Categories Life Media Print Media

A Toast to the Greatest Cop Show Time Forgot – Sept 30, 2017

A Toast to the Greatest Cop Show Time Forgot

by Karen Han | The Daily Beast | September 30, 2017

Happy 10th, Life! On its tenth anniversary, it only seems fair to give Life another day in court.

Life is a difficult name to live up to. There’s the board game, there’s the cereal, there’s the thing itself—and then there’s the TV show. The series, created by Rand Ravich, ran for two seasons and a total of 32 episodes from September 2007 to April 2009. Over the course of its run, it didn’t quite seem to gain any real traction; much of what was said about it was less original observation and more comparison to other shows, specifically Monk and House, which also followed a procedural structure and featured a straight man/weird man routine. Unfortunately, Life hasn’t fared much better in the decade that’s passed since the pilot. The only context in which it’s been mentioned has—in a stroke of irony—been in reference to its generic name. But even just a quick survey of the show will make it clear that Life is far from generic.

The show centered on Charlie Crews (Damian Lewis), a detective recently reinstated after serving 12 years out of a life sentence for a triple murder he didn’t commit. He was partnered with Dani Reese (Sarah Shahi), a recovering alcoholic and drug addict working her way back into the good graces of the department. While the show followed the typical “cop show” template of solving a murder each week, it also set up a larger arc: that of Crews’ solo investigation into who’d actually committed the triple murder, and why he’d been set up to take the fall.

Continue reading A Toast to the Greatest Cop Show Time Forgot – Sept 30, 2017

Categories Homeland Media Print Media

Damian Lewis: Bringing the Fight back home, Sydney Morning Herald, January 12, 2012

Bringing the fight back home

Hero or terrorist? Andrew Murfett talks to the star of Homeland.
By Andrew Murfett

THE premise is intriguing. A United States marine, missing in action for eight years and presumed dead, is rescued from a terrorist compound. He has been held hostage by al-Qaeda for all that time.

Continue reading Damian Lewis: Bringing the Fight back home, Sydney Morning Herald, January 12, 2012

Categories Interviews Life Media Personal and Family Life Print Media The Escapist

The Public-School Psychopath – June 15, 2008

The Public-School Psychopath

Damian Lewis on villains, typecasting and living in an earthquake zone

by Ally Carnwath 


Actor Damian Lewis rose to fame playing a US soldier in the Second World War drama Band of Brothers. He is married to actress Helen McCrory and has two children (Manon, 1, and Gulliver, 7 months).

You spend half your year in LA. How is it?

LA is like an eccentric beach town. Next to London, it feels utterly provincial but remains fascinating. My wife says she doesn’t like living in a town where you may get swallowed up by an earthquake at any moment. But it’s fantastic for our children to be able to walk on Hampstead Heath one half of the year and on Santa Monica beach the other.

Continue reading The Public-School Psychopath – June 15, 2008