Latest news with #HughBonneville
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Hugh Bonneville to reprise role as Ian Fletcher in BBC football comedy
Downton Abbey star Hugh Bonneville will reprise his role as Ian Fletcher in a new BBC mockumentary series. The six-part show, Twenty Twenty Six, is a follow-up to comedy series W1A, which followed Ian as the head of values at the BBC. Bonneville, 61, will reprise the character as he takes on a new title, the BBC's director of integrity for the 2026 World Cup. Bonneville's character will join the Twenty Twenty Six Oversight Team in Miami, with a cast including The Day Of The Jackal's Nick Blood, Fresh Off The Boat star Chelsey Crisp and Designated Survivor's Paulo Costanzo. Stephen Kunken, best known for playing Ari Spyros in Billions, also joins the cast alongside The Inbetweeners' Belinda Stewart-Wilson. Director John Morton said: 'I wasn't sure what Ian Fletcher had been up to recently. The last I heard he was still recovering from a serious mindfulness course in Somerset. So, it's great to hear that he's made it back and has re-emerged in his natural habitat at the centre of a well-known institution, but now on the world stage and facing his biggest opportunity yet to get things right. 'I'm thrilled and hugely grateful to the BBC for giving me the chance to follow him again, this time all the way to Miami, and I literally can't wait to see what happens.' The character was first introduced in 2011 series Twenty Twelve, which followed an organising committee for the London Olympic Games. Bonneville was nominated for four TV Bafta awards and the original series took the Best Situation Comedy award in 2013. The series also starred The Crown's Olivia Colman, who won the 2013 Bafta for Best Female Performance in a Comedy. Bonneville is known for playing Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham, in period drama Downton Abbey, and has also starred in the Paddington films as Henry Brown. Executive producer Paul Schlesinger said: 'It's 15 years since Ian Fletcher's journey started with the run-up to the London Olympics and we are delighted the BBC has given John another chance to capture the universal comedy of people trying to organise something really big in a room, but this time with an outstanding international cast.' Twenty Twenty Six will consist of six 30-minute episodes and will be available to watch on BBC One and iPlayer.
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Hugh Bonneville to reprise role as Ian Fletcher in BBC football comedy
Downton Abbey star Hugh Bonneville will reprise his role as Ian Fletcher in a new BBC mockumentary series. The six-part show, Twenty Twenty Six, is a follow-up to comedy series W1A, which followed Ian as the head of values at the BBC. Bonneville, 61, will reprise the character as he takes on a new title, the BBC's director of integrity for the 2026 World Cup. Bonneville's character will join the Twenty Twenty Six Oversight Team in Miami, with a cast including The Day Of The Jackal's Nick Blood, Fresh Off The Boat star Chelsey Crisp and Designated Survivor's Paulo Costanzo. Stephen Kunken, best known for playing Ari Spyros in Billions, also joins the cast alongside The Inbetweeners' Belinda Stewart-Wilson. Director John Morton said: 'I wasn't sure what Ian Fletcher had been up to recently. The last I heard he was still recovering from a serious mindfulness course in Somerset. So, it's great to hear that he's made it back and has re-emerged in his natural habitat at the centre of a well-known institution, but now on the world stage and facing his biggest opportunity yet to get things right. 'I'm thrilled and hugely grateful to the BBC for giving me the chance to follow him again, this time all the way to Miami, and I literally can't wait to see what happens.' The character was first introduced in 2011 series Twenty Twelve, which followed an organising committee for the London Olympic Games. Bonneville was nominated for four TV Bafta awards and the original series took the Best Situation Comedy award in 2013. The series also starred The Crown's Olivia Colman, who won the 2013 Bafta for Best Female Performance in a Comedy. Bonneville is known for playing Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham, in period drama Downton Abbey, and has also starred in the Paddington films as Henry Brown. Executive producer Paul Schlesinger said: 'It's 15 years since Ian Fletcher's journey started with the run-up to the London Olympics and we are delighted the BBC has given John another chance to capture the universal comedy of people trying to organise something really big in a room, but this time with an outstanding international cast.' Twenty Twenty Six will consist of six 30-minute episodes and will be available to watch on BBC One and iPlayer.
BBC News
a day ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
BBC's former Head of Values Ian Fletcher appointed to new role as Director of Integrity for upcoming global football tournament
Having previously held a leadership role on the London Games of Twenty Twelve and a spell in W1A as the Head of Values at the BBC, Ian Fletcher (Hugh Bonneville) is now bound for the greatest stage in world football. Next year's tournament will be the biggest ever. Hosted by the USA, Canada, and Mexico with 48 countries taking part and 16 venues thousands of miles apart across the whole of North America; what could possibly go wrong? Ian Fletcher is about to find out, as he joins the Twenty Twenty Six Oversight Team in Miami as its Director of Integrity. Ian Fletcher said: "I'm thrilled at the prospect of joining the Oversight Team in Miami for this unique event. And in terms of the Integrity role, to borrow a soccer analogy, this is a rare opportunity to set out your own goals and then score them on the global stage.' Hugh Bonneville will reprise his role as Ian Fletcher and joining him in the cast are Nick Blood (Day of The Jackal, Slow Horses), Chelsey Crisp (Fresh off The Boat, Ten Percent), Paulo Costanzo (Designated Survivor, Royal Pains), Stephen Kunken (Billions, The Handmaid's Tale), Jimena Larraguivel (Patience and RSC), Alexis Michalik (A Love Story) and Belinda Stewart-Wilson (The Inbetweeners, Stay Close). Twenty Twenty Six is a new six-part series for BBC One and iPlayer, from the team behind W1A and Twenty Twelve, produced by Expectation. The show's writer and director John Morton says: 'I wasn't sure what Ian Fletcher had been up to recently. The last I heard he was still recovering from a serious Mindfulness Course in Somerset. So, it's great to hear that he's made it back and has re-emerged in his natural habitat at the centre of a well-known institution, but now on the world stage and facing his biggest opportunity yet to get things right. I'm thrilled and hugely grateful to the BBC for giving me the chance to follow him again, this time all the way to Miami, and I literally can't wait to see what happens.' Jon Petrie, BBC Director of Comedy says: 'We'll miss Ian's invaluable contribution to the BBC as Head of Values but how could he resist getting the call-up to be a part of one of the most expansive and ambitious sporting events in the world. We wish him, and the team, all the best.' Nerys Evans, Creative Director, Scripted at Expectation added: 'I've been a fan of John's writing for such a long time, especially seeing the different challenges he creates for poor Ian Fletcher, so beautifully portrayed by Hugh Bonneville. We're thrilled to be collaborating on Twenty Twenty Six, I can't wait to see what he's got in store for Ian this time.' Paul Schlesinger, Executive Producer, said: 'It's 15 years since Ian Fletcher's journey started with the run-up to the London Olympics and we are delighted the BBC has given John another chance to capture the universal comedy of people trying to organise something really big in a room, but this time with an outstanding international cast.' Twenty Twenty Six (6x30) is an Expectation production for BBC One and iPlayer with additional support from OKRE regarding climate and health expertise. The series was commissioned by Jon Petrie, BBC Director of Comedy. The series is written and directed by John Morton. The producer is Catherine Gosling Fuller, and the Executive Producers are Paul Schlesinger, Nerys Evans and John Morton. The BBC Commissioning Editor is Emma Lawson. BBC Studios, which has a minority investment stake in Expectation, will handle global sales. Watch W1A on BBC iPlayer Watch Twenty Twelve on BBC iPlayer HM2 Follow for more
Scotsman
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
When does The Gold series 2 end? BBC schedule explained
The Gold will continue on the BBC - but when will the finale of series 2 be broadcast? 📺 Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Hugh Bonneville is back for series 2 of The Gold. The show returned after two years away at the end of May. But when will the latest season finish on the BBC? The Gold has continued to keep audiences on their toes throughout its second series. The acclaimed historical drama returned last month after more than two years away. Hugh Bonneville leads the cast - as a number of familiar faces didn't return for the latest season. See who is appearing in the BBC show in 2025. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Viewers have had to wait since March 2023 for the show to make its highly anticipated return. But audiences might be wondering how much longer it will be on TV. How many episodes of The Gold are left? Charlotte Spencer as DI Nicki Jennings in The Gold series 2 | BBC The first series of The Gold had six episodes - which is a fairly standard amount for a BBC drama. For its second season, the historical crime thriller will also have the same amount. It will bring the show's total to 12 after two series. The most recent episode to be broadcast on TV was episode three and it was on BBC One last night (June 15). Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The show will continue with series two about four tonight (June 16). It is set to start at 9pm and will last for an hour. The preview for the latest episode, via Radio Times, reads: 'The British police join forces with the DEA to take down the international money laundering operation. In Tenerife, John Palmer has an unwelcome visitor as the pressure builds.' When is the finale of The Gold series 2? As mentioned in the section above, The Gold will have six episodes in its second season - the same as in the first. The fourth episode is set to be broadcast tonight (June 16). The Gold will then return with episode five on Sunday (June 22) night. Viewers will not have to wait much longer after that to catch the finale of series two. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Episode six is set to be broadcast on BBC One next Monday (June 23). It will also start at 9pm and will last for an hour. For viewers who simply can't wait to find out how the story continues, the full boxset is available to watch on BBC iPlayer. It became available on May 31 and it includes all six episodes. Have you got a story you want to share with our readers? You can now send it to us online via YourWorld at . It's free to use and, once checked, your story will appear on our website and, space allowing, in our newspapers.
Metro
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Metro
True story behind BBC crime drama that sent fans 'down a rabbit hole'
The second season of The Gold has once again brought the fallout of the Brink's-Mat heist to the forefront of BBC viewers' minds. Who was involved? How did they get away with it? And whatever happened to the second half of the millions in gold bullion stolen from a security depot near London's Heathrow Airport early one morning in 1983? The second season of the true crime drama moves the action on to the 1990s and expands beyond a London cops and robbers chase, to an investigation into a sprawling international network of criminality that touches the Canaries, the Caribbean and Asia. The Gold has always been a blend of fact and fiction, but with season two the scales shifted. The fact is the second half of the gold, which Brian Boyce (Hugh Bonneville) and his Brink's-Mat taskforce are dead set on finding, was never recovered. So, as the disclaimer at the start of the season suggests, the BBC drama had to add a touch of filmmaking magic to the story. The title card says the season is 'inspired by some of the theories around what happened to the other half'. That's not to say everything here has been conjured up from thin air. Several of the key players are still based on real life figures. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video It's that blend of fact and invention that has prompted several BBC viewers to seek out the truth of what happened after the robbery. @fordazzling wrote on X: 'Just finished binge watching series 2 and now cannot sleep as I'm down a Brink's-Mat rabbit hole of 'where are they now?' #TheGold.' So here's what we know… In short, yes-ish. The Brink's-Mat heist itself is a stone cold fact. Six armed men broke into the Brink's-Mat security depot, hoping for a sweet £1 million payday, but instead took home a bounty of gold bullion worth £26m. It was described as 'the crime of the century' and essentially rewrote the rules of international money laundering, leading to a boom in development around the London Docklands. Yet The Gold freely admits it doesn't know the full truth of what happened after the high-stakes theft itself, so the show is a combination of real events and theories on where the loot might have ended up. As for the characters, some are real, some are invented and some are a fun mismash of several different real people. John Palmer really did set up a timeshare business in the Canary Islands. But Charlie Miller (Sam Spruell) who made off with the second half of the gold isn't a real historical figure in the Brink's-Mat tale. Instead, he's a composite character, made up of various south London villains, as is his frenemy money laundering whizz Douglas Baxter (Joshua McGuire). Spruell described it in an interview as being 'not based on real, but based on an amalgam of real', telling the Radio Times: 'Neil [Forsyth]'s research has been extensive, as with all his projects and he has found his dramatic characters in the research. 'Partly it draws on real-life events, or real-life people, but in the end, it's his imagination that shapes the final product.' After extensive research, the show's writer Neil Forsyth has said that his biggest challenge in shaping that story was deciding what to keep from the story – with certain elements on the cutting room floor as a result. He told BBC Radio Scotland: 'It was such a fun story to research. It was more about piecing it together and it was really quite exciting. 'There's some great breakthroughs in the research. You think, 'well, I'll have that'. And it's exciting to think, 'I don't think anyone knows about this'.' He continued: 'The other interesting thing was, we did so much research on this that Brian Boyce, who Hugh Bonneville plays, who's the real life detective in charge of investigation – I'm at a stage now where sometimes I'll tell him things about the case that he didn't know, and that's always a bit of a thrill.' Heading up the Brink's-Mat team was Brian Boyce, played by Hugh Bonneville. The Downton Abbey star managed to get to know the real-life police detective to play him on screen. He told a Royal Television Society panel that if you cut Boyce in half, it would read 'police' and 'doing the right thing' all the way through him. 'He was incorruptible,' said Bonneville, 'which is why, at one stage in his career, MI5 suggested him for someone who wanted a certain investigation done because he, unlike certain others in the Metropolitan police and other police forces, had not been got at by money. 'He was absolutely a man of principle, and integrity.' Boyce is joined on the taskforce by Nicki Jennings (Charlotte Spencer), who is a fictional copper and Tony Brightwell (Emun Elliott) who is based on a real officer. Brightwell eventually left the police for the private sector, working for security firms such as Bishop Investigations and ISC Global. He's now in his 70s. Most of the gold has never been recovered. Uniting blue and white-collar criminals, the robbery was so far-reaching, the gang had to bring many others on board to figure out what to do with the loot. While the network of those involved is incredibly complicated, even more so with the so-called curse that left several of those involved killed, the gang was headed by Brian Robinson and Mickey McAvoy. Robinson was jailed for 25 years for his role in the robbery, as was McAvoy. More Trending Then in 1995, the High Court ordered McAvoy to make a payment of £27,488,299, making him responsible for the entire sum stolen, however by that point most of his share was apparently long gone. He was released from prison in 2000. A version of this article was first published in February 2023. View More » The Gold continues tonight at 9pm on BBC One and iPlayer. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: Outnumbered child star, 29, marries partner of seven years MORE: Beloved BBC series returning to TV as huge cast changes are confirmed MORE: Casualty star Michael Stevenson reveals worrying Iain Dean twist
