Stephen Merchant News

In a world where live performance has all but disappeared for the moment, Robin Ince and those clever people at The Cosmic Shambles Network have come up with an ingenious plan to banish our housebound boredom and keep us all entertained.

As everyone spends the day at Alex's fancy new apartment building, The Prescott, Luke (Nolan Gould) and Manny (Rico Rodriguez) manage to find themselves in a mixup with Higgins (guest star Stephen Merchant) that might have them hanging out with guest stars David Beckham and Courteney Cox.

The Offenders (working title) is a 6 x 1 hour series from multi-award-winning writer and director Stephen Merchant, originally created by Merchant and Elgin James (co-creator of US series Mayans M.C.)

The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), announced today that Academy Award®-nominated and Emmy® Award-winning director Ava DuVernay will receive the Director Tribute and Academy Award® and Golden Globe® winning actor Sam Rockwell will receive the Actor Tribute at the 2019 IFP Gotham Awards. The first awards show of the season, the IFP Gotham Awards is one of the leading honors for independent film and media, providing critical early recognition to groundbreaking independent films and their writers, directors, producers, and actors with ten competitive awards categories.  The ceremony will be held on Monday, December 2, 2019, at Cipriani Wall Street, New York City.

Joana Vicente and Cameron Bailey, Co-Heads of TIFF, today announced that Academy Award–nominated New Zealand filmmaker Taika Waititi will be honoured with the TIFF Ebert Director Award at this year's new TIFF Tribute Gala awards event. The award recognizes and honours a distinguished filmmaker for their outstanding contribution to cinema. Taking place on Monday, September 9 at Fairmont Royal York, during the 44th Toronto International Film Festival, the Gala is an annual fundraiser to support TIFF's year-round programmes and core mission to transform the way people see the world through film, and to celebrate the film industry's outstanding contributors.

HBO Max adds to its arsenal of strategic, fan-favorite acquisitions by securing the exclusive streaming rights to BBC's longest running global franchise, 'Doctor Who.' All 11 seasons of the British sci-fi hit drama will be available on WarnerMedia's streaming service at launch in spring 2020, marking the SVOD premiere of season 11. As part of HBO Max's new long-term deal with BBC Studios, the streamer will also be the exclusive SVOD home for future seasons after they air on BBC AMERICA.

a?oeJojo Rabbita?? will open the 15th Fantastic Fest on Sept. 19 at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar in Austin, Tex.

SHOWTIME has announced a pilot production order for the hour-long dramedy RITA, starring Emmy and Golden Globe® nominee Lena Headey (Game of Thrones). Headey will executive produce the pilot, a co-production of SHOWTIME and Platform One Media, with creatorshowrunner Christian Torpe, who is writing the pilot based on his award-winning original Danish series. The announcement was made today by Gary Levine and Jana Winograde, Presidents of Entertainment, Showtime Networks Inc. 

SHOWTIME has announced a pilot production order for the hour-long dramedy RITA, starring Emmy and Golden Globe® nominee Lena Headey (Game of Thrones). Headey will executive produce the pilot, a co-production of SHOWTIME and Platform One Media, with creatorshowrunner Christian Torpe, who is writing the pilot based on his award-winning original Danish series. The announcement was made today by Gary Levine and Jana Winograde, Presidents of Entertainment, Showtime Networks Inc. 

NBCUniversal announced today that it has secured the exclusive domestic streaming rights to “The Office.”  All nine seasons of this beloved NBC sitcom will be available on the company's soon-to-be-launched streaming service for five years, beginning 2021.

 Jason Schwartzman performs Billy Joel's “We Didn't Start The Fire” on Paramount Network's Lip Sync Battle. The highly anticipated Big Bird vs. Jason Schwartzman lip sync battle premieres Thursday, May 30 at 10pm ET/PT on Paramount Network.

Yesterday marked the fifth annual Red Nose Day in the U.S., following activities and events across the country in recent weeks that brought together millions of Americans to have fun, make a difference, and raise money and awareness for children living in poverty. Red Nose Day has now raised more than $190 million in the campaign's first five years in the U.S., including nearly $40 million so far in the 2019 campaign with the fundraising ongoing through June and beyond.

NBC's “Red Nose Day Special” will feature the biggest names across entertainment with a packed lineup of music, comedy and short documentary films that educate and engage viewers on the cause for the fifth annual event.

The BBC has today announced that Rufus Jones (Stan & Ollie), Stephanie Hyam (Bodyguard), Leanne Best (Line Of Duty), Samuel Barnett (Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency) and Robert Emms (Cleaning Up) are joining the cast of The Barking Murders (w/t).