Guides Archive

15

Annika Stranded

Nicola first starred in this radio project in January 2013.

For all information about Series 1, go to this Page.

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 πŸ˜€

[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

 
 

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10

Last Tango in Halifax Series 2

Series-2

For our coverage on Series 1 of this show, go HERE.
For our coverage on Series 3 of this show, go HERE

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Table of Contents

Main Cast and other production details

Production Updates

Production Pics

Press Coverage : Articles/interviews available online, Press Articles Gallery

Episode Trailers, Characters Guide, Episode Guides, Reviews and Ratings

Screencaps | Filming Locations | Awards and Nominations

Fun Stuff – Script download, Fun Facts, Set visits, Wish List, Best Caption Competition

Trivia, Six Degrees and DVD news

Order from Amazon UK

Order the Series 1 & 2 (Regions 2 and 4 compatible) DVDs from Amazon UK.

40

Last Tango in Halifax Series 1

Series-1

For our coverage on Series 2 of this show, go HERE.
For our coverage on Series 3 of this show, go HERE.

Table of Contents

Background information / updates, when the show was still called Antony & Cleopatra

Background information / updates, when the show was renamed Last Tango in Halifax

More Updates and a link to the BBC media pack for this show (which includes interviews from Derek Jacobi, Anne Reid, Sarah Lancashire and of course, Nicola)

Articles/interviews available online, Press Articles Gallery and Series 2 news

Links to Episode Trailers, Episode Guides, Characters Guide, Reviews, Ratings and Screencaps

Filming Locations, Series 1 Dedication (find out who is Alec Walker)

Awards and Nominations

Fun Stuff – script download, six degrees and DVD news

Cast and other Production details

The Buttershaw Family
Name Role
Derek Jacobi Alan Buttershaw
Nicola Walker Gillian Greenwood (nee Buttershaw)
Josh Bolt Raff Greenwood
The Dawson Family
Name Role
Anne Reid Celia Dawson
Sarah Lancashire Caroline Dawson
Tony Gardner John Elliot
Edward Ashley William Elliot
Louis Greatorex Lawrence Elliot
Other Characters
Name Role
Nina Sosanya Kate
Dean Andrews Robbie
Sacha Dhawan Paul Jatri
Ronni Ancona Judith
Brief production details
Name Role
Sally Wainwright Creator/Writer/one of the Executive Producers
Euros Lyn Director – episodes 1 to 3
Samuel Donovan Director – episodes 4 to 6
Red Productions Production Company
BBC One transmission station
Number of Episodes 6 x 60 minutes

The links above will take you to the individual actor’s or writer’s IMDb page. For more detailed information on the show, including guests in individual episodes and a full crew list, visit on the show’s IMDb page.

Order from Amazon UK

The Region 2 DVD is also Region 4 compatible.

 


Turn the page and start reading all the information which we have collected on this show.

54

the curious incident of the dog in the night-time

Table of Contents

Background Updates

Rehearsal Photos, Interviews with Cast and Crew

Press and other Reviews

More Updates, NT Podcasts with Marianne Elliot and Una Stubbs, a “Making Of” video, Awards and Nominations, Celebrity Sightings and Six Degrees

Fan Reviews

  • at the Cottesloe
  • NT Live
  • Relaxed Performance
  • Final Performance at the Cottesloe
  • Update : 25 January 2013

    Its official, Nicola will not be joining the cast in the show’s West End transfer.

    This item from Whats On Stage confirms what we have suspected for weeks : Nicola will not be joining the rest of the cast in the play’s transfer to the West End in March 2013. (Thank you, AgentP, for the link.) Her part, Christopher’s mother Judy, will be taken over by Holly Aird, who was in Torn [TV] with Nicola.

    We are disappointed, but that probably means Nicola will be busy with filming work on her various TV shows πŸ™‚ Turn the page and read all the information we have amassed on the play when Nicola was still in it.

    Read the Book

    Order from Amazon UK

    There is a special edition of the book to accompany the National Theatre’s production of this play.

    Order from Amazon US

    The play is not available as a DVD. The National Theatre does not release any of its NT Live plays as DVDs.

    11

    Antony and Cleopatra

    June 2012 : The name of this show has been changed to “Last Tango in Halifax”. Read all about it in this Post.

    We’ve known about this project for some time now, but refrained from logging a post about it out of respect to the production company who was supposed to make a formal announcement about recent casting for the show a couple of weeks ago. They haven’t done that, but in the meantime, Twitter and other forums have been full of speculation about the show, so we might as well make this post public.

    Back in May 2011, the BBC announced the commissioning of a number of new dramas, including this show. The press release at the time stated

    Anthony And Cleopatra, 6×60 series, written by Sally Wainwright and made by Red Production Company

    New series for BBC One about love and second chances, set in the autumn years of two old school friends. Alan and Celia, both widowed and in their 70s, unexpectedly fall for each other when they meet again after nearly 50 years. Their relationship is a celebratory tale of the uplifting power of love at any age. But this is also a story about family, and about history. Both Alan and Celia have families, and with family comes baggage.

    One cast member made Nicola’s involvement in this show public when he tweeted about this in mid December 2011. However, shortly after he tweeted this, he deleted the tweet immediately when he realized that the casting news has not yet been made official. This cast member is also appearing in another TV project in 2012 with Nicola.

    On 3 January 2012, @SophieB_ noticed that Nicola’s Spotlight page has been updated to include news of Nicola’s casting as “Gillian” in this show. Thanks to others on Twitter, we now also know that Euros Lyn is the Director for this show. (You can access Euros’s own website HERE.) Both Euros Lyn and Sally Wainwright have had impressive credits in the past, so we await this show with keen interest. It is curious that Nicola’s Spotlight page has not yet been updated to include her appearance in New Tricks/Old School Ties even though we know, again, via Twitter, that she has already completed filming of her guest role back in December 2011.

    There have been other tweets about a read through for a 6 part drama which started today (4th January 2012) in Manchester, from other would-be cast members (though this time not the abovementioned cast member). These actors seem to be all to happy to hint about their involvement and yet when pressed further, they clam up and give some lame excuse like, “Sorry everyone. I’m not allowed to say owt until it’s been announced to the world :(“. In that case, why tweet about the great cast, brilliant scripts and fantastic read throughs in the first place? This is most frustrating for fans. Press officers ought to know by now that Twitter leaks news faster than any other medium!

    Filming of Antony and Cleopatra will take place in Yorkshire and Manchester between January and March 2012. An air date has not yet been announced. We have no idea as to why the show has the same title as the Shakespeare play, since the subject matter of the two plays bear no resemblance to each other. Perhaps those Nicola fans who are also Shakespeare scholars can hazard a guess as to why the script writer chose this particular title for her show.

    You can access the production company’s website HERE. This site does not appear to have been updated since November 2011.

    Why was the show named “Antony & Cleopatra?

    There has been no official explanation, but perhaps this entry from On the Box’s 10 TV Shows to Look Out For in 2012 gives a clue :

    A bit of gentle BBC drama which tells the story of two old school friends who meet after 50 years of family life and fall in luuurve. The two widowed 70-year-olds (not called Anthony or Cleopatra), have a whole load of baggage to bring to the relationship which promises to make this a realistic and unique approach to the usual TV love story plot. Written by Sally Wainwright, who penned the popular Unforgiven for ITV earlier this year, the drama will feature as part of the BBC’s Shakespeare season which will see several of the bard’s plays remade for your televisual viewing pleasure.

    Update : 11 January 2012

    We’ve found out who have been cast as the two leads of this show. Derek Jacobi will play “Antony” and Anne Reid will play “Cleopatra”. We found this information in a CV (stumbled across online) of one of the crew (not cast) members on the show. Neither the production company nor the BBC has yet made any formal announcement of the cast list, but if this new info is correct, then we think its brilliant and inspired casting. All of the supporting cast (i.e. the children and the baggage) will have to work hard to keep up with these two strong veterans of stage and screen.

    Coincidentally, Shepherd Management announced today that Dean Andrews will be joining Derek Jacobi and Anne Reid in this project. Another actor known to have been cast is Tony Gardner.

    @IanWylie just tweeted that Nicola has been confirmed to play Derek Jacobi’s daughter, Gillian, in this drama. Another cast member mentioned in Ian’s tweet is Sarah Lancashire. Thanks to Ian, you can read the BBC press release HERE. (Between last May and today, the BBC appeared to have decided to drop the “h” in “Antony”.)

    Nicola to play the mother of a teenage son? That’s about as far away from “Ruth Evershed” as you can get. YES!

    @IanWylie then tweeted

    Spoke to Antony and Cleopatra writer Sally W last week. Much of it is about Nicola Walker and Sarah Lancashire’s characters

    I guess that means we can expect a more detailed write-up from Ian, closer to the air date when the embargo on interviews and publicity is lifted.

    Family Chart

    Here’s a family chart we’ve compiled, showing you the relationships between the various characters. As we receive more casting news, we will update this chart to include additional characters. (click on the image to view a larger pic)

    For more info, updates and photos, please turn to the next page.

    Update : 12 January 2012

    Tony Gardner has shared this pic on Twitter of the two young actors who will be playing sons on this show.

    The young man on the right, Josh Bolt, 17, will be playing Nicola’s character’s son.*
    See comments on this pic from Liz below. Thanks, Liz.

    5

    Inside Men

    From the Whats on Stage press release for Di and Viv and Rose, which was subsequently confirmed by Nicola’s Spotlight page, we know that she has been cast in this new BBC One production. Nicola will play a character called “Kirsty Doyle”. HERE is more information from the BBC.

    This Guardian article claims that the programme is scheduled for transmission in 2012. This article from Best British TV tells us that transmission is likely to be early 2012 as they have only commenced shooting in August. We have no information on how big (or small) a role Nicola will have. Given that there are four male leads and the show centers around their attempt at staging a heist, and Nicola was not mentioned in the BBC’s own press release, it is unlikely that Nicola will have that big a role.

    Update : 31 December 2011

    Amazon UK has listed the DVD box set for this show as being available for pre-order and listed its release date as 27 February 2012. This implies that the show will be transmitted in the UK sometime in early February, although as of this writing, no air date has been announced yet by the BBC. It seems strange that for a show so close to being aired, there is still hardly any publicity for it in the mainstream press. Then again, it is not uncommon for the BBC to push back the DVD release date once they’ve made up their minds on an actual air date.

    The BBC has a rather inconsistent policy when it comes to the release of DVDs of its shows. For some shows, such as New Tricks, the DVD box sets are often released more than 6 months after the relevant series has aired. But for shows such as Being Human and more recently, Spooks and Downton Abbey, the DVD box sets have been released just a month or so after the shows have aired.

    Incidentally, we’ve been told by Nicola that hers is only a small role in this show.

    Update : 13 January 2011

    The BBC Media Centre has released information about the first episode of this programme which you can read HERE. We understand from various sources that the show is due to be broadcast in the UK between 28 January 2012 and 4 February 2012.

    HERE is the BBC press pack which includes interviews with the four lead actors. Nicola does not feature in the press pack.

    Update : 19 January 2012

    The first episode of this show will air on BBC One on Thursday, 2 February 2012, at 9 pm (GMT).

    Update : 20 January 2012

    Here is the trailer for Inside Men which the BBC has made available in which Nicola makes a brief appearance and delivers this line, “we’re happy, we’re family, that’s enough, isn’t it?”

    For more updates, info, reviews and photos, please turn to the next page.

    0

    Guides

    Update 2 January 2011

    Guides to all of Nicola’s audio work have now been done. Click HERE for a list of those Guides. We will now turn our efforts to her other work.

    On 19 November 2010, we said :

    Can you help us?

    We would like to include recaps of all of the shows in which Nicola has made an appearance for the benefit of fans who have not seen a particular show, or to refresh your memory if you have seen a show but it was a long time ago. All of Nicola’s shows except for Spooks. There are already available online plenty of episode guides and recaps of Spooks – we will simply provide links to those recaps.

    If you want to help, please email us and let us have the following information :

    Your name : the name you wish to use as a credit for the recap
    Name of the show, including series number and episode number/name
    Recap, which should be between 300 to 500 words. Please refrain from discussing major plot lines of each show in case someone reading the recap has not yet seen that particular show. Its probably not necessary for you to provide us with images or screencaps, unless you wish to use a particular image or screencap.

    Your contribution will be edited, where necessary or appropriate. If we receive contributions for the same episode or show from more than one person, we may mash these contributions together for a composite recap.

    Start writing!