Categories Helen memory lane Personal and Family Life

Happy Anniversary Damian Lewis and Helen McCrory – July 4, 2020

The Year of Lace

by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | July 4, 2020

Happy July 4th and Happy 13th Anniversary to Damian and Helen! We wish the two of you many, many more decades together. So where did they meet? How did Damian propose? Did they have a honeymoon? Go on a 13-year journey at our sister site Fan Fun with Damian Lewis to find out!

Categories Audio Helen Music Personal and Family Life Podcast

Helen Dishes About Damian on Desert Island Discs – June 28, 2020

Helen McCrory on Desert Island Discs Podcast

by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | June 28, 2020

Helen McCrory OBE is one of the most versatile and critically acclaimed actresses working today. On screen she has played Anna Karenina, Cherie Blair (twice), Harry Potter‘s Narcissa Malfoy and the Peaky Blinders matriarch Aunt Polly. Her theatre roles range from Yelena in Uncle Vanya to Euripides‘ Medea.

A diplomat’s daughter, she spent her early childhood in Africa before continuing her education in the UK. After a bruising and unsuccessful audition at the Drama Centre in London – she was instructed to find out more about life before learning to act – she travelled to Italy where she discovered art and love and came back to try again. This time she passed the audition.

In 1993 she made her mark in Richard Eyre’s production of Trelawny of the Wells at the National Theatre and went on to perform leading roles on some of London’s most prestigious stages, winning two Olivier Award nominations. She was awarded an OBE for services to drama in 2017.

She met her husband, fellow actor Damian Lewis, when they both starred in a play called Five Gold Rings. In response to the Covid-19 pandemic Helen and Damian, together with the comedian Matt Lucas, co-founded the Feed NHS campaign which raises money to provide hot meals to frontline NHS workers.

On BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs podcast that aired June 28, 2020, Helen McCrory shared eight music tracks, one book and a luxury item she would want to take with her if cast away to a desert island.

Continue reading Helen Dishes About Damian on Desert Island Discs – June 28, 2020

Categories Charity FeedNHS Helen Personal and Family Life Philanthropy

FeedNHS Expands Fundraising Efforts – May 16, 2020

Rolling Out the Nationwide Campaign

by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | May 16, 2020

FeedNHS is expanding its fundraising efforts from £1M to £2M. So far, £1,239,800 (*updated June 12) has been raised of the £2,000,000 target (61%). Just launched on March 27, it took the coalition only 10 days to raise the first £1M. And now they want to do it again in order to expand nationwide.

For more information, visit their FeedNHS website here and to donate, please visit the JustGiving campaign here. Here is a recent story Damian and Helen shared online:

“Hi, we’ve been raising as much money as we can to help feed NHS workers one healthy meal each day. We started in the hardest hit London hospitals and with the help of our coalition partners we’ve now taken it nationwide.

We had a target to raise 1 million pounds for our scheme and thanks to the public’s overwhelming generosity we’ve raised it. Thank you! But as more hospitals have heard about what we’re doing it’s become clear that we mustn’t stop. So our aim now is to raise 2 million (in total ) which will enable us to feed even more hospital workers across the nation. So if you can, and we know not everyone can, please donate. With you, we know we can make up the difference.

We’re Damian and Helen and like all the best things in life, this started with a chat to a friend.”

Continue reading FeedNHS Expands Fundraising Efforts – May 16, 2020

Categories Guest Appearances Helen Video

Damian and Helen Guest Appeared on The One Show – May 8, 2020

75th Anniversary of VE Day

by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | May 8, 2020

In a special hour long edition of The One Show, Alex Jones and Huw Edwards celebrate the 75th anniversary of VE Day. Guests include Sir Rod Stewart and Penny Lancaster, Damian Lewis and Helen McCrory, Fiona Bruce and Dan Snow. Alfie Boe gives a heartwarming performance of the Bill Wither’s classic Lean on Me and our One Big Thank You cameras spring a surprise on Nanny Sue, a 69 year old nurse who really has gone above and beyond to help all her patients and her local community.

You can watch Damian and Helen’s segment below:

Continue reading Damian and Helen Guest Appeared on The One Show – May 8, 2020

Categories Charity FeedNHS Helen Personal and Family Life Philanthropy

Telegraph Interview: Isolated in Suffolk Put to Good Use – April 24, 2020

Isolated in Suffolk, TV’s First Couple Have Created a Scheme to Supply the NHS with Thousands of Meals

by Guy Kelly | The Telegraph | April 24, 2020

Spare a thought for celebrities at the moment. Forced into lockdown like the rest of the civilian population, and with unreliable Wi-Fi at their fourth homes, many have been unable to maintain their expensive round-the-clock PR advice.

That’s the only excuse I can think of for some recent announcements, anyway. Left unattended by people whose job it is to say, “That isn’t… the best look”, we have had the likes of billionaire Sir Richard Branson attempting to solicit mass public sympathy (and money) to help his struggling business. So, too, Victoria Beckham, who, from her Cotswolds mansion, has furloughed 25 employees rather than, say, dip into her estimated £360m fortune. Even Idris Elba, fresh from Covid-19, has drawn ire for his suggestion the “world should quarantine for a week every year to remember this time.”…

Fortunately, though, not all celebrities are quite so errant when left to their own devices. The Telegraph spoke to some who are putting their spare time to good use, beginning with actors Damian Lewis and Helen McCrory.

The couple, who have been married for almost 13 years, were working apart when lockdown neared in March. Lewis, star of Homeland, was in New York, filming the fifth series of Sky’s Billions, when the TV business started shutting down, forcing him to return to England.

McCrory, who was last seen in ITV’s Quiz, meanwhile, was closer to home, filming the sixth series of Peaky Blinders. Together with co-star Cillian Murphy and producers, it was her decision to tell the BBC she was “not comfortable doing this anymore” and request they pause production.

Continue reading Telegraph Interview: Isolated in Suffolk Put to Good Use – April 24, 2020

Categories Helen Personal and Family Life Theatre

Helen and Damian Toy With The Idea of Making West End Appearance Together – April 9, 2020

On Stage Together Next Year?

by Baz Bamigboye | Daily Mail | April 9, 2020

Helen McCrory and Damian Lewis have been toying with the idea of making their first West End appearance together — hopefully next year, if their respective upended commitments will permit.

The couple fell in love when both were cast in the play Five Gold Rings at the off-West End Almeida Theatre back in 2003.

‘Damian and I would love to do something on stage together,’ McCrory told me. ‘We’ve been in long discussions.’

Tantalisingly, she added: ‘Rights are being bought’ to a 20th-century classic (which could be a comedy) that she declined to name until contracts are signed.

‘We’ve done so many other things that have taken us to lots of different places, and in lots of different directions,’ she noted.

Things such as his roles in Homeland, Wolf Hall and Billions.

And her stellar cast of characters: the glamorous but lethal Aunt Polly in Peaky Blinders; Narcissa Malfoy in Harry Potter; and now Sonia Woodley, the QC who represented Charles Ingram — aka the ‘Coughing Major’ — in Quiz.

The TV mini-series, sublimely written and directed by James Graham and Stephen Frears, respectively, will be broadcast on ITV for three consecutive nights from April 13. The cast is pretty awesome, too.

Continue reading Helen and Damian Toy With The Idea of Making West End Appearance Together – April 9, 2020

Categories Audio Charity FeedNHS Helen Interviews Personal and Family Life Philanthropy Podcast

Podcast Guests: Damian and Helen Discuss FeedNHS Efforts on The Coronavirus Newscast – April 9, 2020

The Coronavirus Newscast

by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | April 9, 2020

Every day, Adam Fleming, Laura Kuenssberg, Fergus Walsh and Chris Mason bring us the latest on the coronavirus pandemic in the UK via the The Coronavirus Newscast. They discuss the latest public health information and how it is affecting our lives. On Thursday, April 9, 2020 Damian and Helen were guests on the podcast to share with listeners about their #FeedNHS campaign and their efforts to feed frontline heroes, hospital staff.

Listen here at about 21:30 in.

Here are some soundbites and highlights in transcription form:

Continue reading Podcast Guests: Damian and Helen Discuss FeedNHS Efforts on The Coronavirus Newscast – April 9, 2020

Categories Charity FeedNHS Helen Interviews Personal and Family Life Philanthropy

Damian Lewis Leads Restaurant Campaign to Feed Health Workers – April 9, 2020

Coronavirus Appeal With Leon Restaurants Will Supply 6,000 Meals a Day

by Richard Vines | Bloomberg | April 9, 2020

The actor Damian Lewis initiated a campaign with the Leon healthy fast-food group to raise £1 million ($1.2 million) to feed National Health Service workers partly to overcome a feeling of helplessness he felt under lockdown.

The FeedNHS campaign, in alliance with Leon co-founder and chief executive John Vincent, is currently serving about 5,200 meals a day to critical-care workers at London hospitals and aims to reach its initial goal of 6,000 daily meals sometime next week. The campaign has support from restaurant groups including Wasabi, Tortilla, Peach Pubs, Rosa’s Thai, Hop, Pizza Pilgrims, Franco Manca, Farmer J, Tossed, Haché, Abokado, Dishoom and Nusa Kitchen.

“Helen (McCrory), my wife, and I have friends who are in quite senior positions in the NHS and the clarion call kept coming from everybody that it was difficult to get fed during the day and do you have any influence?” said Lewis, whose awards include an Emmy and a Golden Globe for his performance as Nicholas Brody in the TV series “Homeland.” Most recently he’s starred as a hedge fund manager in “Billions.”

Lewis and McCrory, who appeared in the Harry Potter movies and “Peaky Blinders,” are in touch with Vincent daily after reaching out via a mutual connection. The aim is simple, Lewis says:

“When you have done four hours straight, working ventilators in PPE (personal protective equipment) gear, you can walk out and someone will hand you a hot, healthy meal,” he said. “We all want to do something that can help. Staying at home is an odd feeling, like being under house arrest, feels cowardly, oddly, even though it is the most important thing you can do.”

Lewis said he’s been experiencing a range of emotions during the coronavirus lockdown in a telephone interview from his home in Suffolk, in the east of England:

Continue reading Damian Lewis Leads Restaurant Campaign to Feed Health Workers – April 9, 2020

Categories Charity FeedNHS Helen Personal and Family Life Philanthropy

FeedNHS Update – April 8, 2020

Thanks a Million!

by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | original April 8, 2020 (updated April 24)

We reported earlier that Damian, Helen, and Matt Lucas had partnered with John Vincent of LEON Restaurants to feed NHS workers during the CoVid-19 crisis.

FeedNHS is campaigning to raise as much money as possible for NHS Trusts to get hot, healthy meals to NHS teams on the front line. They are starting their initiative with the hardest-hit London hospitals trusts Imperial, UCHL, Royal Free and St Barts, but they want to go further and take this nationwide.

And now, FeedNHS has become the fifth largest crowdfunding appeal on JustGiving raising over $1.1m (£1m). The campaign has reached more than 100% of the £1,000,000.00 target (£1,171,495). Initially providing 5,000-6,000 meals a day to hospital staff, FeedNHS now estimates it has the funds to serve up to 25,000 hot meals per day across 55 hospitals for the next six weeks, and looking to expand locations from London to Brighton, Birmingham, Cardiff and Manchester. Damian was quoted in Birmingham Live saying,

“But it means we can now kick in with a second round of funding – which is essentially what we are trying to do – in order to take it to Birmingham, Cardiff and Manchester, because the virus will move through those city centres.”

In addition, The Press and Journal reported that FeedNHS has teamed up with Mealforce, BaxterStorey, Feed Our Frontline and charity NHS Helpforce to tackle the task in pledging to serve hospital sites in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, and Glasgow. But they want to keep going, as more funding is needed to add an extra 15,000 meals a day and to extend provision beyond six weeks, providing 600,000 more meals. You can help feed NHS workers one hot, healthy meal a day here.

Continue reading FeedNHS Update – April 8, 2020

Categories Billions Charity FeedNHS Helen News Personal and Family Life Philanthropy Print Media Rookery Productions

Coping With CoVid-19 Crisis: Damian and Helen on Feeding Health Workers After Filming Halted – April 6, 2020

Helping Others: First Parking, Then Pizzas, Now FeedNHS.com

by Jake Kanter | Deadline | April 6, 2020

As coronavirus crashed through the TV business, husband and wife Damian Lewis and Helen McCrory were among those cast adrift. Lewis was making Season 5 of Billions, while McCrory was on the brink of going into production on Season 6 of Peaky Blinders. Now, both are holed up in their British countryside home in Suffolk. But far from quietly riding out the COVID-19 tsunami, the pair have leashed an anchor of sorts and are using their platform for a much-needed mission to feed frontline healthcare workers in the UK.

McCrory said she spent one-day doing hair and makeup and tests for Peaky Blinders, during which it dawned on much of the production team that “something very big is coming.” She explains: “The next morning I woke and told my producer I’m not comfortable doing this anymore… Cillian Murphy did the same. Together with the producers, we approached the BBC and said we’re going to pull this now before we have to do this down the line.” Production was halted on March 16, a mere three weeks ago. “That all seems like a very different world at the moment. Terribly unimportant,” McCrory reflects.

The couple turned to their friends in the National Health Service and asked where they could help. Their initial idea was to cover parking fines for the nurses and doctors who were getting caught out on long shifts, but the government soon moved to waive parking fees for health care workers. The next idea came from Bob Klaber, who works at the Imperial College Healthcare Trust in London. “He said the real problem is food,” recalls McCrory. With staff canteens in hospitals either not existing or shutting down, and nearby eateries closing amid the country-wide lockdown, some NHS employees were running on empty. Lewis and McCrory seized on Klaber’s idea and started getting pizzas delivered to intensive care units. The efforts were greeted by “lovely photos of smiling faces,” but it quickly became apparent that they needed something more sustainable — and nourishing — for those fighting coronavirus.

Continue reading Coping With CoVid-19 Crisis: Damian and Helen on Feeding Health Workers After Filming Halted – April 6, 2020

Categories Charity FeedNHS Helen Personal and Family Life Philanthropy

Damian and Helen on BBC Breakfast – March 30, 2020

FeedNHS Campaign Continues

by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | March 30, 2020

Damian and Helen appeared on BBC Breakfast this morning, Monday, March 30, 2020 to continue to share their FeedNHS effort. They, along with Matt Lucas, have partnered with LEON Restaurants, plus many other restaurant chains, to help support the NHS by ensuring all critical care hospital staff get one hot meal a day. Right now FeedNHS plans to serve 6,000 hot meals a day and they are hoping to go Nationwide! Help get healthy hot food directly to the front line heroes by making your donation to LEON here or the crowdfunding Just Giving page here.The campaign has already earned 55% in donations of the £1,000,000 target. Watch them on BBC Breakfast below:

Categories Charity FeedNHS Helen Personal and Family Life Philanthropy Video

Damian and Helen Launch FeedNHS on Good Morning Britain – Mar 27, 2020

Live From Suffolk In Their Jammies

Damian and Helen are doing everything they can to help while in quarantine like the rest of us. Damian, Helen, and Matt Lucas have partnered with LEON Restaurants, plus many other restaurant chains, to help support the NHS by ensuring all critical care hospital staff get one hot meal a day. Right now FeedNHS is serving 5,600 hot meals a day and they are hoping to go Nationwide! Help get healthy hot food directly to the front line heroes by making your donation to LEON here or the crowdfunding Just Giving page here, and watch their launch on Good Morning Britain below:

Here is the complete FeedNHS background story:

Continue reading Damian and Helen Launch FeedNHS on Good Morning Britain – Mar 27, 2020