Jon Hamm and Daniel Radcliffe return to Sky Arts for Playhouse Presents… A Young Doctor’s Notebook & Other Stories
A YOUNG DOCTOR’S NOTEBOOK & OTHER STORIES – the most successful series in the history of Sky Arts - will return for a second series as part of the Playhouse Presents strand. Jon Hamm and Daniel Radcliffe will reprise their roles, with Hamm playing a Russian doctor during the Russian Revolution, and Radcliffe his younger self. Customers will be able to watch the new series on Sky Arts 1 HD and On Demand later in 2013.
A YOUNG DOCTOR’S NOTEBOOK & OTHER STORIES is a comedy drama inspired by a selection of further works by the celebrated Russian writer and playwright Mikhail Bulgakov, including the semi-autobiographical story, Morphine. The series returns to the small village of Muryevo in 1918 to find the Young Doctor(Daniel Radcliffe) battling against an all-consuming morphine addiction. Under the critical gaze of his "clean" older self (Jon Hamm), the Young Doctor struggles to cope with life in the hospital, the Civil War, and the arrival of Natasha, played by fast rising newcomer, Margaret Clunie, a beautiful young aristocrat. Adam Godley will reprise his role as The Feldsher alongside Rosie Cavaliero and Vicki Pepperdine as Pelageya and Anna respectively.
Jon Hamm says: “I'm thrilled to come back to our wonderful, weird, wild world of A Young Doctor's Notebook. Series one was an absolute blast to work on and I'm looking forward to continuing this bizarre adventure."
Daniel Radcliffe says: "I had absolutely no hesitation in agreeing to do a second series of A Young Doctor's Notebook. I had an incredible time working with the multi talented Jon Hamm and of course am a huge fan of Mikhail Bulgakov's work and so was thrilled when I was told a second series had been commissioned. I am also greatly looking forward to working with our new director Robert McKillop and cannot wait to commence filming this summer.”
The 4 x 30’ series is produced by multi award-wining Big Talk Productions, in association with Jon Hamm and Jennifer Westfeldt’s Point West Pictures. It was commissioned by Lucy Lumsden and is executive produced by Kenton Allen for Big Talk Productions, Jon Hamm for Point West Pictures and Jon Mountague for Sky. The director is Robert McKillop and the producer is Clelia Mountford. The series was written by Mark Chappell, Shaun Pye and Alan Connor, based on an idea by Clelia Mountford.
A YOUNG DOCTOR’S NOTEBOOK & OTHER STORIES marks a further development of the Playhouse Presents strand which champions innovative productions and original writing, and which underlines Sky’s promise to deliver high-quality, exclusive content to customers, supported by a commitment to increase investment in home-grown programming to £600 million by 2014, an increase of more than 50% over three years. The first series is currently available to download as a box set from Sky’s On Demand service.
James Hunt, Director, Sky Arts says, “I am absolutely thrilled to bring the most talented double act of our generation back to Sky Arts. A Young Doctor’s Notebook was the channel’s most successful programme to date and was unanimously loved by our customers. It is a perfect fit for our Playhouse Presents strand with its world class talent both on and off screen.”
Lucy Lumsden, Head of Comedy, Sky says: “We’re delighted that this supremely talented cast has been able to reunite in another dose of the darkly comic series A Young Doctor’s Notebook.”
A YOUNG DOCTOR’S NOTEBOOK and A YOUNG DOCTOR’S NOTEBOOK & OTHER STORIES is distributed internationally by BBC Worldwide. They will be available to view in North America on the Ovation network later in 2013/14.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT
Sarah Aspinall Senior Publicist, Sky
T:
E:
Dominic Collett Sky Arts Publicist, Sky Press Office
T: 0207 032 4892
E:
NOTES TO EDITOR
About Sky
Sky is the UK and Ireland’s leading home entertainment and communications company. Around 40% of all homes have a direct relationship with Sky through its range of TV, broadband and home telephony services.
Sky is the UK’s biggest investor in television content, investing more than £2.3 billion a year in channels such as Sky 1, Sky Atlantic, Sky Living, Sky Arts, Sky Sports, Sky Movies and Sky News. Around two-thirds of Sky’s content spend is invested in the UK and Sky is the fastest-growing source of investment in original British programmes. More than 30 million people watch Sky content each week.
Alongside its commitment to offering customers a greater choice of quality content, Sky is a leading innovator. Customers enjoy total control and flexibility over their favourite TV through Sky+, watch TV on the move through Sky Go, and enjoy the best quality TV experience at home through High Definition and 3D.
Sky distributes its content broadly over several platforms, including satellite, cable, IPTV, mobile and WiFi. NOW TV, Sky’s second consumer brand, builds on the company’s leadership in internet TV. Sky is also the UK's fastest-growing home communications company and favourite ‘triple-play’ provider of TV, broadband and home phone.
Sky believes in making a wider contribution to the communities in which it operates by taking positive action on the environment, supporting grassroots sports and increasing access to, and participation in, the arts. Sky employs 23,000 people, has annual revenues of £6.8 billion and is estimated to support a £5.4 billion contribution to UK GDP. Sky is listed on the London Stock Exchange (BSY). www.sky.com/corporate
About Big Talk
Big Talk Productions is one of the UK's leading film and television production companies. It has a fantastic slate of original TV comedy and drama, and a track record in developing and nurturing talent such as Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright whose cult television series Spaced paved the way for Big Talk’s hit films Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and Paul.
In recent years Big Talk has gone from strength to strength with a string of award winning productions including BAFTA-award winning Rev. (BBC2), RTS Best Comedy Performance winning Him & Her (BBC3), Friday Night Dinner (Channel 4) and Threesome (Comedy Central). Brand new comedies in 2013 include Chickens (Sky1), written by and starring Simon Bird, Joe Thomas & Jonny Sweet, The Job Lot (ITV1) starring Russell Tovey and Sarah Hadland and Give Out Girls for Sky Living. Original comedy pilots include Caitlin’s Raised By Wolves (Channel 4) and Mummy’s Boys (Comedy Central).
Big Talk made its mark in drama programming in 2012 with The Town (ITV1), written by Laurence Olivier award winning playwright Mike Bartlett, starring Andrew Scott and Martin Clunes, and miniseries A Young Doctor’s Notebook (Sky Arts), which starred Jon Hamm and Daniel Radcliffe. Furthering Big Talk’s venture into drama in 2013 was Youngers (E4) which returns for a second series in 2014. New titles include Ambassadors (BBC2) starring long-term collaborators David Mitchell and Robert Webb and Nick Frost vehicle Mr Sloane (Sky Atlantic) from Emmy-award winning writer and director Robert Weide.
In film, Big Talk has made 21st century classics, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, all directed by Edgar Wright. Paul, written by and starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, was directed by Greg Mottola. Joe Cornish’s directorial debut Attack the Block was released to fantastic reviews and awards and Sightseers, directed by Ben Wheatley, had its world premiere at Cannes. Coming next are In Fear, Jeremy Lovering’s psychological thriller and Cuban Fury, a Salsa dancing rom-com starring Nick Frost, Rashida Jones, Chris O'Dowd and Ian McShane. The World’s End, the third collaboration between director Edgar Wright, co-written by and starring Simon Pegg with Nick Frost is released in the UK on Friday 19 July.