Lara Pulver S Magazine 25 September 2011

Lara Pulver appeared in the Sunday Express "S Magazine" back on 25 September 2011. I've only got around to doing the scans now. Here they are!

Spooks vs Downton Abbey

Both Spooks and Downton Abbey went head to head on Sunday nights so I had a decision to make: which one to watch "live"?

At first Downton won that battle. But as the episodes went on I was unsettled to discover that it was actually, whisper it, a little bit rubbish. Meanwhile I was enjoying the non-live episodes of Spooks a lot more than I thought I would.

After week 4 I did the "switch". Now Spooks would be watched live and I would get around to Downton later. Probably.

Episode 5 of Spooks was a pretty good one. The gang kidnapped a CIA guy because they reckoned he was up to no good. This called for some action with Lara Pulver hanging out of a car firing a gun. Her cheekbones were looking particularly lovely in that episode.

After the cliff-hanger ending (Harry captured by bad Americans!) I turned over to ITV1+1 (I think) to watch the later broadcast of Downton.

I lasted about 10 minutes before I turned the TV off in disgust. That was just after Mary dropped her cup of tea juxtaposed with Matthew going over the top.

I mean, really...

I came to the sudden conclusion that I didn't care about any of the characters (with the possible exception of the middle daughter Edith who I am finding strangely more attractive as time goes on). I don't care about Bates and his on-off wedding with the maid lady. I don't care about the Irish chauffeur and his working man speeches. I certainly don't care about Matthew and Mary

So I skipped the rest of episode 5.

The final Spooks was on last night and rather than run about through the streets of London trying to defuse a nuclear bomb it was actually a low-key finale set mainly in an abandoned military bunker. In fact it looks like it was filmed in an actual abandoned military bunker. If not the production designers did a great job dressing the set up wherever it was. It was a fitting cold war setting for the revelations that followed.

The episode did veer into melodrama at the end when the Russian guy killed his wife and then the Russian son went after Harry with a broken piece of glass in revenge. "There goes Ruth," I thought, and sure enough there was another name on the MI5 memorial wall by the end of the episode.

Oddly there was a "surprise" cameo with the guy who played Mr  Darcey in the Keira Knightley movie returning to say about two lines of dialog.

Final Spooks over I gave Downton a try for 15 minutes. To be honest I found it a much more interesting experience watching the thing without having seen the previous episode. It appears that the footman (I can't remember his name) who fancied Daisy died, but not until he got married to her on his deathbed. There was a new maid to replace Amy Nuttall who now has a baby. She was doing The Acting at one point. Matthew was sulking in a wheelchair going on about being only half a man. I really wanted someone to slap him with a wet fish.

The most interesting bit involved the middle daughter Edith (who by now I am finding very attractive indeed) befriending some Canadian guy with a burned and bandaged head, who claimed to be the long-lost heir of Downton Abbey after getting amnesia on the Titanic disaster.

I mean you can't make this stuff up.

Oh wait, you can...

Downton Abbey 2.1 and Spooks 10.1

Last night saw the return of Downton Abbey on ITV and Spooks on BBC1.

Downton as expected turned out to be a solid piece of duvet tv. It ticked a lot of boxes for manufacturing some angst for most of the main characters. It is now 1916 and the Great War is raging in France.

The main event of the episode was the return of heir to Downton Abbey from the front. He turned up with a shock fiancee. The Michele Doherty character was doing some serious gazing-across-the-room acting. Later she is found doing some uncharacteristic praying by her bedside for his survival. They had a farewell scene at a train station as he returned to the front. Those are always good. I liked that he was all convinced he was not coming back from France, almost like they are setting him up for a shock exit? She insists on giving him her 'lucky' stuffed toy.

I expect that stuffed toy to be in the shops for Christmas.

I also liked the Penelope Wilton butler approaching the doctor as he tries to get out of being called up on account of his 'bad lungs'. He could have at least coughed.

And remember the nasty footman? He's now a stretcher bearer in the trenches and is desperate to get home. He holds a lit cigerate lighter above the trench in order to get his hand shot by an obliging German sniper. He sobs his thanks as the blood pumps from his ruined hand. I actually think the episode was quite successful in this sequence as they made me have sympathy for an unlikable character and made it quit believable that one would go those lengths to get out of the madness of the trenches.

The Bates story seemed a bit contrived to me though. One minute he's planing his future with the maid he's sweet on. The next minute his wife turns up. She was was a bit too much boo-hiss evil and was clearly added to the story just to split up Bates and his true love. He is forced to resign his position and leave in order to stop some scandal spreading and Hugh Bonniville's resulting whine about Bates leaving service didn't ring true.

In other developments the youngest daughter baked a cake and the Irish driver expressed his love for her.

I think I might like Amy Nuttal's new maid lady. Must be a redhead thing.

I'll be keeping my eyes out for any melodramatic bar of soap incidents.

Spooks was ok in a tired sort of way. The characters uncovered a plot to kill a Russian and Lara Pulver managed to shoot the assassin while wearing an evening gown. I expect that we will see her staring into a mirror a lot to signify that it's the first person she's killed. Her voice reminded me a bit of Eva Green.

Lara Pulver in Daily Mail and elsewhere

There's a few new articles about Lara Pulver appearing in Spooks.

First of all there's a nice big article in the center pages of today's Daily Mail newspaper.

You can read the article at www.dailymail.co.uk

There's a little piece at www.whatsontv.co.uk

From the Evening Standard...

Spooks star Lara Pulver has told of the "crazy adrenaline buzz" she got from holding a gun.

The actress was armed with a Walther PPK semi-automatic, the same gun used by James Bond, for a scene in the 10th and final series of Spooks, which starts on Sunday.

She described the weapon as "the girlie version, all silver and sexy but just as deadly as 007's".

Pulver, who plays Erin Watts in the BBC1 show, added: "It felt empowering in a very rude way."

www.thisislondon.co.uk

Finally there's an interview with Lara in the current issue of Reveal magazine. Which is a magazine I had never heard of up to a few minutes ago.

Lara Pulver Spooks interview

I've just discovered this interview with Lara on a site called cultbox so I thought I would post it here.

Lara Pulver ('Spooks': Series 10) interview

Update, I found another interview: http://www.tvchoicemagazine.co.uk/interviewextra/lara-pulver-spooks

PS I've just realised that this is my 300th post to this blog thing.

Lara Pulver Spooks article in Total TV Guide

Today is "new TV listings mag day" and I was hoping that the Radio Times would have a nice Lara Pulver article for me ahead of Spooks returning on Saturday.

However while the Radio Times and most other mags do have some Spooks content there is very little Lara-specific stuff going on.

Fortunately Total TV Guide (somewhere between the TV Times and Whats On TV in terms of quality) does provide us with a nice full-page photo of Lara looking very lovely indeed...

It would appear that she spends the episode in an evening dress running around with a gun. I can only assume there is yet another embassy siege with her colleagues being held hostage. Sounds good to me.

It is worth noting that all the TV guides are presently having a collective swoon of excitement with the return of Downton Abbey. The TV Times has even produced alternate Downton Abbey covers to collect and be passed on to future generations. The Radio Times has a foldy-out cover to fit in bigger picture of the stars, no doubt worth framing and hanging in the living room.

All well and good, but Spooks and Downton are on at the same time on Sunday. And my DVD Recorder has packed in. I may resort to recording on on good old VHS. Remember that?

Lara Pulver in Spooks info from BBC

The BBC press office has released some info on the upcoming final series of Spooks. Here's the little bit about Lara Pulver's character plus a tiny photo.

In the last ever series of acclaimed spy drama Spooks, the team has been left reeling by Lucas North's betrayal, and with Harry Pearce on gardening leave, Section D has a new leader. Erin Watts is acting head and she has brought Calum Reed with her, a brilliant officer and technical genius.

You can read the complete press release at www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/proginfo/tv/2011/wk38/images/206_spooks.jpg.

Hopefully the BBC will release a larger photo soon.

Lara Pulver joins Spooks cast

This unexpected news just landed in my inbox.

Lara Pulver is to join the cast of the BBC's spy drama Spooks when it returns for it's tenth series later this year. She will apparently replace the Sophia Myles character who only joined the cast last year.

Her character is described as “ambitious, hungry and determined to make her mark”.

I'm quite a Lara fan after her appearance in Robin Hood in 2009 so I'm looking forward to seeing her in the new series.

Source: www.expressandstar.com