Faces: MICHELLE RYAN

I can remember about a year ago having the following conversation with my mate and fellow telly addict Lenny:

“hey guess who is gonna be the new Wonder Woman on telly’”

“ahh… don’t know…”

“that bird from Eastenders… Zoe Slater!”

***fits of laughter from me***  “you’re kidding me ain’t ya… that will never work!”

Later of course I discovered that it wasn’t Wonder Woman it was the Bionic Woman, but the fits of laughter were still there… Zoe Slater  is going Bionic, you must be joking!

So here I sit a year later still scraping the egg from my face. Not only did Michelle Ryan pull off the transformation from Eastender’s cute little loud-mouthed girl screaming “you ain’t my muuuutha” every five minutes into the Bionic Woman, via a stint as a sexy psychologist hanging with Jekyll, she did it in an even sexier, Americanised style then I could have imagined… In fact Michelle Ryan was probably the only good thing about the Bionic Woman after the first episode, and I think that even though the Bionic Woman was a seriously let down by the writers of the show, (I mean come on who wasn’t going to notice that Jaime Summer’s sister was an entirely different girl and character in the second episode) Michelle Ryan showed enough to merit her a role in a better show, and when she gets her shot at some decent telly I am sure she will shine!!!

Update 29/09/2008

• Fans of Michelle Ryan can find her on your telly box this weekend in the new BBC1 family-drama Merlin as the sorceress Nimueh .

New to BBC1: Merlin

Merlin has finally arrived on BBC1, with a lot of hype and fanfare accompanying the show. So was it all worth it? OtB  thinks so! It is a fun, action packed, family adventure-drama, perfect for the family-friendly pre-watershed slot which has been occupied in the past by such wonderful shows as Doctor Who  and Robin Hood.

So what’s it all about?

(As described by the BBC Press Office)

Merlin is a new 13-part drama series on BBC One which updates the story of the infamous sorceror of Arthurian legend for a new audience.

The mythical city of Camelot, in a time before history began. A fantastical realm of legendary beasts and mysterious peoples. A dangerous world in which magic has been banned by the ruthless tyrant, Uther Pendragon.

When Merlin, a young man gifted with extraordinary magical powers, arrives in the kingdom, he quickly makes enemies, including the heir to Uther’s crown, the headstrong Prince Arthur.

But guided by Uther’s wise physician, Gaius, Merlin is soon using his talents not just to survive but also to unlock Camelot’s mystical secrets.

As he does so he discovers that his destiny and that of the kingdom’s young leader in waiting, Arthur, are inextricably linked.

Who’s in it?

Colin Morgan as Merlin – Colin was discovered playing the lead role in a stage adaptation of the DBC Pierre Booker Prize winning novel Vernon God Little. Since then he has done a couple of other stage plays and has appeared in the Catherine Tate Show and Doctor Who.

Bradley James as Arthur – Bradley has been seen in the the past in the BBC teen-drama dis/connected and an episode of the ITV drama Lewis, but Merlin is the actors first major role.

Richard Wilson as Gaius – most famous for playing Victor Meldrew in One Foot in the Grave, Richard is an easily recognised and well practiced actor of extraordinary talent.

Anthony Head as Uther Pendragon – Anthony first caught the public eye as that ‘guy in the Nescafe ads’, before moving State-side to star in OtB  favourite Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Recently he was seen in the BBC drama The Invisibles.

John Hurt as the voice of the Great Dragon – an actor who needs no introduction, but if you need a reminder Mr Hurt has been seen recently in Hellboy II, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and the Oxford Murders, but is best know around OtB as Kane in Alien.

So what’s it like?

Strangely it is sort of like a medieval version of Smallville. Where Smallville takes the Superman story back to his teenage years, Merlin takes both Merlin and Arthur’s story back to those awkward teenage years. Merlin obviously would be the hero like Clark in Smallville. Arthur is the Lex, Morgana the Lana, and Gwen is Merlin’s Chloe.

Where can I find out more?

The easiest way to learn about Merlin obviously is to watch it, Saturday nights on BBC1 sometime normally between 6-7:30 pm. It can also be seen on the BBC iPlayer. Or if you just want to learn more about the show you can visit the ever-expanding Merlin website, or the BBC Merlin Press Pack.

The Times |What fun: let the credits roll, and the grumbling begin| Caitlin Moran

Caitlin Moran was the inspiration for this blog. Like me she is a telly junkie and has her finger on the pulse of popular culture… also like me she cannot understand how a lot of things in so-called popular culture became popular, but perhaps that is part of the fun of the whole entertainment industry – Things we love today, we will look back at in twenty years time and just laugh at.

The other similarly Caitlin and myself share is that we are both glad that Autumn has arrived, not because we are looking forward to the cold and the rain, but because television becomes much more interesting when the leaves change colour.

Today in The Times, Caitlin presented her views on the upcoming Autumn telly schedule:

I am excited about Merlin. It is a razzy prime-time drama centring on a hot teenage King Arthur, a hot teenage Merlin, and Zoe Slater from EastEnders, doing medieval pouting. I will be getting tea on our Round Table early on Saturday nights, so we can bolt down our puddings and watch it.

Yes, I am also excited about the return of Strictly Come Dancing.The prospect of the ITN reporter John Sergeant – looking very much like Rembrandt in Lycra – doing the pasa doble is thrilling. Gary Rhodes, doing the tango? Cherie Lunghi, attempting a jive? Get in there! Only a fool would miss it.

And, of course, reentering the orbit of You’ve Been Framed is one of autumn’s greatest joys. I will never tire of watching cats falling off things. But the reason it doesn’t matter if these shows are any good or not is because we are lucky enough to be British.

And being British means that, when autumn comes, as a nation, we still gather together as one to watch the same five programmes; unlike the poor unhappy Americans, say, or Japanese – scattered and lonely across their ultimately futile 300 channel choices.

Subsequently, the actual content of the UK’s autumn schedules is an essentially nugatory affair, compared to the real sport: discussing it afterwards. It doesn’t really matter if Merlin turns out to be more Bored in the Stone than Sword in the Stone – because when the credits roll, we can spend all evening discussing exactly why it stinks.

Likewise, if they’ve fatally miscast Strictly Come Dancing, and come up with nothing to match last year’s exciting romance between the hot bloke from EastEnders and his dancing partner – well, that’s another hour of pub conversation, right there. It’s the same every year. Two years on, the BBC’s big, awful autumn flagship show of 2006, Robin Hood, still informs my life. I can easily while away an hour with friends, discussing just how annoying Maid Marian’s fight scenes – straight out of the Miss Piggy School of Kung-fu Chops – really were.

So yes. Draw the curtains, gather the family round – and let the autumn of 2008 bitching commence.

Autumn Viewing Guide – Part One Drama

Having survived the weak summer television offerings it is time to rejoice and celebrate the new autumn television schedule. In this first part I will be looking forward to some of the planned Dramas that have caught my attention coming soon to your telly boxes.

BBC:

Survivors – people with good memories may recall this cult TV show from the mid-1970s in which a virus decimates most of the human population. This re-vamp features Max Beesley and ex-Doctor Who babe Freema Agyeman.

Merlin -a new 13-part drama series on BBC Onewhich updates the story of the infamous sorceror of Arthurian legend for a new audience.

Apparitions – Starring Martin Shaw (Judge John Deed, George Gently), Apparitions was originally produced as a two-part special for transmission in early 2008. However, the two-part drama will now form part of a longer series.

Shaw plays Father Jacob, a priest working to promote candidates for sainthood who becomes drawn in to exorcism as he discovers a dark battle between good and evil – a battle that threatens the future of the human race itself.

Heroes- the third season of everybody’s favourite sci-fi, superhero soap opera returns to BBC2.

ITV:

The Last Van Helsing – Philip Glenister (aka Gene Hunt) shows no mercy as he rids London of it’s vampire (bastards). Mackenzie Crook who looks like the undead, is suitably cast as a vampire.

Place of Execution – dramatic tale of the mystery surrounding a missing thirteen year old girl is adapted from Val McDermid’s best selling novel.

Caught in a Trap – Sound of Music (the stage musical not the film) star Connie Fisher will make her TV drama debut as a woman obsessed with Elvis Presley.

Wired – Laurence Fox (Lewis), Jodie Whittaker (St Trinian’s), Toby Stephens (Die Another Day) and Charlie Brookes (EastEnders), star in Wired, a fast-paced three-part thriller which delves into the murky high-risk world of bank fraud.

Mr Eleven:  bionic babe, Michelle Ryan, is back on British TV in a touching new romantic comedy.

Did you know that the average British woman will marry their 11th sexual partner? But does Mr Eleven always equal Mr Right?

Channel 4 and E4:

The Devil’s Whore – John Simm (Life on Mars) travels even further back in time to star as a Puritan soldier who plots to kill Cromwell in an epic English cival war mini-series.

Dead Set: In a nightmare world the Big Brother house has become the only sanctuary… a new zombie horror is also a satire on reality TV. Outside the Box favourite Jaime Winstone stars.