Story’s happy ending

Sep 5 2008 by David Whetstone, The Journal

Stories from the North East are to reach the screen thanks to broadcaster Sky1, as David Whetstone reports.

FILMING began in Wales this week of Skellig, David Almond’s award-winning tale for children.

The novel, which appeals to adults and children, was published in 1998, winning the coveted Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Children’s Book of the Year Award.

Mysterious and magical, it tells of the relationship between a boy, Michael, and the winged creature, Skellig, that he finds living in the garage of the new family home.

The book has enjoyed a sensational decade, helping to propel the Northumberland writer into the top rank of British children’s authors.

It has already been turned into a stage play and is to be premiered as an opera at The Sage Gateshead in November.

The story is now being turned into a film for Sky1 with celebrated screen actor Tim Roth in the challenging role of Skellig.

The part of Michael is played by young Bill Milner, who came to public attention in the film Son Of Rambow, and the cast also features Kelly MacDonald (No Country For Old Men, Trainspotting) and John Simm (Life On Mars, Dr Who).

The film, described as “a modern fairytale”, is being shot in and around Cardiff at locations including Caerphilly Castle.

It is being made by Feel Films and directed by Annabel Jankel.

Skellig is the first production to benefit from Sky1’s new multi-million-pound drama investment fund.

Sarah Conroy, of Sky1, who commissioned the film, said: “David Almond’s much-loved novel is the perfect production to showcase Sky1’s drama ambitions.”

The film will be shown on Sky1 and Sky1 HD next spring before an international cinema release.

Sky1 is investing more than £10m in a slate of high definition projects, describing it as the largest commitment to UK drama in its history.

Another North East writer, former SAS man Chris Ryan, will also benefit from the broadcaster’s new drama commitment.

It has commissioned Left Bank Pictures – the firm set up by Andy Harries who produced The Queen, starring Helen Mirren – to adapt Ryan’s thriller Strike Back into a six-part series.

Old film clips can shed unique light on our past but some still languish in obscurity.

To rectify this, a survey of moving image collections has been launched.

The Strategy for UK Screen Heritage, launched by the UK Film Council, the British Film Institute and regional film agencies, is aimed at building a map of moving image gems.

In the North East, Northern Film & Media are appealing to film-makers and collectors for information on film collections so they can “help create an England-wide map showing over 100 years of our moving image heritage”.

Tim Cagney of the UK Film Council, said: “Film brings the nation’s history of culture and society alive like no other medium can.

“Over recent years we’ve seen a real increase in the public appetite for archives of film from the last century.

“We want to find out what’s out there so that we can find ways for the public to enjoy greater access to these collections and at the same time secure the long-term preservation of these rare gems.”

An indication of the public interest in archive footage is the popularity of the regular newsreel screenings at the revamped Tyneside Cinema in Newcastle.

More details of the survey can be found online at www.shcsurvey.org.uk

A film about landscape designer Capability Brown will be shown at 8pm tonight on ITV Tyne Tees.

Brown, who was christened Lancelot, was a farmer’s son born in the Northumberland village of Kirkharle in 1716. As a young man he worked for local landowner Sir William Loraine.

His talent for creating seemingly natural landscapes, signalling a break with rigid formality, made him rich and famous.

The film shows three of his creations – at Stowe, Buckinghamshire; Croome Court, Worcestershire and Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire.

But of greatest interest to producer Jane Bolesworth were his formative years at Kirkharle.

Her film focuses on a Brown design for Kirkharle, including a lake and tree plantings, which current owners John and Kitty Anderson found in an old desk drawer and are now trying to turn into reality.

Jane says: “What fascinated me was that nobody knew when Brown drew this map.

“Was it when he was a very young man, when he worked for Sir William, or when he returned to Northumberland as a millionaire celebrity designer in the 1770s?

“We’ve done some research and we think it was when he was a young man – perhaps even a teenager.”