Les Misérables

Well readers, I am beside myself with excitement ... the BBC have just announced that they will be adapting Les Misérables, my favourite musical and one of the greatest books ever written, into a six part drama. While there may not be any singing, the new adaptation is going to be written by Costume-Drama God Andrew Davies, and will be produced by the team that created the astonishing War & Peace. Could it involve any more of my favourite things? Well, potentially. The success of this could all hang on its cast, so who's going to get the call? My friends and I have been imagining our dream line-up ever since we heard the news.

Upcoming Costume Dramas 2016

This year's shaping up to be an absolute cracker for Costume Dramas. We've already had the masterpiece that was War & Peace and I'm currently enjoying Victorian Ghost story The Living and the Dead on BBC One, but there are loads more period dramas coming up in the next few months. I'm donning my bonnet in anticipation.

Bug

Friday 25th March and the evening's turned cool after a balmy spring day in London. I'm making my way to Found111, a pop-up theatre hidden within the bowels of what was the Central St Martin's School of Art on Charing Cross Road. Opposite, the Phoenix Theatre is bedecked with lights and glitzy signs for its new show Guys and Dolls but there's no such fanfare at Found111. We're beckoned in through a side door - a temporary sign above it giving the only hint that there's something exciting awaiting us inside.

Happy Valley - Series 2 Q&A

Not only is it pancake day on Tuesday, it's also the day that Happy Valley returns, almost two years after its triumphant first series - yay! Last night I was lucky enough to attend a preview screening of episode one in aid of the Community Foundation for Calderdale who are supporting victims of the recent floods near where the show was filmed in West Yorkshire. Last night's screening raised more than £30,000 for the charity and although there were no pancakes, the lucky few of us in the Victoria Theatre in Halifax were treated to a Q&A with writer, creator and director (Wonder Woman) Sally Wainwright and members of the, frankly tremendous, cast. Don't worry, this post doesn't contain any spoilers from the first ep, but I wanted to share a few of my favourite bits from the evening.

Best TV Dramas of 2015

Happy New Year readers! My pick of 2014's best TV dramas seemed to go down quite well and since there's nothing I love writing about more than telly, I've decided to do the same for 2015. It's been a very very good year for the box.

I love Emma Freud (A companion piece to 'I love Richard Curtis' by The Optimist)

You may remember a post I wrote some time ago in which I declared my love for the work of Richard Curtis. The post was subsequently viewed by Emma Freud, Curtis's partner and script editor on many of his films, who tweeted that it was, and I quote "gorgeous" *smiles proudly*. We're well into December, so I expect you've all enjoyed your annual viewing of Curtis classic, Love Actually, and on Saturday Richard, Emma and two of their kids did just the same, when they attended a midnight screening of the film in New York. Rather marvellously, Emma live tweeted throughout, with hilarious insights into the making of the film, so now, it's her turn for a bit of love from The Optimist. Take a look ...

The Killers - Dirt Sledding

My favourite Las-Vegans are back with their annual Christmas track in support of Product Red. This year's offering is the final part in the Don't Shoot Me Santa trilogy, in which, a homicidal St Nick has a score to settle with one of the kids on his naughty list. This time around though, Santa has softened and in the rather eccentric video, he finally gets into the Christmas spirit with the help of some other seasonal mascots. The Easter Bunny, a Shetland pony, a pillow fight in the desert, what could be more Christmassy?