Latest news with #DanielMays
Telegraph
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Bafta TV Awards 2025, BBC One review: Alan Cumming turned the Festival Hall into a laugh-free zone
First-time Bafta TV awards host Alan Cumming had cautioned viewers against expecting wall-to-wall jokes. 'I don't see it as a stand-up comedy routine,' he told the Telegraph, and goodness was he true to his word. Taking over from the deadpan duo of Rob Beckett and Romesh Ranganathan, Cumming turned the ceremony at London's Royal Festival Hall into a laugh-free zone – starting with an opening monologue that had about as many chuckles as Mr Bates vs the Post Office, the state-of-the-nation drama that was one of the big winners of the evening. Cumming kicked off with a skit about his day job as the face of The Traitors USA – a gag which might have struck a chord on the far side of the Atlantic but which, airing on BBC, was a reminder of how much better Traitors UK presenter Claudia Winkleman is at the cloak and dagger stuff. His introductory remarks were rich in smarm, low on wit. There was a gag about Prince Andrew docudrama Scoop not having any ice cream and Troubles thriller Say Nothing being full of people talking constantly. A vague ripple of titters passed around the room. Comedy wise Cumming never got out of first gear. Most of the zingers revolved around the two television shows he seemed to have watched last year: Traitors and Jilly Cooper romp Rivals. He will have been relieved to see that the celebrities handing out awards weren't any funnier. One excruciating low point featured actors Daniel Mays and Russell Tovey giving shout-outs to random members of the public before naming Mr Bates winner of Best Limited Drama. Mid-routine, the camera had cut to a bored-looking David Mitchell and then to an even more disconsolate James Corden. He hadn't looked so glum since forced to apologise for being rude to that waiter in New York. Musical guests seemed to have wandered in from next year's Brit Awards. Tom Grennan bashed out a song that asks the audience to imagine a mildly funkier Ed Sheeran. Then came Jessie J's big comeback as she made her first TV appearance in six years. Alas, the diva-like majesty of her power ballad was undermined slightly by the decision to have her start singing from the middle of the crowd – her performance accompanied by shots of audience members wandering back from the loo. The TV Baftas are, by their very nature, less searingly glitzy than the movie ceremony. The film Baftas have the stars of Hollywood; its TV sibling, the cast of Taskmaster. Still, amid the slog, there were some memorable moments, including appearances at the podium by a tearful Marisa Abela (winning Leading Actress for Industry), Danny Dyer, Lennie James, Ruth Jones, and Strictly's Dianne Buswell – the latter accepting the Memorable Moment prize on behalf of herself and the show's 2024 winning celeb Chris McCausland. There was even a genuine shock when Belfast police drama Blue Lights scored Best Drama ahead of head-chopping costume extravaganza Wolf Hall. The In Memoriam section featured a beautiful performance by violinist Esther Abrami as it marked the passing of, among others, Michael Mosley, Henry Kelly, Tony Slattery, and original Shōgun actor Richard Chamberlain. Winning the Best Daytime category for his Caribbean Adventure, Clive Myrie, for his part, asked the industry to support the struggling independent sector. Earlier, Mr Bates vs the Post Office's producer, Patrick Spence, had praised viewers for responding to the dramatisation of the scandal in which hundreds of sub-postmasters were falsely accused of theft. 'They showed in their responses we cannot abide liars and bullies,' he said. It was an all-too-rare display of genuine emotion in an evening full of sparkle but sadly lacking in substance. If he's asked back, Cumming should consider packing his joke book next time.
Daily Mail
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
He's been in everything from EastEnders to Star Wars, yet this Essex-born actor barely gets recognised – do YOU know who he is?
You know Daniel Mays. He's that extraordinarily convincing character actor who's popped up in everything from EastEnders to Star Wars. He's famous, but not crazy famous – although the 46-year-old Londoner witnessed true celebrity once, in 2013, when he and Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley in all the Harry Potter films) popped out to Pret A Manger for a sandwich during a break from rehearsing a play. 'These girls spotted Rupert and it was pandemonium. Any body part they could have yanked off him as a souvenir they would have. Actors want to have an impact but I draw the line at dismemberment.' We meet in a central London cocktail bar where, despite being 6ft 2in tall and looking dapper in an overcoat and cap, he goes largely unnoticed. Mays may not be instantly recognisable, but few could match the extraordinary range on his CV. Born in Buckhurst Hill, Essex, to an electrician dad and a bank clerk mum, he went to the Italia Conti stage school aged 14 and four years later won a place at Rada. One of his first roles after graduating was as Kat Slater's boyfriend in EastEnders. He has since shone in everything from TV cop thriller Line Of Duty to his Olivier-nominated stage turn as Nathan Detroit in the musical Guys & Dolls. Right now he's in Suspect: The Shooting Of Jean Charles De Menezes, a four- and five-star rated Disney+ drama about the 7/7 London tube bombings of July 2005, and the subsequent police killing of the 27-year-old Brazilian electrician who was misidentified as a terrorist at Stockwell tube station. Mays hopes it will have a similar impact as ITV's Mr Bates Vs The Post Office. 'The important thing about this story is that [de Menezes's] family are still fighting for his name,' says Mays. 'Loads of people, mates of mine and colleagues, were under the impression that [de Menezes] vaulted the barrier and ran down the escalator. And it didn't happen. You think to yourself, 'How has that cemented itself in people's heads?' Dramas like this and Mr Bates can hold people to account, set the record straight.' He loved playing principal forensic investigator Cliff Todd, the first on the scene at Aldgate station after one of the four 7/7 bombings. Todd visited the set during filming. 'It's easy to forget, as we get on with our lives, that there are ordinary people out there who get the calls no one else wants and they have to respond,' says Mays. Next up is the much-awaited Netflix movie adaptation of Richard Osman's 'cosy crime' bestseller The Thursday Murder Club, due to screen on 28 August. 'Surprise, surprise, I play a police officer,' says Mays. 'I should just join the force at this rate.' Produced by Steven Spielberg, it has Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, David Tennant, Ben Kingsley and Jonathan Pryce among a stellar cast. 'Even though I've been in this industry a decent amount of time, I still got butterflies on set with that level of acting royalty,' he says. 'But David Tennant is the one guy who gives me nightmares.' He's only half-joking. In 2020 May and Tennant both appeared in ITV's Emmy-winning drama Des, about serial killer Dennis Nilsen. Tennant played Nilsen, Mays was his nemesis, DCI Peter Jay. 'David was so convincing I had a nightmare I was trapped in an attic with him,' he recalls. 'I actually woke up screaming. For me there's acting, then there's David Tennant acting.' Mays has spent 25 years on our screens, but despite attending Rada alongside Ben Whishaw and Maxine Peake he had early doubts. Were there enough roles for a working-class Essex boy? He felt guilty just thinking about it – his mum had taken a second job in a cardboard-box factory to help him pay for drama school. 'It broke my heart a bit to think I'd let my parents down,' he says, 'But my Rada tutor said, 'You'll get loads of work playing angry young men on the edge' and he was right.' First came EastEnders – and despite the soap's producers offering to expand his part so he could join the cast permanently, Mays declined, leaving after four episodes. 'No disrespect but I wanted to try new things,' he says. Luckily, the very next job was in the 2001 Hollywood film Pearl Harbor, directed by Michael Bay. 'The scale of that thing! I watched with my jaw on the floor while Bay was on a crane directing a scene involving a whole bloody air force! I had to go and see Ben Affleck about a scene and his trailer was the size of a small village – a real eye-opener for someone starting out.' Now, if he's not sure whether to accept a role, he talks to his friend Stephen Graham (who he starred with in the Disney+ smash hit A Thousand Blows earlier this year) and fellow London actor Eddie Marsan. 'Who wants to be a professional cockney?' asks Mays. 'No one. So if you can, you pick and choose parts carefully. I've played so many angry young men on the edge but I've taken risks, too.' He was Samuel Pepys in The Great Fire (ITV, 2014); gay rights campaigner Peter Wildeblood in the drama Against The Law (BBC, 2017); and Edward Bancroft, British spy and confidant of US founding father Benjamin Franklin (played by Michael Douglas) in Franklin (Apple TV+, 2024). Acting opposite the Hollywood legend was, Mays says, an unforgettable experience: 'Michael Douglas has earned every right to swan around giving off a 'been there, done that' aura, but he doesn't. If anything, it was me in my trailer going, 'Oh my god, I'm about to do a scene wearing stockings opposite Michael Douglas!'.' Franklin was a multimillion-dollar production. Its most iconic scenes were filmed on location at the Palace of Versailles, and Mays had the use of an apartment in the beautiful Montmartre district of Paris. His wife Louise and children Mylo, 19, and Dixie, 12, came out to stay. It was, he says, a magical time. A far cry from the situation in which he and Louise met 20 years ago, when Mays was starring in Top Buzzer, a short-lived MTV comedy about a drug dealer. 'Stephen Graham was in it and day one he starts this rumour that I am the love child of actor Jim Broadbent,' says Mays. 'All the cast and crew came up to me to ask if it was true.' One of them was the show's make-up artist Louise Burton. 'She told me, 'I didn't think you looked like Jim Broadbent's love child', but she also declined to do my make-up and got an assistant to do it instead.' Why? Because Louise fancied Mays and thought it would be unprofessional to work so closely with him. Eventually they began dating and, five months later, Louise became pregnant with Mylo. Mays admits that becoming a dad at 25 was a shock. 'It wasn't the plan at the time,' he says. 'I was a young actor starting out and it was all supposed to be about me! But becoming a father means you are not the most important person in the room. The only thing I could do was grow up quickly – and 20 years down the line I can honestly say it was the best thing ever. It forced me to get a work ethic and that's how I see my role now: to provide for my family.' Married in 2018, he and Louise live in North London. He plays golf in his downtime and walks his miniature maltese, Missy. If The Thursday Murder Club is a hit, and a second Richard Osman book is filmed, it would mean more time with acting royalty – perhaps a meeting with Spielberg himself. 'I missed his first visit to the set because I was off that day,' he says. 'But I'd love to sit down with the guy and say, 'Listen, I'm the love child of Jim Broadbent and I'm ready to be a leading man.'' Stefania Rosini/Disney+ 2023, contour by getty images
Sky News
22-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Sky News
'Everyone should watch': New TV drama focuses on man shot dead at Tube station after being mistaken for a terrorist
The mother of a man shot dead at a Tube station after being mistaken for a terrorist says "everyone should watch" a new drama about the killing. Jean Charles de Menezes was shot seven times by two police marksmen at Stockwell Underground station on 22 July 2005 - two weeks after the 7/7 London bombings. The 27-year-old British electrician had been wrongly identified as one of the fugitives involved in another failed bombing attempt a day earlier. Would-be suicide bombers had targeted the transport network on 21 July, but their devices failed to explode. No officers were ever prosecuted for the killing but the Met Police was fined for breaching health and safety laws. Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes will be released on Disney+ on 30 April - with the four-part drama exploring the days following the 7/7 attack, and police investigations leading up to his death. It stars Line of Duty's Daniel Mays and Being Human's Russell Tovey. Maria de Menezes, who flew to London ahead of the programme's release, shared the moment she found out about her son's death. "I was not expecting that moment," she said. "It was terrible and then I started to shake. I sort of died then too." Speaking at a preview screening, writer and executive producer Jeff Pope told the audience Mrs de Menezes said she watched the show and felt ill for three days. He said: "I genuinely believe from being in the room that day with her, they've been waiting 20 years for this. I honestly think that. It's just eaten away at them. "We spent a lot of time with them. By necessity, it was by Zoom. "We spent many hours talking about their lives and then we got onto the more painful stuff and they were very open and honest all the way through." Mr Pope added: "Lessons have already been learned but we needed that 20 years ago. His family needed that 20 years ago. "There's such an appetite for audiences in the UK for this type of piece. I just think we like to get angry. We don't like being told something that we know or sense doesn't seem right." In 2016, the family lost a human rights challenge over the decision not to charge any police officer over the fatal shooting. A spokesperson for the Met Police said: "The circumstances around his death, which came at a time of unprecedented terrorist threat to London, have been subject to numerous public inquiries, including two separate reports by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (now the IOPC), which examined all of the evidence surrounding his death and the actions of officers in the aftermath. "The recommendations made by the IPCC were implemented immediately following these reports, and in the 19 years since this tragic incident, we continue to proactively improve our processes and policies wherever possible to keep our communities safe. "No officer sets out on duty intent on ending a life. Our sole purpose is the complete opposite - the protection and preservation of life - and we have taken extensive action to address the causes of this tragedy."
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Exclusive: Russell Tovey, Daniel Mays and Emily Mortimer set to star in new Jean Charles de Menezes drama
Russell Tovey, Emily Mortimer and Daniel Mays are set to star in a new Disney+ series about the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, the Standard can exclusively reveal. Titled Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, the series will explore the tragic story of Jean Charles de Menezes, a Brazilian electrician who was fatally shot by the Met Police outside Stockwell tube station shortly after the 7/7 bombings. Unbeknownst to the police, as they struggled to deal with the aftermath of the bombings, a new threat was looming: another attack, being planned in secret. When it failed, the Met's attempts to find out who was responsible led to one of the nation's biggest ever manhunts. Tragically for de Menezes, he was misidentified as one of the perpetrators, and shot dead on July 27, 2005. The family's resulting struggle for justice lasted for years. De Menezes himself will be played by newcomer Edison Alcaide, while Mortimer will be playing Cressida Dick, who was then the commander of the operation in charge of tracking down the suspects for the bombings. Max Beesley will play Assistant Commissioner Andy Hayman, while Alex Jennings plays Michael Mansfield KC, who represented the De Menezes family in the inquest into the shooting. Conleth Hill will play Sir Ian Blair, the then-Met Police Commissioner, while Tovey will play one of his deputies – and Daniel Mays will play Cliff Todd, the Principal Forensic Investigator in the aftermath of the bombings. Gavin and Stacey's Laura Aikman will also be appearing as Lana Vandenberghe, a secretary at the Independent Police Complaints Commission who plays a pivotal role in the unfolding of events. The drama will be written and executive produced by Jeff Pope (who also worked on Judi Dench film Philomena) and will be coming to the platform in Spring 2025. It has also been produced in consultation with de Menezes' family. 'This is an incredibly important story to tell, and we've got a heavyweight ensemble cast in place that will help us examine the events that led to the tragic shooting of the innocent Jean Charles de Menezes,' Pope said. 'He was just a commuter who was tracked for nearly an hour with surveillance failing to correctly identify him, before he was shot dead on a crowded tube train, leaving his family to try and shine a light on the critical errors that led to this devastating tragedy.' Other contributors include executive producers Kwadjo Dajan and Paul Andrew Williams, as well as Lee Mason, Disney+'s Executive Director of Scripted.
