Castles in the Sky

The BBC have announced a number of new science commissions for BBC Two and Four. "Castles in the Sky" is described as a factual drama. From the website:

Factual drama Castles In The Sky tells the previously untold remarkable story of the fight to invent RADAR by Scotsman Robert Watson Watt and a team of British scientists.

It conveys the genuine human drama behind the invention which saved the nation in the Battle of Britain.

Eddie Izzard plays Watson Watt with Laura Fraser (Breaking Bad) as his wife Margaret. The cast also includes Alex Jennings (The Queen) as Tizard; Tim McInnerny (The Devil’s Whore) playing Churchill, David Hayman (Trial And Retribution) as Lindemann and Julian Rhind-Tutt as Albert Percival Rowe.

Eddie Izzard joined the project because he was so inspired by the character and story: “I feel very privileged to be playing the role of Robert Watson-Watt. Hopefully our production will allow him, along with Arnold 'Skip' Wilkins and their team, to finally take their places in the pantheon of British greats of World War II, as the inventors of RADAR.”

The piece also has the first official picture of Eddie Izzard at BBC Media Centre.

More Britten

Alex is the special guest on BBC Radio 3's "Essential Classics" tomorrow morning at 10.30. Britten is mentioned as the subject of the item. For more information see BBC Radio 3.

Thanks to Uli!

Henry Tizard

The IMDb now credits Alex with playing the part of Henry Tizard in "Castles in the Sky". The World War II drama deals with the development of radar, with Eddie Izzard taking the part of Robert Watson Watt.

Wikipedia describes his work in this area as follows:

"In 1933 Tizard was appointed as chairman of the Aeronautical Research Committee and served in this post for most of the Second World War. He supervised and championed the development of RDF (radio-direction finding, later to become more familiarly known as radar) in the run-up to the war.

In 1940, after a top secret landmark conference with Winston Churchill at which his opposition to R.V. Jones' view that the Germans had established a system of radio-beam bombing aids (Battle of the Beams) over the UK had been overruled, Tizard led what became known as the Tizard Mission to the United States, which introduced to the US, amongst others, the newly invented resonant-cavity magnetron and other British radar developments, the Whittle gas turbine, and the British Tube Alloys (nuclear weapons) project."

Debussy

Alex will appear again with Lucy Parham in the "Rêverie" programme as Claude Debussy. The appearance is scheduled for the Chipping Campden Festival on 11 May next year.

For more information and tickets check the festival's website at Campden Music Festival.

Thanks again to Kate!

My Fair Lady

Alex is busy rehearsing "My Fair Lady" at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. Videos of rehearsals are available on their YouTube Channel and Instagram.

Some pictures have been posted on their Facebook Page.

The production will open on December 5. For more information and tickets check their website at Théâtre du Châtelet.

Thanks to Kate!

Radio Britten

Alex is one of the readers for a Benjamin Britten edition of "Words and Music" this Saturday 23 November at 15.30 on BBC Radio 3. The other reader is Diana Quick.

For more information see BBC Radio 3.

Thanks again to Jen!

NT 50 Programmes

The National Theatre is making programmes for their special events available online. You can download the programmes as pdfs.

The NT50 Years on Stage programme you can download here.

The programme for "Habit of Art is here.

Habit of Art - Encore

As part of the NT 50 celebrations NT Live are showing "The Habit of Art" in cinemas in various countries over the next few months. To check for showings where you are see NT Live - Habit of Art.

NT 50

Alex appeared in two segments of the NT 50 Years on Stage celebrations. Two pictures were published related to the "My Fair Lady" segment. Alex sang "The Rain in Spain" with Rosalie Craig and Malcolm Sinclair.

He also reprised his part as George Bush in David Hare's "Stuff Happens", opposite Lloyd Owen as Tony Blair.

For more pictures and information on the show check the NT 50 website or the blog.

The show is available in the UK on iPlayer for a few more days. There will be a few more international cinema broadcast through NT Live.