http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=66056&command=displayContent&sourceNode=65583&contentPK=3755227
HOLD TIGHT! YOU'RE IN DANGERVILLE BY JOHN BRUNTON The Evening Post (United Kingdom) January 21, 2003 An escaped lion, a runaway bus, a meteor falling in the town square - they're all in a day's work to the kids of Dangerville. That's the title of a groundbreaking children's programme - part reality TV, part game show, part drama - that hits the screen this evening. Filmed on location around Nottingham, it features six local youngsters from Carlton TV's junior drama workshop, the outfit that nurtured Oscar-nominated actress Samantha Morton. The young hopefuls are Sara Kohal, 18, from West Bridgford, Finn Atkins, 13, of Clifton; Luke Gell, 16, from Aspley; Olivia Newton, 15, from Beeston; Silas-Paul Simpson, 15, of Long Eaton and Andre Mahjouri, 18, of Ruddington. The ten-week series is being directed by Julian Kemp, another junior drama workshop veteran. According to Carlton, the idea of the series is that the youngsters are "living together in Dangerville, an enormous purpose-built town. Each week they will be set an extraordinary challenge. "It might be dealing with a meteor landing in the town square, an escaped lion or a runaway bus. Together they must work out a solution." Royle Family actor Ralf Little and former Neighbours and Big Breakfast star Mark Little "commentate". The programmes, mixing classic children's adventure with fantastic storylines and fly-on-the-wall reality, also features character comedian Graham Fellows, creator of John Shuttleworth. The imaginary town of Dangerville is in fact Compton Acres, West Bridgford, the youngsters' `home in reality a house there. Other locations include the Nottingham Caves, RAF Newton, and the old Boots testing site at Thurgarton. The Experian building in Electric Avenue, near Carlton"s studios in Lenton Lane, doubles as the main town square in the fictional Dangerville. Finn Atkins, a pupil at Farnborough Comprehensive School, Clifton, has already appeared in Peak Practice and the Shane Meadows film Once Upon a Time in the Midlands. Just back from London, where she played a troubled teenager in a new BBC political drama, State of Play, she said: "Dangerville is a completely new idea. It"s a bit like Big Brother in that we all appear to be living in this house. We also have to solve these problems. "Graham Fellows plays the evil mayor of the town. He"s very funny. We all had a good time." Says workshop director Ian Smith: "The six youngsters were chosen for their improvisational skills and their ability to get on together. We were looking for a wide range of kids who could work as a team - and what emerged were six very different characters who each brought a freshness to the drama. "Although these are fictional characters they are only a few degrees removed from the young actors themselves. They fitted easily into their roles and really entered into the spirit of it." He added: "It was a great experience to work on the project with Julian, who was once himself in the Carlton Junior TV Workshop. "I also taught him as a kid - he was in my tutor group when I was a teacher at the Wheldon School, in Carlton. "This has been a real learning curve for me, Julian has a wealth of creative intelligence - and it certainly made a change from going over his English homework with a red pen!" Before hitting the big screen Samantha Morton, who was Oscar-nominated for her role in the Woody Allen comedy Sweet and Lowdown,, was on TV in such shows as Cracker and Band of Gold. Julian Kemp has also gone on to a successful career in showbusiness. Before Dangerville, he had directed such children's shows as Wise Up and Roger and the Rotten Trolls. In the first episode of Dangerville, on ITV1 at 4.20 today, the team comes face to face with an escaped lion. ______________________________________________ Meteorite-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
