please don't call him heart-throb. By James Rampton When Colin Firth, in Pride and Prejudice, emerged from the lake with his dripping-wet shirt and breeches sculpted on to his body, it sparked such an outbreak of " Darcymania" that politicians were moved to discuss the phenomenon on BBC1's Question Time. Bridget Jones got several chapters' worth of drooling out of it, and salivating websites with such titles as Firth Frenzy! (you're famous Carrie - Jane) sprung up. The drama proved especially popular with the, er, more mature viewer. Even now, some five-and-a-half years after the series was first broadcast on BBC1, if you ask any woman of a certain age about what Firth self-mockingly calls "the D-word", you are liable to induce a Jane Austen-type swooning fit. Imagine what the furore would have been like if, as had originally been intended, Darcy had come out of the lake wearing nothing but a furrowed brow. "That was initially supposed to be a nude scene, " Firth reveals, "but the BBC don't allow pre-watershed nudity, so I had to go into the lake clothed - hence the wet shirt." And hence millions of viewers sighing " be still my beating heart". So is Firth just Darcy by another name? Is the actor a strong but silent type - only with better sideburns and drier clothes? Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but it is my duty to announce that Firth is nothing like the solemn, po-faced hero of Austen's novel. For a start, he appears for our interview in a central London hotel dressed down in a grey t-shirt and tousled hair - far from the immaculately turned out aristocrat of popular legend. To underline the point, Firth tells a self-effacing story about the making of Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch, in which he played Paul, a dishevelled Arsenal fan. "Paul's clothes were all out of date and, I'm ashamed to say, they were mine. The costume designers searched high and low for unfashionable clothes - and the only place they could be found was in my wardrobe". Firth is warm, articulate and - here's the big surprise for Darcyophiles - has a wicked sense of humour. "I'm not just a stiff upper lipped chinless wonder," he says with a laugh. "I've always followed the advice of the jazz musician Miles Davis - "Don't play what you know. Play what you don't know." That could be the watch word of my career. You try not to go over secure ground all the time - you try to go somewhere which makes you nervous, embarrassed and confused." If you don't believe him, just take a quick glance at his post Pride and Prejudice CV. He has played parts as varied as Gwyneth Patrow's unpleasant fiance in Shakespeare in Love, Kristen Scott Thomas's dim witted and cuckolded husband in the English Patient, and Julie Andrew's outrageously camp confidant in Relative Values. There's not a Darcy-alike in the lot of them. Now Firth is once again overturning expectations and demonstrating his versatility by playing a charismatic, if dotty, idealist in the BBC film Donovan Quick. In this touching comic update of the Don Quixote story, Quick's a mysterious figure who decides to launch a one man bus company when a ruthless multi-national firm called Windmill axes the daily service that his disabled friend Sandy (David Brown) needs to get to his day centre. Panicked when Quick's service proves hugely popular, Windmill lay on 16 buses with a 10p flat fare in a cynical attempt to force him out of business. Firth thinks the film will resonate because we all have a touch of the Donovan Quick's about us. "Like most powerful myths, it's universal," he says. "What I find particularly moving is something Donovan will never understand - the way his example inspires others long after he's departed. "And who is poorer? The man who plods through life making a little bit of money for himself and who has never seen anything outside his own environment, or the man who thinks he's on a great mission? There is something glorious about noble failure. I can't imagine anyone not having affection for the figure of Donovan. He's never going to get the girl, he's never going to defeat the dragon, but he's going to keep going anyway. Is there a better way to describe the human condition." For all that, it is inevitable the hero from Pride and Prejudice with which the actor is still most strongly associated. So much so that he has sportingly agreed to play a character called Darcy in the forthcoming film version of the best selling Bridget Jones' Diary. "I was delighted when Bridget first started obsessing about Darcy in her diary," Firth says "for any actor to make an impact like that is fantastic. Still, I did think hard before accepting the part in the film, but in the end my sense of humour kicked in and I felt it was a positive move." Nevertheless, wasn't Firth worried that people might think he was going over old ground. "No, because this Darcy is not the same character at all. He's a 20th century lawyer and has an entirely different style of speaking. " Also, Austen's Darcy would not have stayed for one second in the same room as Bridget Jones. If he thought the Bennet sisters were vulgar, imagine what he would think of a smoking, short-skirted, falling-down-drunk woman like Bridget. He'd be absolutely horrified by her. Throughout the film, I kept a wry eye on the original Darcy and just had fun with the whole thing." The irony is that Firth nearly didn't take the career-defining part in Pride and Prejudice at all. "I said no to it initially". He recalls. "I harboured doubts to begin with because I felt he was just too iconic to be played convincingly. Also, a part of me thought I was wrong for the part, and there was a large lobby among my friends who agreed. One said, 'Please, please, please don't play Darcy. You'll ruin it for me forever.' Another said; 'Darcy? Isnt he supposed to be sexy?'". The producer of Pride and prejudice eventually talked Firth round, and as we know, his Darcy turned out to be impossibly sexy. Even so, the intensity of the reaction to the role took the actor by surprise: "I'd been doing this job for quite a number of years and things had never gone potty like this before. I was delighted, but nervous. What could I say in response to it other than a rather limp 'gosh'? And how could I answer questions such as, what's it like to be heart-throb? "Well I wake up and have a full heart-throb breakfast. Then I walk down the street making hearts throb all over the place." The thing Firth found hardest to deal with was people's expectations that he would be some god-like figure in real life. "Until I played that part, I was never aware of disappointing anyone with my presence. In 35 years, I had never seen anyone's face fall when they met me. If anything, that's the answer to the question 'What's it like to be a heart-throb?' You're a walking disappointment. There is no possibility of living up to a character who has that kind of grandeur." Firth, who has never been out of work in the past 20 years, has no fewer than three films due out in the spring (Bridget Jones' Diary, Londinium and Meeting at Wannsee). In addition, he is happily married to the Italian film maker Livia Giuggioli, a woman who Hornby calls "Joke perfect: PhD, beautiful in that sultry Italian way, funny and vivacious". The actor, who turned 40 this September, is clearly content with his lot. The only thing that bugs him is the attention that comes with his profile. "There is nothing pleasurable about being recognised" he sighs. "I can't see why anybody would hanker after that. Traditionally, the vulgar aspirations of an actor are wealth and fame. Wealth, I can understand. Fame, I am less sure about. "There are times when you go out and you really don't want any attention at all - like if you haven't washed your hair. People's antennae always seem to be out for those in those in the spotlight, but I'm glad to say they don't always know who I am. For instance, I was having a quiet meal in a restaurant when someone came up to our table. I thought, 'Here we go', but what he said was "I'm sorry, but I have to ask you. Aren't you that Owen Teale?" Firth laughs heartily about being mistaken for another actor. "All in all, I can't complain," he concludes with a wry smile. "I'm not mobbed on the streets. Which is just as well because most of my fans are very old ladies." Bridget Jones' Diary is released next year.

has no fewer than three films due out in the spring (Bridget Jones' Diary, Londinium and Meeting at Wannsee). So he thinks Londinium is coming out too? Interesting... All I know is that it is supposed to be at the Comedy Arts Fest in Aspen in Feb. "I'm not mobbed on the streets. Which is just as well because most of my fans are very old ladies." Tut tut tut! How very ungentlemanly to comment on ladies' ages. However, wearing their trainers I wouldn't doubt they could outrun you. ;-) Thanks, Vera, for posting.

Karen, thanks very much indeed for the Hamlet Update. I wonder if the reason he is not doing Hamlet until at least the end of the year is because he has lots and lots of wonderful projects lined up!!! (Oh I wish).

(Karen) was in shock at agent actually picking up phone himself! So, did you tell him how much we ardently admire and love him?;-) Many thanks for the follow-up, Karen. I'm disappointed for us, but relieved, too--way too many Hamlets out there this year. "I'm not mobbed on the streets. Which is just as well because most of my fans are very old ladies." So it would be ok to be mobbed by very young ladies, eh?;-) Note to self: get facelift prior to February 2002.;-) Welcome, Sarah. I'm holding out hope that DQ might someday pop up on HBO, Showtime, Starz, etc., where, as you know, *anything goes.*:-)

Thank you, Vera and Jane! sorry, but should've asked what he was doing in between but was in shock at agent actually picking up phone himself! KAREN!!! Get back on the phone! ;-) So it would be ok to be mobbed by very young ladies, eh?;-) Note to self: get facelift prior to February 2002.;-) LOL! He will find out after BJD comes out. ;-) "I was delighted when Bridget first started obsessing about Darcy in her diary," Firth says "for any actor to make an impact like that is fantastic. Still, I did think hard before accepting the part in the film, but in the end my sense of humour kicked in and I felt it was a positive move." Bloody hell, it was him after all. "I'm sorry, but I have to ask you. Aren't you that Owen Teale?" What does OT look like? Can someone post a picture? Evelyn, I am happy to see you getting through more sub-titled films. May I suggest the complete works of Win Wenders? :-) Karen, please tell us how you know they are speaking with a german accent. This is a fine line to cross because many times they break out of the accent but the director loves the take and keeps it. I hate it when this happens.

Thanks Jane for typing up the interview.!! And vera for posting Am disappointed about Hamlet(*putting away the suitcase*:-(, but agree with Mari. By the end of the year all the reviewers will have forgotten Simon Russell Beale's which is closing at the end of this month,and Adrian Lester's which is coming this summer.. currently playing to rave reviews in Paris. "Kristen Scott Thomas's dim witted and cuckolded husband in the English Patient, ..." Uh,oh...Moon won't like this... "I'm not mobbed on the streets. Which is just as well because most of my fans are very old ladies." (Karen)Tut tut tut! How very ungentlemanly to comment on ladies' ages. However, wearing their trainers I wouldn't doubt they could outrun you. ;-) ROTFLOL. I keep telling you...the guy talks too much. (And don't tell me what he really mean't;-) WELCOME SARAH

Yeah, yeah, yeah....been on the phone most of the morning. The Hamlet date is hardly solid. Boxoffice staff evidently put out an emergency call to their management because of the calls, and were told to say Feb. However, it's not firm. I'll try back much later. About the German accent, I found on this guy's website who was the dialogue coach for Conspiracy. He has US/UK dual citizenship and is fluent in Russian and French, but has "facility with all accents." It specifically says that he coached *KENNETH BRANAGH * STANLEY TUCCI * DAVID THRELFALL * COLIN FIRTH * IAN McNEICE * KEVIN McNALLY If they were doing with a standard British accent, then only Stanley Tucci would require coaching. All = German At least that's how I would interpret it. http://www.callnetuk.com/home/congee/coachcv.html

Moon- What does OT look like? Can someone post a picture? After much scouring of various sites (eventually found this at BBC Cymru) here he is - can't say I see a likeness!

*Another* one!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From the London Theatre Newsletter: The Royal Shakespeare Company has announced its Summer Festival 2001 productions , in Stratford-upon-Avon. Many of these production are expected to transfer to the Barbican, London, in the Winter. "HAMLET" By William Shakespeare Directed by Steven Pimlott Starring SAMUEL WEST as 'Hamlet' Designed by Alison Chitty Lighting by Peter Mumford Music by Jason Carr Sound by Matt McKenzie Fights by Malcolm Ranson Previews from 31 March 2001 Opens: 2 May 2001 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~` We're getting a Hamlet- plague here. ODB better get his reservation in early....

Thanks, Tracy. Yuk, it must have been the outfit. Colin does go out like that (sadly). "Kristen Scott Thomas's dim witted and cuckolded husband in the English Patient, ..." (Evelyn), Uh,oh...Moon won't like this... I thought RF and KST were the dim witted ones. ;-) Geoffrey is untouchable.

Just a thought, but with the Screen Actors Guild planning a strike, it is a smart move to get a play booked now. Too many Hamlets is not a good thing. :-(

There were three Hamlets in 2000...Simon Russell Beale, Mark Rylance at The Globe, and Adrian Lester in Paris. 99 percent of the population wouldn't be aware of this, or even interested. The RSC is doing Shakespeare all the time, obviously. Samuel West did Richard II the same time as Ralph Fiennes. But RF got all the publicity. It's a case of the more the merrier with Shakespeare...critics like comparisons. There'll be a lot ot interest in CF's interpretation...and a lot of press coverage. It's good if he takes his time... he needs the support of a strong ensemble cast

Just a little sumthin: