Tuesday 21 April 2015

Showcase On: Director Jason Wilcox


Independent UK film director Jason Wilcox has recently put up trailers for 15 of his feature films on the video site Vimeo.

Jason specialises in producing low-budget dramatic thrillers with a psychological edge and a touch of gothic horror.  His films feature new acting talent from around the UK.

Many of the films contain a certain amount of female nudity some of which can be seen in the trailers.

If there is sufficient interest Jason hopes to make the full films available on the same or similar platform.


Here is a guide to his films with a Vimeo link at which the trailers can be viewed or downloaded.

All films written and directed by Jason Wilcox ...  


Invisible Friends (2009)
A teenager falls in love for the first time, whilst reading "Romeo and Juliet", and is eager to introduce her boyfriend to her best friend.  But she and he are shocked when they meet, as they have briefly met already whilst travelling the previous summer, and had been mutually attracted.  Should they kindle their relationship now, even though it would mean betraying the trust of their mutual friend?
Starring: Faye Harris, Stacey Fenton and Alexy Sharp
https://vimeo.com/113286148




Divinities of Night (2010)
Julie is living in London, bored and tired with her everyday life.  She meets Mora and Lance... brother and sister.  They whisk her away for the weekend to a country retreat house... where she slowly begins to lose her mind, seeing them as vampires and in turn becoming one herself...
Starring: Claira Watson Parr, Sohaila Lindheim, Cradeaux Alexander and Richard Sanderson
https://vimeo.com/113724099



A Drowning Heart (2010)
A young woman goes on holiday with her new boyfriend and is catapulted into a tangled web of deceit and betrayal when she discovers that his business meeting 'up in the mountains' may not be exactly what it seems.  A tale of desperate passion, secrets and lies.
Starring: Kelly Evans, Alice Ferngrove and Alexy Sharp
https://vimeo.com/114345175



Drowning The Dead (2010)
A boy attempts to forget his late mother, with a new love interest. But years of abuse and repression soon surface and overpower him.
Starring: Pierce Starre, Nika Khitrova and Camilla Caney
(Filmed in 2008)
https://vimeo.com/112877938



Teardrop (2010)
Two young females invite a stranger back to the villa where they are staying.  They both fall in love with him, and don't want him to leave, and their love makes them deadly rivals.  Meanwhile, he has a dark secret which he cannot reveal to them even though he knows he must.
Starring: Bryony Love, Tora Rebecca Rose and Alexy Sharp
https://vimeo.com/112935377



The One and The Other (2011)
A young couple go away together for a short break, but the man acts strangely, telling her that the house is haunted and that she shouldn't go into a certain part of it.  She has visions of him and another young female whom she saw him with at a party, and soon the boundaries between reality and dreams begin to blur.
Starring: Portia Victoria, Sienna Murdoch and Matthew Ferdenzi
https://vimeo.com/112716218



Shell-Shocked (2011)
(Filmed in 2007)
An investigative journalist has a crucial message which he intends to impart via the worldwideweb.  But he becomes distracted by an attractive stranger, who enters his life with programmed instructions to undermine his efforts...
Starring: Sheena Belham, Katalin Vig and Gregg Scurr
https://vimeo.com/114345174



All The Way To The Dark (2012)
A young photographer who has been disturbed by her upbringing conducts a photoshoot with her ex-boyfriend Jake and Suzy, a female model, which quickly takes a turn for the worse and results in the past being dug up and the nightmare of her childhood being lived all over again.
Starring: Sophie-Anna Brough, Georgia Drake, Georgina Morton and Andy Joy
https://vimeo.com/113702669



Apprehending Amy (2012)
Amy is a wealthy but mentally disturbed young woman, who invites a friend to stay with her at her family villa.  Unbeknownst to her, however, her friend and her boyfriend plan to rob her of her inheritance - until Amy gets wise to it and plots her own counter-scheme...
Starring: Charlotte Lewington, Hazel Scott-Somme and Alexy Sharp
https://vimeo.com/113122674



Every Day is Summer (2012)
After a failed suicide attempt, a bereft young woman finds relief by tormenting a holiday-maker with boyfriend problems.
Starring: Coral Castagne, Iona Stewart-Richardson, Kate Barnaby and O.J. Watson
https://vimeo.com/115021063



Alice In Hollywoodland (2013)
Inspired by Lewis Carroll, and transposed to a villa in the hills of "Hollywoodland", where stars audition for a leading role, and where the price for failure is deadly.  Will Alice's audition be successful?
Starring: Sophie Lonsdale-Ross, Jessica Ridge, Charlotte Roest-Ellis, Dmitry Arabuli and Alexy Sharp
https://vimeo.com/114350393



Here Again (2013)
Two friends take a summer holiday by the sea.  All seems well until the boyfriend of one of them, who has drowned there a year earlier, appears to come back from the dead and does not recognise the other one.  When her friend no longer recognises her either, she is forced to consider that perhaps she is losing her mind...
Starring: Chess Mulgrew, Emily Cripps and Ashlin Harris
https://vimeo.com/113094267



Return of The Ghost (2013)
A couple take a short break at a haunted house, only to find that it isn't just haunted by the dead...
Starring: Lily Newmark, Jade Houghton and Stevie Dow
https://vimeo.com/112635718




Dark Sunlight (2014)
A young holidaymaker is invited back to a villa by someone she meets on the beach.  She is intrigued by her new friend, and even more by the man she is looking after, who seems to be allergic to the sunlight.  But she has little idea of what is in store for her.
Starring: Hayley Workman, Sophie Baker and Carlisle K. Pontikas
https://vimeo.com/113704302



The Room in the Tower (2014)
Taking a break at a gothic tower with his girl-friend, a man is plagued by recurring dreams in which his long-lost sister returns to him and lures him into an alternative world.
Starring: Grace D'Arcy Craig, Billie Turnbull and Nicholas Fruin
https://vimeo.com/108946124



Trailers for two earlier films, The Box and Dead Time are in the works and will be uploaded soon.

Jason's next film, Abandonment, has just finished shooting.

Friday 17 April 2015

Heads Up #11: Between The Lines

The Drama Channel are about to start showing the BBC drama series Between The Lines starring Neil Pearson as the head of a police department responsible for rooting out corruption in the police force.

It started in 1992 and lasted for 35 episodes over 3 series.

Several episodes had nudity although in this case I don't have a precise guide to the exact episodes some of these scenes appeared in.




Lesley Vickerage played WPC Jenny Dean in the first series only and had several topless scenes throughout.  This collage shows an amalgamation of those scenes.





Jaye Griffiths played Molly Cope in three episodes although the information I have is that her rear nude scene was in episode 6 (Lest Ye Be Judged) of the first series which was her first appearance.




Sophie Dix played Louise Parker in episodes 4 and 5 of series two.  Her topless scene must be in the first of these (Honourable Men) because she appears in the scene with Paul Freeman who was only in that episode.




Sylvestra Le Touzel played Sarah Teale in episodes 4 to 10 of series three.  She has a fully nude scene in one of those episodes.






Episode 1 of Between The Lines begins on Monday 20th April at 10:00pm



UPDATE 8th May 2015
BAD NEWS: The Drama Channel are editing out the nudity despite it being shown at 10pm!
The first episode that should have had some nudity I've been able to pinpoint as being episode #3 (based on matching up the preamble moments from clips I've seen).  This was the episode that was on this week (4th May 2015) but the scenes were truncated before any nudity was seen.

So this entry has unfortunately become another "Missing But Not Forgotten" report.


UPDATE 13th May 2015
BETTER NEWS: They seem to have had a re-think and from episode 4 they have scheduled more time for it and are showing the full unedited 50-minute episodes.  Perhaps they got a lot of complaints about the 45-minute cut versions they were showing before.  Episode 4 (on 11th May) included a topless stripper credited as Juliet Sheldrake.


UPDATE 10th June 2015
ANOTHER DEVELOPMENT: It would seem Between The Lines is not proving popular enough with the viewers because starting with this week's episode (#8) it has been removed from the Monday evening 10pm slot.  It has not been dropped entirely though and is continuing in a graveyard slot at around 3am of early Tuesday mornings.  It is on again next week in a similar slot so I would guess that they will at least complete the 13 episodes of the first series.  Whether it will continue after that is another matter.

The Drama Channel used to have to cease broadcasting on Freeview at 2am (while continuing on other platforms until 4am) - you may not have realised that that situation has now changed and it continues on Freeview as well all the way to the end.


UPDATE 27th June 2015
INFO: The second of Lesley Vickerage's two main topless scenes was in this week's episode - Episode 10: Nothing to Declare.  Therefore in the collage shown above the images from the top row to the middle of the second row are from episode 3, and the remainder of the middle row and the bottom row are from episode 10.

UPDATE 25th August 2015
HERE WE GO AGAIN: They did show all of first series and now, after a short break, have continued on with Series 2 (at 11:20pm on Sundays).  But after a good start they've reverted to showing the cut versions once again.  The episode containing Sophie Dix's topless scene (ep: 2.4 - Honourable Men) was the one on this week, but because it was a sanitised version the scene was cut short before the nudity occurred.


Monday 6 April 2015

Heads Up #10: Hammer House of Horror


The Horror Channel, which has recently started up on Freeview, is going to be showing the 1980 ITV series Hammer House of Horror starting this Friday at 22:50.

This series consisted of 13 episodes several of which had some nudity.

They are starting with the first two episodes as a double bill.  The first of these Witching Time contains nudity from actresses Patricia Quinn and Prunella Gee.

The second episode The Thirteenth Reunion has no nudity.  This starts at 23:55.

Hammer House of Horror
Episode: 1) Witching Time
Friday 10th April 2015 at 10:50pm on Horror Channel
Originally shown: 13 September 1980 on ITV

Patricia Quinn in Hammer House of Horror: Witching Time

Prunella Gee in Hammer House of Horror: Witching Time






















The series continues on 17th April with the next two episodes.
Episode 3 Rude Awakening contains some nudity from actress Lucy Gutteridge.
Episode 4 has none.

Hammer House of Horror
Episode: 3) Rude Awakening
Friday 17th April 2015 at 10:50pm on Horror Channel
Originally shown: 27 September 1980 on ITV

Lucy Gutteridge in Hammer House of Horror: Rude Awakening
















On 24th April the next two episodes both contain some brief nudity.  Episode 5: The House That Bled to Death has a scene involving Rachel Davies; and episode 6: Charlie Boy involving Angela Bruce.

Hammer House of Horror
Episode: 5) The House That Bled to Death
Friday 24th April 2015 at 10:50pm on Horror Channel
Originally shown: 11 October 1980 on ITV

Rachel Davies in Hammer House of Horror: The House That Bled to Death













Hammer House of Horror
Episode: 6) Charlie Boy
Friday 24th April 2015 at 11:55pm on Horror Channel
Originally shown: 18 October 1980 on ITV

Angela Bruce in Hammer House of Horror: Charlie Boy













After that the only further nudity in the series is in episode 9: Carpathian Eagle which has some slight nudity involving Suzanne Danielle - if the Horror Channel stick to the same schedule of double-bills in the original episode order, then this one will be the first of the episodes shown on the 8th May.


Hammer House of Horror
Episode: 9) Carpathian Eagle
Friday 8th May 2015 at 10:50pm on Horror Channel
Originally shown: 8 November 1980 on ITV

Suzanne Danielle in Hammer House of Horror: Carpathian Eagle

Sunday 5 April 2015

Missing But Not Forgotten #5: The Last Musketeer (ITV/2000)

The Last Musketeer was an ITV drama from 2000 in which Robson Green played an ex-con turned competitive fencer who takes a job at a remote Scottish girls' boarding school teaching their fencing team in order to lie low from some London gangsters that are after him.  Playing the school headmistress was Arkie Whiteley and playing the schoolgirl captain of the fencing team was Holly Davidson who would later star in The Bill.

As originally broadcast it contained a sex scene and some nudity featuring Arkie Whitely.

This one-off drama was shown on the Drama Channel on Friday 3rd April 2015.  Unfortunately since it was shown at 10:20am it was inevitably cut.  The editing was done well enough though and if you didn't know better you probably wouldn't have realised it had been tampered with.

The first scene cut was a sex scene in a London hotel room after Elizabeth Fraser (Arkie Whiteley) has offered Steve McTear (Robson Green) the coaching job which he initially turns down but they feel highly attracted to each other and she takes him to her hotel room to have sex.  Only really her bare back is seen here although the depiction of their activities is post-watershed graphic.  In the edited version the scene jumps in at the point where she is getting dressed after they have finished, therefore only implying that they have slept together.

The full topless scene occurs sometime later in her bedroom at the school as they take up where they left off when he has accepted the job offer after his situation changes.  This scene was missing altogether.

In this collage the middle image in the top row depicts the most revealing moment of the first scene and the rest show the other scene.

Arkie Whiteley in The Last Musketeer


Saturday 4 April 2015

Heads Up #9: The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries


The Drama Channel are to be showing The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries starting on Monday 6th April.  The episode scheduled is Artists in Crime which was the pilot episode.

The 1990 pilot episode was actually called The Alleyn Mysteries and featured Simon Williams in the title role.  The full series with the longer title began in 1993 with Patrick Malahide taking over the main role.

Artists in Crime is the only episode known to have any nudity.  The plot involves an artist's model, played by Siri Neal, being murdered.

The only possible snag is that Drama are showing it at 8pm so whether it will be shown intact is unknown.  They did show the Dorothy L Sayers Mystery story Strong Poison uncut in the same 8pm timeslot and that too featured a topless art model.  However that scene was fairly innocuous whereas the scenes in this Alleyn Mystery are somewhat more conspicuous.

If it is cut then this will be another "Missing But Not Forgotten".

The (Inspector) Alleyn Mysteries
Title: Artists In Crime
Monday 6th April 2015 (Easter Monday) at 8:00pm on Drama Channel
Originally shown: 23 December 1990 on BBC1

This collage shows it has been shown on ITV3 in more recent times.

 
Siri Neal in The Alleyn Mysteries 
 












UPDATE:
As seemed likely, it was shown edited.
Two minor bits of nudity were kept in (just to prove she was actually there I suppose) but the majority was missing which had the effect of rendering the plot a bit incomprehensible because the missing bits provided some important elements that helped explain certain things.