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Post by topcat on Sept 6, 2008 0:51:10 GMT -5
OK then 18 month break/unemployed .Agent thinks roles will come to her and she accepts that logic.And he's not wrong. Usually when you've just completed a role in a TV show with 9 million viewers you're hot property. Just think of Billie Piper after Dr Who she was inundated with scripts for all types of roles. So now you have to wonder why no script or any role came Mandana's way? Nothing to do the role she played? But the agent clearly was wrong because she dumped him! I think she only accepted his logic whilst she was wanting to take time off. Billie Piper is in her early 20's not mid 30's. It does make a difference. How do we know Mandana didn't turn some roles down because they were just carbon copies of Nikki? Also, how come the moment she changed agents, she was back in leading roles on stage and screen? Surely the role stigma was still there? She worked seemingly continually from CUFA up to the second apearance in Doctors over that 2 year period before announcing her pregnancy. If it was because of the nature of the role, how come Anna Friel never suffered the same problem? It actually helped her career! I'm assuming you are just talking about the first break? I think we all accept the reasoning for the second and the fact that, like it or not, she is now an actress in her early 40's. I don't think there was anything sinister going off the first time. I just think it was a bad choice to take a prolonged gap when she did. In fairness, look at Lara Cazalet. She was also excellent as Zandra and yet it took about 5 years for her to get that role in New Street Law. Alicia Eyo (Denny) has only had bit parts since. It's just the nature of the acting profession. I just think that we notice it more with Mandana because we, as fans, follow her career far more closely. In reality, Simone is only filming 4 episodes of something per year. Everything else seems to be Scottish shorts that get very limited release and we wouldn't know about it were it not for her fanbase. Anyway, she's back now and I'm hoping that this stint in The Bill will start a period of steady work. ;D
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Post by justafan on Sept 6, 2008 19:39:13 GMT -5
I agree with you in part, tc, but I still think there is something very strange about that first gap after BG. She must have been in demand at that point - who in their right mind would have chosen to stay unemployed? I can understand a short vacation but I'm sure actors understand, given the nature of their business, that it is vital to stay in the public eye and attract the attention of prospective employers. I agree it was a terrible choice, if it was a choice, to take a prolonged hiatus at that point. I think that British actors when they are getting started in their careers have a somewhat limited pool of possible parts...they must all be competing for the same few tv roles in soaps and series and commercials. There is the theatre also but it must be difficult to break out of the crowd of actors and make yourself known. It is a comparatively small market. "The Bill" seems to be one of those few series that actors appear in on their way up, or down, on the career ladder. The same is true of a program like "Casualty" or "Holby City" and some of the popular soaps. Lara Cazalet I never would have expected to be in demand and the same goes for Alicia Eyo. I don't know why but I never thought they were that "special". Mandana definitely was special and her career should have taken off like a rocket. Simone also had a stand out role and she was a good actress in BG but she has only gotten sort of mediocre roles with the exception of her character in WITB. I can't believe that show is on only four times a year. Anyway, I agree that it will be great to have MJ working again! P.S. Thanks for fixing the "quote" thing....again. I thought I had followed directions but looks like it didn't work. Thank you, whoever.
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Post by Nikkhele on Sept 7, 2008 9:14:20 GMT -5
Thanks for the info on The Bill, I'll check out their website. And also appreciate the quick rundown of Mandana's career since BG. I must admit I've been "jealous" of SL having a seemingly "better" career since BG, but obviously not as great as I thought it was. Thanks for putting it in perspective! On another note, I'm not sure where to put this but that other site which shall remain nameless (we'll just call it MJnet ;D ) has finally changed the look of their website. Previously, they had posted a, dare I say, "frumpy" photo of Mandana as the main photo. I often wondered, couldn't they get a better photo than that? Jeeezzz... Well, they finally changed it to a photo of Mandana where she looks stunningly gorgeous! About time! It's one from the Waterstones appearance of Mandana with the red hat. There is larger stand alone photo of it here. www.mandanajones.net/xmasgallery05/30.jpgAlso, does that other site have to be so damn irritating even when they do something "good"? They said, IOW, grrrrrr..... I have to go digging page by page throughout their site just to find these "smaller bits". Never mind, I don't have the time. Too bad, though, because I'd like to have more photos of Mandana because I missed so much when BG was on the air. Btw, if anyone wants the Mandana photo but doesn't want to download it from that other site, I could post it here if it's okay with CB and RM. Let me know
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Post by coolbyrne on Sept 7, 2008 11:49:32 GMT -5
It's a clever way of adding all the "smaller bits" without having to make an update to admit they never had the stuff in the first place. Of note is the "Occasional, Strong" addition. You'd think something like that would merit its own mention on the home page as an "update", but no. It gets pushed down into the deep recesses of a site that has TWENTY PAGES of quotes, and a page for "AN INTERVIEW WITH SOMEONE WHO WORKED ON POWERS" (actual title of link!!). The inference is, of course, that they had "OS" all along, but it was such a small thing that it got "lost".
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Post by jilly2000 on Sept 17, 2008 15:48:57 GMT -5
Billie Piper is in her early 20's not mid 30's. It does make a difference. I can see she was a wrong example to use as I couldn't think of anyone at that moment. I just wanted to relay the fact that with a hit on the hands roles do come your way. Age is irrelevant. Brenda Bleythyn comes to mind. Plus Mandana was only 34 at the time. Exactly so that means it hurt her career. She had to turn down rubbish roles. Her time was wasted. As time is of essence in her career. After waiting that long she did what she had to do. 18 months is an eternity in show business. People have bad memory. I haven't seen her in anything but google tells me that now she has an American series. 15 years ago(?) she was a teenager when she played a gay character with few snogs here and there. ;D
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Post by coolbyrne on Oct 8, 2008 13:34:19 GMT -5
Hey, has there been any further news about this over on the island?
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Post by topcat on Oct 13, 2008 3:39:28 GMT -5
Hey, has there been any further news about this over on the island? Sorry Coolbyrne, no news as yet. Although I did click on the latest episode clip and had to watch it again because there is a character who both looks and sounds like Mandana. At first glance, I really thought it was her! Was in London this weekend. Went to see Les Miserables - not seen it for over 10 years and it was still as brilliant as ever - anyway, guess who's offices are about 10 feet away from the Les Mis theatre? Yes CAM. I wanted to bang on the door and tell them to pull their finger out!
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Post by jilly2000 on Oct 13, 2008 16:22:58 GMT -5
- anyway, guess who's offices are about 10 feet away from the Les Mis theatre? Yes CAM. I wanted to bang on the door and tell them to pull their finger out! LOL! You should've. Everytime I come in here I notice the top left corner. And realize how much I miss Mandana. Must say we MJ fans are really a patient bunch.
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Post by jilly2000 on Oct 13, 2008 16:36:53 GMT -5
Was in London this weekend. Went to see Les Miserables - not seen it for over 10 years and it was still as brilliant as ever - I remember seeing Les Mis some 20 years back and it was a treat. But since I hadn't read Victor Hugo it was not easy to follow the story. The prison scene was quite gloomy I thought. Though I can't recall much now.
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Post by topcat on Oct 19, 2008 3:35:25 GMT -5
You should've. I was too busy tripping over the hotline to Splodgy..... You can say that again. I must admit, I thought this Bill role would be the start of a flurry of work. That seems to have always been the case before - even if it was a flurry of adverts! She goes quiet for ages and then 3 roles get announced together. Maybe there are more roles and CAM just can't be bothered to update their pages.
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Post by jilly2000 on Oct 19, 2008 22:41:33 GMT -5
I was too busy tripping over the hotline to Splodgy..... Ooo nice response. Very TC. The profile/CV of Mandana on the CAM's website is primarily for the benefit of the prospective employers like the producers or the casting directors rather than for the fans I'm assuming. Hence her latest role in The Bill is not detailed. Like what character is she playing? Or the airdates of her episodes etc. It would give us an idea when to look out for her in The Bill. Also I'm thinking do the casting directors or their assistants really go thru the various agencies' websites to find a particular actor? Wouldn't that be time consuming? And how do they know which actor is with which agency. So that may be why CAM doesn't bother updating her profile as frequently. Who knows? And I hope you're right about more roles in the offing and CAM has not added yet.
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Post by topcat on Oct 24, 2008 8:08:50 GMT -5
Well, at least Mandana doesn't go down the route that some of her ex colleagues do. I saw an advert last night for a new 'reality' programme where 'celebrities' go to prison One of the 'contestants'? Debra Stephenson. I am only amazed that she has never been in the jungle. It's about the only celebrity participation programme she has not been involved in - except Strictly Come Dancing and she was supposed to be on that as well.
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Post by jilly2000 on Oct 24, 2008 22:41:20 GMT -5
So how does this work then? You get voted off for good behaviour? And the last left is supposedly the most badass person who gets the booty? So in order to win the final prize each 'celebrity' will try to outbadass each other to stop being voted off. OUCH! And why would Debra the 'celebrity' want to take part in this adventure? I mean apart from the money. One would think she had enough of the 'jail environment' to last a lifetime from BG.
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Post by justafan on Oct 25, 2008 7:48:25 GMT -5
Hey topcat,
Guess who was "in London" the weekend after you attended 'Les Mis'. Me! I was stranded in Terminal 5 at Heathrow for 7 hours after our flight to Edinburgh was delayed by fog. (Allegedly, no one in Edinburgh knew of any fog problem.) So much fun. (Not.) Anyway we landed at dawn and I can say I saw the Thames and some of the sights from the air. I saw Les Mis about 10 years ago and really enjoyed it.
It seems strange that there still isn't any news about this new role for MJ. Thought something would be known by now.
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Post by topcat on Nov 5, 2008 4:14:18 GMT -5
It seems strange that there still isn't any news about this new role for MJ. Thought something would be known by now. Well, the 25th anniversary episodes filmed in Germany go out this week, I think. Now, they have been advertised on The Bill website since before the Mandana news came out and so it would seem there is a large gap between The Bill episodes being filmed and shown. Either that or some episodes are shown ad hoc. They seem to have 'one off' double episodes that could be shown any time i.e there are no continuity issues, then there are other episodes with long running threads. Maybe we might be lucky and the episodes we are keen to see might be this side of Christmas!
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