Uther is determined to wipe out magic in Camelot once and for all, and this time no one is beyond suspicion. He summons the most dreaded witchfinder in the land, Aredian, a terrifying man who will stop at nothing to uncover sorcery. Gaius impresses upon Merlin how much danger he is in but Morgana needs no such warning. She is certain Aredian will see straight through her and she will be burnt at the stake. Can Merlin protect Morgana and Gaius without ending up in the flames himself?
Q: Your new Sunday night drama, Trinity, has just started. For those who haven't seen it, what's it about?
A: Well, it's a university-set thriller and it was due to air at the start of the year, but got bumped out of the schedule when a certain (hotel heiress) Paris Hilton came along. It was going to be shown in January or February but they shelved it until September to put Paris Hilton's British Best Friend in its place - a piece of television for airheads, starring an airhead. It's just beyond me, I don't know who makes those kind of decisions.
Q: And it's about....
A: The opening episode showed students, laden with boxes, arriving for their first term at posh college Trinity, part of fictional university Bridgeforth. I play Professor Maltravers, the Dean of the 900-year-old college, who is something of a shady character. He's kind of Machiavellian. He's amusingly unpleasant, there's a sense of the ridiculous about him. The show's a cross between St Trinian's and Spooks.
Q: How so?
A: There's a lot of rumpy pumpy going on in the halls of residence and there is a society in this college which is rather like the Bullingdon Club, an exclusive Oxford University drinking society - all frock coats and toffee-nosed young men - but at the same time I'm involved in covert experiments which nobody really knows much about. The action is set amidst a cultural shift for the college: not only is it admitting less privileged students for the first time, but it also has a new female warden, who's keen to get rid of archaic, elite societies like the Dandelion Club.
Q: The Dandelion Club?
A: Yes, but it also has a far more sinister side as Prof Maltravers is using it as a front for his covert experiments. We have these computer meetings, at the behest of this strange voice, this person in America and we have to report on what we're doing. The Dandelion Club is financed by a father of one of the principle members and he's also involved in the covert work.
Q: What's it like acting with all these young performers just starting out?
A: They all have great energy and enthusiasm. None of them have got cynical yet, it's only a matter of time. You look down at them and think, 'Ah, so innocent, just wait!' When you've been ripped off by people, I think cynicism is inevitable in this business. It kind of creeps up on you.
Q: What about you? You're 62 now, so do you find it more difficult to get roles to suit a man of your age?
A: This is a soapbox and I don't need much encouragement to get up on it I can tell you now. There's less and less work for wrinklies, but television drama for the most part is struggling - we're continually being asked to do it for less money and in less time, but sooner or later, standards will suffer. Britain had a reputation for producing the finest television in the world, but I don't think that's deserved any more - what's being imported from America is far superior. They work hard here, but they're dependent on people's pride in their creativity to maintain standards in the face of lower budgets and tighter schedules. It's absolutely crazy.
Acting legend Charles Dance has launched a scathing attack
on Paris Hilton—branding her British Best Friend series « a show for
airheads, starring an airhead ».
The GosfordPark
star, 62, was furious his ITV2 drama was bumped off telly schedules to make way
for Paris’s c**p »show.
Charles’university drama Trinity_which also stars 24 actor
Mark Aiken and Radio One DJ Reggie Yates—was due to be shown in early 2009 .
But it is now set to hit screens next month. He hit out : « we’re
putting too much energy into junk and reality television , this show was
going to be shown in January or February, but they shelved it until Septemberto put you know what in its place ?
Paris Hilton’s British Best Friend, which is possibly the most execrable piece
of television I’ve ever seen in my life. God knows what the rating were. It’sa piece of television for airheads, starring
an airhead . It’s just beyond me . Endless hours of reality television—surely
by now there must be a consensus that it’s c**p ».
Charles also bemoaned the lack of decent drama being
produced in the UK, blaming endless cost-cutting. He said : »TV drama
is hanging in there, but we’re continually being asked to do thing for less
money and in less time—because people are trying to hang on to their profit
margins I guess, but sooner or later standards will suffer, they’re cutting
back on the money all the time, it’s crazy, that’s not to say that we’re not
producing decent stuff here—we’re just not producing enough of it ».
The actor who shotto
fame in 1980s TV drama The Jewel in the crown, also complained that he doesn’t get to star in sex scenes anymore.
Charles sighed of the Trinity storyline : »Am I
involved in the sex ? regretfully no, it’s all the younger members of the
cast—they’re at il all the time, there are some fantastic young actors in it »
In British Best Friend, heiress Paris, 28, sets tests for
Brit hopefuls to decide if she likes them
“It was going to be shown in January or February, but they shelved it until September to put Paris Hilton’s British Best Friend in its place. It’s just beyond me. I don’t know who makes those kind of decisions.”
Dance plays Professor Maltravers, the dean of the 900-year-old college, who is something of a shady character.
“He’s kind of Machiavellian,” he says, his blue eyes twinkling with mischief. “He’s amusingly unpleasant.There’s a sense of the ridiculous about him.”Dance describes the show as “a cross between St Trinian’s and Spooks”.There’s a lot of rumpy pumpy going on in the halls of residence and there is a society in this college which is rather like the Bullingdon Club (an exclusive Oxford University drinking society) – all frock coats and toffee-nosed young men – but, at the same time, I’m involved in covert experiments which nobody really knows much about.”
Considering the programme airs an hour after the watershed, there is, indeed, plenty of “rumpy pumpy”.
Viewers of the first episode will already have had an eyeful of rising star Christian Cooke’s bum (playing Dorian) when he answers the door mid-shower to devout Christian student Charlotte (Antonia Bernath) who he later seduces into bed. The action is set amidst a cultural shift for the college: not only is it admitting less privileged students for the first time, it also has a new female warden who is keen to get rid of archaic, elite societies like the Dandelion Club.
Based on the Bullingdon Club, which London Mayor Boris Johnson and David Cameron once belonged to, it’s full of “well-heeled sons of the gentry swanking about the place, behaving appallingly and lording it over people”, says Dance.
The first episode showed the club’s inaugural invitation-only social event, The Feast of Fools, where two of Trinity’s new students, the “fools”, from a lower-class end of the social spectrum, are ridiculed – wearing nothing but thongs as they chase a golden ball. But the club has a far more sinister side. Prof Maltravers is using it as a front for his “covert experiments”.
“We have these computer meetings at the behest of this strange voice, this person in America, and we have to report on what we’re doing. The Dandelion Club is financed by the father of one of the principal members and he’s also involved in the covert work.”Then there’s the murder mystery surrounding Maltravers’s former colleague, Richard Arc, whose daughter, Charlotte, arrives at the college eager to learn more about her father’s time there many years before. Dance is full of praise for his young co-stars, who he says had “great energy and enthusiasm, none of them have got cynical yet. It’s only a matter of time. You look down at them and think, ‘Ah, so innocent, just wait’...When you’ve been ripped off by people, I think cynicism is inevitable in this business. It kind of creeps up on you.”
For all his cynicism, Dance has had a remarkable career. Born in Redditch, Worcestershire, the son of a cook and an engineer, he went to primary school, failed the 11-plus and went on to secondary school. “I just pretend to be aristocracy,” he admits, in his plum drawl, when asked about his encounters of Bullingdon Club-style privilege. “There’s nothing aristocratic about me at all. My mother used to work for the aristocracy, so I was able to view them at close quarters.”After school, Dance went on to art colleges in Plymouth and Leicester, aiming to become a graphic designer. “I didn’t work very hard and I lost the student union (at Leicester School of Art) a lot of money one year when they allowed me to be the social secretary because I organised a lot of huge balls without publicising them properly. Enormous great bashes we used to have. I even managed to get Jimi Hendrix six months after Hey Joe had been released. It took me a long time to mature – and halfway through art school I decided I didn’t want to be a graphic designer anyway, I wanted to be an actor.”Dance learned his craft on stage as a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company in the 1970s and his big break on screen came with the lead role in 1984’s The Jewel In The Crown.Today, he openly bemoans the fact that there aren’t enough roles around for actors of a certain age, despite his apparently busy schedule.
“This is a soapbox and I don’t need much encouragement to get up on it, I can tell you now. There’s less and less work for wrinklies, but television drama, for the most part, is struggling – we’re continually being asked to do it for less money and in less time. But, sooner or later, standards will suffer.Britain had a reputation for producing the finest television in the world, but I don’t think that’s deserved any more – what’s being imported from America is far superior. They work hard here, but they’re dependent on people’s pride in their creativity to maintain standards in the face of lower budgets and tighter schedules. It’s absolutely crazy.”In 2004, Dance made his directorial debut on the big screen with Ladies In Lavender, starring Dame Judi Dench and Dame Maggie Smith. He’s currently trying to raise money for a second film project, but says it’s tough in the current climate. “You’re asking people to come up with large sums of money, but without any guarantee they can get any of it back, so it’s not easy. But we try.”As for the stage, the actor is taking a break for “a year or so” after six months of “emotional shredding” playing C.S. Lewis in the acclaimed theatre revival of Shadowlands.
On set at Royal Holloway, a slightly oppressive
architectural mixture of Hogwarts, Gormenghast and the Royal Military Academy,
Sandhurst, Charles Dance is addressing staff and pupils in a mocked-up dining
hall. I ask him about his participation in an ITV2 teen drama. "What
attracted me was the great elements of black comedy which I don't often get the
opportunity to do," he says. "Also I was attracted by Ash Atalla,
despite the fact that I think he is a rogue. He is a terrifically
innovative producer."
If this sounds unlikely, given that Trinity, a comedy-thriller set in a
Moxbridge college, is populated by sex-crazed teenagers and firmly aimed at
ITV2s 18-34 target audience, you need to know it is anchored by the
authoritative presence of Charles Dance. Charles and I hit it off immediately
when we met. We just talked about women for an hour. We were both having
girlfriend problems at the time and he gave me some advice and I gave him some.
A few weeks of kiss and chase and a nice lunch later Dance was on board.
Reggie Yates about Charles How did you find working with Charles Dance and Claire Skinner? They are really cool. Claire is really funny; she’s got a great dry sense of
humour. Charles and I got on really well; in fact we’ve been trading emails
since filming finished. Charles was really complimentary about me and my
performance which means a lot coming from an actor of hisstature.
I have a funny thing with Charles because I’m obsessed with Eddie Murphy, and
he was the bad guy in an Eddie Murphy film called The Golden Child.
He had the character name Numpsti in it. I always wanted to scream Numpsti at
him whenever I saw him. So when we finished filming the show, I happened to
bump into him in Camden and I confessed this to him. Now hes in my phone as
Numpsti and he always signs off his emails with that name as well! Hes a
legend.
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