Happy January! After the festive period of indulgence, decadence and joviality, it can sometimes be hard to find anything to look forward to in the opening weeks of the New Year. Don’t worry, there’s plenty to get exited about in 2016. Here we pick 8 things to help you forget the winter blues.
- Peaky Blinders: Season Three
Although they’ve yet to announce a release date, the creators of Peaky Blinders have confirmed it will arrive at some point this year. According to trade mag Deadline, shooting on the third season of the Steven Knight-created crime saga started back in October. Among the new cast members, Paddy Considine has joined as the “representative of a force beyond anything Tommy has previously encountered” (whatever that means!). Apparently, Season 3 will see Tommy pulled into the glamorous and dangerous world of international intrigue in 1920s Britain, putting his entire organization and family at risk, and forcing him to question everything about his own ambitions and desires. Worth staying in for.
- Euro 2016
There’s nothing like a major football tournament to define a year, regardless of how low our expectations are for any of the home nations. Even so, with the likes of Harry Kane, Dele Alli, Daniel Sturridge, Leighton Baines and Ross Barkley all coming into form at the perfect time for their respective teams in the Premiership, maybe the Three Lions really can make it to the latter stages of the tournament. According to Harry Redknapp: ““England has got three or four young players emerging now in time for Euro 2016. Roy will have a team that can really compete. I would be disappointed if we don’t at least get to the semi-finals and then I could see us having a real go at winning it.” Time will tell, but expect it to be excruciating!
- Grimsby
Sacha Baron Cohen’s comeback (after the controversial 2012 comedy The Dictator) had been penciled in for last year. Thankfully (because all of us were caught up in the frenzy surrounding the respective launches of the latest Star Wars and James Bond installments), it was rescheduled until March this year.
Here’s how Google has summarized the plot: “Dimwitted football hooligan Nobby (Sacha Baron Cohen) lives in an English fishing town with his loving girlfriend (Rebel Wilson) and nine children. For the last 28 years, he’s been searching for his long-lost brother Sebastian (Mark Strong). When the two finally reunite, Nobby finds out that his sibling is a top MI6 assassin who’s just uncovered a sinister plot. Wrongfully accused and on the run, Sebastian now realises that he needs Nobby’s help to save the world and prove his innocence.”
The good folk of Grimsby are naturally a little peeved for the film’s negative portrayal of the town, but like everything that Baron Cohen makes, it should be taken with a rather large pinch of salt. Watch the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxIKQa63LAY
- It’s A Leap Year
Good news for anyone who was actually born on the 29th February – you can actually celebrate this year. For everyone else it means we get an extra day. For all you single men out there, watch out for that leap year wedding proposal from a significant woman in your life. The BBC’s website explains why: “The tradition of a woman proposing on a leap year has been attributed to various historical figures. One, although much disputed, was St Bridget in the 5th Century. She is said to have complained to St Patrick that women had to wait too long for their suitors to propose. St Patrick then supposedly gave women a single day in a leap year to pop the question – the last day of the shortest month.” Apparently you’re not meant to say no. So, if you want to remain single, we suggest camping out behind the sofa for the day.
- London & York Gin Festivals
Once you’ve managed to get through the obligatory Dry January alcohol purge and recovered from the associated side effects (seizures, hallucinations, sleep disruption, restlessness etcetera), no doubt you’ll be looking forward to jumping straight back off the wagon and into the first excuse for a quick snifter. What about a gin and something? It’s cool, elegant and refreshing when delivered as a gin and tonic. But by adding some ‘mother’s ruin’ to a host of other ingredients and mixers it can be transformed into one of the most sophisticated drinks out there. Boasting over 100 different gins, make the London Gin Festival (Tobacco Docks, 19 Feb – 21 Feb) and Gin Festival York (York Racecourse, 26 Feb – 27 Feb) your go to shindig for February. With talks from gin industry experts, music and lot’s of chit chat with other gin lovers, there will be no doubt tears (of joy) not long after they open their gates. Chin-chin.
- Comic Strip Presents … Red Top
Peter Richardson’s collective returns for another lewd, surreal trawl through the headlines – literally, on this occasion. Their latest outlandish 75-minute comic fantasy tells the story of Rebekah (Maxine Peake) an innocent and beguiling Northern girl who accidentally becomes Chief Executive of News International and gets caught up in a seventies Watergate-style scandal.
Produced by Great Western Features for Gold, ‘The Comic Strip Presents… The Red Top ‘ marks a welcome return of the nation’s favourite anarchic comedy collective. No one is safe from the irreverent wit of legendary British comedy filmmaker Peter Richardson in this surreal and hilarious script.
The film brings together a roll call of universally treasured British comedy greats, alongside exciting new comic talent. Maxine Peake will play the title role alongside Nigel Planer as Rupert Murdoch and Russell Tovey as Andy Coulson. Johnny Vegas, Alexei Sayle, Harry Enfield, James Buckley and John Sessions will also star in the film which airs on January 20th.
Creator Peter Richardson said, “Like our previous Comic Strip satire – ‘The Hunt For Tony Blair’ which was set in the sixties, ‘The Red Top (WT)’ lampoons the phone hacking scandal and the world of politics and press proprietors, and is set in a colourful seventies ‘Boogie Nights’ style parallel universe with a disco soundtrack. I’m thrilled to have such a fantastic cast. It should be huge fun.” Can’t wait.
- Rio 2016 Olympics
Yes, it really has been four years since London 2012. After a four year hiatus, the 31st Olympics – the biggest sporting event on the planet – returns this summer – in Rio de Janeiro, the site of the most recent football World Cup. According to an Associated Press investigation, we should also spare a thought for some of the cold water athletes (swimming, sailing, canoeing) who will be swimming and boating in waters so contaminated with human faeces that they risk becoming violently ill. It brings a whole new meaning to the campaign ‘Get Out Of The Water’ which launched Jaws to the world in 1975.
- The X-Files
Exciting times. After a 13-year hiatus, David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson are reprising their roles as FBI Special Agents Mulder and Scully tackling aliens, mutant monsters and other paranormal threats. A TV schedule during the ‘90s (airing for 9 seasons), the new, six episode X-Files mini-series created by Chris Carter will air in late January. The last time we saw Mulder and Scully was back in 2008 in what was a pretty dire film. Will the new mini-series disappoint too? When it was previewed at Mipcom, an annual Cannes-based convention for individuals and companies working in the entertainment business last year, the audience loved it. According to The Hollywood Reporter’s Scott Roxborough, who attended the screening clapped pretty much all the way through and “whooped and cheered as the closing credits rolled”. The truth is still out there.
The Guide 