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Kenneth Branagh is set to play Boris Johnson in a TV series

2021-01-23T20:28:40.604Z


Drama and tragic potential are provided: Shakespeare specialist Kenneth Branagh will play Britain's controversial Prime Minister Boris Johnson in a TV series about the corona crisis.


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Actor Branagh (2011)

Photo: Matt Sayles / AP

The first months after the outbreak of the Covid-19 virus in Great Britain will be the subject of a mini-series that the director Michael Winterbottom, who is familiar with political and contemporary topics, will shoot for broadcast on the pay and streaming channel Sky.

Title of the five-part series, which will be shown in autumn 2022: "This Sceptred Isle", a quote from William Shakespeare from his play "Richard II."

The kingdom is one of the countries worst affected by the pandemic in the world and is currently suffering from unbroken high numbers of infections and the overload of the health system.

Many British people blame their government for the tragic development.

Around 96,000 people have died there from or with the virus.

In keeping with this drama, it is now clear who, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson's, will embody a key figure in the events: According to the US trade journal Variety, the Shakespeare specialist Kenneth Branagh, 60, will take on the difficult part.

Born in Northern Ireland, the actor and filmmaker has made numerous Shakespeare adaptations, including "Henry V" (1989), "Much Ado About Nothing" (1993) and "Hamlet" (1996), in which he largely played leading roles himself took over.

Branagh has received five nominations each for an Oscar and a Golden Globe in his career so far, he won two Emmys and is considered one of the most prominent actors of his generation.

Branagh was most recently seen in Christopher Nolan's science fiction thriller "Tenet". He is currently again playing Agatha Christie's brilliant detective Hercule Poirot in a remake of "Death on the Nile", which he is also directing, due to start in the fall.

True stories from nurses and politicians

British director Michael Winterbottom, 59, has been devoting himself to current political and social issues in his fictional and documentary works for cinema and television for almost three decades.

Among other things, he shot »Welcome to Sarajevo« about the civil war in the former Yugoslavia and »Road to Guantanamo« about the terrorist prison of the US government in Cuba, but also lighter subjects such as »24 Hour Party People« about the music scene in Manchester or the witty reality format »The Trip« with Steve Coogan, popular in England.

“The first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic will be remembered forever,” said Winterbottom according to “Variety” in a statement on the new project that he is co-producing with his own company, “a time when the country came together to fight an invisible enemy.

A time in which more people than ever became aware of the importance of community «.

The series will blend true stories into a panorama, from Boris Johnson's decisions at 10 Downing Street in London to hospital staff on numerous fronts across the country, said Winterbottom, "a chronicle of the efforts of scientists, doctors, nurses and politicians, to protect us from the virus «.

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Source: spiegel

All life articles on 2021-01-23

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