Creator Russell T Davies commissioned the show’s costume designer, Shawna Trpcic (a veteran of ‘Dollhouse,’ ‘Firefly’ and ‘Angel’) to make a new version of Jack’s iconic coat. We’ve exclusively got the first photo of Jack in the new season of ‘Torchwood,’ wearing his new and improved greatcoat.

Part of the reason Trpcic redesigned the coat and had it custom-made made by Italian tailors before production on the new season got underway: Los Angeles, where much ‘Torchwood: Miracle Day’ was shot earlier this year, is much warmer than Wales, which is where previous seasons of the show were filmed. The heavier versions of the greatcoat that actor John Barrowman wore in other seasons were just too much, in a variety of ways.

“The coat from England was actually made out of a cotton, rather than a wool. And it also fit him quite broadly off the shoulder, and I just wanted to modernize it, give it a more modern fit, but leave the drape and keep it cape-like,” Trpcic said in an interview on the show’s set in February.

“I brought in the shoulders about two inches, so they’d be actually on his shoulders, and I brought in the waist almost 24 inches. He’s lost weight, but the other coat was quite billowy and I’m sure that was to cover layers of warmth, because it was a lot colder in Wales. I got a cashmere-blend wool, and it’s a very, very fine [material], so he would be OK in the heat and the L.A. sunshine.”

The cashmere blend not only breathes well, it gives the coat the kind of movement and swagger that Jack brings with him on every adventure. There were other fashion challenges as well, Trpcic said: She said she enjoyed “redefining [Jack's fellow 'Torchwood' alien-fighter] Gwen and making her just a little bit sexier and playing with her femininity a little bit.” Lauren Ambrose, who plays a P.R. executive named Jilly, was fun to dress “because she’s high-fashion.”

Still, Jack’s military-inspired greatcoat is an iconic piece of sci-fi couture. Was Trpcic nervous at all about revamping Captain Jack’s famous jacket? “Well, I worked on ‘Firefly,’ so I’m kind of used to iconic captain’s coats and the importance of staying loyal to what the fans expect and to what we need,” she said.

Russell T Davies has spoken to SFX Magazine recently to promote the new series of Torchwood: Miracle Day and made a point of emphasising the fact that it is not a reboot or relaunch of the franchise, as some have said, but the same Torchwood, just this time primarily set in America. The former Doctor Who showrunner also told the magazine about the theme of the undead in ‘Miracle Day’, due to the main story of the the series of people gaining what is essentially immortality, much like Captain Jack.

“People are wondering, ‘Is it a reboot or a relaunch?’” he explains. “No: it’s literally the same show, but transplants itself to America. It’s absolutely based on the story, so we haven’t had to relaunch  it, to say ‘Who is Gwen?’, and we haven’t had to say ‘How does Rex fit into this?’ because he’s a CIA agent – they only operate abroad. I did wonder about that – is it gonna look strange when the rushes come in, is it gonna be this weird combination? But it’s written to clash. I mean, Rex is the most swaggering, confident, brilliant American, and Gwen is not a shrinking violet. Put those two together and it’s just combustible! These people don’t naturally fit together, but the story makes it absolutely inevitable that they have to be together. So I think we’ve got it right.”

He also reveals that the big theme – suddenly everybody on Earth stops dying – doesn’t just mean people stop dying of old age: it means – people cannot die.
“In episode one there’s a soldier who’s blown up,” says Davies. “The body is in bits, stretched out across three tables, and he’s still alive! And it’s revolting and disgusting, and at the same time, it’s kinda great – you’ve got all the thrill of a zombie movie, but they’re not dead, y’know? The blessing of being a zombie is that you’re kinda brainless and you just wanna eat brains. These people are still alive and you cannot kill them.”

Which raises an obvious question: if you wanted to get rid of someone, what would you have to do? Annihilate every atom of their body?
“Exactly,” Davies says, “and those decisions are where the whole drama’s heading. By episode five they start to categorise what life is, and once human beings are in charge of what life and death is, that’s open to corruption and to some terrible things happening…”

Billie Piper and Ruth Wilson are newly attached to £3m budgeted comedy-romance Truth About Lies. The Camden-set film, backed through private equity, is to be directed by Robin Sheppard (Kingdom) and scripted by Julian Rivett. MPH is aiming for an October shoot.

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It’s all the rage in Hollywood to splash smelling salts on old ’80s spookfests and hope audiences will show up for the ride. Fright Night, though, is one horror revival it’s okay to get excited about. Not only was the original a comedy-horror favourite that should make a refreshingly leftfield addition to the current glut of po-faced vamp flicks, but it has the cast to jump up and down about.

Exhibit one is Colin Farrell as vamp-next-door Jerry Dandridge, a role Chris Sarandon made hay with in Tom Holland’s 1985 original. Exhibit two is Michael Sheen from Underworld David Tennant. As Peter Vincent, he’s the man who stands between Dandridge and a bloodbath of epic proportions, all while grappling with some demons of his own.

“He’s struggling with several demands, some of which are supernatural and some of which are man-made,” Tennant tells Empire, promising a radical departure from the original Vincent. “Roddy McDowall created quite the masterful character and I suppose my Peter Vincent kind of fills the same hole in the film, but everything about him is fairly radically different.”

 Full Article.

What attracted you to United?
I’ve worked with James Strong (director) and Chris Chibnall (writer) several times before and James sent me the script. I knew it would be worth reading because it came from him. I’m not a football expert but I was completely bowled over by the incredible story and journey that Manchester United went on. I thought that if it had grabbed and moved me as much as that, then clearly the story must be universal, worth telling and something I wanted to be part of.

What is United about?
The film is about all sorts of things because what happened is so extraordinary. On a very basic level it’s a true story but it also looks at the arbitrary nature of fate, the capriciousness of life and the triumph of the human spirit. The film deals with how we pull ourselves together after tragedy, because people cope with grief in so many different ways. We’re telling an utterly compelling and dramatic story as it happened. As I started to research this, I realised there’s a fair amount of quibbling over detail but the basic facts of the story are indisputable.

The film also follows the relationship between Jimmy and Bobby Charlton. You see him finding Bobby, nurturing and bringing him through. It was a hugely important relationship for both of them. Bobby Charlton said he learnt everything from Jimmy Murphy and credits his career to him.

We try to tell the story and honour it, because it’s a story that should be told. It’s extraordinary that this hasn’t been dramatised before. There’s never been a straightforward film or TV drama about this extraordinary dramatic story and it’s long overdue.

How did you prepare for the role of Jimmy Murphy?
I’d never heard of Jimmy Murphy, which is shocking considering what he did. That’s part of what I like about the fact we’re telling this story. Matt Busby said that Jimmy was the most important signing he ever made at Manchester United but I didn’t realise what Jimmy did after the crash. When you’re playing a real person there’s a balance between playing the person in the script and playing the person as he was in life. You have to be respectful and true to who that person was, but at the same time tell the story in the film. I tried to find out who Jimmy was and about the facts of his life but inevitably I can only filter that through who I am. Physically I’m not particularly like Jimmy; I’m a bit taller and slightly younger than he was at that time. Quite early on I had to accept what couldn’t be changed and then move towards what could be achieved.

What was it like meeting Jimmy’s family?
Jimmy’s family were incredibly welcoming and helpful. From meeting them, I got a sense of this very driven, warm and humble man who was terribly dignified in the way he conducted himself. He was clearly a brilliant teacher and football was a life vocation for him. I think the two loves in his life were Manchester United and his family and he was hugely passionate and invested in them both. His family spoke with great warmth towards him and took huge pride in talking about what Jimmy did and achieved.

What are your impressions of Jimmy?
Jimmy shunned the limelight and was happier on the football pitch. He enjoyed training young people and finding the football stars of the future and was incredibly gifted at nurturing them. I think Jimmy found himself in a situation that he didn’t crave; being manager and solely responsible for keeping the team going. He must have felt like he wanted to grieve but to fight the very human impulse to chuck it all in is hugely impressive. He met the challenge and not only did he keep the team going, but he made them extraordinarily successful against all the odds. Post the crash he got offered the most extraordinary jobs in world football, for huge sums of money, but chose not to take them. Instead, he stayed as the Assistant Manager until he retired.

What research did you do for the film?
I knew about the Munich air crash, because it’s a huge part of history, but I didn’t know the details so I started reading about it. We managed to get hold of lots of newsreel footage, which was compelling because it revealed the national feeling at the time. One of the hardest things to recapture is the sense of what it was like to live through that event. Inevitably you start finding the modern day equivalent; those moments when a news report comes through and the world feels different. It’s inconceivable that a bunch of the nation’s greatest, youngest, most dynamic and most celebrated sportsmen should all be wiped out in an instant on the brink of their potential being realised. It’s one of those events that doesn’t seem to have precedent; it seems totally unfair, random and ghastly.

How do you think Manchester United changed after the tragedy?
It’s difficult to know because I wasn’t around so all I can go on is written accounts of the time. I get the sense that what happened in Munich in 1958, how the team coped with it and how they came back from the brink, was possibly the beginning of Manchester United as the kind of world football team they are today. The way they conducted themselves and struggled back with such dignity and fight, has inspired an international love for the team and that is due in no small part to what Jimmy did.

Was it useful watching Tottenham Hotspur in training and meeting Harry Redknapp?
The way football is run now is completely different to how it was in 1958; they train very differently and the structure is different. I had to be careful not to take too much from the modern experience and assume it was like that back then. But the principles are still the same; getting out on the pitch and training, practising and working hard, and having a level of commitment are things which will always be true.

It was fantastic to see behind the scenes at Tottenham Hotspur but the resources they can employ are far beyond what Manchester United had back then. Manchester United weren’t a particularly wealthy club, which seems absurd as they’re a multi-million pound international business these days. Harry Redknapp saw the final game that the “Busby Babes” played in the UK. It was their penultimate game ever which was against Arsenal. It was interesting to talk to him and feel that link through history. He talked about being utterly inspired by this extraordinary young team that was unlike anything that had been seen before.

How did you find the filming process?
I’ve been very inspired by it and I just hope we do the story justice. Filming was very tight because we were making a drama with feature film ambition on a television budget. The ambition of the piece was met by everyone involved and it looks stunning. Ed Thomas (Production Designer) is such a talented man. Every time you walked onto a set, whether a real location that had been transformed or something that had been built, it just immaculately recreated the world of the Fifties. It was also lit and shot very beautifully by Chris Ross and James Strong’s love and attention to detail for the subject is evident in every scene.

It feels very thrilling to be part of; there is a spark and something very special between all the guys who are playing the footballers. You get a real sense of the joy in them as a bunch of young actors who are all full of talent and bursting with potential. That is very easy to compare with a football team in the same place, with the world ahead of them. Of course it’s also terribly shocking when you relate that to what happened in ’58.

How did the adverse weather conditions affect filming?
It was a bit tricky because we only had four weeks to shoot, which didn’t give a lot of wiggle room in the shooting schedule for the unseasonable downfall of snow in Newcastle last December. There were lots of people with shovels everywhere; shovelling snow wherever we went. It’s a bit tricky when you’re making a film about football which, inevitably, has to be shot outside now and again. There were a few scenes that had to hang over so we could find a patch of grass to shoot them on.

What was it like working with Dougray Scott?
Dougray got to do his own accent, so he had the advantage there! When he first turned up he did this voice which was exactly Matt Busby, it just came growling out of him. When you hear some of the footage from Matt Busby, you can tell he had a very distinctive and extraordinary timbre and Dougray got it down to a tee. I think he’s a fantastic choice for the role and he’s a huge football aficionado; he knows everything so was a great resource for any football trivia that needed clearing up.

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For those of you that don’t know Elizabeth Sladen was a Doctor Who companion. One of the most, if not the most popular companions in fact. She first starred in the show alongside John Pertwee then Tom Baker and many many years later, when the show was revived Liz returned. Her return to the show had such an impact on people old and young that that gave her, her own show. The Sarah Jane Adventures, which was a SMASH HIT show her e in the UK.

However earlier this week the 63 year old sadly passed away due to cancer, and i would just like to say she will be greatly missed by people of all generations… what a legend.

R.I.P ELIZABETH SLADEN.

Team-Tardis, and on behalf of everyone viewing the site would like to wish Freema a happy belated birthday for the 20th. And the huge sorry for it being so late

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FREEMA <3

xoxx

Freema Agyeman has denied reports she’s engaged.

The Law & Order: UK actress, who is also known for playing Martha in Doctor Who, said she thought it was “hilarious” people thought she and her boyfriend were engaged.

“Oh my God, no!” said the 31-year-old. “I’m going to look at that, that’s so funny, my boyfriend’s going to panic!”

But she wouldn’t rule out marriage completely.

She said: “I’m in a really great relationship for the first time ever, but I’ve never been a massive marriage fan.

“But of late, I’m really happy, so you start entertaining the idea. Maybe it would be quite nice… but it’s definitely not happening any time soon.”

The actress added that she would love to have children but that her job meant she had to think about it carefully.

“I would be happy to do that tomorrow, but in this business timing is everything, because you have to take a year out. It’s quite tricky, but I’m going to be 32 and I’ve always wanted children.

“My niece is a year old and I’m absolutely obsessed with her, so I want children more than ever. The reality, however, is I’m midway through a shoot. You wonder when it’s all going to fit in, but these things happen when it’s the right time,” she said.

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Her character Amy Pond has been deemed The Doctor’s sexiest ever companion, but Gillan hasn’t always been seen as a sex symbol.

The 5ft 11in actress says she couldn’t wait to leave her hometown of Inverness after being bullied for her height and hair colour.

Karen explained: ‘I remember walking down the corridor and someone going, “Eurgh, you’re tall, lanky and ginger!” I’d been itching to get out for years.’

But Karen didn’t let the taunts get to her, adding: ‘I’d never had a problem with being tall, and in terms of having red hair I always had a belief it would benefit me in the long run.’

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