Go Feet: Christopher Eccleston

Showing posts with label Christopher Eccleston. Show all posts

Tuesday, 26 December 2017

Running on Screen- The A Word and Atypical

The A Word

I mentioned here before that in the BBC's autism-themed drama The A Word, Christopher Eccleston plays a keen fell runner. In Series Two, first broadcast in November 2017, the producers created a fictional 'High Tarn Fell Race' as the scene for a personal crisis. The 'race' was staged at Thirlmere in the Lake District, and features members of Keswick AC and other local running clubs as extras.

Eccleston enjoys running in the hills in real life and it shows. He has also run marathons - including London Marathon 2012 in 4:17:43 - and the 2005 Great North Run half in a creditable 1:27:19

Previous three photos - The 'High Tarn Fell Race' in the A-Word Series 2, Epsode 4

(including last two location shots from Times and Star)

(you can watch episode on BBC iplayer until 10 pm on 28 December 2017)

Christopher Eccleston in London Marathon
(not sure what year)

Atypical

Coincidentally running is also a significant thread in the equally excellent 2017 Netflix series Atypical, which like the A-word explores the impact of autism on a family, this time in a US setting. Brigette Lundy-Paine plays Casey, a keen track and field competitor, whose brother has autism. She is offered an elite school place after setting a 400m track record, but her relationship with her father and sometime coach is put under strain when he misses her performance while distracted by her brother.

Previously in the Running on Screen series:

Running to David Bowie - Frances Ha/Mauvais Sang

Undercover, the A Word (Series 1) & How to Stay Young
Jodie Whittaker from London Marathon to Dr Who (& Broadchurch)

Stick Man's Christmas Running Adventure

Run Lola Run and running Berlin

Walford Half Marathon (Eastenders)

A Running Row in Eastenders

Grey's Anatomy Coaching Advice

T2 Trainspotting
God Help the Girl

Race Strategy in The (US) Office

Top of the Lake (also featuring Elisabeth Moss running) and The Fall
China Crisis - Wishful Thinking
The Running Man (1987)
Muybridge's Runner, 1887

Monday, 11 April 2016

Running on Screen (14): The A Word, Undercover and How to Stay Young

Lots of running in current BBC series...

The A Word

The A Word is an excellent drama about the impact of a child's ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) diagnosis on his family. His grandfather, played by sometime Dr Who Christopher Eccleston, is a fell runner seen charging up and down the hills of the Lake District - and berating a fellow runner for going 'hill soft' from spending too long in London. Eccleston is pretty fit in real life, I believe he's run the London Marathon at least four times.

Undercover

Undercover stars Adrian Lester as an ex-undercover policeman who ended up marrying the woman he was spying on. Complicated... He seems to be getting his headspace through triathlon training - episode one had him practicing transitions in the back yard, and taking an early morning swim at Parliament Hill Lido at a time when it just happened to be empty. In Episode Two he goes for a run up to the Alexandra Palace in north London.

How to Stay Young

How to Stay Young, as the title suggests, is a documentary series about the science of ageing. Some interesting stuff in the first episode - e.g. exercise is good for you, but maybe dancing might be better than going to the gym. Anyway there's a scene of presenter Dr Chris van Tulleken going for a run in a cemetery - and it looks very like my local Nunhead Cemetery (see previous post on running there)