Who is…? MAX BEESLEY

If you have been watching Survivors on BBC1, you may have noticed a familiar face playing Tom Price, the released convict who survived the plague. That face would be prominent English actor, Max Beesley, otherwise known as that “that guy from Hotel Babylon” or “the actor from Bodies”; but who is Max Beesley and where did he come from?

He bangs a drum…

On the 16^th of April 1971, proud parents Maxton Beesley (a jazz drummer) and Chris Marlowe (a jazz singer) of Burnage, England announced the arrival of their son, Maxton Gig Beesley. Being the son of a drummer it was inevitable that young Maxton would want to pick up some sticks and bang out some noise like his father, and at the age of three his Dad obliged and gave young Maxton a set of sticks. By the age of eleven Maxton was a proficient drummer and was offered places in five different music schools, he chose nearby Chetham’s and took a place as a choral scholar. At seventeen, Max accepted a place at Guildhall School of Music and Drama determined to study piano and percussion. A few months after starting though Paul Weller’s band The Style Council came around and offered Max a job as a session drummer, and off ran young Max determined to become a prominent drummer.

The DeNiro Factor…

Max Beesley’s life took a strange twist one night after playing with George Michael in a performance at the MTV Awards. Max had decided to watch Raging Bull, and Robert DeNiro’s performance in the film affected Max so much that he decided to become an actor.

Max left England soon after and headed for New York, where he quickly signed up with a method acting coach. Within a year Max would land his first role in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, and his performance would win praise from both fans and critics. From that performance Max gained roles in films such as The Match, Five Seconds to Spare and Kill Me Later.

His first big budget film role came in 2001 starring alongside Mariah Carey in the film Glitter… unfortunately for Max the film was shit, and panned by fans and critics alike.

From Robbie Williams to Babylon…

After the failure of Glitter, Max did continue to work in the film industry, but also decided to return to music and began touring with Robbie Williams in 2003.

In 2004 Max gained the role as Dr Rob Lake in the BBC Drama Bodies, and the success of the show, due mainly to Beesley launched what has become a very successful television acting career starring in popular TV series such as Hotel Babylon, and The Last Enemy.

Max can be currently seen in Survivors showing currently Tuesdays on BBC1.

Biographical information taken from Wikipedia.org, imdb.com and Maxon-Beesley.com

Catch up

Nothing on the box to watch last night, so I spent the evening catching up to a couple shows from earlier in the week that I missed. I watched Tuesday’s episode of Hotel Babylon, which was it’s usual mix of nonsensical fun, but hey my missus likes it. Then we watched Monday’s offering from kitchen guru Delia Smith.

Her new offering for BBC2, simply called Delia, is intended to get people back in the kitchen by offering recipes you can make by cheating (her words not mine) and using a mixture of ready-prepared ingredients… so basically it is a cooking show for people too lazy to actually cook? Strange idea, but I will play along.

This weeks episode was dedicated to potatoes, and Delia was certainly cheating, she made several dishes using frozen mashed potatoes??? What the f***? Not only did I not know that mashed potatoes came frozen, I also didn’t know that people who don’t even possess the ability to mash a potato watch cooking shows… perhaps though they do?

She made several dishes, fish pie, shepherds pie, and a couple of soups. She then invited that other once-celebrity chef over for some chocolate cake that she claims she made using potatoes, and then she failed to show us how to make a cake out of potatoes… I was gutted! I have never seen a cake made from potatoes, and I really wanted to see how it could be done. Never mind though, at least Delia was brave enough to show footage of her getting drunk at a Norwich City (where she is chairman) football game and shouting at the crowd… that alone was worth tuning in for!

Overall though I was a bit disappointed with Delia’s new show, but it is early days and it may get better, so I will give it a view again next week.

Faces: EMMA PIERSON

Honestly there is only one reason to watch Hotel Babylon and that is Emma Pierson, who plays Anna Thorton-Wilton, the spoiled girl who works the front of house desk and gets all the shows best lines.

Emma Pierson has been acting since the age of seventeen when she won a role in the long-running BBC teen soap Grange Hill. Starring in the teen drama gave her a platform to improve her acting and allowed her enough exposure to land a starring role in Days Like These, a British rip-off of That 70s Show. The show was predictably a flop, but it did help Emma launch her career as a comedic actor.

Since those early days of acting, Emma has done the rounds in both comedies and dramas for television and on the big screen, until landing the role she is best known for in Hotel Babylon which I believe will be the role that launches Emma into bigger and better roles. I personally think this British beauty has both the looks and talent to propel her to become one of the staples of British television, and with a bit of luck, she may even conquer Hollywood.

Babylon is back…

My wife’s favourite show Hotel Babylon is back for a third series, so that means for the next few weeks I am watching this predictable, hotel drama, that is strangely fun to watch. The Times reviewer called it “a five-star version of Crossroads,” which pretty much sums up the merits of this show as a piece of art. Yet Hotel Babylon is a good way to disengage the brain and just watch the antics of all the pretty people working in a five-star hotel, and as long as Emma Pierson is on the hotel staff I shall be watching. Pierson is the star of this show despite have a supporting role, she is funny, and gets most of the best line, and oh so gorgeous to boot!

Thanks for reading!