War of the Worlds invades Star on Disney+

With the impending closure of the Fox channel in the UK, the second season of War of the Worlds will stream exclusively on Star on Disney+ this July.

When we went into the first lockdown due to the global pandemic in March 2020, Fox's Anglo-French reimagining of H.G. Wells' classic alien invasion story-cum-essay on cultural imperialism had already started on Fox.

It was certainly no seminal sci-fi mini-series. However, I stoically stuck with it, unlike the much-maligned BBC adaptation, which wasn't helped by being scheduled after the superlative His Dark Materials in the run-up to Christmas 2019.

Daisy Edgar-Jones (Normal People) played Emily Gresham who regained her eyesight whenever near an alien invader. For a while, War of the Worlds was a fun post-apocalyptic romp in the style of The Walking Dead until it became patently clear we weren’t going to see any tripods trampling humans on a scale comparable to Steven Spielberg's big screen adaptation or even the BBC's early eighties series The Tripods! Le sigh!

Here’s hoping there are tripods this time.

Series showrunner Howard Overman (Misfits) commented: “It was always my intention in the first series of War of the Worlds that the intricacies of human relationships would be at its heart. Watching these complex characters brought to life by such a fantastic cast of actors was a joy, and it’s been a thrill returning to their stories for Season 2.”

Edgar-Jones reprises the role of Emily following her award-winning turn in Normal People. She'll be joined by returning cast members Gabriel Byrne, Léa Drucker, Natasha Little, Stéphane Caillard, Adel Bencherif, Ty Tennant, Stephen Campbell Moore, Bayo Gbadamosi, Aaron Heffernan and Emilie de Preissac.

Season one is currently streaming on Star on Disney+.

Are you looking forward to the second season of War of the Worlds? Let me know in the comments below.

Synths strike back: Humans renewed for second series

Humans, an Anglo-American sci-fi series based on the award-winning Swedish drama Real Humans, is to be renewed for a second series by Channel Four and AMC ahead of this weekend's season finale.

Best surmised as an alternate universe mashup of Dollhouse, Caprica and Blade Runner for generation selfie. Humans is possibly the best genre series on Channel Four since the heyday of Misfits.

Channel Four's head of drama Piers Wenger said: "Humans has proved a huge hit with both audiences and critics alike this summer and we owe a huge debt of gratitude to writers Sam Vincent and Jonathan Brackley and to the team at Kudos for bringing a truly unmissable show to life.

"It also marks a key moment for Channel 4 as we expand our remit for bold and original drama into the international, co-production space. We look forward to working with our partners AMC on series 2 of Humans and to more Synth-related adventures to come".

Will the Synths strike back in series 2? Let me know in the comments below.

Misfits in the USA

Last week I attended the Misfits S3 launch and screening at the BFI.

I won't delve deeper into the premiere episode aside from saying that any concerns about the series' demise, with the departure of Nathan, were premature and assuaged by a breakout performance from Joseph Gilgun as Rudy.

During the cast and creator Q&A that followed. Misfits' creator Howard Overman outlined that Superhoodie's identity was decided midway through recording S2 and alluded to a US version, after it was noted that Misfits has garnered a cult following, in North America, since Hulu started streaming S1.

Josh Schwartz (The OC and Gossip Girl) confirmed that a Misfits remake will be produced by his company Fake Empire under Warner Bros.

The combination of Howard Overman and the power of the Schwartz is too compelling to fail! The OC's Rachel Bilson should be cast as Alisha. What do you think?

Misfits S3 starts on E4 Sunday, 30th October, at 10pm.

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Misfits cast Joe Gilgun as new recruit Rudy

As filming begins on Series 3 of E4's Bafta-nominated smash hit drama series Misfits, Joe Gilgun (star of This Is England '86) enrols for community service as new guy Rudy. He lines up alongside Misfits resident delinquents Bafta nominee Lauren Socha, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Antonia Thomas and Iwan Rheon in the super-sized series which sees its run extended to eight episodes.

New kid on the block Rudy gets a rude awakening in his first few days of community service, learning that with the keys to the infamous locker comes a great deal of running and screaming and, in some instances, bloodletting. But that really is the least of his worries. More pressing is just how to keep his secret superpower, well, secret. And is it super? As in from the A- List?

The rest of the gang are also back with all-new powers. But just how did that trade off with Seth (Matthew McNulty), the superpower dealer, go down? You would hope that at least one of them has a power approaching something halfway useful. You would hope... Is Simon any closer to fulfilling his destiny as Superhoodie? And just where does he learn to do all that nifty parkour?

With Seth still trading powers, zombies on the loose, havoc being wreaked with events from the past and even more havoc being wreaked in the present, things haven't got any quieter for our gang...

The 8 x 60 min series will be produced by Clerkenwell Films (Afterlife, Persuasion) for transmission on E4 later in 2011. And it's not just a new look cast - the production team get their very own make-over. Matt Strevens (Skins) produces while Alex Garcia and Wayne Yip (Coming Up, Secret Diary of a Call Girl) take on co-directorial duties.

Writer Howard Overman (Misfits, Merlin) will be writing five of the eight episodes and executive producers for Clerkenwell Films Murray Ferguson and Petra Fried both return. The new series has been greenlit by Drama Commissioning Editor Robert Wulff-Cochrane.

No 'sloppy seconds' for E4's Misfits!

On Thursday I was invited to a press screening of Misfits S2 episode one at the BFI, which was followed by a Q&A, chaired by Jonathan Ross, with the cast and crew.

Alongside BBC Radio 1, I was fortunate enough to attend a pre-screening Bloggers Q&A with the cast, and left struck by their genuine warmth and camaraderie. David Monteith, from Geek Syndicate, had posed a prescient Star Wars-related question to kick things off...



Series 2 is off to a strong start with an opening sequence - introducing a new mysterious character - that owes much to Chris Nolan's The Dark Knight. Listen carefully to the soundtrack, and tell me that it doesn't evoke Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard, too! However, the pomp is subverted, in Misfits' inimitable style, when a paper airplane pokes Kelly in the eye.

Featuring the revelation of Nathan's superpower, a spurned shape-shifter running amok and a Wall's Cornetto gag, episode one sets things up for a blockbuster second series.

If you're wondering if there'll ever be a Misfits movie, Howard Overman, the series' creator, nixed that idea during the subsequent Q&A. Overman was refreshingly candid. He revealed that there's no deliberate subtext pertaining to the 'disenfranchised' and nor will everything be explained.

In the spirit of transmedia storytelling (a term I learnt from Steve Berry at Channel Four). Follow the Misfits on Twitter @simonmisfits @alishamisfits @kellymisfits @nathanmisfits @curtismisfits and me of course!

Misfits. Thursday 11 November, 10pm, E4. For exclusive content visit www.e4.com/misfits. However, if you can't wait that long there's iTunes.

Misfits returning to E4 this November

The following press release arrived in my inbox this morning. Hope I get an invite to the screener.

‘This sort of thing only happens in America...’

Filming begins on E4’s BAFTA-nominated smash hit drama series MISFITS II; so strap on your ankle tags and lock up your kids, it’s all about to kick off again.

“Misfits blazed onto the screen with a terrific sense of humour, self confidence and brio” Daily Telegraph

“..a script that fizzes with wit and invention and a charismatic cast of next generation talent” Time Out

“Misfits is funny, scary, full of emotion and character and…banter that would drop Joss Whedon from a hundred paces” Bleeding Cool

“Misfits is the most brilliantly aimed teen gang adventure there may have been on TV” London Evening Standard

Everyone’s favourite ASBO teens, Nathan (Robert Sheehan), Kelly (BAFTA-nominee Lauren Socha), Curtis (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett), Alisha (Antonia Thomas) and Simon (Iwan Rheon) are back for a second series of E4’s hit comedy drama Misfits.

So to recap; a freak storm left our posse of social outcasts with slightly crap super powers; Curtis can turn back time, Kelly can read minds, Simon can turn invisible and Alisha can send people into a sexual frenzy with just one touch. Then there’s their two dead probation workers (one is buried under the local environmental monitoring station; the other stored in a freezer in the community centre). And finally, unbeknownst to the others, Nathan is trapped six feet under in a coffin, immortal and very much alive.

But it’s not just the ASBO Five who were affected by the storm. With the super-charged local townsfolk going the way of Gotham City, each week as we head back to the community centre our gang will be faced with a whole new world of weird and wild characters.

And just who IS the masked, hooded stranger who seems to be watching their every move? A force for good? An evil arch-nemesis intent on bringing about our gang’s destruction? Or just another kid in a hoodie?

The 6 x 60 min series will be produced by Clerkenwell Films (Afterlife, Persuasion) for transmission on E4 in November 2010.

Director Tom Green (Misfits I) returns to the helm along with writer Howard Overman (Misfits, Merlin), producer Kate Crowe (Misfits I) and executive producers for Clerkenwell Films Murray Ferguson and Petra Fried. The new series has been greenlit by Drama Commissioning Editor, Robert Wulff-Cochrane.

Quiz E4's Misfits cast

Readers will already know that I gave E4's Misfits an unequivocally positive review here.

You can now pose your questions directly to cast members Antonia Thomas (Alisha), Iwan Rheon (Simon) and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett (Curtis).

Submit your questions to the cast here, and the best ones will be used in video interviews that will appear online.

Deadline for questions is 10am, Tuesday 24th November, so get a move on.

Misfits is no misfire

On Thursday night I was invited, along with luminaries from the social media space, to a preview screening of E4's new six-part super hero comedy drama, Misfits, in the hallowed halls of Channel Four.

Party-girl Alisha (Antonia Thomas) can send people into a sexual frenzy with just one touch, hard as nails Kelly (Lauren Socha) can suddenly hear people’s thoughts, while one-time sporting hero Curtis (Nathan Stewart Jarrett) discovers he has the ability to turn back time. Even painfully shy nerd Simon (Iwan Rheon) can make himself invisible – which is what he has always felt.

Howard Overman's (Merlin, Hustle, New Tricks) treatment of super hero mythology is worthy of comparison to Bryan Singer's The X-Men. Sans sentiment, one scene brutally lampoons The X-Men's Professor Xavier. However, Overman denies such subtext, preferring the audience to embellish!

There will be no trite explanation of the meaning behind the mysterious storm that enthuses the ASBO miscreants with super powers, thereby preserving some semblance of enigma and precluding a narrative 'black hole' should Misfits, deservedly in my opinion, garner a second season! And, the creative team should be lauded for holding back on the special effects, which were secondary and tertiary to the charismatic characters. Again, the adage of less is more, applies here, in abundance (budgetary limitations aside)!

I should point out that Misfits will embrace, in the words of Channel Four's Steve Berry, 'transmedia storytelling'. This is storytelling across multiple forms of media with each element making distinctive contributions to a viewer's understanding of the story world. By using different media formats, it attempts to create "entrypoints" through which consumers can become immersed in a story world. And, perhaps most coolly of all, audiences will be able to officially follow the protagonists on Twitter; Mad Men fans started tweeting as characters, and the studio, bogged down by old media politics, initially tried to stop it, which was counter-intuitive.

Misfits isn't a reaction to Heroes, the programme's genesis pre-dates the hit US television drama series, or a self-serving misfire caching in on sociological trends. But, could be the best in-house genre show from the Channel Four stable since Dead Set! That's a super power worthy of any hero or anti-hero...

So, set your PVR to record Misfits, which begins 10PM Thursday November 12th on E4.

Special thanks to Channel Four's Steve and Alex for being so welcoming.