TV TALK

WITH TIM OGLETHORPE

W1A across the pond?

Watch out, Washington! Hugh Bonneville has hinted his W1A character Ian Fletcher (pictured), the fictional Head of Values at the BBC, could have a new career in the US capital. Hugh says, ‘I spoke with W1A writer John Morton – we discussed Ian and the team going over to sort out American politics.’

Tom Cullen prefers playing villainous Guy Fawkes (pictured) in BBC1 drama Gunpowder to Viscount Gillingham in Downton Abbey. ‘It’s more my kind of role,’ he says. ‘Downton was an experiment and it wasn’t necessarily where I liked to operate as an actor.’

Jessica Raine says she’s no fan of her character Alison’s deep suntan in The Last Post. ‘It looked fine on screen and reflected the amount of time Alison [pictured] spends in the sun in Aden, but didn’t work so well off it,’ she explains. ‘In real life, I actually looked kind of insane.’

BBC1’s upcoming quiz show Ready Or Not will pick on people at random to take part. Unsuspecting members of the public across the country will be surprised while going about their business, and invited by the hosts to complete challenges on the spot, to win big. A source says, ‘They’ll need good knowledge or good nerves – it’s not just a question-based quiz.’