To all who visit this site, we hope you have a wonderful 2012 that’s full of fun, love and happiness, and may positive, exciting things come your way over the coming year.
 
Thanks for being with us over the last 5 years and we look forward to yet another year chock-a-block full of Elaine Cassidy goodness

Don’t forget to tune into ITV1 [UK] & UTV [NI] tonight at 7pm for Just Henry starring Elaine, Josh Bolt, Dean Andrews and Sheila Hancock.

Image courtesy of TVNow.

Elaine recently lent her voice to the role of Nora in the BBC 3 radio play entitled The Plough and the Stars, which aired on Sunday 4th December @ 8:30pm.

Sean O’Casey’s classic play set in the midst of the Easter Rising of 1916. The impact of events is viewed through the eyes of ordinary people inhabiting a Dublin tenement. O’Casey’s masterpiece paints a vivid portrait of a city and a nation in turmoil.

The Plough and the Stars is the second in a three-part series of classic plays chosen for Drama on 3 by the playwright Kwame Kwei-Armah. Kwame also introduces this new production of the play.

The cast includes:

NORA ….. Elaine Cassidy
JACK ….. Padraic Delaney
BESSIE ….. Gabrielle Reidy
FLUTHER ….. Finbar Lynch
PETER ….. Stephen Hogan
THE COVEY ….. Jonathan Forbes
MRS GOGAN ….. Fiona Clarke
MOLLSER ….. Rebecca Gleeson
ROSIE ….. Jane McGrath
CAPT BRENNAN ….. Matthew McNulty
LIEUT. LANGAN ….. Sam Smith

Musical Director ….. Conrad Nelson

The Plough and the Stars is available on BBC iPlayer until 10.42pm on Sunday 11th December 2011. Please note, the play may not be available for listening in your country. Apologies for the inconvenience.

Special thanks to member Pavita for letting us know about the play.

The much anticipated dramatization of the children’s book Just Henry will air on ITV at 7.00pm on the 18 December 2011. The drama is part of ITV’s Christmas line up and critics will be closely watching to see how the show shape’s up in terms of ratings when compared with the BBC’s own adaptation of The Borrowers.

Just Henry will also be released on DVD on 26th December 2011, courtesy of ITV Studios Home Entertainment. You can pre-order the DVD from Amazon UK for £11.99 & HMV also for £11.99. Both with free postage within the UK.

It’s 1949, and Henry Dodge is a troubled 15-year-old. Plagued by nightmares, he’s grieving the death of his war hero father, and deeply resents his mother remarrying. Egged on by his grandmother, Henry is determined to discover the exact circumstances around his dad’s death. But this leads him into a fight with a fellow schoolboy, and a mystery that threatens to tear his family apart.

Images & info courtesy of Female First, Best British TV & TV Choice Magazine.

Elaine Cassidy to star in ITV’s new drama Just Henry. The feature-length tale is set just after the Second World War and is based on a novel by Michelle Magorian.

Adapted by Michael Chaplin (creator of Grafters and Monarch of the Glen), from Michelle Magorian’s critically acclaimed novel, Just Henry tells an engaging story about one boy’s discovery that will alter his family life forever.

Set in post-Second World War Britain Henry is growing up in a fraught and unsettled household that includes his mother Maureen (Cassidy), stepfather, Uncle Bill, (Andrews) and his paternal grandmother (Hancock).

Henry is a troubled young man who suffers bad nightmares which everyone puts down to the aftermath of living through a war and the fact that he’s never really got over his father’s death or his mother’s remarriage.

In his last year of school and about to become an adult Henry’s grandmother has encouraged him to show a disinterest in his education because his father, Joseph Dodge (Campbell Moore), thought it was a waste of time.

When his father’s war medal for bravery gets posted through the door Henry wants to know more about the circumstances of his father’s death, something his mother has always preferred him not to know too much about.

At school, Henry keeps himself to himself but when he gets a new teacher, Mrs Beaumont (Flynn), who encourages his passion for film, he slowly starts to see the world differently. She wants him to show more compassion towards his classmate Paul Jeffries (Perry Millward – Monroe, Christopher and his Kind), a very talented writer and the son of a deserter who’s ostracised for that very reason. Together with Grace Ellis (Charlie May-Clark – South Riding), a new student who can’t read but has an exquisite singing voice, they are tasked with presenting a school project about cinema and are forced to spend time together. That is until Henry’s research leads him to believe that the man who killed his father was none other than Jeffries father!

Whilst visiting his father’s grave a man introduces himself to Henry as his dad – Dodge. Overwhelmed with happiness Henry doesn’t think to question the facts of his death. But things just don’t add up. If Dodge isn’t in that grave who is?

Grace has come to care too much for Henry to let his dad manipulate him and is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery. With the help of Mrs Beaumont she seeks the help of the police but will it be too late for all involved?

Just Henry also stars John Henshaw (Red Riding, Looking for Eric, Confessions of a Diary Secretary), an ex-soldier and now the Commissionaire at the Plaza Cinema. Pooky Quesnel (Scott & Bailey, Five Days, Criminal Justice) plays Paul’s mother Mrs Jefferies.

Director of Drama Commissioning Laura Mackie and Sally Haynes, Controller of Drama Commissioning, have commissioned the 1 x 90 minute film, which is executive produced by Creative Director Kate Bartlett and Myar Craig-Brown – Drama ITV Studios

“Just Henry is a really heart-warming script which follows the journey of one boy’s discovery that will change his life, family and friends forever. It’s rich with detail from the post war era and has a very sympathetic and engaging young character at its heart. The film will be a wonderful treat for the Christmas schedule.” said Laura.

Filming for Just Henry will take place in Leeds this month and will air on ITV1 at Christmas.

Info courtesy of RTE TEN & Primetime Unreality TV.

More behind the scenes videos from Elaine’s new movie, Loft …
 

 
Elaine can be spotted at 2:37 in the first video and 6:24 in the second video.
 
Thanks to member Enrico for letting us know about the videos.