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Aug. 2nd, 2005 01:26 amYesterday evening I watched the commentaries on the DVD of series 2 or Press Gang. They were actually really interesting, if like me you love random facts. The commentaries were provided by Julia Sawalha and Stephen Moffat (the guy who wrote the series). I hadn't realised that Stephen Moffat went on to write Coupling. He hasn't lost his touch in the 15 years since Press Gang, especially as far as writing cliffhanger/ambiguous endings is concerned. I was reminded that Julia Sawalha and Dexter Fletcher were actually a couple whilst they were filming some of the series. It was good to hear her talking about him fondly. Through some of the commentary it was difficult to tell whether she was talking about the on screen or off screen relationship! This, of course, goes some way to explaining why they made such a convincing couple on screen. The kisses were real! It reminded me of Katie Holmes and Joshua Jackson, another young couple who met on the set of a teen drama and remained close after they broke up. It was particularly interesting to hear that DF had Chicken Pox when the end of series two was being filmed and scenes had to be re written so he wasn't standing too close to anyone. This fitted in with the plot well as Spike and Lynda had just split up after he had told her that he loved her. Spike had also suffered the trauma of being buried alive in a gas explosion a few weeks before so it was believeable that he would have been moping around and looking a bit off colour. The commentaries worked well as SM remembered facts about the scripting, locations and plot whilst JS was more on a trip down memory lane about things which went on during filming. JS couldn't remember much about the plots at all but I guess that's what happens when you're an actor, especially as most series aren't filmed in anything like the right order. I know that with The Tribe they used to film three or four episodes at a time.
Several years ago, when I was doing my A-Levels so it must've been about 1999, I saw Julia Sawalha perform in a play called 'The Memory of Water' at Richmond Theatre. It was a touring production but it went on to a successful run in the West End. It was the first time I'd seen Julia perform since Faith in the Future in about 1995 and I was really suprised at how much weight she'd put on. It made me wonder whether, like so many other young stars, she had consciously been under eating when she was younger. There have been some posts on IMDB saying that JS is no longer in the public eye because of her weight. I don't think that is entirely the case. According to the IMDB listings she has almost constantly been in work since 1989 which isn't a bad record for an actress. Although she hasn't done many different things it is important to remember that much of her work has been in TV and many of the programmes were several series long ie. Press Gang, Second Thoughts, Absolutely Fabulous & Faith in the Future and therefore took up a great deal of her time. Also, the Hornblower stories took a notoriously long time to film so they must have taken up most of the early 2000s. Additionally, IMDB doesn't list any theatre work JS chose to take part in. Julia's career has, in my opinion, actually been quite odd to date. She was born in 1968 and therefore was 20 when the first series of Press Gang was filmed. So when she first came into the public eye she was 20 playing 16/17. She played a character of a similar age in Second Thoughts (I saw a rerun on ITV3 the other day and she was at Uni) and then in 1992 (when she was 24) started playing Saffy in Ab Fab. Saffy was in the Sixth Form during the first series of Ab Fab so in the public perception she was actually getting younger! In 1995 she was in Pride and Prejudice again playing a much younger character. I don't think it was really until 2003 when she appeared in Jonathan Creek that she was given a real adult TV role. By this point she was 35! It's always difficult for an actor to go from being a young 'romantic lead' type to adult roles so maybe Julia's career will rejuvinate in a few years when people have got used to her as being older. By the sound of recent reports though she has turned her back on showbusiness completely. She started acting at 15 so she's already had a 20 year plus career and, in my opinion, deserves a break if that's what she wants. Meanwhile, Dexter Fletcher seems to be appearing in loads of stuff. Although, I would argue that, with the exception of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels the stuff he has appeared in hasn't been as high profile as JS. Many of the films seem to have sunk without trace. There is no denying that both of them are fine actors particularly in comedic roles.
Weirdly, Dexter Fletcher's first role was in Bugsy Malone. He was only 10 years old when he appeared as Babyface. Bugsy Malone is a brilliant film to spot people who went on to be famous when they were very young. Jodie Foster and Scott Baio are the most noteable but you can also spot Bonnie Langford (who was only 8), Andrew Paul (he's in Where the Heart Is at the moment) and Mark Curry (used to be a Blue Peter presenter when I was a kid).
I downloaded my free ringtone from the O2 website. It took a lot of choosing as the fact that they're polyphonic tended to make them sound like the sort of sax based muzak they used to play in Little Chefs when I was a kid! In the end I went for Charley by Prodigy as it sounded closest too the original. The downloading process was suprisingly simple. It was a good job there weren't any wallpapers I liked on the site or I would've been tempted to take one of them as well and I would've had to pay for that. At the moment I've got a picture of Spike and Linda which I took off of the TV as my wallpaper. It's really sharp bearing mind it was from an ordinary TV screen taken with a tiny camera. Hopefully, I'll be able to replace it with a piccie of my mates when after I get together with them next.
Went to Richmond shopping again. This time with mum. All I got was a copy of the Evening Standard (to send the Monday job pages to my friend in Manchester), lunch and a frappachino. I couldn't get a suit as Next was packed with sale stuff. Grrrr. I should've taken my week off after sale season. Things might be better by October half term though, I hope.
Just a thought to finish off with. I'm 5 feet 7 inches and a bit tall without any shoes on. This is only 3 inches above the national average height for women I'm told. Bearing this in mind, why do I always fancy short blokes? Am I on a subconcious mission to make my self look stupid walking along the street with them? Cardiff bloke is 5 foot 9ish and I'm bigger than him in relatively small heels. My first serious boyfriend was actually smaller than me! I blame him for the problem in fact. I got used to resting my head on his shoulder when we hugged and kissing him with out craning my neck backwards. Now it feels odd if I have to look up to someone and I'm not comfortable. He's got a lot to answer for that man. He must like taller women as he went on to marry someone who's taller than me!
Several years ago, when I was doing my A-Levels so it must've been about 1999, I saw Julia Sawalha perform in a play called 'The Memory of Water' at Richmond Theatre. It was a touring production but it went on to a successful run in the West End. It was the first time I'd seen Julia perform since Faith in the Future in about 1995 and I was really suprised at how much weight she'd put on. It made me wonder whether, like so many other young stars, she had consciously been under eating when she was younger. There have been some posts on IMDB saying that JS is no longer in the public eye because of her weight. I don't think that is entirely the case. According to the IMDB listings she has almost constantly been in work since 1989 which isn't a bad record for an actress. Although she hasn't done many different things it is important to remember that much of her work has been in TV and many of the programmes were several series long ie. Press Gang, Second Thoughts, Absolutely Fabulous & Faith in the Future and therefore took up a great deal of her time. Also, the Hornblower stories took a notoriously long time to film so they must have taken up most of the early 2000s. Additionally, IMDB doesn't list any theatre work JS chose to take part in. Julia's career has, in my opinion, actually been quite odd to date. She was born in 1968 and therefore was 20 when the first series of Press Gang was filmed. So when she first came into the public eye she was 20 playing 16/17. She played a character of a similar age in Second Thoughts (I saw a rerun on ITV3 the other day and she was at Uni) and then in 1992 (when she was 24) started playing Saffy in Ab Fab. Saffy was in the Sixth Form during the first series of Ab Fab so in the public perception she was actually getting younger! In 1995 she was in Pride and Prejudice again playing a much younger character. I don't think it was really until 2003 when she appeared in Jonathan Creek that she was given a real adult TV role. By this point she was 35! It's always difficult for an actor to go from being a young 'romantic lead' type to adult roles so maybe Julia's career will rejuvinate in a few years when people have got used to her as being older. By the sound of recent reports though she has turned her back on showbusiness completely. She started acting at 15 so she's already had a 20 year plus career and, in my opinion, deserves a break if that's what she wants. Meanwhile, Dexter Fletcher seems to be appearing in loads of stuff. Although, I would argue that, with the exception of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels the stuff he has appeared in hasn't been as high profile as JS. Many of the films seem to have sunk without trace. There is no denying that both of them are fine actors particularly in comedic roles.
Weirdly, Dexter Fletcher's first role was in Bugsy Malone. He was only 10 years old when he appeared as Babyface. Bugsy Malone is a brilliant film to spot people who went on to be famous when they were very young. Jodie Foster and Scott Baio are the most noteable but you can also spot Bonnie Langford (who was only 8), Andrew Paul (he's in Where the Heart Is at the moment) and Mark Curry (used to be a Blue Peter presenter when I was a kid).
I downloaded my free ringtone from the O2 website. It took a lot of choosing as the fact that they're polyphonic tended to make them sound like the sort of sax based muzak they used to play in Little Chefs when I was a kid! In the end I went for Charley by Prodigy as it sounded closest too the original. The downloading process was suprisingly simple. It was a good job there weren't any wallpapers I liked on the site or I would've been tempted to take one of them as well and I would've had to pay for that. At the moment I've got a picture of Spike and Linda which I took off of the TV as my wallpaper. It's really sharp bearing mind it was from an ordinary TV screen taken with a tiny camera. Hopefully, I'll be able to replace it with a piccie of my mates when after I get together with them next.
Went to Richmond shopping again. This time with mum. All I got was a copy of the Evening Standard (to send the Monday job pages to my friend in Manchester), lunch and a frappachino. I couldn't get a suit as Next was packed with sale stuff. Grrrr. I should've taken my week off after sale season. Things might be better by October half term though, I hope.
Just a thought to finish off with. I'm 5 feet 7 inches and a bit tall without any shoes on. This is only 3 inches above the national average height for women I'm told. Bearing this in mind, why do I always fancy short blokes? Am I on a subconcious mission to make my self look stupid walking along the street with them? Cardiff bloke is 5 foot 9ish and I'm bigger than him in relatively small heels. My first serious boyfriend was actually smaller than me! I blame him for the problem in fact. I got used to resting my head on his shoulder when we hugged and kissing him with out craning my neck backwards. Now it feels odd if I have to look up to someone and I'm not comfortable. He's got a lot to answer for that man. He must like taller women as he went on to marry someone who's taller than me!
