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Extra.ie
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Extra.ie
The filming locations around Ireland you'll see in Wednesday season two
One of the fun things about watching something that has been shot in Ireland is recognising areas you're familiar with. Wednesday season two moved production from Romania to the Emerald Isle for season two and set up camp in Ashford Studios for the majority of the shoot. However, they did venture out to the surrounding areas on multiple occasions so, here are some of the locations Irish viewers might spot in Wednesday season 2. The Powerscourt Waterfall Pic: FLPA/Shutterstock While Enniskerry is a popular spot for filming, with Disney's Disenchanted turning the village into a fairytale, the Powerscourt Estate has been used by multiple productions over the years. For Wednesday, the waterfall and gardens are used, and you should be able to glimpse them in part one of the second season. Then Irish Minister for Arts Sport and Tourism, John O'Donoghue visited the movie set of Becoming Jane starring Anne Hathaway, James McAvoy and Julie Walters at Charleville Forest Castle in 2006 Pic: ShowbizIreland/Getty Images While the exterior and many of the classrooms and dorms of Nevermore Academy are sets built at the studio, there are some aspects of the school that are actually from Charleville Castle in County Offaly. The castle was previously used in Becoming Jane and The Tudors, and in Wednesday, it serves as the corridors of Nevermore. Joanna Lumley as Grandmama in Wednesday Pic: Owen Behan/Netflix Would it be an Addams Family-centred series without a graveyard or two? Dublin's Deansgrange Cemetary was the location of choice for the Wednesday team and they also rebuilt a segment at the studio for some pick up shots. Wednesday season two is shot in Ireland Pic: Netflix Parts of Glendalough, Roundwood, and Kilternan were also used for scenes. Geek Ireland's Olivia Fahy on the set of Wednesday in Ashford Studios Pic: Netflix While you wouldn't know the difference between the sets and the real world locations, there will be one segment in part two that fans of another show might spot. As Jenna Ortega and Tim Burton revealed at the Global Press Conference, they took over some of the sets used in Vikings Valhalla for the show's Pilgrim World celebrations. See if you can spot it when part two drops in September.
Metro
18-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Amazon Prime fans have days to binge BBC historical drama hailed a ‘masterpiece
A period drama set during the reign of King Henry VIII once called 'phenomenal' by fans is leaving Amazon Prime very soon. Premiering in 2007, The Tudors starred Jonathan Rhys Meyers as the monarch, with the first season following the period in his reign in which his ability to rule was put under strain by international conflicts and political power struggles playing out in his own court. His wife Catherine of Aragon was played by Maria Doyle Kennedy while Natalie Dormer took on the role of his mistress Anne Boleyn. Upon hitting screens, the show became the highest-rating Showtime series debut in three years. It originally aired in the UK on BBC. Although reviews were mixed from both critics and fans, the praised the series received from some was glowing. 'The scandalous history behind King Henry VIII of England and his six wives comes to life in the racy series…' Time wrote in its review. 'This is a solid and historically grounded drama that is dependably entertaining with performances often more riveting than the stories from which they arise,' The Hollywood reporter declared. Meanwhile The New York Times went a step further: 'Showtime's glorious, gorgeous The Tudors is the best series since The Sopranos. Period.' Another season followed in 2008, with a third in 2009 and the fourth and final airing in 2010. Although all four seasons were made available to stream on Amazon Prime Video earlier this year, they are about to be removed. On the streaming platform it says that it is set to leave 'within the next 30 days'. However for those wanting to have more time to catch up, or watch the series again, it's also available to watch on Channel 4's streaming service too. The Tudors was created by screenwriter and producer Michael Hirst, best known for his films Elizabeth (1998) and Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007). He then went on to create the series Vikings, which ran from 2013 until 2020. In 2018 Jonathan spoke about the legacy of The Tudors, and how it had paved the way for other series'. 'When we made The Tudors, we were able to make a period TV show successful, for the first time. There would be no Game of Thrones, there would be no Vikings and there would be no Crown, unless we had done The Tudors first,' he told Collider. More Trending 'It was the first time that the industry saw that we could put people with swords and horses and castles and gowns, and it would be successful. 'It was funny, we were on the third season of The Tudors when they greenlit Game of Thrones. The only reason that it was greenlit was because we did The Tudors first, and we're very proud of that.' The Tudors is currently streaming on Channel 4 and Amazon Prime Video. View More » A version of this article was originally published on January 22, 2025. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: Channel 4 star who vomited over girlfriend sleeping with another man makes frank sex admission MORE: 'Most divisive film of 2023' available to stream for free in coming days MORE: My time with Kim Woodburn proved her gay icon status
The Guardian
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
The holy screen: a brief history of popes in film and TV, from Peter O'Toole to Robbie Coltrane
Everything about the papacy is cinematic – especially picking a new one, as shown in the wildly popular movie Conclave, with Ralph Fiennes as an unwilling contender for the top job. There is the mystery, the ritual, the vestments; the spectacle of a lone, fragile human being poised over an abyss of history and good and evil; the elevation of one flawed man to a position of supreme authority, an exaltation whose parallel to the crucifixion is sensed but not acknowledged. Discussing the onscreen representation of the pope in Conclave would risk the blasphemy of spoilerism but there have been many popes on screen, some cheekily fictional, many factual. Many a heavyweight British thesp has turned in a gamey cameo as some hooded-eyed Renaissance pontiff. Peter O'Toole was the lizardly and capricious Paul III in TV's The Tudors (2007), presiding over a simperingly submissive 16th-century court of cardinals. Jeremy Irons was a small-screen Alexander VI in The Borgias (2011), a family member whose face radiated sensual refinement and hauteur. If the pope has to be a minor or supporting character, it is easier to play him as a baddie. Rex Harrison was a very stately and boring Julius II, the so-called Warrior Pope in Carol Reed's The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965), always being shouted at by Charlton Heston's Michelangelo while he is trying to get on with painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling. In the real world, the successor to the late Pope Francis will undoubtedly have seen a pope on film or TV, and seen the actor do the signature screen-pope moment: the camera follows behind, maybe in slow-mo as the cheering gets louder and, clad in his unfamiliar robes, he emerges for the first time on the balcony overlooking St Peter's Square as the senior cardinal intones 'Habemus Papam' – 'We have a pope' – and introduces him by his chosen name. From the new pope's POV, behind his head, we see the thousands of extras – or more likely CGI images. Pope Francis's successor must do it for real. Jonathan Pryce's wonderfully sympathetic, humorous performance in Fernando Meirelles's The Two Popes (2019) as Francis – or as he is for the most of the film Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio – must surely have set the tone for memories of the late pope, at least for the secular unbelieving world. Pryce's future pontiff is discreet, frank, humble, yet troubled, with a demotic man-of-the-people touch which irritates and yet fascinates the incumbent pope, the intensely conservative Benedict XVI, played by Anthony Hopkins. Pryce's screen Francis is a nice guy, without the flashes of temper that he is said to have shown in the real world, the Francis that thought it was all right to punch someone who insults your mother. When Benedict resigns, it is these two men who have to share the Holy See as the two popes. This unique double act allows the movie camera to explore a profound mystery – what is it like to be pope, to see the pope as the pope sees the pope? The movie shows one pope hearing confession from another. Importantly, The Two Popes starts with Cardinal Bergoglio's Michael Corleone moment. The movie imagines Bergoglio wanting to retire as Cardinal, to retreat from the politics and show of church power – which Benedict will not countenance. Similarly, Fiennes's Cardinal Lawrence begins Conclave by wanting to resign as dean of the college of cardinals. This initial 'resignation' impulse naturally signals the very real possibility or even certainty of becoming capo di tutti capi. Michael Corleone, played by Al Pacino, confesses his terrible sins in Coppola's The Godfather Part III to Cardinal Lamberto – a fictional character who, harrowed by Corleone's crimes, later becomes an imagined version of Pope John Paul I, and fatefully looks into the Vatican's corruption scandals like his real namesake. Anthony Quinn's fictional pope in The Shoes of the Fisherman (1965) follows the same 'Corleone' narrative path to the top. The unwilling or unworthy pope is a screen tradition. Poor John Paul I, who died so soon after his elevation, is an inspiration for Nanni Moretti's We Have a Pope, in which Michel Piccoli plays the fictional Cardinal Melville, who finds the top job thrust upon him and succumbs to stage-fright. The film is very good at showing how, during the conclave, most Cardinals are obviously yearning not to have this terrible burden placed upon them. Movie history's most outrageous reluctant pope is Robbie Coltrane's David I, in Peter Richardson's farcical comedy The Pope Must Die (1991) – widely re-titled as The Pope Must Diet to avoid giving offence. The film interestingly takes its cue from the technicality that a new pope does not theoretically need to be a cardinal. Coltrane's antihero is a rackety but basically honest priest, Dave Albinizi, who is accidentally elevated to the Holy See through a bizarre mistake and, like Lamberto in The Godfather Part III, is under pressure from the mob for looking too hard into Vatican bribery and corruption. For sheer hilarity and outrage, however, there is the fantastical Pius XIII, formerly Cardinal Lenny Belardo, played by Jude Law in Paolo Sorrentino's streaming TV drama The Young Pope. We see this new pope smoking cigarettes – a shocking image, perhaps, although John XXIII and Benedict XVI were both smokers – and even treats us to the extraordinary vision of the pontiff striding along the beach, super buff, clad in nothing but tiny white Speedos. And how about the patriarchy and misogyny of Catholic rule? Many female stars have played the legendary and mythic Pope Joan, who supposedly ruled with her gender a secret for two years in the ninth century – Liv Ullmann was Pope Joan in 1972: pale and determined, an unworldly version of Joan of Arc. To be pope is to take an above-the-title lead role in a problematic franchise which many think should be revamped. It is a thankless and demanding role where the reviews come in at the very beginning and the very end. Perhaps someone like Peter Morgan could create a new movie, entitled Great Again, in which Jonathan Pryce can reprise his great performance as Francis, taking his final meeting: with the oleaginous and uncomprehending JD Vance, played by, perhaps, Sam Rockwell. The ageing man of gentle wisdom tries to get through to the heartbreakingly childlike and vain vice-president, advising him on ways of buying his soul back.
BBC News
28-03-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Reacher star Sonya Cassidy inspired by Somerset SEND charity
The star of an Amazon Prime series said she has been inspired by the "extraordinary" work of a charity which supports children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND.)Sonya Cassidy, who stars in the crime series Reacher, has been back to Springboard Opportunity Group in Clevedon in Somerset, where she used to volunteer."It has stayed very close to my heart and I hope more people are aware of the work they do," she told BBC Points Cassidy is an ambassador for the charity, which offers early education to children in the county under the age of five. "I was made very aware of the importance of places like Springboard through my friend's sibling. As a family they had to deal with a lot more than those who don't have children with SEND," said Ms Cassidy, who grew up in nearby Cassidy plays Susan Duffy in Reacher, which is based on the Jack Reacher book series and has been viewed more than 50 million other credits include Vera, The Tudors and The Paradise. "Springboard not only provide an incredible, supportive, fun, empowering environment for young children but they are there for families at a time when there is so much to think about," she said."I don't think we see disability and additional needs represented on screen anywhere near enough so it's something that's not on peoples' radars."Seeing the work they do to support families as well as the kids is extraordinary." Springboard, now in its 40th year, has four different locations across North Somerset."Most of our work with children is around developing their communication skills, their interaction skills, and sense of self," said Ruth Glover, the charity's CEO."We do get the same amount of funding that other nurseries get but that only covers half of our costs, so the rest we have to raise through fundraising activity or through applying for grants."Ms Glover said it is "hugely important" to have Ms Cassidy on board."She brings a humanity and a joy to the work that we do and she promotes our ethos incredibly well," she added.
