Tag Archives: Dead Still

Links: Dead Still

From Bill Brioux of Brioux.tv:

Link: Studios aren’t the only thing Dead Still on TV today
One of the most curious TV shows promoted at the most recent Television Critics Association press tour back in January was Dead Still. Continue reading.

From Debra Yeo of the Toronto Star:

Link: He shoots dead people: Acorn TV’s delightful ‘Dead Still’ blends the macabre art of post-mortem photography with period mystery
Google the words “post-mortem photography” and your screen will fill with sepia-toned family portraits in which something seems a little off. Look more closely and you may discern why: if it’s a true post-mortem photo, one of the subjects is dead. Continue reading.

From Kaila Hale-Stern of The Mary Sue:

Link: Dead Still is the darkly comic Victorian murder mystery series you didn’t know you needed
Dead Still is unique not just in its subject matter—which zooms in on practices of grieving that can feel profoundly alien to a modern audience—but in its co-mingling of dark humour, ghastly pastimes, and tongue-in-cheek period representation. Continue reading.

From Tracy Palmer of Signal Horizon Magazine:

Link: Acorn TV’s Dead Still is the morbidly hilarious series you can’t miss
The series succeeds because of these actors. So achingly determined, Logan exudes sincerity. O’Higgins gives just enough innocence to Nancy that even when she is insufferable, you still like her, and Smiley is a revelation. Continue reading.

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Shaftesbury’s Dead Still premieres Friday, May 15 on Citytv

From a media release:

Take yourself to a whole other place and time with Dead Still, a six-part one-hour Victorian-era drama, premieres Friday, May 15 on Citytv at 10:00 p.m. The Canadian/Irish co-production by award-winning Shaftesbury (Murdoch Mysteries, Frankie Drake Mysteries) and Deadpan Pictures (Moone Boy, Trivia) brings us to 1880 Dublin. The cameras are cheap and the country is flourishing with photo studios. However, the practice of post-mortem photography is not doing so well.

Enter Brock Blennerhasset, renowned memorial photographer. Together with his assistant Conall Molloy and estranged niece Nancy Vickers, they are struggling to revive his business, but it appears someone more sinister is getting in on the death photography game. When a string of strange murders that appear to be attached to Blennerhasset take place, Detective Frederick Regan is on the case. Regan suspects that a killer may be cashing in on a developing taste for a different type of memorial imagery, in this case, pictures of people in their death throes. As the body count begins to escalate, Blennerhasset and his team have to stop a murderer intent on ruining not just their business, but their lives.

In the first two episodes:

“Photochemistry” – Blennerhasset, Conall and Nancy are thrown together in a story of a family feud, a vengeful husband and a stolen photograph.

“Development” – Blennerhasset and Molloy are trapped in a coastal town during a storm where some ghostly occurrences make them feel most unwelcome.

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Shaftesbury’s Ireland-Canada co-pro Dead Still currently in production for RTE, Acorn TV, and Citytv

From a media release:

Dublin-based Deadpan Pictures and Toronto-based producer Shaftesbury today announced that production is underway on new mystery drama series DEAD STILL (6 X 60). The Ireland-Canada co-production is co-commissioned by RTÉ and Acorn Media Enterprises (AME) alongside ZDF Enterprises. Set in 1880s Ireland in the Victorian era heyday of “postmortem photography,” the six-episode period drama follows a renowned memorial photographer as he investigates the murders of his recently deceased subjects. DEAD STILL is written by John Morton and directed by Imogen Murphy (Can’t Cope, Won’t Cope, Red Rock) and Craig David Wallace (Slasher, Todd and the Book of Pure Evil, Murdoch Mysteries). Acorn Media Enterprises has secured all rights in the United States, Australia, New Zealand and United Kingdom; co-premiere rights in Canada; and secondary rights in Ireland. ZDF Enterprises will distribute the series in the rest of the world. It was developed with the support of Screen Ireland and Creative Europe. DEAD STILL will premiere in 2020 on RTÉ in Ireland, on Acorn TV in the United States as an Acorn TV Original, and in Canada on Citytv, a division of Rogers Media. The series, with the support of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI), is currently filming on location in and around Dublin through June 2019.

DEAD STILL blends mystery and drama with gallows humour, and features an incredible ensemble of acclaimed international actors including Michael Smiley (Luther as DS Benny Silver, Wire in the Blood, Death and Nightingales) as Brock Blennerhasset, Kerr Logan (Game of Thrones, Victoria, Alias Grace) as Conall Molloy, Eileen O’Higgins (Brooklyn, Mary Queen of Scots) as Nancy Vickers, and Aidan O’Hare (Jackie, Pilis) as Detective Frederick Regan. DEAD STILL also stars Jimmy Smallhorne (Taken Down, Clean Break) as Cecil Carruthers, Mark Rendall (Departure, Versailles) as Percy Cummins, Peter Campion (Derry Girls, Kat and Alfie: Redwater) as Henry Vickers, Michael Patric (Frontier, Supernatural), and Martin Donovan (Big Little Lies, Fahrenheit 451).

Dublin, 1880. The practice of memorial portraiture is at the height of its popularity – that is, the portrait photography of the recently deceased. As renowned memorial photographer Brock Blennerhasset (Smiley) expands his business with the help of his would-be actress niece Nancy Vickers (O’Higgins) and assistant Conall Molloy (Logan), someone with more sinister designs is getting in on the death photography game. A serial killer is cashing in on the sordid, developing taste for ‘snuff’ imagery – pictures of people in their death throes. The murders escalate and Detective Frederick Regan (O’Hare) of the Dublin Metropolitan Police suspects that Ireland may have its first serial murderer at large. As Blennerhasset becomes a possible suspect and his family is put in harm’s way, they must track down the serial killer before he strikes again.

DEAD STILL is executive produced by Paul Donovan, Ailish McElmeel, Christina Jennings, and Scott Garvie, and produced by Suzanne McAuley. DEAD STILL is an Ireland/Canada treaty co-production produced by Deadpan Pictures (Ireland) and Shaftesbury (Canada) in association with RTÉ, Acorn TV with Acorn Media Enterprises, ZDF Enterprises, and BAI, and with the participation of the Irish Tax Credit, Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit, and the Ontario Film and Television Tax Credit. DEAD STILL was developed with the support of Screen Ireland and Creative Europe.

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Citytv celebrates Canadian storytelling with new 2019/20 original programming slate

From a media release:

A cop-and-canine crime-fighting duo, an 1880s photographer with a macabre specialty, and an intergalactic space queen are among the weirdly wonderful characters coming to Citytv in 2019/20. The new original Canadian programming slate includes scripted series Hudson & Rex (Season 2), Dead Still, and Vagrant Queen. And with six new Canadian shows in development for Citytv, there are even more original stories to come for TV lovers.

With a Season 2 order for Hudson & Rex, Citytv’s popular original Canadian scripted series returns to the Fall schedule with more of what audiences love. Produced by Shaftesbury and Pope Productions Ltd., in association with Citytv and Beta Film GmbH, the police-procedural drama set in St. John’s, Nfld. follows detective Charlie Hudson (John Reardon, Van Helsing) and his German Shepherd partner, Rex (canine Diesel vom Burgimwald). Hudson & Rex is Citytv’s highest-rated original scripted series since 2015, reaching more than 2.5M viewers during its first six debut episodes*. Based on the Austrian drama Inspector Rex, Hudson & Rex also stars Mayko Nguyen (Killjoys) as Doctor Sarah Truong, Kevin Hanchard (Orphan Black) as Superintendent Joe Donovan, and Justin Kelly (Wynonna Earp) as Tech Analyst Jesse Mills.

Citytv works with some of the most innovative content creators and global partners to bring to life great new stories to appeal to Canadians, and indeed, international audiences. Building on the success of Hudson & Rex, Citytv again collaborates with Toronto-based Shaftesbury on the new series Dead Still, an Ireland/Canada treaty co-production, with RTE as the Irish broadcaster and Acorn TV in the U.S. And a fierce new heroine also joins Citytv as live-action sci-fi drama series Vagrant Queen brings the graphic novel story to a whole new audience in a Canada/South Africa treaty co-production by Toronto’s Blue Ice Pictures, also broadcast on Syfy in the U.S. Both series join the Citytv schedule in 2020.

Hudson & Rex, Dead Still, and Vagrant Queen are the newest chapters in Citytv’s ongoing commitment to tell great stories by and for Canadians. Championing Canadian independent producers and production companies across the country, Citytv supports the local industry and invests in homegrown talent with commissions that capture Canada’s rich regional character. Citytv’s original content celebrates our uniquely Canadian perspective and delivers world-class entertainment to 30 million Canadians every week.

Citytv’s New Original Series Descriptions

Broadcast dates/times to be announced in the coming months

DEAD STILL
Citytv ventures to 1880s Ireland, during the earliest days of photography, with the original light-hearted drama series Dead Still. Brock Blennerhasset (Michael Smiley, Luther) is a master photographer with the unusual specialty of “memorial photography” – taking pictures of the dead. And he’s making a killing. But not every photo captures tranquil and eternal repose. The photographer and his assistant Connal Molloy (Kerr Logan, Alias Grace), find themselves embroiled in his subjects’ mysterious deaths or murders. Dead Still blends mystery and drama with gallows humour to present a comic thriller with a witty take on the complications of working as a photographer in the early years of the practice. Dead Still also stars Eileen O’Higgens (Brooklyn), Mark Rendall (Versailles), Martin Donovan (Big Little Lies), Aidan O’Hare (Jackie), Jimmy Smallhorne (Taken Down), and Peter Campion (Derry Girls).

VAGRANT QUEEN
Featuring an all-female team of writers and directors led by Jem Garrard, Vagrant Queen is a live-action adaptation of the popular graphic novel. Driven from her throne as a child, queen Elida (Adriyan Rae, Light as a Feather) has wandered the galaxy for 15 years, scavenging for space junk and trying to evade a Republic government out to extinguish her millennia-old bloodline. When old frenemy Isaac (Tim Rozon, Wynona Earp) shows up claiming her mother is still alive, they return to her former kingdom to stage a rescue – bringing Elida face-to-face with a deadly foe from her childhood, Commander Lazaro (Paul du Toit, Maze Runner). Executive Producers are Lance Samuels and Daniel Iron.

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