Latest news with #ofMonteCristo
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
A 'Count of Monte Cristo' TV Show Is Coming to PBS Masterpiece Next Year
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." In the classic novel by Alexandre Dumas, Edmond Dantes is imprisoned for a crime has not committed. While confined to the Château d'If, a prison, 'he learns of a great hoard of treasure hidden on the Isle of Monte Cristo, and he becomes determined not only to escape, but also to unearth the treasure and use it to plot the destruction of the three men responsible for his incarceration.'$9.11 at The Count of Monte Cristo has captivated readers for generations, and now, a television adaptation is coming to PBS Masterpiece next year, directed by Oscar winner Bille August. Here's what we know about the series. The rest of the cast is as follows: Ana Girardot as Mercédès Jeremy Irons as Abbé Faria Mikkel Boe Følsgaard as Gérard de Villefort Blake Ritson as Danglars Karla-Simone Spence as Haydée Nicolas Maupas as Albert De Morcerf Lino Guanciale as Vampa Michele Riondino as Jacopo Gabriella Pession as Hermine Production for The Count of Monte Cristo took place in Paris, Torino, Rome, and Malta. The Count of Monte Cristo premiered at the 19th Rome Film Festival in October 2024, and aired in Switzerland, Sweden, and Italy. Per PBS, The Count of Monte Cristo is 'produced by Palomar and DEMD Productions, two Mediawan companies, and distributed worldwide by MediawanRights in cooperation with CAA (for North America) and with the participation of Entourage Ventures.' There will be eight episodes. No specific premiere date has been set yet, we'll update this as soon as we learn more. You Might Also Like 12 Weekend Getaway Spas For Every Type of Occasion 13 Beauty Tools to Up Your At-Home Facial Game
Metro
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Poldark fans - get ready for your next period drama binge 10 years later
It's been ten years since Aidan Turner first hit screens as Captain Ross Poldark and swept fans away with the BBC programme's gripping drama, leaving fans devastated when it came to an end after five seasons. But a decade later, and we may have just found your next fix. 2024 miniseries The Count of Monte Cristo will be launching on UKTV's free-to-air channel U&Drama and streaming service U this summer. The epic historical adventure drama, based on Alexandre Durmas's classic novel of the same name, stars Daisy Jones & the Six actor Sam Claflin and House of Gucci's Jeremy Irons. Sam stars as young sailor Edmond Dantes, who was falsely accused of treason and imprisoned without trial in the Château d'If, a grim island fortress off Marseille. After many years of captivity during which he is educated by a fellow prisoner, he finally escapes and takes on the identity of the wealthy and enigmatic Count of Monte Cristo. The synopsis teases: 'With his newfound resources, he embarks on a journey of revenge on those who have wrongly accused him.' The series also stars The Gilded Age's Karla-Simone Spence, Harry Taurasi, Poppy Corby Tuech, Ana Girardot and Gabriella Pession. After premiering in Italy, The Count of Monte Cristo reached immense success with an average of nearly six million viewers. It's also scored 7.8 on IMDb, with viewer reviews branding the eight-part series 'captivating', 'amazing' and 'magnificent'. @sjensenstrad said: 'Great acting, great flow in the story, cinematic experience was superb felt like a historical experience and the audio was amazing. Our family, old and young, was glued to the screen for two days.' 'I'm extremely happy with how this series was made. Not only have they found a way to make it realistic, but they've also found a way to make the story so precise that it could have easily happened in reality. One of the few adaptations I can say is wonderful. The cast and locations are breathtaking in their authenticity,' @tactrix added. @omigen wrote: 'I can honestly say, that I didn't miss a second of this fantastic version of the classic tale. The cast, the direction, the locations… all of it is perfect. Nothing less. I binged it all through Christmas day and now I don't know what to watch next! It's that kind of adaptation. It's that good. It's worth a second watch, and that's what I will do.' @reggiemiller-59077 called it 'Television at its finest!' with @tiky-41483 writing: 'The masterful interpretation of the Count of Monte Cristo by the actor Sam Claflin is spectacular, which together with the direction and costumes, photography, gives the spectator an unparalleled cinematic spectacle.' Filmmaker Bille August revealed in a past interview that he was lured by the project because it's 'all about relationships, the complexities of human beings and in that sense it's very modern and timeless'. More Trending According to Variety, he said: 'I love The Count of Monte Cristo [it's] a great story about the human being and about person who is so obsessed by revenge that it eats him up from the inside and he is not able to love anymore. That's an important message.' He added that the series is a 'beautiful love story' despite the darker themes. View More » The Count of Monte Cristo will be available to watch on U&Drama this summer. 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.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Mediawan Scores Key Licensing Deals on Bille August's ‘The Count of Monte Cristo' in U.S., U.K. and More Key Territories (EXCLUSIVE)
Mediawan has scored a raft of major licensing deals on 'The Count of Monte Cristo,' the highly anticipated epic series directed by two-time Palme d'Or winner Bille August. A lushly lensed adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' iconic masterpiece, the series will have a gala premiere on closing night of Canneseries where it will play out of competition in the Lumière Theatre, in the presence of August, and his key cast, Sam Claflin ('Peaky Blinders') and Ana Girardot ('The Returned'). More from Variety French Production Reached Near Record in 2024, While Streamers' Financing Skyrocketed by 60% Canneseries Industry: Soo Hugh, Beau Willimon, Jane Tranter, Eric Rochant, Malin Sarah Gozin to Talk at First Edition Canneseries Unveils Lineup, Including J.J. Abrams' 'Duster,' 'The Walking Dead: Dead City,' 'The Agency' Produced by Palomar and DEMD Productions, two Mediawan companies, 'The Count of Monte Cristo' has lured PBS Masterpiece in the U.S. and UKTV in the U.K., along with TVE in Spain, RTS in Switzerland, and the Nordic PSB alliance which includes SVT, NRK, DR, YLE and RUV. The eight-episode series will also be broadcast in Eastern European countries, including Poland with TVP, Hungary with TV2, and the Czech Republic with Ceska TV. Mediawan is also in negotiation to close more major territories. Claflin stars in 'The Count of Monte Cristo' as Edmond Dantes, a nineteen-year-old sailor who was falsely accused of treason and is imprisoned without trial in the Château d'If, a grim island fortress off Marseille. After many years of captivity he finally escapes and, under the identity of the Count of Monte Cristo, he plans to take revenge on those who have wrongly accused him. 'The Count of Monte Cristo' already premiered in Italy where it broke rating records. On Rai1, the miniseries was a massive success, attracting nearly 6 million viewers, a 30.5% market share. Mediawan said the ratings on Rai marked the broadcaster's highest score on that slot within the last three years. The show was commissioned by France Télévisions in France and RAI in Italy, and distributed worldwide by Mediawan Rights in cooperation with CAA for North America and with the participation of Entourage Vleeschhouwer, Mediawan Rights' managing director, said the show's 'global resonance underscores Mediawan Rights' enduring commitment to supporting the best talents and the best IPs.' Vleeschhouwer said 'The Count of Monte Cristo' taps into the 'needs of a dynamic global market' for 'appealing premium content.' Nicola Serra, Palomar CEO, praised the series' 'wonderful talents.' 'Their amazing work made this show a worldwide event for a global audience. We hope they will love the show as much as we loved to make it,' said Serra. August, the revered Danish filmmaker whose credits include 'Pelle the Conqueror,' 'The Best Intentions' and 'Les Misérables,' shot the series on location in Europe over five-months. 'The Count of Monte Cristo' is the first international series of that caliber fully produced as well as distributed by Mediawan, and financed with Entourage. Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week What's Coming to Disney+ in April 2025 The Best Celebrity Memoirs to Read This Year: From Chelsea Handler to Anthony Hopkins
Telegraph
02-04-2025
- Telegraph
The Instagram island turning into a rat-infested disaster zone
An island hailed as the most beautiful in the Mediterranean is now a rat-infested, litter-strewn 'disaster' zone in need of urgent intervention, campaigners say. Comino, a tiny limestone outcrop off the coast of Malta, is famed for its turquoise waters, white sand and an idyllic swimming spot known as the Blue Lagoon. But like many parts of the Mediterranean, from the Balearics and Dubrovnik to Santorini and Mykonos, the island is buckling under extreme levels of overtourism. Its popularity has been turbocharged by social media, with its translucent cyan shallows proving irresistible to Instagram aficionados. Comino's profile has also been boosted by its appearance in Hollywood blockbusters, including Troy, starring Brad Pitt and Eric Bana, and The Count of Monte Cristo, which starred Guy Pearce and Richard Harris. During the summer months, huge boats drop off up to 10,000 tourists a day on the island, which is supposed to be a protected nature reserve and a bird sanctuary. Many holidaymakers are drawn by social media images of a lone snorkeler or swimmers floating in the cobalt waters of the bay. Visit Malta, the country's tourism authority, says the Blue Lagoon is 'often deemed the most beautiful spot in the Mediterranean. Nestled in the channel between Comino and Cominotto, and easily accessible from both Malta and Gozo, a dip in this spectacular swim spot is an absolute must'. But the reality is very different – hundreds of people jostling for space and packed into the bay as if it were a giant swimming pool. Unscrupulous operators cover every inch of beach with loungers and umbrellas, while blaring loud music from makeshift bars. The bars, known locally as kiosks, serve cocktails in hollowed-out pineapples, which tourists then discard on the ground – providing rich pickings for a burgeoning population of rats. 'An unbearable situation' 'It's an unbearable situation. Operators recruit tourists in places like Sliema (on the island of Malta) and bring them to Comino in massive boats. They pour hundreds of tourists onto the tiny beach. It gets crowded beyond what you can imagine,' said Andre Callus from Moviment Graffitti, a civil society organisation that is campaigning for radical change to the way the island is managed. 'For the people of Gozo and Malta, it's a nightmare and they don't go there anymore. Comino has been taken over by intense commercial interests. It is a very small place and yet there are 11 kiosks selling food and drink. They want to extract as much profit as possible from the island,' he added. Moviment Graffitti staged a protest in 2022 in which they forcibly removed deckchairs and umbrellas. The demonstration garnered plenty of attention but ultimately had little effect on the over-exploitation of the island. A study was commissioned several years ago to determine how many visitors the island could support. It has never been released, with NGOs alleging a cover-up by the authorities. 'It's a disaster. When you have 10,000 people on the island, there's noise disturbance, the vegetation gets trampled and there is all the waste that is produced, which is a very big problem,' said Mark Sultana, the chief executive officer of BirdLife Malta, a conservation organisation. Discarded food has led to an explosion in the number of rats on the island and they are having a big impact on native wildlife. 'There's now a rodent infestation. The rats go down the burrows of birds like shearwaters and eat the eggs. They [prey] on lizards as well,' said Mr Sultana. Its location on a migration path between Africa and Europe means that Comino is – or was – rich in birdlife, from raptors such as marsh harriers and ospreys to nightjars, short-eared owls and larks. The letters pages of Malta's newspapers are full of comments about the lamentable state of Comino. 'Island turned circus' The area around the Blue Lagoon looks like 'some run-down favela in some forsaken country,' one reader said recently. Another wrote: 'There has to be a reduction in the number of kiosks and a drastic reduction in the number of visitors.' A third disgruntled local wrote: 'This once beautiful island has been turned into a circus and I wouldn't go near it again if you paid me.' The government of Malta now says it is determined to get to grips with the situation. Ian Borg, the minister for tourism, did not respond to a request for an interview but has told Maltese media that he wants to reduce the number of boats allowed to anchor off the island and halve the number of daily visitors from 10,000 to 5,000. 'We must clean up Comino. We can't keep permitting operators to unload boatloads of 700 or 800 passengers at one time in such a small space. The plan is to reduce the number of passengers by half,' he told The Times of Malta. That will entail making a list of commercial boat operators, checking how many passengers they carry and how many trips they make each day, and then imposing restrictions. There will be a review of the number of bars that are allowed to operate and public lavatories will be installed, said Mr Borg, who is also foreign minister and deputy prime minister. But none of this goes far enough for campaigners. Mr Callus says the big tour boats should be banned altogether and the number of makeshift bars drastically reduced. 'We're not against having two or three kiosks with limits on the food and beverages they can sell. But Comino is a Natura 2000 site (an EU-protected wildlife reserve) which means it should have the highest level of protection.' BirdLife Malta goes one step further and says there should be no bars at all. Instead, food and drink could be brought in on barges each day, which would take the rubbish away each evening. There should also be a cap on the number of tourists allowed to land each day on the island. The chaotic situation on Comino reflects wider issues in Malta, where developers and some politicians have acted with impunity, squeezing the islands for as much money as possible. Environmental degradation and unchecked coastal development are the consequences. 'Malta being small means that politicians are very accessible and come under a lot of pressure from businesses and developers. You can go to a minister's town and have a beer with him. It puts a lot of pressure on politicians,' said Mr Sultana. 'It's good that we are finally understanding that far too many people were being allowed to go to the Blue Lagoon. Courageous decisions need to be taken. The cow has been milked for too long.'
BBC News
17-03-2025
- BBC News
A second chance for Malta's paradise island turned 'hell on Earth'
The tiny Mediterranean paradise of Comino has long been overrun by tourists, many lured by social media to photograph its iconic Blue Lagoon. Now, the island is fighting back. Sitting in a cafe in Marfa Bay, Malta, Colin Backhouse gazes out at a tiny landmass on the horizon: the 3km-by-5km islet of Comino, a sun-baked slab of rock surrounded by a shimmering sea that shifts from deep blue to bright turquoise. Once a near-empty haven, today it is one of the most contested tourist destinations in the Maltese archipelago. With more than 51,000 followers on his popular Facebook page, Malta Holiday Experiences, Backhouse dedicates his time to recommending the best spots to explore across the Maltese Islands. But there's one place he refuses to endorse. "It's wonderful at this time of year," he says, nodding toward the car-free islet located between Malta and Gozo. "But in summer? You couldn't pay me to go near it. It's hell on Earth." Luring tens of thousands of visitors annually from across the globe, Comino's Blue Lagoon is a photographer's dream and one of the Mediterranean's most iconic destinations. The bay's vivid hue, caused by sunlight reflecting off the white limestone seabed, sparkles under the Mediterranean sun, making it a perfect subject for stunning photos. In the December to February low season, the bay's waters remain barely disturbed, except for the gentle ripple of a landing gull. The shoreline is silent, the coastline untouched. But summer tells a different story. Shoulder-to-shoulder crowds jostle for space, litter spills from overflowing bins and tangles in trampled rock rose shrubs, while gas-guzzling powerboats blast music and leave behind a trail of environmental damage. Backhouse remembers a time when Comino felt like a secluded escape. "I first visited in 1980. Back then, you could have the whole place to yourself. Unfortunately, I've seen first-hand the destruction over the decades. I really don't know why people bother anymore." He's not alone in his sentiment. Frustration over Comino's overtourism has been growing for years, with some disillusioned visitors going as far as to call the day-trip experience from Malta a "scam". Overcrowded boats, limited amenities and worsening environmental degradation have led to mounting pressure on authorities to act. In response, activists have stepped in. In 2022, a local group called Movimenti Graffiti took matters into their own hands by stripping the island of its deckchairs and sunbeds, protesting what they saw as an exploitation of public space for private profit. Their message was clear: Comino should be protected, not plundered. More like this:• Is this the end of the Mediterranean beach holiday?• The summer that tourism fell apart• Four countries that are actively welcoming travellers The isle's ascent to a dream destination is an interesting one. Having served as a backdrop in films and series such as The Count of Monte Cristo, Troy and even briefly in Game of Thrones, The Blue Lagoon was already a well-known cinematic gem. But social media caused its popularity to soar. Its surreal iridescent waters began attracting travellers from around the world in search of the perfect photo. "It's at the top of many visitors' bucket lists when they come to the Maltese islands," says Rebecca Millo, head of commercial operations at KM Malta, the country's national airline. "Many people just want to go straight there." But change is finally coming. This year, in an effort to curb mass tourism and relieve pressure on the islet, which is a designated Natura 2000 site, Maltese authorities are introducing a daily visitor cap – reducing the number of tour boat day-trippers from 10,000 to 5,000. It's a significant step in the right direction, but for environmental advocates like Mark Sultana, CEO of BirdLife Malta, it's only a partial fix. "Limiting numbers is a good start," he says. "But we need a public sustainability plan that doesn't just focus on crowd control but also on preserving Comino's fragile ecosystem. We are insisting it should have a ticket control system where only a capped number of tickets can be issued each day." Comino's struggles are not unique. Across the Mediterranean, governments are tightening regulations to combat overtourism. Venice has introduced entry fees for day-trippers, while Athens has capped daily visitor numbers to the Acropolis. These shifts signal a broader push towards more sustainable travel. Seasoned Malta tour guide Joanne Gatt hears a recurring complaint from tourists: visiting the tiny isle isn't the experience they signed up for. "They go to Comino expecting paradise and leave disappointed," she says. "Overcrowded, chaotic. Hopefully the cap on visitors will make a real difference." With the new regulations in place, the hope is that Comino can regain some of its lost charm, offering a more enjoyable experience while safeguarding its ecosystem. But some feel the damage is already done. "With so many people wearing it down year after year, I just hope there's something left for future generations to enjoy," Gatt reflects. -- For more Travel stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram.
