Latest news with #CTV.ca
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ann Kaplan Mulholland, ex-Toronto Real Housewife, brings cameras to England to buy, restore a castle
A core personality on the 2017 show The Real Housewives of Toronto, Dr. Ann Kaplan Mulholland brought a camera crew with her after purchasing a castle in England. In the new reality show Queen of the Castle (Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. ET on on CTV Life, and the CTV app, and streaming next day on Crave), Kaplan Mulholland takes home renovation to another, more regal, level. Interestingly, the original plan for Kaplan Mulholland and her husband, Dr. Stephen Mulholland, was never to purchase a castle, but rather, they were trying to purchase a flat in London. But when Kaplan Mulholland found that the cheapest contender was £8.4 million (now about $15.4 million), she thought to check how much a castle would cost. That led the purchase of a £5.5 million Lympne Castle (now just over $10 million), with a new plan to renovate and restore the historic property in the small community. In terms of going back in front of the camera, Kaplan Mulhollan was actually set to star in a different reality show before this castle opportunity came up. "I was asked to do a TV show about entrepreneurship for women, and ... I said I'd rather do a show on entrepreneurship, because I just feel like it doesn't matter if you're male or female, ... it's the same lessons," Kaplan Mulholland told Yahoo Canada. "I think after years of being in finance and in a man's world, I just felt that I had to rise above that." "I phoned up one of the producers and said, 'We're looking at this castle.' The offer was in. But the survey wasn't completed. And I said, 'I think it'd be interesting to do a show on a renovation of a castle.' ... And the show got picked up." Right from the beginning of the series there are questions about how Kaplan Mulholland will integrate with the existing, close-knit British community. But despite some initial resistance, Kaplan Mulholland stressed that she's very much part of this town now. "These families have lived there forever. There's a few last names in this whole county," Kaplan Mulholland said. "The house on the corner is actually called the corner house." "I didn't think about it, because we bought the castle without thinking about the community. And then when I joined the church I got to know some people, and didn't realize the impact we had on the community. ... They've opened their arms to me, almost everyone has. ... The castle is a happy place. So the community comes in. We sit and play Scrabble. I go to their houses for dinner. I'm invited home for tea. ... I walk down the street and we give each other hugs. In church, we stop and hug each other. It's really quite lovely. And they're not talking to me about the castle or TV or anything, [it's] how's the kids and things like that. It's really nice, the way a community should be." But that does't mean that Lympne Castle is void of Kaplan Mulholland's flair, including her desire to put olive trees on the property, which we see in the first episode. "I had searched to make sure that the olive trees were good for that soil and for that area, and that they would survive," Kaplan Mulholland said. "It was a process, but we did not want to harm the trees." "And prior to that, just [trying to] find five olive trees the same size and height. And these are old, mature olive trees. So it was quite a process." Additionally, Kaplan Mulholland certainly brought her fun energy to the show. Kicking off the development of the bistro on the property, The Naughty Dog, with a sausage eating contest, which also created some surprises for the crew. "The camera crew did not know that they were going to eat out of bowls, and the people that were in the competition did not know they were going to do that, so we brought out the chopped up sausages ... and we had one bowl of mustard and one of ketchup, and then they did not know that I was going to ask them to put their hands behind the back," Kaplan Mulholland explained. "So it was quite funny ... and the camera crew had to film it without knowing, without laughing, and just run with it." For fans of The Real Housewives of Toronto, or home renovation show lovers, Kaplan Mulholland's series Queen of the Castle, puts her unique spin on both reality TV formats.
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
How to watch the Oscars 2025 in Canada: Streaming, TV channels, red carpet start time, nominations, performances and more
We're just a couple days away from night movie fans are all waiting for, the 2025 Oscars. For the 97th annual Academy Awards, Emilia Pérez is going into the event with the most nominations, 13, followed by The Brutalist and Wicked with 10 nominations each. Rounding out coveted Best Picture category are films Conclave, Anora, A Complete Unknown, Dune: Part Two, Nickel Boys and The Substance. But we're also going into this awards show with significant controversies. Emilia Pérez has faced heat after Islamophobic and racist tweets from the film's star, Karla Sofía Gascón, resurfaced. Additionally, The Brutalist filmmaker Brady Corbet has faced questions about the use of AI to help make the film's actors sound more authentic in Hungarian. For everything you need to know heading into the 2025 Oscars, we have you covered. The Oscars will take place on Sunday, March 2, beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET/4:00 p.m. PT. For Canadians, "ETalk Live at the Oscars" will begin at 6:00 p.m. ET/3:00 p.m. PT, streaming exclusively on the CTV app, and ETalk's YouTube channel. At 4:00 p.m. ET/1:00 p.m. PT, "Live From E!: The Oscars," hosted by Access Hollywood's Zuri Hall will begin, and ABC will cover the red carpet at 3:30 p.m. ET/12:30 p.m. PT, streaming live on the On the Red Carpet Facebook and its YouTube page. In Canada, the 2025 will air live on the CTV TV channel, while the show is on ABC in the U.S. Canadians can watch the show online through and the CTV app. In the U.S., the show is available to stream on Hulu. Watch 2025 Oscars on CTV Conan O'Brien will host the 2025 Oscars. This will be the first time the former late-night host is taking on the role. Celebrities that will present awards at the 2025 Oscars include: Joe Alwyn Halle Berry Sterling K. Brown Penélope Cruz Willem Dafoe Ana de Armas Lily-Rose Depp Robert Downey Jr. Elle Fanning Whoopi Goldberg Selena Gomez Goldie Hawn Scarlett Johansson John Lithgow Cillian Murphy Connie Nielsen Amy Poehler Da'Vine Joy Randolph June Squibb Ben Stiller Emma Stone Oprah Winfrey Bowen Yang Dave Bautista Gal Gadot Andrew Garfield Margaret Qualley Alba Rohrwacher Rachel Zegler Harrison Ford Zoe Saldaña Samuel L. Jackson For a musical break from presentation of awards, we'll get performances from Doja Cat, Cynthia Erivo ,Ariana Grande, Lisa of Blackpink, Raye, The Los Angeles Master Chorale, and Queen Latifah with a Quincy Jones tribute. Anora (Alex Coco, Samantha Quan and Sean Baker, Producers)The Brutalist (Nick Gordon, Brian Young, Andrew Morrison, D.J. Gugenheim and Brady Corbet, Producers)A Complete Unknown (Fred Berger, James Mangold and Alex Heineman, Producers)Conclave (Tessa Ross, Juliette Howell and Michael A. Jackman, Producers)Dune: Part Two (Mary Parent, Cale Boyter, Tanya Lapointe and Denis Villeneuve, Producers)Emilia Pérez (Pascal Caucheteux and Jacques Audiard, Producers)I'm Still Here (Maria Carlota Bruno and Rodrigo Teixeira, Producers)Nickel Boys (Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Joslyn Barnes, Producers)The Substance (Coralie Fargeat, Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner, Producers)Wicked (Marc Platt, Producer) Jacques Audiard, Emilia PérezSean Baker, AnoraBrady Corbet, The BrutalistCoralie Fargeat, The SubstanceJames Mangold, A Complete Unknown Adrien Brody, The BrutalistTimothée Chalamet, A Complete UnknownColman Domingo, Sing SingRalph Fiennes, ConclaveSebastian Stan, The Apprentice Cynthia Erivo, WickedKarla Sofía Gascón, Emilia PérezMikey Madison, AnoraDemi Moore, The SubstanceFernanda Torres, I'm Still Here Yura Borisov, AnoraKieran Culkin, A Real PainEdward Norton, A Complete UnknownGuy Pearce, The BrutalistJeremy Strong, The Apprentice Monica Barbaro, A Complete UnknownAriana Grande, WickedFelicity Jones, The BrutalistIsabella Rossellini, ConclaveZoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez A Complete Unknown (Screenplay by James Mangold and Jay Cocks)Conclave (Screenplay by Peter Straughan)Emilia Pérez (Screenplay by Jacques Audiard; In collaboration with Thomas Bidegain, Léa Mysius and Nicolas Livecchi)Nickel Boys (Screenplay by RaMell Ross & Joslyn Barnes)Sing Sing (Screenplay by Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar; Story by Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Clarence Maclin, John 'Divine G' Whitfield) Anora (Written by Sean Baker)The Brutalist (Written by Brady Corbet, Mona Fastvold)A Real Pain (Written by Jesse Eisenberg)September 5 (Written by Moritz Binder, Tim Fehlbaum; Co-Written by Alex David)The Substance (Written by Coralie Fargeat) Flow (Gints Zilbalodis, Matīss Kaža, Ron Dyens and Gregory Zalcman)Inside Out 2 (Kelsey Mann and Mark Nielsen)Memoir of a Snail (Adam Elliot and Liz Kearney)Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (Nick Park, Merlin Crossingham and Richard Beek)The Wild Robot (Chris Sanders and Jeff Hermann) Beautiful Men (Nicolas Keppens and Brecht Van Elslande)In the Shadow of the Cypress (Shirin Sohani and Hossein Molayemi)Magic Candies (Daisuke Nishio and Takashi Washio)Wander to Wonder (Nina Gantz and Stienette Bosklopper)Yuck! (Loïc Espuche and Juliette Marquet) The Brutalist (Lol Crawley)Dune: Part Two (Greig Fraser)Emilia Pérez (Paul Guilhaume)Maria (Ed Lachman)Nosferatu (Jarin Blaschke) A Complete Unknown (Arianne Phillips)Conclave (Lisy Christl)Gladiator II (Janty Yates and Dave Crossman)Nosferatu (Linda Muir)Wicked (Paul Tazewell) Anora (Sean Baker)The Brutalist (David Jancso)Conclave (Nick Emerson)Emilia Pérez (Juliette Welfling)Wicked (Myron Kerstein) A Different Man (Mike Marino, David Presto and Crystal Jurado)Emilia Pérez (Julia Floch Carbonel, Emmanuel Janvier and Jean-Christophe Spadaccini)Nosferatu (David White, Traci Loader and Suzanne Stokes-Munton)The Substance (Pierre-Olivier Persin, Stéphanie Guillon and Marilyne Scarselli)Wicked (Frances Hannon, Laura Blount and Sarah Nuth) A Lien (Sam Cutler-Kreutz and David Cutler-Kreutz)Anuja (Adam J. Graves and Suchitra Mattai)I'm Not a Robot (Victoria Warmerdam and Trent)The Last Ranger (Cindy Lee and Darwin Shaw)The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent (Nebojša Slijepčević and Danijel Pek) The Brutalist (Daniel Blumberg)Conclave (Volker Bertelmann)Emilia Pérez (Clément Ducol and Camille)Wicked (John Powell and Stephen Schwartz)The Wild Robot (Kris Bowers) 'El Mal' from Emilia Pérez (Music by Clément Ducol and Camille; Lyric by Clément Ducol, Camille and Jacques Audiard)'The Journey' from The Six Triple Eight (Music and Lyric by Diane Warren)'Like a Bird' from Sing Sing (Music and Lyric by Abraham Alexander and Adrian Quesada)'Mi Camino' from Emilia Pérez (Music and Lyric by Camille and Clément Ducol)'Never Too Late' from Elton John: Never Too Late (Music and Lyric by Elton John, Brandi Carlile, Andrew Watt and Bernie Taupin) Black Box Diaries (Shiori Ito, Eric Nyari and Hanna Aqvilin)No Other Land (Basel Adra, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal and Yuval Abraham)Porcelain War (Brendan Bellomo, Slava Leontyev, Aniela Sidorska and Paula DuPre' Pesmen)Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat (Johan Grimonprez, Daan Milius and Rémi Grellety)Sugarcane (Julian Brave NoiseCat, Emily Kassie and Kellen Quinn) Death by Numbers (Kim A. Snyder and Janique L. Robillard)I Am Ready, Warden (Smriti Mundhra and Maya Gnyp)Incident (Bill Morrison and Jamie Kalven)Instruments of a Beating Heart (Ema Ryan Yamazaki and Eric Nyari)The Only Girl in the Orchestra (Molly O'Brien and Lisa Remington) I'm Still Here (Brazil)The Girl With the Needle (Denmark)Emilia Pérez (France)The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Germany)Flow (Latvia) The Brutalist (Production Design: Judy Becker; Set Decoration: Patricia Cuccia)Conclave (Production Design: Suzie Davies; Set Decoration: Cynthia Sleiter)Dune: Part Two (Production Design: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Shane Vieau)Nosferatu (Production Design: Craig Lathrop; Set Decoration: Beatrice Brentnerová)Wicked (Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales) A Complete Unknown (Tod A. Maitland, Donald Sylvester, Ted Caplan, Paul Massey and David Giammarco)Dune: Part Two (Gareth John, Richard King, Ron Bartlett and Doug Hemphill)Emilia Pérez (Erwan Kerzanet, Aymeric Devoldère, Maxence Dussère, Cyril Holtz and Niels Barletta)Wicked (Simon Hayes, Nancy Nugent Title, Jack Dolman, Andy Nelson and John Marquis)The Wild Robot (Randy Thom, Brian Chumney, Gary A. Rizzo and Leff Lefferts) Alien: Romulus (Eric Barba, Nelson Sepulveda-Fauser, Daniel Macarin and Shane Mahan)Better Man (Luke Millar, David Clayton, Keith Herft and Peter Stubbs)Dune: Part Two (Paul Lambert, Stephen James, Rhys Salcombe and Gerd Nefzer)Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (Erik Winquist, Stephen Unterfranz, Paul Story and Rodney Burke)Wicked (Pablo Helman, Jonathan Fawkner, David Shirk and Paul Corbould)
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
How to watch the Oscars 2025 in Canada: Streaming, TV channels, red carpet start time, nominations, performances and more
We're just a couple days away from night movie fans are all waiting for, the 2025 Oscars. For the 97th annual Academy Awards, Emilia Pérez is going into the event with the most nominations, 13, followed by The Brutalist and Wicked with 10 nominations each. Rounding out coveted Best Picture category are films Conclave, Anora, A Complete Unknown, Dune: Part Two, Nickel Boys and The Substance. But we're also going into this awards show with significant controversies. Emilia Pérez has faced heat after Islamophobic and racist tweets from the film's star, Karla Sofía Gascón, resurfaced. Additionally, The Brutalist filmmaker Brady Corbet has faced questions about the use of AI to help make the film's actors sound more authentic in Hungarian. For everything you need to know heading into the 2025 Oscars, we have you covered. The Oscars will take place on Sunday, March 2, beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET/4:00 p.m. PT. For Canadians, "ETalk Live at the Oscars" will begin at 6:00 p.m. ET/3:00 p.m. PT, streaming exclusively on the CTV app, and ETalk's YouTube channel. At 4:00 p.m. ET/1:00 p.m. PT, "Live From E!: The Oscars," hosted by Access Hollywood's Zuri Hall will begin, and ABC will cover the red carpet at 3:30 p.m. ET/12:30 p.m. PT, streaming live on the On the Red Carpet Facebook and its YouTube page. In Canada, the 2025 will air live on the CTV TV channel, while the show is on ABC in the U.S. Canadians can watch the show online through and the CTV app. In the U.S., the show is available to stream on Hulu. Watch 2025 Oscars on CTV Conan O'Brien will host the 2025 Oscars. This will be the first time the former late-night host is taking on the role. Celebrities that will present awards at the 2025 Oscars include: Joe Alwyn Halle Berry Sterling K. Brown Penélope Cruz Willem Dafoe Ana de Armas Lily-Rose Depp Robert Downey Jr. Elle Fanning Whoopi Goldberg Selena Gomez Goldie Hawn Scarlett Johansson John Lithgow Cillian Murphy Connie Nielsen Amy Poehler Da'Vine Joy Randolph June Squibb Ben Stiller Emma Stone Oprah Winfrey Bowen Yang Dave Bautista Gal Gadot Andrew Garfield Margaret Qualley Alba Rohrwacher Rachel Zegler Harrison Ford Zoe Saldaña Samuel L. Jackson For a musical break from presentation of awards, we'll get performances from Doja Cat, Cynthia Erivo ,Ariana Grande, Lisa of Blackpink, Raye, The Los Angeles Master Chorale, and Queen Latifah with a Quincy Jones tribute. Anora (Alex Coco, Samantha Quan and Sean Baker, Producers)The Brutalist (Nick Gordon, Brian Young, Andrew Morrison, D.J. Gugenheim and Brady Corbet, Producers)A Complete Unknown (Fred Berger, James Mangold and Alex Heineman, Producers)Conclave (Tessa Ross, Juliette Howell and Michael A. Jackman, Producers)Dune: Part Two (Mary Parent, Cale Boyter, Tanya Lapointe and Denis Villeneuve, Producers)Emilia Pérez (Pascal Caucheteux and Jacques Audiard, Producers)I'm Still Here (Maria Carlota Bruno and Rodrigo Teixeira, Producers)Nickel Boys (Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Joslyn Barnes, Producers)The Substance (Coralie Fargeat, Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner, Producers)Wicked (Marc Platt, Producer) Jacques Audiard, Emilia PérezSean Baker, AnoraBrady Corbet, The BrutalistCoralie Fargeat, The SubstanceJames Mangold, A Complete Unknown Adrien Brody, The BrutalistTimothée Chalamet, A Complete UnknownColman Domingo, Sing SingRalph Fiennes, ConclaveSebastian Stan, The Apprentice Cynthia Erivo, WickedKarla Sofía Gascón, Emilia PérezMikey Madison, AnoraDemi Moore, The SubstanceFernanda Torres, I'm Still Here Yura Borisov, AnoraKieran Culkin, A Real PainEdward Norton, A Complete UnknownGuy Pearce, The BrutalistJeremy Strong, The Apprentice Monica Barbaro, A Complete UnknownAriana Grande, WickedFelicity Jones, The BrutalistIsabella Rossellini, ConclaveZoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez A Complete Unknown (Screenplay by James Mangold and Jay Cocks)Conclave (Screenplay by Peter Straughan)Emilia Pérez (Screenplay by Jacques Audiard; In collaboration with Thomas Bidegain, Léa Mysius and Nicolas Livecchi)Nickel Boys (Screenplay by RaMell Ross & Joslyn Barnes)Sing Sing (Screenplay by Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar; Story by Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Clarence Maclin, John 'Divine G' Whitfield) Anora (Written by Sean Baker)The Brutalist (Written by Brady Corbet, Mona Fastvold)A Real Pain (Written by Jesse Eisenberg)September 5 (Written by Moritz Binder, Tim Fehlbaum; Co-Written by Alex David)The Substance (Written by Coralie Fargeat) Flow (Gints Zilbalodis, Matīss Kaža, Ron Dyens and Gregory Zalcman)Inside Out 2 (Kelsey Mann and Mark Nielsen)Memoir of a Snail (Adam Elliot and Liz Kearney)Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (Nick Park, Merlin Crossingham and Richard Beek)The Wild Robot (Chris Sanders and Jeff Hermann) Beautiful Men (Nicolas Keppens and Brecht Van Elslande)In the Shadow of the Cypress (Shirin Sohani and Hossein Molayemi)Magic Candies (Daisuke Nishio and Takashi Washio)Wander to Wonder (Nina Gantz and Stienette Bosklopper)Yuck! (Loïc Espuche and Juliette Marquet) The Brutalist (Lol Crawley)Dune: Part Two (Greig Fraser)Emilia Pérez (Paul Guilhaume)Maria (Ed Lachman)Nosferatu (Jarin Blaschke) A Complete Unknown (Arianne Phillips)Conclave (Lisy Christl)Gladiator II (Janty Yates and Dave Crossman)Nosferatu (Linda Muir)Wicked (Paul Tazewell) Anora (Sean Baker)The Brutalist (David Jancso)Conclave (Nick Emerson)Emilia Pérez (Juliette Welfling)Wicked (Myron Kerstein) A Different Man (Mike Marino, David Presto and Crystal Jurado)Emilia Pérez (Julia Floch Carbonel, Emmanuel Janvier and Jean-Christophe Spadaccini)Nosferatu (David White, Traci Loader and Suzanne Stokes-Munton)The Substance (Pierre-Olivier Persin, Stéphanie Guillon and Marilyne Scarselli)Wicked (Frances Hannon, Laura Blount and Sarah Nuth) A Lien (Sam Cutler-Kreutz and David Cutler-Kreutz)Anuja (Adam J. Graves and Suchitra Mattai)I'm Not a Robot (Victoria Warmerdam and Trent)The Last Ranger (Cindy Lee and Darwin Shaw)The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent (Nebojša Slijepčević and Danijel Pek) The Brutalist (Daniel Blumberg)Conclave (Volker Bertelmann)Emilia Pérez (Clément Ducol and Camille)Wicked (John Powell and Stephen Schwartz)The Wild Robot (Kris Bowers) 'El Mal' from Emilia Pérez (Music by Clément Ducol and Camille; Lyric by Clément Ducol, Camille and Jacques Audiard)'The Journey' from The Six Triple Eight (Music and Lyric by Diane Warren)'Like a Bird' from Sing Sing (Music and Lyric by Abraham Alexander and Adrian Quesada)'Mi Camino' from Emilia Pérez (Music and Lyric by Camille and Clément Ducol)'Never Too Late' from Elton John: Never Too Late (Music and Lyric by Elton John, Brandi Carlile, Andrew Watt and Bernie Taupin) Black Box Diaries (Shiori Ito, Eric Nyari and Hanna Aqvilin)No Other Land (Basel Adra, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal and Yuval Abraham)Porcelain War (Brendan Bellomo, Slava Leontyev, Aniela Sidorska and Paula DuPre' Pesmen)Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat (Johan Grimonprez, Daan Milius and Rémi Grellety)Sugarcane (Julian Brave NoiseCat, Emily Kassie and Kellen Quinn) Death by Numbers (Kim A. Snyder and Janique L. Robillard)I Am Ready, Warden (Smriti Mundhra and Maya Gnyp)Incident (Bill Morrison and Jamie Kalven)Instruments of a Beating Heart (Ema Ryan Yamazaki and Eric Nyari)The Only Girl in the Orchestra (Molly O'Brien and Lisa Remington) I'm Still Here (Brazil)The Girl With the Needle (Denmark)Emilia Pérez (France)The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Germany)Flow (Latvia) The Brutalist (Production Design: Judy Becker; Set Decoration: Patricia Cuccia)Conclave (Production Design: Suzie Davies; Set Decoration: Cynthia Sleiter)Dune: Part Two (Production Design: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Shane Vieau)Nosferatu (Production Design: Craig Lathrop; Set Decoration: Beatrice Brentnerová)Wicked (Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales) A Complete Unknown (Tod A. Maitland, Donald Sylvester, Ted Caplan, Paul Massey and David Giammarco)Dune: Part Two (Gareth John, Richard King, Ron Bartlett and Doug Hemphill)Emilia Pérez (Erwan Kerzanet, Aymeric Devoldère, Maxence Dussère, Cyril Holtz and Niels Barletta)Wicked (Simon Hayes, Nancy Nugent Title, Jack Dolman, Andy Nelson and John Marquis)The Wild Robot (Randy Thom, Brian Chumney, Gary A. Rizzo and Leff Lefferts) Alien: Romulus (Eric Barba, Nelson Sepulveda-Fauser, Daniel Macarin and Shane Mahan)Better Man (Luke Millar, David Clayton, Keith Herft and Peter Stubbs)Dune: Part Two (Paul Lambert, Stephen James, Rhys Salcombe and Gerd Nefzer)Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (Erik Winquist, Stephen Unterfranz, Paul Story and Rodney Burke)Wicked (Pablo Helman, Jonathan Fawkner, David Shirk and Paul Corbould)
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Dope Girls' star Julianne Nicholson celebrates the 'punk rock' moment that sets off postwar drama
While most post-war movies and TV shows depict the women left at home as lost souls waiting for the men in their lives to return, the new show Dope Girls (on CTV Drama Channel, the CTV app and Crave in Canada) tells a different story about how women gained independence in wartime. Starring Julianne Nicholson, Eliza Scanlen, Umi Myers and Eilidh Fisher, the six-part series from Bad Wolf (Doctor Who) and Sony Pictures Television takes us to 1918 London, with the boom of Soho nightlife and the bohemian artist lifestyle. In the first episode we meet Kate Galloway (Nicholson), a recently widowed mother of a teenage daughter, Evie (Fisher), who was working at a butcher shop in an small village. That's until the men returned from war, going back to their jobs and bumping women back into their homes. But Kate finds out that her husband left her with a lot of debt, which leads her to London to reconnect with her estranged older daughter, Billie (Myers), in need of a place to stay with Evie. Billie works as a dancer in a nightclub, and while there's a lot of tension between her and her mother, including having a younger sister she never knew about, Kate persuades Billie to work with her to open her own nightclub, the 33. Meanwhile Violet Davies (Scanlen) becomes one of the first ever female officers in the City of London Constabulary police force, and gets assigned to investigate London's criminal underworld. That includes getting a job at the 33, but she ends up getting closer to the women at the club. Violet is also grieving the loss of her sister, who died from drugs, and she carries the guilt of not doing more to prevent her sister's death. Nicholson highlighted that a "huge draw" to be part of Dope Girl was that this series, created and written by Polly Stenham, allows the women's side of a post-World War One story to be told, where we see women taking up traditionally male spaces on screen. "The men are coming back and oftentimes we think of that as being purely love and reunion, but women have found themselves out of their homes, in the workforce, independent, and now they're all, for the most part, going back into the kitchen, into the home caretaking mode. And that sucks!," Nicholson told Yahoo Canada. "So it's fun to be able to sort of play in that world and show this other version of what might have been happening at the time." But one of the particularly fascinating story elements is this relationship between Billie and Kate, and how their relationship can move forward after being estranged for years. "Umi, who plays Billie, is such a talent and so strong and vulnerable at the same time," Nicholson said. "We don't explore necessarily the whole of their story on camera, but I had a very clear idea of leaving her, Kate always thought she would ... be able to come back for her, and her life circumstances changed, and she wasn't able to. And now it's all these years later, but it's been her big regret" "It's the final straw that pushes her back to her, but it's very complicated. I know Umi has shared that in Billie's mind, one of the reasons I left her was because she was not white, which is very hard to hear, and feel abandoned as she was. So it was a very rich history that they share, and I found it very moving to play those scenes with Umi and explore the potential of finding their way back to each other." A particularly impactful scene that really sets the tone for show broadly is one moment where we see Kate, Evie and Bille among the people in London partying on Armistice day. That includes one moment where Kate is in the fountain in Trafalgar Square, dressed in a blood-soaked outfit with angel wings. "It felt really special to be able to recreate, just using your imagination, thinking back to that time, that place, what it must have felt like on the day," Nicholson said. "It just felt very alive and very moving and very punk rock in a way that ... you feel throughout the rest of the series. It felt like a great and sort of exciting and abrupt way to jump into that part of our storytelling. I loved it." "I mean, come on, with wings, drenched in blood, it all came together for me. It was very exciting." But maybe even more beautiful than that image of Nicholson's character is the moment when Kate, Evie and Bille walk away from that scene together, with each of them looking like they've just been able to be released from any inhibitions. "It just feels so raw," Nicholson said. "I feel like so much of this show, just feels like people who don't have the energy to put on an act anymore." "It's about survival, and so it just gets rough immediately, and sort of carries throughout. Even for the good girl in the uniform." That "good girl in uniform," or as actor Scanlen described her, "good girl gone bad," is Violet. Scanlen highlighted that it was particularly interesting to explore her world as one of the first women in this traditionally made space of policing. "Violet's such a fun character to play, being part of the police force and during the war, because ... it wasn't until when the war ended that they were brought on as a kind of experiment," Scanlen said. "It was just a very interesting world for me to explore, interesting to think about women in that space, and how they used their femininity as a way to enter spaces that men couldn't necessarily do so expertly in plain clothes." But at the core of everything Violet does is this connection to her sister, and the grief of losing her. "For Violet, her sister was her whole world, and so I think a lot of what she does in the show is informed by her loss," Scanlen said. "And as much as she tries to convince herself that it's her duty to serve her country, ... but I think under the guise of that is regret and self-blame for what happened to her sister. It is the driving force for her." "It's a story of survival too. She's a lone wolf. She comes from Northern England to start a new life and have a future, and I think her moral compass is compromised many times in this show, but the North Star for her is her sister." With interesting characters and a strong group of women leading this story of nightclubs, drugs and gangs, Dope Girls is a riveting series worth watching.
