<p>Simon Evans is the writer and director of the BBC's <i>Staged</i>, which ran for three seasons, filmed almost entirely over Zoom during the pandemic in a revolutionary approach to filmmaking. The series starred David Tennant, Michael Sheen, and Simon himself alongside a revolving door of guest appearances from an incredible lineup of actors such as Dame Judi Dench, bringing levity, laughs, and real joy to many people during an extremely dark time in a style that managed to feel both mainstream and experimental. Simon also has an extensive background as a theatre director, writer, and actor, including his original double bill <i>The Vanishing Man / The Extinction Event</i>, through which he captured his passion for illusion and demonstrated his skill as a magician, and his fantastic new production of <i>Cyrano De Bergerac</i>, starring Adrian Lester at the Royal Shakespeare Company. He's a multitalented artist and, in my humble opinion, a comedic genius, so it was brilliant speaking with him about the magic of live performance and growing alongside his surprise hit series.</p>
<h6>Staged</h6>
<p>Streaming: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B08WLYTD8Q" target="_blank">Amazon</a> | <a href="https://tv.apple.com/gb/show/staged/umc.cmc.72xfslvc50izib1o10nwc0z7">Apple</a> | <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p08dnl67/staged" target="_blank">BBC iplayer</a> | <a href="https://therokuchannel.roku.com/details/7b1bc66057f852748e1973e80e930a8a/staged" target="_blank">Roku</a> | <a href="https://www.britbox.com/us/season/Staged_S1_10119569" target="_blank">BritBox</a> | <a href="https://iview.abc.net.au/show/staged" target="_blank">ABC iview</a><br/>
Extra: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqXoGgP2l3U" target="_blank">New Year's special</a> | <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqBNiSmAKJw" target="_blank">Outtakes</a>
</p>
<h6>Cyrano De Bergerac</h6>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFX9EF8x7w4" target="_blank">Trailer</a><br/>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di3xizmD0yw" target="_blank">What the play is about</a><br/>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxNeoOfEi8s" target="_blank">Bringing the play to the stage</a>
</p>
<h6>The Vanishing Man / The Extinction Event</h6>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iJ7H5lUO0M" target="_blank">Trailer</a><br/>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxjyxijAjSg" target="_blank">Performing a close-up magic trick</a>
</p>
<h6>Other Productions</h6>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoWlt7mwmzg" target="_blank">Killer Joe</a><br/>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=De7pKrFnMek" target="_blank">The Dazzle</a><br/>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZuvZ9GRDk0" target="_blank">Bug</a><br/>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLhIlzW2kWs" target="_blank">A Day in the Death of Joe Egg</a><br/>
<a href="https://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/the-resistible-donmar-warehous-14331" target="_blank">The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui</a>
</p>
Mali Tudno Jones is an accomplished Welsh actor and writer with a long background in both theatre and film. She received a BAFTA Cymru nomination for her performance as the wild Nia in the murder mystery series 35 Diwrnod/35 Days and was most recently Linda the chaplain in the intense prison drama Bariau/Inside. I've been keeping up with her work ever since seeing her as Rachel, the pathologist and Cadi's love interest in Craith/Hidden, and particularly enjoyed her hilarious appearance in the dark comedy series Merched Parchus. She's also written a variety of scripts for stage, radio, and film, and is a passionate reader and storyteller, so it was an absolute blast catching up with her today.
Trailer: Season 1 | Season 2
Streaming: Amazon | Acorn TV
Trailer: Season 3
Streaming: Amazon | Britbox | Roku
Trailer: Season 2 | Season 3
Streaming: Amazon | Acorn TV | Apple
Trailer: Season 1
Streaming: Amazon | Acorn TV | Apple
Trailer: Season 1
Streaming: Amazon | BritBox | Apple | TVNZ+ | Roku
Streaming: YouTube
Gwydion Rhys is a wonderful actor and singer who has spent his life performing on stage and later screen, playing a variety of guest and supporting roles in major Welsh-language and bilingual TV series such as Y Gwyll/Hinterland and 35 Days alongside leading roles in theatre, such as Alan Turing in To Kill a Machine. Most recently, he was prime suspect Ryan in the murder mystery series Cleddau/The One That Got Away and led the fantastic dramatic series Creisis, which tells the heartbreaking story of a psychiatric nurse as he falls into progressively severe psychosis. I've enjoyed Gwydion's work ever since seeing his unhinged appearance on Craith/Hidden, but his starring role in Creisis (I was shocked to learn he was in every scene - if you've ever worked on set, you know just how crazy that is) was phenomenal. I was genuinely shattered by his performance and hope to see much more of him on screen in the future, so it was lovely speaking with him about his background in the arts and experiences in both theatre and film.
Creisis / CrisisTrailer: Welsh
Streaming: BBC iplayer
Trailer: Welsh | English
Streaming: Amazon | Acorn TV | Apple | ABC iview
Trailer: Season 3
Streaming: Amazon | Britbox | Roku
Trailer: Season 2
Streaming: Acorn TV | Amazon | Apple
Watch the trailer for To Kill a Machine.
Performing Gethsemane from JC Superstar. Beautiful range of notes and emotion.
And some songs with his brother, Trystan Llyr Griffiths, if you enjoy a more classical style: Blodwen a Meri, Yn Y Bore, Ti a dy ddonia, Dros Gymru'n Gwlad. Great pair of tenors.
Charlaine Harris is one of the biggest names in dark fantasy and cozy mysteries, responsible for an impressive number of long-running series since the early 90s, including the smash hit Southern Vampire Mysteries, which were adapted into HBO's critically acclaimed show True Blood. Her first mystery series, Aurora Teagarden, has been adapted into 21 beloved TV films at last count, and her more recent Midnight, Texas trilogy was made into a wonderful series on NBC. In addition to other great series such as Lily Bard and Harper Connelly, she's done numerous short stories for highly enjoyable anthologies featuring many of the most popular writers in her genres, and her latest alternate history series, the wild-west-meets-the-Romanovs Gunnie Rose, is concluding this month, with the final volume, The Last Wizards' Ball, coming out on July 22nd. Charlaine is a wonderful worldbuilder and a lovely person, and it was so nice speaking with her today about her long-running and exciting career.
Links
Keep up with Charlaine's latest work and events on her official site.
The Last Wizards' Ball can be pre-ordered on Kobo or Amazon now. The full series is available on Kobo and Amazon as well.
Charlaine has contributed to and edited many great anthologies, but my personal favorite will always be Wolfsbane and Mistletoe. I cannot recommend this one enough.
I also absolutely love and highly recommend the Southern Vampire Mystery series, which has such a great Southern Gothic paranormal vibe, so if you haven't read it (even if you've seen True Blood), it's an absolute must-read. Find hard copies at any bookstore or the ebooks on Kobo and Amazon.
And of course she's got many other books, series, and stories to enjoy, with hard copies also available in bookstores or on Kobo and Amazon.
Happy reading!
Sion Ifan is a fantastic Welsh/English bilingual actor and director whose latest works behind the camera include the intense 6-part murder mystery Cleddau/The One That Got Away and the fun family sci-fi show Y Goleudy/The Lighthouse. He also directed half the episodes of Creisis/Crisis, a great emotional drama about mental health, and is one of the directors on the upcoming series Still Waters. On screen, he gave an absolutely devastating performance as the lead antagonist in the final season of the must-see crime noir drama Craith/Hidden and was wonderful in the psychological thriller Bregus as well as many other series. In addition, he is an accomplished theatre actor, with recent credits including Oberon in an epic bilingual production of A Midsummer Night's Dream a few years back. I've really enjoyed his work over the years, and it was thrilling speaking with him in depth about the Welsh entertainment industry and the use of Welsh in mainstream media.
Cleddau / The One That Got Away
Trailer: Welsh | English
Streaming: Amazon | Acorn TV | Apple | ABC iview
Craith / Hidden - Season 3
Trailer: Welsh | Bilingual
Streaming: Amazon | Acorn TV | Apple
Creisis / Crisis
Trailer: Welsh
Streaming: BBC iplayer
Merched Parchus
Streaming: YouTube
Siôn Alun Davies is a talented Welsh/English bilingual actor from Cardiff, best known internationally as the likeable Detective Owen Vaughan from the crime noir series Craith/Hidden. Most recently, he joined the cast of prison drama Bariau/Inside for season 2 as the antagonistic new senior corrections officer Simon Firth, and played Jamie in the intense murder mystery series Cleddau/The One That Got Away. He was also wonderfully creepy in the folk horror film Gwledd/The Feast and has appeared in many other productions, including Steeltown Murders, Hinterland, Sandman, and Brittania. It was a real pleasure speaking with him today about his Welsh language background, his training and craft, entering the mental space of his characters, and what he enjoys most about his work.
Craith / Hidden
Trailer: Season 1
Streaming: Amazon | Acorn TV | Apple
Cleddau / The One That Got Away
Trailer: Welsh | English
Streaming: Amazon | Acorn TV | Apple | ABC iview
Bariau / Inside
Trailer: Bilingual
Streaming: Amazon | Acorn TV
Gwledd / The Feast
Trailer: Welsh
Streaming: Amazon | AMC | YouTube
Steeltown Murders
Trailer: English
Streaming: Amazon | AMC | Acorn TV | YouTube | Apple
Dim Ond Ti a Mi / Nothing But You and Me
Streaming: Welsh
John Peel is an accomplished and beloved author who has published an extraordinary number of books over the decades, going all the way back to the original Doctor Who series, which he has written many tie-in books for. He’s also done novelizations of and tie-ins for plenty of other major franchises, including Star Trek and James Bond. However, to me, he will always be one of the top old-school kidlit authors, having written a variety of highly imaginative and enduring horror and fantasy series for young readers, which I still enjoy even now in my 40s. He was one of my earliest childhood inspirations when I first started writing my own horror and fantasy stories long ago, and it was an absolute pleasure to connect with him today to discuss his many, many years in the publishing world.
John's latest book, Unstoppable, has just been released.
You can check out lots of his other work here.
And some of his Doctor Who audiobooks as well:
My personal favorites are the Foul Play books, the Diadem series, the Dragonhome trilogy (aka Jane Eyre with dragons), and the Shockers books.
Enjoy!
