Matthew Goode, Matthew Rhys: The Wine Show: it's Top Gear for booze … I hate myself for loving it

THE GUARDIAN
Stuart Heritage
11 April, 2016

When ITV ran its first trailer for The Wine Show about a month ago, you could be forgiven for thinking the whole thing was a joke. An obscene joke about two highly acclaimed actors – a wildly-bearded Matthew Rhys and an unstoppably plummy Matthew Goode – who’d exploited their star power to get smashed on plonk inside a beautiful Umbrian villa, while getting paid for it.

The trailer was startlingly awful in every conceivable way. The narration was awkward and stilted in a manner that suggested it had been translated into English and back again several times. The photography looked as if it had been shot for a CNN Europe commercial about the economic benefits of utilising Montenegro as a regional trade hub. And in the middle of it were the two Matthews, obsequiously yucking it up like a grotesque Fluck and Law parody of the coddled one-percent. It was like watching a piece of deranged Alan Partridge fan fiction come to life. It must have been a joke. Surely it was a joke. I watched the trailer over and over again, looking for the slightest wink to prove that this was all somehow an elaborate joke. The title? Was that it? Was The Wine Show supposed to be a deliberately awful pun on The One Show? Was that the joke

The Wine Show began on ITV4 last night. I watched it specifically to hate it. The fact that I couldn’t has made me almost irreversibly furious.

Because, god help the lot of us, The Wine Show is actually quite good. It is, in essence, somewhere between a Countryfile and a Top Gear for booze. Given time to breathe, the photography that came off as cheesy in the trailer is actually rather beautiful. The production values are astonishing. It’s dappled, woozy, HD travel porn that lingers on beads of early-morning vineyard dew and charmingly tumbledown magic-hour Italian villages in a way that immediately makes you want to chuck some shirts in a bag and head for the airport.

And the actual content is surprisingly grown up, too. Despite the trailer strongly suggesting that the series would consist of nothing but Rhys and Goode slowly contracting gout, the bulk of the presenting is left to wine expert Joe Fattorini. He’s a revelation, arguably the Attenborough of Oddbins. Simultaneously knowledgable and awestruck, Fattorini managed to turn the climax to a throwaway 10-minute segment about Napoleon’s favourite booze into a genuinely compelling piece of television. “This wine probably cheered someone up when Mozart died”, he quavered at one point, and it didn’t even sound a tenth as stupid as it looks written down.

READ MORE HERE: http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/apr/11/the-wine-show-its-top-gear-for-booze-i-hate-myself-for-loving-it

Death Comes to Pemberley: Matthew Rhys on Darcy and billowing shirts

DIGITAL SPY
By Morgan Jeffery
Monday, Dec 16 2013, 4:00am EST



Get ready for a whole new Darcy - The Americans star Matthew Rhys plays literature's most iconic lover (sorry, Heathcliff) in BBC One's new three-part drama Death Comes to Pemberley.

Based on the novel by PD James, Death Comes to Pemberley is part Pride and Prejudice sequel, part murder-mystery and also stars Anna Maxwell Martin, Matthew Goode and Doctor Who's Jenna Coleman.

On set, Rhys opened up about stepping into Colin Firth's shoes - or rather donning his shirt - and reveals why his is a very different Darcy...

Matthew is slightly jealous of his co-star Matthew Goode...

"He's got it all - he's got the rock star looks, the rock star attitude, hollow legs, vast knowledge. He's like Stephen Fry - he knows something about everything... he actually knows a lot about everything.

"He's got that voice. He gets the accent for free - I feel like a complete fake. He's like Rik Mayall playing Flashheart."

Matthew was terrified of following Colin Firth as Darcy...

"It's sort of terrifying - I didn't realize the reaction would be so strong. The book and those characters mean such a great amount to so many people. They have this incredible connection and relationship with those characters, who they should be and how they should be played.

"Colin and Jennifer [Ehle] sort of nailed it. Matthew Macfadyen did brilliantly [in the 2005 film], but he was held up in comparison as well. It's scary to play those slightly iconic characters – the ones that people have that relationship with."


Read more: http://www.digitalspy.com/british-tv/news/a536252/death-comes-to-pemberley-matthew-rhys-on-darcy-and-billowing-shirts.html#ixzz2ngNpZA3u 
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Life in the Downton Abbey mosh pit, plus Mr. Darcy

LEADER POST
BY ALEX STRACHAN, POSTMEDIA NEWS

The heckling started early, from the back of the room, where the white wine flowed a little too freely and a handful of Downton Abbey enthusiasts were getting a little too enthusiastic at seeing Lady Mary, Lady Edith, Anna Bates, Mrs. Hughes and Daisy Mason, in the flesh, as it were. It was The Ladies of Downton Abbey Night on one of the final evenings of the threeweek summer meeting of the Television Critics Association, and the combination of evening wear, lively conversation and bounteous quantities of Chardonnay was having its effect.

The coming fall season will see some of the most witless, lowbrow, low-class sitcoms ever to appear on the small screen. "You ain't seen nuthin'" one inebriated reveller shouted, "until you've seen Super Fun Night."

And whatever faults Downton Abbey may have had in its third season, anything is a tonic after being forced to sit through two weeks of network sitcoms like Super Fun Night, with its scene in which quasi-comedienne Rebel Wilson opens her party dress and exposes two flashing red lights over her breasts, in what's meant to be a sight gag. The Dowager Countess would not be amused.

Downton Abbey doesn't return to PBS's Masterpiece showcase until January, but the Public Broadcasting Service flew The Ladies of Downton - two-time Emmynominated Michelle Dockery and her Downton castmates Joanne Froggatt, Phyllis Logan, Sophie McShera and Laura Carmichael - to the U.S. West Coast from London, England, where filming on Downton Abbey's Season 4 is nearly complete.

The evening was bracketed by dinner-with-wine on one end and a cocktail party on the other, with an impromptu news conference in-between hosted by Masterpiece Classic's longtime executive producer Rebecca Eaton and veteran Downton Abbey executive-producer Gareth Neame, who is also producing The Hollow Crown, PBS's exhaustive, full-length co-production of Shakespeare's Henry IV, in outdoor locations in the U.K. and France.

Eaton opened her part of the evening by gamely working her way through several Masterpiece casting announcements, which were greeted from the back of the room by attendant shrieks of exaggerated joy and, at one point, someone mimicking a horse neighing, followed by the inevitable cry, "Frau Blücher!" Michael Kitchen will return as Christopher Foyle for a fifth season of Foyle's War - even though, Eaton noted dryly, "the war, unfortunately, is over.

"It's still called Foyle's War, though. It's now the 1950s. He is in London, and he is still solving crimes."

Masterpiece is co-producing a new ITV miniseries, Breathless, starring Jack Davenport - mere mention of Davenport's name provoked paroxysms of ecstasy from the back of the room - as a medical practitioner.

"It's set in the 1960s in London," Eaton soldiered on. "There are a lot of women. He happens to be an Ob/Gyn."

More shrieks of ecstasy, followed by one or two howls of mock indignation.

"So you can imagine the rest," Eaton said, dryly.

"We're announcing another miniseries," she continued, "miniseries being our meatand-drink on Masterpiece, a piece called Death Comes to Pemberley, based on the book by P.D. James. It's her version of what might have happened six years after Elizabeth Bennet married Mr. Darcy. We will air it in 2014. It stars Anna Maxwell Martin as Elizabeth Bennet. You know her from The Bletchley Circle, as well as from Bleak House. Mr. Darcy. Who is Mr. Darcy? He is Matthew Rhys from The Americans."

The screams were instantaneous, and they were loud. Matthew Rhys! The back of the room went wild.

"Oh, you like that," Eaton said. "You like that. And who plays Mr. Wickham? Do you want to know?"Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! "Or are you just going to ... Mr. Wick will be played by Matthew Goode."


READ MORE HERE: http://www.leaderpost.com/entertainment/Life+Downton+Abbey+mosh/8781339/story.html

Mr Darcy through the ages (RADIO TIMES)

From Colin Firth's famous lake scene to Laurence Olivier's romantic declaration, we take a trip down memory lane to revisit our favourite portrayals of Austen's brooding hero

Susanna Lazarus

6:27 PM, 28 May 2013

The sight of Colin Firth in his white shirt, breeches and enviable sideburns, emerging from Pemberley's lake certainly stirred the heart of Elizabeth Bennet, not to mention the pulses of countless female viewers across the globe. But while his Mr Darcy remains one of the most iconic in TV history, his portrayal was not the first and is certainly not the last, with the recent announcement that Matthew Rhys will become the latest actor to step into the brooding bachelor's shoes in new BBC serial, Death Comes to Pemberley.

So to celebrate the upcoming three-part adaptation of PD James's Austen spin-off, we thought we'd indulge in a run-through of the finest Mr Darcy's in TV and film history. From Laurence Olivier's 1940s incarnation to Martin Henderson's Bollywood inspired Bride and Prejudice turn, not to mention Matthew Macfadyen's starring role opposite Keira Knightley, here is an essential reminiscence of the very best Mr Darcys...

Laurence Olivier

Even in black and white, Laurence Olivier smoulders as Lizzie Bennet's dashing suitor. After seeing to her sister Lydia's predicament – following her scandalous elopement with deceptive soldier Mr Wickham – Darcy returns to the Bennet household bearing news of Mr Bingley's imminent proposal. But the gallant gent has a surprise of his own up his voluminous sleeve – a second proposal to Lizzie, the outspoken object of his affections. This Mr Darcy has none of the awkward stuttering of latter portrayals – Olivier's smooth delivery and bushy sideburns make for a easy-on-the-eye romantic hero as he shares a smooch with his "dear, beautiful Lizzie".


David Rintoul



Fast-forward to 1980 and David Rintoul was telling Lizzie Bennet "how much I ardently admire and love you" in Darcy's cringe-worthy first proposal. A note to any rich, comely gentlemen readying himself to ask for his loved one's hand in marriage: do not first berate her for "the inferiority of her family, the miserable connection, the degradation and the lack of judgement" she displays. It doesn't go down too well, as can be seen in the following clip...


Matthew Macfadyen


Matthew Macfadyen's turn in Mr Darcy's shoes opposite Hollywood A-lister Keira Knightley was much anticipated – and his frosty presence did not disappoint. Directed by Atonement's Joe Wright, this 2005 silver screen production saw Pride and Prejudice adapted for a 21st century audience, with Macfadyen's brooding presence a rare depiction capable of rivalling Firth's. While his ill-concealed regard for Lizzie emerges later in the film, the following scene sees the pair fire barbed comments back and forth as they dance together during Mr Bingham's Netherfield Ball.

SEE MORE DARCYS:  http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2013-05-28/mr-darcy-through-the-ages

Matthew Rhys: My challenge to fill Colin Firth’s breeches, by new Mr Darcy (EXPRESS)

MR DARCY is heading back to our screens – with rising star Matthew Rhys stepping into Colin Firth’s famous breeches.

By: Tom EdwardPublished: Mon, May 27, 2013

Eighteen years after Firth made millions of women swoon by climbing out of a lake with wet clothes clinging to his torso, his brooding character is returning to the BBC in an adaptation of Death Comes To Pemberley.

Based on a murder mystery novel by PD James, the series tells of events after Jane Austen’s Pride And Prejudice creations Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet have been married for six years.

Rhys, a 38-year-old Welshman, is already an emerging star in the US, where he plays an undercover KGB officer living in Washington in drama series The Americans.

READ MORE: http://www.express.co.uk/news/showbiz/402889/My-challenge-to-fill-Colin-Firth-s-breeches-by-new-Mr-Darcy

Benedict Cumberbatch, Damian Lewis: British Stars In The Running For US TV Awards

Stars of Homeland and Parade's End head the British nominations for major television awards across the Pond.

By JENNY MANNING

Published: 23rd May 2013

  

DAMIAN Lewis and Benedict Cumberbatch are among a host of stars flying the flag for Britain at the 2013 American Critics’ Choice Television Awards.

The two actors have been honoured with nominations for their performances in Homeland and BBC mini-series Parade’s End respectively.

Lewis, whose Homeland co-star Claire Danes is also nominated, faces competition for best actor from fellow Brits Andrew Lincoln and Matthew Rhys, together with Kevin Spacey, Bryan Cranston and Timothy Olyphant.

Cumberbatch will battle it out against Behind The Candelabra stars Michael Douglas and Matt Damon, as well as Toby Jones, Al Pacino and Dominic West, in the best actor in a movie or mini-series field.

While Brit actresses Sienna Miller and Imelda Staunton have received nods for their portrayals of Tippi Hedren and Alfred Hitchcock’s wife Alma Reville in the BBC and HBO TV drama The Girl.

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/4939693/Damian-Lewis-and-Benedict-Cumberbatch-given-American-Critics-Choice-Television-Awards-nods.html#ixzz2UDNMP8x8

Matthew Rhys leans on fellow Welshmen (BELFAST TELEGRAPH)

Matthew Rhys says it's "second nature" that he "gravitates" towards fellow Welsh actors Michael Sheen and Ioan Gruffudd.

The three stars have all enjoyed success in Hollywood since they decided to leave their homeland and move to the US. However, Matthew admits that he sometimes feels homesick and seeks comfort in a group of Welsh pals living near him.

"As a nation there aren't many of us, so if we find ourselves in Los Angeles all doing the same job then I think its second nature that we all gravitate towards each other," he said during an interview for UK TV show Lorraine. "More often than not, we bump into each other in random places. We aren't always in LA at the same time, so it's a case of seeing other somewhere like Brighton or Bristol when we are on location."

Matthew is best known for his role in US TV show Brothers & Sisters, and also starred alongside Keira Knightley and Sienna Miller in The Edge of Love.

The 37-year-old star loves being outdoors and is a keen horse rider.



Read more: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/news/matthew-rhys-leans-on-fellow-welshmen-16201019.html

Masterpiece Classic 2012 Season (Masterpiece Classic)

Highlights from the 2012 Masterpiece Classic Season

• 
• 
  
  January 8 to February 19, 2012
  Downton Abbey Season 2
  Downton Abbey season 2 resumes the story of aristocrats and servants in the tumultuous World War I era. The international hit is written by Julian Fellowes and stars Maggie Smith, Elizabeth McGovern, and Hugh Bonneville among others.    

• April 1 & 8, 2012
  Great Expectations
  Gillian Anderson, David Suchet and Ray Winstone star in this new adaptation of Great Expectations, widely considered one of the greatest novels by Charles Dickens. Great Expectations follows orphan boy Pip as he rises from an apprentice to a gentleman.

• April 15, 2012
  The Mystery of Edwin Drood
  The Mystery Of Edwin Drood is a psychological thriller about a provincial choirmaster's obsession with 17-year-old Rosa Bud and the lengths he will go to to attain her. The cast includes Matthew Rhys (Brothers & Sisters) and Julia MacKenzie (Miss Marple).

• April 22 & 29, 2012
  Birdsong
  An adaptation of Sebastian Faulk's novel about lovers torn apart by World War I. Eddie Redmayne (The Pillars of the Earth) plays Stephen Wrayford, whose pre-war affair with Isabelle Azaire (Clemence Poesy, Harry Potter films) has an enduring effect on him as he fights in the trenches.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/classic/index.html

Tune in and swoon over telly’s unlikely hunks (Mail On-Line)

By Kathryn Knight
Last updated at 12:22 PM on 16th January 2012


Quite unexpectedly, our TV screens have been over-run by dishy thesps.

We’ve had the delightful spectacle of Benedict Cumberbatch swooshing around the small screen with mesmerising intensity as a modern-day Sherlock Holmes.

An offbeat hunk he may be, but I defy any woman not to feel a frisson at the way he swirls his black coat.

Swoon! Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock (left) and Iain de Caestecker as the youthful James Herriot

Prefer a historical romance? There’s been an embarrassment of breeches. No sooner had we wiped away the tears after chisel-cheekboned Dan Stevens’s snowy proposal in the Downton Abbey Christmas special than we were able to whisk ourselves back to Victorian times and the spectacle of Douglas Booth as the doe-eyed Pip in the BBC’s Great Expectations.

Hot on his heels we had more Victorian smoulder in The Mystery Of Edwin Drood, with Freddie Fox in the title role and Matthew Rhys as the brooding John Jasper.
Shaun Evans kicked off 2012 in heart-fluttering fashion as a young Inspector Morse in a Mod-style jacket, while Iain de Caestecker charmed us as the youthful James Herriot.

While there have always been telly hunks (I grew up fixated with Dempsey & Makepeace, moving on to Robin of Sherwood as played by Michael Praed), it was slim pickings compared to what the menfolk were offered.

For every Robin of Sherwood there was Miss World and dozens of game shows with middle-aged males fawned over by skimpily clad blondes.

Double whammy: Matthew Rhys as John Jasper (left) and Freddie Fox as Edwin Drood in the BBC's adaptation of Dickens' final novel

Model performances: Dan Stevens' Matthew Crawley in Downton Abbey (left) and Douglas Booth as Pip in Great Expectations

So it was time for TV parity. Why it’s come now is hard to say, though it can’t be entirely coincidence that there are more women in TV’s top jobs.

Who’s to say they don’t have a tick list of top ten telly hunks on their desk when they commission the latest three-parter?

The process wouldn’t be a million miles away from how female roles seem to have been cast in television since the first black and white picture flickered into life (‘Long hair? Decent pair of a legs and a cleavage? You’re in.’).

Now it’s our turn. Who’s for an updated Play Your Cards Right with a parade of shapely men in trunks?


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2087049/Benedict-Cumberbatch-Sherlock-Downton-Abbeys-Dan-Stevens-TVs-unlikely-hunks.html#ixzz1jcuqBWlS

IOAN GRUFFUDD BID TO SAVE A FARM

 

ABOVE: Fantastic Four star Ioan Grufford

We have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to protect a small corner of Snowdonia

Ioan Gruffudd

11th October 2011

By Daily Star Reporter

IOAN Gruffudd has stepped in to help save a farm in his Welsh homeland.

The Fantastic Four star, 38, is backing a £1million National Trust appeal to buy Llyndy Isaf in Snowdonia.  He joins fellow movie stars Catherine Zeta-Jones, 42, and Matthew Rhys, 36, in the campaign.

Ioan said: “We have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to protect a small corner of Snowdonia.”

The charity’s bid to buy the iconic 600-acre site in Nant Gwynant is its biggest countryside appeal in a decade.