The actor who plays Dr. Watson in the Sherlock, Arthur Dent in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbitt was interviewed at the premiere of the last one and reveals a nice, self-deprecating sense of humor that is very much like the character of Watson and his first role in the BBC TV series The Office which is where I first became aware of him.
Mano Singham
Just another Freethought Blogs site
I don’t know if it’s due to the British habit of self-deprecation, or if it has something to do with a much more serious approach to acting, but nearly all British actors seem to be both serious about their work and genuinely nice people. Sure wish more American actors would follow their example.
I love watching both Sherlock on PBS and Elementary on CBS. This is truly a golden age for Sherlockians.
Freeman appears in this charming short film (~13 min) from 2004 titled “Call Register:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hC-7mhg5x8
I have a friend who is a freelance writer specializing in British film and television. He finds the UK actors much more friendly and accessible than their counterparts in the US.
@Mike,
Thanks for the link to Call Register. I enjoyed it.
@moarscienceplz,
I too watched some episodes of Elementary and found them enjoyable. They had to go through some contortions at the beginning to have a female Watson be a platonic (at least so far) housemate for Sherlock but once they got that out of the way, it went pretty well.
In both series, the police inspectors are good, actually better than in the books and short stories where they tended to be arrogant, annoying, and smug, even after Holmes has bailed them out so many times and shown them up to be incompetent. These police are not buffoons and properly respectful of Holmes’s abilities.
The original radio version of H2G2 is the best. There wasn’t the same need to spend time setting up special effects.
In fact, one of the best pieces of practical criticism ever made is “In response to the question ‘Suggest how you would resolve the staging difficulties inherent in a production of Ibsen’s Peer Gynt’, you have written, quote, ‘Do it on the radio’ unquote!”
@sc….
Yes, I first got intrigued by Hitchhiker by hearing clips from the radio version, long before I read the books or saw the film.