A heartwarming tale inspired by the time when national artwork was hidden in Wales is this Bank Holiday weekend’s big TV drama. Abbie Wightwick catches up with the stars – Eve Myles and Trevor Eve

It’s a long way from saving the planet in Torchwood but Eve Myles loved the change of pace playing a village school teacher in BBC One’s new one-off drama.

Framed was set and filmed almost entirely in Wales and tells how village life changes when a group of outsiders arrive.

Eve plays Angharad the local schoolteacher who finally manages to win through the reserved nature of a museum curator played by Trevor Eve.

The 90-minute drama is based on Frank Cottrell Boyce’s best-selling children’s novel of the same name.

It follows the lives of 10-year-old Dylan Hughes and his family’s struggle to keep afloat their small petrol station at the foot of a Welsh mountain.

When a convoy of men and trucks take up residence on the mountain, villagers discover that the National Gallery in London has been flooded and the priceless paintings sent to Wales for safekeeping in the old slate mine, as they were in World War Two.

In charge of this is Quentin Lester, played by Trevor, a reserved senior curator who is eventually drawn out of his shell by Angharad.

Filming in Wales was a sort of homecoming for both Eve and Trevor. Both actors loved filming in Snowdonia and in and around Cardiff.

Eve, 31, was born in Ystradgynlais and is used to filming at home playing Gwen in Dr Who spin-off Torchwood while Trevor, 58, one of television’s best known leading men, has family in Swansea and holidayed in Mumbles as a child.

Eve, 31, who is expecting her first child in November, admits it was hard switching from gun-toting Gwen in Torchwood to a gentle teacher from rural Wales.

“It’s been quite difficult actually because I’m used to doing bold things with guns,” she laughs.

“Angharad is different to Gwen she’s quieter, more thoughtful. She is not soft, she is feisty but she is a lot more complicated. She’s quite nosy, but she’s only nosy because she’s been living there for such a long time and not a lot happens.”

The actress was “blown over” by Frank Cottrell Boyce’s script. His story is aimed at all ages in the drama adaptation but it retains a non-cynical innocence from the children’s novel which Eve and Trevor enjoyed portraying.

“Frank is a tremendous writer. And to meet him in person was such a treat,” says the Welsh actress.

“I’d love to see a collaboration between him and Russell (T Davies) – that would just be out of this world.”

She said Cottrell’s romantic script for Framed has a feel-good factor that made her smile all the way through reading it.

“The script was beautiful.

“I love stories that are told through children’s eyes because everything is real and honest in that way because children tend not to lie.

“They tend to say the truth whether it gets them in trouble or not and I think that reflects life because it’s in your face, no cover-ups, no apologies and it’s totally beautiful.”

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David Tennant has admitted that he is keen to brush up on “life skills” now that he has completed work on Doctor Who.

The 38-year-old actor, who recently stepped down from his role as the Time Lord, confirmed that cooking and gardening will be keeping him busy in the months ahead.

“Those basic life skills seem to have escaped me and maybe now’s the time to make them my hobby,” Tennant told the Daily Express.

“Cooking is not something that comes naturally to me, so I’m working my way through some cookbooks to teach myself. I don’t have any distinctive flair for it. So I’m trying to learn some techniques there.”

On his other aspirations, he added: “I’m trying to teach myself how not to kill plants, which I do manage to have the skill for. I’d like to be a little more nurturing with my garden.”

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Here are the gallery updates made over the past few months. Sorry it took me so long to post this!

Doctor Who Series 1 DVD Extras
The Idiot’s Lantern episode still
Doctor Who Series 3 promotional images
Runaway Bride episode stills
Blink on set
Time Crash promotional images
Voyage of the Damned Cast Announcement photoshoot
Voyage of the Damned episode stills
Partners in Crime promotional images
Planet of the Ood promotional images
The Sontaran Stratagem & The Poison Sky promotional images
Silence in the Library & Forest of the Dead promotional image
The Waters of Mars episode stills
Doctor Who Series 5 Cast Announcement photoshoots
Doctor Who Series 5 behind the scenes
Doctor Who Confidential Series 3
Doctor Who Confidential Series 4
Doctor Who Confidential ‘Greatest Moments: The Doctor’
Torchwood Declassified Series 1
Torchwood Declassified Series 2
Torchwood Declassified
The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith promotional image
Eve Myles at 2008 BAFTA Cymru
Billie Piper at Party in the Park
Billie Piper at Parkinson on March 19, 2005
Billie Piper at Parkinson on September 22, 2007
Catherine Tate at Genius
Freema Agyeman at 2009 South Bank Show Awards
David Tennant, Eve Myles & Gareth David-Lloyd at 2007 BAFTA Cymru
John Barrowman at Al Murray’s Happy Hour
Catherine Tate at The Paul O’Grady Show
Billie Piper at National Smile Week
Billie Piper Photoshoot Sessions #1-22
John Barrowman & Eve Myles at Collectormania 13
Naoko Mori at 2009 BritWeek Launch
Matt Smith at Cannes Fish Tank premiere
Freema Agyeman at 2009 Glamour Women of the Year Awards
Billie Piper at WH Smith Book Signing
David Tennant at 2009 BAFTA Television Awards
John Barrowman at The Paul O’Grady Show
Naoko Mori at 20th GLAAD Awards
David Tennant at Parkinson
Eve Myles, John Barrowman & Gareth David-Lloyd at Torchwood DVD Signing
Eve Myles at 2009 New York Comic Con
John Barrowman Photoshoot Session #1

Also, there are now DVD quality screencaptures of Torchwood Children of Earth in the gallery and the TV quality screencaptures have been moved to another section. TV screencaptures of the first series of Sarah Jane Adventures are now viewable again in their own seperate section as well.

With all of these updates we are now at over 275,000 images in the gallery

Earlier this month, we asked you if you wanted a season four of Torchwood. Early responses seemed to say yes, and then we got deluged with people who were fed up with their favorite characters dying and who weren’t entirely impressed with the Torchwood: Children of Earth mini-series that was season three.

Well, there is going to be a season four, and Torchwood Magazine got the scoop (Dammit! How’d they manage that?). According to the magazine, Torchwood creator and writer Russell T. Davies already has several storylines worked out, and knows what happens to the characters that did survive seasons two and three. He’s not sure if it will be another mini-series or a 13-episode season, but he does know what he’d include.

In the magazine, which is already out in the U.K. and comes out September 15 in the U.S., Davies says, “I could write you scene one of series four right now. I know exactly how to pick it up. I’ve got a shape in mind, and I’ve got stories. I know where you’d find Gwen and Rhys, and their baby, and Jack, and I know how you’d go forward with a new form of Torchwood.”

It’s the end of that quote, “a new form of Torchwood,” that’s intriguing. That seems to hint that, while the old characters won’t be completely abandoned, the new Torchwood may be rebuilt from the ground up, something a lot of TV Squad readers have suggested they might be open to (many never want to see Gwen or Jack again, and dubbed any show with them at the helm “Gwack and the Redshirts.”). A few people have speculated that it might mean going back to Torchwood teams from previous or even future eras, and the show has already introduced a few characters from such teams.

So, let the speculation and arguments start anew. Fellow Torchwood geeks, former fans who want to kill Davies, Doctor Who fans, and all other interested parties: on your mark, get set …

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A complete list of episode titles for the new series of The Sarah Jane Adventures has been confirmed.

According to Doctor Who Magazine, the stories in the third series are as follows:

• S03E01/E02: ‘Prisoner of the Judoon’
• S03E03/E04: ‘The Mad Woman in the Attic’
• S03E05/E06: ‘The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith’
• S03E07/E08: ‘The Eternity Trap’
• S03E09/E10: ‘Mona Lisa’s Revenge’
• S03E11/E12: ‘The Gift’

The first story will guest star Nicholas Briggs, voice of the Daleks and the Cybermen in parent series Doctor Who.

The third two-parter will mark David Tennant’s special guest appearance as The Doctor, as well as featuring a guest spot from veteran actor Nigel Havers.

‘The Eternity Trap’ will guest star Floella Benjamin and Callum Blue, while Suranne Jones and Newsround presenter Lizo Mzimba will appear in ‘Mona Lisa’s Revenge’.

The third series of The Sarah Jane Adventures is expected to air on BBC One and the CBBC Channel from the Autumn.

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The BBC has announced a new series of the “greatest moments” of Doctor Who since the programme was relaunched in 2005.

Screened in three parts, Doctor Who’s Greatest Moments has been produced by the team behind Doctor Who Confidential and includes a voiceover by Radio 1 DJ Jo Whiley.

The BBC said: “The Confidential team have made good use of their address book!

“It’s lovely to get the lowdown from regulars like David Tennant, Freema Agyeman and John Barrowman, who are all on good form and as charming as ever.”

It added: “We kick off with the Doctor himself before his companions and enemies nudge him to one side to have their time in the limelight.

“Each episode is split into themed sections, so in the opener we look at several elements of the Doctor’s character, such as his humour, intelligence and physicality.”

Doctor Who’s Greatest Moments begins on August 20 at 8pm on BBC Three.

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David Harewood has admitted that David Tennant’s final day on the set of Doctor Who was “very charged”.

Speaking exclusively to Digital Spy, the 43-year-old, who plays Joshua Naismith in the forthcoming Christmas Special, also revealed that he wasn’t allowed to read the script containing Tennant’s final scene.

Describing the atmosphere on set as Tennant prepared to leave, Harewood said: “I’d say it was very charged – people were in tears. It was the end of a very successful partnership.

“It was obviously David’s last outing, and it was also Russell’s last outing and Judy Gardner’s last outing. So everyone was saying goodbye to what had been a very successful partnership.”

Asked about Tennant’s final scene as the tenth Doctor, he added: “We only got four pages, so most of us didn’t get to see. I think we’ll all be checking in on Christmas Day!”

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Torchwood creator Russell T Davies has the future of the hit Doctor Who spin-off all planned out, he has told the new issue of Torchwood Magazine.

“I could write you scene one of series four right now”, says Davies in a revealing interview with Torchwood Magazine. “I know exactly how to pick it up. I’ve got a shape in mind, and I’ve got stories. I know where you’d find Gwen and Rhys, and their baby, and Jack, and I know how you’d go forward with a new form of Torchwood.”

The news will come as a tonic to fans of the show, which enjoyed runaway success in the ratings when the latest series Children of Earth screened over five nights in July this year. The dramatic finale and the death of much-loved team member Ianto Jones had fans fearing the worst for the future of the show, but Davies’ positive comments will re-ignite hopes that Torchwood will once again return to television screens.

Davies is also confident of writing another compelling series of Torchwood, regardless of the format the BBC decides to choose for the show.

“If the BBC asked for another 13 one-part stories, that”s what we’d do”, Davies goes on to explain to Torchwood Magazine. “I’m ready for anything, but I think it works well as one continuous story. But if the BBC decide they want 13 one-offs, I’ll suddenly decide that’s the best format in the world!”

The prolific writer, widely credited with sparking the recent revival of parent show Doctor Who, goes on to talk candidly about the origins of Torchwood, and why he thinks the timing was all important for the success of the show.

“It’s been a very intelligent decision to make hay while the sun shines”, he says. “Look at the recession that’s sweeping in now. If I’d tried to get Torchwood off the ground now, they would say there’s no money for it. So while we had one very successful show, we made a strategic decision to push our advantage. Julie [Gardner, then Head of Drama at BBC Wales] passionately wanted a big, strong Welsh drama department ­ but one show is not a drama department, You’ve got to have more, so we did it while those doors were open to us.”

After Davies’ incredible successes on British shores, where he has also penned the acclaimed drama serials Queer as Folk and The Second Coming, the writer is looking forward to his next challenge across the Atlantic.

Davies tells Torchwood Magazine he believes his trade is taken much more seriously in the USA than it is at home in the UK:

“The attitudes towards drama there are very different, and their outlook is more professional in terms of how they approach the job. I heard this brilliant quote from [acclaimed British screenwriter] Frank Cottrell Boyce recently, where he said that British writers are essentially amateur and they want to go home or go to the pub, but in America they can’t wait to go in to the office.”

Russell T Davies interview appears in Torchwood Magazine Issue #17.
On sale in the UK – 20 Aug 2009
On sale in the US – Sept 15 2009

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The track listing has been announced for the new DVD “An Evening with John Barrowman,” which will be released in both PAL and NTSC formats Nov. 16.

The DVD was filmed live at Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall May 14, 2009. Barrowman performs a mix of pop and stage and screen tunes.

The complete track listing for “An Evening with John Barrowman” follows:

Don’t Stop Me Now
Solitaire
Just Help Yourself
Could It Be Magic
What About Us
Andrew Lloyd Webber Medley
Knock Three Times
Baby Give It Up
I Made It Through The Rain
I Am What I Am
Life Is A Roller Coaster
From a Distance
Rhinestone Cowboy
Every Single Day
Livin La Vida Loca
All Out Of Love
I Won’t Send Roses
Everything
I Know Him So Well
Over the Rainbow
Both Sides Now/Goodbye My Friend
Can’t Take My Eyes Off You

DVD Extras
Amazing Grace
Scottish Medley
Band Bows/Trouser Rip
Danny Boys
Behind The Scenes

John Barrowman is best known for creating the role of Captain Jack Harness in the first series of Russell T. Davies’ revamped “Doctor Who” for BBC TV, from which his own spin-off series, “Torchwood,” was created. He has also appeared in series 3 and 4 of “Doctor Who.” The singing actor has also been seen as a judge on BBC1′s reality TV casting shows “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?,” “Any Dream Will Do” and “I’d Do Anything” and was a celebrity skater on the ITV show “Dancing on Ice.”

He was last seen on the West End musical theatre stage doing a stint in Chicago as Billy Flynn in 2004, and prior to that was seen at the National as Billy Crocker in Anything Goes (a role he had previously taken over in the previous West End revival at the Prince Edward Theatre, opposite Elaine Paige, in 1989). He also appeared as Dumaine in Shakespeare’s Love’s Labours Lost during his National Theatre season, and subsequently made his West End straight play acting debut in A Few Good Men at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket in 2005. Among his other numerous West End credits are Matador, Miss Saigon, Beauty and the Beast, The Fix (Olivier-nominated for Best Actor in a Musical), Hair and Sunset Boulevard. On Broadway, he has appeared in Sunset Boulevard and Putting it Together.

In January 2008 his autobiography, “Anything Goes,” which he wrote with his sister Carole E. Barrowman, was published by Michael O’Mara Books and reached number two in the Sunday Times best seller’s list, remaining in the top ten for 13 weeks.

Barrowman joins the London revival of La Cage aux Folles Sept. 14.

To order the new DVD, visit www.amazon.co.uk.

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David Tennant has revealed that he recently had his first ever movie audition in Hollywood.

The Doctor Who star told BBC Wales that he was “nervous” because he had not had to audition for a part since Casanova in 2004.

Tennant said: “I had my first ever Hollywood audition yesterday. The terrible thing is I’ve been very spoilt in Britain for the last few years – I haven’t done an audition.

“I went to this room and I found the place and I had to get past the security guard who wanted to see some ID, and I said, ‘I’ve not brought any ID!’ I didn’t realise that was something you needed to do to come for an audition.”

He added that he had some difficulty when the casting director asked him to “just go off script” because of the limited knowledge he had about the role.

“You have a few sides, you’re having to intuit from a few lines what this character may be or what his story may be,” Tennant continued.

“So you end up having to improvise around this character’s life about which you know nothing and about which you’re invited to know nothing. It was sort of alright.”

He added: “It was for quite a big Hollywood film, I won’t get it!”

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