Kicking Off the Holiday Season

Now that the turkey and pumpkin pie are out of the way *adjusting belt*
it's time to get a little Christmas spirit going on around here~ Armitage style!

I made this video, and it's not even a Stick-Figure Richard!
(Well, he does make an appearance.)

*Remember to pause the blog's background music (bottom of screen) before playing video.* 

By the way, the song is from

"The Muppet Christmas Carol," my favorite Christmas movie. 
(Before you judge, just know that I have a soft spot for musicals,

movies based on classic novels, and muppets! hehe)

What is your favorite Christmas movie?

Just wanted to say...

Happy Thanksgiving

from the Richard Armitage Fan Blog!

Stick-Figure Richard invited his buddies over for some grub
to celebrate the American holiday. (He's going to need a bigger table!)

Left to Right:

SF Bafta Richard, SF Gisborne (S3), SF Thornton, SFR, SF Monet, SF Lucas, SF Harry

No matter which country you call home, have a fun & safe week everyone!
Posts may be sparce until next week, as I will be spending the next
few days with fam & stuffing my face. :)

11th Poll Results: We want more, dang it!

QUESTION:
Which RA show would you most like to see have a reunion episode?

POLL RESULTS:
Vicar of Dibley: 56 (44%)
North & South: 40 (32%)
Robin Hood: 17 (13%)
Cold Feet: 2 (1%)
Between the Sheets: 4 (3%)
The Impressionists: 0 (0%)
Other: 6 (4%)

I was excited by these poll results because
the 1st, 2nd & 3rd place winners were my choice in that order.
(Not that these polls hold any significance in real life, but it's fun to know, right?)

WINNER:

Agreeing with the majority of voters,

I would absolutely LOVE to see how life continued for these two.

It would be fun to see their honeymoon adventures...

I picture them going on a cruise, only to have the whole Dibley gang crash the party

creating total chaos!  Did the Kennedys stay in Dibley? 
Whose cottage do they live in- his/hers?  Maybe they adopted some children! 
(I don't picture her having babies in her 40's or whatever the age.)
I have to know!  Please Vicar of Dibley writers... show some mercy!

Not only do so many of us love this show, but the chance of a

reunion episode seems the most realistic with this one.  Get on it, Dawn.

2ND PLACE:

While "North &South" is probably my favorite RA project,  it is based on Elizabeth Gakell's novel, which doesn't have a sequel. We'd all love to see John & Margaret's wedding, children and life in Milton, but I've never heard of the BBC writing their own sequel to a book-based period film. Perhaps we should get the ball rolling for them? Fanfic writers- send them your scripts, stat!

THIRD PLACE:

We love Mr. Giz!  But how is a reunion episode possible

when so many characters (including Gisborne, most importantly) bit the dust!?

I know the RH writers were "creative" (as in down right weird and crazy) but don't know how they'd manage to throw together a reunion episode and bring back all of our favorites. Aw, who cares... just give us back our Gisborne!!! *sob*

Of course, a few hoochie-mommas out there want more of this:

and this:

Hahahaha! 

*ducking*  You know I'm kidding, ladies.

Speedo and peach-lovers are always welcome here, along with everyone else! :)

Those of you who voted "other,"

please do tell which RA project to which you were referring.

La-la-la-Lucas!

I've heard so much about Spooks 8, episode 4 and it sounds amazing!

(Living in the US and having an old, slow computer that doesn't want to download
the episodes, my Spooks viewing is on hold for the moment... even though I read all the

spoilers and look at all the screen caps.  I can't help it!)

Here is a fan vid from YouTuber JulietD001 created from scenes of episode 4.

*Be sure to pause the blog's background music at the bottom of screen before viewing.*

Thanks for the great video, Juliet!
(She has many other Spooks fan vids on her YT channel.  Be sure to check them out.)

I like the scene where Lucas is taking a stroll.
As someone commented in one of the forums, it's very Thornton-esque!

Also, Film Review Online has posted more previews and pictures

HERE, this time from upcoming Spooks episode 5.

Lucas looks lovely behind the wheel.

Why are Lucas and Ros dressed matchy-matchy?

Friendship Amongst Fans

The support system and bond between Richard Armitage fans is something
I've become aware of and experienced myself this year. It's amazing how a common

interest (in this case, Richard and his work) can bring people together.

This feel-good tid-bit was sent in by Susie J:

I had come across Richard's various minor TV roles before, but it wasn't until North and South that I really felt inspired to find out more about the lovely actor that is Richard Armitage, so I decided to "google" him and see what I came up with. How glad I am that I did, as I discovered a lovely fan site devoted to him called "The Armitage Army" and subsequently joined the forum, one of many.

This was nearly two years ago, and although I don't want to go into any detail here, I can say that at the time I was grieving following the deaths of both my parents. On the forum I discovered that someone in Australia had also just lost her elderley father. I would just like to say here that the support that everyone gives to others on those websites/forums are absolutely phenomenal. Yes, we all adore Richard and his work, but more than that we are all good friends who support each other through thick and thin, good times and bad in our personal lives, as well as exchanging views, opinions and friendly banter on our lovely CIC. So you see by fans joining together in mutual admiration for a certain actor we have also had the opportunity of making good, life long friends from all over the world and we exchange private emails as well as post on websites. (One other fan in America even had another fan over from France to stay with her recently and showed her around Chicago!)

So in a way Richard certainly inspired people to create websites in his honour, but more than that these forums have also become support networks worldwide, they are somewhere we can meet up, have a chat, give others the low down on what Richard is up to as well as have a laugh about Richard's "peaches" in BTS. (In the nicest possible way of course!). We sometimes enter "Planet Armitage" (as it has become known) feeling down and leave after having been "cheered up" by all the friendly fun there.

I would just like to take this opportunity of saying thank you to all those wonderful people who work so hard in updating these sites and keeping fans informed. You all do a sterling job! (Including you Nat! Richard's latest conscript!)

Thanks for sharing SJ!

A bit of "Malice" on your Monday

I'll admit, I wasn't itching to watch this movie, but upon seeing it
on the shelf in my local library, decided to literally check it out.
*There are spoilers ahead, although I've left out the ending's details.*

Overview & Review:

"Malice Aforethought" is a two-part series filmed in 2005,
based on the murder mystery novel written in 1931
by Anthony Berkeley Cox (using the pen name Francis Iles.)

The story centers around Dr. Edmund Bickleigh (Ben Miller)
and his overbearing wife Julia (the talented Barbara Flynn) in the village of Wyvern’s Cross.

Mrs. Bickleigh is a snob.  She comes from a family with title and wealth and views being

married to a doctor as beneath her- treating him poorly, constantly bossing and putting him down.
(Mean-o.) Rather than stand up to his wife and express his feelings, Dr. Bickleigh is passive aggressive and seeks comfort in the arms of other women.  (Jerk-wad.)

We first get a glimpse of Richard Armitage as William "Bill" Chatford

in the beginning of the film at one of Mrs. Bickleigh's tea/tennis parties.

Although his character is rather a side-note in the beginning,

I couldn't help but notice he looks handsome in his twenties attire:

Bill is interested in young Ivy Ridgeway (Lucy Brown)

but she is too busy having an affair with Dr. Bickleigh to notice Bill at first.
Why in the world would she be head-over-heals for short, quirky Bickleigh
when BILL is around all tall, handsome and not married!?  (It's not you... it's the mustache.)

Dr. Bickleigh breaks things off with Ivy in hopes of pursuing an affair

with town newcomer, Madeleine Cranmere (Megan Dodds.)
Apparently Bickleigh thinks he's hot stuff or something.

Mrs. Bickleigh is no dummy. She knows about her husband's affairs over the years,

but has turned a blind eye in the past.  His latest fling with Madeleine has struck a chord,

however, and Mrs. Bickleigh decides to put her foot down (again) forbidding Edmund to see her any longer. Edmund (or "Eddie" as his women call him) is very upset, but continues to see Madeleine in secret. When Madeleine tells him that she could not marry a divorcee, Edmund plots to get rid of his wife.

Dr. Bickleigh repeatedly poisons his wife, giving her bad headaches, which he

then treats with morphine.  She becomes addicted to morphine while he makes it look like she

is stealing from his medicine cabinet and eventually Julia "gives herself a fatal overdose."

When Dr. Bickleigh finds himself free of "the old girl,"

he runs off to be with Madeleine, only to find out she is already engaged to

a young rival, Denny Bourne.  He is dumped in a similar fashion that he

dismissed his original mistress, Ivy.  Oh, the irony!

In the meantime, Bill and Ivy have been married.

Bill is Ivy's rebound guy, but he proves to be a harsh, domineering husband. 
He soon finds out about Ivy's past affair with Dr. Bickleigh and loses his temper,
yelling and threatening violence.

(Ivy sure knows how to pick her men: wife killer or wife abuser?  Hm...)

Although the coroner ruled Mrs. Bickleigh's death as accidental, Bill doesn't buy it.  Smart cookie.
Knowing there's something fishy going on (plus wanting revenge for Bickleigh's past conduct)
Bill starts digging around to see what really happened surrounding the death of Mrs. Bickleigh.

Bill talks to Madeleine, who reveals that Dr. Bickleigh told her
his wife was dead before the news had become known publicly.
(Duh, Eddie... why would you trust/love a woman who looks evil?)

Dr. Bickleigh knows Bill is onto him... and with an investigator from Scotland Yard

snooping about, decides to get rid of a few more annoyances.  He invites Bill, Madeleine

and her new husband Denny over to discuss matters of his wife's death over tea.

He serves them tainted food, planning on food poisoning to finish them off.

This gave me a new disgust of "canned meat sandwiches."

I used to like deviled ham.  I don't think I can bring myself to buy it for a long time now!

Bill and Madeleine, who both ate the contaminated food, become ill.

Look at Bill's striped pajamas! 

Will Bill and Madeleine become Dr. Bickleigh's next murders?

Will the officer from Scotland yard catch onto him?

You'll have to watch the movie to find out.

"Malice Aforethought" isn't one of Richard's most popular works and it's easy to see why.

It can be rather slow at times and there's not enough Richard.  I watched the first part last week and it took me 3 days to get around to watching the second half, which tells me my interest wasn't snagged.  Although there are several talented actors in the cast, Richard was my main reason for watching, and he wasn't featured much in the first episode. I did tend perk up when he came on screen, however.  Ben Miller portrayed Dr. Bickleigh well... helping the viewer to often side with the bad guy!  I found the second episode of "Malice Aforethought" to be more enjoyable.  Not only is there more Richard as Bill Chatford, but the pace seems to pick up as well.  Suddenly, I was wondering- would Bill and Madeleine die from food poisoning?  Would Dr. Bickleigh continue to get away with murder?  What's going to happen next? I enjoyed the ending with several twists that I didn't see coming.  (I also laughed at the tiny, evil mustache.) Although this isn't one I'd watch over and over again, I do recommend it to RA buffs and/or anyone who enjoys a murder mystery.

*Thanks to the Richard Armitage Central Gallery,

which supplied me with most of these screen caps.*

Marcus, Armitage Style.

I am a big fan of the Twilight books.

Like gazillions of other women who flocked to theatres this weekend,

 I saw "New Moon" and put the teenagers to shame with my squeals.

What does this have to do with Richard Armitage?

As much as I enjoyed "New Moon," I couldn't help but think of
how much better the movie would be if our beloved RA were in it as well.

(They could always use another great British actor, right?)

During the Volturi scene, I kept thinking, "Richard would make a great Aro or Marcus!"
(Although I liked Michael Sheen as Aro.)  We already know RA does a great baddie.

Richard as Marcus.

Try not to judge my horrible photoshopping skills!
I should just commission one of the RA Graphic Queens
to create this stuff on my behalf!  haha. :)

Anyway, this is what being a fan of RA has done to me...

no matter what movie I see, I imagine him in one of the roles. *sigh*

I'd love to see RA in "The Hobbit" and I think he would make a great grown-up

Harry in the "19 years later..." scene in "Deathly Hallows."

Why hello, Mr. Thornton!

This Photo Friday's eye candy:

BAM- there ya go.

Richard Armitage's Fickle Facial Hair

First, let's start with a clean slate.

Here's Percy to demonstrate the smooth baby-face side of RA:

 

Now we'll add sideburns to the mix.

There's the Thornton Hot-Chops.

When combined with an undone cravat... squee fest!

Thornton Hot-Chops combined with piercing stare = more squee fest!

(Pretty much anything Thornton = need of bucket and mop to clean up drool.)

There's Gizzy's Burns-of-Evil.

Such sculptured  facial hair makes me think he's a member of a midevil boy band.

(Can you think of any good names for his group?)

Harry kind of has sideburns, but it's hard to tell underneath

his shaggy side-mane.  Either way, he's a cutie.  No worries, Harry.

If Lucas would move that blasted phone away from his ear,

we could see his Secret Agent Burns.

Oh, there they are:

We can't forget STUBBLE.

There's I've-been-in-prison-forever-so-give-me-a-break stubble:

Gisborne's Stubble-of-Trouble:

Here's a little Stammering Standring Stubble:

Richard-as-himself stubble with a little gray in the mix:

Even Stick-Figure Richard has stubble:

Now we enter the odd-ball section.

Monet... need I say more?

In Monet's defense, I really liked "The Impressionists"

and even thought young Monet was rather cute. 
The mustache-and-triangle-goatee combo wasn't too bad.

I'll try to leave Monet and his squirrel beard alone...

except to say that without it, Richard does look like a handsome,

distinguished old guy.  (Go ahead and put your thumb on the screen in front

of the goat-like goatee and you'll see what I'm talking about.)  He's going to age well.

There's the Moustache of Malice~

Dun dun dunnnnnn!!! *suspensful music plays*

I'll leave the Oasis-wearing goatee-donning

Paul Andrews out of it since he was featured earlier this week

and that was enough, thank you. :)

This goatee on young Richard is kind of cute:

Then there's the Scary Macbeth Beard:

Maybe the beard isn't to blame.

Maybe it's the creepy stare... or the loopy bang on his forehead...

or the unbuttoned-in-a-non-hot-way robe thing he's wearing (oops, cropped that out)

but I don't like it!

Then I saw this view of the Macbeth Beard

and thought it was handsome in its own hairy little way.

Maybe if Gisborne would've had a creepy beard,

we would've been more inclined to dislike him rather than drool over support him.

Excellent.  I hate him a bit already.  (Kidding, Giz.)

What is your favorite RA facial hair style?

*Thud* (Sorry- no title since Nat just fainted.)

I dare you not to swoon, drool or mumble jibberish when you look at this...

I bet you couldn't do it, huh?

Don't worry... you're not alone.

Let's just stare at this photo all day, shall we?  *sigh*

I noticed this lovely Lucas shot being plastered

all over fansites and forums after making an appearance

HERE on Film Review Online yesterday.

(Naturally I couldn't be left out... I mean, look at that pic!)

FRO gives an overcap of upcoming episode 4 in Spooks 8

as well as a few other preview pics.  Very nice.

Richard's Stories Warm the Heart

Time for another Richard Armitage inspirational tid-bit.

This was contributed by Mulubinba.

"I use RA's Cbeebies in my work with children who have a disability or who are recovering from long term illness. Often I need to make them night splints or measure the range of movement in their joints. RA reading stories like Winnie the Witch keeps the children interested, relaxed and therefore still so they hardly notice what I am doing."

Mulubinba has previously mentioned work-related experiences on her blog,

and I thought it was so sweet that the children in need of her medical care

would be calmed and comforted by Richard's voice and narrations.

He really is such a talented story-teller!

I love the dinosaur cafe one...
especially when he tells the dino he can't have his ice cream. :)

Thanks for sharing, M!