Lucy Fleming joins publicity drive for new Bond film and audio-book collection

Lucy Fleming (niece of James Bond creator, the late Ian Fleming) has joined the publicity drive for the new James Bond film Skyfall and the range of new James Bond audio-books, the release of which co-incides with the Bon’s latest cinema outing.

Interviewed in GQ  (‘Lucy Fleming on James Bond’s anniversary, her uncle’s legacy and die-hard fans’, 3 October), Fleming reflects on her uncle’s work and considers the different interpretations that have been made of his most famous creation on screen and on the page.

Speaking to the Evening Standard  (‘Lucy Fleming: If I reveal the James Bond Skyfall plot I might be shot’, 3 October), Fleming revisits the different incaranations of Bond, and recollects some of the key events in her own personal life, and the intertwinning of her life and that of Ian Fleming’s legacy.

Lucy Fleming is also widely pictured attending the after-party for the launch of the new James Bond behind-the-scenes book Everything or Nothing – The Untold Story of 007, held on 1 October.
 

Barbara Broccoli, left, and Lucy Fleming right, at the Odeon West End, London, 1 October 2012
  • Everything or Nothing is out now.
  • The 007 Reloaded audiobooks are available from Audiogo.com
  • Skyfall is on general release from 26 October 2012

‘Sparks’ Imber Church enjoys annual open days

St Giles Church, in the abandoned village of Imber on Salisbury Common (the main location for series three episode Sparks) enjoyed one of its all-too-brief annual open weekends at the end of September, as reported on the BBC News site (29 September 2012).

Deserted Salisbury Plain village of Imber opened to public

A village in Wiltshire that was abandoned during World War II and then taken over by the military opened for the weekend.

The village of Imber is normally closed to the public as it is in a military training zone on Salisbury Plain.

More than 100 people attended a service at St Giles Church, in Imber, on Salisbury Plain.

On Sunday, a full peal of the bells was rung which took some two-and-a-half hours to complete.

It is the fifth time a full peal has been rung since a new set of six bells was re-hung in August 2010, after the original bells were taken out in 1950.

The entire civilian population of the village was ordered to leave in December 1943 to provide a training area for American troops preparing for the invasion of Europe during World War II.

They were never allowed to return.

Since 2005, when the church was taken over by the Churches Conservation Trust, more than £300,000 has been spent on renovations.

St Giles Church, Imber

Photo and text (c) BBC News

Lucy Fleming – Steve Wright in the Afternoon – 5 September 2012

Survivors actress Lucy Fleming (Jenny Richards) appeared on the BBC Radio 2 Steve Wright in the Afternoon show on 5 September 2012, to discuss the new range of James Bond audio-books (007 Reloaded) being released this week.

The interview (in which Steve Wright mentions Lucy’s role in Survivors as part of the intro) can currently be streamed online (in the UK).

Lucy Fleming - Steve Wright in the Afternoon - 5 September 2012
Lucy Fleming – Steve Wright in the Afternoon – 5 September 2012

Caroline Seymour Q&A at the Space 1999 ‘Journey to Where’ Convention

Video of a brief Caroline Seymour Q&A appearance at the 2010 Journey to Where Space 1999 Convention held in Austin, Texas, USA on 16-18 July 2010 has recently be uploaded to YouTube.

In addition to the pre-screening Q&A, Caroline also spoke about her work at a separate session at the Convention, a video of which is also available on YouTube.

Original series episode Genesis features in BBC ’70s documentary

Several extracts from the original Survivors first series episode Genesis feature in Dominic Sandbrook’s new BBC 2 documentary TV series The ’70s.

In the third of four episodes, which focuses on the mid-1970s [‘Goodbye Great Britain 75-77’], Sandbrook makes reference to the resonances between the widespread ‘pessimism and paranoia’ gripping Britain at the time and the post-apocalyptic preoccupations of Survivors.

Sandbrook’s commentary (33ms 20s – 35ms 04s) is illustrated with extracts from Genesis (showing Anne Tranter’s first meeting with Greg Preston; and Abby Grant’s encounter with Arthur Wormley) and an oddly irrelevant aerial shot of some moorland (sourced from some other show).

Viewers in the UK can catch the episode on the BBC iPlayer service (until 9.59pm on Monday, 21 May 2012)

BBC - The '70s - 3 - ‘Goodbye Great Britain 75-77’ - Survivors
BBC - The '70s - 3 - ‘Goodbye Great Britain 75-77’ - Survivors

Original series episode Law of the Jungle (with Brian Blessed) on the big screen in Derby

A rare opportunity to enjoy an episode from the original Survivors on the big screen is provided during the ID Fest film festival in Derby later in May.

The series three episode Law of the Jungle, which features a memorable guest appearance by Brian Blessed is being screened on Saturday 26 May at 12:45pm. The ‘Brian Blessed Television Showcase’ also includes an equally rare cinematic outing for one of the earliest installments of the Tales of the Unexpected anthology Lamb to the Slaughter, in which Blessed also co-stars.

At 7:00pm on the same day, the festival plays host to Brian Blessed: live in conversation, an opportunity to hear the actor and raconteur reflect on decades of work on the big and small screen.

Blessed’s appearance is followed by a screening of the kitch 1980s space-opera Flash Gordon, which features a scene-stealing peformance from Blessed as Prince Vultan.

Brian Blessed - Brod, original Survivors
Brian Blessed - Brod, original Survivors

Tickets for the Brian Blessed Television Showcase and Brian Blessed: live in conversation events are available from the Quad venue web site.

Brian Blessed Television Showcase

WINKERLANd Productions Interview with Ian McCulloch at Cinema Wasteland

Ian McCulloch appeared at the the Cinema Wasteland horror convention in 2010

WINKERLANd Productions interviews Ian McCulloch at Cinema Wasteland (2010). We don’t own some of the footage in this video. Any footage from a film was shot from a television screen to give it that grindhouse feel.

The Midnight Corey blog report on the event describes a conversation with a typically fortright McCulloch:

Ian McCulloch was the lead actor in Zombie (1979), and is completely astonished by the popularity of the movie. One thing that surprised me about Mr. McCulloch is that he told me he’s never seen any of Romero’s zombie movies — he said he just doesn’t have the desire to. He also told me that he met Romero recently, and Romero refuses to watch Zombie (or any of its sequels) because he thinks they’re all ripoffs of his work.


Photo: Midnight Corey