Birth Place: Aldershot, Hampshire, England, UK
Date Of Birth / Zodiac Sign: September 8, 1971 / Virgo
Profession: Actor
Hopefully, we are able to see Nativity in our theatres here in the U.S.
Damaris has been asked by E1 Entertainment to create official resources to help churches, schools and community groups make the most of Nativity! (UK release: 27th November, certificate U), a wonderful family film containing a clear presentation of an important part of the Bible story.
Interview: Martin Freeman, Actor
The Office made him famous, but there's a lot more to Martin Freeman than the avuncular Tim.
ALFRED Hitchcock once compared actors to cattle, but now they seem more like meat, portioned out as morsels for tabloids and reality shows. At best we're looking for hidden depths. At worst, we suspect that every star must have a guilty secret; all that power, money and spare time should give them opportunities for some Rococo quirks. Yet no-one can accuse Martin Freeman of being a lothario, a wildman or a raving egoist.
The greatest day-to-day hazards for British drama's most versatile Everyman is people shouting, "Oi, Tim!" as he passes, or garrulous strangers in pubs treating him like an old friend. This must be disconcerting, possibly even irritating but when he's asked, yet again, to pose for a quick picture today, he obliges without a fuss. "Actors are people who are doing a job they want to do, which isn't the case for many of the people who watch what we do," is his mantra. "We' are doing something we want and we get paid handsomely; why behave like an arsehole?"
Nor does Freeman have a dress-down disguise to hide behind when he's off-duty, such as a bit of facial hair or a hood. It's one reason he has had to give up travelling by Tube. In person, he's recognisable from 20 feet away: dark blonde, alert and with those familiar repetitive crunches in the pale, pensive space of his forehead. He also eschews casual scruffiness in favour of a modish, discreetly expensive knit top, sharply edged trousers and immaculate, highly polished shoes. Freeman is a fastidious dresser who drives his girlfriend mad by getting out the ironing board even when he is only going out to the shops.
The retro-styling goes deeper than his clothes: he doesn't drive and you won't find him on Twitter or Facebook because he doesn't like computers. He prefers his agent to send his scripts by post rather than e-mail. He has an extensive DVD library but his record collection is almost entirely vinyl and occupies many custom-built shelves in his Hertfordshire home, where he lives with long-time partner actress Amanda Abbington and their two young sons, aged three and one.
On the other hand, for an Everyman, he has some pretty trenchant views on some big topics. Inevitably, since his new film is called Nativity!, the conversation turns at one point to religion, and he affirms not only a belief in God but also impatience with a certain brand of complacent, reflexive atheism.
"When people have a go at organised religion, it's not necessarily people who have been reading Chomsky and come to this great idea by a lot of research," he says.
"A lot of it is laziness. Organised religion, organised anything, requires commitment and requires an engagement with something. A lot of the time, we don't want to commit. Of course, if you talk about the Spanish Inquisition, that's the bad end of organised religion. But organised means there's more than ten people involved, because it was an idea people liked. I don't see how you get round it."
Equal parts earnestness and ironist, on chat shows and in interviews Freeman is a man with his own mission to promote honesty and purge affectation. A recurrent theme is his appreciation of craft and competence: doing it right, getting the job done, part of a moral code that may be his bulwark against the upheavals of the actor's life. He was 27 when Tim and The Office made him a star. His parents split up when he was young and Freeman, the youngest of five children, lived with his father, Geoffrey, until he was ten, when his father died of a heart attack. He then moved back in with his mother, Philomena, and stepfather, James, who ran pubs.
Earlier this year he went a little deeper into his father's background for the genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are? beginning with his grandfather, who was known only to have died during the war, possibly at Dunkirk, maybe while making tea. "By the time it has got down to you, anything could have happened as far as the truth is concerned," he says. In the course of the show he found out that two of his great grandparents had been blind from an early age, and the grandfather had been killed by the Luftwaffe when they bombed retreating forces. A memorial in Hull has his name on it. The show was all the more moving for showing Freeman, initially politely interested but by this time rather affected, holding back the tears.
An artistic streak runs through Freeman's immediate family. His older brother, Tim, was in 1980s art-pop group Frazier Chorus; another brother, Jamie, is a musician and website designer; and his cousin, Ben Norris, is a stand-up comic. But as a child Freeman's interest seemed to lie in sport. Despite being asthmatic, prone to fainting and having recurrent hip problems, he was in the British national squash squad between nine and 14. "A contender," he agrees, "but never the best. And then I joined a theatre group and it was like coming home.
"There was very little drama and performance at my school, so I've never forgotten the people who did encourage me and I've thought whether it would be a good idea to even get in touch with them and just say thanks, because they really opened a door for me mentally and emotionally – that's really important."
After Teddington Youth Theatre and training at the Central School of Speech and Drama, he appeared in television dramas such as I Just Want To Kiss You, Men Only and sitcoms such as Black Books and World of Pub and is keen to point out that The Office did not pluck him from the dole queue.
"After I left drama school, I virtually hadn't stopped working for six years."
The problem that still dogs Freeman is that, to some people, he is still Tim-From-The-Office. "The Office is mostly what people recognise me from, and I'm only glad that it wasn't as a murderer in a soap that I became famous. But it's a bit disconcerting when you read about yourself in the newspaper and it says, 'This is what Tim did next', and people think I am going to be avuncular and jovial when they meet me because that's the way Tim was in The Office."
He has been asked this many times, but Freeman is polite and tolerant when questioned yet again about the chances of The Office returning after attracting an audience of 12 million with the two Christmas specials when they aired three years ago. "I think it would be a mistake," he says. "Unless you've got a fantastic reason for doing something, it always feels a little bit to me like a sign of failure or desperation. And no matter how much people think, 'Oh we want more,' I always think, 'You don't really.'" He might also point out that many of The Office workers are busy elsewhere now. Gervais and Merchant have just finished another film. Mackenzie Crook (Gareth) seems to be filling every movie gap for a hollow-eyed unfortunate.
And Freeman himself has had a full dance card, most notably recently with Micro Men, about the early bids for home-computer supremacy between Clive Sinclair (Alexander Armstrong) and Chris Curry (Freeman), directed by Scots filmmaker Saul Metzstein. It is ironic, given Freeman's technophobia. "I didn't think computers would take off," he agrees "But this was more about these two men and their rivalry. It's so easy and compulsory to laugh when you see Clive Sinclair being interviewed because he is a bizarre figure, but he kick-started a lot of stuff and I came away with an admiration."
There's also a more mainstream movie role in Swinging with the Finkelsteins, a rom-com with Mandy Moore, set for release next year, and at one point Freeman was linked to Doctor Who as a possible successor to David Tennant, before Matt Smith. "The points for it would have been that it would have been a laugh being Doctor Who, plus the money. But against that would have been being on jigsaw puzzles and lunch boxes."
Instead, it is his participation in Sherlock, an updated version of the Sherlock Holmes stories, that seems likely to tie up his availability for some time to come. Freeman plays a present-day, leather-jacketed Dr Watson, who returns from the war in Afghanistan war to accompany Benedict Cumberbatch's Holmes. The League Of Gentlemen's Mark Gatiss and Stephen Moffat, the Paisley writer who modernised Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde for James Nesbitt, are the writers.
Before that is Nativity!, a good-natured British comedy that stars Freeman as a burnt-out primary teacher who rashly pretends his class nativity play has attracted the attention of his ex-girlfriend, who happens to be a big-time Hollywood producer, forcing him to coax his class of seven-year-olds into Primary School Musical mode. Freeman previously worked with director Debbie Isitt on her film Confetti, a more adult story of couples competing for the most idiosyncratic wedding. Nativity! has the same basic premise that nobody is given a script beforehand. Because there isn't one. "I know very few people who have literally improvised a film from start to finish," Freeman says. "There is an outline of story but, literally, not a word of script. Hardly anyone does that. It's hard to do all that well, and be funny.
"Debbie had to keep reminding me it was a kids' film because I swear so much. It quickly became clear that I wouldn't have the patience to be a teacher in real life. I sometimes resorted to the high-pitch shouting I do as a dad at home, to control the kids who are playing members of my class in Nativity!. It didn't always work, which is why I have the utmost respect for anyone who wants to get in a room with 30-odd children and teach them. I wouldn't have the patience."
After working with her on Confetti, Peep Show's Robert Webb was caustic about the experience of working with Isitt. In the film he played a naturist, and shot scenes of full-frontal nudity in the belief that they would never be shown in the finished film. They were, and a furious Webb has vowed never to work with Isitt again. Freeman, on the other hand, was happy to return for Nativity!. "I like Debbie," he says simply. "I wouldn't have signed up for another weird, mad film unless I really enjoyed the company of the director. She's someone I can definitely handle for a couple of months; there are some people who are too mad in a bad way, but she's mad in a very good way.
"Sometimes she can be wilfully vague – 'Why haven't you said this?' 'Because you didn't tell me to do that.' She likes the uncertainty, and the fact that unexpected things happen that are maybe, hopefully, better than what she had in mind.
"But what I love about Nativity! is that it reminds you of watching your own children do stuff," he says, "and there is something undeniably emotional watching children, especially your children, do this kind of thing. There will be a lot of people in tears as soon as this starts. I was, because it's kids being kids and they're trying their best, and however that turns out I find it very moving."
That's as much home talk as you are likely to get out of Freeman, whose personal life is a gated community. He is knowing but, for all his affability, not telling. Get him on to the subject of music, however, and you should be prepared for long dissertations on the wonders of Paul McCartney, Paul Weller, the Specials or even Burt Bacharach, who he saw in concert recently. In his youth, Freeman was in several bands – not that he's a better actor than a musician, he says. "I'm happier to appreciate it rather than do it. The joy of playing a record was always important. And it still is.''
This year The Culture Show hired him to celebrate 50 years of Motown, during which he opened his fanboy soul to Martha Reeves and Smokey Robinson. Impassioned and obsessive, at one point he talked for five minutes about the changing record labels of the company, until finally catching himself in anorak mode. "Bored yet?" he inquired, cheerily. "All the women just switched off."
Freeman says he's not hectically ambitious, unlike his best friend Simon Pegg. There's no master plan to his career, no determination to alternate comedies with dramas, or to exclusively accept parts that run counter to expectations. That said, he was delighted when director Peter Greenaway asked him to play the artist Rembrandt in his film Nightwatching. "It's not the kind of thing that people usually offer," he says of playing the painter, who is naked in the film's opening scenes. "I get more lovelorn 30-something from Surrey than I get offered chances to play Dutch masters."
If Freeman doesn't like a script he won't audition for it, and he's always curious as to why someone wants him for a role. "I also want to know who else turned them down first. People can be quite reticent about telling you because they think it's going to damage your ego. But there's only ten people in the world, they always thought of someone else first. So I'm always interested in who they thought of before me."
In the case of Love Actually, Richard Curtis, a fan, wrote the role of a sex scene body double especially for Freeman, but Hugh Grant was the original choice for Arthur Dent in the movie version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Freeman doesn't have a problem with that. Nor does he struggle with offers that are too good to refuse. "Maybe if you're Tom Cruise that's more of a problem, but for most actors there are very few roles where you think, 'I have to do this.' And I'm a dad, so it does take a lot to get me out of the house."
Or out of the country. Freeman has appeared in US movies, most recently in Jake Paltrow's Good Night with Gwyneth Paltrow and Penelope Cruz, but he's not keen to follow Ricky Gervais or his Nativity! co-star Ashley Jensen, another Gervais alumnus, and relocate to America. "I would crawl over broken glass to work on something good wherever," he says. "And I've been out there to have focused meetings, but I never wanted to go over there and be waiting around by the pool, because any actor will tell you, you can do that here. And, whatever you want out of LA, your family might not want as well."
What he does like about Los Angeles is the relative lack of scrutiny. "It depends where I am in the States, but if I get recognised it's sometimes as Tim but it's often for Love Actually," he says. "Or just 'Martin Freeman' – which is progress, of a sort."
From The Office to Nativity!
Martin Freeman made his name in the The Office as the lovely Tim. Now he's playing another nice bloke in Nativity! So why is he so defensive about being typecast?
Martin Freeman is sitting opposite me in a London hotel, and he's being charming. He's already offered to fetch me some refreshments ("Well, if you were in my kitchen I'd get you a drink") and is responding to my questions with vigour, practically bouncing out of his chair as he talks.
We meet during his promotional tour for the film Nativity! It's billed as a "heartwarming and hilarious tale of the true meaning of Christmas" but don't worry – it's better than it sounds. Freeman plays Mr Maddens, a frustrated and frayed teacher at a bog-standard primary school who finds love, joy and personal redemption through directing the school nativity play. As you may expect, there are sing-along songs and cute children and real donkeys and – spoiler alert! – a happy ending, but it's also quite refreshingly odd and, at times, rather bleak; enjoyably downcast and care-worn.
Freeman is the best thing about the film – he's in virtually every scene and appealing in all of them, with his open, malleable face and its range of double-takes and popped-eye exasperation. The role is of a piece with the ones for which Freeman is most famous – decent, slightly lost, resolutely normal and nice. Although there is plenty of variety on his CV – including a serious education in acting (at the Central School of Speech and Drama), an early cameo as a petty thief in This Life, a deeply unpleasant sex offender in the Channel 4 drama Men Only and Rembrandt in the 2007 Peter Greenaway film Nightwatching – it's fair to say that it's the regular guys – Tim from The Office, Arthur Dent in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy – with which he seems to be most identified, leading me to idly wonder what makes him right for playing the everyman . . .
I'm sure you know that coldly dawning realisation when you've just said something wrong. It feels as though the temperature drops several degrees. He tries hard not to show how annoyed he is ("I know this is not what you're saying specifically . . .", "I know you're not levelling anything . . ." ), doesn't shout or swear (much – a near-miracle since he was once known for his unrestricted employment of expletives in interviews, a habit he's tried to knock on the head recently, because "even I hated reading it after a while"), but it's obvious the word "everyman" sounds like an insult. "It does, because I hear it all the time. I have to go, 'OK, I know this person isn't trying to piss me off . . .' "
Naturally it must be irritating that people assume he is those characters, who are all variations on life's losers. At 38, Freeman is far from that. He's successful, married (to fellow actor Amanda Abbington) and a father of two (not that he'll talk about any of that. "Mind your own business!" is his response to a question about whether his children are of nativity-play age themselves). If he was pigeonholed playing psychos, that would be one thing; but being known for playing the normal bloke in the middle of the action leaves him open to the accusation that he is always "just playing himself".
"Well, no I'm not," he retorts. "If you mean I look a bit like him and I sound a bit like him – yeah, that's because I'm playing him and it didn't say 'He's Somalian' on the script, otherwise I would have tried an accent. If the script says, 'Guy in his 30s, my generation, lives in England', what am I going to do? Start acting like I'm half-lizard? There's no point, because no one wants to see it."
Not that he thinks acting doesn't require application – "I certainly don't just turn up. If I make it look like that, that's because I'm good" – but he's scornful of the notion that tangible effort is what "proper" acting is made of. "I'm not interested in, 'What can I do to impress?' Well, play the role. I hate it when people show you what they're doing. No one wants to see the cogs. But very often that's what's lauded as great acting: 'Look at me working! Look at my false nose!'"
It might be easy to assume that Nativity! didn't stretch Freeman much as an actor, but in fact the film was not formally scripted and so a real challenge for him. "Improvising comedy, and furthering the story, and staying true to the character – that's a lot of balls to juggle," agrees Freeman. It is a technique he tried before on Confetti, the 2006 film made by Nativity!'s director, Debbie Isitt, and he was pleased to see he had improved: "I'm just literally better at not talking over people. Better at not swearing."
Being the person with whom the audience wants to identify is surely a boon – you can't be the leading man without it. Freeman acknowledges that it can be useful: "Some people like me, and you either have a thing that people want to follow or you don't." But his heart's not really in it. "You think, how do I get out of this? and the answer is I can't. Even if I think I don't want to do comedy for ages, if I read a script and it's really good, I want to do it." Besides, as he acknowledges, it's difficult to challenge the legacy of a breakthrough hit such as The Office and a character as loved as Tim: "I can't have another actor's career. It's done. Part of my thing is already set in motion and I'd be mad to begrudge it. But it can be frustrating."
On the making of The Office, Freeman says he had "as much fun as I'm ever likely to have again doing that show. I loved it. I laughed more than I have on any other job." Did they know they were on to a smash hit, right from the start? "No one knew it was going to do what it did, but we all thought it was good. I was dead proud of it from the moment I saw a rough cut."
I'm about to get on to the subject of Ashley Jensen – his co-star in Nativity! and another alumnus of the Ricky Gervais/Stephen Merchant fame academy (she played Maggie in Extras) – but somehow we're back on the subject of typecasting again. "It [being in a hit like The Office] has its strengths and weaknesses. [If it wasn't for its impact] there's no way people would say, 'Oh, this character is like that character [Tim].' Well, no it isn't! So that is a chore. And I don't want to have to feel defensive about it."
But clearly he does. He knows that he's one of the fortunate ones and that given our cultural antipathy to self-importance – we like our celebrities to just shut up and look grateful – even hinting at mild dissatisfaction runs the risk of coming off like towering hubris. But he can't help himself: every time the subject dies down, it flares back up again. In the end, all you can do is sit back and admire his energy.
Finally he pauses, takes a breath and laughs. "So, yeah, that's my very undefensive answer to being labelled an everyman. You clearly didn't hit a nerve there."
Martin Freeman: Child's Play
Nativity! is a new comedy from the mind of Debbie Isitt, made using a similar improvisational style, and some of the same cast members, as her previous film, the mock documentary Confetti. As the title suggests, this one has a festive theme, specifically focusing on a Christmas-hating primary school teacher played by Martin Freeman, who is tasked with turning around his school’s reputation for poor Christmas shows and putting on a spectacular Nativity. Freeman is no stranger to the world of improv comedy, having made his name in hit BBC series The Office, and worked previously with Isitt as one of Confetti’s ensemble cast. We spoke to him about the challenges of working with children, his thoughts on primary school teachers and the enduring appeal of the Nativity story
It’s interesting that there’s no screenplay credit for this film. How does it work – does Debbie explain what she wants or is it all completely improvised?
Yeah she does explain. This, probably more so than Confetti, was more explained and locked down. In Confetti, in the course of a scene if characters decided to take it in any direction, that’s where the scene and the story went, within reason. But with this it was more “you have to get from A to Z, saying this, we need to plot that, and at some point someone needs to say that”. Debbie likes the uncertainty, and I think she has enough respect for actors, as good a screenwriter as she is, and she likes to let unexpected things happen that may be, hopefully, better than what she would have had in mind.
So, is Nativity a British answer to the High School Musical phenomenon?
Well, it’s a fair question because there is an obvious comparison to be made there, but I think, with these children, it is a bit more accessible. It is a bit more – for want of a better word, in a film that’s got bloody live camels in a nativity play – real. Okay, it’s not Ken Loach, but you do see kids messing up, you do see kids failing. They haven’t all arrived like mini stars, you see the real experience of it being good or bad or whatever it is. You see the real charm.
How was it trying to hold your own against so many little scene-stealers?
I’m more than happy to have scenes stolen by them, because after all, whatever makes the film right, you know? And Debbie was adamant from the outset that not only did she want a child-friendly film, but she wanted very much a film that all the family could see, including young ones. As far as I’m concerned, the star of the film is the children, that group, and that’s the real overriding thing that you come away with. So fortunately in this case I was very happy to be gazumped.
Did making the film give you a newfound respect for primary teachers?
I’ve always had a great respect for anyone who wants to get in a room with thirty-odd children, and not kill them. It gave me more of an idea of how difficult it would be, certainly, but no, I’ve always had concrete respect for them. I don’t think I have the patience to be a primary school teacher. All the stuff at the start of the film where my character is not in love with the world and he’s grumpy; that wasn’t all acting. That was verité. And I’m a dad in real life, so I also drew a lot on my own experience as a dad to get those high-pitched shouts!
Did you put on an actual nativity play?
Yeah, we had to rehearse a lot more than you see in the finished film. We were there for hours and hours going through the choreography and the songs and everything. It was testing., and I definitely drew on my own abilities, or otherwise, to corral children. But I haven’t got thirty children; I’ve got less than that! So there’d be times when I’d be trying to appeal to the older ones, to sort of set a good example, which worked sometimes. And other times they would do what children are supposed to do, kind of arse about a bit.
As a parent, have you had many painful experiences watching awful school plays?
I do genuinely think there’s something about watching children doing almost anything that is forgivable, no matter how terrible or otherwise it should be. There’s something about the innocence of children trying their best, and not being that knowing, that’s quite charming really. It is one of the things that I really love about this film; it reminds you of watching your own children do stuff. And yes, normally there aren’t real camels at the Christmas play, but I think it still holds true, there is something undeniably emotional about watching children, your own especially, but any children I think. There’ll be a lot of people in bits as soon as this film starts. I was when I saw it, because it’s real; it’s not kids pretending to be kids, they’re really there trying their best, and however that turns out I find it very moving.
Would you encourage your own children into acting?
I wouldn’t actively encourage or discourage them from this life. Both me and my other half are actors and, while of course there are hard bits to it, it’s a good life and I’m thankful to it every day. But I think if you’re the children of actors you don’t need encouragement – you’ve got a bit of it in you. So I’m just gonna see where that goes with mine.
Would you consider following your Nativity co-star Ashley Jensen and moving to the US to work?
It’s interesting, Debbie definitely wanted someone for that role that looked, to a British audience, like they had ‘crossed over’ to America. So she wanted that parallel to be drawn with Ashley, quite clearly. Personally, I would crawl over broken glass to work on something good, wherever, but I never wanted to go over to the States and just wait around for work. As any actor will tell you, you can stay here and do that! I’ve worked in the States a couple of times, but I’ve got a family, and I have a responsibility I think, to not necessarily do that to them. You know, whatever you want out of LA, your family might not want that too.
What do you think is the continual appeal for retelling the Nativity story?
I think it’s a great tradition, and it’s great that it carries on. I really do think it’s the greatest story ever told, and this is just the first bit! I am a sucker for the whole story, and I’ll hear it any which way, because I’m endlessly fascinated by the myth and the truth, and every part of it. It’s a really, really good story, and I think that there are great truths in it: that great things happen to the smallest, tiniest person, and the least likely child or person ends up elevated to the highest status. If that’s not a great parable, or way to think about life, then I don’t know what is.
Interview: Martin Freeman on Jesus, redemption and religion
Actor Martin Freeman – star of Nativity! which opens in cinemas shortly – talks to Steve Goddard about the Christmas story
SG: With secular culture so prevalent, why is the school nativity play still so embedded in our culture?
MF: There's a reason why it's called the greatest story ever told. It's a really genuinely good story. Whether you believe in the ramifications of it or not, I think it's a beautiful story with a really beautiful start – the idea that the most humble is the most exalted. That's not a bad idea for me.
Is organised religion the bad end of that original story?
You know, sometimes I think when people have a go at organised religion, it's not necessarily people who have been reading Chomsky and come to this great idea by a lot of research. I've been looking into this and I think a lot of it is laziness. I think organized religion, organised anything, requires commitment and requires an engagement with something and a lot of time we don't want to commit.
Of course, if you talk about the Spanish Inquisition, that's probably the bad end of organised religion. But organised means there's more than 10 people involved, you know what I mean? There were more than 10 people involved because it was an idea people liked. I don't see how you get round it. Do you want disorganised religion? I think everything's got to be personal, anyway. Everything has to be your own personal relationship with something.
Much of the film revolves round the conflict between your character Mr Maddens – a frustrated, under-achieving, cynical primary school teacher and Mr Poppy, his child-like classroom assistant, played by Marc Wootton. Mr Poppy inspires and excites the children while your character calls them 'useless'. Perhaps an underlying theme in the film echoes what Jesus said: 'Unless you become as a little child – like Mr Poppy – you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven' - we become too burdened with life to enjoy it.
Yes, I guess there's a reason, I suppose, in film language as well. Who do we like? We like innocence and wide-eyed people. We join Maddens at the start of the film where he doesn't think anything is possible. He thinks he's useless. He thinks the kids are useless, so they're not up to the job. Mr Poppy, comes in like a bomb, planted in the classroom. He thinks everything is possible. He is definitely the extra child in the room.
There is another interesting parallel with the biblical narrative. Your character, reluctantly, takes these 'useless' kids and turns them into crack troops. Jesus and the disciples?
hadn't seen it like that, but the reason for me that any of that stuff, the religiosity, has validity is that there some quite good ideas and some quite good things to give to people – like the idea of redemption; the idea that we can turn something around. We don't even see those things in religious terms. They are human things, they are part of our language and our culture.
If we are watching films who do we get behind? The underdog. What the flip was Jesus if he wasn't an underdog, born in a bleedin' manger, you know what I mean? I've always loved the story because of that. Because whether you believe or not, that is a more succinct lesson about how we should be looking at the world than anything else. The trouble is we stop looking at the world like that when we take it out of that context. We don't then look at a homeless person and think 'what can I do for you?' We think he must deserve it in some way. It's hard to take out those parallels from something specific and put them into the wider world.
Myra Angelo said a great thing. She said that when people say "I'm a Christian" I say "What, already? How have you managed that?" It's the hardest thing in the world to be. How did you manage that? Tell me the secret because if you really apply that to the world, that's a tough gig, man. That's a really tough gig.
Nativity! opens in cinemas nationwide on 27 November.
Specially recorded interviews are among a range of free resources for schools and churches in connection with the new film. Set in Coventry, the story centres round two primary schools (one Catholic state, one private) vying to stage the best nativity play in town. Nativity! gently explores themes of redemption, reconciliation and the deeper meaning of the season.
"If you are planning to take family, friends or even a school group to a pantomime this Christmas you should consider seeing Nativity! instead," said Nick Pollard of the Damaris Trust. "Instead of putting up with cheap sexual innuendos, you can laugh and cry at one of the most engaging and heartwarming films of the year with some excellent themes to discuss and explore."
Damaris are making available clips from the film with ideas for school assemblies and church services. Visit http://www.damaris.org/nativity
The Press Association: Martin Freeman outnumbered by kids
(UKPA) - Martin Freeman has said it was difficult working with so many children on his latest film Nativity.
Martin, 38, stars in the new improvised British comedy film about the trials and tribulations of the humble school nativity play.
He said: "The children were largely brilliant, occasionally difficult just because they're children and they way outnumbered me."
Nativity features a cast of furry extras with animals crowding the traditional stable scene. And remembering the old adage never to work with children and animals, Martin reckons he was lucky his scenes did not feature too many sheep.
He said: "The animals, fortunately I didn't have too much to do with. That probably would have been the toughest bit."
The Office star, who plays a frustrated primary school teacher, paid tribute to his co-star British comedian Marc Wootton, but confessed he was quite a handful on set.
"I think the children combined with Mark Wootton, that's the real clincher," he said. "He's like a big child, he's like another species, Mark."
Like Martin, Nativity also features another British star who received her first big break in a Ricky Gervais comedy. Extras and Ugly Betty star Ashley Jensen plays a Hollywood producer in this largely improvised film, and Martin reckons she was a joy to work with.
He said: "She was easy, really easy. People always say 'Has she gone all Hollywood?'. I wouldn't know because I didn't know her from before really, but really she's everything you would hope, she's normal, whatever British people think normal is."
The film also stars Alan Carr and Ricky Tomlinson.
Martin Freeman has said working with Ricky Gervais was perfect training for handling a classroom full of kids in his new film
The Office star plays a heartbroken teacher, desperately trying to create the greatest school play ever in the comedy Nativity, which was largely improvised by the cast.
"After Ricky anything's a walk in the park," joked Freeman. "I think some days they actually assumed I was a teacher.
"There was a real blur between fiction and reality for them because if you are five or six, anything could be going on in your mind. And you're making a film, which is already alien."
Freeman worked with director Debbie Isitt on her previous film Confetti. Although aimed at a slightly older audience, it worked along the same basic premise that nobody in the cast was given a script. In fact, there wasn't one.
"This could have really gone wrong," laughs Freeman. "It seems madness but this is part of the reason I wanted to do it.
"It's very easy to be be bad when you improvise because you talk over each other, you don't listen and I swear too much. Debbie had to keep reminding me it was a kids' film."
Ah yes, the kids. Aside from a surprise appearance from comedian Alan Carr, it is naturally the younger cast members who steal the show in Nativity.
All around eight years old, most of them had never stood in front of a movie camera before. Though they evidently enjoyed the experience of working with Freeman.
"He was a good leader," says Bernard Mensah, whose character TJ gets to dangle from a high wire as the Angel Gabriel. "He said just be yourself and just act like you are in school."
"It was fun," smiles Ben Wilby, who steals the show as the cheeky Bob. "He's a nice gentleman and he gave us some acting tips, and then you are allowed to be wild."
So who else, aside from Freeman obviously, does Ben look up to in the acting world? I'm presuming he's a little young to say De Niro, Pacino or Brando?
"Will Smith, Zac Efron or David Tennant," he belts out excitedly, before giving one final, cheeky parting shot.
"It's time for Zac Efron to move over. He's getting older and he's losing his looks. Who is taking his place? Me!"
New take on the old story
Martin Freeman is camera-shy. The impish actor is standing awkwardly in an old- fashioned hotel library flashing a non-smile towards a photographer.
"I wish I had that talent of being able to accept a photograph being taken," he says apologetically.
Almost 10 years since the role of Tim Canterbury in The Office made him famous, Martin still doesn't behave like a celebrity. You'll never catch him being papped at a nightclub or parading his two children in Hello! magazine.
"I don't like it when I see people do it. I don't think they should be put in prison or anything, I just think that it's not for me because I've never wanted to trade on anything else other than the work. I'd rather be at home."
SPOTLIGHT
Whether he likes it or not, Martin is now firmly back in the spotlight promoting Nativity!, his new film.
He plays frustrated actor- turned-primary teacher Mr Maddens, who is tasked with putting on the nativity play and beating the rival posh independent school to a five-star review in the local paper.
But, having been dumped by girlfriend Jennifer (Ashley Jensen) five years ago, Maddens hates Christmas. Struggling to cope with the nativity task, he accidentally boasts to his rival that his ex-girlfriend, now a hotshot producer in LA, is coming over to film the nativity play.
Ignoring the adage about never working with children and animals, Martin threw himself into the film, which is partially improvised and was conceived and directed by Debbie Isitt.
"I loved the idea. I'd worked with Debbie before on Confetti and we had a meeting back in December 2007 about her next idea -- she just described the outline of my character and his journey, and I was hooked."
Martin enjoyed the freedom of being able to improvise.
"Debbie's general MO would be, 'We need to get from this point to this point by the end of the scene -- away you go.' How you get there is down to you, but you have to hit certain landmarks along the way. I think Debbie likes the uncertainty of what can happen in a moment."
With more than 30 kids in most scenes there was plenty of uncertainty -- and Martin is convinced some of the children didn't even know he was an actor.
"For grown-ups it's easier to understand we've got other names that we call each other, but some of the younger children weren't sure if I was an actor or if I was their teacher. Some of them thought of me as Mr Maddens."
It's impossible not to ask Martin whether he ever starred in his own school nativity play as a child, but he insists he can't remember ever being in one.
"I was at a Catholic school so there would have been nativities happening. I remember a lot of Christmas stuff, a lot of mass and jollity, but I don't remember being in a nativity."
His own children are still too young to play Mary and Joseph -- Martin politely declines to give their names and ages -- but he's very keen to bring them up knowing the nativity story.
"Regardless of whether you're a believer and whether you dig it or not, this culture is where we come from, so it's just good to know stuff."
SCHOOL
Martin grew up in the suburbs of London and attended the Central School of Speech and Drama. His acting career began on the stage, and he had roles in The Bill and This Life before The Office changed everything.
But he's adamant that there should never be a reunion of the award-winning sitcom, which ran for only two series.
"I think it would be a mistake, and I trust Ricky and Steve [Merchant] not to have to go back. Unless you've got a fantastic reason for doing something it always feels a bit like an admission of failure or desperation to me."
Nativity! is released in cinemas on Friday November 27.
Actor Martin Freeman's back in snow business with another Yuletide flick
HE starred in one of Britain's favourite Christmas movies.
He was part of one of the most acclaimed festive TV specials ever screened.
And in real life Martin Freeman really is a fully-paid up member of the Christmas fan club.
The 38-year-old, who starred in blockbuster film Love Actually and The Office's festive send-off on BBC, said: "I adore Christmas. I still love it as much as I ever did when I was a child.
"I don't see what there is not to like about Christmas."
It's just as well because Martin is back in the festive spirit on the big screen this year in comedy movie Nativity!
The heart-warming story about two primary schools staging rival Nativity plays, also featuring Scots star Ashley Jensen and funnyman Alan Carr, could have been a real test of Martin's sense of goodwill to all.
The dad of two spent a lot of time competing with very talented youngsters. But he got a kick out of it.
He said: "I was more than happy to have a scene stolen by these kids.
"As far as I was concerned, the children were the stars of this film."
He also admits it was an emotional experience when he watched Nativity! for the first time. "I was in bits. I found it very moving," he said.
"I really do think the Nativity is the greatest story ever told. I'm a sucker for it and will hear it any which way. I am fascinated by every part of it."
In Nativity! Martin plays a teacher who has turned into a bit of a Scrooge because he associates Christmas with being dumped by his girlfriend, who then shot off to the bright lights of Los Angeles.
But in real life the star, whose films include Confetti and The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, is full of all the joys of the season and always has been.
"At school, I remember being very excited once December came round," he said. "It was a lovely thing. We would do festive things and there would be a lot of emphasis on the meaning of Christmas.
"Of course, I also loved the giving and getting bit."
The only part of the festive season that doesn't interest Martin is the turkey dinner - he's a vegetarian.
He said: "I am pescetarian really because I eat fish but not meat.
"But the Christmas meal is no problem. I often have fish or a total veggie thing. I don't know yet what we are having at Christmas. I'll let that be a surprise.
"I have no desire eat meat. I remember I used to quite like the taste. Then when I was 14, I stopped eating it."
Martin, who lives in Hertfordshire with actress Amanda Abbington and their two children, likes to maintain festive traditions from his childhood.
He said: "My mum always thought it was dreadful that Christmas stuff was being advertised in September or October. So guess I still have that feeling in me," he said.
"Nowadays we put the tree up fairly late. I loved Christmas in my home and a tradition I have carried on is opening one present in the morning before the meal and the rest afterwards.
"So you don't just come down and rip open all the gifts."
He was brought up in Aldershot the youngest of five, with three older brothers and an elder sister.
"I guess it wasn't easy for my folks," he said. "But we didn't believe that just because it was Christmas you were entitled to lots of stuff.
"I suppose that goes against the idea that it's Christmas so we are entitled to gorge ourselves or have to take out a second mortgage to pay for everything."
Although he has a sensible attitude towards Christmas being over commercialised, Martin is no holy Willie.
He said: "I am not trying to pretend that at Christmas I will be sitting reading from the Book of Luke by a candle - because I love buying presents.
"It's so nice to bring a bit of happiness to others and I find it quite easy to buy something for my other half.
"Of course, it could be that for all these years I have been getting it wrong and she actually hates my presents."
He laughs when I wonder whether he's ever had to use his acting skills to give the impression he adored a present that he actually loathed.
"I am sure I must have done," admitted Martin. "But unless someone bought me Mein Kampf, I don't think I would ever loath a gift."
Martin confesses that he can get very emotional and finds it hard to hide it.
"I cry at RSPCA commercials on the telly," he said. "I think you just have to let it go."
So it's no surprise to discover that as a schoolboy he was deeply affected by a festive visit to the cinema.
He revealed: "I saw ET and it made me cry for weeks. I was almost too moved.
"I think I was paralysed with emotion. I thought about it for weeks.
"The last time I saw it on telly I cried. I was watching with my three year-old son Joe, who had never seen it before. He couldn't take his eyes off it. It was moving seeing it through his eyes."
Christmas music is also high on the list of things Martin enjoys. "I like carols like Once In Royal David's City or Silent Night, which are so beautiful," he said.
"I also like Little Drummer Boy by David Bowie and Bing Crosby. I find that very moving. There is a lot of stuff like that that brings a tear to my eye.
"I know it's boring but I like John And Yoko's Merry Xmas (War Is Over). That really means something to me."
Nativity! is in cinemas from November 27.
Chris Curry is played by Office star Martin Freeman, who admitted the digital revolution largely passed him by. "I'm not interested in computers at all," he said. "I do [have one], under duress, but I didn't think they'd take off! I honest to God didn't. But this isn't about computers, it's about these two men and the relationship between them and their hopes and dreams shattered on the way.
"I came away with an admiration. It's so easy and compulsory to laugh when you see [Sinclair] being interviewed because he is a bizarre figure, it's fair to say. I don't know whether he was a genius, but he was pretty close to it on both an inventing and marketing level. He kick-started a lot of stuff."
Martin Freeman and Mandy Moore in city filming
ACTRESS Mandy Moore cooled off after plunging into the River Cam while punting with The Office star Martin Freeman.
And Mr Freeman, who played Arthur Dent in the film version of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, really did need a towel during his travels.
The pair are in the city to shoot romantic comedy Swinging with the Finkels.
But it was more a case of falling with the Finkels when they went punting along the Backs yesterday (Thursday, 27 August) afternoon.
The pair play husband and wife in the indie film, which also features Jonathan Silverman and Melissa George, as another married couple, and Jerry Stiller.
Their characters first meet while students at Cambridge University.
Writer-director Jonathan Newman developed the movie from his short film Sex With the Finkels, which debuted on the website Filmaka.
A spokeswoman for the movie said: "We have been filming in a few different locations in Cambridge for the last couple of days. It's a rom.com The couple first meet while they studying at Cambridge University and the film develops from there and covers the rest of their lives.
"Some of the scenes are being shot in the city. They are punting on the river and one of the stars falls in. We chose Cambridge because it is so beautiful and quintessentially English. The actors have had a really great time filming here."
The film company has been recruiting extras in Cambridge to take part in the movie playing students.
Madingley Road park and ride has been used as the base of operations for the film crews and technicians.
Mr Freeman didn't have far to come - he lives in Hertfordshire.
Pair reunites for 'Finkels'
Martin Freeman and Mandy Moore, who appeared in the 2007 feature "Dedication," are reteaming for the romantic comedy "Swinging With the Finkels," which began production Wednesday in the U.K.
The pair will play husband and wife in the film, which also features Jonathan Silverman and Melissa George, playing another married couple, and Jerry Stiller.
Writer-director Jonathan Newman developed the feature from his short film "Sex With the Finkels," which debuted on the Web site Filmaka.
"Finkels" is being produced by Kintop Pictures/Reliance and Starlight Films in association with Urban Island and Filmaka. Filmaka co-founder Deepak Nayar and Rosanne Milliken are producing. Thomas Augsberger, Philip von Alvensleben, Albert Klychak and David Mutch are exec producing.
Foreign sales will be handled by Simon Crowe's SC Films International.
Freeman, repped by UTA and Creative Artists Management, next appears in the British feature "Nativity." Moore, who released the album "Amanda Leigh" this year, is repped by UTA and Storefront.
On another rumor front, Martin Freeman, seems to have an open schedule and although not as well known as McAvoy, he has also been linked to the production. He was working on several 2009 film projects but all are completed or in post production, leaving the actor a little time to move to New Zealand and get involved in one of the most anticipated film adaptations ever. He has recently worked on the role of Dr. Watson in a television series.
Freeman draws 6m to BBC1
The final instalment in the current series of Who Do You Think You Are? featuring actor Martin Freeman pulled in 6 million viewers for BBC1 last night, commanding a 27.9% share.
Martin Freeman as modern Dr. Watson
Martin Freeman is playing Sherlock Holmes' sidekick Dr Watson in a new TV series of the detective stories - and he's determined to breathe new life into the role.
The Office actor, 37, stars in an adaptation which moves the action from the Victorian streets to modern-day England.
But Martin said he didn't want to take too much notice of the likes of Nigel Stock, David Burke and Raymond Francis who have portrayed Dr Watson in the past.
"I think you can get into a lot of trouble if you try to hang your hat too much on what other people have done," he said.
"It's just not your job. Those people haven't done this script. We're not playing the novels, we're not playing the films, we're doing this script by Stephen Moffat and Mark Gatiss.
"To know about the other stuff is interesting and helpful, but we can't play that. All we can do is this. I'm just treating it like it's a new script and no one's ever heard of it before. That's hard, because you have to say 'Mr Holmes' and things, and when that comes out of your mouth, you hear 120 years of history right there."
Life outside The Office for Martin Freeman
DESPITE his near-constant presence on our screens since appearing in The Office, no one knows much about 37-year-old Martin Freeman. Including the actor himself.
After finding fame in 2001 playing Tim Canterbury, The Office’s sarcastic yet loveable dose of normality, Freeman has been in programmes such as The Robinsons, Boy Meets Girl and big-screen offerings Love Actually and Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy.
Yet it’s taken BBC genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are? to separate fact from fiction and find out the true story behind the actor.
In his episode, the last in the current series, Freeman researches his family tree, particularly his paternal side.
There are many blanks in that half of his family’s history, he explains. His dad died when he was 10 years old and his parents divorced some time before that.
“I’ve been interested in discovering more about my heritage for a few years now,” says Martin.
“There were certain things in my family history I had some idea about, but I wanted to discover more and see if they were true or false.
“I’ve always been interested in history in the broader sense as well, so I thought ‘Why not apply that to myself?’”
It’s not the first time one of the Freemans has tried to trace their family tree.
“A member of my family had a go once. It’s really difficult to do, and the problem is, you end up with a kind of theory or a half truth. People then end up falling in love with that theory, but the difficulty comes when it’s not necessarily the truth. It’s good to let an expert, do it for you.”
To begin, Martin started with his grandfather, Leonard Freeman, hoping to discover if there was any truth in the family story that he was shot while making a cup of tea at Dunkirk.
“I hoped we would cover my grandparents, and from watching the show previously I knew it was possible to find out about great-grandparents and even further in some cases,” says Martin.
“In my episode, we go back as far as my great-grandparents, Richard and Ada, and that was enough for me as I felt I had information.
“I was very surprised to find out they were both blind. That was a big surprise. I didn’t realise anyone in my family had been blind, let alone both of my great-grandparents.”
The shocks didn’t stop there.
During the research, Martin discovers six of his great-grandparents’ 12 children had died. Convinced their deaths couldn’t be explained by the era’s infant mortality rates, Martin visited a paediatric consultant to get his take on the children’s death certificates. As the story takes an unpredictable turn, he discovers a dark and hidden chapter of social history.
“I don’t think anyone looks into their family tree and expects it to come up smelling of roses,” he adds. “I found people who I was very impressed with for overcoming issues in their lives and had shown tremendous strength of spirit and character. That all made me very proud.
“I might do more research in the future, but at the moment I am just letting it all sink in and adjusting to the reality of what I found out. It has given me a great back-story to my dad’s side of the family. In the course of two weeks, I went from knowing virtually nothing about my family history to knowing a lot.”
Finding two weeks for such a project wasn’t easy for the 37-year-old. He’s been busy filming a Sherlock Holmes TV series, due on our screens early next year.
Martin plays Dr Watson in an adaptation which moves the action from the Victorian streets to modern-day England.
In the original Conan Doyle novels, Watson was a doctor returning from war in Afghanistan, a fact which will be used to ground the forthcoming tales in reality, and appease ardent fans of the classic tales.
As for doffing his cap to past actors who have played Holmes’ dependable sidekick, Martin is full of respect, but says you can’t take too much notice of the likes of Nigel Stock, David Burke and Raymond Francis who have portrayed him in the past.
“I think you can get into a lot of trouble if you try to hang your hat too much on what other people have done,” he offers.
“It’s just not your job. Those people haven’t done this script. We’re not playing the novels, we’re not playing the films, we’re doing this script by Stephen Moffat and Mark Gatiss.
“To know about the other stuff is interesting and helpful, but we can’t play that. All we can do is this. I’m just treating it like it’s a new script and no-one’s ever heard of it before. That’s hard, because you have to say ‘Mr Holmes’ and things, and when that comes out of your mouth, you hear 120 years of history right there.
“Since getting the part, I am reading the books,” he says. “I’m fast learning Benedict Cumberbatch is perfectly cast as Holmes.
“He has a really strong and assured way with language, and he’s quick and able to play quick thinkers as a result, people who are mercurial.
“It’s a real gift he’s got as an actor, and I know he’s only acting, but you can’t have someone who’s slow in real life playing Sherlock Holmes.
“He’s the greatest detective ever.”
Martin’s episode of Who Do You Think You Are? is on BBC One on Wednesday at 9pm.
Stars come out for BBC2's Office night
BBC2 will dedicate an entire evening to airing the first series of The Office later this month, including new footage of Ricky Gervais and the team talking about its impact alongside comedy stars such as Friends’ Matthew Perry and Spinal Tap’s Christopher Guest.
The tribute night, scheduled for 30 August, will feature the full 6 x 30-minute run with an introduction and 10-minute inserts between the episodes.
Key cast member such as Gervais, Stephen Merchant, Mackenzie Crook, Lucy Davis and Martin Freeman will all appear to reflect on the show, as will comedy peers such as David Baddiel and Richard Curtis.
Additional original content has also been made for the BBC comedy website, which will appear online to coincide with the TV event.
The BBC is also understood to be planning a similar treatment for Gervais’s second series, Extras, although no plans are confirmed.
Dark tale of hidden history
Despite his near-constant presence on our screens since appearing in The Office, no one knows much about 37-year-old Martin Freeman. Including the actor himself.
After finding fame in 2001 playing Tim Canterbury, The Office's sarcastic yet loveable dose of normality, Freeman has been in programmes such as The Robinsons, Boy Meets Girl and big-screen offerings Love Actually and Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.
It's taken BBC genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are? to separate fact from fiction and find out the true story behind the actor, from Aldershot, Hampshire.
In the last in the current series, Freeman researches his family tree, particularly his paternal side. There are many blanks in that half of his family's history, he explains. His dad died when he was 10 years old and his parents divorced some time before that.
"I've been interested in discovering more about my heritage for a few years now," says Freeman. "There were certain things in my family history I had some idea about, but I wanted to discover more and see if they were true.
THEORY
"I've always been interested in history in the broader sense as well, so I thought 'Why not apply that to myself?"'
It's not the first time one of the Freemans has tried to trace their family tree.
"A member of my family had a go once. It's really difficult to do, and the problem is, you end up with a kind of theory or a half truth. People then end up falling in love with that theory, but the difficulty comes when it's not necessarily the truth. It's good to let someone else, an expert, do it for you."
To begin, Freeman started with his grandfather, Leonard Freeman, hoping to discover if there was any truth in the family story that he was shot while making a cup of tea at Dunkirk.
"I hoped we would cover my grandparents, and, from watching the show previously, I knew it was possible to find out about great-grandparents and even further in some cases," says Freeman.
"In my episode, we go back as far as my great-grandparents, Richard and Ada, and that was enough for me.
"I was very surprised to find out they were both blind. That was a big surprise. I didn't realise anyone in my family had been blind, let alone both of my great-grandparents."
The shocks didn't stop there.
During the research, Freeman discovered six of his great-grandparents' 12 children had died. Convinced their deaths couldn't be explained by the era's infant mortality rates, Freeman visited a pediatric consultant to get his take on the children's death certificates. As the story takes an unpredictable turn, he discovers a dark and hidden chapter of social history.
"I don't think anyone looks into their family tree and expects it to come up smelling of roses," he adds. "I found people who I was very impressed with for overcoming issues in their lives and showing tremendous strength of spirit and character. That all made me very proud.
ADJUSTMENT
"I might do more research in the future, but at the moment I am just letting it all sink in and adjusting to the reality of what I found out. It has given me a great back-story to my dad's side of the family."
Finding two weeks for such a project wasn't easy for the 37-year-old. He's been busy filming a Sherlock Holmes TV series, due on our screens next year.
Freeman plays Dr Watson in an adaptation which moves the action from the Victorian streets to modern-day England.
In the original Conan Doyle novels, Watson was a doctor returning from war in Afghanistan, a fact which will be used to ground the forthcoming tales in reality.
New BBC comedy celebrates 'Syntax Era'
The BBC is set to broadcast a new comedy celebrating the classic years of British computing in the 1980s.
The superbly-named Syntax Era is set to feature Martin Freeman of The Office and Hot Fuzz and Alexander Armstrong of Armstrong & Miller and Mutual Friends fame playing Sir Clive Sinclair.
Syntax Era is only the working title for now, but we hope that they don't change it, as it is spot on!
Race for computer supremacy:
"Syntax Era provides an affectionately comic account of the 1980s race for home computer supremacy," reads the BBC's release.
"The drama documents the lengthy rivalry between maverick visionary Sir Clive Sinclair (Armstrong) and his former colleague Chris Curry (Freeman) as they go head to head to achieve domination of the growing home computer market."
"Those of us that lived through the eighties will remember the sense of excitement when gadgets and technology started to appear in our homes," says Controller of BBC Four, Richard Klein.
"But not many of us will know the fascinating stories behind their arrival. Alexander Armstrong and Martin Freeman are excellent choices to portray Sir Clive Sinclair and Chris Curry at a time when battling to have the UK's most loved home computer was their number one priority."
Archive footage from Newsround:
The 90-minute drama was written by Tony Saint and uses archive footage from the likes of John Craven's Newsround "to help illustrate the buzz around Sinclair and Curry's inventions."
If you have fond memories of Sinclair's ZX Spectrum, Curry's BBC Micro or of nearly being killed by a lorry while testing out a Sinclair C5 then this is a TV comedy drama to look forward to.
Stay tuned for more from the writers, cast and producers of the BBC's Syntax Era on TechRadar in the coming weeks
Alexander Armstrong signs up for BBC's Sinclair ZX Spectrum drama
LONDON - The BBC is producing a comedy drama about the race to create a British home computer, which resulted in the creation of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum.
The 90-minute programme, which is being produced under the working title 'Syntax Era', will star Martin Freeman, famous for playing Tim in 'The Office' and Alexander Armstrong, one half of the comedy act Armstrong & Miller. It is being made for BBC Four.
It tells the story of the 1980s race for home computer supremacy between Sir Clive Sinclair, played by Armstrong, and Chris Curry, his former colleague, played by Freeman.
The production will use real life clips, including coverage of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum on John Craven's Newsround, as well as archive footage of the BBC Micro computer, Curry's triumphant model, and the Sinclair C5 vehicle -- an invention that has become a byword for for bad design.
The Sinclair brand was eventually bought by Amstrad in 1986 -- Amstrad being the company founded by Sir Alan Sugar, star of BBC One's 'The Apprentice'.
Richard Klein, controller of BBC Four, said: "Those of us that lived through the 80s will remember the sense of excitement when gadgets and technology started to appear in our homes, but not many of us will know the fascinating stories behind their arrival.
"Alexander Armstrong and Martin Freeman are excellent choices to portray Sir Clive Sinclair and Chris Curry at a time when battling to have the UK's most loved home computer was their number one priority."
The script is by Tony Saint and it is directed by Saul Metzstein.
New BBC drama covers 80s home computer battle
The BBC is plotting a new one-off, film-length drama that will make for fascinating viewing for retro-gaming and computer fans.
Due to be shown on BBC Four, "Syntax Era" is said to "provide an affectionately comic account of the Eighties race for home computer supremacy".
The drama documents the rivalry between Sir Clive Sinclair, who will be played by Alexander Armstrong (Armstrong & Miller) and his former colleague, Martin Freeman's Chris Curry, as they go head to head in the growing home computer market.
"Those of us that lived through the Eighties will remember the sense of excitement when gadgets and technology started to appear in our homes, but not many of us will know the fascinating stories behind their arrival", said Richard Klein, controller of BBC Four.
The Beeb promises classic clips within the drama from programmes including John Craven's Newsround.
Sinclair Spectrum V Micro drama for BBC4
During the 1980’s there was a battle of the computer makers which influenced the decision making during that time.
This is going to be the basis of a new ninety minute drama made for the satellite and digital channel, BBC4.
The drama comedy will follow the exploits of the people behind the ZX Spectrum and the BBC Micro.
These early PCs laid the seeds of computing, but behind the scenes, an argument raged.
The story is based on two men, Clive Sinclair and Chris Curry, who started off as friends and ended up bitter rivals fighting for computer supremacy in the UK.
The main roles will be played by Martin Freeman (Chris Curry) and Alexander Armstrong (Clive Sinclair) and the drama will use archive footage to show what things were like in those early days.
It looks as if this could be a really interesting drama covering the early days of hi-tech.
BBC Introduces Retro Computer Show, Syntax Era
The BBC is planning to broadcast a comedy show on how the race for a British home computer gained hype in the eighties, which eventually led to the creation of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum.
The 90-minute comedy show, named “Syntax Era”, is in production and is expected to broadcast on UK TV sometime around later this year. The show will be aired on BBC Four, and will have the popular 'The Office' star Martin Freeman, along with Alexander Armstrong from the famous comedy act Armstrong and Miller.
The programme will show race for domination in British home computer between Sir Clive Sinclair, being played by Alexander Armstrong, and his former colleague Chris Curry, played by Freeman.
Authored by Tony Saint, the production of the comic drama will use real-life clips, including Newsround's coverage of Sinclair ZX Spectrum, in addition to archive footage on BBC Micro computer, the Sinclair C5 vehicle, and the triumphant model of Chris Curry.
Commenting upon the significance of the show in exposing the stories behind the arrival of computer technology, BBC Four's controller Richard Klein said, “Those of us that lived through the 80s will remember the sense of excitement when gadgets and technology started to appear in our homes, but not many of us will know the fascinating stories behind their arrival.”
Boy Meets Girl heads to Oz
ITV Global Entertainment has sold more than 40 hours of scripted content to public broadcaster ABC in Australia, including ITV1 comedy Boy Meets Girl.
The deal was negotiated through ITV Global’s Australian office and will see the titles airing on both ABC1 and ABC2 later this year.
The deal includes series five of mystery drama Blue Murder (6 x 60-minutes), which stars Caroline Quentin, and classic sketch show Jeeves and Wooster (23 x 60-minutes).
Period drama Hornblower (8 x 120-minutes) is also included in the deal.
Marena Manzoufas, head of programming at ABC Television said: Earlier this year we premiered ITV’s hugely popular Lost in Austen and the latest instalments of Agatha Christie’s Poirot and we are currently showing Agatha Christie’s Marple, so we’re looking forward to bringing more of the best UK drama to our millions of viewers.”
Martin Freeman-fronted comedy Boy Meets Girl (4 x 60-minutes) was produced by ITV Studios and aired on ITV1 in May this year.
Boy Meets Girl - Strangers in strange skins
Martin Freeman and Rachael Stirling exchange genders in a new ITV comedy. They tell James Rampton how difficult they found it to swap high heels and belch without shame.
Martin Freeman had no hesitation in accepting the role of Danny in Boy Meets Girl, an engaging new gender-swap comedy drama for ITV1. He explains why. "It's something a bit different. I've never played a woman trapped in a man's body before." He pauses. "Except at home, of course!"
Rachael Stirling, who plays Veronica, the woman with whom Danny exchanges bodies, was equally eager to take on the role. "I've done five parts already about how the question of gender defines us," she declares. "In The Theatre of Blood, for instance, I wore a penis made of lentils" – as you do – "while in Tipping the Velvet, I had to pretend to be a boy. I reckon I'm the most qualified actress to play this part. In the meeting to discuss the role, I went in and said, 'you've found the right person for the job – I've already had five penises made for me!'"
In Boy Meets Girl, in the middle of a violent thunderstorm, Danny, a dishevelled, down-at-heel DIY store worker obsessed by conspiracy theories, bumps into Veronica, an immaculately soignée fashion journalist who spends more on lingerie than most people fork out on their entire wardrobe. When they are simultaneously struck by a bolt of lightning, they swap bodies.
In the first of four episodes penned by the newcomer David Allison, Veronica is left begging on the streets. In Danny's body, she frightens off passers-by by claiming she is really a woman. She is also appalled by how smelly men's public lavatories are.
Meanwhile, inhabiting Veronica's body, Danny is repelled by the idea of sex with Veronica's gorgeous, trendy boyfriend, Jay (Paterson Joseph). He also finds it impossible to put on a bra or walk in her fashionista high heels – he is constantly teetering on the brink of a fall. "I don't know how anyone can wear these," he moans to Jay. "They're like instruments of torture. Perhaps we should export them as part of our not-so-ethical foreign policy!"
The two lead actors found researching the drama a fascinating experience – they were both required to gain an understanding of the opposite sex that goes way beyond Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus. Stirling asserts that: "I'm not interested in all the fluffy nonsense, but I am interested in how we define ourselves as men and women. I read all of Jan Morris [the writer who had a sex change] and learned something of what happens when that sense of self-definition is taken away."
The vivacious, 31-year-old Stirling evidently put in a lot of spadework in preparing for the drama. "Every day," she recalls, "I'd have to do three hours' homework and work out who the hell I was! Martin and I studied each other like apes. Like a lot of actors, he's quite a feminine, sensitive man, and I'm quite a masculine woman, so we could steal bits off each other. I videoed Martin performing a scene as me and nicked some of his mannerisms."
For light relief, the director Alrick Riley (Spooks, The Fixer) gave the pair time to try out their roles while wandering around ITV's HQ. Stirling recollects that, "in order to learn what a man in those shoes would look like, I watched Martin tottering around in high heels – much to the confusion of the ITV office-workers!"
The 37-year-old Freeman, who recently took the very different role of Rembrandt in Peter Greenaway's biopic, Nightwatching, jokes that he didn't have to start completely from scratch when researching his part. "It's not as though I didn't have a camp bone in my body beforehand. I'm an actor, for goodness' sake! As an actor, you learn to deal with mockery, as most people think it's not a very manly job. But fortunately, as Adam Ant so aptly put it, ridicule is nothing to be scared of."
The actor, who has made his name playing such characters as Tim in The Office and Arthur Dent in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, remarks that, when it comes to playing the opposite sex, God is in the details. "You wouldn't notice a man sitting with legs wide open, but you'd certainly notice a woman doing that. And without mugging or copying Jessica Rabbit and doing cartoonish wiggling, you walk very differently as a woman.
"Women also tend to pick up wineglasses with their fingertips rather than in the palms of their hands. And it was pointed out to me that a woman doesn't look around as she walks down the street – it's much more contained. Blokes don't care who knows that they're looking around. Women are not so expansive – they don't necessarily want to catch people's eyes. It's the little things that make a difference."
Stirling goes on to outline what for her are the essential, psychological differences between the genders. "It's a massive generalisation, but if there is a route between A and B, boys will take the most direct, least confusing path," reckons the actress, whose mother is Dame Diana Rigg. "That's why men's relationships with men tend to be more straightforward. They're more frank, and nothing is overly questioned.
"Girls, on the hand, will follow a corkscrew route from A to B. They will keep trying to interpret what the other person is thinking. We love complicating things and supposing what's going through other people's minds. We think, 'even when my boyfriend says, "I want a ham sandwich", he probably doesn't want a ham sandwich'. We're the champions of second-guessing."
So what do the actors think that audiences will take away from Boy Meets Girl, a drama whose plot has echoes of the books Metamorphosis and Vice Versa as well as the movies, All of Me, It's a Boy Girl Thing and Big? Stirling hopes: "It will prompt the odd nightmare about what it would be like to wake up in someone else's body. After all, it's a horror that's familiar to all of us from puberty. That's a period when all sorts of out-of-control things happen to our bodies.
"This drama also emphasises the extent to which we're defined by how we look. Who we are is who other people think we are. When that's removed, we're lost. When Jay brings what he thinks is Veronica back to their flat after the accident, she starts to behave in a very male Manc way." Burping unashamedly after downing a bottle of fizzy pop, anyone? "What is normally a perfectly normal male characteristic suddenly becomes inordinately threatening when carried out by a woman. That's intriguing to watch because everything is called into question. I'm fascinated by that idea of the rug suddenly being pulled from under us."
Stirling and Freeman are a sparky double act. But there is another performing partnership audiences would be equally keen to see: Stirling and her mother. Is there any chance of us witnessing that pair collaborating on stage or screen in the near future? Stirling lets out a hearty laugh. "How many times have we been offered Hay Fever or The Importance of Being Earnest? We always say, 'God, how unimaginative.'
"The problem is, mama has more dignity than I do – I just want to be liked! I'm a waggy-tailed Jack Russell to her elegant lioness. She's Simba, and I'm Scrappy-Doo. We're not ruling out working together. But I pity the director. It would have to be someone very resilient and with the hide of a cow!"
'Boy Meets Girl' starts on ITV1 on 1 May.
Freeman stars in body-swap drama
Martin Freeman stars as Danny Reed who wakes up after an accident to find he’s a gorgeous woman in her early 30s in Boy Meets Girl, a new 4 part drama from ITV which airs next month.
Finishing work for the night, Reed heads off to the electricity power yard to steal some copper wiring to pay off his debts. It’s raining as he climbs out of his ‘borrowed’ van. A few yards nearby him in the lay-by Veronica Burton (Rachael Stirling) pulls up having run out of petrol.
When a flash of lightning strikes the pylon and there’s a huge explosion and Danny wakes up in hospital and is horrified to discover he’s no longer Danny Reed - he’s now a gorgeous woman in her early 30s.
Totally freaked out, he struggles to get his head around the fact that his own body has disappeared without trace, and he’s inside someone else’s.
Danny’s first impulse is to find out where the person he used to be has gone. But what dawns on him fairly quickly is that no-one knows and no-one is missing him apart from friends Pete (Marshall Lancaster) and Fiona (Angela Griffin). He seems to have simply disappeared, but that doesn’t stop him trying to find out where Danny went. In the meantime, Danny has to get his head round being stuck as Veronica – which means learning to be a woman, a fashion journalist, and living a totally different life with Veronica’s boyfriend Jay (Paterson Joseph).
As he begins to live Veronica’s life and meet her friends he starts to realise that she was having an affair with her best friend’s boyfriend and is less than enthused by her job as a fashion journalist. Meanwhile, Veronica is completely disorientated in her new male body and at a loss as to what to do, she’s forced to beg on the streets. At Veronica’s flat that night, as Jay makes it clear to a horrified Danny (Veronica) that he’s looking for romance, Danny spots his old self on the news in the middle of an angry demonstration.
ITV1, Friday, 1 May 2009, 9:00 PM
Coming soon... Boy Meets Girl, ITV1
Just over a year ago we brought you news of a new ITV comedy starring Martin Freeman, called Boy Meets Girl. It was slated to be a genre swap comedy drama, and looked interesting and a welcome addition to ITV's slate of homegrown shows (although its recent record in comedy is nothing to write home about). I received the press pack this morning, so it's safe to say that its arrival must be pretty imminent and we can fill in some blanks. Find out more after the jumper...
First things first, Boy Meets Girl (a four-parter, to be broadcast in early May) not only stars Martin Freeman but also the lovely Rachael Stirling, Ashes To Ashes' Marshall Lancaster and Waterloo Road's Angela Griffin. And there's Paterson Joseph too.
Freeman plays dreamer Danny Reed, whose life is turned upside down when he is struck by lightning and wakes to find himself trapped in a woman's body.
Instead of being a scruffy DIY store worker with no prospects, he has now swapped lives with glamorous female fashion journalist Veronica Burton, played by Stirling.
Danny suddenly has to learn how to walk in stilettos and put on a bra, how to deal with the amorous advances of Veronica's boyfriend Jay (Joseph) and how to pass himself off as a fashion expert while also trying to find out what has happened to his old self.
That's what the press pack says. So does this mean we won't see too much of Freeman himself, and his presence will be restricted to interior monolgues only? And what about Stirling? She's flipping gorgeous. Will she just be acting and not speaking? For both Freeman and especially Stirling, it sounds like quite a tough acting gig. Sounds interesting, if a well-worn idea. Let's see what Freeman himself has to say:
Tell us about Boy Meets Girl
Boy meets Girl is a four part drama that charts the progress of Veronica and Danny after an accident which causes them to swap minds. I play Veronica trapped in Danny's body - trying to find out where I came from and who I am.
Are Veronica and Danny very different?
Yes, not only are they different sex, they're very different people. Danny is a working class believer in conspiracy theories and Veronica is a fashion journalist. Danny would see Veronica as a surface air head and I'm sure she would see him as a common little thug.
You play a woman trapped in a man's body - what research did you do for the role?
I had a few meetings with an acting teacher who gave me some clues about female physicality and how it's different to male physicality. Of course all women are different but there are some things that hold true, such as the way a woman carries herself and the way a woman speaks. Voice projection is very different, and it's very easy to get it wrong and end up being a bit too panto. It was very helpful to have someone say put your chin down, make your chest softer, use your head less and use your eyes more, because those are little clues that I wouldn't necessarily have picked up on.
Do you feel you learnt what its like to be a woman from playing this part?
I learnt less about what it is to be a woman and more about observation, and the technicalities of being a woman. As an actor it's my job to observe things and to distil them. I didn't come away thinking I know what it is to be a woman, but as an actor I learnt about building a different physicality.
How is Boy Meets Girl unique?
It doesn't have any of the clichés of gender swapping dramas - it could have been quite facile but I think it works because I've got a bit of femininity about me and Rachael has a bit of boyishness about her.
Was there anything about being a woman that appealed to you?
Being purely superficial about it, women have got a better choice of shoes! I don't envy the heels - it's a mission to walk in heels.
Did you and Rachael study each other to help you get more into character?
We did, but we weren't around each other that often and you don't see much of Veronica or Danny before the accident so there wasn't much for us to go on. We did tape each other acting the scenes to pick up physical clues.
What is next for you after Boy Meets Girl?
I've just finished filming a contemporary remake of Arthur Conan Doyle's classic Sherlock for the BBC in Wales. I'm playing Sherlock Holmes. It's a great cast and a thrilling, funny, fast paced take on the crime drama genre set in the present day London.
Office stars enjoy reunion
Stars of The Office were reunited at the Jameson Empire Awards and the actors got a chance to swap child-rearing tips.
Mackenzie Crook and Martin Freeman, who played Gareth and Tim in the hit series starring Ricky Gervais, were excited to be reunited and got a chance to comment on how much life has changed.
Mackenzie, who has since had roles in Pirates Of The Caribbean and Three And Out said: "I'm sitting next to Martin on a table and we haven't seen each other for a long time so it's great to catch up."
He added that the pair are far more interested in chatting about family than their old days on the BBC programme.
"The subject of The Office hasn't even come up, we're talking about our babies and showing each other photos."
Mackenzie also said that he's starting to feel like a bit of an old hand, having been in the industry for ten years: "It's a bit of a weird feeling, I arrived here today and I know so many people in the audience.
"It's a great feeling but at the same time I've realised I've been doing this now for a decade. I suppose I'm one of the old-timers."
Martin Freeman in town to film modern Sherlock Holmes
OFFICE star Martin Freeman has said he loves filming in Cardiff because no- one recognises him here.
The actor, who finished filming a modern-day take on Sherlock Holmes, penned by new Doctor Who executive producer Steven Moffat, around the capital on Sunday, said the capital had become such a filming hot spot for world-wide homegrown successes like Doctor Who that actors like him did not get a look-in any more.
“I had a wander round the shops and no-one particularly bothered me, probably because people didn’t know who the hell I was,” he laughed.
“It’s quite unusual outside of somewhere like London to have people be so laid back if they spot the odd familiar face off the telly, but Cardiff has become very busy in the last few years.
“These days people just go ‘Martin Freeman? Oh, who cares about him? I saw David Tennant yesterday!’” he joked.
“‘Why on earth should I care about Tim from The Office?’”
Freeman revealed that he was in the running to become the eleventh Doctor Who.
“Apparently I got a mention from Russell T Davies himself on some documentary programme, but never made the shortlist,” he said.
“Actually, was there even a shortlist? Wasn’t there just a long list with me and every other British actor under the age of 50 on it?” he said, poking fun at the intense media speculation as to who would materialise as the cult sci-fi character’s eleventh incarnation.
Office actor Martin Freeman ‘considered’ for Dr Who role
THE Office star Martin Freeman has revealed that he was in the running to become the 11th Doctor Who.
“Apparently I got a mention from Russell T Davies himself on some documentary programme but never made the shortlist,” said Freeman, who finished filming a modern-day take on Sherlock Holmes, penned by the Time Lord’s new executive producer Steven Moffat, around and about South Wales on Sunday.
“Actually, was there even a shortlist? Wasn’t there just a long list with me and every other British actor under the age of 50 on it?” he joked of the intense media speculation as to who would materialise as the cult sci-fi character’s 11th incarnation.
“I got a text from Patterson Joseph, who was a favourite at one point, telling me his agent had been asked to confirm or deny he’d been approached to play the role.
“It never got that far with me, but it did make me think: ‘God, wouldn’t it be weird to be the Doctor’?”
Freeman, who plays a very different Doctor – Dr Watson – to Bafta-nominated Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock Holmes, added that the current success of Doctor Who lay largely in the fact that the role was wide open to anyone.
“In the show’s current incarnation you can see anybody good having a go and that’s brilliant,” he said.
“I mean, 10 years ago you wouldn’t have said: ‘David Tennant, now there s a Doctor Who if ever I saw one’, similarly this newest guy Matt Smith.
“You certainly wouldn’t have thought, ‘Christopher Ecclestone? Oh, he’s born to play the part’.
“And that’s the beauty of this rebooted version of it, the Doctor just becomes who ever ends up playing him.”
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