Exclusive Temple Report Number 2 – 30th July, 2002

Holiday France

By Richard E. Grant

I have just completed filming “Monsieur N” in Paris and it’s due out in March next year in France and hopefully elsewhere thereafter. An amazing experience. Great director, crew, script, actors and general all round creative buzz.

During a week’s break I did a series of TV commercials for Argos, alongside Julia “Ab Fab” Sawahla, playing a burnt out rock star called Zak, who loathes everything from Argos, not realising that everything in his life has been bought from Argos. Argos being a catalogue outlet store that sells everything cheaper than anywhere else. They have spent a pile on the ad campaign which will run for two years. They aired the first advert on the final night of “Big Brother” in England, Friday 26th July.

Am now in the south of France having a holiday and return to London at the end of August. Start a series for the BBC titled “Posh Nosh” written by and co-starring Arabella Weir (from “The Fast Show”) in September. It’s a bunch of episodes, each lasting ten minutes – a sort of miniature sitcom – which they will air before the news or somesuch.

We are so knee deep in TV celebrity chefs, that this “series” is very apt. Based on the first British celeb chefs of the 50’s, Johnny and Fanny Craddock, I play a version of Johnny – a permanently sozzled wine expert toff who constantly bickers with his wife, played by Arabella, who can’t cook to save her life. Each episode features a recipe and wines, all of which are a guaranteed disaster. They read funny. I just hope they transmit as funny. To be filmed in their “kitchen” – on location at “Potter’s Bar” outside London.

“The Hound Of The Baskervilles” featuring Aussie’s Richard Roxburgh and Matt Day, Ian Hart and myself, will air on Christmas Day on BBC in the UK.

Sorry not to have written this month’s report before now, but snowed with Napoleon filming. Hope this finds everyone well.

Cheers and chin chin
reg.