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'Finding Neverland' movie: Johnny Depp as James M. Barrie, with the Llewelyn Davies family: Kate Winslet, Freddie Highmore, Joe Prospero, Nick Roud and Luke Spill. 'Finding Neverland' movie review: Losing reality Back in 2001, German-born director Marc Forster (Quantum of Solace, World War Z) brought a much welcome non-Hollywood touch to the independently made psychological drama Monster's Ball. Besides the daring (if way overlong) sex scenes, that film imparted a refreshingly realistic atmosphere that was much enhanced by Forster's minimalist approach. As the title implies, his follow-up effort, Finding Neverland (2004), has absolutely nothing to do with reality, whether Peter Pan author James M. Barrie's or anyone else's. Even so, Forster's early, no-nonsense directorial touch is sorely missing from what is little more than your usual big-studio holiday movie whose “magical moments” might as well have been created by a computer. 'Finding Neverland' plot: James M. Barrie...

Mention Underworld to any Doctor Who expert, and they’ll most likely respond with a barely disguised sneer of contempt. For years, the story has been derided for ridiculous looking Cso caves to the point where it looks less like a Doctor Who story, more an episode of kids’ virtual reality TV show, Knightmare.

Ironically though, the Cso isn’t the worst thing about Underworld. The recent DVD sheds a bit more light on this troubled production. Back in 1977, funds weren’t quite so high as they had been on previous stories, and so it was decided that a good way of saving money was to build model caves and film these via Cso. Sadly though, the Cso doesn’t totally convince, and according to the DVD featurette, this wasn’t a particularly easy production to work on. The grainy black and white footage shows Big Tom alternating between a...

Supporting actor in works from Harry Potter to Shakespeare

In St Paul's church, Covent Garden, amid the memorials to the theatrical stars of their day, is a modest plaque dedicated to an actor described as "a much-respected player of supporting parts". Such a one was Jimmy Gardner, who has died aged 85.

In his acting career, stretching over half a century, he played the gamut of character roles, ranging from the statutory drunken old man in the Royal Shakespeare Company's stage version of A Clockwork Orange (1990) to Peter in Romeo and Juliet (a role first created by Shakespeare's clown, Will Kempe), to the bus driver Ernie Prang in the film Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004). No popular TV series could be counted as having truly arrived until he had played a cameo role in it, whether it be The Forsyte Saga, Z Cars, Doctor Who, EastEnders, Casualty, The Bill,...

The actor Jimmy Gardner has died at the age of 85.

Jimmy Gardner had two roles in Doctor Who. In 1964 he played the role of Chenchu, the manager of the way station at Tun-Huang, in the fourth story of the series Marco Polo. He returned to the series in 1978 to play the role of Idmon in the fourth Doctor story Underworld. Idmon was a Trog on the planet formed around the P7E, and the father of Idas. He tried to encourage the other Trogs to rebel, but was arrested by the Guards and selected for sacrifice. He was rescued by the Doctor and escaped his planet's destruction on board the R1C.

Gardner had a long eventful life. He was a war hero, a survivor of two shipwrecks and numerous escapades on land. After the war he trained as an actor at The Central School and had a long career in television,...

Image: http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/5148/jimmyj.jpg Monday, August 24th marks a huge milestone for actor Jimmy Gardner, who we know as Ernie Prang, the Knight Bus driver, from Prisoner of Azkaban. Born in 1924, Jimmy is celebrating his 85th birthday! His career in film and television spans over 50 years, and he's even starred in Doctor Who, Coronation Street, and Finding Neverland! *:gift2: Happy Birthday, Jimmy! :party6:*...