Feel the Force - brand new six-part comedy
series for 91Èȱ¬ TWO
Starts Monday 8 May 2006, 9.30pm
Principal cast biographies
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Michelle Gomez - Sally Bobbins
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Nominated for a Scottish Bafta for Best TV Performance for her role as Janice in Channel 4's The Book Group, Michelle Gomez trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Theatre.
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Other TV credits include Carrie & Barry I & II, Murder in
Suburbia, Ready When You Are Mr McGill and both series of Channel 4's acclaimed
comedy series Green Wing.
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She will soon begin on production on Lead Balloon,
written by and starring Jack Dee. She has performed in The Vagina Monologues
as well as films including Chromophobia and Subterrain.
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Rosie Cavaliero - Sally Frank
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Rosie Cavaliero's previous TV appearances include Cold Feet, Always and Everyone, Best of Both Worlds, Red Caps, Green Wing, Spoons, The Catherine Tate Show and Peep Show.
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Theatre credits include Abigail's Party and The Anniversary,
and she has performed in films including Topsy/Turvy, Vera Drake and more
recently Tristram Shandy.
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Michelle and Rosie talk about Feel the Force
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Michelle and Rosie have worked together before on Green Wing. Michelle says:
"Rosie had a beautifully-acted cameo, I thought 'who's she? - she's very,
very funny'. Then we met up for this.
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"Instantly there was an easy
chemistry between us, which is half the battle with a double act, which
ostensibly is what are."
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They both appreciate the collaborative nature of Feel the Force. As Rosie says:
"This feels free; you can try things out in workshops and
some things work, some don't, but there's a real feeling that you can do
whatever you want, have a stab at something."
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Michelle says: "What's come about quite quickly is our comfort within the characters.
We know them well now.
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"Bobbins is a control freak - she lives and breathes
the police force, she's totally erked at being partnered with someone
so incompetent, but having said that she is completely co-dependent!"
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Of Frank, Rosie says: "Delusional, incompetent, optimistic
and totally dependent on Bobbins. She doesn't want to be, she just is."
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Michelle, Rosie and Leigh not only star in Feel the Force but sing the theme tune. They had such fun recording it with Jonathan Whitehead that we can look forward to hearing a different version of the song at the end of each episode.
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Leigh Zimmerman - Sergeant Beesley
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Leigh Zimmerman starred in the original Broadway productions of A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, Crazy For You and Chicago.
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Numerous West End appearances have included The Seven Year
Itch, Contact, Three on a Couch, Chicago and most recently in the original
London cast of The Producers in her Olivier Award-nominated performance
as Ula.
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During her long run in the show she also completed work on
five feature films including Paul Greengrass's United 93, due for release
this spring in the UK, Are You Ready For Love and Michelle Pfeiffer's I
Could Never Be Your Woman, both released later this year.
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As well as numerous
US TV roles, she has recently appeared in Ben Elton's 91Èȱ¬ series
Blessed.
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Leigh talks about Feel the Force
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Of her role as the domineering sergeant in Feel the Force, Leigh says: "Beesley
is relatively insecure but hides it by surrounding herself with men. She's
very professional, but doesn't have any tolerance for women because she's
learnt how to work in a world of men.
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"A lot of high-flying women work better
with men because they've dealt with them on the way up. My mother is
a senior executive in the US – one
woman in a boardroom full of men – that's
what Beesley's had to deal with.
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"I'm happy to bring a really imposing physical presence to the role, as well
as being a woman who could keep up with Frank and Bobbins. Also I love doing
characters with accents, and people who have a tough veneer.
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"Georgia's writing about women is great because it encompasses a lot of different,
interesting characters in one show.
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"They are weak and strong – funny both
ways. Frank and Bobbins are very different and when they are challenged
by authority all the time it makes them behave erratically, which is
a great dynamic between women."
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Production biographies
Georgia Pritchett - Writer
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Georgia has written widely for television, film and radio.
Radio credits include Radio 4's dramatisation of Nicholas Nickleby and two
series of the sitcom Wild Things starring Miranda Richardson and Doon Mackichan.
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Numerous television credits include Smack the Pony, Have I
Got News For You, 2DTV, Holding the Baby, My Family, Spitting Image and three
series of the children's sitcom Barking!
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Tristram Shappero - Director
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Tristram Shapeero's numerous previous television comedy credits include Emmy
award-winning Smack the Pony (series II), Bafta-nominated Brass Eye Special,
Gimme, Gimme, Gimme, I'm Alan Partridge, Ab Fab Christmas Special, the first
and second series of Green Wing, Golden Rose award-winning Peep Show (two
series) and the second series of Absolute Power.
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Catherine Bailey - Producer
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Catherine Bailey has made programmes for 91Èȱ¬ Television, Channel 4 and ITV and is one of the main independent suppliers of drama for Radio 3 and Radio 4, winning three Sony Awards for Best Drama on radio.
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Catherine's first feature film Spider (Best Film, Toronto
and Sitges Film Festivals), directed by David Cronenberg (Director's Guild,
Best Director), premiered in competition in Cannes in May 2002 and opened
in London in January 2003 to rave reviews.
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She has also made three series
of a children's sitcom Barking! For ITV and numerous documentaries.
Her next feature film, Lola Rose, is due to go into production later in
the year.
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