Jonny Lee Miller Makes a Splash on Both Sides of the Pond

When you're hot, you're everywhere. This Sunday Jonny Lee Miller will appear in the last episode of Emma 2009 on BBC One. Viewers are warming up to his Mr. Knightley, and deservedly so. US fans will have to wait to see this visually lovely series for a few months more.

On the same day, across the pond in the US, Jonny will make an appearance in PBS's Masterpiece Contemporary in Endgame, a political thriller about negotiations that led to the end of apartheid in South Africa. Jonny plays a British businessman and negotiator, Michael Young.

Jonny also recently received fairly decent reviews from NY critics for his first appearance on Broadway in After Miss Julie. View a slide show and listen to Jonny in this New York Times podcast.

It seems that 2009 might well be his year. Read an interview with Jonny about beating his shyness to become an actor in Arts and Entertainment.

You Can Still See "Filth" Over PBS Masterpiece Contemporary: Alistair Cooke Special Up Next

Filth is still available for viewing through this Sunday on PBS's site at this link. If you've missed the film, starring Julie Walters, it is certainly worth watching.

This Sunday PBS Masterpiece Contemporary will show The Unseen Alistair Cooke, former Masterpiece Theatre host. The Unseen Alistair Cooke: A Masterpiece Special chronicles Cooke's decades in America, friendships with Hollywood icons, celebrated journalism career and years as host of Masterpiece Theatre. In addition, you can sign up for a free copy of Reporting America by Alistair Cooke. Click here to find out how.

Masterpiece Contemporary Presents ‘Filth’ This Sunday!

Julie Walters (Becoming Jane, Harry Potter) stars as Mary Whitehouse in Filth, a new biopic airing on Masterpiece Contemporary this Sunday on PBS. Mary is a suburban housewife who only has one thing on her mind – filth – and the fact that there is far too much of it on television to suit her standards. In this new movie based on actual events circa England’s sexually progressive 1960’s, Mary is shocked by a BBC program about premarital sex broadcast at teatime and proceeds to do something about it in a big way by doing battle with the progressive and free thinking head of the BBC, Sir Hugh Greene, played by Hugh Bonneville (Miss Austen Regrets, Mansfield Park). Here is the program description from PBS.

It's the Swinging Sixties, and suburban British housewife and art teacher Mary Whitehouse (Julie Walters Mamma Mia!) is an unlikely activist. But when she witnesses lewd content on television during teatime, it is Whitehouse's indignation that boils over. A single letter to the BBC soon turns into a burgeoning grassroots campaign, largely directed at BBC Director-General Hugh Carleton Greene (Hugh Bonneville, Miss Austen Regrets), the man Mary believes is largely responsible for indecency on television. A war of words and ideals ensues — one that still reverberates today. Based on a true story, Filth is a timely, sympathetic, provocative and entertaining look at the intersection of artistic expression and decency.

I had the opportunity to view this film and enjoyed it. Even though they tried to lighten it up with a bouncy and comedic music score, it is a subject that touches upon the uncomfortable topics of our personal freedoms of speech, artistic expression and choice of decency and who should decide what is appropriate for public television. We see both sides of the debate from conservative Mary Whitehouse and liberal Sir Hugh Greene which makes for an interesting story.

Julie Walters and Hugh Bonneville are superb as adversaries determined to apply their viewpoint on the British nation. Observant viewers might also catch another actor in the cast with Austen connections who previously portrayed one of Jane Austen’s most ‘oathful’ characters in the movie adaptation of Northanger Abbey which aired on Masterpiece Classic last January. Interestingly, Mary Whitehouse would have objected to him also even though Jane Austen’s work is considered the height of decorum by many!

Filth airs on Masterpiece Contemporary on Sunday, November 16 at 9pm on PBS. It is a thought provoking and controversial movie, amazingly peppered with more than a few laughs.

Read a plot synopsis of Filth

Cast and Credits

Find out more about Mary Whitehouse, her war with the BBC and her legacy.

Visit Filth on the Masterpiece Contemporary website

Jane Austen Character Actors Featured in 'God on Trial'

On Sunday November 9, PBS will air God on Trial, a film so powerful that it will transform you. This film is about a group of prisoners in Auschwitz who discuss their faith on what is to be the last day for half the men in the cell block. The actors' names are familiar, though you might not recognize them with their shaved heads and in their prison garb. Continuing the Six Degrees of Austen Adaptation Separation series that we began last spring, although in a more somber vein, here are some familiar actors who portrayed characters in God on Trial and who are also tied in some way to a Jane Austen film adaptation.

Dominic Cooper as Moche

We've watched him in Mama Mia and as Willoughby in 2007's Sense and Sensibility, so we know he can play the dashing hero and cocky anti-hero. But in this part, Dominic plays an unlikeable man, one whose swagger grates on the nerves of his fellow prisoners. This is the first time where this viewer was utterly mesmerized by Dominic's performance. He plays an obnoxious character quite convincingly, and his transformation at the end of the film is both powerful and unforgettable. Would any one of us have behaved otherwise in a similar situation? Perhaps not. Here's what Dominic had to say about his character: "Moche can't comprehend the situation they find themselves in or the fact that they're trying to justify God's existence within the group. He's very hot-headed and speaks on behalf of the everyman."

Blake Ritson as Idek

As Idek, Blake plays a learned scholar who was Rabbi Schmidt's best pupil ever. His performance is quiet, assured and sensitive, and one's eyes are riveted on this striking man as he is shorn of his hair and earthly possessions. Blake's dark and beautiful eyes are haunting in this memorable role. Who would have thought that the actor who played Edmund Bertram so capably in 2007's Mansfield Park would be so utterly convincing as a 1940's rabinical scholar? Blake's assessment of Idek is stark: "As one of the youngest and most idealistic characters, I think he's unusual in that, certainly at first, he represents a hope and genuine belief that somehow all will be well. Throughout the course of the day, however, as his whole identity is assaulted by losing his clothes, his possessions and his hair, he completely crumbles under the strain. Through him we trace the idealist's descent into absolute despair."

Rupert Graves as Mordechai

Rupert has shared the screen with a number of actors who portrayed characters in Jane Austen adaptations, including Amanda Root(Anne Elliot), Alison Steadman (Mrs. Bennet), Robert Hardy, (Sir John Middleton), Samantha Morton (Harriet Smith, at right with Rupert in 1999's Dreaming of Joseph Lees) andJudi Dench (Lady Catherine de Bourgh) to name a few. In God on Trial Rupert portrays Mordechai, one of the three inquisitors of the court who sit in judgment of God. As Rupert said of his role, "I imagine he had a job before the Holocaust in something like public planning – I think he's very civic minded, a very reasonable man. But I'd say that, unsurprisingly, he's fairly depressed at the moment."

The rest of the cast of this television special is sterling. With the stark setting of Auschwitz as a backdrop, their debate is an intense portrayal of how we struggle to make sense of the world and keep the human spirit alive, even when faced with the worst suffering and impending death. God On Trial is set in an extreme situation, but it wrestles with the great questions we all ask ourselves.

This soul-searing movie is based on true events, and while it not entertaining in a traditional commercial sense, it should not be missed by the serious thinking viewer. Please click here to read my review of the film on my popular culture blog.

• Click here to enter PBS.org. In addition, please be aware that the video will be available for view on the site for one full week after airing.
  

Posted by Vic, Jane Austen's World

Seen on the Blogosphere

Lost in Austen goes Canadian. Our lucky northern neighbors will get to view Lost in Austen on Viva, a new channel aimed at women aged 40-64. Younger women will like the series too. Let's hope it is shown in the U.S. soon. Meanwhile, peruse our archived LiA posts here. Enjoy.

PBS's Masterpiece Contemporary will be showing the 3rd installment of The Last Enemy this Sunday at nine p.m. I've viewed all five shows with a friend, and we both agree that the story picks up considerably in this episode. We finally start to care for the major characters, which is especially important with such a cerebral plot. View the episodes you missed at this site! Reviews of the series sit in our sidebar.

I cannot resist sharing this site: Children's Books Online. Most come illustrated, and some come with audio as well. The books are categorized from Pre-reader to Adult. The Rosetta Project is an all volunteer organization. Check them out!

Posted by Vic, Ms. Place, Jane Austen's World

Image: Lost in Austen - the Bennet Sisters, Jane, Mary, Kitty, and Lydia.