DEADLINE HOLLYWOOD
By Mike Fleming, Jr.
May 4, 2016
EXCLUSIVE: You could have imagined Steve McQueen playing prodigal existentially conflicted biker gang leader Jax Teller in Sons Of Anarchy, so it doesn’t seem a stretch to envision Charlie Hunnam taking on the role originated by McQueen in the 1973 classic prison escape drama Papillon. Wolf Of Wall Street producer Red Granite is putting it together for a fall shoot with Danish director Michael Noer attached to direct a script by Prisoners scribe Aaron Guzikowski.
I hear that’s the conversation going on right now. McQueen played a man unjustly convicted of murder in 1930s France and condemned to life in a South American prison. He plots his escape, aided by a counterfeiter (Dustin Hoffman co-starred) who finances Papillon’s prison escapes in exchange for protection in prison. Tale was scripted by Dalton Trumbo and Lorenzo Semple Jr, directed by Franklin J Schaffner from French convict Henri Charriere’s autobiography.
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
3:34 PM PDT 8/22/2013 by Georg Szalai
EDINBURGH – New BBC One controller Charlotte Moore outlined her vision for the U.K. public broadcaster's flagship channel here on Thursday and announced first programming commissions, including an adaptation of a Roald Dahl book starring Judi Dench and Dustin Hoffman.
I intend to look under the bonnet of every genre to make sure we are bringing audiences distinctive, innovative and pioneering television," Moore said.
That means that BBC One should be "part of the national conversation" and that viewers should feel that the annual license fee they pay to help fund the BBC "is being well spent on quality programs." Concluded Moore: "BBC One needs to offer something for everyone, every week of the year, and that is what I’m committed to.”
While she has been in her post for only a few weeks, Moore on Thursday also unveiled first program orders designed to set the tone for what to expect from her tenure.
Roald Dahl’s Esio Trot will star Dench and Hoffman in an adaptation by Richard Curtis and Paul Mayhew-Archer. Said Moore: "It's absolutely stellar casting for one of the nation's favorite children's classics."
STEVEN REA, INQUIRER MOVIE COLUMNIST AND CRITIC
POSTED: Thursday, January 24, 2013, 2:31 PM
'Old age ain't no place for sissies," Bette Davis once famously observed. In Quartet, set in a Georgian-style mansion on a lovely patch of English countryside, the "ain't" has been changed to a more proper "is not." But still, the point is clear: Even here at Beecham House, a stately home for retired musicians, getting old is a challenge.
The body breaks down, and sometimes the mind. And memories of past glory rush back to remind you that there's not much glory happening at present.
Adapted by Ron Harwood from his stage play, and directed - in a smart and accomplished debut - by Dustin Hoffman, Quartet is a charming and poignant investigation into the autumn years in which four friends, former opera company stars, come together to put on a show. Of course, there are obstacles to surmount along the way: Jean Horton (the ever droll and beguiling Maggie Smith), a reluctant new arrival at Beecham House, long ago broke the heart of Reginald Paget (Tom Courtenay), a dapper chap who is not happy to see Jean again.
Meanwhile, the bubbly Cissy (Pauline Collins) is showing signs of Alzheimer's - forgetfulness, disorientation - and the randy Wilf (Billy Connolly) has prostate issues. A hopeless flirt, Wilf's nonstop come-ons to Beecham's female staff, and to the attractive young doctor who runs the place (Sheridan Smith), would be offensive if his lechery weren't so benign. A man with a waggish smile and a Scottish brogue can be forgiven much.
From left, Billy Connolly, Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay and Pauline Collins are determined to go down singing.
By Linda Barnard
Movies Writer
Starring Pauline Collins, Billy Connolly, Tom Courtenay and Maggie Smith. Directed by Dustin Hoffman. 98 minutes. Opens Jan. 18 at major theatres. PG
Dustin Hoffman’s directing debut, Quartet is a bit shameless in its approach, but for those who enjoy a whimsical drama that includes scenery chewing from grand dames and hammy fellows, it’s a welcome if often predictable treat.
This gentle comedy about life in Beecham House, a British county home where retired musicians are put out to pasture while refusing to extinguish their creative sparks, is based on Oscar winner (The Pianist) Ronald Harwood’s 1999 play of the same name.
Thanks to Hoffman, it boasts well-crafted dialogue for a cast that’s about as good as it gets when it comes to actors of a certain age: Maggie Smith, fresh from collecting bouquets for The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and dispensing brickbats in Downton Abbey, is joined by Tom Courtenay (The Dresser), Scottish funnyman Billy Connolly (Mrs. Brown) and Pauline Collins (Shirley Valentine).
Former opera stars Wilf (Connolly), Cissy (Collins) and Reggie (Courtenay) are beavering away with the rest of the musical seniors on the home’s annual gala fundraising concert. When legendary diva Jean Horton (Smith) reluctantly arrives to stay, they think they may be able to reunite what was a London operatic dream team and wow the audience with their famous quartet from Rigoletto.
Fat chance, according to waspish Jean, horribly shamed to have ended up at Beecham House. But her acid tongue deflects from her real fear: she can’t sing like she used to and high notes elude her. She’d flounce off, but her cane makes that difficult.
Sweet and simple Cissy is eager to befriend her again, reminiscing about their years on the opera stage together, but Jean nastily rebuffs her. Reggie, who has a curious history with Jean, is clearly still smarting. Only Wilf, a bottom pincher and public urinator who blames his lapses in decorum on a stroke removing his social filters (don’t you believe it) can seem to sweet-talk Jean, but the effects rarely last.
Daniel Day-Lewis has taken his first step towards triple-Oscar glory by winning the coveted Best Actor gong at the Critics Choice Awards.
The Critics Choice Awards, held in California, are regarded as the most reliable guide to who will bag an Academy Award at next month's glitzy show.
And Day-Lewis (55) has taken one step closer to that golden statuette which, if he wins, will make him the only male actor in history to win a hat-trick of Best Actor Oscars. Katharine Hepburn, a 1930s super star wholater enjoyed a career revival, won four academy awards for best actress.
The 18th annual Critics Choice ceremony was attended by some of Hollywood's biggest names last night.
Anne Hathaway (30) showed off her pixie do in a shimmering Oscar de la Renta gown. Emily Blunt (29) showed off her petite physique in a fitted white dress with an embellished pearl neckline.
Her film Looper picked up the award for Best Sci-Fi.
But all eyes were on Day-Lewis, who lives in Co Wicklow, and is on the verge of making Oscar history.
Only nine men including Marlon Brando, Spencer Tracy, Tom Hanks and Dustin Hoffman have taken home the Oscar for Best Actor twice. But Day-Lewis, who holds both an Irish and British passport, will over take them all over if he wins his third award.
It is the actor's fifth nomination in the category. In 1989 he won the gong for his portrayal of Christy Brown in the movie My Left Foot.
And in 2007 Day-Lewis struck Oscar gold again for his role as Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood.
By Robbie Collin, Chief Film Critic12:43PM GMT 01 Jan 2013
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNYJZbci31c
Dir: Dustin Hoffman; Starring: Maggie Smith, Billy Connolly, Tom Courtenay, Pauline Collins, Michael Gambon. 12A cert, 98 min.
Quartet is a lovely old lolloping Labrador of a film. It bounds over to you, eyes bright and tail wagging, and you smilingly allow it curl up on your feet, despite the faint smell of damp fur and digestive biscuits.
This lighthearted drama, savvily adapted by Ronald Harwood from his own 1999 play, marks the directorial debut of Dustin Hoffman, 75, which is as strong an argument as any offered by the film itself for the good work we can still accomplish in our dotage. Hoffman may have won two acting Oscars for his roles in Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) and Rain Man (1988), but Quartet has nothing of those films’ high-strung intensity: instead this is the work of Hoffman the twinkly oldster, of Meet The Fockers (2004) and Last Chance Harvey (2008).
Quartet is smarter and better acted than both of those projects, thank goodness. It’s a film about the pressure of performance, centred on four actors who appear to be feeling next-to-none. Maggie Smith, Billy Connolly, Tom Courtenay and Pauline Collins play inhabitants of Beecham House, a plush retirement castle for classical musicians. (The magnificent Hedsor House in Buckinghamshire, where the film was shot, deserves some kind of best supporting mansion award.)
BY: BRAD BREVET
PUBLISHED: MONDAY, DECEMBER 3RD 2012 AT 5:48 PM
Any "Downton Abbey" fans out there? If so, before you check out the poster for Quartet you may want to rush over to Amazon and buy the first two season of the popular show on sale for 60% off. Otherwise, I'm sure you're recognize the face and name front and center on the just-released poster for Dustin Hoffman's directorial debut.
Based on the play by Ronald Harwood and adapted for the screen by the same man, Quartet centers on Cecily (Pauline Collins), Reggie (Tom Courtenay) and Wilfred (Billy Connolly) living in a home for retired opera singers. Every year, on October 10, there is a concert to celebrate Verdi's birthday and they take part. Jean (Maggie Smith), who used to be married to Reggie, arrives at the home and disrupts their equilibrium. She still acts like a diva, but she refuses to sing. Still, the show must go on... and it does.
The UK trailer for Dustin Hoffman's Quartet has been released.
Hoffman's first film as director stars Dame Maggie Smith as one of four retired musicians who were formerly members of the same operatic quartet.
The foursome are reunited when Smith's Jean comes to live at the same retirement home as the others, but her reluctance to perform and her failed marriage to Reg (Tom Courtenay) injects tension into proceedings.
By Anita Singh,
Showbusiness Editor11:00PM BST 15 Oct 2012
Hollywood should stop treating cinema-goers “as if they were five years old” and start catering for mature audiences, Dame Maggie Smith has said.
The 77-year-old actress, star of Downton Abbey, appealed for more films aimed at “grown-ups”.
Her latest, Quartet, is directed by Dustin Hoffman and set in a home for retired opera singers. Pauline Collins, Tom Courtenay and Billy Connolly co-star.
Dame Maggie’s last film, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, also featured a mature cast and was a box office hit.
“I think it’s because a lot of grown-ups would like films for grown-ups and about grown-ups,” she said.
Dustin Hoffman so loved Billy Connolly’s stand-up that the Hollywood star cast him in his debut film as a director — and even let him ad-lib.
Connolly, who will walk the red carpet at the British premiere at the BFI London Film Festival tonight, joins a stellar British cast of Michael Gambon, Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Pauline Collins and Sheridan Smith in Quartet, a comedy about opera singers in a retirement home.
He revealed that Hoffman allowed him to bring his wit to the script which Ronald Harwood adapted from his own play. “My character, Wilf, was a dirty old man in the nicest imaginable way. But I found him one-sided,” the comedian said. “So I ad-libbed a lot. It took the grubby air off me.”
The Big Yin, 69, got to know Hoffman, 75, in America where the Oscar-winning star is a regular at the Scotsman’s stand-up gigs. He said he was momentarily overwhelmed to be asked to join the cast but accepted after remembering how much he enjoyed playing Queen Victoria’s Scottish servant in Mrs Brown.
“I just kept thinking about Judi Dench and what a pleasant experience that was and not to be a coward.”
8:27AM EST September 30. 2012 - Where in the world is Dustin Hoffman?
In Spain at the San Sebastian Film Festival.
The actor picked up the Special 60th Annual Donostia Award Saturday evening in recognition of his career achievement.
Hoffman also closed the festival with his directorial debut, Quartet. In the film, Hoffman directs Maggie Smith and Michael Gambon as members of a home for retired opera singers who each year celebrate Verdi's birthday with a concert. The film hits theaters in January.
It happens about two-thirds of the way into Quartet, a wryly funny and often touching late-life aria about aged opera singers at a British retirement home that premiered last week at the just-ended Toronto International Film Festival.
Smith's nerve-racked diva is being pressured by her fellow residents to perform at their annual birthday salute to Verdi, and she has had enough of their goading. She prefaces her remark with the words, "I'm going to say something very rude," and then proceeds to let loose with a two-word utterance that begins with an F and ends with "you."
Fans of her imperiously proper Dowager Countess of Grantham on the TV sensation Downton Abbey, a role that might garner her another Emmy when the awards are announced Sunday, will have to wait to revel in that gasp-worthy moment until Quartet reaches theaters Dec. 28.
Has the 77-year-old dame ever employed that phrase before in a storied film career that includes two Oscar wins -- as the lead in 1969's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and a supporting turn in 1978's California Suite?
"Onscreen, never." She pauses. "But frequently in real life."
That the notoriously press-averse legend is seated here at an upscale eatery while waiting on a Cobb salad and sipping sauvignon blanc is a bit of a miracle.
Blame her reluctance on a "ghastly" male reporter who made her cry during her very first interview when she was starting out in the late '50s. Her friend and collaborator, Kenneth Williams, advised, "Don't do it anymore." And save for the occasional taped Charlie Rose appearance, Smith has mostly been able to avoid such grilling without any ill effect.
"The thing is, often press people ask questions that are so personal that even your nearest and dearest wouldn't ask them," she explains.
What sorts of questions? "Well," she replies. "THAT'S quite personal." She continues: "You know what I mean, things about past marriages." Given that her first of two nuptials caused a minor scandal when she had an affair with the married actor Robert Stephens and gave birth to the first of their two sons 10 days before they wed in 1967, her reluctance is somewhat understandable.
Oscar winnerRonald Harwood ("The Pianist") adapted his play about a group of retired opera singers who reunite for one final performance. The Weinstein Co. is rolling out this performance piece, which could appeal to the academy's aging demographic, as a Christmas treat.
Hoffman handled helming duties with aplomb, helped along by the stellar cast. Two-time Oscar winner Maggie Smith ("The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie," 1969; "California Suite," 1978) plays the diva at the center of the action. Oscar nominees Pauline Collins ("Shirley Valentine") and Tom Courtenay ("The Dresser") and Billy Connolly round out the foursome.
Smith, who has racked up six Oscar bids dating back to 1966, has not contended since her 2001 scene-stealing turn in "Gosford Park." That role was written by Julian Fellowes who went on to create for her the part of the doubtable Duchess in "Downton Abbey."
LONDON—The Right Honourable Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, glided through the chicly restored lobby of the Savoy Hotel, sat down at a corner table in the Thames Foyer and turned aside an offer of the room’s legendary high tea, requesting instead an icy glass of white wine.
Heads turned; they always do. Because this is Dame Maggie Smith, currently riding a tsunami of popularity due to the success of the PBS superseries Downton Abbey.
She also trails unassumingly behind her a train made up of 60 years in show business that has won her seven BAFTA awards, two Oscars, two Golden Globes, two Emmys, two SAG awards, an Olivier Award and a Tony.
She’s touching down briefly in Toronto over the next few days to launch her latest film at TIFF (Quartet, Dustin Hoffman’s directing debut) but, most importantly, on Monday night she will be honoured as the 2012 recipient of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival’s Legacy Award during a fundraising evening at the Four Seasons Hotel.
The 77-year-old woman who’s survived everything from quidditch (thanks to her role as Professor Minerva McGonagall in Harry Potter) to chemotherapy (a harrowing battle with cancer) has a wonderful serenity about her except, on this particular afternoon in London, when she worries about the scope of the upcoming Stratford gala.
“Is it very, very, very sort of grand?” she queries.
“I mean, is there time for me not to go if I find it all too intimidating?”
Assured that it’s not too big, that she can’t back out and that everyone there will be celebrating the four glorious years in the 1970s when she sprinkled her particular brand of stardust on Stratford, she gulps some wine and reconciles herself to going.
“But it’s terrifying,” she says in a little-girl whisper. “Why? Because it was such a vivid and clear time in my head and probably the most important years of my whole career.”
That’s no idle boast. Back in 1975, Robin Phillips, the newly appointed artistic director of Stratford, swept Smith away from the Royal Alexandra Theatre, where she was appearing in Private Lives, for a weekend of snow, solitude and creative suggestion on the shores of Lake Huron.
“It was wonderful,” she recalls. “I’d never seen such snow. I’d never known such peace. I didn’t want to leave.”
At that point, Smith was a highly regarded comedienne onstage and screen, but some critics felt she was starting to fall into certain patterns of sameness. She thought so too.
Phillips offered the antidote: classical repertory at Stratford. With comic roles you’d expect her to play, like Millimant in The Way of theWorld, balanced by parts she never thought she’d do in her lifetime, like Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra.
“I thought it was absurd, ridiculous and I told Robin so. But of course, I had said the same thing when Larry (Olivier) asked me to play Desdemona to his Othello. In both cases, I came around.”
And everyone was glad she did. The work was stunning, the world’s critics lined up to pay their respects and the Church Restaurant was packed every night with the likes of Lauren Bacall and Rudolf Nureyev.
“I’m glad all that happened for the festival’s sake, but for me it was the work, always the work, that came first,” insists Smith.
And by those standards, many Stratford-watchers feel 1977 was the finest of the quartet of years Smith spent there (1976, ’77, ’79 and ’80).
Her Virgin Queen Hippolyta paired superbly with her gossamer Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, but that only set the stage for her radiant Rosalind in As You Like It, a production still remembered with awe by anyone who saw it.
“I’m not one for souvenirs, but I have on my mantelpiece in the country a little mug and in it are two of the canvas oak leaves from that beautiful tree that hung over the stage,” admits Smith.
One of the lessons of As You Like It is that death is a part of life, but Smith rages against that when recalling her co-star from the show, Domini Blythe, who died of cancer in 2010.
“She was too young to die, too young!” says Smith. Too often, when discussing colleagues from the past, she has to ask, “Are they still with us?”
Thinking of Blythe brings to mind Smith’s own battle with breast cancer, which began in 2007.
“Some people say you have to fight cancer. But it was fighting me. The cure was worse than the disease, and it left me totally exhausted and depressed. I just hid myself away in my daughter-in-law’s flat.
“I couldn’t face anyone or anything. But you get though it, you finally get through it. But you don’t know how bad it is until you actually live through it yourself.”
At that precise moment, the waitress offers Smith another glass of wine, which she cheerfully accepts, saying, “I see no reason why not.”
And then she starts the wheels of comic invention turning again.
“There are advantages to cancer, you know. My chemo cheered up the makeup department on Harry Potter because the wig went on a great deal easier without a single hair on my head.”
Once again, some serious star power is headed to Toronto for the 37th Toronto International Film Festival, and today the full list of expected stars and filmmakers has been announced.
Some of the expected guests this year include Joss Whedon, Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, Colin Firth, Neil Jordan, Ben Affleck, Sally Potter, Dustin Hoffman, Francois Ozon, Rob Zombie, Ice-T, Selena Gomez, Zhang Yuan, Mike Newell, Noah Baumbach, and Bruce Willis.
TIFF 2012 runs from September 6 to 16. For more information visit www.tiff.net. The GATE will have ongoing coverage from this year’s festival as we celebrate our 12th year covering TIFF, so stay tuned to interviews, reviews and more.
Having wildly out-grossed expectations after banking more than $122 million worldwide, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel has shown the box office drawing power of the such seasoned stars as Maggie Smith and Judi Dench.
It stunned box office analysts by becoming the highest grossing specialty film of 2012, neatly proving there is a market for movies that don't star physically flawless twenty and thirty-somethings.
So there's really no better time for Dustin Hoffman to unveil his trailer for his first directorial effort Quartet, which stars the remarkable Smith along with Oscar nominees Pauline Collins (Shirley Valentine) and Tom Courtenay (The Dresser), as well as the ever-charming Billy Connolly, who can now be heard as the rambunctious King Fergus in Pixar's Brave.
The film, starring Maggie Smith, Billy Connolly, Michael Gambon and Pauline Collins, marks Hoffman's directorial debut.
LONDON -- Harvey Weinstein said about the acquisition of U.S. rights to Quartet, starring Maggie Smith, Billy Connolly, Michael Gambon and Pauline Collins, that he “decided to give an up-and-coming first-timer a chance.”
With his tongue firmly in his cheek, Weinstein’s comment referred to Dustin Hoffman, who makes his directorial debut with the comedy set in a home for retired opera singers. It also stars Tom Courtenay.
“We’re excited to be working with Dustin on his directorial debut," Weinstein added.
Life imitated art when Laura Carmichael (Lady Edith) was at a fashion show, but Michelle Dockery — who’ll star in Focus Features’ “Anna Karenina” opposite Keira Knightley and Jude Law — seemed to draw more attention.
Meantime, talent agency UTA is betting big on “Downton.” The shop signed Elizabeth McGovern (Lady Cora) last month, and also reps show creator Julian Fellowes.
But most of the series’ stars are currently working on British projects: Dan Stevens (Matthew Crawley) is filming Edwardian period piece “Summer in February.”
Joanne Froggatt (Anna) is shooting the Irvine Welsh adaptation “Filth” with James McAvoy and Jamie Bell.
Jessica Brown-Findlay (Lady Sybil) is starring in the movie “Shoplifters of the World,” set in 1987, with a plot revolving around the band the Smiths.
And Dame Maggie Smith (the Dowager Countess) has wrapped Dustin Hoffman’s feature directorial debut “Quartet” for BBC Films.
Meanwhile, Hollywood’s already come to “Downton” — Shirley MacLaine’s in England filming for 2 1/2 weeks this month as the show’s newest character.
OLD faves are coming back and new shows will win hearts faster than Downton's Mr Crawley leaping from a wheelchair. Here LUCY CONNOLLY looks ahead to 2012's TV treats.
January
THE year gets off to a cracking start with great new series and some welcome returns.
Tomorrow sees the start of the second series of BBC1's Sherlock, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman.
Call The Midwife, starring Miranda Hart and Jenny Agutter, will be new to BBC1. It follows the lives of a group of midwives in the Fifties in London's East End. And the con is back on, for the last time, as Hustle returns.
Gavin and Stacey's Ruth Jones makes her first solo outing in Sky1's new sitcom Stella. On the same channel you can also catch the second series of Mad Dogs, starring Philip Glenister and Max Beesley.
Final series ... Desperate Housewives
ABC
Dancing On Ice returns to ITV1 with some changes — new host Christine Bleakley takes over from Holly Willoughby and Katarina Witt and Louie Spence join the judging panel to replace Emma Bunton and Jason Gardiner. Ciaran Hinds returns in ITV1's Above Suspicion: Silent Scream.
The ladies of Wisteria Lane return to Channel 4 for the eighth — and final — series of Desperate Housewives and Shameless is back too.
Much-loved ... Shameless
Channel 4
The adventures of the young Inspector Morse are told in ITV1's Endeavour while a new drama about angels, Eternal Law, starts.
Elf star Zooey Deschanel tries her hand at TV in the Channel 4 sitcom New Girl, new journalism comedy Hacks starts, One Born Every Minute returns and Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy is coming to E4.
Second series ... Sherlock
BBC
February
NEW series starting this month include Birdsong, a BBC1 adaptation of Sebastian Faulks' novel set during the First World War.
There's also Inside Men — a drama with Steven Mackintosh about staffers at a security depot who plan a robbery.
Racing drama ... Dustin Hoffman
Flynet
Hollyoaks' Emma Rigby stars in Prisoners' Wives and This Is England's Vicky McClure joins Gina McKee and Neil Morrissey for new BBC2 police drama Line Of Duty.
Dustin Hoffman comes to Sky Atlantic in Luck, a drama about horse racing. And Chris Moyles and Stacey Solomon will host Sky Living's new dating show Love Machine.
Adaptation ... Birdsong
BBC
Claire Danes plays a Jack Bauer-style anti-terrorism agent in top new US drama Homeland, showing on More4, while 2 Broke Girls is a new US sitcom about ex-waitresses who set up a cupcake shop.
Returning shows include Room 101 with new host Frank Skinner plus Upstairs Downstairs, Waterloo Road, Whitechapel, Wild At Heart, Midsomer Murders, Benidorm, Being Human, True Blood and BBC4's Olympics comedy Twenty Twelve. Harry Hill is back for his final series of TV Burp on ITV1.
Spring
THE BBC's answer to The X Factor, The Voice, starts in March, with celebrity mentors including Jessie J, Will.i.am and Tom Jones.
Holly Willoughby and Reggie Yates are on presenting duties.
Spring will also see the arrival of the fifth series of smash US drama Mad Men to Sky Atlantic.The channel will also host the return of Game Of Thrones.
In April, Britain's Got Talent will be back, with Ant and Dec hosting and a judging panel rumoured to include David Walliams, Samantha Womack and Paul O'Grady.
David Tennant and Billie Piper team up with David Morrissey and Lacey Turner for BBC1's improvised drama Love Life.
Another former Doctor Who, Christopher Eccleston, will star in new drama The Fuse as an alcoholic accidental hero.
Business challenge ... The Apprentice
Titanic — a lavish four-part drama from Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes — will mark the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the liner in April. It will star Linus Roache, Toby Jones and Celia Imrie.
Popular dramas Scott & Bailey, Vera, Lewis, Case Sensitive and Munro will all return to ITV1. Sky1 will see another series of Strike Back plus the start of Smash — described as a "grown-up Glee" and starring Jack Davenport and Will & Grace's Debra Messing.
The IT Crowd's Chris O'Dowd writes and stars in Sky1's Moone Boy, a semi-autobiographical sitcom about a lad growing up in Ireland.
Acclaimed ... Mad Men
In the wake of the success of The Killing, BBC4 has snapped up several new Scandinavian dramas, including Borgen, Sebastian Bergman and The Bridge. There will also be more episodes of Wallander, starring Kenneth Branagh.
There's a new Stephen Poliakoff BBC2 drama, Dancing On The Edge, which stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as a jazz musician in 1930s London.
Stephen Graham and Warren Brown team up for the BBC1 hard-hitting crime drama Savage, set in Liverpool.
There will also be a series of Shakespeare adaptations, with plays including Richard II and Henry V brought to the screen with star-studded casts including John Hurt, Patrick Stewart, Maxine Peake and Julie Walters. May will see the return of The Apprentice and the 57th Eurovision Song Contest comes from Azerbaijan.
Summer
IT'S set to be a summer of wall-to-wall sport on the box with some huge events taking place.
And there's none bigger than the Olympics and Paralympics, especially as London, together with other UK venues, will be playing host.
Comeback ... Dallas
Scope
Football fans will enjoy the European Championships, taking place in Poland and the Ukraine, and there will also be tennis at Wimbledon, the Tour de France and British Open.
To tie in with the Olympics, there will be a new Absolutely Fabulous special as well as BBC1 drama Bert And Dickie.
It will star Doctor Who's Matt Smith and will tell the story of British rowers Bert Bushnell and Dickie Burnell, who won gold at the 1948 Olympics.
Olympic story ... Matt Smith
The big non-sporting TV event of the summer has to be the return of the huge 1980s US soap Dallas, which has been revamped and will air on Channel Five.
All the original stars will return — Larry Hagman, Linda Gray and Patrick Duffy — and they will be joined by a new generation of Ewings, including Desperate Housewives' Jesse Metcalfe. Timothy Spall and Gavin & Stacey's Joanna Page will be in new BBC1 comedy drama The Syndicate.
It is written by Kay Mellor and follows supermarket workers in Leeds who win the Lotto.
New series ... X Factor
The Hour will be back on BBC2 for a second series, with The Thick Of It's Peter Capaldi joining the cast.
Other returning series include My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding, Mount Pleasant, The Accused, Silk, The Big C, Poirot, Miss Marple, DCI Banks and Kidnap And Ransom.
Charlie Brooker takes the mickey out of police dramas with A Touch Of Cloth, a new comedy for Sky1 starring John Hannah and Suranne Jones. And cult film Napoleon Dynamite gets a cartoon remake for a new animated series on Channel 4.
Then in August, it's time to face the music again.
The X Factor returns with a judging panel including . . . who knows?
Autumn
SEPTEMBER sees the return of some of 2011's top shows, from a new series of Strictly Come Dancing and Downton Abbey to the long-awaited third run of award-winning sitcom Miranda which moves from BBC2 to BBC1.
October brings the 40th anniversary of Emmerdale — no doubt there will be some explosive storylines to celebrate.
Tenth series ... Red Dwarf
BBC
In November it is Channel 4's 30th anniversary with a special Big Fat Quiz hosted by Jimmy Carr.
Matt Smith will once again be back as Doctor Who, with Karen Gillan as his companion. But this series will be her last as Amy Pond's departure from the Tardis has already been announced.
There will be a new crime drama on BBC1, Nemesis, which stars former Home And Away actress Melissa George and Mistresses' Adam Rayner.
Back on screens ... Downton Abbey
ITV
ITV1 will air The Scapegoat, an adaptation of the Daphne du Maurier short story set in 1952 and starring Matthew Rhys, Dame Eileen Atkins and Sheridan Smith.
Some of the country's top comic actresses — Julia Davis, Sharon Horgan and Olivia Colman — will star in Bad Sugar, a new sitcom on Channel 4.
Return ... Strictly Come Dancing
Jack Whitehall has been given his own BBC3 show, Bad Education, in which the young comic both writes and stars as useless secondary school teacher Alfie.
The gritty, critically-acclaimed drama Top Boy will be back for a second series while Red Dwarf makes a return on Dave for an incredible tenth series, with original cast members including Craig Charles.
Fortieth anniversary ... Emmerdale
Sky Atlantic will screen Veep, a new HBO series from comedy anarchists Armando Iannucci and Chris Morris.
Sienna Miller will star in The Girl, a BBC2 feature-length drama about Alfred Hitchcock. In it she plays his love obsession Tippi Hedren — the actress who played the lead in The Birds.
At Christmas there will be specials of The Royle Family and Doctor Who — and a remake of The Snowman on Channel 4.
Out with the old...
DESPITE two trophies at this month's British Comedy Awards and higher ratings than ever, BBC2's Shooting Stars was axed.
And, after their successful transfer to the big screen, The Inbetweeners won't return for any more TV series either.
Out ... Secret Diary Of A Call Girl
Spooks bowed out in 2011 with an explosive finale, as did long-running crime dramas Taggart and Waking The Dead.
After four series, Billie Piper hung up her saucy underwear and won't be back for any more Secret Diary Of A Call Girl, while last orders were also called on Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps.
Finished ... The Inbetweeners
Critically acclaimed comedy drama Sirens, following a group of paramedics, sadly won't be returning to Channel 4.
And there are a couple of big US dramas which, after just one series, won't be back, including The Event and Pan Am.
Axed ... Shooting Stars
Other cancelled shows include Entourage and Brothers & Sisters.
Sci-fi fans were devastated to discover Doctor Who Confidential won't be back, Smallville had reached the end of the road and the Beeb's big budget drama Outcasts was culled after just one series.
Studios are preparing a series of new releases for 2012 after the success of The King’s Speech proved that films aimed at older cinema-goers can be box office hits.
They include The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, which stars the cream of British acting talent as retirees who decide to live out their autumn years in an Indian palace.
Dames Maggie Smith and Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Penelope Wilton, Celia Imrie, Tom Wilkinson and Ronald Pickup play characters who each have a different reason for upping sticks.
Dame Judi Dench is recently widowed; Nighy and Wilton are a middle-class couple who find they have insufficient savings to fund a decent retirement in England; Celia Imrie is hoping to land a rich maharaja; and Dame Maggie Smith plays against type as a working class Londoner who makes the trip with great reluctance after her hip replacement operation is outsourced to Rajasthan.
The film, due to be released in February, is based on a Deborah Moggach novel, These Foolish Things. The author said of the story: “It came about because I’d been thinking a lot about growing older, about what is going to happen to us all.
“The population is ageing - for the first time, the over-50s outnumber the rest of us - and it’s getting older.
“Where are we all going to live? Care homes are closing, pensions are dwindling and life expectancy is rising. Then I had a brainwave. We live in a global age - the internet, cheap travel, satellite TV. Our healthcare is sourced from the developing countries. How about turning the tables and outsourcing the elderly?”
Old age is also at the heart of Dustin Hoffman’s forthcoming directorial debut, Quartet, a gentle drama about four opera singers living in the same retirement home.
Hoffman has assembled a British cast that includes Tom Courtenay, Pauline Collins, Billy Connolly and another appearance by Dame Maggie Smith.
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Based on Ronald Harwood’s stage play of the same name, it is billed as “a joyous film about redefining old age and growing old with hope”.
Other films that should play well to a mature audience include Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, a comic story of “late-blooming love” starring Ewan McGregor as a government scientist tasked with an impossible assignment in the Middle East; Ralph Fiennes’ modern-day adaptation of Coriolanus; and a BBC Films version of Great Expectations starring Helena Bonham Carter as Miss Havisham.
The Artist, an homage to the silent movie era tipped to clean up during the awards season, is release on December 30.
Meryl Streep’s long-awaited performance as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady is one of several biopics aimed at older viewers. The coming weeks will see the release of The Lady, about Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi; W.E., Madonna’s take on the life of Wallis Simpson; and J Edgar, directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Leonardo Di Caprio as FBI director J Edgar Hoover.
The runaway success of The King’s Speech took the film industry by surprise. It grossed £247 million, second only to the final Harry Potter instalment at the UK box office.
It easily outstripped big-budget teenage fare such as Transformers 3 and the latest Twilight film. The success of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy also made the case that audiences are crying out for intelligent drama.
Andrew Collins, broadcaster and film editor of Radio Times said:
"In December, I went to an afternoon screening of Terence Davies' The Deep Blue Sea, his boldly old-fashioned adaptation of the 1952 Terrence Rattigan play. It had only just opened, to rapturous reviews, and the screen was encouragingly full. I'd say that my wife and I were the only people in there who didn't have grey or white hair.
"I found this massively positive. Films these days are all too tailored for an imaginary teenage boy, the most lucrative and available demographic. It was lovely to be able to sit down in a cinema and enjoy a grown-up film containing no violence and no explicit sex, with patrons who were over 50 and in many cases over 60.
"In all, this seemed a defining moment for me, and I hope to experience it more and more in the years to come as film-makers and studios recognise that the over-50s are an audience worth targeting."
