DON’T MISS THE CREW (STREAMING FROM MONDAY)
Comedy and cars come together in this new series. Kevin James stars as a crew chief for the fictional NASCAR-based Bobby Spencer Racing Team. It’s a happy, settled and blokey place to be – until the owner steps down and hands the reins over to his daughter Catherine. She has big plans to modernise the team, and James feels it’s his responsibility to put her off in a bid to protect himself and his colleagues. However, Catherine isn’t one to give up without a fight, so she brings in a bunch of millennials who rely on tech rather than instinct – cue lots of arguments between the old school workers and the Moneyball-inspired newcomers. Jillian Mueller, Freddie Stroma and Sarah Stiles are among the supporting cast.
NEW CRIME DRAMA COMING SOON
Award-winning playwright and dramatist, James Graham, will be drawing on his experiences of growing up in post-industrial Nottinghamshire for his latest collaboration with House Productions, with whom he made Emmy and Bafta-nominated Brexit: The Uncivil War.
Inspired in part by real events, James has created a brand-new fictional crime drama, Sherwood, set in the Nottinghamshire mining village where he grew up.
The contemporary six-part drama for BBC One sees two shocking and unexpected murders shatter an already fractured community, leading to one of the largest manhunts in British history.
Suspicion is rife and the tragic murders threaten to inflame historic divisions sparked during the Miners’ Strike that tore families apart three decades before.
To solve the murders, police inspectors Ian St Clair, from the local constabulary, and Kevin Salisbury from the Met, must reunite and bury a rivalry that stretches back to 1984, in an attempt to heal wounds, and catch a killer.
But can a community repair itself as more is discovered about those who live there, and whether they really are who they say they are? James Graham says: “It means the world to have this opportunity to bring the voices of a community I grew up in to BBC One. So much is spoken about the divisions and difficulties in these ‘Red Wall’ towns, but they’re not always understood. I feel so honoured to be able to tell a fictionalised story about a very real trauma, but with the humour and heart and resilience of the people I know and love there.”
Filming on Sherwood will begin later in 2021 in Nottinghamshire. Casting will be revealed closer to filming.
Successive ground frosts have persisted throughout daytime recently, holding the garden soil in their vice-like grip, and thwarting our plans to make changes to certain hardy border perennials. But every cloud has a silver lining.
The rock-hard surface has allowed access in between trees and shrubs without harming soil structure.
So, we were able to complete their winter pruning. Thankfully, such setbacks are overcome because time is on our side.
A broad swathe of perennials remain in a semi-dormant state, at least until March arrives. Our plans will spring into action immediately when the frost goes. Although this involves extra work, leaving the plants identified as they are going into a new growing season is not an option. Because they include vigorous herbaceous perennials which are encroaching on others.
Besides which, the bonus for dividing such subjects into sections is more free plants. Whenever buying a single herbaceous perennial plant, think of the potential for raising identical
offspring once it has matured and needs splitting into sections.
Where there’s plenty of growing space (and money) available, the ideal is to plant floral beauties of your choice in groups of three, five or seven, thus creating impressive banks of colour.
However, the more satisfying approach, is to build the stock up through regular division.
Herbaceous perennials we need to access once frost recedes include the popular, tall Helianthus Lemon Queen which is vigorous, bordering on invasive. It has already been divided once, but needs a second visit.
As with most herbaceous types, the centre becomes woody and less productive. It’s the peripheral rooted sections that are taken for their vigour.
Hardy geraniums, Johnson’s Blue and Rozanne especially, are up for division. So, too, the cone flower (Rudbeckia Goldsturm), helenium and achillea. Collectively they offer continuity of colour from midsummer into autumn, and work like a magnet in attracting butterflies and bees.
Last week, I noticed a blackbird feasting on berries of the black lace plant (Ophiopogon planiscapus Nigrescens). Now there’s a good reason to continue spreading it around the garden and keep these territorial birds wide apart!