Michael Sheen and David Tennant star in Staged, a BBC series in which they play actors who had to halt their rehearsals for a new West End play due to the pandemic. They talked about the production with TV & Sattelike Week and TV Times, out this week, and you can read on our photo gallery:
The actors talked to The Time about reuniting for lockdown production after Good Omens, plus the future of their future projects:
Michael Sheen and David Tennant talk to Dominic Maxwell about Staged, a TV satire of Zoom, filmed from their homes
Well, this is unsettling. I’ve just watched the first episode of Staged, an enjoyable new BBC comedy series in which the actors David Tennant and Michael Sheen spend lockdown staring into their laptops as they talk to each other on Zoom. And now, minutes later, here I am on a Zoom call with David Tennant and Michael Sheen.
More than that, Sheen, 51, is sitting in the same position in his kitchen in south Wales as he does throughout the series. Behind him is a stone fireplace and a sign with the full name and birthdate of his new baby daughter, Lyra, written on it. His beard is as generous as his manner. Meanwhile, Tennant, 49, is unshaven, lank-haired, looming over his laptop. He apologises for his “ludicrous” hair: blame his role as Phileas Fogg in the BBC’s new version of Around the World in 80 Days. He had just come home from doing some filming for it in Cape Town when lockdown began. Had the pandemic kept its filthy paws off us, he would be shooting it in Romania today.
Instead he is at home in west London. He has chosen the room to talk from on the basis that it is the only one that doesn’t have one of his five children in it. It has been the same making Staged, he says; we get to see all over his house because he’s forever trying to keep Ty, 18, Olive, 9, Wilfred, 7, Doris, 5, or Birdie, 8 months, out of shot. “The house is full of children home schooling or practising drums or whatever it might be,” he says, “so you just have to go to wherever the pocket of least resistance is at any given moment.”
Ler maisEarlier today the nominees of the 2020 Virgin Media British Academy Television Awards and British Academy Television Craft Awards were announced. Good Omens got a nomination for Special, Visual & Graphic Effects. See the other nominees:
Ben Turner, Chris Reynolds, Asa Shoul – The Crown – Left Bank Pictures, Sony Pictures Television/Netflix
Framestore, Painting Practice, Real SFX, Russel Russel Dodgson – His Dark Materials – Bad Wolf, BBC Studios/HBO/BBC One
Lindsay McFarlane, Claudius Christian Rauch, Jean-Clément Soret, DNE – Chernobyl – Sister Pictures, The Mighty Mint, Word Games/Sky Atlantic
Milk Visual Effects, Gareth Spensley, Real SFX – Good Omens – Amazon Studios, BBC Studios, Narrativia, The Blank Corporation/Amazon Prime Video
The winners of the British Academy Television Craft Awards, originally scheduled for Sunday April 26, will be revealed on Friday July 17. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the ceremony will take place as a closed studio, socially-distanced show, with nominees invited to accept their awards virtually. Hosted by Stephen Mangan, the ceremony, will be broadcast on the BAFTA YouTube chanel.
Last night Michael Sheen spoke to James Corden via video chat in Corden’s ‘from his garage’ talk show. Michael talked about the Black Lives Matter movement, charity works like the Homeless World Cup, Quiz, druids and a gift from his great-great-grandmother who was a lion tamer. Watch it in the videos below:
Also, check out screencaptures from the episode on our photo gallery:
Michael talks about the scandal, doing the minisseries, playing Chris Tarrant, and more:
Ler maisMichael Sheen, who plays Chris Tarrant on Quiz, talks about his getting a unique perspective on the Ingrams’ guilt and what it was like playing British TV legend Tarrant.
Q: Did you remember this scandal?
A: In Britain, I think I was probably similar to most people here who remembered it because it was such a big deal at the time, and the tabloid newspapers were all over it, and it was such a huge show… I think, like most people, I seem to remember watching the episodes when they came out. But they never did come out. They’ve never been shown, so the whole of the country pretty much has misremembered watching the actual episode. What actually came out was the documentary that ITV put out, which is very sort of ITV’s agenda, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?‘s agenda, so very kind of biased towards their guilt — and then that’s connected to the other part, which is my memory of them before I read the scripts for this where I had no question that they were guilty. I just totally remembered that it was this terrible thing and they did this thing and they got done for it and all that. So that’s what I remembered before I read the scripts.
Q: What drew you to the show?
A: How I came to the project was through [Executive Producer] Stephen Frears. Stephen called me. I was in New York and he was coming to New York and he said, “Let’s go and have dinner. Something I want to talk to you about.” And so we went out for dinner, and he told me that he was doing this project and would I think about playing the part… He’s probably my favorite director to work with and he’s had such a huge effect on my life. The first film I ever did was with Stephen, a film called Mary Reilly many years ago with Julia Roberts and John Malkovich… so obviously if Stephen says he wants me to do something, I’m there. But also in this case it was written by James Graham, who I’d been working with for a little while on another project. So I know James and I’m a big fan of his work and his writing, and I was aware that it had been a play before, which I didn’t see but I had been aware of him. I knew it was a very popular play. It had been a big success. So I was already predisposed to liking it, so Stephen said, “Right, I’ll get the scripts sent to you.”
So before the scripts got to me, I watched that documentary again, and this was before I knew what line the script would take, so I just watched the documentary, thinking they were guilty because that was my memory. And the documentary just seemed so over the top trying to make out they were guilty. By the end of it, I was like, “There’s something not right about this.” And then the script came and I read the scripts, and the scripts are not about trying to say they’re innocent, but they’re certainly trying to say there’s more to this story than people would like to believe, so my instincts from watching the documentary were sort of borne out by the scripts. And I just remember reading all three episodes just straight through. They worked so brilliantly on the page… And so I said straightaway, “Absolutely, I want to do this.”
Quiz is coming to AMC on Sunday, May 31 and is already Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, with a score 96% at its Tomatometer and a critic consensus that reads: “With clever writing, a slick production, and a pitch perfect Michael Sheen, Quiz crafts a captivating snapshot of a wild scandal that will keep viewers on their toes.”
Read what critics are saying about the three-part drama and Michael’s performance:
However, the most eye-catching and ear-grabbing performance was Michael Sheen’s razzle-dazzle turn as Chris Tarrant, the quiz show’s host. Sheen combined a note-perfect impersonation with a spiky character study, underscoring a defining trait of all TV personalities: the gnashing teeth beneath the smarmy smile. Nobody emerged unscathed from Quiz, but the skewering of broadcaster-kind and their delusional vanities was its top prize.
The Times II (4/5 stars)
If Michael Sheen’s splendid impression of Chris Tarrant did not impress then, please, watch it again. Apparently Tarrant approached Sheen at an event just after he had been cast to play him and said: “You look nothing like me,” which is true, but with a blond wig and fake tan, Sheen was transformed. Close your eyes and his voice, the intonation, his little high-pitched laughs and the way he called the phone-a-friend helpers at home to say “John? Hi, THIS is CHRIS Tarrant,” were Rory Bremner good. It was almost as slick as Sheen’s Tony Blair and his Brian Clough; he didn’t have the lead role, but he kind of stole the show.
The Guardian (3/5 stars)
Ler maisBut grab the public imagination it did, so much so that nearly 20 years on it has been made into Quiz (ITV), a three-part drama starring Matthew Macfadyen as the major and Sian Clifford as his wife, Diana (both so far following their media portrayals at least, as hapless and Lady Macbethesque respectively), and – most eye-catchingly – Michael Sheen as a pitch perfect Chris Tarrant. If you close your eyes, it’s him. The physical resemblance is uncanny, too, but in a more complicated way – you have to go back to the original to remind yourself that the presenter really does have that plasticky a rictus grin and adjust your credulity accordingly.
Michael will appear on one of the new installments under lockdown. Learn more:
After taking a break from original episodes this past week, “The Late Late Show With James Corden” will return with new garage installments next week. The episodes will again feature a combination of remote celebrity appearances and segments filmed in Corden’s home.
Of the four new episodes set to air, three will feature musical performances.
Doja Cat will perform on the June 1 installment, closing an episode that also features chats with Keegan-Michael Key and Todrick Hall.
M. Ward will perform as part of a June 2 broadcast that also features Michael Sheen, while Alanis Morissette will perform as part of a June 4 lineup that also includes an interview with Anna Kendrick.
All “Corden” listings, as a reminder, are subject to change.
EDIT: here are some link to watch the talk show at 12:37 AM ET/11:37 PM CT on CBS:
Michael discusses Quiz, Good Omens, Prodigal Son, fans and being a father for the second time at 50. Read more:
Ler maisLOS ANGELES—Michael Sheen has played Prime Minister Tony Blair, TV broadcaster icon David Frost and renowned human sexuality researcher William Masters, but the role he enjoys reprising these days is that of a father.
It has been 20 years since Michael became a first-time dad when he and Kate Beckinsale had Lily Mo Beckinsale-Sheen. Last September, the English actor returned to playing one of his favorite roles—a father—to Lyra, his daughter with Swedish actress Anna Lundberg.
“It’s been 20 years since I did this,” Michael confirmed in a video call about becoming a dad again at age 51.
“To be a new dad with a little baby in lockdown as well is a very particular experience,” said the Golden Globe nominee for the TV drama series, “Masters of Sex.” “It’s been great because it means that her routine comes first. I know a lot of people have been saying since the lockdown that routine is such an important thing because otherwise, you end up living in your pajamas all day, not doing anything. But, of course, she has a routine that has to be stood by, so she dictates what happens in the day.
During an ‘Author Live Series’ hosted by Amazon Live, in which Neil Gaiman and David Tennant discussed the TV adaptation of Good Omens, Michael appeared with a pre-recorded question to Gaiman. You can watch it here from 12min49.
The trio will talk about the miniseries before the premiere on AMC. Get notified:
AMC’s upcoming three-part drama QUIZ is directed by the globally renowned Stephen Frears (A Very English Scandal, Florence Foster Jenkins, Philomena, The Queen) and written by playwright James Graham (Brexit: An Uncivil War, Ink, This House (Prodigal Son). Join series stars Sian Clifford (Fleabag), Matthew Macfadyen, and Michael Sheen as they speak with Entertainment Weekly’s Ruth Kinane to discuss the fictional recreation of how Major Charles Ingram (Matthew Macfadyen), his wife Diana (Sian Clifford) and an accomplice were accused of cheating their way to a million pounds on what was the most popular game show hosted by Chris Tarrant (Michael Sheen) on earth in 2001 and the media storm that took place during the trial.
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