THE POWER OF THE DOG: Netflix Western with Benedict Cumberbatch

Coming December 1 on Netflix: The Power of the Dog

In his first on-screen role in a Netflix Original, Benedict Cumberbatch will star in the screenplay adaptation of The Power of the Dog. Other cast members: Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons, Kodi Smit-McPhee. The feature will drop on December 1 on Netflix.

The Power of the Dog is an upcoming Netflix Original drama based on the screenplay written by director Jane Campion. Campion’s screenplay is an adaptation of the 1967 novel of the same name by novelist Thomas Savage. From the Chicago Sun Times "Tthis is a dark Western contrasting beautiful scenery with ugly behavior."

Set in 1925, this production captures Montana at a crossroads in 1925.

Sherlock Season 4: Premieres New Year's Day

Sherlock returns to the U.S. tonight  (January 1) in "The Six Thatchers" on PBS MASTERPIECE. There will be three brand-new episodes. Season Four begins with the mercurial Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch), back once more on British soil as Doctor Watson (Martin Freeman) and his wife Mary (Amanda Abbington) prepare for their biggest challenge yet: becoming parents.

Co-creators, writers and executive producers Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss say: “Whatever else we do, wherever we all go, all roads lead back to Baker Street, and it always feels like coming home. Ghosts of the past are rising in the lives of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson and terror and tragedy are looming. This is the story we’ve been telling from the beginning and it’s about to reach its climax.”

Sherlock is written and created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, and inspired by the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Benedict Cumberbatch to Star in Adaptation of Rogue Male

Benedict Cumberbatch will star in and produce a film adaptation of Rogue Male, the 1939 survivalist thriller by Geoffrey Household told of a hunter who attempts to assassinate a dictator but is caught, tortured and left for dead. When he escapes back home to England, he must hide out in a harsh countryside with the enemy agents as well as the police in hot pursuit. Rogue Male was published in 1939 and the author, Geoffrey Household, said the dictator was intended to be a stand-in for Adolph Hitler.

The novel has fascinated directors and actors from the day it came out. Twentieth Century Fox adapted it in 1940 as Man Hunt, directed by Fritz Lang and starring Walter Pidgeon (and with Hitler as the dictator) and Peter O’Toole starred in a BBC production made for television in 1977. 

Michael Lesslie (Macbeth, Assassin's Creed) will  write the screenplay for the project, which is set up at Fox Searchlight. Cumberbatch is producing the film with Lloyd Levin, Branwen Prestwood Smith and Beatriz Levin of Black Sheep Pictures. Also producing will be Adam Ackland of SunnyMarch, Cumberbatch's production company.

"I am thrilled both as an actor and producer to be working on bringing this most treasured of English novels to the big screen," said Cumberbatch.

Household specialized in thrillers and wrote 28 novels. Rogue Male was a best-seller and is regarded as his masterpiece.

--From Hollywood Reporter

Sherlock: A First Look at the Sherlock Special

Here's an exclusive scene from the forthcoming Sherlock Special, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman and Una Stubbs. Coming Soon to MASTERPIECE PBS (we hope!). The special is a throwback to Sherlock in tweeds, meersham pipe, and deerstalker. The clip was unveiled yesterday at ComicCon.

And, an FYI, Series 4 has not begun-neither writing nor filming. 

Benedict Cumberbatch and the Sign of the Four (or Three!)

Who doesn't love Sesame Street? Watch Benedict Cumberbatch solve a perplexing problem with the help of the Count!

Parade's End to air on HBO

U.K. miniseries "Parade's End" with Benedict Cumberbatch and Rebecca Hall that aired in the U.K. last fall will air on HBO in February.

The miniseries is an adaptation of Ford Madox Ford’s four novels which chronicle the life of Christopher Tietjens (Cumberbatch), a government statistician from a wealthy family who is serving in the British Army during World War I. While Christopher is at war, the novel also follows his wife Sylvia (Hall) – a socialite who seems intent on ruining her husband – and the suffragette Valentine (Clemens) with whom Cumberbatch is having an affair. Scandal!

The series will air over three consecutive nights starting on February 26th at 9 p.m. 

Source: Indiewire.com
Hat Tip: ShelfAwareness

Sherlock Holmes Masterpiece Mystery! Season 2

Sherlock returns to Masterpiece Mystery! PBS this Sunday night at 9 p.m (check your local listing), and the new season--three new episodes, hardly a season, but thrilled to have them-- are great. May 6-20, 2012, Sunday nights. PBS has taken three well known tales and updated them in a very unique way. The stories are there, but the background and delivery is so different. Love the acting-the dysfunctional duo of Sherlock Holmes, Benedict Cumberbatch and Dr. John Watson, Martin Freeman, battles the worst of 21st- century London, including a tech savvy arch-villain who wants to rule the world and a hound from the hinges of Hell. Don't miss Season 2. Season 3 won't start filming until 2013.

If for some reason you can't watch live or forget to set your DVR, the episodes will be available for a short time after aired on the PBS website.


Join Masterpiece Sherlock season two with a live Twitter event on Sundays, May 6, 13 & 20, 2012, during the premiere broadcasts of A Scandal in Belgravia, The Hounds of Baskerville and The Reichenbach Fall.

You're welcome whenever you're watching, but during 9-10:30 pm Eastern time, Masterpiece and PBS insiders — as well as Sherlock experts from Baker Street Blog, Baker Street Babes, and authors Lyndsay Faye (Sherlock Holmes in America) and Leslie Klinger (The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes) — will be tweeting too.

Tag your posts with the hashtag #SherlockPBS 

WHAT: Masterpiece and PBS are hosting a live Twitter discussion! 

WHEN: Sundays, May 6, 13 & 20, 2012, 9-10:30pm Eastern time

WHERE: Join on Twitter (Use hashtag #SherlockPBS.)

TOPICS: Sherlock Holmes, clever deductions, Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, MASTERPIECE Mystery! 

WHO: @masterpiecepbs; @pbs; Taylor Blumenberg of @BakerStBabes; Scott Monty of @BakerStreetBlog; author Lyndsay Faye (@lyndsayfaye); author Leslie Klinger (@lklinger) — and YOU!

RSVP: Please follow and be followed (on Twitter, of course!) by other #SherlockPBS tweeters