BBC have announced the premiere date for ‘The Casual Vacancy’ television series based on J.K.Rowling’s novel of the same name. It will air on BBC ONE on February 15th at 9PM.
The BBC TV adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s global bestseller The Casual Vacancy will begin on Sunday 15th February 2015 on BBC One, and will air in three one-hour episodes over consecutive Sundays.
The cast for the BBC and HBO mini-series includes Michael Gambon, Keeley Hawes, Rory Kinnear, Monica Dolan, Julia McKenzie, and Abigail Lawrie.
BAFTA Award winning actor Michael Gambon (“Quirke”, “The Singing Detective”) is set to play Howard Mollison, owner of the Pagford delicatessen, with Julia McKenzie (Notes on a Scandal, Shirley Valentine) playing his wife Shirley. Howard’s son Miles is being played by Rufus Jones (Bill, “W1A”) with his wife Samantha Mollison being played by Keeley Hawes (“Line of Duty”, “Ashes to Ashes”). Rory Kinnear (Skyfall, “Penny Dreadful”), who recently won the Olivier Award for Best Actor for his role as Iago in Nicholas Hytner’s production of Othello at the National Theatre, is to play Barry Fairbrother, Keeley Forsyth (“Coronation Street”, “Emmerdale”) is playing Terri Weedon with newcomer Abigail Lawrie cast as her daughter Krystal Weedon.
Monica Dolan (Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa, Sightseers), who won a BAFTA Award for her portrayal of Rose West in Julian Jarrold’s “Appropriate Adult”, will play Tess Wall with Simon McBurney (Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy, Last King of Scotland) playing her husband Colin Wall. Richard Glover (A Field in England, Sightseers) has been cast to play Simon Price alongside Marie Critchley (“In The Flesh”, “Emmerdale”) playing his wife Ruth Price. Michelle Austin (Secrets & Lies, Another Year) will play Kay Bawden.
A paperback edition designed to tie in with the miniseries of The Casual Vacancy is available now.
This morning, Bloomsbury have sent over 4 images from the upcoming illustrated edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, which we first reported on back in December 2013. Illustrated by Jim Kay, Kate Greenaway Medal winner, the images show four major characters from the Harry Potter books – Rubeus Hagrid, Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy and Ron Weasley. The photos can be viewed in high resolution in the gallery.
“To be given the opportunity to design the characters, the clothing, the architecture and landscapes to possibly the most expansive fantasy world in children’s literature, well let’s just say I’m extremely excited about it,” said Kay. “The story is everything, and so I want to bring what I can to really show the depth of Rowling’s stories, to their best.”
The book will be published globally on October 6th 2015 for £30. This will be the first fully illustrated edition of J.K. Rowling’s original Harry Potter novel. The hardback edition will include ribbon marker, head and tail bands, illustrated endpapers and artwork on every spread. Many of the original Harry Potter publishers around the globe will be joining the UK and the US in bringing this illustrated edition to life – and it is set to be the landmark publishing event of 2015.
For fans in the US, you can keep up with release information on this Amazon product page. Fans in the UK, use this Amazon page.
This morning, British Harry Potter publisher Bloomsbury has announced they will be releasing a new hardcover edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. You can pre-order the book for £22.50 on Bloomsbury’s website. This gift edition hardback, presented in a beautiful foiled cloth slipcase decorated with brand new line art by Jonny Duddle, is the perfect introduction to Harry Potter for new fans and a great item for those who already love Harry. The book will be released on February 5th.
This announcement comes as Bloomsbury is preparing for their “Harry Potter Book Night, ” which we reported on back in October. They have also released some new details on the book night, which can be read below:
• Major schools competition launch: We have just launched a major new competition for schools in the UK and Ireland, to win an illustration workshop with the new official HARRY POTTER illustrator Jonny Duddle PLUS a money-can’t-buy wall art. Plus, the winning child will get a hardback box set of the new editions of HARRY POTTER and a signed Jonny Duddle print. 6 runners-up will each win a paperback box set of books and a signed Jonny Duddle print.
How do you enter? In J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone, Ron shows Harry the cards that come inside packs of Chocolate Frogs. Bloomsbury wants YOU to create your own witch or wizard card for a school. To find out more visit harrypotterbooknight.com/schoolscompetition
• We have teamed up with First News who are offering a free edition of First News (30th January edition) to all UK schools who will be running a Harry Potter event on 5th February. This edition will include an exclusive 8-page Harry Potter pullout which would be great to have at your Happy Potter event.
• Schools can also take part in the action with a range of brand new discussion guides for the series, which outline ideas for discussion and other activities for use in the classroom or in a reading group.
This afternoon it was revealed that BBC One would be producing a TV series based on Robert Galbraith’s novel, The Cuckoo’s Calling. As we all know, Robert is a pseudonym for J.K. Rowling that was outed last year, which led to the heightened popularity of the novel (which was already a great seller.) Jo herself revealed the news on her Twitter account by saying:
My friend @RGalbraith‘s first novel is going to be a TV drama on @BBCOne. He’s very excited, but expressing it with characteristic silence.
This will be the second of Rowling’s books to be adapted for television. As we reported a couple years ago, BBC would also be producing a three part mini series for her first post-Potter novel, The Casual Vacancy. That will be aired some time next year.
Earlier this week, Pottermore announced that Christmas is coming early to the site with #PottermoreChristmas. Starting on December 12th, and for each day leading up to December 23rd, there will be new content made available on the site. These new tidbits will be released at 1pm GMT (8am EST). Many news outlets are reporting, incorrectly, that there will be 12 new stories. The site originally posted:
With wonderful writing by J.K. Rowling in Moments from Half-Blood Prince, shiny gold Galleons and even a new potion or two, make sure you don’t miss out – just visit pottermore.com and answer our rhyming riddles to unwrap a #PottermoreChristmas surprise every day.
But after the major news outlets (meaning not Potter fan sites) started getting the story wrong they decided to clarify by saying:
As true Potter fans worked out straight away, our 12 days of festive surprises and accompanying rhyming riddles refer to new potions and Moments in addition to several new entries by J.K. Rowling that will be posted on pottermore.com between 12th and 23rd December. Sorry to disappoint fans, but there will not be a set of 12 new short stories, one for each day of Christmas. Even Pottermore wouldn’t be that generous.
Little, Brown Book Group will be publishing a new book from J.K. Rowling in April 2015. The book is an illustrated edition of a speech she gave at Harvard University’s graduation ceremony back in 2008. Very Good Lives will be published in hardback e-book format on 14th April 2015 and will cost £9.99. Proceeds from the book will go to Rowling’s charity – Lumos.
Very Good Lives: The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination uses the speech Rowling made to graduating students at Harvard in 2008.
It will be illustrated by Joel Holland, with 90% of the proceeds from the sales of the book going to Lumos, Rowling’s charity which helps disadvantaged children. The remaining 10% will be donated to university-wide financial aid at Harvard University.
Little, Brown Book Group and Little, Brown & Company in the US are also making a donation to Lumos.
Harvard president Drew Gilpin Faust said: “I have heard and read many commencement speeches, none more moving and memorable than J K Rowling’s. Years after her visit to Harvard, people still talk about it—and still find inspiration in her singular evocation of the idea that living a meaningful life so often means daring to risk failure. What a powerful example she embodies, and what a remarkable gift her speech was, and is, for all of us privileged to hear it then—and to read it now.”
— 
