Castium Revelio: The Wizarding World Takes on True Crime

We're spending time in the world of audio first this month. Genevieve Gaunt's (Pansy Parkinson, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) reading of The Memory of Animals, by Claire Fuller, has won an award! Every month, the AudioFile magazine creates a list of AudioFile Earphones Award winners, which are the magazine's top suggestions for listeners. Congrats to Gaunt for making August's list.

Helena Bonham Carter, Ralph Ineson, and Toby Jones (Bellatrix Lestrange, Amycus Carrow, and the voice of Dobby, respectively) are forging a path in the world of audiobooks together. They are part of the cast of a new reading of Charles Dickens's David Copperfield, which will be released globally by Audible on November 30.

Stephen Fry, the narrator of the British Harry Potter audiobooks, has lent his voice to a charity project. He's voiced an audio guide for a mindfulness walking trail in Norfolk, United Kingdom, which is run by Sibling Support, a bereavement charity that focuses on young people who have lost a sibling.

That isn't the only charity work Fry has been up to this month. He's joined 100 other actors, including fellow Wizarding World alums Bill Nighy and Miranda Richardson (Rufus Scrimgeour and Rita Skeeter, respectively), in supporting the Green Rider contract. Actors will be able to include the new clause in future contracts to promote their own belief in sustainability and negotiate standards similar to their own before stepping on set.

We're moving into music next. Domnhall Gleeson (Bill Weasley) starred in the music video for singer-songwriter Hozier's latest release, De Selby (Part 2). The video shows Gleeson killing different versions of himself with a shovel and burying himself alive. You can watch the video below.

Keeping with Gleeson, he's set to lead an upcoming romance show for Channel 4 alongside Andrea Riseborough (The Electrical Life of Louis Wain). Alice & Jack follows a couple who forms a strong bond as soon as they meet but whose relationship is tested when other complex emotions come into play.

Toby Jones is also involved in another new project, alongside Lee Ingleby (Stan Shunpike). The Long Shadow is based on one of the biggest and best-known true crime cases in the UK: the five-year-long hunt for serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, better known as the Yorkshire Ripper, who killed 13 women in the 1970s. The show will debut in September on ITV in the UK and Sundance Now in the US and Canada.

We've got three trailers for you next. The first is for a magical comedy called Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls, which stars Ralph Ineson. The film premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival but now has an official theatrical release date of October 19 and a new trailer to go along with this announcement. Check out the trailer below.

John Cleese (Nearly Headless Nick) has also been in a trailer this month. He's lent his voice to Rally Road Racers, an animated film in which an inexperienced car must rely on the powers of love and friendship to get through a four-day-long race of a lifetime across China and save his grandma's house. The film hits UK cinemas on September 15, but you can watch the trailer below.

Our final trailer this month stars Natalia Tena (Nymphadora Tonks) in Borderline, a romance that turns into a thriller when a whirlwind relationship causes worlds to collide when one person returns to Denmark. The film has been available in the UK on digital platforms since August 28, and you can check out the trailer below.

There's a new project on the horizon for Rhys Ifans (Xenophilius Lovegood). He'll take one of the lead roles in Mother, Couch, an upcoming film based on a Swedish book about a woman who sits alone on a couch and forces her three estranged children to figure out why. The film will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, but until then, here's a first-look image.

Credit: Chayse Irvin

We've also got a first-look image from The Reckoning, a long-awaited BBC drama about the life of infamous pedophile Jimmy Savile. Gemma Jones (Madam Pomfrey) stars in the show alongside Steve Coogan, who will play Savile himself, and four of Savile's surviving victims, who will be interviewed on camera. Have a look at the first picture of Coogan below.

Credit: Matt Squire/ITV Studios

Last up in this section are award nominations for composer John Williams and Alexandre Desplat. They've both been nominated for awards at the World Soundtrack Awards 2023. Both have been nominated for Film Composer of the Year. Desplat received his nomination as a result of his work on Asteroid City, Pinocchio, Father & Soldier, and A Cooler Climate, while Williams's work on The Fabelmans and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny were cited as the reasons for his. Desplat has also been nominated for Best Original Song. This is just the first round of nominations to be announced, so keep an eye out for more in the near future.

Our last story of the month is an exciting report for Jack Thorne (co-writer of the Cursed Child stageplay). His drama Toxic Town, which shines a light on the Corby poisonings and the long legal battle that followed, has been picked up by Netflix. The poisoning is regarded as one of the worst environmental disasters in the UK after toxic waste was spilled into local waters. The cast includes Aimee Lou Wood (Sex Education) and Jodie Whittaker (Doctor Who).