+ Q&A with cast Hugh Bonneville and Karen Gillan, writer Steven Moffat, executive producer Sue Vertue and director/executive producer Ben Palmer
Written by globally renowned screenwriter Steven Moffat (Doctor Who, Sherlock), Douglas Is Cancelled introduces us to middle-aged current affairs news anchor Douglas Bellowes. Behind the scenes, Douglas needs constant reassurance from his younger, tech-savvy, social-media-aware co-anchor, Madeline. A national treasure, he can seemingly do no wrong, until he makes an ill-advised joke at his cousin’s wedding. During the on-going digital storm, Douglas’s alleged indiscretion is blown out of all proportion and he struggles to escape the controversy. In this chaotic and increasingly unmanageable situation, can Douglas count on the support of his agent and colleagues?
Hugh Bonneville’s film credits include Notting Hill, Iris, The Monuments Men, I Came By, two Downton Abbey and three Paddington movies. Paddington in Peru opens in UK cinemas in November 2024 and the third Downton Abbey film is currently in production.
His television roles include Ian Fletcher in the BAFTA-winning Twenty Twelve and W1A (BBC) and Robert Crawley in ITV’s global hit, Downton Abbey, for which he received nominations for a Golden Globe and for two Emmys. The cast won three SAG Awards for Outstanding Ensemble in a Drama Series. Hugh recently completed filming the second series of The Gold, a six-part BBC drama about the 1983 Brink’s-Mat bullion robbery. He plays Jonathan Wilde in Apple TV’s, The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin.
Hugh’s stage career spans more than three decades and includes seasons with the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. His most recent appearances were in Enemy of the People and Shadowlands, both at Chichester Festival Theatre. He will be playing the title role in Uncle Vanya at Berkeley Rep in February 2025.
His memoir, Playing under the Piano, published by Abacus, is now available in paperback.
Hugh is a patron of the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain, The National Youth Arts Trust, Scene & Heard, The Primary Shakespeare Company and the South Downs National Park Trust.
Karen Gillan stars opposite Hugh Bonneville in Steven Moffat’s cancel culture dramedy series, Douglas Is Cancelled for ITV. Gillan stars as ‘Madeline’, the ambitious and internet-savvy co-host to Bonneville’s ‘Douglas Bellowes’, the beloved news anchor and national treasure who begins spiralling out of control after a verbal misstep at a wedding sends him scrambling to salvage both his personal and professional lives. Additionally, Gillan leads Lisa Steen’s coming-of-age drama feature Late Bloomers, which premiered at SXSW in 2023 where it was nominated for the narrative feature Grand Jury Award before being acquired by Vertical Entertainment.
Gillan has previously starred in some of Hollywood’s biggest franchises including Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers: Endgame and Infinity War, Thor: Love and Thunder and the Jumanji films opposite Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart and Jack Black. She is also known for her role as ‘Amy Pond’ throughout three seasons of the BBC’s critically acclaimed series Doctor Who.
Steven Moffat was lead writer and executive producer of BBC One’s Doctor Who from 2009 to 2017, and the co-creator, writer and executive producer of the BBC series S_herlock_ and the BBC/Netflix series Dracula. His earlier work included all 43 episodes of the teen drama series Press Gang, and the sitcoms Coupling, Chalk and Joking Apart. Other credits include the TV series Jekyll, the feature film Tintin, an adaptation of The Time Traveler’s Wife for HBO and an original four-part thriller serial Inside Man for BBC/Netflix. Steven’s debut play The Unfriend opened at Chichester Festival Theatre in 2022 before transferring to The Criterion Theatre and Wyndham’s Theatre respectively in the West End. His numerous awards include BAFTAs for Press Gang and Doctor Who, two BAFTAs and two Emmys for Sherlock, and the BAFTA Special Award in 2012. In 2015 he was created an OBE for services to drama.
Sue Vertue is CEO and executive producer at Hartswood Films. She began her career at Tiger Aspect in 1991 with Mr Bean. She went on to produce Emmy award winner The Vicar of Dibley and Gimme Gimme Gimme. Her credits for Hartswood include four series of the Emmy, RTS and BAFTA winning international smash hit series Sherlock, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, comedies include four series of Coupling and more recent dramas – Inside Man for BBC/Netflix, starring David Tennant and Stanley Tucci, The Time Travellers Wife for HBO and this year has finished executive producing 3 series of The Devil’s Hour, written by Tom Moran, starring Peter Capaldi and Jessica Raine for Amazon.
Ben Palmer has directed many successful UK comedy series over the years including C4’s The Inbetweeners – winning awards from BAFTA, The National Television Awards, Broadcast, British Comedy Awards, and also the Rose d’Or. In 2011, Ben’s first feature, The Inbetweeners Movie set a record for the biggest opening weekend for a comedy film in the UK and won ‘Best Comedy Film’ at the Empire Movie Awards in 2012. The film’s success confirmed Ben as one of the most in-demand comedy directors in the UK. His second feature Man Up with Simon Pegg and Lake Bell also received critical acclaim, was a hit at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival and won Best Comedy Film at the 2016 National Film Awards. Most recently Ben helmed the opening 2 seasons of FX’s Breeders starring Martin Freeman and Daisy Haggard as well as Apple TV’s mad-cap, heightened action comedy The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin starring Noel Fielding and Hugh Bonneville.
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Programme notes and credits compiled by Sight and Sound and the BFI Documentation Unit
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