The Thirty-Nine Steps - Pictures

The adaptation of "The Thirty-Nine Steps" was broadcast last night on BBC One. It wasn't a patch on the 1935 Hitchcock film, but nevertheless a perfectly entertaining 90 minutes on a Sunday evening.

Captain Kell is the head of the Secret Service Bureau, an organisation that is contactable via the operator apparently! A few screen grabs:


Alex doesn't feature in this too much; my best advice would be not to blink!

The film is available here on the iPlayer until the 4th of January.

Amusing Chatter in the Cocktail Party

The rehearsed reading of T.S. Eliot's "The Cocktail Party" was reviewed by Nicholas De Jongh in the Evening Standard:

"Adultery, favourite pastime in plays of the period, rears an indiscreet head when Alex Jennings’s Edward, absolutely superb in his shuttered anguish, after romancing Rosamund Pike’s Celia, and Chancellor’s Lavinia own up to sexual dallying. The play shifts with mesmerising stealth into terrain of suffering and death."

Full story: Evening Standard.

The Old Curiosity Shop

BBC Radio 7 are repeating the 25 part, 15 minute full-cast adapation, with Alex narrating, of "The Old Curiosity Shop" from the 29th of December at 10am every weekday morning, with an omnibus on Sunday mornings at 8am.

The Cocktail Party

There is to be a rehearsed reading of T.S. Eliot's "The Cocktail Party" at the Donmar on December 17th, as part of it's T.S. Eliot festival.

Alex will participate along with: Rosamund Pike, Anna Chancellor, Charlie Cox, Rosalie Craig, Nicky Henson, Paul Phys and Una Stubbs. Jamie Lloyd is directing. Tickets cost £10.

How To Be An Internee With No Previous Experience

Another week, another Afternoon Play; this time in the second of a two play PG Wodehouse special, Alex will play Malcolm Muggeridge. It will be broadcast on Tuesday, 16th December on Radio 4.

How To Be An Internee With No Previous Experience

By Colin Shindler

In 1944, Wodehouse was questioned by MI5 after broadcasting to America from a German internment camp. One of the interrogators was an up-and-coming journalist called Malcolm Muggeridge. The other was Major EJP Cussen, who later became a high court judge. The stakes were high: one of Britain’s best loved authors was facing the possibility of the death penalty.

Wodehouse .....Tim McInnerny
Muggeridge ...... Alex Jennings
Cussen ..... Anton Lesser
Connor ..... Stephen Critchlow
Flannery ..... Gunnar Cauthery

Producer/director Peter Leslie Wild.

It will be available on the BBC iPlayer until Tuesday, 23rd December.

The People's Princess

The afternoon play on Thursday 11th December on Radio 4, stars Alex as an earlier Prince of Wales, George the IV.

The People's Princess

By Shelagh Stephenson

Facing financial ruin George, Prince of Wales is obliged to marry his first cousin - Princess Caroline of Brunswick. But if he had been expecting a docile partner with whom he could maintain appearances, George has seriously underestimated his wife-to-be.

George IV ...... Alex Jennings,
Caroline of Brunswick ...... Rebecca Saire
Henry Brougham ...... Julian Rhind Tutt
Lord Sidmouth ...... Chris McHallem
Lord Liverpool ...... Richard Howard
Sir Robert Gifford ...... Mark Lambert
Lady Jersey ...... Jill Cardo
Mr Majoucci ...... Nial Cusack

Director Eoin O’Callaghan.

Available on the BBC iPlayer until Thursday 18th December.

Captain Kell

Alex will play a character called Captain Kell in the BBC's adaptation of "The 39 Steps". The episode is set to air on Sunday the 28th of December at 8pm.

For more information please see the BBC Presspack article.