TVinformer
Snitching on entertainment
Not only do we have to stay inside because of Covid-19, but there may be fewer soaps to watch: ITV has announced that Coronation Street and Emmerdale will suspend production and the BBC has suspended filming on dramas such as EastEnders, Casualty, Doctors and Holby City.
Covid-19 is hitting the New Zealand film and television industry hard: filming on the three Avatar sequels has been suspended as has the production of The Lord of the Rings TV series, which was being filmed in West Auckland for Amazon. South Pacific Pictures has suspended production of Shortland Street, Westside, Educators and Mean Mums and TVNZ 2 has reduced the number of Shortland Street episodes per week to three, screening Monday-Wednesday.
Small mercies: Eurovision 2020, which was due to take place in Rotterdam on May 16, has been cancelled, although we were looking forward to seeing the absurdly catching Icelandic entry Think About Things, by Daði Freyr, performed live. Here’s the video: tinyurl.com/ NZLThinkAbout
Sam Neill and Anna Paquin have been reunited for the first time since The Piano in 1993. Neill will appear in the second season of Flack, the disturbing satire in which Paquin’s London publicist Robyn specialises in cleaning up the worst-of-the-worst PR nightmares. Paquin told Radio Times that working with Neill instantly made her feel “I was about nine years old again”. Sophie Okonedo is Robyn’s boss, Caroline, and Neill plays her ex-husband. Paquin’s husband, Stephen Moyer, is directing a couple of episodes. Season one is still available on
TVNZ OnDemand.