Castium Revelio: The Trashcan Man Cometh

Considering it's the holidays, you may be inclined to hold off on any major diet-related life changes until 2021. But if your New Year's resolutions are going to include healthier eating, you'll want to check out Evanna Lynch's (Luna Lovegood) latest interview with the Beet. In it, she details her seven-year journey away from animal products and offers advice for those looking to try out a plant-based diet. You can read the full interview on the Beet's site.

The West End revival of Red, which took the stage in 2018 and starred Alfred Enoch (Dean Thomas) in his West End debut, will be streamed for 48 hours only beginning Monday, November 30. Make sure you catch Enoch in his critically acclaimed performance as young assistant Ken on the YouTube channel The Shows Must Go On!.

A variety of celebrities have come together to read 12 Bedtime Stories of Christmas, a fundraising effort for the Irish housing charity Threshold. The stories are available by subscription, and among the readers are Brendan Gleeson (Mad-Eye Moody), his son Brian Gleeson, and singer-songwriter Hozier. Brendan will be reading A Rhinoceros, Some Ladies and a Horse, by James Stephens, while Brian will read a short story by his brother Rory Gleeson. You can watch the announcement from Threshold below before signing up for the stories.

The 12 #ThresholdBedtimeStories of Christmas are here ❄️

A few familiar faces have signed up to read a Bedtime Story
to prevent homelessness this Christmas.

Check out what they're reading here 👇

Sign up, listen in and support at https://t.co/3OZ76XAVzI#SaveFamilyHomes 🏡 pic.twitter.com/zHC4UbEL8r

— Threshold (@ThresholdIRE) November 25, 2020

In other Gleeson news, the Irish band Revelino has reissued the song "Don't Lead Me Down" as the first single off the remastered version of their debut album of the same name. The song first became a hit when it was featured in Irish crime caper I Went Down, starring Brendan Gleeson, and a new music video for the rerelease features footage from the film.

Finally, MuggleNet let you know last time about Gleeson's November 21 speech at a ceremony marking the centenary of Bloody Sunday, but video footage is now available for viewing below.

The Donmar Warehouse in London, England, has announced a special online concert for the holidays, which will feature – among other artists – Imelda Staunton (Dolores Umbridge) and her husband, Jim Carter. Looking a Lot Like Christmas will be performed from St. Paul's Church in Covent Garden in the West End and will stream free on December 16 on the Donmar's YouTube channel. The hour-long special will feature musical numbers, sketches, and seasonal poetry.

In less-pleasant Staunton news, ITV has announced the cancellation of thriller Flesh and Blood after just one season and had the utter gall to tell the Sun that the show was "a self-contained and beautifully complete story." Um, no. False and negative. Those of you who were watching along with us on either ITV in the UK or PBS in the United States will no doubt share our outrage, as Season 1 ended on an enormous cliffhanger. So major jeers to ITV on this one, and a sad farewell to Staunton's character, Uber Creepy Stalker Neighbor Crazy Mary (okay, we added that first bit, but if the shoe fits...).

We can't end on that note, so back to some more-pleasant Staunton news. The Telegraph reports that the actress has put her name to a letter urging the British government to save the singing of Christmas carols, which the letter calls "a fundamental part of UK culture." The letter asks the government to allow socially distanced outdoor carol singing in all tiers of the United Kingdom's current lockdown reopening system. The signatories maintain that caroling is particularly needed to lift spirits during this trying holiday season. We fully agree – except for the verses of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" that concern figgy pudding and the refusal to vacate the property until figgy pudding is produced. Seriously. First of all, who just has figgy pudding sitting around the kitchen, waiting to be fetched for caroling mercenaries; secondly, that's extortion; and thirdly, we're sure the constabulary would have something to say about that "won't go until we get some" plan. Anyway, sorry; that's a lifelong pet peeve. We hope the caroling crusade is successful!

Following the premiere of Season 4 of The Crown on Netflix, Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix Lestrange) spoke with Collider about the episode titled "The Hereditary Principle," which primarily focused on her character, Princess Margaret.

It was a wonderful episode. It was wonderfully written. Really Margaret, her story – I don't feature that much in Season 4, and that's kind of Margaret's part in real life. As she got older, she became more and more marginalized within the family and felt so. There's a sort of ironic thing where the more children her sister has, it means the lower she goes in the pecking order; she becomes more and more irrelevant. [...] There's no doubt that if [Margaret] had lived in a different time, she would have had an entirely different life. She would have fared far better now. It is so much more forgiving in some ways, and in other ways, we've got extreme intolerance, but that's a reaction to the huge amount of tolerance that we have about talking about things like mental health. It was not on to have depression in her time and certainly wasn't on, really, to have depression in that family. [...] It's very Victorian, and it's very almost military-like and unforgiving of any kind of human emotional frailty.

Credit: Netflix

Meanwhile, a new multi-format-storytelling subscription app called Alexander has launched, which aims to fuse written, audio, and visual formats in order to present original nonfiction every two weeks. Among those delivering audio performances thus far are Bonham Carter, David Tennant (Barty Crouch Jr.), and Bill Nighy (Rufus Scrimgeour). The app is available now on iOS and will arrive on Android in early 2021.

And speaking of audio stories, Tennant has reunited with Doctor Who costar Alex Kingston (River Song) for three audio episodes from Big Finish Productions. The downloadable set – which is also available on CD – is titled Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor and River Song and features the following episodes: "Expiry Dating," "Precious Annihilation," and "Ghosts." Tennant told Digital Spy that he's happy to further explore the complicated relationship between the Doctor and his wife.

What's fascinating about this relationship is that they're both at different stages of it and my Doctor is baffled by her. And doesn't understand why she's being so flirty. It doesn't really compute. Over the course of these three stories, he certainly softens towards her ways. It's an interesting thing to play. How wonderful that it's possible and what a treat that we can still tell these stories.

With the UK government's recent announcement that it would extend financial support to combat childhood hunger by providing nutritious meals to students over school holidays, Dame Emma Thompson (Sybill Trelawney) and Manchester United star Marcus Rashford are seeing their efforts on behalf of the Children's Right2Food Campaign pay off. The Government Digital Service reports that Thompson joined seven members of the Young Food Ambassadors and Food Foundation executive director Anna Taylor for a Zoom meeting this week with UK children's minister Vicky Ford, with Ford inviting Thompson to visit a Holiday Activities and Food program project next summer following the expanded initiative's rollout in England.

Meanwhile, Thompson's new rom-com project – operating under the working title What's Love Got to Do with It? – in which she will star alongside Lily James and Shazad Latif, will begin filming next month and has closed sales in nearly all of Europe and Japan. Thompson is set to play Zoé's (James) opinionated mother, Cath.

Warwick Davis (Griphook/Filius Flitwick) and Dame Julie Walters (Molly Weasley) are celebrating the UK premiere today on Boomerang of their new special, Master Moley by Royal Invitation, and Davis spoke with Metro about the rigors of voice acting.

You don't just sit there by a microphone. You're up on your feet, actually physically performing the scenes so the recordings have a kind of life and physicality to them that the animators can then be inspired by. You have to kind of throw yourself around, but you can't make a noise inside the studio, like stamping your feet. You've got to jiggle yourself up and down. If you're running, you end up physically doing it on the spot. It's a funny experience to watch. [...] It's about having fun doing these things as well because if I'm having fun in the studio, that comes across in the animation and in the character as well.

Credit: Warner Bros. Discovery

Netflix has announced that After We Collided, starring Hero Fiennes-Tiffin (11-year-old Tom Riddle), will arrive on the streaming platform on December 22. Just remember not to have the movie playing on your television when Santa comes down the chimney on Christmas Eve, or you're definitely getting coal in your stocking. Elsewhere, Deadline Hollywood reports that Amazon has struck a deal to exclusively stream the film on Prime Video in Italy, France, Spain, and the UK. Italy, France, and the UK will see its release on December 22, while those in Spain will have to wait until January 1, 2021.

The Dubai Opera has announced two performances next month of John Cleese's (Nearly Headless Nick) stage show Alive! (Just). The productions are set for December 15 and 16, and tickets are available on the Dubai Opera's official site. Cleese will follow a stand-up act with a question-and-answer session.

A release date has also been set for the new film adaptation of Clifford the Big Red Dog, featuring Cleese as Mr. Bridwell. The movie is down for a November 5, 2021, debut, and you can view the new teaser below.

We've been keeping you apprised of the progress on Season 6 of Line of Duty, which features Kelly Macdonald (Helena Ravenclaw) in the new role of DCI Joanne Davidson, and the Radio Times this week released first-look images of the actress. The series will return to BBC One in early 2021.

Credit: BBC

Credit: BBC

Dawn French (the Fat Lady, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) will be returning to the BBC for the holidays. French will reprise her role as Geraldine Granger in The Vicar of Dibley for a series of lockdown-inspired mini-specials in which Granger has to adapt to giving sermons via Zoom. God help her. The three ten-minute episodes will air weekly in the lead-up to Christmas.

But those aren't the only halls French will be decking this year! We let you know in August about her casting as Beatrix Potter in Roald & Beatrix: The Tail of the Curious Mouse – and Jessica Hynes's (voice of Mafalda Hopkirk) casting as Roald Dahl's mother, Sofie – and the Radio Times delivered a few first-look photos last week. You can enjoy them below.

Dawn French portrays Beatrix Potter in “Roald & Beatrix: The Tail of the Curious Mouse.” (Credit: Sky)

Dawn French portrays Beatrix Potter in “Roald & Beatrix: The Tail of the Curious Mouse.”(Credit: Sky)

Dawn French portrays Beatrix Potter in “Roald & Beatrix: The Tail of the Curious Mouse.” (Credit: Sky)

In additional BBC One Christmas programming news, we first told you in September about Shirley Henderson's (Moaning Myrtle) guest-starring role as ship's figurehead Saucy Nancy in a new, as-yet-untitled Worzel Gummidge holiday special. You can now check out a first look at Henderson as Nancy, whose colorful and eccentric lines, Henderson told the Radio Times, were difficult to memorize.

I had to keep at it many times a day so it wouldn’t be a struggle when we came to film it. The other characters’ lines don’t latch onto what you’re about to say. There’s no thread. So I had to use a lot of repetition to learn it.

Credit: BBC

A special Facebook Live event to benefit British children's hospice Julia's House will stream on December 2, featuring music, readings, and fun. Among the special guests will be Guy Henry (Pius Thicknesse), and you can watch the event live on Julia's House's Facebook page.

MuggleNet let you know last month about Ralph Ineson's (Amycus Carrow) casting as large stone troll Sergeant Detritus in BBC America's The Watch, and now, we can formally introduce said troll. He sounds like ten tons of fun to us! Meet Sergeant Detritus below, and check out the series's official synopsis as well. The Watch will premiere January 3, 2021.

In BBC America's newest original series, 'The Watch,' an unlikely group of misfits, the City Watch, find the guts to save the world, surprising even themselves in the process. The comedic yet thrilling series pits trolls, werewolves, wizards, and other improbable heroes against an evil plot to resurrect a great dragon, which would lead to the destruction of life as they know it. From lead writer and executive producer Simon Allen, the modern and inclusive series is inspired by many of Sir Terry Pratchett's famous 'Discworld' creations, including captain of the City Watch Sam Vimes (Richard Dormer), the last scion of nobility Lady Sybil Ramkin (Lara Rossi), the naïve but heroic Carrot (Adam Hughill), the mysterious Angua (Marama Corlett), and the ingenious forensics expert Cheery (Jo Eaton-Kent), together with Pratchett's iconic characterization of Death.

John Williams, composer of the scores for the first three Harry Potter films, has been honored by the Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS). The RPS Gold Medal has recognized outstanding musicianship since 1870, with previous recipients including Johannes Brahms, Richard Strauss, Igor Stravinsky, and Leonard Bernstein. During the presentation, director Steven Spielberg congratulated Williams on bringing "the classical idiom to young people all over the world through your scores, and through your classical training and your classical sensibilities. You are in the DNA of the musical culture of today." Williams expressed his gratitude from his home:

To receive this award is beyond any expectation I could possibly have. For any composer to be able devote his or her life entirely to the composition of music is very fortunate indeed. I’d like to thank our musicians of our great orchestras in London and in the United States with whom I’ve worked so happily for so many years.

Credit: Royal Philharmonic Society

Williams also received a Grammy nomination this week for his Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker score in the Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media category, as did Alexandre Desplat (composer, final two Harry Potter films) for his Plumfield score in the Best Instrumental Composition category.

BBC Radio 4 is preparing to pay tribute to the late Neil Innes, a musical and comedic genius who collaborated most notably over the course of his life with Monty Python – including John Cleese – and the Beatles. The three-part program, Neil Innes: Dip My Brain in Joy, will be broadcast December 2, 9, and 16 and will feature several new interviews with Innes's friends and colleagues, Stephen Fry (narrator, UK Harry Potter audiobooks) among them. The series will also stream worldwide on the BBC's website, so if you're unfamiliar with Innes's work, do yourself a major favor and tune in. You won't regret it!

Fry will also be narrating a new script by Gerard McBurney between each movement of the full ballet score of Beethoven's "The Creatures of Prometheus" on December 4, nearly 250 years to the date since the great composer's birth. The Philharmonia Orchestra, under the baton of Esa-Pekka Salonen, will present the score live on its YouTube channel, and the performance will remain online indefinitely thereafter.

Finally, the hilariously named charity Cahonas Scotland is raising funds to support testicular cancer awareness by holding a Celebrity Loosen Up Auction on eBay. Items include neckties signed by Stephen Fry, Sir Rod Stewart, and Sir Tom Jones, along with scarves signed by Noel Gallagher of Oasis fame and Brian May from Queen. Peruse the items and place your bids on the Cahonas Scotland website.

Jude Law (Albus Dumbledore) sat down this week with GQ to discuss a variety of topics, including his role in the Fantastic Beasts series and the fact that, while 2020 may have leapt out of a dark alley and blindsided most of us, he unfortunately had an inkling it was coming, thanks to his role in 2011's Contagion. Thanks for the heads-up, Jude!

MuggleNet tipped you off last month about Ezra Miller's (Credence Barebone) involvement in the upcoming CBS All Access miniseries adaptation of Stephen King's The Stand. Entertainment Weekly has now confirmed Miller's character: the infamous Trashcan Man. Showrunner Benjamin Cavell shared his thoughts with ET:

It’s so different from any way that anyone has seen Erza before, and he's so committed to it. He’s a huge fan of the book and had fallen in love with this character and wanted to play it for a long time. On our first call, he described Trash as ‘the embodiment of pyromania.’ The only thing this guy was capable of, and the only area in life he was comfortable, were with the explosives and instruments of fire and destruction. He wears basically no clothes except for his extensive tactical gear. So he's just kind of in underwear and combat boots [...] The character has to be right on the edge of over-the-top. But no matter how strangely he’s behaving, there’s always this Ezra Miller soul as a twinkle coming through. I can’t say enough about how brilliant he is in it.

Miller also commented from the set of Fantastic Beasts 3:

What excites me is the deception of behavior and appearances. Trash is the underestimated and misinterpreted amongst us. [...] 'Fireproof underwear' were two of the first words out of my mouth in the first conceptual meeting. I was very interested in working directly with the wardrobe department in creating a look based entirely on the practical demands of the character's pyromania. Trash wears nothing but what is necessary to craft incendiaries, ignite them, and get as close to the flames as possible – in order to revel in the fire.

The Stand will make its debut on December 17, and you can check out a pair of first-look images of Miller as the Trashcan Man below.

Credit: "Entertainment Weekly"

Credit: Entertainment Weekly

Credit: CBS

The Make Equality Reality Gala will be hosted on December 3 by Equality Now in support of the organization's mission of fighting for equality for women and girls. In addition to a tribute to the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a host of celebrities is set to appear, including Carmen Ejogo (Seraphina Picquery). For more information and to register to watch the gala's live broadcast, visit Equality Now's website.

Jack Thorne (playwright) has penned a new drama centered around the impact of COVID-19 on elder-care facilities, and it's been picked up by Channel 4 in the UK. Set in the fictional Sunshine Homes in Liverpool, England, the project will star Killing Eve's Jodie Comer and This Is England's Stephen Graham. Operating under the working title of Help, the drama is set to begin filming in early 2021 in Liverpool, and Thorne was quoted in the Irish News discussing the gravity of the subject matter.

About two years ago Stephen Graham came to me with an idea to write something for him and Jodie Comer. I tried to think of something and got nothing. Then this crisis happened and we saw care homes getting squashed and battered by the government. It’s been both a long process and a short one, trying to find a way to tell this story. The amazing thing has been sharing in working out the story with Stephen, Jodie, the amazing Marc Munden, Beth Willis and everyone at The Forge and Channel 4. 30,000 people have died unnecessarily in these care homes because of the indifference and incompetence of our government. Hearing the stories of those at the frontline, having people break down in tears on Zoom in front of us has been incredibly moving and galling. Getting the story right will be incredibly important. We are aware of the pressure upon us. This has to be written and made with anger and precision. We hope we do it justice.

Ahead of the January 10, 2021, premiere of the first season of All Creatures Great and Small on PBS's Masterpiece, PBS will host a live Q&A with cast members and producers at 3:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, December 6. Unfortunately, Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom, Harry Potter), who plays wealthy landowner Hugh Helton on the show, isn't among those participating, but Sir Colin Callender (producer) is. Tickets for the event are free, but preregistration is required.

Sky Atlantic's The Undoing, starring Noma Dumezweni (Hermione Granger, original West End and Broadway runs), has been garnering enthusiastic reviews, and the actress sat down last week with Glamour to discuss the show and her character, barrister Hayley Fitzgerald. You can read the full interview on Glamour's site and a quote from Dumezweni below about continuing to share her life journey through her roles.

I hope that I can keep making my story, but my story has got to be Noma's story and I need to be comfortable in it. I'm not doing it for my mum. I'm not doing it for my dad. I'm not doing it for my sister. I'm not doing it for my daughter. I am ultimately doing it for me. But if I can make them happy and feel that we're all part of something bigger – I'm not a religious person, but I'm a spiritual person – let’s f**king share our stories. Let's just do it.

Credit: Sky