Just back from the screenwriting festival, wanted to point you in the direction of the Red Planet Pictures’ competition, hesitated, figured you’d only go and win the bleedin’ thing, considered sending you to the Balamory site instead, decided that was mean and, more importantly, that you’d see through it immediately, so go on then, here you are, here’s the Red Planet link.

Never seen a writing prize so good. Or do I mean I’ve never seen a writing prize more precisely in tune with what I want to do?

But less of what I want to do, more of what I do: there’s a mistake in this week’s Radio Times where the On This Day entry of mine for July 8 has somehow been repeated on July 10. If I’m still doing this next year, which I very much hope, then I’ll reuse the missing one. You’ll never guess when. In the meantime, though, in case it’s of interest, it’s below.

William

RT/ON THIS DAY/WEEK28/GALLAGHER

July 10, 1983

…24 Years Ago

“She was everything a woman should be; the perfect heroine and the ideal wife. What, then, is Helen Mirren doing in the part?”

RT saw her as “unarguably one of England’s most exciting actresses” but had some trouble picturing her in the title role of The BBC Television Shakespeare: Cymbeline. The playwright was unavailable for comment so director Elijah Moshinsky talked it through.

“I wanted an actress of great sexual voltage,” he said. “Helen can act enormously complex sexual emotions at war with each other.” William Gallagher

NOTES
Cover: Helen Mirren, RT 9-15 July 1983
Feature: p4, billing p25