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A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Wednesday 13 november 2019

Parolee is no hometown hero in TV

comedy 'Back to Life'

LOS ANGELES (AP) — An start your life? If you met The "Back to Life" cast in-
actor who can provoke someone, fell in love, it's cludes Geraldine James
belly laughs with grunts something you're going and Richard Durden as
clearly is gifted. Fans of to have to tell you to tell her parents, Jamie Michie
the show business comedy them," Haggard said of as her first love and Adeel
"Episodes" will fondly recall the character's wrongdo- Akhtar as her neighbor.
Daisy Haggard's skill at un- ing, which also appears to (Haggard is eager to give
leashing a symphony of have sentenced her to a props to fellow writer So-
nasal grumbles, effectively truly unfortunate haircut. lon, just as she does with
underscored by a sourpuss The concept may not "Episodes" creators David
This image released by Showtime shows Daisy Haggardin a grimace. "sound very funny, but Crane and Jeffrey Klarik
scene from "Back to Life," premiering on Nov. 10. A far different Haggard there's comedy within," for the utterances she says
Associated Press
character, funny but also Haggard said, along with they precisely scripted.)
touching, is on display in something equally impor- Easygoing and quick to
Showtime's "Back to Life," tant. "I love things that have smile during an interview,
about a woman who lands a big heart, because I think Haggard says she shares
in her seaside English home- that's everything, really. So Miri's durable optimism.
town after 18 years in pris- we really wanted the show That begins and ends the
on. Mum and dad (warily) to be all those things, but parallels between the ill-
welcome her return to their then to have a big, big, big fated character and the
lives and her frozen-in-time heart." actress, who has a busy ca-
teenage bedroom, but the The series, which aired reer (including the upcom-
villagers aren't so forgiving earlier this year on Britain's ing TV comedy "Breeders,"
of her crime. BBC, was written by Hag- with Martin Freeman) and
Different perspectives on gard with Laura Solon ("Hot full personal life. Haggard,
the misdeed are gradually in Cleveland"). It boasts as 41, is married to musician
unveiled during the six-ep- executive producers Harry Joe Wilson and was preg-
isode comedy series (de- and Jack Williams, whose nant with their second child
buting 10 p.m. EST Sunday), credits include the Emmy- when "Back to You" was or-
a project that grew in part winning comedy series dered.
from Haggard's contem- "Fleabag" from creator-star Haggard's paternal fam-
plation of gender inequity. Phoebe Waller-Bridge. ily tree has deep creative
"I was so interested in how "When I met Phoebe, I roots. Her father is writer
we vilify women who have thought, 'This woman is bril- and director Piers Haggard
done something bad, so liant. She's hilarious. She (1966's "Blow-Up," 1978's
much more than we do makes me laugh ... and "Pennies from Heaven"), her
with men," she said. Add in what would her show look grandfather was actor and
Haggard's fondness for un- like?'" recalled Harry Wil- writer Stephen Haggard,
derdogs and her specula- liams. "And I have the ex- and she's the great-great-
tion about how a woman act same thing with Daisy. great niece of H. Rider
in her late 30s would fare They're completely differ- Haggard, whose 19th-cen-
without a partner or job or ent shows. They're com- tury adventure and fantasy
respect, and the result is pletely different sensibilities. novels included "King Solo-
Miri. But what they are is unique mon's Mines," ''Allan Qua-
"How hard would it be to voices." termain" and "She."q

Simply Red back to '70s basics on

'Blue Eyed Soul'

(BMG) of covers.
"Blue Eyed Soul," Simply While the music on the two
Red's 12th album, is not in- records hits many of the
novative, groundbreaking, same cues, the 10 new
cutting-edge, topical or songs were all written by
extensive. Hucknall and reflect how
But it's a lot of fun and its deeply the icons of the
title is comfortingly accu- genre, from James Brown
rate. and Maurice White to Cur-
Mick Hucknall's band, to- tis Mayfield and Nile Rod-
gether in its current incar- gers, are ingrained in his
nation for over 15 years, craft.
This cover image released by
BMG shows "Blue Eyes Soul" has been closely identified Long after his wild years,
by Simply Red. with soul and R&B since its Hucknall appears to be
Associated Press 1985 debut "Picture Book." a model of domesticity
This album can be consid- and says he wrote songs
By PABLO GORONDI ered a sequel to Hucknall's he thought the rest of the
Associated Press second solo record, "Ameri- band would "like to play
Simply Red, "Blue Eyed Soul" can Soul," a 2012 collection night after night."q