Walker Stalker Con Returns To London

Zombie enthusiasts and fans of the number-one show on television, The Walking Dead, will have the opportunity to meet their favorite stars at the upcoming Walker Stalker Con at ExCeL London on March 30-31. In addition, attendees can greet cast members from the worldwide phenomenon, Game of Thrones, as it prepares to enter its pivotal final season.

Walker Stalker Con has become an incredibly popular convention, offering something for everyone – from the diehard fan, to families, to those with a growing interest in the genre. More than 30 of the most popular actors from shows such as The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Fear the Walking Dead, American Horror Story, and more will speak to the audience, meet fans, pose for photos and sign autographs.

Attendees can also participate in a range of engaging and unique activities, including:
● Free panel sessions led by stars from some of television’s most popular shows.
● Zombies and cosplayers roam the convention floor, making for interactive experiences attendees will never forget.
● Vendors who deal in the comic, zombie, and entertainment worlds – among many other genres and industries.

There are even a number of opportunities to volunteer as an ambassador of the event, which can be found on the Walker Stalker Con website. One of the most popular elements of the convention is the chance to meet and hear from stars of your favorite shows.

In London, attendees will be treated to sessions with:
● THE WALKING DEAD: Jeffrey Dean Morgan (“Negan”), Lauren Cohan (“Maggie”), Steven Yeun (“Glenn”), Jon Bernthal (“Shane”), Chandler Riggs (“Carl”), Tom Payne (“Jesus”), Christian Serratos (“Rosita”), Khary Payton (“King Ezekiel”), Michael Cudlitz (“Abraham”), Seth Gilliam (“Father Gabriel”), Alanna Masterson (“Tara”), Michael Rooker (“Merle”), Ross Marquand (“Aaron”), Cailey Fleming (“Judith”), Josh McDermitt (“Eugene”), Cooper Andrews (“Jerry”), Cassady McClincy (“Lydia”), Katelyn Nacon (“Enid”) and more!

● GAME OF THRONES: Isaac Hempstead Wright (“Bran Stark”), Kristian Nairn (“Hodor”), John Bradley (“Samwell Tarly”), Hannah Murray (“Gilly”), Jerome Flynn (“Bronn”), and Richard Brake (“The Night King”)
● AMERICAN HORROR STORY: Alexandra Breckenridge (“Moira O’Hara”), Dylan McDermott (“Ben Harmon”), and Denis O’Hare (“Liz Taylor”) ● Kim Dickens (Madison, Fear the Walking Dead)

And MORE! The full list of guests is on the Walker Stalker Con London website.

Broadcasting Press Guild Awards 2019 Winners

The full list of BPG TV and Radio Awards winners is:

Best Single Drama/Mini-series
A Very English Scandal
A Blueprint Pictures production for the BBC and Amazon Studios

Best Drama Series
Killing Eve
A Sid Gentle Films Ltd production for BBC America, internationally distributed by Endeavor Content      

Best Single Documentary
Grenfell
A Minnow Films production for BBC One

Best Documentary Series
Stephen: The Murder that Changed a Nation
An On the Corner production, in association with Rogan Productions, for BBC One

Best Entertainment
Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing
An Owl Power TV production for BBC Two

Best Online First/ Streaming
Killing Eve
A Sid Gentle Films Ltd production for BBC America, internationally distributed by Endeavor Content and first streamed in UK on BBC Three as a box set on BBC iPlayer

Best Comedy 
Derry Girls
A Hat Trick Productions production for Channel 4

Best of Multichannel 
Patrick Melrose
A Two Cities production in association with Sunnymarch and Little Island for Sky Atlantic and Showtime

Radio Broadcaster of the Year
Lauren Laverne
BBC Radio 6 Music, Late Night Woman’s Hour and Desert Island Discs, BBC Radio 4

Radio Programme of the Year
Tara and George
A Falling Tree Productions production for BBC Radio 4

Podcast of the Year
Hip Hop Saved My Life – Romesh Ranganathan
Ranga Bee Productions

Best Actor
Hugh Grant for A Very English Scandal (BBC One)

Best Actress
Jodie Comer for Killing Eve (BBC America)

Best Writer
Russell T Davies for A Very English Scandal (BBC One)

Innovation Award

Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, for a ground-breaking form of storytelling.
A House of Tomorrow production for Netflix

Breakthrough Award
Alex Scott
Sports broadcaster for BBC and Sky

BPG Chairman’s Prize
Big Brother
EndemolShine Group for Channel 4 and Channel 5

Harvey Lee Award
Nicholas Parsons CBE
Actor, presenter & game show host, in particular, recognition of more than 50 years of presenting Radio 4’s Just A Minute.

Exclusive Winners Interviews Below:

Captain Marvel Review

The Plot

The Marvel Cinematic Universe bring its first female fronted superhero movie to the franchise with this 90s set sci-fi romp that sees Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) try to regain her memory with the help of a young Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson)

The Good

It’s obvious to anyone with even the slightest knowledge of comic book movies that Marvel Studios has been a hell of a long time coming. Even the DC Extended Universe managed to get there first with Wonder Woman nearly 2 years earlier despite the MCU’s 5 year head start in the connected universe race if you will.

With such anticipation surrounding the film it’s refreshing to see that the protagonists gender is never made as important a part of the film as fans have been (arguably rightly) making it to be. While it worked for Wonder Woman’s WWI setting to repeat it here in the 90s just wouldn’t work as well.

Having last seen the world left half in ashes by Thanos in Avengers Infinity War, Captain Marvel bridges the gap to Endgame by jumping back 20 years to finally introduce Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers and it’s far from simple. Landing us into the middle of a hitherto unexplained alien world, directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck don’t make it too easy to allow the audience into the life of Danvers, or Vers as she’s known to begin with.

Before too long the 90s nostalgia is peppered in as Danvers crashes through the roof of a Blockbusters (remember those!) and soon runs into a young Nick Fury with two eyes! Fortunately there’s no Hot Tub Time Machine style repeat joke of wondering when will be the moment he loses use of it. That didn’t stop this critic from wondering throughout though!

Brie Larson wastes no time in winning us over and is simply a delight to watch from the very opening. Having been named the MCU’s strongest character by a country mile, Larson has no trouble at all holding that title. Even as Danvers goes through the oft-treaded origin story of finding one’s self it’s easy to see just how strong she is and how inevitably instrumental she will be in Endgame.

What Boden and Fleck manage to do best in Captain Marvel however is in their use of the films villains, the Skrulls. A race of aliens that are able to change form into whoever and whatever they like, leaving the plot to twist and turn at points but never making you overly cautious at each character that comes on screen. The idea is never overplayed nor underplayed but it does bring forward questions regarding the last decade of MCU films. Surely no one is to be trusted now the Skrulls are involved and arguably have been since the 90s…

The Bad

One of the major downsides to Captain Marvel is it’s timing in regards to Marvel Studios releases. Arriving just in time to bridge the gap between Infinity War and Endgame is both its blessing and its curse. With the conclusion so close it’s hard to start watching Captain Marvel without constantly wondering how it all feeds into the larger story. Without giving too much away, it feels ultimately that had the release schedule been switched around a bit it could have helped.

Meanwhile, Captain Marvel’s unquestionable strength ultimately becomes one of her biggest weaknesses. By it’s third act set pieces, Carol Danvers slips into Superman territory in the fact that she’s so incredibly powerful that nothing feels like a threat to her. It’s a problem Supes has always had for this critic at least and now it seems that it’s a problem Captain Marvel has too. Frankly if she were to swoop into Avengers: Endgame and undo all of Thanos’ work with a snap of her fingers it wouldn’t be at all surprising. Perhaps if the inevitable switch between rediscovering Carol Danvers to discovering Captain Marvel hadn’t been so instantaneous it may have worked better.

The Ugly Truth

For the most part, Brie Larson is a welcome entry to the MCU, with a solo outing that doesn’t try to make too big a deal out of it’s much discussed gender politics. However, impressive though Captain Marvel’s strength may be, it ultimately becomes her downfall by the film’s closing act. Also it’s worth noting that you’ll never look at your cat the same way after you’ve met Goose…

Review By Johnny Ellis

What’s On Stage Awards 2019 Winners

Hamilton was the biggest winner at the What’s On Stage Awards, taking home five prizes on Sunday night. This included best actor in a musical for its star Jamael Westman and best supporting actor in a musical for Jason Pennycooke. Little Shop of Horrors and Heathers the Musical also took home several awards each at the London ceremony.

Sophie Okonedo and Aidan Turner won best actress and best actor in a play – Okonedo for Antony and Cleopatra at the National Theatre and Turner for Michael Grandage’s production of The Lieutenant of Inishmore.

Oscar 2019 Winners List

Here’s a full list of winners in all categories at the 2019 Academy Awards. This year’s Oscars saw top acting prizes claimed by Rami Malek  and Olivia Coleman with supporting wins for Mahershala Ali and Regina King. Best film went to Green Book with Roma taking the foreign language prize, Free Solo winning best documentary and Spider-man into the Spiderverse winning best animated film. Best director was won by Alfonso Cuaron. Full list of winners below:

Best picture

• Winner: Green Book
• BlacKkKlansman
• Black Panther
• Bohemian Rhapsody
• The Favourite
• Roma
• A Star Is Born
• Vice

Best actress

• Winner: Olivia Colman – The Favourite
• Glenn Close – The Wife
• Yalitza Aparicio – Roma
• Lady Gaga – A Star Is Born
• Melissa McCarthy – Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Best actor

• Winner: Rami Malek – Bohemian Rhapsody
• Christian Bale – Vice
• Bradley Cooper – A Star Is Born
• Willem Dafoe – At Eternity’s Gate
• Viggo Mortensen – Green Book

Best supporting actress

• Winner: Regina King – If Beale Street Could Talk
• Amy Adams – Vice
• Marina de Tavira – Roma
• Emma Stone – The Favourite
• Rachel Weisz – The Favourite

Best supporting actor

• Winner: Mahershala Ali – Green Book
• Adam Driver – BlacKkKlansman
• Sam Elliott – A Star Is Born
• Richard E Grant – Can You Ever Forgive Me?
• Sam Rockwell – Vice

Best director

• Winner: Alfonso Cuaron – Roma
• Yorgos Lanthimos – The Favourite
• Spike Lee – BlacKkKlansman
• Adam McKay – Vice
• Pawel Pawlikowski – Cold War

Best original screenplay

• Winner: Green Book – Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie and Peter Farrelly
• The Favourite – Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara
• First Reformed – Paul Schrader
• Roma – Alfonso Cuarón
• Vice – Adam McKay

Best adapted screenplay

• Winner: BlacKkKlansman – Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott and Spike Lee
• The Ballad of Buster Scruggs – Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
• Can You Ever Forgive Me? – Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty
• If Beale Street Could Talk – Barry Jenkins
• A Star Is Born – Eric Roth, Bradley Cooper and Will Fetters

Best animated feature

• Winner: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
• Incredibles 2
• Isle of Dogs
• Mirai
• Ralph Breaks the Internet

Best foreign language film

• Winner: Roma – Mexico
• Capernaum – Lebanon
• Cold War – Poland
• Never Look Away – Germany
• Shoplifters – Japan

Best documentary feature

• Winner: Free Solo
• Hale County This Morning, This Evening
• Minding the Gap
• Of Fathers and Sons
• RBG

Best original song

• Winner: Shallow (A Star Is Born) – Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando and Andrew Wyatt
• All The Stars (Black Panther) – Mark Spears, Kendrick Lamar, Duckworth and Anthony Tiffith and Solana Rowe
• I’ll Fight (RGB) – Diane Warren
• The Place Where Lost Things Go (Mary Poppins Returns) – Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman
• When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs) – David Rawlings and Gillian Welch

Best original score

• Winner: Black Panther – Ludwig Goransson
• BlacKkKlansman – Terence Blanchard
• If Beale Street Could Talk – Nicholas Britell
• Isle of Dogs – Alexandre Desplat
• Mary Poppins Returns – Marc Shaiman, Scott Wittman

Best production design

• Winner: Black Panther – Hannah Beachler and Jay Hart
• The Favourite – Fiona Crombie and Alice Felton
• First Man – Nathan Crowley and Kathy Lucas
• Mary Poppins Returns – John Myhre and Gordon Sim
• Roma – Eugenio Caballero and Barbara Enriquez

Best costume design

• Winner: Black Panther – Ruth E Carter
• The Ballad of Buster Scruggs – Mary Zophres
• The Favourite – Sandy Powell
• Mary Poppins Returns – Sandy Powell
• Mary Queen of Scots – Alexandra Byrne

Best cinematography

• Winner: Roma – Alfonso Cuaron
• Cold War – Lukasz Zal
• The Favourite – Robbie Ryan
• Never Look Away – Caleb Deschanel
• A Star Is Born – Matthew Libatique

Best visual effects

• Winner: First Man – Paul Lambert, Ian Hunter, Tristan Myles and JD Schwalm
• Avengers: Infinity War – Dan DeLeeuw, Kelly Port, Russell Earl and Dan Sudick
• Christopher Robin – Christopher Lawrence, Michael Eames, Theo Jones and Chris Corbould
• Ready Player One – Roger Guyett, Grady Cofer, Matthew E Butler and David Shirk
• Solo: A Star Wars Story – Rob Bredow, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan and Dominic Tuohy

Best make-up and hairstyling

• Winner: Vice – Greg Cannom, Kate Biscoe and Patricia DeHaney
• Border – Goran Lundstrom and Pamela Goldammer
• Mary Queen of Scots – Jenny Shircore, Marc Pilcher and Jessica Brooks

Best sound editing

• Winner: Bohemian Rhapsody – John Warhurst and Nina Hartstone
• Black Panther – Benjamin A Burtt and Steve Boeddeker
• First Man – Ai-Ling Lee and Mildred Iatrou Morgan
• A Quiet Place – Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
• Roma – Sergio Diaz and Skip Lievsay

Best sound mixing

• Winner: Bohemian Rhapsody – Paul Massey, Tim Cavagin and John Casali
• Black Panther – Steve Boeddeker, Brandon Proctor and Peter Devlin
• First Man – Jon Taylor, Frank A Montano, Ai-Ling Lee and Mary H Ellis
• Roma – Skip Lievsay, Craig Henighan and Jose Antonio Garcia
• A Star Is Born – Tom Ozanich, Dean Zupancic, Jason Ruder and Steve Morrow

Best film editing

• Winner: Bohemian Rhapsody – John Ottman
• BlacKkKlansman – Barry Alexander Brown
• The Favourite – Yorgos Mavropsaridis
• Green Book – Patrick J Don Vito
• Vice – Hank Corwin

Best animated short

• Winner: Bao
• Animal Behaviour
• Late Afternoon
• One Small Step
• Weekends

Best documentary short

• Winner: Period. End of Sentence.
• Black Sheep
• End Game
• Lifeboat
• A Night at the Garden

Best live action short

• Winner: Skin
• Detainment
• Fauve
• Marguerite
• Mother