With our very best wishes for a less plaguey 2021, we offer you a little festive treat in the form of an interview with the King of New Year himself, Mr. Jools Holland OBE DL!

A fixture on the UK music scene for almost half a century, first as the keyboardist for Squeeze, then as a broadcaster with iconic (and iconoclastic) Channel 4 music programme The Tube alongside the late Paula Yates, he has also continued as a recording artist, the director of the Jools Holland Rhythm and Blues Orchestra and as a champion of emerging or lesser-known talent via his flagship BBC music programme "Later... with Jools Holland", which has played a part in catapulting many stars into the upper orbits - not least Amy Winehouse, The Buena Vista Social Club and Rag 'n' Bone Man.

He spoke a little while ago to our Artistic Director Paddy Cooper about his life, career and even his more low-key role as a representative of The Queen within Kent.

So, if you're preparing for a boogie-woogie New Year's Eve in front of his annual BBC2 Hootenanny, you can't afford to miss this.

In fact, to make sure you miss nothing from us, make sure you subscribe to this channel and hit the notifications bell, sign up to our newsletter on http://www.darkunicorn.org and follow us on social media:

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If you would like to help support the arts through the difficulties emanating from the Covid-19 pandemic, you can visit http://www.actingforothers.co.uk or contact your local theatre or gallery for more information on their specific needs.

To support the work of Dark Unicorn, please visit http://www.darkunicorn.org/support-us to find out how you can make a one-off donation or sign up to our benefit-stuffed patron scheme.

Have a very happy New Year and we will see you soon.

Love,

Paddy Cooper and Eleanor Stourton

Artistic Director and Executive Director

Dark Unicorn Productions Ltd.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this last episode of the current series of Dark Unicorn in Conversation, DU's Artistic Director Paddy Cooper talks to veteran actor Paul Freeman, whose career, spanning half a century, has taken in iconic roles such as the villainous Dr. René Belloq in "Raiders of the Lost Ark", arch-villain Ivan Ooze in the 1995 Power Rangers movie and the ambitious but principled Foreign Secretary Tom Makepeace in the final part of the original UK "House of Cards" Trilogy.

In a wide-ranging interview Paul talks openly about his views on contemporary theatre and film, his long career and its many highlights, the moving experiences he has had with fans at conventions and his charitable work, not just as an active supporter of the Healing Children school for HIV/Aids orphans in Uganda, but also with the Refugee Buddy Project on the East Sussex coast which he now calls home and where he and his wife help raise both awareness of and practical help for refugees who land on the coast around Hastings.

To find out more about the Refugee Buddy Project visit: http://www.therefugeebuddyproject.org

To help support the Healing Children school, go to http://www.ukhealingfocus.org to find out how you can assist with the work of the UK Friends of Healing Focus.

Dark Unicorn in Conversation will return with a special or two later in the year before launching a new season in 2021. Thank you to all who have supported our work this year.

Follow Dark Unicorn Productions here and on all good podcast providers for the latest content, and also follow us on:

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To support the work of Dark Unicorn Productions, visit http://www.darkunicorn.org/support-us

CREDITS: Written, Presented and Edited by Paddy Cooper

Title Sequence: Matt McGurk (http://www.matthewmcgurk.com)

Title Music: Curtis Batson (http://www.curtbmusic.com)

Special thanks to: The estate of James Lipton, Lucasfilm Ltd., Saban Entertainment / Toei Company / Fox Family Films, Phanta Vision Film International B.V., The Refugee Buddy Project: Hastings, Rother and Wealden (particularly Fizzel Castro) and UK Friends of Healing Focus

Executive Producer: Eleanor Stourton

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Richard Strange first exploded into the public eye in 1975 as "Kid" Strange, lead singer and guitarist of the proto-punk band Doctors of Madness. Following time as a solo artist following the band's break-up, a period most notable for his concept album/rock opera The Phenomenal Rise of Richard Strange, he turned to cabaret curation, founding the Cabaret Futura strand. He is also an actor and has appeared on stage and screen in a vast variety of roles. He has just re-released the Doctors' LP Dark Times on vinyl and has also recorded an audio-book version of his 2002 memoir Strange: Drunks and Punks and Flicks and Kicks.

To buy the album, visit: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/doctors-of-madness/dark-times-3fbc6450-3f7f-47ca-ac6f-21a57711d1fc

To listen to the audiobook, go to http://www.richardstrange.com

Follow Dark Unicorn Productions here and on all good podcast providers for the latest content, and also follow us on:

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/DarkUnicornUK

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/darkunicorntheatre

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/darkunicorntheatre

To support the work of Dark Unicorn Productions, visit http://www.darkunicorn.org/support-us

CREDITS: Written, Presented and Edited by Paddy Cooper

Title Sequence: Matt McGurk (http://www.matthewmcgurk.com)

Title Music: Curtis Batson (http://www.curtbmusic.com)

Special thanks to: The estate of James Lipton, the Richard Strange photo and video archive, Christiaan Tonnis, Gijsbert Hanekroot/Redferns, Mick Rock, Paul Rider and NME.

"Sleep the Gentle Sleep": Music and lyrics by Richard Strange, published by Mirage Music Management Ltd.

Executive Producer: Eleanor Stourton

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mae Timothy J. Howe yn gyfarwyddwr, dramodydd, addasydd gwaith ar gyfer y llwyfan ac yn arbenigwr theatr ieuenctid sy'n gweithio fel Rheolwr Ymgysylltu Creadigol yn Theatr y Sherman yng Nghaerdydd.

Yn y cyfweliad hwn â Chyfarwyddwr Artistig Cynyrchiadau Unicorn Tywyll (a'i gyn-ddarlithydd) Paddy Cooper, mae'n trafod ei fywyd, ei yrfa a'i athroniaeth wrth greu perfformiadau gyda phobl ifanc ac ar eu cyfer.

Timothy J. Howe is a director, facilitator, stage adaptationist and youth theatre expert who works as Creative Engagement Manager for the Sherman Theatre in Cardiff.

In this interview with the Artistic Director of Dark Unicorn Productions (and his former lecturer) Paddy Cooper, he discusses his life, career and philosophy when it comes to creating performances with and for young people.

**

Follow Dark Unicorn Productions here and on all good podcast providers for the latest content, and also follow us on:

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To support the work of Dark Unicorn Productions, visit http://www.darkunicorn.org/support-us

CREDITS: Written, Presented and Edited by Paddy Cooper

Title Sequence: Matt McGurk (http://www.matthewmcgurk.com)

Title Music: Curtis Batson (http://www.curtbmusic.com)

Special thanks to: The estate of James Lipton, Theatr Sherman Theatre, Brough Girling

Executive Producer: Eleanor Stourton

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pete Malicki is an Australian writer, educator and trainer, based in Sydney, with a particular penchant for the art of the monologue, having written hundreds which have been performed thousands of times in dozens of countries and which, along with his short plays and full-length works, make up a multi-award-winning oeuvre.

He has been five times director of Short + Sweet Sydney - the world's largest short play festival, and is also the head of the Arts Business Academy, providing training and coaching to those engaged in the business side of artistic endeavour.

He has, in response to Covid-19, launched The World Monologue Games, which attracted over 3000 actors from across the globe to register and whose global finals will be held on October 17, 18, 24 and 25 and can be viewed on the Games's YouTube channel live and indefinitely thereafter. For more info, visit http://www.monologues.com.au/WMG

Pete's work and that of the Academy, can be discovered in more depth at http://www.petemalicki.com

Follow Dark Unicorn Productions here and on all good podcast providers for the latest content, and also follow us on:

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Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/darkunicorntheatre

To support the work of Dark Unicorn Productions, visit http://www.darkunicorn.org/support-us

CREDITS: Written, Presented and Edited by Paddy Cooper

Title Sequence: Matt McGurk (http://www.matthewmcgurk.com)

Title Music: Curtis Batson (http://www.curtbmusic.com)

Special thanks to: The estate of James Lipton

Executive Producer: Eleanor Stourton

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Edward Stourton has been one of the most recognisable faces and voices in UK broadcast journalism over his 40-year career. From time spent with ITN as a trainee, then Washington Correspondent and Diplomatic Editor, he is perhaps most associated with the BBC, first as Paris Correspondent, then the anchor for the One O'Clock News on BBC1 from 1993-1999 followed by a decade as one of the core hosts of the Today programme on BBC Radio 4, and now, also on R4, a regular host of The World at One and religion and ethics flagship The Sunday Programme, as well as being a principal understudy for Jonathan Dimbleby on Any Questions.

He is also the author of a slew of books on all manner of subjects, from the history of the Catholic Church to political correctness and, most recently, Brexit, co-authoring Blind Man's Brexit with Belgian film-maker Lode Desmet, offering a fascinating insight into the Brexit negotiations from the EU negotiators' perspective. Arguably his best-selling book, however, is Diary of a Dog-Walker, co-authored with his springer spaniel Kudu and originally running as a column in the Telegraph, which chronicles the vagaries of his life walking Kudu in the parks of south London, where he lives with his second wife, the documentary producer and former ITN Arts Correspondent Fiona Stourton (previously Murch).

Follow Dark Unicorn Productions here and on all good podcast providers for the latest content, and also follow us on:

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Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/darkunicorntheatre

To support the work of Dark Unicorn Productions, visit http://www.darkunicorn.org/support-us

CREDITS: Written, Presented and Edited by Paddy Cooper

Title Sequence: Matt McGurk (http://www.matthewmcgurk.com)

Title Music: Curtis Batson (http://www.curtbmusic.com)

Special thanks to: The estate of James Lipton

Executive Producer: Eleanor Stourton

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Deb Olin Unferth is a Chicago-born, Texas-based author who has been impressing readers for some years now with her mixture of short stories, novels and memoirs, which have appeared everywhere from The New York Times and Harper's to literary heavyweight journal Granta.

She is a three-time winner of the Pushcart Prize, a finalist for a National Book Critics' Circle Award (for her memoir 'Revolution', about the period in her late teens when she dropped out of university and rushed to Nicaragua with her boyfriend to try and help the Sandinista uprising) and is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship.

In addition, she works as an Associate Professor of Literature at the University of Texas at Austin and is the founder-director of The Pen-City Writers: a two-year creative writing certificate programme from UTA run with inmates at a maximum-security prison in southern Texas - a programme which has seen her receive an award from the Governor of Texas for her civic work.

Her most recent work - "Barn 8" (the story of an ambitious caper to liberate almost a million hens from a commercial egg farm) - was released just at the start of lockdown and has enjoyed great critical acclaim.

She spoke to our Artistic Director Paddy Cooper from her home in Austin.

Follow Dark Unicorn Productions here and on all good podcast providers for the latest content, and also follow us on:

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Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/darkunicorntheatre

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/darkunicorntheatre

To support the work of Dark Unicorn Productions, visit http://www.darkunicorn.org/support-us

CREDITS: Written, Presented and Edited by Paddy Cooper

Title Sequence: Matt McGurk (http://www.matthewmcgurk.com)

Title Music: Curtis Batson (http://www.curtbmusic.com)

Special thanks to: The estate of James Lipton

Executive Producer: Eleanor Stourton

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Elizabeth Webster has, in a decade-long career, acted in some of our best loved series and opposite some of our most lauded actors. She is perhaps best known to international audiences as Lady Walda Bolton (née Frey), who met a rather sticky canine end after three seasons in HBO classic Game of Thrones, but has also appeared in a variety of TV, Film and stage hits.

She talks to Dark Unicorn Artistic Director Paddy Cooper about her life and career as an actress, director, producer and lover of short-form theatre.

Follow Dark Unicorn Productions on all good podcast providers for the latest content, and also follow us on:

YouTube: http://tiny.cc/DUTube

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/DarkUnicornUK

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/darkunicorntheatre

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/darkunicorntheatre

To support the work of Dark Unicorn Productions, visit http://www.darkunicorn.org/support-us

CREDITS:

Written, Presented and Edited by Paddy Cooper

Title Music: Curtis Batson

Special thanks to: The estate of James Lipton, HBO, Sky Living, Alex An der Lampe (and his poodles)

Executive Producer: Eleanor Stourton

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Richard Dempsey first burst on to the UK's television screens at the age of 14, when he played Peter Pevensie in the iconic 1988 BBC adaptation of "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe".

And the icons kept coming as he was the original Jack in the UK production of Stephen Sondheim's "Into the Woods" and Ugly, the lead in Stiles and Drewe's Olivier Award-winning original production of their hit "Honk!".

Since then he has appeared with almost every major theatre company in the UK and in a slew of beloved TV series and films, including last year's much-awarded Sam Mendes production "1917".

He discusses his incredible career, his optimistic outlook on life and what it's been like pioneering socially distanced musical workshops during The Great Bizarreness of 2020, with Dark Unicorn's Artistic Director Paddy Cooper.

Follow Dark Unicorn Productions here and on all good podcast providers for the latest content, and also follow us on:

YouTube: http://tiny.cc/DUTube

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/DarkUnicornUK

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/darkunicorntheatre

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/darkunicorntheatre

To support the work of Dark Unicorn Productions, visit http://www.darkunicorn.org/support-us

CREDITS: Written, Presented and Edited by Paddy Cooper

Title Sequence: Matt McGurk (http://www.matthewmcgurk.com)

Title Music: Curtis Batson (http://www.curtbmusic.com)

Special thanks to: The estate of James Lipton, BBC, Stephen Sondheim, George Stiles, Anthony Drewe, Dan Jackson, Laura Melhuish, The Royal National Theatre.

Executive Producer: Eleanor Stourton

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Josephine Lloyd-Welcome has been a familiar face on our screens for over forty years, appearing in character roles in a wide variety of UK TV staples, from her powerful role as camp administrator Miss Hassan in 1980s prisoner-of-war drama "Tenko" through a memorable role as Del Boy Trotter's largely unflappable doctor in "Only Fools and Horses" to regular appearances on pretty much any major TV franchise you care to name, as well a bulging theatre CV in shows all over the UK and Europe.

In addition, she works as a director for the theatre and is one-third of 1960s girl-trio style act The Hornettes, under the musical direction of her husband, BAFTA-winning composer and founding member of The Flying Pickets, Ric Lloyd.

She discusses life, career and working on her first Covid-secure film set with Dark Unicorn's artistic director Paddy Cooper

Follow Dark Unicorn Productions here and on all good podcast providers for the latest content, and also follow us on:

YouTube: http://tiny.cc/DUTube

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/DarkUnicornUK

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/darkunicorntheatre

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/darkunicorntheatre

To support the work of Dark Unicorn Productions, visit http://www.darkunicorn.org/support-us

CREDITS: Written, Presented and Edited by Paddy Cooper

Title Sequence: Matt McGurk (http://www.matthewmcgurk.com)

Title Music: Curtis Batson (http://www.curtbmusic.com)

Special thanks to: The estate of James Lipton, the BBC

Executive Producer: Eleanor Stourton

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.