A Lot of OBAs coming to your television this autumn
Click to viewPrograms in the video preview: Accused, Aurelio Zen, Christopher and His Kind, The Crimson Petal and the White, Doctor Who Christmas Special, The First Men in the Moon, Hattie, Lip Service, The Nativity, Outcasts, The Shadow Line, Silk, Single Father, The Song of Lunch, South Riding, Toast, Upstairs Downstairs, When Harvey Met Bob, and Women in Love.
*Note: I put the OBA's names on the same line as the titles of the shows to make it easier to find what you're looking for in this post (you'll know what I mean when you click and view the text).
Accused starring Mackenzie Crook, Christopher Eccleston, Peter Capaldi, Andy Serkis, Marc Warren
Christopher Eccleston and Mackenzie Crook star in Accused, written by Jimmy McGovern. [Also starring: Peter Capaldi, Andy Serkis, Marc Warren]
Each episode features a separate story, which start as an ordinary individual is led to the dock to hear his fate. (Christopher Eccleston and Mackenzie Crook play the leading characters in the first two episodes of Accused.)
As each episode unravels we learn how each man came to be there. But on reflection should they be the accused? Are they innocent or guilty or somewhere in between? And will the jury make the right judgement?
Aurelio Zen starring Rufus Sewell
Set in and around Rome, and based on the best-selling novels by the late Michael Dibdin.
Christopher And His Kind starring Matt Smith
Christopher Isherwood (played by Matt Smith), escapes repressive English society and his suffocating relationship with his mother, Kathleen (played by Lindsay Duncan), for the decadent - and politically unstable - world of Thirties Berlin.
The Crimson Petal & The White starring Mark Gatiss, Richard E. Grant, and Blake Ritson.
The Crimson Petal & The White is a four-part adaptation of Michel Faber's international best-selling novel on BBC Two.
The First Men In The Moon starring Mark Gatiss, Lee Ingleby
It's July 1969 and the Apollo 11 astronauts are about to make their historic Moon landing. But they are in for a surprise - somebody has beaten them to it. Mark Gatiss takes the lead role as Edwardian scientist Professor Cavor in his own adaptation of HG Wells's science fiction classic, The First Men In The Moon, for BBC Four.
A History of Horror
Mark Gatiss turns his hand to presenting and indulges his passion for horror films in the three-part series, A History Of Horror With Mark Gatiss.
Outcasts starring Jamie Bamber, Daniel Mays
Outcasts is set in 2040 on a recently-discovered planet and tells of the dilemmas, loves and lives of a group of people setting up a new world. This life-sustaining planet is now home to the surviving population from Earth. Here there is a chance to start again, to bring the lessons learnt from Earth and to put them into action on a new planet.
The Nativity starring Peter Capaldi, Andrew Buchan, et al.
Andrew Buchan (Garrow's Law, Cranford), Peter Capaldi (In The Loop, The Thick of It) and rising star Tatiana Maslany (Cra$h & Burn, A Grown Up Movie Star) have been cast in a magical re-telling of the classic Nativity story. An impressive cast joins Andrew Buchan as Joseph; Tatiana Maslany as Mary and Peter Capaldi as Balthasar. Including: Jack Shepherd (Wycliffe) as Melchior; Obi Abili (The Take) as Gaspar; Art Malik (Agatha Christie: Poirot, Holby City) as Nicolaus; Vincent Regan (Clash Of The Titans) as Herod; John Lynch (Mo, Bleak House) as Gabriel; Claudie Blakely (Lark Rise To Candleford) as Anna; Frances Barbour (Agatha Christie: Poirot, The Street) as Elizabeth; Neil Dudgeon (Life Of Riley) as Joachim; Al Weaver (Five Daughters) as Thomas the Shepherd; Ruth Negga (Five Daughters) as Leah and Gawn Grainger (Lords And Luddites) as Levi.
The Shadow Line starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Christopher Eccleston
Chiwetel Ejiofor (American Gangster, Endgame, Talk To Me), Christopher Eccleston (Lennon Naked, Doctor Who), Sir Antony Sher (The Wolfman, Primo) and Stephen Rea (The Crying Game, Breakfast on Pluto) are to star in The Shadow Line, BBC Two's landmark noir thriller written, produced and directed by Hugo Blick (Sensitive Skin, Marion And Geoff). Also starring Rafe Spall.
From the cop with a bullet in his brain, whose amnesia leaves him doubtful of his own moral compass; to the drug-lord driven by a profound personal tragedy, risking it all on one last deal; to the brilliantly lethal puppet-master who gradually emerges from the shadows to bring the story to its shocking climax - The Shadow Line explores the morality of these characters as they negotiate the repercussions of Wratten's death and attempt to navigate the fine line between right and wrong.
Silk starring Rupert Penry-Jones
Silk is a thrilling new drama series for BBC One about the lives, loves and hard cases facing barristers on the front line of criminal law, written by Bafta award-winning writer Peter Moffat.
Maxine Peake is Martha Costello, in her thirties, single, passionate and a defence barrister applying for silk. Innocent until proven guilty are four words she lives by. But how does this fundamental principle stand up to examination by clients who are sometimes good, sometimes bad and sometimes evil?
Joining Martha is Clive Reader, played by Rupert Penry-Jones. He's funny, gifted and dangerous. The same age as Martha, they're called to the bar together. Both are applying for silk - how they perform in court is vital to this process and Clive knows how to play the game.
Neil Stuke plays Billy, the senior clerk at Martha's chambers. He is dedicated to Martha, even if secretly he believes that she hasn't got a chance of being made a QC.
Nick Slade, played by Tom Hughes is Martha's pupil. Niamh Cranitch (Natalie Dormer) is assigned to Clive. Both are thrown in at the deep end and, as "baby barristers", must sink or swim. Only one pupil will be taken on as a member of chambers at the end of the series. Who will it be and why? And how will Martha and Clive influence the outcome?
Single Father starring David Tennant
Single Father (starring David Tennant) is an emotionally powerful yet funny four-part drama for BBC One, about a man struggling to raise his four children after the death of his wife.
South Riding starring David Morrissey
Anna Maxwell Martin and David Morrissey lead the cast in Andrew Davies's new three-part adaptation of South Riding, by Winifred Holtby, for BBC One. This 20th-century classic is a rich and panoramic portrait of a Yorkshire community in the Thirties that carries surprising and refreshing echoes of our own time.
The Special Relationship starring Michael Sheen
BBC Two also hosts the UK premiere of Peter Morgan's third film to examine the history of Tony Blair, starring Dennis Quaid and Hope Davis as the Clintons and Michael Sheen and Helen McCrory as the Blairs.
The Trip starring Rob Brydon
Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon take an improvised tour of the north of England to review restaurants, in The Trip. The story is fictional but based around their real personas. Also, Rob Brydon hosts his own show on BBC Two, with stand up comedy and a guest comedian each week in The Rob Brydon Show.
When Harvey Met Bob starring Ian Hart
When Harvey Met Bob, is a new drama which follows one of the most iconic moments in 20th-century history, Live Aid; the biggest televised international charity event in history. This one-off, 90-minute drama stars Domhnall Gleeson as Bob Geldof and Ian Hart as Harvey Goldsmith, the two men who together changed the politics of international aid forever.
Women in Love starring Rory Kinnear, Ben Daniels
Women In Love charts the lives and loves of two sisters, Ursula (Rachael Stirling) and Gudrun Brangwen (Rosamund Pike), as they move into adulthood, viewed chiefly through their relationships with two friends, Rupert Birkin (Rory Kinnear) and Gerald Crich (Joseph Mawle). As the two relationships intensify the couples leave the Midlands and go abroad together, leading to conflict and tragedy.
Other key cast also include Ursula and Gudrun's mother, Anna (Saskia Reeves), and Anna's husband, Will (Ben Daniels).
Based on two novels by DH Lawrence - The Rainbow and Women In Love - which Lawrence originally intended to publish together as The Sisters, William Ivory has melded the books together in line with Lawrence's original vision.
Sources: BBC | Blogtor Who | ONTD | Daemonstv: Outcasts Promo Pictures and Synopsis | Preview of Matt Smith as Christopher Isherwood | BBC Press Release for the Accused | A History of Horror Press Release | The Special Relationship Press Release | The Trip Press Release | Aurelio Zen Press Release | The Nativity Press Release | Silk Press Release | Women in Love Press Release
ETA: I forgot one: (Downton Abbey is on ITV). Maybe I should make a separate post for ITV. Downton Abbey starring Hugh Bonneville, Dan Stevens, Rob_James-Collier (okay he's not in the tags, but can we add him?), Brendan Coyle (also not in the tags), Thomas Howes and Jim Carter.