BBC TWO ANNOUNCES NEW DRAMA BY VICTORIA WOOD

BBC Two has announced a new drama by Victoria Wood, starring Imelda Staunton and Michael Ball in a new musical television film of her stage play, That Day We Sang.

BBC Two and Endor Productions confirm that principal photography will begin on 6 January 2014 for a new 90-minute musical film for television. Tubby And Enid is an adaptation of the BAFTA-winning writer Victoria Wood’s stage play That Day We Sang, which also begins a run at the Manchester Royal Exchange this month.

The television musical will star BAFTA winner and Academy Award nominee Imelda Staunton (Vera Drake, Another Year, Shakespeare In Love) and Olivier Award winner Michael Ball (Hairspray, Sweeney Todd).

Tubby And Enid has at its core the iconic recording of Nymphs and Shepherds sung by the Manchester Children’s Choir in 1929. As we begin the story of one of those children, Jimmy, as he prepares for the great day, we jump ahead 40 years to a reunion of that same choir being filmed for a documentary.

One of the ex-choir children is Tubby, a middle-aged insurance salesman, living alone after the death of his mother. Hearing the record for the first time in 40 years he gets a glimpse of the boy he was, and the man he could be, if he has the courage to change. At the same reunion is Enid, living in a safe narrow world of her own construction.

The music stirs powerful memories in both and seems to offer a new direction, a last grab for love. We interweave their faltering romance with Jimmy’s story, living with his adored but embittered mother in a tiny back-to-back in Depression-hit Manchester.

Writer Victoria Wood says: “Tubby And Enid brings together everything I love – singing, dancing, comedy, love and chips. A musical set in ’29 and ’69 complete with tap dancing children, singing coal men and possibly a tram, was always going to be a big undertaking, and I’m very appreciative of the way everyone at the BBC has been so encouraging and supportive.

“Imelda and Michael are my dream team, superb professionals at the top of their game. I’m hoping to deliver something that will be a real treat for the audience.”

Janice Hadlow, Controller, BBC Two, says: “With a fantastic cast, and written and directed by the brilliant Victoria Wood, this promises to be a real treat for BBC Two viewers.”

Producer Paul Frift says: “Musicals for television are rare – to make a musical with Victoria Wood, Imelda Staunton and Michael Ball is pure heaven. Tubby And Enid is a beautiful universal love story, we will all be in floods of tears before the end.”

Hilary Bevan Jones, Executive Producer, adds: “Victoria Wood is an extraordinary talent. This script is warm, witty and fun, complete with music and lyrics that make your heart leap.”

Tubby And Enid is an Endor Production, written and directed by Victoria Wood, produced by Paul Frift (The Escape Artist, Restless, Room At The Top) and executive produced by Hilary Bevan Jones (The Escape Artist, Restless, State Of Play) and Matthew Read (BBC).

Tubby And Enid demonstrates BBC Two’s commitment to Original British Drama and joins a raft of highly anticipated upcoming dramas on BBC Two, including Hugo Blick’s The Honourable Woman; a six-part adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s novels, Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies; A Poet In New York, written by Andrew Davies and David Hare’s Turks & Caicos and Salting The Battlefield.

Filed under: http://www.theleader.info/article/41784/

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