Latest news with #TheLightFantastic
Yahoo
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Geek Girl' Season 2 Casts Layton Williams & Rolls Cameras
Layton Williams has joined the cast of Netflix's Geek Girl as cameras roll on Season 2. The Olivier Award-winning actor, who is best known on the screen for roles in Bad Education and Everybody's Talking about Jamie, will play Onassis in the hit YA series. Returning cast members include Em Carey, Emmanuel Imani, Liam Woodrum, Rochelle Harrington and Zac Looker, alongside Sarah Parish, Tim Downie, Jemima Rooper, and Hebe Beardshall. More from Deadline 'Geek Girl' Renewed For Season 2 By Netflix After Delay Jeremy Irvine, Rupert Everett, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett & Layton Williams Set For Dance Comedy 'The Light Fantastic' - AFM 'Geek Girl' Co-Producer Aircraft Pictures Buys Back Stake From Canada's Corus Williams is best known for stage performances in shows including Everybody's Talking About Jamie and Celine Dion musical Titanique, the latter of which won him an Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical earlier this year. He is starring in Chris Cottam's upcoming movie The Light Fantastic about a thirty-something gay firefighter who dreams of becoming a professional ballroom dancer. It took a fair while for Netflix to greenlight Geek Girl Season 2, mainly due to the financial struggles of its former Canadian producer Corus, but cameras have now rolled on the popular British-Canadian series in the UK. Based on the internationally bestselling novels by Holly Smale, Geek Girl follows socially awkward but endearing teenager Harriet Manners (Carey) as she's unexpectedly thrust into the fashion world — navigating runway chaos, mean girls and personal growth along the way. The half-hour series had made a strong case for renewal by spending four weeks in Netflix's Global Top 10 for English-language series, peaking at #2, reaching the Top 10 in 89 countries and amassing 28.1 million views in its first seven months of release. The solid performance, coupled with a pretty modest budget and positive reviews from critics, should've translated into a quick renewal were it not for Corus' struggles. Production has now switched to Canada's Boat Rocker alongside previous co-producer RubyRock Pictures. Smale is creator of the series with Jessica Ruston. Declan O'Dwyer (Miss Scarlet & The Duke) is director. EPs are showrunner Zoë Rocha and Robbie von Werz for RubyRock, along with Smale, Ruston, Jeff Norton, Declan O'Dwyer, and David Fortier, Ivan Schneeberg, Nick Nantell, and Jon Rutherford for Boat Rocker. Best of Deadline 2025 TV Cancellations: Photo Gallery Everything We Know About Amazon's 'Verity' Movie So Far 'Street Fighter' Cast: Who's Who In The Live-Action Arcade Film Adaption
BBC News
12-03-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Agent of Sir Terry Pratchett shares memories of Discworld author
Ten years ago, Sir Terry Pratchett died aged 66, eight years after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. His friend and lifelong agent Colin Smythe recalls his memories of the renowned fantasy author.A 20-year-old Terry Pratchett first walked into the office of the man who would become his first publisher and his agent in Smythe had just published a book about education and Sir Terry had been sent by the Bucks Free Press to write up a story about Terry mentioned that he would rather be an author than a journalist and the link-up Smythe went on to publish the Beaconsfield-born writer's first five books, before becoming his agent. He retained that role until Sir Terry's death on 12 March asked why Sir Terry enjoyed working with him, he recalled: "Terry would tell me: 'You are the person I distrust the least in the publishing business'." "The trouble is I was spoilt. I was exceptionally lucky that I was the individual he distrusted least," said Mr Smythe, now 83. Sir Terry first showed Mr Smythe his fiction work in the summer of 1968 and the publisher was immediately struck by his "brilliance, sense of humour and his skill at writing"."At that time publishers were much more prepared to back their hunches," he said."This is a person who I did not want to allow to go some place else."The first book the pair worked on together was The Carpet People, which released in 1971. In 1986, after publishing the second Discworld story, The Light Fantastic, the friends agreed Sir Terry would need a bigger publisher and Mr Smythe would instead act as his Buckinghamshire-based publisher used his contacts to secure Sir Terry a deal at Victor Gollancz Ltd, which was known for science fiction and fantasy titles. As Sir Terry was already known to publishers, Mr Smythe said his job was often focused on negotiating contracts or arranging speaking left Sir Terry to focus on his passion of writing."He didn't write as often as I would like. He would tend to write during winter evenings. In the summer evenings he preferred gardening," he said."He could write fast. He always worked on the idea that he would do at least 400 words a day. As it evolved he might do more, maybe 400 words before breakfast."Mr Smythe admitted he was occasionally chastised for making deals worth "too much money".He said: "On one occasion... two publishers competed. Each came up with one price and I rang up Terry and said: 'They have offered me £750,000'. "He said: 'This is mad, there is far too much testosterone going on around here'."He used to say: 'Truth be told, I shall tell them I would pay to be allowed to write.'"I thought it was best not to tell that to the publishers." Sir Terry died after being diagnosed with a rare form of early onset Alzheimer's disease."It affected his motor abilities rather than his cognitive abilities," said Mr Smythe."While he thought he was going to die within a few years, he went on with enough time to write another six best-sellers."Mr Smythe said 10 years after the death of his friend, he still misses "the pleasure of his company".He said: "He was humorous, interesting, wide-raging - all sorts of things."On one or two occasions I'd get a phone call on a Saturday: 'I'm stuck, I'm not sure where I go from here'."He'd tell me a layout of how far he'd got and you'd talk to him and he'd say: 'Oh, now I know where I'm going'. And he'd hang up." Mr Smythe added: "He was such a wonderful person would was always full of brilliant ideas."Sir Terry Pratchett must be considered to be a superb satirist, a brilliant, imaginative writer. A person who had a brilliant sense of humour and was brimming over with ideas." Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
