‘Gogglebox’ Co-Creator Leaves Studio Lambert; Women In Film & TV UK CEO; 101 Films Inks JV With New Distributor — UK Briefs

Naman Ramachandran The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) will merge its Los Angeles and New York branches to form a single BAFTA North America in 2021, Variety has confirmed.The merger is in aid of a homogenous strategy designed to foster closer interactions with the U.K. body.

Johnny Depp may have lost his UK libel case against The Sun, but his legal war is just getting started — and it looks like he won’t give up until he drags half of Hollywood into it!

We’re all now used to the annual tradition of debating the controversial lyrics in The Pogues’ ‘Fairytale Of New York’ as a way of kicking off the festive season here in the UK. But with the focus on that, it can be easy to forget the other controversy this song sparks: the one when people try to cover it.It’s really hard to capture the spirit of a song like ‘Fairytale Of New York’, although many have tried.

EXCLUSIVE: AMC Networks streamers Sundance Now and UMC have inked a deal for the North American, Caribbean, Canadian, and UK rights to South African horror series Dead Places.

Star Wars spin off series Kenobi will be filmed in the town of Boston in the UK, not Boston, Massachusetts as previously reported.It was erroneously reported last week that the series would be filmed in the American city, prompting a number of memes and parodies.The Late Show With Stephen Colbert released a parody of the theme tune from classic Boston-set comedy series Cheers, which they claimed was the “opening credits” of the forthcoming sci-fi series.Kenobi is filming in Boston next month.

Helena Bonham Carter is weighing on the controversy surrounding The Crown.

Helena Bonham Carter is keen for The Crown to stress the show is”not a drama-doc” and events have been “dramatized”.U.K. Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden hit headlines over the weekend (November 28-29, 2020) with his revelation that he’s planning to write to Netflix to ask them to put a warning on the show, about Britain’s Royal Family, for viewers to make it clear that it’s dramatized.

EXCLUSIVE: Netflix has inked a multi-million dollar deal for near-global rights to sci-fi survival thriller Stowaway, starring Anna Kendrick (Pitch Perfect), Toni Collette (Hereditary), Daniel Dae Kim (Hawaii Five-0) and Shamier Anderson (Wyonna Earp).

Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker is prepping his latest project for Netflix: a mockumentary about 2020.

Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, has revealed that she suffered a miscarriage in July, explaining in a deeply personal New York Times op-ed that losing a child means “carrying an almost unbearable grief.”

Dave McNary Film ReporterHanWay Films has closed multiple international sales for Phillip Noyce’s “Peggy Jo,” with Lily James attached to star as Peggy Jo Tallas, who robbed Texas banks in the early 1990s while posing as a man.A deal with Universal Pictures Content Group includes Benelux, German speaking Europe, Italy, Portugal, Scandinavia, and the UK.

South Korean boy band is here to soothe all your pandemic woes with “Life Goes On,” the lead track and first single off of the group’s new album “BE,” which dropped early Friday.On the acoustic-guitar-laced mid-tempo track, BTS — crooning as well as rapping — offers COVID-era comfort in both Korean and English.

I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! camp.The British stage performer is best known for her long career in musical theatre, having made her West End debut in Cats in 1987.Aged 53, Henshall has been nominated for five Olivier Awards, winning the Best Actress gong in 1995 for She Loves Me.

BBC Radio 1 has said it has chosen to play an alternative version of Fairytale of New York.The edited version of the 1987 Christmas song by The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl changes up two lines in the song.The British station said that it had made the decision to play the altered version because ‘young listeners are particularly sensitive to derogatory terms for gender and sexuality.’The new edited version of the song has altered two of its lines, one which is sung by Kirsty MacColl has been

Tom Grater International Film ReporterEXCLUSIVE: Bruce Willis will play a NYPD detective-turned-Sheriff of a small town in Oregon in action thriller American Siege, which is now shooting in Georgia before moving to Victoria, British Columbia.Edward John Drake (Broil) is directing from a script he co-wrote with Corey Large. In American Siege, Willis’ character must take down a gang of thieves after they take a wealthy doctor hostage.