Categories Album Mission Creep Music Print Media

Damian Lewis Looking Forward to Southend Show and Chats About His Spring Tour and His Essex Home

Setting Off on Tour

by Emma Palmer | Essex Life Magazine | March 2024 Issue

He may be a Hollywood movie star, but A-list actor Damian Lewis has closer ties to little old Essex than you might think. Not only does the 53-year-old, known for his roles in Homeland, Billions, Band of Brothers and Wolf Hall, own a house in a picturesque part of north Essex, he’s preparing to hit the stage at the Palace Theatre in Southend this month-just don’t expect him to be acting.

Hardcore fans of the red-haired heartthrob will already have been aware of his musical abilities, but it wasn’t until 2022 when he released his debut album, Mission Creep, that the rest of the world was introduced to the vocal and compositional talents of Mr. Lewis.

As well as starring in some of the most successful TV shows in recent years, the star was and is, an accomplished guitar player.

As a child he never stopped playing and even went busking around Europe in his twenties before he decided to plough his efforts into acting.

But even though acting roles such as captured US Marine Nicholas Brody in Homeland, hedge fund trader Bobby Axelrod in Billions and more recently as King Henry VIII in Wolf Hall, catapulted him to global stardom, it’s music that remains a driving force in his ongoing career.

Lewis would occasionally perform at wrap parties on film sets as part of a scratch band but when Covid and the ensuing lockdowns hit, he realised he, at last, had time and space away from a busy acting schedule to throw himself into playing and writing songs. With the additional maturity and experience that life has given him the ideas for tunes and lyrics began to flow.

Continue reading Damian Lewis Looking Forward to Southend Show and Chats About His Spring Tour and His Essex Home

Categories Birthday Personal and Family Life Print Media

53 Song Dedications for Damian Lewis’s Birthday

Tunes for the Music Man

by Gingersnap | Fan Fun with Damian Lewis | February 11, 2024

Today Damian Lewis turns 53! Happy Birthday Damian, from the Fan Fun with Damian Lewis Team and all the fandom around the world! Every January the Team begins contemplating what we can do differently to celebrate Damian’s birthday in February and year after year we strive to be creative and unique. In 2022 we baked and decorated 51 Birthday Cakes and in 2023 we mixed 52 Celebratory Cocktails in honor of Damian. We’ve been bakers and we’ve been mixologists – now it’s time to enter the DJ booth, lay down some tracks and scratch out those beats on the deck. With the release of his debut album Mission Creep and recent UK tour, what better way to continue that music theme than to celebrate Damian’s 53rd birthday with 53 song dedications!

We planned, conspired and mobilized the fandom in the back channels of Twitter, Instagram or Facebook DM’s, as well as e-mail, to accomplish this secret project. With our idea set in motion the goal remained the same…to bring a smile to Damian’s face. The task was simple: choose a song that reminds us of Damian or reminds us of one of our favorite characters he has played. It could also be a song we wished he would cover at one of his music gigs or hope to hear on his next album. Any song for any reason.

Continue reading 53 Song Dedications for Damian Lewis’s Birthday

Categories Album Mission Creep Music Print Media Tour Dates Video

Damian Lewis Announces New Tour Dates and Release of Second Album

Eight-Date Tour

by Hannah Roberts | PA Entertainment via The Irish News | January 18, 2024

British actor-turned-musician Damian Lewis has announced he will be embarking on a tour in March ahead of the release of a new album. The 52-year-old London-born actor, who starred in the TV series Homeland and 2019 comedy film Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood, has turned his hand to music in recent years. He released his debut album Mission Creep last year and will embark on a new set of tour dates, starting with a show in East Sussex at the Trading Boundaries on Friday March 8. Discussing the tour, Lewis said:

“Dry January at home? If you’re itching for some live music by March. I’m here to help. Me and the band are hitting the road again in March for The Mission Creep Tour Part 2. Can’t wait. Come!”

Lewis also revealed that plans are underway to release a second album this year. He said: “I’ll be playing my album Mission Creep, sure, but also sneaking in songs from my second album, which will be out later this year. That’s right: new year, new pants, new songs. See you there.”

Continue reading Damian Lewis Announces New Tour Dates and Release of Second Album

Categories Print Media Wolf Hall

Damian Lewis Spotted Enjoying a Pint While On Break From Filming Wolf Hall

A Royal Toast

by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com  | January 16, 2024

Damian was spotted enjoying a pint with co-star Thomas Brodie-Sangster at The New Inn in West Coker, South Somerset last week while on break from filming Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light nearby.

The BBC drama recently returned to Montacute House, which has been closed to the public from Tuesday, January 2 through Friday, January 19, 2024 to allow camera crews to prepare some scenes for filming.  The 16th-century Elizabethan mansion and gardens is near Yeovil, which are owned by the National Trust. Motacute House is used to represent Greenwich Palace and its grand exterior makes for an stunning background for the drama’s key scenes. Both Damian (playing Henry VIII) and Thomas (playing Rafe Sadler) have been spotted at the stunning National Trust property as filming nears completion.

Source: Somerset Live

Categories Charity Gallery Merchandise Old Friends Philanthropy Print Media Theatre Trailer Video

Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends Concert Recording to be Released This Week

Live Recording on CD Set

by Alex Wood and Tanyel Gumushan | WhatsOnStage | December 6, 2023

A live cast recording of Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends will be released in the US and UK this Friday, December 8, 2023 on a 2-disc CD set and digital and streaming formats from First Night Records.

The WhatsOnStage Award winning event, which took place in May 2022, featured a bumper cast of Michael Ball, Helena Bonham Carter, Rob Brydon, Petula Clark, Anna-Jane Casey, Rosalie Craig, Janie Dee, Judi Dench, Daniel Evans, Maria Friedman, Haydn Gwynne, Bonnie Langford, Damian Lewis, Julia Mckenzie, Julian Ovenden, Bernadette Peters, Sian Phillips, Jon Robyns, Clive Rowe, Jenna Russell, Imelda Staunton, Charlie Stemp, Gary Wilmot and Michael D Xavier. View photos from the event in our Gallery here.

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Categories A Spy Among Friends Poll Print Media

The Best British Spy Shows to Stream Right Now

A Spy Among Friends

by Staff | Vulture | December 6, 2023

The small-screen British spy genre is packed with some of the most tonally diverse marvels under the sun — pick one show, and you’ll bear witness to a beautiful assassin stabbing a man to death with a needle. Pick another, and a guy is giggling his way through the silliest MI-5 training imaginable. Whatever your taste, there are spy gadgets, thrilling chases, secret identities, and twisty betrayals throughout this list of good ol’ fashioned espionage shows for your (incognito) browsing pleasure.

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Categories A Spy Among Friends Poll Print Media

Best TV Shows of 2023: Giving the Small Screen a Tweak

A Spy Among Friends

by John Anderson | The Wall Street Journal | December 5, 2023

It wasn’t a regular year, this 2023. Writers were on strike; actors were on strike. “Succession” lurched into the grave. Martha the Medicare Lady was making people crazier than they already were. And you know what? Shingles doesn’t care.

That said, I had assumed that this retrospective examination and contemplation of TV in the year ’23 was destined to be about the new. The novel. The innovative. Which is counterintuitive, to be sure: Television is a medium—or an industry, or whatever it is—that seems passionately dedicated to the idea that viewers don’t want to feel too passionately about anything, or have their equilibrium disturbed or their worldview assaulted. Hence the flourishing business of game shows, “unscripted” celebrity-reality series and nonfiction programming about serial murderers, which are always comforting to those of us not being murdered.

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Categories Print Media Wolf Hall

‘Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light’ Casting News

Casting Announcement

by Staff | PBS.org  | December 4, 2023

Harriet Walter and Timothy Spall

Masterpiece PBS and the BBC have announced the remaining casting for Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light, based on the final novel in Hilary Mantel’s multi award-winning trilogy. As previously announced, Mark Rylance, Damian Lewis, Jonathan Pryce, Kate Phillips and Lilit Lesser will all return for the six-part series, now filming across England and Wales.

Announced today, Harriet Walter (Killing Eve, Succession) joins the cast to play Lady Margaret Pole, with Timothy Spall (Mr Turner, Spencer) as the Duke of Norfolk.

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Categories Billions Locations Guide Print Media

Billions Season 7 Location Guide

Take the Billions Tour Around New York City and Beyond

by Damianista | Fan Fun with Damian Lewis | December 4, 2023

As I mentioned a billion times before, Billions is a dream show for me not only because my favorite actor is in it, but also because New York, from its landmarks to its city parks and to its quirky shops, appears as a cast member in the show! As someone who feels the only home she has in the world is the city that never sleeps, I particularly love it that Billions is taking over New York, the BIG film studio that it is, and shooting all over the place, from Manhattan to Queens to Brooklyn to The Bronx to Long Island and to northern suburbs. So I have put together this Billions Season 7 Location Guide as a loving tribute to my most favorite place on earth (and also to my second favorite place on earth!) and a heartfelt thank you to the show creators for writing a love letter to the city.

Hope you pick and choose and take your own Billions tour in New York City and beyond and give us feedback – especially if you know about a location that is missing in this post! Oh, and in case you missed Fan Fun locations guide for the previous seasons, you can check them out hereherehere, here and here. And please note that many show staples like Axe Capital HQ, Chuck’s Southern District office, or Chuck Senior’s apartment were all listed in previous seasons when they first appeared. ENJOY!

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Categories A Spy Among Friends Poll Print Media

Best TV Shows of 2023: A Spy Among Friends

Nail-Biting Espionage

by Mike Hale | New York Times | November 29, 2023

TV in 2023 was like synchronized swimming. Below the surface, there was roiling and churn. The writers’ and actors’ strikes wiped out much of the production year. The hangover from the corporate binge on streaming platforms led to cancellations and cutbacks. A number of hall-of-fame series left the air, with no clear plan of, as it were, succession.

But above the waterline, the dance went on. As usual, it was challenging to whittle down my year-end list to 10. (So I picked 11.) As usual, I am listing it in alphabetical, not ranked order. As usual, I made it a rule not to repeat shows from the previous year, and as usual, I broke that rule. (I couldn’t not include “Reservation Dogs.”)

Continue reading Best TV Shows of 2023: A Spy Among Friends

Categories Events Gallery Personal and Family Life Print Media

Damian Lewis and Children Attend ‘Wonka’ World Premiere

They’ve Got a Golden Ticket

by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | November 28, 2023

Damian and his children, daughter Manon (who wore her mother’s dress) and son Gulliver (who wore his father’s famous mustard coat), attended the Warner Bros. Pictures World Premiere of Wonka at The Royal Festival Hall on Tuesday, November 28, 2023 in London, England. They walked the red carpet as part of the VIP arrivals to see Damian’s former Homeland co-star Timothée Chalamet, who plays Wonka in the musical fantasy film. See more photos of their red carpet arrivals in our Gallery here. The film follows a young Willy Wonka, presenting a prequel story to the Roald Dahl classic Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It explores how the world’s greatest inventor, magician, and chocolate maker became the beloved Willy Wonka we know today.

Other stars in attendance were Calah Lane, Keegan-Michael Key, Paterson Joseph, Matt Lucas, Mathew Baynton, Sally Hawkins, Rowan Atkinson, Jim Carter, Olivia Colman and Hugh Grant. For those who may not remember, Matt Lucas joined the FeedNHS initiative alongside Damian and Helen McCrory, a charity they started during the CoVid-19 pandemic. Matt released his Baked Potato Song to raise funds for the campaign. Everything’s connected!

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Categories Print Media Wolf Hall

‘Wolf Hall’ Sequel With Damian Lewis, Mark Rylance Sets Production Start for PBS, BBC

The Final Novel in Hilary Mantel’s Historical Trilogy

by Rick Porter | Hollywood Reporter | November 20, 2023

UPDATE 11/27/23: According to the Daily Mail, some initial filming took place Saturday, November 25, 2023 in Bristol. Filming on location photos can be viewed in our Gallery here.

After eight years, PBS is making a return to Wolf Hall. The public broadcaster will air a sequel to its Emmy-nominated miniseries, with Mark Rylance and Damian Lewis reprising their roles as Thomas Cromwell and English King Henry VIII. The series, based on the final book in author Hilary Mantel‘s trilogy, The Mirror and the Light, is scheduled to begin production soon. It will air under PBS’ Masterpiece banner in the United States and on the BBC in the U.K. Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light currently has no release date.

The new season follows Thomas Cromwell as he navigates the aftermath of Anne Boleyn’s execution, facing moral dilemmas and multiple enemies. Cromwell somehow manages to escape the bloodshed unscathed. Although he can continue amassing power and influence, the whole display assures that nobody is truly safe in the King’s court. Cromwell is in particular trouble with no powerful family behind him and only the wits that got him there. The season will follow the moral dilemmas he faces as he tries to keep his head on his shoulders while still trying to do the right thing and steer England toward the future. Unfortunately for him, things are even more complicated than that with rebellion within the country’s borders, traitors abroad, and an invasion on the horizon. All the while, Cromwell’s fortunes are running out as he’s earned no small number of enemies who wish to see his demise.

Continue reading ‘Wolf Hall’ Sequel With Damian Lewis, Mark Rylance Sets Production Start for PBS, BBC