Series 10 Casting Discussion

[A Cousin]

(01-04-2011 09:57 PM)Tea Lady Wrote:  Can anyone recommend something Alice Krige has been in? May try and hunt it out.

Sure!

The first one that jumps into my brain is Persuasion with RPJ. 2007. She plays Lady Russell. (Are you surprised that this is the first one to jump into my mind? I think not! )

I saw her in a BBC version of A Tale of Two Cities as Lucy in, like, 1980 but you might want to stick with her more recent work. As pepelow mentions, Chariots of Fire was when I really became aware of her.

She has done a lot since. She just pops up. Star Trek:Voyager (as The Borg Queen - fab makeup), The Children of Dune, Six Feet Under, Dinotopia, Waking the Dead to name a few. Her career kind of reminds me of PF's. A face you remember. Lots great work over a long career but not a bunch of commercial success. Some of the pieces are fabulous and some aren't. Not that that is a bad thing. She always turns in great performances.

We have been meaning to watch The Sorcerer's Apprentice with Nicholas Cage where she plays Morgana but haven't yet. More motivation for me!

She is an intelligent, elegant and striking actor. I'm pretty pumped that she has been cast!

[Byatil]

Can't say I'm feeling too confident about S10 after reading that article; sounds like we'll have a few new characters to try and get used to! Sad to hear that SM isn't going to be back, I thought Beth had a lot of potential. Hopefully Tariq and Dmitri will be fleshed out a little more; it should be fun to see Tariq competing with another techie

[Naivety]

(01-04-2011 09:57 PM)Tea Lady Wrote:  Can anyone recommend something Alice Krige has been in? May try and hunt it out.

The most recent is the Waking The Dead story, 'Care', which was on the week before last and is still on iplayer. To me, it was a typical role for her.

[violetcreme]

"Beth Bailey decommissioned"

Sounds painful.

I for one am extremely relieved Myles is not returning, she was absolutely appalling I thought and was the weakest character in the show's history, even beating Fiona which is quite a feat! The problem was not the character, she had real potential, but Myles was totally mis-cast in the role. The general online reaction to her was pretty bad, I wouldn't be surprised if Kudos took that on board and did not renew her contract.

I am re-invigorated for S10 now, the new cast looks very interesting and nice to see some character actors in the midst. Shame not to see Alec back if that's the case, but at least S10 will start with a new chapter near enough.

Did I miss it, or is Dimitri not coming back either?

[JHyde]

Dimitri is still part of the team, according to the press release.

[A Cousin]

Not exactly casting, but this still seems the right place to put this. I noticed a change in the Production crew in the press release.

It looks as if S9 Producer, Lachlan MacKinnon, is not producing S10. The Producer from S8, Chris Fry is. Whether this is good news or not will depend on our personal opinions of S8 and S9 as a whole. That aside, I am glad that they have a Producer who has a) been invested in Spooks from early on (in addition to S8, Chris Fry was a 1st AD on S3) and b) has more experience as a Director/Producer proper. With all due respect, IMO, the new writers need someone that can help them walk the line between reality and sensationalism.

I am a bit confused about how Andrew Woodhead fits in lately? I really like his touch and I think he has been instrumental in keeping Spooks what it is from S3 through at least S8 without selling out or stagnating. He is not mentioned for S9, but he clearly was involved? He's on the audio commentaries for S9, correct? I know he is an Executive Producer for KUDOS now - Law & Order UK - but the Exec. Producers listed for S10 are Jane Featherstone, Howard Burch, and Simon Crawford Collins.

Does anyone have any info on additional writers - there usually are - and/or directors for S10?

[Tess24]

I can see Alice Krige playing someone from one of the 'old relationships made during the Cold War'.

Not too sure about having only two 'field' agents - heaven help us if they start sending Tariq or Ruth out of the office on assignment. Although with a new techie maybe Tariq has decided he wants a bit more of the action.

[A Cousin]

(02-04-2011 03:40 PM)Tess24 Wrote:  Not too sure about having only two 'field' agents - heaven help us if they start sending Tariq or Ruth out of the office on assignment. Although with a new techie maybe Tariq has decided he wants a bit more of the action.

Well, they have had just two before during the majority of S8 but they were particularly strong - as agents and characters. I wonder if the new techie guy will cross over a bit? I am looking forward to interaction between Dimitri and the new section Chief. Seems to me that they have given both Tariq and Dimitri a new person to bounce off of. My hope is that will lend itself to further development for both of them.

As for Alice Krige and Jonathan Hyde, do we think that they are single episode guest artists or series long characters? If they are series long, I have been thinking about it (always dangerous) and it would seem to me that there are a few possibilities for both for them.

1) Russian Operative
2) Blast from the Past
3) Inquiry Inquisitor
4) Interim Section Head

[BoHenley]

(Dare I say this?) Alice Krige could be an old flame too...and add one more dimension of conflict for Harry!

Sad to say, but I can't see how they can develop any of the new (or "old") characters in just 6 episodes. Not enough time. That happened more in the 10-episode series.

[JHyde]

Well, to be fair they did a pretty great job of establishing people's characters in season 1 and that only had 6 episodes.

I'm intrigued by Krige's casting. She's one of those character actors who's been in heaps of stuff so it will be interesting to see where she fits into the picture.