Gill Wilkinson is a director for Coronation Street.
She directed the episode I'm watching today. Or that I watched today.
I can't remember if I finished it.
The thing is, I don't usually watch my shows all in one sitting. Because I'm weird.
What I do is break it up into ten minute segments. Then in-between I read my book, do some chores, look at houses, check texts, do some Duolingo, etc.
She directed the episode I'm watching today. Or that I watched today.
I can't remember if I finished it.
The thing is, I don't usually watch my shows all in one sitting. Because I'm weird.
What I do is break it up into ten minute segments. Then in-between I read my book, do some chores, look at houses, check texts, do some Duolingo, etc.
* * *
I wasn't actually sure if Wilkinson is a man or woman. I'm not really familar with the name Gill. I've heard of Gil, and I think of that as a man's name.
So I Googled and saw that Gill Wilkinson is a woman. I checked, because as I wrote in my Daniel Chun post, I'm doing my new biography posts on women and non-white males only.
* * *
Now I'm looking at Wilkinson's IMDb filmography.
I imagined this post was going to have me digging far back into Coronation Street history, but it turns out Wilkinson started her Corrie directing in 2016.
I go farther back than her.
I actually can't remember what year I started watching. But I think I started with the 2012 episodes. I mean I started with episodes that were a year or two behind from when I started watching.
Well, I'm pretty sure it was after we went to Australia in 2013.
I'm guessing it was 2014 or 2015?
Anyway, for awhile I was a few years behind. But eventually I caught up...well, I caught up as much as you can with Hulu.
Hulu is about two weeks behind the episodes being broadcast in the UK.
Since I'm behind, I get spoilers from Coronation Street's Instagram page. I don't really mind. I probably kind of like it. Because if I did mind, I'd stop following them. Right?
Right now the loan shark storyline with Gary (Mikey North) and Rick (Greg Wood) is really stressing me out. I'm seeing that it's not being featured in the latest Instagram posts I've seen which makes me think the story has been resolved. I'm feeling some relief because of this.
I hope I'm not wrong, though.
I think some fictional conflict intrigues and entertains me.
Then other conflict causes me stress. I just want it to end.
* * *
Anyway, let me finally start with the filmography.
It does not begin with Coronation Street.
It begins with a 1995 TV movie called The Golden Collar.
IMDb doesn't have much info about it.
Are there any names in the cast I recognize?
No.
But for some reason, the art director's name sounds familar to me.
Anita Gupta?
I'm probably thinking of someone with a similar name. Because I'm not very familar with art directors.
Yeah. Looking at Gupta's filmography. Nothing really seems familar to me.
I also Googled The Golden Collar. I can't easily find anything about it.
Moving on.....
The next thing on Wilkinson's filmography is a TV show called Peak Practice. It's a doctor show.
Wilkinson directed two episodes—"Walls of Jericho" in 2000 and "Together We Stand" in 2001.
One of the actors in the credits seems familar to me.
John Bowler?
Well, he was on Coronation Street in 2002. That was way before my time.
Here's a promo for Peak Practice.
It looks like a typical small town British doctor kind of thing.
Well, I'm getting that not just from the promo but also the provided photo on IMDb. Actually I'm getting it MORE from the IMDb photo. The TV promo feels more like a law thing.
I think one of the doctors is in trouble.
Peak Practice was on for 12 seasons.
What is it with medical shows? They seem to go on forever!
I also Googled The Golden Collar. I can't easily find anything about it.
Moving on.....
The next thing on Wilkinson's filmography is a TV show called Peak Practice. It's a doctor show.
Wilkinson directed two episodes—"Walls of Jericho" in 2000 and "Together We Stand" in 2001.
One of the actors in the credits seems familar to me.
John Bowler?
Well, he was on Coronation Street in 2002. That was way before my time.
* * *
Here's a promo for Peak Practice.
It looks like a typical small town British doctor kind of thing.
Well, I'm getting that not just from the promo but also the provided photo on IMDb. Actually I'm getting it MORE from the IMDb photo. The TV promo feels more like a law thing.
I think one of the doctors is in trouble.
Peak Practice was on for 12 seasons.
What is it with medical shows? They seem to go on forever!
* * *
The next show is a sports story called Dream Team.
Wilkinson wrote one episode.
And guess who was one of the stars of the show.
Alison King! She's Carla on Coronation Street.
I never liked Carla until now. Now that she's had a psychotic breakdown, finally, she's interesting to me and sympathetic.
I tend to like fictional characters who have lost the plot a bit. I really don't think it would be the same with real life people. Then I'd be sad, stressed, and worried.
Well, and with fictional characters it depends on how they're treating people. Carla's breakdown has rendered her pretty meek and harmless.
Johnny (Richard Hawley) had a breakdown when his son died. He became incredibly cruel. Abusive. I lacked sympathy for him...even though he just lost his child. I mean I felt actual hatred towards him. Sort of cold-hearted of me. BUT I did totally forgive him once he recovered and his behavior changed.
Oh yeah.
Back to....
Dream Team.
I forgot what I was supposed to be writing about.
Wilkinson's episode was in season 6-"Hit and Run".
Alison King wasn't in it.
Someone has uploaded the episode. I'm going to watch a bit of it.
There's some missing money—millions.
The show has some very dramatic music.
* * *
Oh shit.
I missed up on the chronological stuff...AGAIN.
I will probably do this at least once in every post.
So it wasn't from The Golden Collar to Peak Practice. Wilkinson did directing for four different shows in the 1990's, before Peak Practice.
What messes me up with IMDb is they list shows in order of the show's ending.
So, since Coronation Street is still running, it's listed last.
Or maybe it's also about the year the person stopped working for the show?
Yeah. That's it.
Because Eastenders and Hollyoaks is lower on the list, and those two are still on the air.
Anyway, what I think I'm going to do is stop trying to be chronological and just go in the order of how the shows are listed on IMdb.
* * *
So, next is something called Byker Grove. Wilkinson wrote 28 episodes between 1996 and 2003.
Tim and I have given kudos to the UK for not having their shows drag on like American shows. But so far, here, I'm seeing British shows with very long runs.
Byker Grove lasted for 18 seasons!
Though maybe it's a soap opera.
Those DO last many, many years...if successful. I think it's kind of awesome to have a long running soap opera.
Well...no. I might be wrong.
I just clicked on a random season and it had only 20 episodes. That's too short for a soap opera. At least in terms of the typical soap opera that's on multiple times a week. I know there are American shows considered soap operas (Dallas, Dynasty, etc), and those were weekly.
I'm consulting Lord Wiki about Byker Grove. He doesn't refer to it as a soap opera. He says it was a show aimed at older teens and young adults.
It's about kids at a youth club.
I'm going to look at one of Wilkinson's episodes.
Well, that wasn't very exciting.
There's not much information there. They don't even provide much cast information.
This one is better. It even has a plot description: Harry gets rich and a surprise party for Brigid turns sour.
I wonder what happens at that surprise party.
And that's all I can say really, because there's not much info provided by IMDb. Not even actors.
Actually, the only name provided is Wilkinson's!
So, what about the last episode?
Nope. Nothing there either. Except that it was broadcast on May 27, 2005.
On the main page for the show, they do list the cast. I'm going to look through and see if any faces or names look familar to me.
Well, she did five episodes before 1995—the year that The Golden Collar was broadcast.
Then there are three episodes IN 1995. But I'm not sure if those were made before, after, or during her adventures with The Golden Collar.
Nope! Nothing!
I told you that would happen.
Wait. I should look at more people.....
And moving on......
I'm going to look at more episodes.
There's "Beg, Borrow or Steal". It's about a loan shark. A violent loan shark. Are there non-violent ones?
The episode was broadcast on my 22nd birthday!
The only actor in this one that looked vaguely familar is Huw Higginson. I think, though, that I might have seen his name in the past couple of days of doing research on Wilkinson. Or maybe Kirsty Fisher. Because Huw was on Home and Away. Maybe he's Australian?
Oh! He IS Australian. Or at least he does acting work in Australia.
He was in the Picnic at Hanging Rock miniseries.
How funny. He was also in the first episode of the third season of The Leftovers. Jack has been watching that, and the other day I looked at the cast of that episode to see if there were any Australian actors I recognized.
And I would have seen him a few weeks ago in Secret City.
Here's another episode—"Things That Go Bump in the Night". It's about a safecracker.
Names seem only very vaguely familar to me.
How about "Red Herrings"? It's about the theft of fish.
No one looks familar to me.
Maybe I should stop.
This is getting old.
But....
I'll just look at Wilkinson's last episode. It's a two-parter about sex trafficking.
None of the actor's names are jumping out at me.
The theme song is fun.
Maybe the IMDb plot description is wrong. So far, it's not the actual member of the crime family that has come to confess. It's a friend. Or neighbor?
Maybe the crime family guy comes in later?
I just went back to see if it was a neighbor or friend. It's neither. It's the woman's builder.
Scott Draper the builder (Sean McKenzie) seems proud of his crime. I think the police are trying to figure out whether he's bragging or just trying to relieve his conscious.
Well...skipped ahead to the end.
The police let Scott Draper go. It seems he didn't commit the crime after all. He just wanted to fit in with his crime-family.
That makes sense. It's hard being the black sheep.
I wonder what happens at that surprise party.
* * *
The next show on Wilkinson's filmography is Family Affairs. She directed 49 episodes from 2003-2005.
And now I can see that soap operas look different on IMDb. There are no seasons. Instead there's just a very long list of episodes. I've seen this when looking through Coronation Street. It's kind of a pain, because you have to do a hell of a lot of scrolling to get to the episode you want.
Well...wait.
It seems if you use the website instead of the app, the show is divided by years. That would be easier to work with.
Anyway....
I think what I'll do is look at Wilkinson's first and last episode.
The first aired on November 24, 2003. That would be two days after my 31 birthday.
And that's all I can say really, because there's not much info provided by IMDb. Not even actors.
Actually, the only name provided is Wilkinson's!
So, what about the last episode?
Nope. Nothing there either. Except that it was broadcast on May 27, 2005.
On the main page for the show, they do list the cast. I'm going to look through and see if any faces or names look familar to me.
David Easter? Do I know that name?
Or am I just thinking of the holiday?
Probably just the holiday.
That sounds very familar.
Nope. Another false alarm.
I should probably quite soon.
I'm so excited to find a name that I actually know. And a face.
He's an Australian who did some acting in the UK.
Was he also on Casualty? I was actually thinking about him today regarding that show. Well, because I saw it on Wilkinson's filmography. I remembered Kip Gamblin spent time on the show and wondered if McLaren was as well. But maybe I confused Casualty with Family Affairs.
Well, I just went and scrolled down on McLaren's filmography. No Casualty.
I wonder if Wilkinson directed any of McClaren's episodes?
What years was he on?
2005!
So they might have worked together.
I'm going to click on all of McLaren's episodes until I (hopefully) find one that Wilkinson directed.
Well, I realized that's not going to happen.
Wilkinson's Family Affairs days ended in May 2005 and McLaren's began in October.
I'm glad I figured that out before too much clicking.
* * *
Wilkinson directed eleven episodes of Casualty from 1998-2006.
I won't try to figure out if she directed Kip Gamblin. It might be a long shot since she didn't direct many episodes.
Here's one of Wilkinson's episodes—"Lost Souls". It was on TV in October 1999.
Ian Bleasdale.....
His name sounds familar.
And again. Another false alarm.
Here's Wilkinson's 2006 episode—"Nobody's Perfect".
Ben Price is in that episode. I DO know (of) him. He's Nick on Coronation Street.
I think Nick is a bit of a psychopath. He stole a lot of money from his grandmother. That's bad on it's own. But it's especially cruel, because he's allowed her to believe her deceased boyfriend is the one that stole the money.
Oh and he might have purposely made a factory roof collapse to collect the insurance money.
I'm at the part where they're hinting towards that. The people who are blessed enough to be caught up might already know if he's guilty or innocent.
I think Ben Price was probably in more than one episode of Casualty. He might have been one of the stars, because his name is towards the top.
Okay. Yeah. He was in 73 episodes, playing a guy named Nathan Spencer.
* * *
The next show on Wilkinson's filmography lasted only a year (2008). This was The Royal Today. I thought it was going to be about the Royal family. But no. It's about a hospital.
Wilkinson's 3rd episode dealt with self-harm and a cannabis issue.
Now I'm curious and reading the medical issues of the other Wilkinson episodes.
The first has someone with a grapefruit-drug reaction. What's the deal with grapefruit causing all these drug interactions?
What IS it in the grapefruit?
Looking at Drugs.com.
Grapefruit has a compound called furanocoumarins that interferes with certain enzymes that break down drugs and toxins.
Cool! I'm glad I finally took the time to look that up.
It's weird that I haven't done it before.
I Googled some more, because I wondered if other foods contain this furanocoumarins. It turns out they do! Pomelos, seville oranges, and limes! But there hasn't been enough research, so doctors and pharmacists don't know if it's a risk.
Yikes.
Other episodes....
The 2nd Wilkinson one deals with a thyroid tumor. The 4th deals with a guy with dizzy spells.
The 2nd Wilkinson one deals with a thyroid tumor. The 4th deals with a guy with dizzy spells.
Oh no! In the 5th one, a guy needs aneurysm surgery. He goes into the elevator and it breaks down. So the surgeon has to operate him in there.
Holy shit!
* * *
The next show is Grange Hill.
Wilkinson directed three episodes of that in 2007-2008.
Oh!
Grange Hill is another family show. And it was very long-running. It was on from 1978-2008.
Thirty years!
In Wilkinson's first episode, we learn that someone named Baz died of a heart condition.
And Emma (Daniella Fray) and Kyle (Danny Miller) make love on the rooftops.
I really like the plot of Wilkinson's second episode. While a pedigreed dog show is happening, some other folks have there own competition to find out who has the worst behaved dog. That's cute.
Here's a scene from the dog episode.
The girl in pink is pretty mean.
Wait. There's two girls in pink. The second one seems less awful.
* * *
That's the next show on Gill Wilkinson's filmography. She directed 28 episodes between 1993 and 2008.
Oh!
So The Bill came before The Golden Collar. Here I had it in my mind that her career began with that mysterious TV movie.
How many episodes of The Bill did she do before The Golden Collar?
Well, she did five episodes before 1995—the year that The Golden Collar was broadcast.
Then there are three episodes IN 1995. But I'm not sure if those were made before, after, or during her adventures with The Golden Collar.
Anyway...about The Bill.
I feel that almost every time I watch a British show and look up an actor, I find The Bill in their filmography.
I feel that almost every time I watch a British show and look up an actor, I find The Bill in their filmography.
But now I have this idea that I'm going to look at the cast of some of Wilkinson's episodes and not recognize anyone.
First of all, though. How long has The Bill been on? Is it still on?
It is not still on. But it was on for a long time—1984-2010.
Now I'm going to look at some of Wilkinson's episodes.
Her first is called "Having What It Takes". It's about a young member of a crime family coming into the station to confess a crime. Wow. That actually sounds kind of interesting. And I'm not a big fan of crime family type storylines.
I'm looking now at Gary Whelan. His name sounds vaguely familar to me. Do I know him from anything?
First of all, though. How long has The Bill been on? Is it still on?
It is not still on. But it was on for a long time—1984-2010.
Now I'm going to look at some of Wilkinson's episodes.
Her first is called "Having What It Takes". It's about a young member of a crime family coming into the station to confess a crime. Wow. That actually sounds kind of interesting. And I'm not a big fan of crime family type storylines.
I'm looking now at Gary Whelan. His name sounds vaguely familar to me. Do I know him from anything?
Nope! Nothing!
I told you that would happen.
Wait. I should look at more people.....
And moving on......
I'm going to look at more episodes.
There's "Beg, Borrow or Steal". It's about a loan shark. A violent loan shark. Are there non-violent ones?
The episode was broadcast on my 22nd birthday!
The only actor in this one that looked vaguely familar is Huw Higginson. I think, though, that I might have seen his name in the past couple of days of doing research on Wilkinson. Or maybe Kirsty Fisher. Because Huw was on Home and Away. Maybe he's Australian?
Oh! He IS Australian. Or at least he does acting work in Australia.
He was in the Picnic at Hanging Rock miniseries.
How funny. He was also in the first episode of the third season of The Leftovers. Jack has been watching that, and the other day I looked at the cast of that episode to see if there were any Australian actors I recognized.
And I would have seen him a few weeks ago in Secret City.
* * *
Here's another episode—"Things That Go Bump in the Night". It's about a safecracker.
Names seem only very vaguely familar to me.
How about "Red Herrings"? It's about the theft of fish.
No one looks familar to me.
Maybe I should stop.
This is getting old.
But....
I'll just look at Wilkinson's last episode. It's a two-parter about sex trafficking.
None of the actor's names are jumping out at me.
* * *
Someone has uploaded Wilkinson's first episode of The Bill onto YouTube. I'm going to watch a little bit of it.
The theme song is fun.
Maybe the IMDb plot description is wrong. So far, it's not the actual member of the crime family that has come to confess. It's a friend. Or neighbor?
Maybe the crime family guy comes in later?
I just went back to see if it was a neighbor or friend. It's neither. It's the woman's builder.
Scott Draper the builder (Sean McKenzie) seems proud of his crime. I think the police are trying to figure out whether he's bragging or just trying to relieve his conscious.
Well...skipped ahead to the end.
The police let Scott Draper go. It seems he didn't commit the crime after all. He just wanted to fit in with his crime-family.
That makes sense. It's hard being the black sheep.
* * *
I'm going to move onto the next episode in a moment.
I was thinking, though, that when I get to Coronation Street, I can maybe cross reference some of the cast in Wilkinson's episodes; see if any of the actors were in The Bill. AND maybe they were in a Wilkinson episode.
I'm just not completely ready to let go of The Bill yet.
But for now....I will.
Anyway....
The next show on Wilkinson's filmography is a kid's fantasy show called House of Anubis. It involves a boarding school and an American student. When one of their number disappears on the same day that an American girl joins their ranks, a group of English boarding school students embarks on solving a mystery.
What?! What are they trying to imply there? That it's the American's fault?
RUDE!
Or is it revenge for all the villains in American movies with British accents?
Wilkinson directed five episodes of House of Anubis is 2012.
Here's the first episode.
There's a Poppy Miller.
That name sounds vaguely familar.
And....
No. I don't know her from anything.
Here's a promo for season 2 of the House of Anubis, the season that Wilkinson wrote for. Interestingly, the announcer has an American accent. (or Canadian). Maybe it was shown in the U.S. Or Canada? Canada is probably more likely.
The American is Nina (Nathalia Ramos).
Ramos was actually born in Spain to an Aussie mother. Then she moved to the US. And then...I guess she moved to the UK?
I'm thinking that House of Anubis might have been a joint US-British production.
It turns out Nina isn't the villain. She's the chosen one. Some American exeptionalism?
One of the characters in the trailer has a little dig. He says, It would be the American, wouldn't it.
Yeah.
WHY did they bring in an American to be the chosen one?
It's a bit odd.
The next show is Hollyoaks.
A few years ago, I watched one episode of that.
What happened is this:
Tim, Jack, and I used to sit on the couch every evening. We'd eat our dinner there and watch our TV shows together. It was a lovely family time. And no we weren't depriving our offspring of family conversations. Because we were all home most of the day and would chat during breakfast and/or lunch.
Then at some point Jack outgrew TV time.
And then Tim got a temporary job in Atlanta. He commuted back and forth during the week.
I was left alone...and maybe kind of lonely. I mean not lonely all the time. But I missed our TV couch time.
I decided to keep at it by myself. I think one of the reasons is this was also time for Max (our cat) to cuddle in our laps. I didn't want to break THAT tradition!
Tim and I had recently watched Extras which often referenced Emmerdale.
Or wait!
Was it Emmerdale or Eastenders?????
Now I'm not sure.
Well, thanks to Lord Wiki, I now know it's Eastenders.
Is Emmerdale even a soap opera?
Anyway....
I wanted to watch Eastenders, but Hulu didn't have it.
I tried to try another British soap opera. That got me to Hollyoaks.
I didn't like it.
I felt it was too melodramatic.
I want to say it reminded me of 21st century Home and Away, which I wasn't too fond of. But I'm not actually sure that I watched Home and Away before trying Hollyoaks. I'm having timeline confusion!
So....
After watching the episode, I tried Coronation Street. I feel like I tried Corrie immediately after. But maybe I waited until the next day?
I'm not sure.
I'm pretty sure, though, that with Coronation Street it was love at first viewing.
I should probably get more into that later.
I should read/talk about Hollyoaks.
Wilkinson directed nine episodes—four in 1996 and five in 2012.
I'm going to see if there are any actors I recognize.
No one in this 1996 episode looks familar to me.
In the 2012 episodes, James Atherton sounds VERY vaguely familar.
Oh! He played Jamie Bowman in Coronation Street (2015-2016)
I don't remember him.
This reminds me of something I meant to mention.
I was thinking about this post at night...in bed. I realized I totally misspoke when it came to my amazing accomplishment of going from two or so years behind with Corrie; then managing to catch up.
No, that didn't actually happen.
What I forgot is that Hulu lost Coronation Street for a period of time. I think it was several months?
When it returned (Thank goodness!!!!), I decided to start in the most current year rather than going back and watching the entire previous season.
I did watch SOME episodes. What I did was go through the list of episodes, and I watched ones that corresponded to dates meaningful to me. For example, if there was a show that was dated with a family member's birthday, I'd watch that.
Yeah. I'm nuts.
Anyway, this MIGHT explain why I've forgotten Jamie Bowman. Maybe he appeared in the episodes I missed.
Or it could just be I did see him and then forgot about him.
I'm going to Google.....
One of Lord Wiki's cousins is helping me to remember.
I did watch the episodes with Jamie Bowman. He was friends with Luke (Dean Fagen). Or frenemies, really. It was some kind of race car drama thing.
Anyway, I should get back to Wilkinson and back to Hollyoaks. Is there any chance I can find one of her episodes on YouTube?
Well, I did some minor-trying.
And no luck with that.
What?! What are they trying to imply there? That it's the American's fault?
RUDE!
Or is it revenge for all the villains in American movies with British accents?
Wilkinson directed five episodes of House of Anubis is 2012.
Here's the first episode.
There's a Poppy Miller.
That name sounds vaguely familar.
And....
No. I don't know her from anything.
Here's a promo for season 2 of the House of Anubis, the season that Wilkinson wrote for. Interestingly, the announcer has an American accent. (or Canadian). Maybe it was shown in the U.S. Or Canada? Canada is probably more likely.
The American is Nina (Nathalia Ramos).
Ramos was actually born in Spain to an Aussie mother. Then she moved to the US. And then...I guess she moved to the UK?
I'm thinking that House of Anubis might have been a joint US-British production.
It turns out Nina isn't the villain. She's the chosen one. Some American exeptionalism?
One of the characters in the trailer has a little dig. He says, It would be the American, wouldn't it.
Yeah.
WHY did they bring in an American to be the chosen one?
It's a bit odd.
* * *
Now I'm consulting Lord Wiki about House of Anubis.
It's based on a Belgium-Dutch show. Maybe in that, all the characters are Dutch and the chosen one is Belgium. Or vice versa.
It seems the show is actually American—filmed in the UK?
It's the first US Nickelodeon show to be filmed outside of North America.
Maybe it was more popular in the UK than the US. It won the Nickelodeon UK Kid's Choice Awards, but it didn't win for the U.S
Also...I never heard of the show before.
No. I wasn't a kid in 2012.
But I'm a mom and am somewhat aware of Nickelodeon/Disney shows that came out in this century. Like iCarly, Drake and Josh, Victorious, Wizards of Waverley Place, Hannah Montana, etc.
* * *
A few years ago, I watched one episode of that.
What happened is this:
Tim, Jack, and I used to sit on the couch every evening. We'd eat our dinner there and watch our TV shows together. It was a lovely family time. And no we weren't depriving our offspring of family conversations. Because we were all home most of the day and would chat during breakfast and/or lunch.
Then at some point Jack outgrew TV time.
And then Tim got a temporary job in Atlanta. He commuted back and forth during the week.
I was left alone...and maybe kind of lonely. I mean not lonely all the time. But I missed our TV couch time.
I decided to keep at it by myself. I think one of the reasons is this was also time for Max (our cat) to cuddle in our laps. I didn't want to break THAT tradition!
Tim and I had recently watched Extras which often referenced Emmerdale.
Or wait!
Was it Emmerdale or Eastenders?????
Now I'm not sure.
Well, thanks to Lord Wiki, I now know it's Eastenders.
Is Emmerdale even a soap opera?
Anyway....
I wanted to watch Eastenders, but Hulu didn't have it.
I tried to try another British soap opera. That got me to Hollyoaks.
I didn't like it.
I felt it was too melodramatic.
I want to say it reminded me of 21st century Home and Away, which I wasn't too fond of. But I'm not actually sure that I watched Home and Away before trying Hollyoaks. I'm having timeline confusion!
So....
After watching the episode, I tried Coronation Street. I feel like I tried Corrie immediately after. But maybe I waited until the next day?
I'm not sure.
I'm pretty sure, though, that with Coronation Street it was love at first viewing.
I should probably get more into that later.
I should read/talk about Hollyoaks.
Wilkinson directed nine episodes—four in 1996 and five in 2012.
I'm going to see if there are any actors I recognize.
No one in this 1996 episode looks familar to me.
In the 2012 episodes, James Atherton sounds VERY vaguely familar.
Oh! He played Jamie Bowman in Coronation Street (2015-2016)
I don't remember him.
This reminds me of something I meant to mention.
I was thinking about this post at night...in bed. I realized I totally misspoke when it came to my amazing accomplishment of going from two or so years behind with Corrie; then managing to catch up.
No, that didn't actually happen.
What I forgot is that Hulu lost Coronation Street for a period of time. I think it was several months?
When it returned (Thank goodness!!!!), I decided to start in the most current year rather than going back and watching the entire previous season.
I did watch SOME episodes. What I did was go through the list of episodes, and I watched ones that corresponded to dates meaningful to me. For example, if there was a show that was dated with a family member's birthday, I'd watch that.
Yeah. I'm nuts.
Anyway, this MIGHT explain why I've forgotten Jamie Bowman. Maybe he appeared in the episodes I missed.
Or it could just be I did see him and then forgot about him.
I'm going to Google.....
One of Lord Wiki's cousins is helping me to remember.
I did watch the episodes with Jamie Bowman. He was friends with Luke (Dean Fagen). Or frenemies, really. It was some kind of race car drama thing.
Anyway, I should get back to Wilkinson and back to Hollyoaks. Is there any chance I can find one of her episodes on YouTube?
Well, I did some minor-trying.
And no luck with that.
* * *
The next show on Wilkinson's filmography is Eastenders. NOT Emmerdale.
Wilkinson directed 15 episodes between 2014-2015. They kind of happen in chucks.
There's four in March; only one in June; two in July, four in September; then four in January.
One actress in one of the episodes sounds familar to me.
Lindsey Coulson?
Oh! She was on Doctor Who! "Midnight!" I definitely remember that episode.
Is she the one that went all weird?
No....
It looks like that would have been Lesley Sharp's character.
* * *
I think I found a scene from one of Wilkinson's March EastEnders episodes.
There's a woman passing out gifts.
She gives something to a guy named Phil. He seems really stressed. I bet a lone shark is after him!
Or maybe he's waiting for biopsy results?
Blackmail?
Well, it seems the other adult receivers of the gifts aren't happy either.
It seems maybe they're pissed off at the gift-girl.
The kids in the room seem fairly pleased, though.
Denny's mom annoys me.
Gift-Girl gave Denny a video game. Denny's mom says that Denny doesn't like violent games. But Denny seems quite fine with it.
And Gift-Girl says it's more like Tom and Jerry type violence.
I try to be tolerant of parents who have a different opinion to me regarding not-overly violent kids media. But to sit there and pretend your opinion is your kid's opinion?
That doesn't sit well with me.
I hope I haven't ever done that regarding my own child.
Oh! Gift-Girl was arrested. And Denny's mom remarks that she heard Gift-Girl went completely nuts. Is that nuts like a mental breakdown or nuts as in doing something wildly illegal?
Maybe both?
Now Gift-Girl has been accused of being a psychopath.
Is she?
I feel more sympathy towards her in the scene. The other adults seem cold and awful. But maybe I have it all wrong. Maybe they're decent people, and Gift-Girl IS a psychopath?
Oh! Wait.
I just saw that the video title names the character.
Gift-Girl is Ronnie Mitchell and Denny's mom is Sharon Rickman (played by Samantha Womack and Letitia Dean).
I have to read about Ronnie Mitchell. Now I'm really curious.
Is she bad?
You know what, though.
I think I could totally get into Eastenders if Hulu had it. Because I just watched 3 minutes of it, and I'm already very curious.
So....
Lord Wiki says that Ronnie killed Carl in self-defense. Carl had been mentioned in the scene by Sharon...in a very accusing-type tone.
Self-defense is not really psychopathic.
BUT Lord Wiki says that Ronnie also tried to poison a guy. What's up with that?
Oh! This is so sad.
Ronnie was told by a girl named Danielle that she's Danielle's mother. Ronnie didn't believe her and rejected her. But then she learns it's true. She goes to apologize and Danielle gets hit by a car and dies.
This leads to Ronnie being obsessed with getting pregnant.
No, she doesn't sound like a psychopath to me. She seems disturbed. Yeah. But probably rightfully so.
I'm glad I didn't misjudge her character when watching the scene.
* * *
Here's another scene from a Wilkinson EastEnders episode.
A young man and woman are looking at homes online and then guess who walks in. Good old Ronnie! She's wearing the same dress as she was wearing in the last scene I watched. It makes sense, because the last episode was from March 3, and this is from March 4.
At the end of the scene, there's talk of a police car outside and then some suspenseful music.
* * *
The next show on Wilkinson's filmography is quite recent.
It's March 2019 episodes of a show called Shakespeare and Hathaway: Private Investigators.
I've not heard of this show before.
The show began last year.
I went through the cast and clicked on faces and names that looked vaguely familar. Again. Lots of false alarms.
Here's a trailer for the show.
It doesn't really appeal to me, personally.
* * *
And now onto Coronation Street!
Yay!!!!!
Wilkinson's first episode aired on February 15, 2016.
I'm not sure if I watched it or not.
IMDb's Desciption: Robert's plan to surprise Tracy at the wedding fair goes awry due to Carla's presence. Norris decides that a photo shoot will help Sally's cause. Eva endeavours to track down Marta.
I think I remember the Eva and Marta stuff. I think Marta was the woman who was the victim of human-trafficking? I don't remember the other storylines, though.
I'm going to do what, earlier, I said I might do—click on Corrie actors; see if any were on The Bill, and, if yes, see if any of their The Bill episodes were directed by Wilkenson.
So...Tristan Gemmil who plays Robert on Corrie appeared in six episodes of The Bill in 2001.
I forgot if Wilkinson was directing The Bill in 2001.
Checking now......
Nope.
Connor McIntyre who played the extremely awful Pat Phelan appeared in four episodes of The Bill...each time as a different character.
None of them match up with Wilkinson's episodes.
Finally! I've found someone who has been in a lot of The Bill episodes! Jane Danson who plays Leanne on Corrie. She was in several episodes of The Bill, and I think some are Wilkinson episodes.
I'm hoping I can find some on YouTube.
Well, maybe not. Now I'm seeing that most of Wilkinson episodes were in the 1990's and Danson's episodes were in the 2000's.
I give up. I'm tired of this game.
I'm going to, instead, look at more Corrie episodes.
Here's an episode from February 19: Pat succeeds in turning Anna's public meltdown to his advantage. Nick ponders Carla's suggestion that they leave Weatherfield. Alya's friend Rana turns Zeedan's head. Tim resents Sally's plans for his career.
I'm so glad Pat is dead. He was such an evil manipulator.
Sad about Rana, because she recently died...in that factory roof collapse...that Nick may or may not have caused.
And about a year later: Bethany steels herself to face Sarah after spending the night with Nathan. Toyah tackles Leanne about her continued hostility. Steve and Michelle bid a final goodbye to their son.
Those were some VERY powerful storylines—sex trafficking of a teenager and a stillborn baby.
I'm pretty sure I did some crying with those.
I wonder if Wilkinson directed a lot of the episodes in that storyline.
The final goodbye of Rory (the baby) was sad, but I think the really heartbreaking episode is where Michelle (Kym Marsh) first loses the baby. If I remember correctly what happens is the hospital refuses to try to revive him in anyway, because there's some kind of law or hospital rule that says they can't try to save a baby under a certain age.
Well, I just looked.
Wilkinson didn't direct that episode.
The Rory episode that she did was in February 2017. Her most recent episode prior to that was in September 2016.
Funny.
I went to look at the most recent Wilkinson episode, and it's the one I watched today. Gemma (Dolly-Rose Campbell) gets into the wrong caravan. Gary has more lone shark drama.
I hope someone kills that loan shark.
IMDb's Desciption: Robert's plan to surprise Tracy at the wedding fair goes awry due to Carla's presence. Norris decides that a photo shoot will help Sally's cause. Eva endeavours to track down Marta.
I think I remember the Eva and Marta stuff. I think Marta was the woman who was the victim of human-trafficking? I don't remember the other storylines, though.
I'm going to do what, earlier, I said I might do—click on Corrie actors; see if any were on The Bill, and, if yes, see if any of their The Bill episodes were directed by Wilkenson.
So...Tristan Gemmil who plays Robert on Corrie appeared in six episodes of The Bill in 2001.
I forgot if Wilkinson was directing The Bill in 2001.
Checking now......
Nope.
Connor McIntyre who played the extremely awful Pat Phelan appeared in four episodes of The Bill...each time as a different character.
None of them match up with Wilkinson's episodes.
Finally! I've found someone who has been in a lot of The Bill episodes! Jane Danson who plays Leanne on Corrie. She was in several episodes of The Bill, and I think some are Wilkinson episodes.
I'm hoping I can find some on YouTube.
Well, maybe not. Now I'm seeing that most of Wilkinson episodes were in the 1990's and Danson's episodes were in the 2000's.
I give up. I'm tired of this game.
I'm going to, instead, look at more Corrie episodes.
Here's an episode from February 19: Pat succeeds in turning Anna's public meltdown to his advantage. Nick ponders Carla's suggestion that they leave Weatherfield. Alya's friend Rana turns Zeedan's head. Tim resents Sally's plans for his career.
I'm so glad Pat is dead. He was such an evil manipulator.
Sad about Rana, because she recently died...in that factory roof collapse...that Nick may or may not have caused.
And about a year later: Bethany steels herself to face Sarah after spending the night with Nathan. Toyah tackles Leanne about her continued hostility. Steve and Michelle bid a final goodbye to their son.
Those were some VERY powerful storylines—sex trafficking of a teenager and a stillborn baby.
I'm pretty sure I did some crying with those.
I wonder if Wilkinson directed a lot of the episodes in that storyline.
The final goodbye of Rory (the baby) was sad, but I think the really heartbreaking episode is where Michelle (Kym Marsh) first loses the baby. If I remember correctly what happens is the hospital refuses to try to revive him in anyway, because there's some kind of law or hospital rule that says they can't try to save a baby under a certain age.
Well, I just looked.
Wilkinson didn't direct that episode.
The Rory episode that she did was in February 2017. Her most recent episode prior to that was in September 2016.
Funny.
I went to look at the most recent Wilkinson episode, and it's the one I watched today. Gemma (Dolly-Rose Campbell) gets into the wrong caravan. Gary has more lone shark drama.
I hope someone kills that loan shark.
* * *
Now I shall see if I can find any articles or interviews with Gill Wilkinson.
Well, it looks like she has a website.
It seems to be just a basic resume.
So....
She's from the North of England. She'd be more Winterfell than King's Landing.
Also, Coronation Street takes place (and is filmed) in the north. Manchester. That's considered north, right?
I kind of just go by London. To me, North England is above London and South England is below London.
I should probably see what Lord Wiki has to say.
Lord Wiki says it does include Manchester.
He has a lot to say, though, and I'm not in the mood to read all of it. So I'm not going to figure out if he agrees with me about it being everything above London.
I think he'd probably disagree.
He DOES say that there's a lot of disagreement about where it begins.
Back to Wilkinson.
I'm wondering if she wrote the resume, because it talks about herself in third person.
Or maybe it's not a resume. Maybe it's just a short description?
Anyway.....
Wilkinson graduated from two schools—Bournemouth Film School and The National Film and Television School.
I LOVE that. I really admire and appreciate their flexibility.
They also have a really large number of program choices. I actually started naming them all, but then I realized it would be too long.
The programs are located in Beaconsfield. Lord Wiki says that's 23 miles from London.
Looking at Google Maps. It would be about a 50 minute drive.
Okay. I think I got confused. I thought the programs listed were geared towards international students. But those are their courses in general.
It makes sense now that I know the list was so long.
When I first saw it, I thought it was a short list of programs specifically geared towards international students.
But no. It's a very long list of programs for all students.
I'm looking at their FAQ. It's definitely a post-college type thing...which was pretty much said in the passage I quoted above. They want you to be at least 21 and have a degree or three-four years of work experience under your belt.
I wonder about people who didn't get a degree in film. For example, what if they were like Daniel Chun and got a degree in biological anthropology?
Well, I guess if student had an impressive portfolio, the school would consider them.
So....
She's from the North of England. She'd be more Winterfell than King's Landing.
Also, Coronation Street takes place (and is filmed) in the north. Manchester. That's considered north, right?
I kind of just go by London. To me, North England is above London and South England is below London.
I should probably see what Lord Wiki has to say.
Lord Wiki says it does include Manchester.
He has a lot to say, though, and I'm not in the mood to read all of it. So I'm not going to figure out if he agrees with me about it being everything above London.
I think he'd probably disagree.
He DOES say that there's a lot of disagreement about where it begins.
Back to Wilkinson.
I'm wondering if she wrote the resume, because it talks about herself in third person.
Or maybe it's not a resume. Maybe it's just a short description?
Anyway.....
Wilkinson graduated from two schools—Bournemouth Film School and The National Film and Television School.
* * *
So....
We're having a house-showing today.
We have to be ready in about 45 minutes. I'm taking a break, but I've spent most of the morning and afternoon doing last minute cleaning.
Tim is playing his video game, and I'm left wondering if I'm going to end up needing to do the things I had expected HIM to do—stuff he told me he was going to do or one of those things he does without me nagging.
Is he aware of the time? Is he planning to stop at a certain point to get things done? Or is it going to be a mad stressful rush.
What will really get to me is if I end up doing his jobs, and I get no apologies or thank you's.
Anyway.....
Enough venting.
I was going to take this break to look at the film schools Wilkinson went to.
Here's the website for Bournemouth.
I'm guessing it's in a place called Bournemouth.
Is there a place called Bournemouth?
I'm looking at their areas of study—special effects, costume and performance design, creative writing, make-up, film, acting, animation production.
That is so cool.
I wonder if the film area would be for people wanting to be directors. Or is it more cinematography?
* * *
I Googled Bournemouth.
It's a seaside resort type town in the south.
I wonder if it's known for the film school at all. Is it one of the best film schools in the country? Did Wilkinson go there because she thought it would be the best school? Or did she choose the school because of the location? Maybe she wanted to take some time away from the north?
This website has a list of the best film schools in England.
I don't know if it's in order, but they do list Bournemouth first.
How about the other school that Wilkinson went to?
Here's the website for the National Film and Television School
Oh! Good. Tim DID come down. He's doing dishes now. That's a relief.
Will he have time to wipe down the shower and pick his underpants off the floor?
We shall see.....
Back to the school.....
They have two year programs for people living outside the UK. I'm having fantasies of Jack doing this and getting himself a career in television. Which is really a case of me wanting to redo my life through my child. BAD PARENTING.
Jack does love television, though.
I wonder how hard it is to get accepted into the program. And is it something you do right after high school or are most students older? Is it more of a graduate program?
Oh! Here's the answer. They say:
Students come from a wide range of backgrounds: you may be an independent filmmaker, you might have a degree or you may have experience of working in the industry. While many applicants will have a degree from a British or overseas university, we will consider applicants who do not have a degree if they have an impressive portfolio, a creative track record or an alternative qualification.
Students come from a wide range of backgrounds: you may be an independent filmmaker, you might have a degree or you may have experience of working in the industry. While many applicants will have a degree from a British or overseas university, we will consider applicants who do not have a degree if they have an impressive portfolio, a creative track record or an alternative qualification.
I LOVE that. I really admire and appreciate their flexibility.
They also have a really large number of program choices. I actually started naming them all, but then I realized it would be too long.
The programs are located in Beaconsfield. Lord Wiki says that's 23 miles from London.
Looking at Google Maps. It would be about a 50 minute drive.
Okay. I think I got confused. I thought the programs listed were geared towards international students. But those are their courses in general.
It makes sense now that I know the list was so long.
When I first saw it, I thought it was a short list of programs specifically geared towards international students.
But no. It's a very long list of programs for all students.
I'm looking at their FAQ. It's definitely a post-college type thing...which was pretty much said in the passage I quoted above. They want you to be at least 21 and have a degree or three-four years of work experience under your belt.
I wonder about people who didn't get a degree in film. For example, what if they were like Daniel Chun and got a degree in biological anthropology?
Well, I guess if student had an impressive portfolio, the school would consider them.
* * *
There's some other stuff on Wilkinson's resume thing.
She was a supervising director on the first Croatian soap opera-Zabranjena Ljubav.
YouTube has some episodes of that.
I'll watch a bit of one.
The beginning has a guy making a speech. He looks happy. Or really he looks like he's trying to fake happiness.
Moving on....
Wilkinson made a short film called "Amanda" when she was at the Bournemouth film school.
I plugged it into YouTube and got this video.
I mean I plugged "Amanda Gill Wilkinson". I didn't just search for Amanda.
The video is called "Showreel 88-Amanda". I'm wondering then if it's a mixture of things including "Amanda". Or is the whole thing "Amanda".
There's a guy in the beginning talking. His voice and accent reminds me of the 10th Doctor.
I'm pretty sure he's not David Tennant, though.
Okay. No. He's not part of "Amanda". He was just introducing "Amanda".
Amanda is in trouble for something. She's been told she's going to lose her benefits. She's not at all pleased about this.
Now Amanda has a gun and there's a man throwing papers.
Interesting.....
The film kind of went from realistic drama to somewhat surreal.
Maybe the gun and paper thing is supposed to be a dream?
* * *
I feel I keep missing things on the resume. I think I'm done with it; then check to make sure I haven't missed something. And I find I missed something!
Such as.....
Wilkinson made some other short films—"Ellie" and "Horses for Courses". Well, I assume they're short films. They were her graduate films for The National Film and Television School. Either way. Short or long. One or both films won awards, including best Drama at a Tokyo award thing.
This website (Wilkinson's CV) makes things a little clearer. It was for "Ellie" that she won the Tokyo award. It also won in a Chicago festival and something called the 3rd Karlovy Vary Festival.
Googling....
Lord Wiki says the Karlovy Vary Festival is a Czech festival.
* * *
I just found an intriguing video featuring a Gill Wilkinson.
It MIGHT be the right Gill Wilkinson, because she has a British accent.
Though maybe Gill Wilkinson is a common name in the UK?
Anyway.....
The video is called "What it's Like to Work With Me-Testimonial by Gil Wilkinson". It's about a person named Emma Holmes. If I'm understanding things correctly, it's like a video version of a recommendation letter.
It has gotten only two views.
It's about as popular as my uploaded videos.
Okay...so I'm going to watch it now.
After watching about two minutes, I have decided that it is very likely the wrong Gill Wilkinson.
This Gill Wilkinson is a businesswoman it seems. And I think Emma Holmes helps people with their business stuff. She's probably a consultant.
UNLESS Gill Wilkinson is a filmmaker with a business on the side. Just like Kirsty Fisher is a screenwriter but also had her own stationery company
Well.....
I'm not finding anything else regarding the Gill Wilkinson I WANTED to learn about.
Though I didn't really learn that much about her, I guess I sort of had some fun exploring her filmography.
If anything, it was a nice little journey through British television.
Read my novel: The Dead are Online