Amanda Donohoe & Maxwell Caulfield Join

[RitaLittlewood]

From itv.com

Look who's joining
Published: Monday, 22 September 2008, 3:31PM
Mon 22 Sept

Actress Amanda Donohoe and actor Maxwell Caulfield are set to add some glamour to the Dales when their characters Natasha and Mark Wylde arrive this Christmas.

The classy couple are loaded and looking forward to an idyllic life in the countryside. But what sort of welcome will feisty Natasha and smooth-talking entrepreneur Mark get from the locals?

LA Law star and Golden Globe award winner Amanda said: "I was very flattered when producers Anita Turner and Keith Richardson first approached me with the idea, so I'm now very excited about joining one of Britain's best-loved Soaps.

"I'm hoping the next few months will deliver some intriguing new storylines and I'm looking forward to galloping across the beautiful Yorkshire Dales and of course a pint (of Champagne) at the Woolie!"

Maxwell Caulfield, best known for his roles in Grease 2 and Dynasty, said: “This role was just too tempting to turn down and I can’t wait to start filming in the beautiful Yorkshire countryside.

"Mark’s complexities will be an interesting addition to life in Emmerdale.”

Anita Turner, Series Producer says: “I’m thrilled to be welcoming two actors of such high calibre to the cast. Amanda and Maxwell will be at the centre of some of our most gripping storylines next year and will be bringing some compelling drama to the Dales.”

[CG Wendy]

This is make or break time for Anita Turner. If this pairing doesn`t work she may as well get her P45 ready for the New Year. She`s ruined Emmerdale this year

[Deleted]

This is make or break time for Anita Turner. If this pairing doesn`t work she may as well get her P45 ready for the New Year. She`s ruined Emmerdale this year

I agree CG - mind you, AD's career must be in a tailspin if she's even considering a role in a second-rate soap that she must know is in a bad way.

[RitaLittlewood]

Doesn't say much for Maxwell Caulfield's career either.

Patsy

[sallywebster]

Love Maxwell - great actor!

[CG Wendy]

I like Maxwell also...except for Grease 2 with Michelle Phyffier(sp) Phew what a stinker!!!

I`m trying to think of Amanda Donahoes character in Bad Girls. Was it Natalie Buxton?

[RitaLittlewood]

How do he and Juliet Mills manage to stay married with him here and her over there?

Patsy

[madison]

Amanda Donohoe was Lou Stoke in Bad Girls, the last series I think. looking a bit jaded I must say!!

i can't BELIEVE she is doing Emmerdale, would imgaine she's getting a canny salary mind! I've heard that she's a NIGHTMARE to work with from quite a few people so expect fireworks!! xxxxxx

[RitaLittlewood]

Hey that's a thought, Maddie. With ITV making cutbacks just how much ARE they being paid?

Patsy

[RitaLittlewood]

From The Stage:

Mad Emmerdale casting...
By Mark Wright on September 23, 2008 5:41 PM | Permalink |

There are headlines from the world of TV news, and then there are headlines… Being perfectly honest, one headline I never thought I’d read when perusing the daily dispatches is:

Amanda Donohoe joins Emmerdale

I had to look twice and make sure I’d read it correctly, but it is indeed true that the former LA Law star will make her Dales debut sometime over Christmas as Natasha Wylde, one half of a sexy new couple…

The other half of this sexy new couple, Natasha’s husband, will be played by former Dynasty actor Maxwell Caulfield, also late of Casualty, which seems to add to the surreal sense of Hollywood glamour around the casting.

As a Yorkshireman, I’ve always had something of a soft spot for Emmerdale, although in the last year it does appear to have become something of a forgotten soap in the face of EastEnders and Corrie. This is a shame as it had a couple of years of being utterly fantastic, which seemed to peak with the well-executed and publicised Who Killed Tom King storyline over Christmas 2006. We still have the Cluedo set that the ITV press office sent out to tie in with the storyline sitting in pride of place at TV Today towers.

But now, there’s a sense of a soap on the downward phase of the perpetual soap cycle. It happens to all of them, by and by - ‘Enders was practically counted out of the game two years ago, regularly beaten in the ratings by some margin by Emmerdale when they went head to head. Even Corrie has had something of a fallow year, but its stock is rising with some strong storylines surrounding the Connor family on the slate over the next month or two.

It’s a shame that Emmerdale seems to be missing some attention right now - it’s ratings are as solid as ever, but not scaling the spectacular heights they were a few years back, although I’m confident they will rally before the end of the year. But there are some strong storylines in Emmerdale at the moment, especially Jo Sugden suffering domestic abuse at the hands of her husband Andy. It’s well played and well written, but doesn’t appear to be getting the attention it really deserves.

But soaps, as we know, are cyclical and Emmerdale will be back in the fight sooner rather than later. The Wylde’s are set to be at the heart of some dramatic storylines next year on the soap, but for now, I applaud the soap’s ability to pull some leftfield casting out of the bag as Donohoe and Caulfield follow in the grand tradition of Lorraine Chase, Linda Thorson and Patsy Kensit.

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Interesting single comment:

1 Comments
By DJ on September 23, 2008 8:31 PM
I'll tell you why it doesn't get the attention it deserves. Because the storyline department is atrocious. The producer Anita Turner just wants to sex it up with the same character. It was only 3 months ago that she brought in Anna De Souza, who was supposed to sex it up. As she has gone down like a lead balloon, Turner has had to cast exactly the same role by bringing in Amanda Donahue, a woman whose career was down the toilet when she joined the last series of Bad Girls before that was axed.

The storylines revolve too heavily around the Dingles and the Kings, two families WAY beyond their sell by date.

The reason why Jo Sugden's 'abuse' storyline isn't getting the same attention is because Jo had an extreme character change too much, as did Andy. And don't try and tell me that is believable. Neither actor could make a fart believable.

The only saving grace of Emmerdale is Charlotte Bellamy and even she is too good for it. That damn producer axed good actors in favour of dead wood and the only way forward for the show is to axe the producer and the whole storyline department.

[CG Wendy]

I agree with DJ on all counts - he`s absolutely correct.

[RitaLittlewood]

But fails to mention the damage Kath Beedles did first and Anita Reynolds is just continuing the downward spiral.

Patsy

[sallywebster]

I agree that Jo seemed to have a dramatic character change - when I stopped watching in 2006 I never would have thought she would turn into the weak character she is now.

Emmerdale did improve for a few weeks in early summer but now its back to the same drivel as usual.

[CG Wendy]

It says a lot when I haven`t watched it for over a week. I can`t be bothered.

[sallywebster]

I saw Friday's and it was boring. Im going away for a week on holiday and im only taping Corrie. Cant be bothered with Emmerdale. Will prob stick with it but dip in and out.

[Deleted]

Will prob stick with it but dip in and out

That's what I do Jez, and TBH I never really feel I've missed anything when I haven't seen it for a few days.

[RitaLittlewood]

From The Times
January 10, 2009

Next stop for Amanda Donohoe: Emmerdale's Woolpack
She’s blazed a trail through LA, so what’s Amanda Donohoe doing heading for Emmerdale. Our correspondent finds out

Dominic Wells

Have the producers of Emmerdale lost their minds? They have already crashed a plane, exploded several cars and a farm, and burnt down a barn, a factory and a church. But inviting Amanda Donohoe to play a powerful wife and mother who buys up half the village? Now that’s dangerous.

This is the actress who held her own, mostly while naked, against Oliver Reed in Castaway aged just 23; who on LA Law won a Golden Globe and nationwide notoriety with American TV’s first lesbian kiss; and who routinely stunned Hollywood casting directors by throwing down the script and demanding to know who wrote such witless, misogynistic bulls***. Asking her on to Emmerdale is a bit like, to use a suitably rustic metaphor, a chicken farmer asking a fox to dinner. Is even this soap big enough to contain her?

Donohoe herself has no such delusions. “Many actors are quite snobby about soap opera acting,” she says, her accent still poshish North London despite years in La-La Land, “and I can tell you right now that it takes a great deal of talent, experience and good acting to get through it. I wouldn’t hesitate to use these actors in any other format because they’re bloody good at what they do.”

Besides, she says, where else will you find meaty, dramatic writing for women over 40? “Where is it? Where the hell is it? These are women who run the country, run the families, run the businesses, and they’re being ignored. I don’t see anything else being written for women of my age, and believe me I’m fed up with playing detectives. How many times can you do an interview scene? The irony is that it’s the criminals who get all the great dialogue. You’re just sitting there going, ‘And where were you last Thursday, madam?’ ” She tilts back her head and laughs a great dirty laugh: “It’s sooo boooring!”

Donohoe has an infectious way of punching out syllables that makes her a natural storyteller. Even without make-up she is striking, cheek-bones like most people’s elbows, but she won’t play the star: she receives you in casual clothes, strapped from waist to knee into some newfangled back supports that resemble geriatric bondage gear.

In short, far from the diva painted in some past interviews, she’d be terrific company on a boozy night out. And unlike the plucked and pampered Hollywood actresses she lived among until her return to Britain five years ago, she never learnt the soul-sucking art of cheerful neutrality. If she loves someone, she’ll say so. If she hates someone . . .

“Jim Carrey I adored, he’d do a scene six different ways and nail every single one. A mind-blowing talent. Do you know, he cast me in Liar Liarbecause one of his favourite films is The Lair of the White Worm [the 1988 Ken Russell movie in which she plays a “vampire bitch”]. He would stand there on the set and quote Lady Sylvia’s lines back at me. Unbelievable! One of his favourites was, ‘Do you have children?’, to which she replies, ‘Only when there are no men around’! “But there are actors who are so far up their own arses they can’t even see straight. Ninety per cent have been extremely courteous, but it’s really difficult working with one who reads the newspaper off-camera when he should be reacting to your lines. Believe me, that actually happened. ‘PUT that F***ING paper DOWN!!’, I’ve been known to say!”

The actor of whom she has the most mixed feelings is Oliver Reed: “He could be a pussycat. But Olly sabotaged himself over and over again with the alcohol. When I saw him sober, he was morose. He became sparky and fiery after a few drinks, and then he just went into overdrive, into a no man’s land of behaviour. You didn’t know whether he was going to kiss you or hit you.”

She is a moth to the creative spark. Her first boyfriend, whom she met at 15 and waited a year before losing her virginity to, was the soon-to-become-world-famous pop star Adam Ant. He taught her to appreciate fine art and literature, damped down her narcotic experimentation, and encouraged her to apply for drama college. She will always be grateful to him, she says.

His recent breakdown, when he was arrested and sectioned for violent offences and had bipolar disorder diagnosed, was a complete shock. “I read his autobiography recently, and I wish I’d known then, but I don’t think even he knew. The moods and the withdrawals – you just assume somebody’s having a bad day, you don’t realise they are suffering from a clinical condition.”

Nick Broomfield, the documentary director who paved the way for Michael Moore, was another long-term relationship. He was 14 years older than her, and possessed of a huge ego. He must have been impossible to live with. “I’m trying to be kind,” she laughs when pressed. In the end she settles on this: “I’d much rather have a curious and creative and fiery individual than not.”

For the past five years she’s been with Russell Haswell, a sound artist eight years her junior. It sounds almost cosy. They have a little house with a lot of land in Suffolk, “no stairs to climb, ten minutes to vacuum, heating bills incredibly reasonable”. No kids, however: “We don’t feel quite grown-up ourselves yet.” We even spend a few minutes discussing – readers of Private Eye’s “Me and My Spoon” column will get a kick from this – her fine collection of Georgian silver spoons. No, really: her parents are antique jewellery dealers.

Altogether you feel that this one-time punk tearaway is what the French call bien dans sa peau– comfortable in her own skin. Literally: she rejects facelifts or Botox, and has the wrinkles to prove it. They suit her. Thirteen years ago Robert Crampton wrote in The Times that Donohoe “has the sort of face that will age well and turn her into a much-loved and still-fancied character actress in 20 years’ time”. She’s seven years ahead of schedule.

“Oh bless,” Donohoe says, when reminded of this line. “Do you know, that’s so flattering. Sometimes looks do get in the way, but I’ve always considered myself a character actor. It’s very difficult in a world that demands that young actresses be sexy and gorgeous, rather than bright and intelligent. And to have the opportunity to do it in front of 8 million people a week is the cream on the cake. I hope I can deliver, I really do.”

And with a wolfish grin and a twinkling eye, she heads off for her next appointment: to have her back seen to by Arsenal’s masseur. “All the footballers those hands have touched! Yum!” Emmerdale’s cake just got a whole lot richer.

Amanda Donohoe makes her Emmerdale debut on Thursday

[sallywebster]

Im looking forward to their arrival on Thursday.

Looking back at what I said in Sept and im still watching - Emmerdale has improved a bit since then.

[RitaLittlewood]

How much is a bit? LOL! Nothing about it interests me but I will watch the Jack one(s).

Patsy

[SharonHarvey2]

I cannot understand why they are bringing these two in??

I mean they could do nothing with the Kings or the De Souzas and they made a complete mess of them resulting in the De Souzas not even being in it now, so what is the point of these two??

The Kings had great potential when they arrived only for the writers to ruin them, so I cannot see what difference these two are going to make??

More affairs etc.

I shan't be watching.

[sallywebster]

Well its a lot more watchable and the storylines have improved now Patsy.

[RitaLittlewood]

I'm with Sharon. The Kings started off great then they ruined them. Ever since the Tates they've had to have posh rich people. All soaps are guilty of replacing a type with a type and it does become boring because they've done all these storylines before.

Patsy

[SharonHarvey2]

Jan 13, 2009 23:28:29 GMT RitaLittlewood said:

I'm with Sharon. The Kings started off great then they ruined them. Ever since the Tates they've had to have posh rich people. All soaps are guilty of replacing a type with a type and it does become boring because they've done all these storylines before.

Patsy

Thankyou Patsy, I agree with most of all you said if not all. The Kings had Great potential from the beginning but they ruined it all even with the same old storyline regarding Charity as well, then they killed them all of, and to insult our intelligence even more they bring in Scarlett with a story that is so far fetched its beyond belief

If they could not do anything with these rich families, LEAVE well alone, why bother bringing in another one?? If they insist on keeping one on, THEN do something with what you have got.

[RitaLittlewood]

That's exactly it, Sharon. It's all down to the storyliners and writers and they're clearly not doing their job so they get rid (or actors leave for one reason or another), bring in a new character similar then do the same for them. If they wrote properly for the ones already there then there wouldn't be any need for new casting. Couldn't they have created chavs who won the Euromillions or something and bought Home Farm? At least it would be different. But then after a while all they'd do is backstab and have affairs because it's ALL they can do these days.

Patsy

[sootycat]

I wonder if they are hoping this family will be the new 'Tates' ?