THE THIN BLUE LINE
The Thin Blue Line -
Starring Rowan Atkinson
The Thin Blue Line starring Rowan Atkinson -
Rowan Atkinson made his
first appearance as Inspector Raymond Fowler in Ben Elton's, The Thin
Blue Line on BBC1 last year, the comedy was a big hit with viewers.
Fowler and the rest of the uniformed and plain-clothes officers of
Gasforth Police Station are back for a new seven-part series on BBC1
(Thursdays) to continue their fight against urban crime and uphold
the forces of law and order Sergeant Patricia Dawkins, Fowler's
jealous live-in girlfriend, is back at her desk and keeping her eye
on Fowler's dealings with the new Mayoress - who happens to be one of
his old flames. PC Kevin Goody upholds his position as the thickest
part of the "thin blue line" with a penchant for keeping Curly
Wurlies in his truncheon pouch and a crush on WPC Habib, who finds
she has a conflict of family and police duties when her wayward
sister pays her a visit. And old-timer PC Gladstone continues to
reminisce about his long experience in the police force to anyone
unfortunate enough to ask him about it.Meanwhile, the crack team of
CID crimefighters led by Dl Grim - who cannot bear any "fannying
about" is joined by Detective Boyle, a Northerner who could be
accused of being an undercover lager lout. For those out there who
are keeping track of such things, The Thin Blue Line, a Tiger Aspect
production for, is produced by Ben Elton and Geoffrey Perkins and
directed by John Birkin.
Rowan Atkinson plays the
uniform officer commanding in The Thin Blue Line. Fowler is a
stick-in-the-mud, constantly astonished at just how much mud there is
to stick in. Fowler is now in the tenth year of a relationship with
Patricia, the desk sergeant.Rowan Atkinson, a founder member of the
award-winning BBC television series 'Not The Nine O'Clock News',
starred in the title role of four series of BBC-TV's 'Blackadder'.
Over five years, the four series won three British Academy Awards and
an International Emmy and won Rowan Best Entertainment Performance
(BAFTA) and his second BBC Personality Of The Year award. Rowan began
his career as a budding electrical engineer with degrees from
Newcastle and Oxford Universities, when he attracted wide critical
notice at the Edinburgh Festival in 1977 with his highly acclaimed
original material. In 1981 Rowan became the youngest performer to
have a one man show in London's West End the sell out season at the
Globe Theatre won him the Society of West End Theatre's Award for
Comedy Performance of the Year.Following several successful theatre
performances, including a world tour of his one man show, the
character of Mr Bean was created for ITV. The silent comedy series
went on to win an International Emmy and two Banff Awards and has
since been sold to over 90 countries. Rowan's feature films include
'Never Say Never Again', the voice of Zazu in Disney's 'The Lion
King', 'The Tall Guy', 'Hot Shots - Part Deux' and' Four Weddings And
A Funeral'. Rowan has also shot a 'Mr Bean' feature film for
Polygram, written by Richard Curtis and developed by Robin
Driscoll.
Mark Addy joins the cast
of 'The Thin Blue Line' as Detective Boyle, a blunt Northerner, who
could be accused of being an undercover lager lout Mark has enjoyed a
busy career in theatre, television and film. His television credits
include Between The Lines, A Very Peculiar Practice, The Continental
and Putting On The Ritz, all for BBC-TV; Respect and Heartbeat from
Yorkshire TV; The Bill for Thames; Peak Practice and Band Of Gold for
Central TV; Christmas for Channel 4 and Married... With Children for
Fox A very busy man, indeed... - Mark's many theatrical credits
include Wild Oats, The Trackers Of Oxyhynchus, The Shaughraun /
Bartholomew Fair / Ghetto, all at the National Theatre; Passion
Killers, April In Paris, The Office Party, Bouncers, Up And Under and
Up 'N' Under 11 for the Hull Truck Theatre Company; September In The
Rain, The Rivals, Moll Flanders and The Can Opener for the York
Theatre Royal; Three Sisters and Derek at the Royal Exchange,
Manchester; Putting On The Ritz at the Leicester Haymarket Theatre;
Julius Caesar / The Fantastiks / Much Ado About Nothing at the Open
Air Theatre in Regent's Park; One Over The Eight in Scarborough and
Mail Order Bride at the West Yorkshire Playhouse.Mark also appeared
in the feature film, The Full Montyfor Bodger Films.
Mina Anwarstars as
Constable Maggie Habib, Mina returns for the second series as
Constable Habib in The Thin Blue Line. Habib is an idealist who
really wants to be a good copper, but she is fast realising the odds
are stacked against her.Mina studied drama at the Mountview Theatre
School and won three singing scholarships in her time there. She has
also trained in dance and gymnastics.Mina made her professional debut
in a European tour of Hair. Her first television role was in the
series 99-1 and she recently played the lead role of Shikha in Tanika
Gupta's Flight for BBC Screen Two. This was screened at the NFT on
17th November as part of the London Film Festival. She has worked
mainly in the theatre, including</strong> Too Much Too Young
and 1001 Nights with London Bubble; Moti Roti Puttli Chunni; the lead
role in the Sphinx Theatre's touring production of Chandralekha; and
Pete Townshend's rock opera production of The Iron Man at the Young
Vic, directed by David Thacker. Mina also appeared in the original
production of The Happy Princ at Buxton Festival and on tour.
James Dreyfus stars as
Constable Kevin GoodyJames Dreyfus plays Constable Kevin Goody,
definitely the thickest part of the The Thin Blue Line. James
Dreyfus' comedy appearances for television includeAbsolutely
Fabulous, The All New Alexei Sayle Show Series 2 and Paris. Other
television credits include Frontiers for Carlton and the episode Face
The Music in Love Hurts Series 2. James also recently appeared in the
Absolutely Fabulous special.His theatre credits include national
tours with the Thelma Holt Productions of The Seagull and with the
Cambridge Theatre Company for The Hypochondriac; The Grapes Of Wrath
and Playing By The Rules for the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, the
latter transferring to London; Romeo And Juliet, Hamlet, How The
Other Half Loves and She Stoops To Conquer at the Harrogate Theatre;
Eurovision at the Vaudeville Theatre in London West End and at the
Drill Hall; The Inkwell at the Battersea Arts Centre; Purgatory In
Ingolstadt at the Gate Theatre; Elegies For Angels, Punks and Raging
Drag Queens at the Criterion in the West End; Augustine (The Big
Hysteria) in a Paines Plough Tour and at the Lyric Theatre,
Hammersmith and The Dresser at the Theatre Royal in Plymouth.His film
credits include Richard III for Red Roosters Films, Boyfriends, an
Essex Films short film, and Thin Ice for Thin Ice Productions.
Producer:Ben Elton.
Ben Elton is an acclaimed
writer, performer and author. His television writing career was
launched with The Young Ones for BBC-TV, followed by Happy Families,
Filthy Rich and Catflap and three-series of the BBC-TV award winning
Blackadder, which he co-wrote with Richard Curtis. He was host of
Saturday Live and Friday Live and has made two series of The Man From
Auntie as writer and performer and also starred in the mini series
Stark, which he adapted from his own book of the same name.His plays
Gasping and Silly Cow both had long runs in the West End. His novels
Gridlock and This Other Eden were all international best sellers. He
has also written and performed many sell out UK tours and he played
Verges in Kenneth Branagh's film Much Ado About Nothing.Elton's
latest novel, Popcorn, was recently published to critical acclaim
entering the chart at number one. Ben has also written a play of
Popcorn, which successfully opened in Nottingham and will be
transferring to London in the near future.He is currently writing his
forthcoming tour, which begins in November and will include over 80
dates around the country.Sounds like we'll be seeing more of you,
Ben!
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