Kenneth Williams: Fantabulosa!

Kenneth Williams: Fantabulosa!
Written by Martyn Hesford
Directed by Andy De Emmony
Starring Michael Sheen
Cheryl Campbell
Beatie Edney
Kenny Doughty
Country of origin United Kingdom
No. of episodes 1
Production
Running time 79 mins
Release
Original network BBC Four
Original release 13 March 2006

Kenneth Williams: Fantabulosa! is a 2006 BBC Four television play starring Michael Sheen as the English comic actor Kenneth Williams, based on Williams' own diaries. Cheryl Campbell plays Williams's beloved mother, Lou.

Michael Sheen performed extensive research for the role, watching hundreds of hours of archive footage and reading dozens of books. He also followed the cabbage soup diet to lose 2.5 stone (35 lb; 16 kg) to play Williams.[1]

The drama received good reviews, with The Observer singling out Sheen's performance as "a characterisation for which the description tour-de-force is, frankly, pretty faint praise".[2] The Times compared Sheen's performance to "a diamond that is so dazzling as a result of the expertise deployed in its cutting that you can’t fully focus on the underlying shape of the stone, which is what actually enables it to glitter so spectacularly."[3]

Viewing figures were 860,000 for its original airing, including timeshift, making it by far the most popular BBC Four broadcast of March 2006. Its repeat showing on 17 March 2006 garnered another 252,000 viewers.[4]

Sheen's performance won a Royal Television Society award for Best Male Actor,[5] and the play also won two BAFTA nominations (best single play and best actor, Michael Sheen).[6]

It was released on DVD as Fantabulosa! – The Kenneth Williams Story in October 2009,[7] and has been rebroadcast several times since its original airing.[8]

Cast

See also

References

  1. ↑ Rampton, James (8 March 2006). "Michael Sheen carries off the life of Kenneth Williams". The Independent. Retrieved 8 July 2017.
  2. ↑ Flett, Katherine (19 March 2006). "Sunday drama? Stop messing about". Kathryn Flett on television. The Observer. Retrieved 8 July 2017.
  3. ↑ Joseph, Joe (14 March 2006). "Putting the Sheen on a life of despair". Joe Joseph on last night's TV. The Times. Retrieved 8 July 2017.
  4. ↑ BARB official Weekly Top 10 Programmes BBC4 - w/e 5 March 2006, 12 March 2006, 19 March 2006, 26 March 2006, 2 April 2006. The closest rivals were The Chatterley Affair, 2100 on 20 March 2006, with 546,000 viewers, and A for Andromeda, with 580,000 on 26 March 2006 at 2101
  5. ↑ RTS programme awards - winners, 14 March 2007, The Guardian
  6. ↑ BAFTA nominations announced, 11 April 2007, The Guardian
  7. ↑ "Fantabulosa! – The Kenneth Williams Story". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 8 July 2017.
  8. ↑ "BBC Four – Kenneth Williams: Fantabulosa!". BBC Programmes. Retrieved 8 July 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.