Kathryn Morris UK

A.I. Artificial Intelligence – Friday BBC2

The BBC are currently running a sci-fi season on BBC Two. This is chiefly being done with a series of programmes exploring the history of the genre with the benefit of interviews with some of those involved in genre classics like Star Trek and Blade Runner. Along side those shows some films are being broadcast.

Last Saturday night the first episode of the 4 part documentary was followed by Minority Report, as… errr… reported… last week. This Friday BBC2 at 11:35pm is showing A.I. Artificial Intelligence. Details can be found on the BBC’s website here.

I’m beginning to think the scheduler is trying to sneak in a short Kathryn Morris season!

Now all we need is Paycheck to be shown again and we’ll have the full set of KM blockbuster sci-fi films. Paycheck was last shown in August so I’m thinking it is unlikely.

Paycheck, like Minority Report, is based on a Philip K Dick short story giving them great sci-fi pedigree as he also wrote the stories what became Blade Runner and Total Recall.

A.I. Artificial Intelligence is the story of a small robot boy (Haley Joel Osment, Pay It Forward) created to help a grieving mother (Frances O’Connor, Mr Selfridge) deal with the loss of her son. English actress Frances recently guest starred in an episode of the US fantasy drama Once Upon A Time and can currently be seen in the BBC drama The Missing, along side James Nesbitt (Babylon).

Kathryn makes and all too brief appearance as a performer at a sort of destruction derby circus where robots are destroyed for the amusement of a baying crowd. She looks startling (and great) in her red hair and Stars and Stripes outfit. That get up may be why the film is being shown, what with it being Thanksgiving tomorrow. Happy holiday to our American friends.

Screencaps and a video clip from A.I. can be found in the Gallery.

Minority Report – Saturday on BBC2

This is quite a quick turn around for the BBC. Normally it is at least a year (or as many as three) between showings of the movie Minority Report.

This coming Saturday (22nd November) BBC2 from 23:30 (that’s half eleven in old money) will be graced with a few brief appearances of Kathryn in the Tom Cruise-led sci-fi action film.

Auntie Beeb must have taken a liking to the film as they’re actually accelerating the frequency of broadcasts as it was only back in May of this year that it was last on our screens. I’m not aware of other films around that it could be tied to in any way. Often networks broadcast older titles related to new cinema releases. They must get special rates from the distributor to help with promotion of the latest franchise sequel for instance. The Hunger Games was recently repeated in the UK on national TV, just ahead of Mockingjay Part 1 hitting the big screens today (Thursday, 20th Nov).

Back in May it was BBC Scotland that had to wait another 25 hours for their chance at watching Minority Report. I can only assume that due to the recent independence referendum result they’ve now been included in the main showing. It is BBC Wales that has to suffer a 24.5 hours delay this time.

For those interested (and why wouldn’t you be?) KM UK already has a comprehensive set of HD screencaps and the promo image above in the Gallery.

Full details can be found on the BBC website here.

Paycheck – Thursday, BBC1

It’s always nice when the paycheck arrives early

The past few times that the BBC has shown the John Woo sci-fi action drama Paycheck it has been after a gap of around two years. Xmas comes early on Thursday (21st Aug) as it has been only a little over one year since the last broadcast. Whoo-hoo! Or should that be Woo-hoo!

Auntie Beeb has been extra kind to us as they are also showing the film at the slightly earlier time of 23:35, which (as I always say) means you can see Kathryn’s memorably forgettable (or is it forgettably memorable?) performance and be done well before midnight. She’s only in the opening section, but it is 10 minutes worth watching. Those in Northern Ireland will have to wait until later on Friday night. The BBC’s website has details of the broadcast.

Leading man Ben Affleck (Pearl Harbor) was earlier this year controversially announced as being the new Batman, with the first film with him in that role due for release in the summer of 2016. By then it will be nearly 20 years since Ben and his writing/acting partner Matt Damon worked with the recently departed Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting. Robin won a Support Acting Oscar and the boys won a Screenplay Oscar for that one.

Not surprisingly Paycheck already features strongly in the KM UK Gallery with a comprehensive set of HD screencaps. A more detailed description of Kathryn’s role in the film can be found in an earlier post here.

Just in case you have your memory wiped between now and the start of Paycheck (add 24.5 hours if you are in Northern Ireland) here is a countdown timer to remind you:

Countdown Completed

Murder She Wrote – Sat/Sun ITV3

Picture the scene: you’ve sat through enough football and tennis the past couple of weeks to bore even the most ardent fan of either sport. England have proved incapable at football, again, and our tennis hero has been re-branded as Scottish. It’s late on Saturday and you need a change of pace from the repeat showing of action films that have filled the evening schedules. What can you do? Fear no longer. Help is at hand.

Murder, She Wrote is not normally late night TV viewing but the UK’s ITV3 channel has decided to try and goose its ratings at the midnight hour by putting on an episode. The episode in question is one of the very last from the 12th and final season, has the title of What You Don’t Know Can Kill You, and sees Kathryn in a guest starring role.

So, if you find yourself up as Saturday becomes Sunday then tune into ITV3 for a bit of gentle sleuthing with Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) and the folks of Cabots Cove, which is clearly one of the most dangerous places in America. England has its own equivalent in Midsomer from Midsomer Murders (one of the most watched shows in the world!) with a body count for the small county that must be past the century in the 100 episodes so far.

Or record it and watch it before the tennis on Sunday.

My detailed review (spoiler alert!) of this Murder, She Wrote episode can be seen in this post from back in 2009. Of course there is also already comprehensive coverage of MSW: WYDKCKY in the KM UK Gallery.

It doesn’t happen often enough but here on KM UK we like to mention appearances of Kathryn’s work on the TV screens of Great Britain in our Media Alert posts. If you spot something upcoming, preferably on channels available on the Freeview system that everyone has access to, then please let me know via the contact form.

Murder, She Wrote: A Story To Die For – Saturday ITV

I’ve posted several times over the years about this post-series Murder, She Wrote TV movie getting airings in the UK. Up to now all those screenings have been on the sister ITV3 channel. On Saturday it returns to the big leagues on the main ITV1 channel. You’ll have to get up early (for a Saturday) to catch it though as it’s a 9:30 start.

In January there was big Murder news as it was reported that the US TV network NBC had decided not to go ahead with making a pilot of a remake after they’d had a re-think. Isn’t re-imagining the same as re-thinking? Oscar winner Octavia Spencer (The Help) was signed up as the lead in the re-imagining.

Original Murder, She Wrote star Angela Lansbury was said to be “terribly pleased and relieved” at the news of the project’s cancellation. Fans of the show seemed largely to be against the idea as well. A few weeks prior to that, Angela, who in 2014 celebrates 70 years in the business known as “show”, received the Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours list for her acting and charity work. She may have lived and worked in the US for much of her life but Angela is British by birth and holds dual citizenship so can use the attached title of Dame. Non-citizens can hold the honorary title and are only allowed put the letters after their name. 20 years ago Dame Angela was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire), which has no title attached, so getting the DBE is a promotion. The equivalent to the DBE for men is the KBE, or Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, which gets you a Sir.

A Story To Die For was the second of four TV movies made in the seven years after the series finished its amazing 12 season run of 264 episodes in 1996. (This post is brought to you by the numbers 2, 4, 7, 12, 264 and 1996, and the letters K, M and U ). As we know, earlier in her career Kathryn had a small role in one of the last episodes of the final season of the TV series. The episode title was What You Don’t Know Can Kill You and KM UK covered it HERE. Hopefully that episode will be broadcast on UK television at some point in the not to distant future.

Kathryn’s role in A Story To Die For is quite significant in its air time and importance to the plot. Details of the broadcast can be found on the Radio Times website.

Screencaps (such as the one above) from the film can be found in the Gallery.