Hollywood Q&A
Q: Were the trolls in “Ernest Scared Stupid” by Jim Henson?
A: No, but the Chiodo brothers would be flattered by your guess.
The villainous trolls who terrorize Briarville, Missouri, in “Ernest Scared Stupid” (1991) were designed by Chiodo Brothers Productions, a competing character-design company — as much as anyone can be said to “compete” with the legendary, pioneering Jim Henson’s Creature Shop.
That said, you’re likely familiar with the work of the Chiodos — Charles, Edward and Stephen — whether you know it or not.
Most notably, perhaps, they were the puppeteers behind the all-puppet, adult-oriented comedy “Team America: World Police” (2004). They also designed the titular monsters in the Critters horror-comedy film series.
They largely made their names with 1988’s “Killer Klowns From Outer Space,” a bizarre horror-comedy about — well, it says it all right in the title. This was a true labor of love for them, and they directed, wrote and produced it as well as doing the effects and design. They later reused some of the clown masks from that film for the trolls in “Ernest Scared Stupid.”
The Chiodos’ reputation certainly leans more toward grown-up fare, but it’s much wider than that.Along with the kid-friendly “Ernest” film, they also worked on lighter projects such as 1997’s “Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie” and 1995’s “Theodore Rex” (another one people often attribute to Henson).
Q: Who plays Diana on “Slow Horses”? She looks so familiar.
A: It’s honestly hard to know where to start with the career of the great Kristin Scott Thomas. She’s an incredibly accomplished English actress who received a damehood for her services to drama in her home country — that’s the somewhat unhelpful short answer.
Any longer answer would have to include “Gosford Park” (2001), the star-studded drawing-room mystery in which she played the pampered, flirtatious Lady Sylvia McCordle. It would also include 1996’s “The English Patient,” the highly decorated romantic drama in which she played a married woman having an affair with the titular patient.
As a fan of Apple TV+’s spy drama “Slow Horses,” you might know her from the 1996 series-launching blockbuster “Mission: Impossible.” She played Sarah Davies, one of the operatives whose murders in the early stages of the film kick off the whole plot.
She was also part of the ensemble cast of the landmark 1994 romantic comedy “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” which is how she came to the attention of most North Americans.
Prior to that, she was mostly doing theatre or lower-profile English and French cinema (she’s actually fluent in both languages, having lived for a long time in Paris during her pre-fame years).
This is all just a small sample of her body of work — she’s done loads more, from a lot of different genres. That said, she’s a little more tied down than she’s used to at the moment: being a key player in a prestige drama like “Slow Horses” is a pretty big time commitment.
Q: I was delighted to see “Doc Martin” come back for another season. Will we have to wait as long for the next one?
A: Technically no, but that’s not the good news it might sound like. In fact, there will be no waiting for an 11th season of “Doc Martin,” because there won’t be one.
The season that premiered in the fall on Acorn TV (and later on Vision in Canada), the show’s 10th round, will in fact be its last.
Now you might be thinking this is just another fake-out — “Doc Martin” has, of course, always aired erratically — sometimes going dormant for years between seasons, as you point out — but that’s not the case this time.
The final-season trailer states it pretty bluntly: “Doc Martin is back for one final appointment.”
Martin Clunes (“Shakespeare in Love,” 1998) has been playing the cantankerous doctor with a fear of blood since 2004, and so perhaps it’s not surprising that, after so long in the role, he’s the one who called time on it, along with his wife, Philippa Braithwaite, who produces the show.
“The series has avid fans both in the U.K. and throughout the world and we are thrilled that ‘Doc Martin’ has topped the ratings every time,” Clunes and Braithwaite said in a joint statement. “However ... we now feel that the time has come to say goodbye to Portwenn.”
Polly Hill, head of drama for the show’s British network, ITV, confirmed that the decision was theirs: “I am pleased that we are making Series 10 and sad this will be the last, but respect their decision to bring it to a close.”