Johnny And The Bomb
01/01/2006 . Source: Stephen Hunt 
New from the BBC, Johnny And The Bomb is a time-slip story based on the book by Terry Pratchett. It's an adventure that takes Johnny Maxwell and his pals back into the Second World War. Buy Johnny And The Bomb in the USA - or Buy Johnny And The Bomb in the UK  Introduction
Johnny And The Bomb is a time-slip story. Based on the book by Terry Pratchett, it's a thrilling adventure that takes Johnny Maxwell and his pals back into the Second World War. With great characters that cross the generations, comedy, and lots of cool special effects, there's even a Back-To-The-Future style love story for good measure.
At the start of our story, Johnny just happens to be on hand when time-travelling Mrs Tachyon is blown quite literally from 1941 to 2005, landing in a heap almost at Johnny's feet. While poor Mrs T is in hospital, Johnny inherits her shopping trolley and its unusual cargo - the Bags of Time. Everything revolves around the 21 May 1941, when the small Pennine town of Blackbury suffered its only air raid of the Second World War.
Along with Mrs Tachyon, Johnny's Gran and Grandad were there - of course they were only teenagers at the time - but they fell in love when Grandad, Tom Maxwell, made his epic bike ride to raise the alarm and saved the residents of Paradise Street (including his future bride, the pretty young Rose Bushell) from the horrors of the Blitz.
Tom and Rose survived to get married and the rest is history - at least it was until young Johnny started messing with the Bags of Time. He and his friends slip back to the Second World War and with the best of intentions start 'bumping into things'. And this is where Terry Pratchett asks the big question - if you could go back in time, would your actions make any difference, or is history already written?
In the world of Pratchett everything makes a difference... maybe not a big difference, but a difference. Like when Bigmac takes the bike on which Tom's epic ride is due to take place. Suddenly Paradise Street is in peril, the bombers are on their way and the lovely Rose may well be doomed. And as if our heroes hadn't got enough on their plates, the unique world of Pratchett lets them slip sideways as well as forward and back. So they also find themselves in an alternative present where the changes they've made for better or worse just get to play themselves out.
Confused? You will be, a bit - but there's a lot of fun to be had in confusion, particularly when Terry Pratchett's there to lead you to the other side. What starts as an accident turns into a breathless adventure and ends up in a race against time, with Johnny and his friends trying desperately to reverse the 'butterfly effect' that could stop important little bits of the present ever happening - like Tom and Rose making it and Johnny Maxwell ever being born.
Episode synopses
Episode One - Mrs Tachyon and the Bags of Time
Johnny Maxwell and his friends come across mysterious old bag lady Mrs Tachyon injured in an alleyway, and when she is taken to hospital they are left in charge of her squeaky trolley and a bunch of black bin bags. When Johnny and Kirsty visit Mrs Tachyon in hospital, she tells them her trolley is special - or at least the bags are, the 'Bags of Time', as she calls them. And she's right… the bags propel Johnny and his gang back into the Second World War for a breathless adventure in which they can't help tampering with Time.
Episode Two - The Butterfly Effect
Johnny and his gang return from the Second World War and meet the mysterious Sir Walter. He warns them of the 'Butterfly Effect', where small causes in the past may lead to big effects in the present. Johnny learns this the hard way - his time-travelling exploits mean that he no longer exists, at least not in this life, and his gang have to figure out exactly what they did that caused things to go so horribly wrong.
Episode Three - Déjà Voodoo
Johnny and his friends make a final trip to the Second World War, retracing their steps to try and put things right. Paradise Street is doomed, along with Johnny's teenage grandparents, unless they can re-write history and divert a whole squadron of German bombers. Can they make it in time? Or will Wobbler stay in the Second World War while Johnny Maxwell won't even exist - at least not in this life?
Cast profiles
Zoe Wanamaker
Zoe Wanamaker is one of Britain's leading stars of stage and screen, with television credits including the hit BBC comedy series My Family, Doctor Who, Miss Marple, Love Hurts, Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years, David Copperfield and Gormenghast. She has appeared in feature films including in the role of Madame Hooch in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Five Children and It, Swept From the Sea, and Wilde.
Zoe has received Variety, Olivier and Tony awards for her performances in countless major stage productions in the West End and on Broadway. Credits include His Girl Friday, The Boston Marriage, Battle Royal, Electra, The Crucible, The Bay at Nice, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Old Neighbourhood, Dead Funny, Once In A Lifetime, and Piaf as well as RSC performances in Othello, The Time of Your Life, Twelfth Night, The Comedy of Errors and Mother Courage and her Children.
Frank Finlay CBE
Frank Finlay CBE is one of Britain's best-loved actors, and in a career spanning decades has had countless memorable appearances on stage and screen. His extensive television projects have earned him two Bafta Awards, for his performances in The Death of Adolf Hitler and The Adventures of Don Quixote. He also starred in the ground-breaking series Bouquet of Barbed Wire, 84 Charing Cross Road, and more recently series such as in Life Begins, Eroica, Prime Suspect, Sins, How Do You Want Me, Heartbeat, The Grand, Station Jim, and The Lost Prince.
He received Academy Award, Golden Globe and Bafta Award nominations for his performance as William Shakespeare's Iago in Stuart Burge's 1965 film of Othello. Finlay's many other films include The Longest Day, The Loneliness of the Longest Distance Runner, Murder by Decree, The Return of the Soldier and Sparrow. Most recently, he has appeared in Roman Polanksi's multi-award winning The Pianist. He has also appeared extensively on the British stage, leading theatre companies in London and on Broadway. He was made a Commander of the British Empire in 1984.
Keith Barron
Keith Barron is one of the most recognisable television, stage and film actors in the country, with a multitude of credits spanning his long career. He has had many leading roles in comedy, including series such as Duty Free and Holding the Fort. Other notable roles earlier in his career include the title role in Dennis Potter's Vote, Vote, Vote for Nigel Barton, The Further Adventures of Lucky Jim, Telfords Change, and The Prince Regent.
Recent television credits include Hustle, Judge John Deed, Clocking Off, Foyle's War, New Tricks, England Expects, Where the Heart Is, Pickles, Verdict and Madame Bovary. His feature film credits include La Passione, At The Earth's Core and The Land That Time Forgot, and he also has numerous theatre credits.
John Henshaw
John Henshaw is a well-known and established television and film actor, recognisable for his varied roles in Early Doors, Linda Green, The Second Coming, Born and Bred, Nice Guy Eddie, The Cops, The Grand, The Royle Family, and See No Evil. John's film credits include Starter for Ten, There's Only One Jimmy Grimble, When Saturday Comes, and Dancing Through the Dark.
Felicity Montagu
Felicity Montagu has a variety of television credits to her name, but is perhaps best known for her role alongside Steve Coogan as Lynn in I'm Alan Partridge. She has also appeared in Doc Martin, Nighty Night, Hear The Silence, My Life As A Popat, The Mrs Bradley Mysteries, Crouch, A Touch of Frost, and Tumbledown.
Felicity's feature film appearances include Bridget Jones' Diary and Blackball, and she has played a variety of roles in British theatre.
George MacKay
George MacKay already has a number of television and feature film appearances under his belt, despite being only 13 years of age. He has appeared in Rose and Maloney, The Brief and Footprints in the Snow. Feature film appearances include The Thief Lord and Peter Pan.
Terry Pratchett
Terry Pratchett was born in 1948 in Beaconsfield, Bucks. He sold his first short story, The Hades Business, at the tender age of 13 and bought a typewriter with the proceeds. His first novel, The Carpet People, was published when he was 23. He then worked on local newspapers, while continuing to write fiction in his spare time.
After leaving journalism for a spell working as a press officer for the Central Electricity Generating Board, he published his first novel, The Colour of Magic, from the widely acclaimed Discworld series, in 1983. Terry Pratchett is one of the most popular authors writing today. He lives behind a keyboard in Wiltshire and says he "doesn't want to get a life, because it feels as though he's trying to lead three already".
He was awarded the OBE in 1998 and his first Discworld novel for children, The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, was awarded the 2001 Carnegie Medal. He has sold more than 45 million books worldwide and his work has been translated into over 30 languages.
Peter Tabern - Screenwriter/Producer
Peter Tabern runs Childsplay Productions, specialising in quality children's and family drama. He has written and produced most of the company's output, including Johnny and the Bomb. BBC credits include Children of The New Forest, Stig of The Dump (which won a screenwriting Bafta and an International Emmy), and most recently Feather Boy, which also won a Bafta. He divides his time between London and Derbyshire.
Cast and production credits
Mrs Tachyon ... Zoe Wanamaker
Tom Maxwell ... Frank Finlay
Sir Walter … Keith Barron
Johnny Maxwell ... George MacKay
Kirsty ... Jazmine Franks
Yo-less ... Lucien Laviscount
Wobbler ... Kyle Herbert
Bigmac ... Scott Kay
Councillor Seeley ... John Henshaw
Mildred Seeley … Felicity Montagu
Doctor Harris ... William Beck
Young Tom ... Matthew Beard
Rose Bushell ... Holly Grainger
Sgt Bourke ... Paul Copley
PC Gallagher … Anthony Bowers
Home Guard ... Roy Brandon
Carol Maxwell ... Samantha Seager
Mrs Wilkinson ... Beatrice
Kelly Hickson ... Howard Gay
Staff Nurse ... Sally Sheridan
Mrs Bushell ... Siobhan Finneran
PC Collingwood ... Patrick Connolly
Old Man ... David Williams. |
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