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Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Information in the right hand panel. If you wish to leave a comment on this show, do it on any of our social media pages.
Its been a while since we last did a Q&A with Nicola. The last one we did was in 2015 (see link below). As part of the publicity for Unforgotten 2 and A View from the Bridge, the Guardian hi-jacked one of our questions and used it as the headline for their interview with Nicola.
You wonder what your life has come to, telling someone what sort of biscuit you are’
Nicola wasn’t really unhappy with with our 2015 Q&A or the biscuit question. At the time, she was interviewed via a long distance call when she was in New York doing A View from the Bridge on Broadway. She had no idea that they would make a headline out of her comments. On our part, we can’t really blame the Guardian, which is one of the few traditional press outlets which have acknowledged the existence of this fansite.
Its been 4 years since our last Q&A, so when we visited with Nicola when she was on stage with The Cane in January 2019, we took the opportunity of submitting some new questions to her and she very kindly agreed to answer them, in her own handwriting, no less!
Screencaps | Filming Locations | Awards and Nominations
Trivia, Six Degrees and DVD news
Order from Amazon UK
You can order the show’s DVD box sets (Regions 2 and 4 compatible) from Amazon UK. Purchases made through these links will help us raise money for Nicola’s charity, the MS Society of the UK.
You can order the show’s DVD box sets (Regions 2 and 4 compatible) from Amazon UK. Your purchase using this link will benefit Nicola’s nominated charity.
You can order the show’s DVD box sets (Regions 2 and 4 compatible) from Amazon UK. Your purchase using this link will benefit Nicola’s nominated charity.
In May 2017, the Almeida Theatre in London started broadcasting its “Figures of Speech” project which involved a number of well known actors/actresses reproducing various famous speeches. For more information on which other actors/actresses were involved, go HERE.
On 9 May 2017, Nicola was chosen to perform “America, Wake Up”, a speech first made by Elizabeth Glaser in 1992 to the US Democratic National Convention, a landmark speech on the AIDS epidemic.
Here’s Nicola’s performance
Nicola was also involved with a group discussion of her performance of “America, Wake Up”
If you like either Nicola’s performance or the group discussion, please give a “thumbs up” on the YouTube site and/or leave a comment.
The gorgeous portrait of Nicola was taken by Todd MacDonald for this project. Todd is on Twitter and Instagram.
Nominations for the 2017 BAFTA TV Awards were announced on 11 April 2017. Nicola made it to the shortlist for Best Supporting Actress for her work in Last Tango in Halifax (Christmas Special). The other ladies in her category included :
WUNMI MOSAKU for Damilola, Our Loved Boy
SIOBHAN FINNERAN for Happy Valley and
VANESSA KIRBY for The Crown
The awards were handed out in a ceremony held on 14 May 2017 at London’s Royal Festival Hall. Nicola didn’t win in her category. See the full list of winners HERE.
To be eligible for the 2017 BAFTA TV Awards, a show should have been broadcast in the UK between 1 January 2016 and 31 December 2016. This means that Unforgotten Series 2 was excluded from the 2017 nominations but will be eligible for the 2018 nominations. We have high hopes for Nicola in the 2018 BAFTA TV Awards.
Sarah Lancashire won in her category, Best Leading Actress, for her work in Happy Valley Series 2. She is such a Nicola Walker fan. In her acceptance speech, she thanked Nicola even though Nicola was not in the cast for Happy Valley!
You may recall that in her acceptance speech when she won Best Supporting Actress in 2014 for Last Tango in Halifax, Sarah thanked Nicola three times!
Nicola’s plus one at the awards ceremony was her husband, Barnaby Kay. They may such a good looking couple!
(The above two screencaps courtesy of @theoofoof and @AnnDee2013 via Twitter)
The Guardian UK has finally done a Q&A with Nicola and you can read it HERE.
It’s a laugh out loud interview and has got the best responses from Nicola.
When we put together Q&As for the website, we deliberately avoided using the Guardian’s Q&A as a template because all these years, we’ve been waiting and hoping that they would get round to inviting Nicola to do this section. And now they have 🤣🤣🤣 Thank you, Guardian UK 😍😘
The bits we liked the most involve Nicola’s husband, Barnaby Kay. Here’s one :
“What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Parking my worries with my husband at 2am and leaving him blinking into the darkness while I sleep.”
Screencaps | Filming Locations | Awards and Nominations
Fun Stuff – Script download, Fun Facts
Trivia, Six Degrees and DVD news
Order from Amazon UK
You can order the show’s DVD box sets (Regions 2 and 4 compatible) from Amazon UK. Purchases made through these links will help us raise money for Nicola’s charity, the MS Society of the UK.
A 2nd series of this radio show was recorded and was broadcast every Sunday in July 2014. For more information about Series 2, go to this Page.
A 3rd series was recorded and broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2016. For more information about Series 3, go to this Page.
A 4th series was recorded and began airing on BBC Radio 4 in August 2018. For more information about Series 4, go to this Page.
A 5th series was recorded and began airing on BBC Radio 4 in June 2019. For more information about Series 5, go to this Page.
A 6th series was recorded and began airing on BBC Radio 4 in May 2020. For more information about Series 6, go to this Page.
This is such a brilliant, funny series and Nicola does a superb job of bringing Annika to life. We wish they would turn this radio series into a television series 😀
[December 2020 Ed’s Note : We are happy to announce that Annika has indeed been turned into a TV show, which is covered HERE.]
Incidentally, Nicola is not related to the writer of this show, Nick Walker.
You can listen to this programme, wherever you are in the world, via the BBC Radio iPlayer, which does not have any geographic restrictions. The programme will remain available on the BBC Radio iPlayer for 30 days after the original broadcast date, so if you are unable to tune in at the designated time, you can still catch up on the iPlayer.
Follow us on Twitter (@BonkerbutBrill or @NicolaWalkerFan) for up to date information about when this programme will be aired or repeated on BBC Radio 4.
Theme song
In response to the many enquiries we received from fans of the show about the theme song for this series, we asked and received the answer from Karen Rose of Sweet Talk Productions, the producer of Annika Stranded :
The artist(s) are Klara and Johanna Soderberg (aka First Aid Kit) and the song title is ‘To A Poet‘
The Things Unseen website has posted a series Good Friday and Easter Haikus submitted by their listeners. Of these, six are read by Nicola. A Haiku is a three-line Japanese-inspired poem following a strict 5-7-5 syllable format.
Of the six Haikus, three are accompanied by a short video which features music and scenery but Nicola does not appear in them. Enjoy!
[Ed : the above photo was taken from an article titled “Top 10 Photography locations in the Lakes District” from the Guardian website. That article has no connection with the Channel 4 programme.]
Here’s what we know about this project (from the Channel 4 website) :
Channel 4 in the UK has produced 10 short films featuring stunning footage from all four corners of the British Isles accompanied by readings from much-loved British actors.
The 10 shorts are:
Anglesey – Hollywood actor Michael Sheen reads The Moment by Kathleen Raine over a fantastic aerial shot of Llanddwyn Island, Anglesey.
Aber Falls – Michael Sheen reads Leisure by W.H. Davies over a single shot of the incredible Rhaeadr-fawr (Aber Falls), Gwynedd.
Pinetum – Homeland star David Harewood reads Leaf and Tendril by John Burroughs over a beautiful shot of the forest at Bedgebury Pinetum, Kent.
Slieve Donard – Amanda Burton reads an extract from The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S Lewis over a stunning image of the riverside walking route to Slieve Donard, County Down.
Causeway – Amanda Burton reads an extract from The Irish Sketchbook by William Makepeace Thackeray over incredible images of Giant’s Causeway in County Antrim.
Dovedale – Sean Bean reads an extract from The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame over beautiful scenery of Dovedale, Derbyshire.
Wycoller – Sean Bean reads Stanzas by Emily Bronte over a breathtaking shot of the historic Wycoller Country Park, Lancashire.
Buttermere – Last Tango in Halifax star Nicola Walker reads The Words of Alfred Wainwright over a breathtaking image of one of the Lake’s District’s best views in Buttermere, Cumbria.
Old Man – Downton Abbey star Phyllis Logan reads In Praise of Walking by Thomas A. Clark over striking scenery of The Old Man of Storr, Isle of Skye.
Camusdarach – Phyllis Logan reads an extract from Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage by Lord Byron over shots of the golden sands of Camusdarach Beach, The Highlands.
As far as we can tell, each short film lasts only about a minute and they are not available for viewing anywhere on the web.
We do not know which passage written by Alfred Wainwright was used in Nicola’s short clip. You can find more information on Alfred Wainwright on Wikipedia.
Nicola has been cast in a new comedy pilot called The Circuit. Here is the press release from Channel 4
Channel 4 invites you to the worst dinner party that’s ever happened in the world anywhere. The Circuit, produced by Merman and written by Dennis Kelly (Utopia, Pulling) and Sharon Horgan (Catastrophe, Pulling) is a brand new comedy pilot commissioned by Channel 4 about the horror and hilarity of social engagement.
Gabe (Adeel Akhtar) and Nat (Eva Birthistle) have left their wonderful old life and moved to an area where people seem to oscillate somewhere between highly-strung and psychopathic. The reason they left isn’t immediately clear but they’re here now and trying to make the best of it. They go to one dinner party hosted by neighbour Helene (Victoria Hamilton) and her husband Sasha (Tobias Menzies) with fellow prisoners Danny (Paul Ready), Marty (Nicola Walker) and her girlfriend Angie (Desiree Akhavan). And so begins a descent into hell and Goulash, from which no one will ever fully recover.
Phil Clarke, Channel 4’s head of comedy said: “The pitch for The Circuit was irresistible. The premise – that everyone hates going to dinner parties but goes anyway – is a great starting place for a comedy. Plus, the prospect of a script from Sharon Horgan and Dennis Kelly, writing together again for the first time since Pulling, was incredibly exciting. The script didn’t disappoint, and I am delighted that we are now making a pilot.”
Rachel Springett, comedy commissioner for Channel 4 said: “We can’t wait to see this stellar cast breathe life into Dennis and Sharon’s fabulous script. It’s a very exciting project which we are thrilled to be making with them.”
Clelia Mountford, Founder and MD for Merman, said: “We’re delighted to be working with Channel 4 on the longest dinner party ever. We just hope they’ll bring the wine.”
Dennis Kelly and Sharon Horgan said: “It has taken just 10 short years for us to agree to work together again. It was a mistake.”
The Circuit pilot was commissioned by Channel 4 and is produced by t (The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret, Divorce ) for Merman. It was written by Sharon Horgan and Dennis Kelly, who also serve as executive producers.
At this stage, it looks as though Nicola will only be involved in the filming of the pilot. The pilot will be aired, hopefully sometime in 2016, and then it will be up to Channel 4 to order a full season of shows. If that happens, Nicola may or may not be further involved. She has filmed other pilots in the past where she did not end up having any further involvement because of scheduling conflicts by the time the pilot is picked up.
Sharon Horgan has written a lot of comedy hits, but equally, she has written some shows which failed to hit the mark, e.g. Dead Boss. So we’re keeping an open mind about this new project. It would be nice to see Nicola in a comedic role.
Production Updates
Sharon Horgan has shared these production pics on Hellomerman, her Instagram page :
Nicola can be seen on set in the third pic.
Trailer
The pilot will be aired on Channel 4 in the UK on Thursday, 25 August 2016. Here’s a trailer made available on YouTube.
It is still unclear at this stage whether the show will progress to a full series, and if so, whether Nicola will still be attached as a series regular.
Six Degrees
Adeel Akhtar was in River, though he did not have any direct scenes with Nicola in that show.
Tobias Menzies was in two episodes of Series 8 of Spooks, though he did not have any scenes with Nicola.
A new SweetTalk Productions radio project starring Nicola. The show was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 29 October 2015.
In the heart of the English countryside in a specialist residential hospital. A man, a government agent, is in a fugue state – a psychological shutdown – the result of something seemingly threatening that has taken place in a remote village.
Needing to act before the situation escalates and believing the patient can still hear, Doctor Fallon uses sound recordings to recreate events leading up to the point of shutdown, to prompt the patient’s brain into remembering what has happened.
Julian Simpson’s original drama was inspired by a series of talks and workshops at the Wellcome Trust, based around the latest thinking on how the human brain processes inputs – how it builds a model of the world, which we call reality, based on sensory information and our prediction of what we are expecting to see, hear or feel.
How to listen to the show
Non-UK fans can tune into BBC Radio 4 via the BBC Radio iPlayer which does not have any geographic restrictions. After the show has been aired, it should remain available on the BBC Radio iPlayer for 30 days thereafter.
Monday, 19 December 2016, 9pm BBC One
Tuesday, 20 December 2016, 9pm BBC One
Back in February 2015 …
First the good news, YES there will be a series 4. After Episode 6 of Series 3 was aired in the UK on 1 February 2015, an announcement was made at the end of the programme to the effect that “Last Tango in Halifax will return with a new series“, AND the BBC logged this tweet :
And now, for the bad news : Series 4 won’t be on screen until late 2016, at the earliest! Various sources have confirmed this. Read more in our Last Tango in Halifax FAQ.
Series 4 may well turn out to be a movie rather than a series with 6 episodes. On 29.11.2014, we saw on Twitter that Sally Wainwright gave a talk to the Overgate Hospice in Calderdale during which she revealed that Last Tango in Halifax might be made into a film. How exciting. Nicola on the big screen. Yes!!! At the end of the day, whether Series 4 will have six episodes or one long movie is up to Sally Wainwright and the BBC. It will also depend on the respective schedules of the lead actors/actresses.
For our coverage on Series 3 of this show, go HERE.
For our coverage on Series 2 of this show, go HERE.
For our coverage on Series 1 of this show, go HERE.
Screencaps | Filming Locations | Awards and Nominations
Fun Stuff – Fun Facts
Trivia, Six Degrees and DVD news
Order from Amazon UK
You can order the show’s DVD box sets (Regions 2 and 4 compatible) from Amazon UK. Purchases made through these links will help us raise money for Nicola’s charity, the MS Society of the UK.
Big Finish has just announced a new Dr Who audio project which features Nicola once again as the Doctor’s companion, Liv Chenka.
In October 2015 the Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann) and his companion Liv Chenka (Nicola Walker) will head into a brand new era of Doctor Who, as the TARDIS is recalled to Gallifrey by the Time Lords. And they will be battling a new foe known only as The Eleven…
Doctor Who: Doom Coalition is an epic saga that will span four box sets (a total of sixteen episodes) forming one breathtaking inter-connecting saga that will push the Doctor’s bravery and resourcefulness to its limits.
Doctor Who: Doom Coalition 1 is released in October 2015. The remaining three volumes will follow across 2016 and into 2017 and can be bought as a collected Bundle.
For the complete press release about Doomsday Coalition, head over to the Big Finish website.
Screencaps | Filming Locations | Awards and Nominations
Fun Stuff
Trivia, Six Degrees and DVD news
Order from Amazon UK
You can order the show’s DVD box sets (Regions 2 and 4 compatible) from Amazon UK. Purchases made through these links will help us raise money for Nicola’s charity, the MS Society of the UK.
Nicola is NOT on any social media, but we are! We are now live on
Twitter
Instagram as well as
Facebook. Go to this Page to find out more details.
Annika Stranded news
All 6 series of "Annika Stranded" now available on BBC Sounds the BBC Sounds app on your mobile device.
Free, with no geographic restrictions.
Unforgotten Series 4
Series 4 has now aired in the UK, US and Australia.
Awards and Nominations
Nicola has picked up a number of nominations in New York for her work in A View from the Bridge : Outer Critics Circle Awards - Outstanding Actress in a Play (results : 9 May 2016). She didn't win. :(
Drama League Awards - Nominee for The Distinguished Performance Award (results : 20 May 2016). Again, she didn't win. :( :(
Drama Desk Awards - Outstanding Actress in a Play (results : 5 June 2016). She didn't win. That's three for three :( :( :(
River has been nominated in the 2016 Golden Nymph Awards (Festival de Television de Monte Carlo), in the category of Best TV Series Drama. Both Stellan Skarsgard and Nicola scored nominations in the acting categories. River won in its category but sadly, Nicola did not. :( Both the show and the lead actors were snubbed in the 2016 BAFTA TV Awards.
Miscellaneous Photos page updated!
We have updated the Miscellaneous Photos page with Nicola's latest headshots and photos taken elsewhere. Enjoy!
Navigating Spooks DVD menus
Here is a handy guide to help you navigate the earlier Spooks DVD menus.
