ray winstone
Home Biography Recent News Older News Influences Articles Film Credits TV Credits Theatre/Other Work Agent Guestbook Mailing List Interactive Sitemap Search

old news

Click here for recent news

September 2004

She's Gone is on ITV1 on Sunday 19 September, 9-11pm, and Ray was a guest on Jonathan Ross's BBC1 chat show on Friday 17 September at 10.35pm. View the trailer and photos at the Size Nine Productions website.

There's a nice interview from The Times Magazine on the articles page. The release of the Alan Clarke Collection DVD appears to have been delayed, but there is a good review of it at DVDTalk. Ray does a full length commentary track on the theatrical version of Scum. In the meantime, a triple bill of Ray's performances (Scum, Births Marriages and Deaths, Last Orders) is available on DVD as 'The Daddy Collection'. Curiosity of the month: The Mirror website suggests that a Channel 4 pilot show hosted by Johnny Vegas includes him getting Ladbrokes to offer odds on someone jumping over Ray on a mini-chopper motorbike.

photo by mitch jenkins - click for another pictureAugust 2004

Ray has lent his support to the Royden annual flower festival at St Peter's Church over the Bank Holiday weekend. The displays will be on show from 10am until 5pm on Saturday and Monday, and between 11.30am and 5pm on Sunday. There are also rides, music and a pig roast. More details and a quote from Ray in the Epping Forest Guardian.

Ray will be appearing at some point this season on the Jonathan Ross show on BBC1 on Friday nights. The show begins on 3 Sept and runs for 16 weeks. So keep an eye on the schedules!

According to Planet Gamecube, a video game version of King Arthur is to be released in November.

According to NarniaWeb, Ray has been cast as the voice of Mr Beaver in the new film version of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Dawn French is voicing Mrs Beaver, and Tilda Swinton (who he starred with in The War Zone) is The White Witch.

July 2004

There's a 15-min audio interview with Ray talking about King Arthur on the BBC Radio Five Live website. He mentions that She's Gone should be on UK TV in September. He's currently working on his William Blake project, Jerusalem, in which he stars as Blake - see April 04 and December 03 below for further details.

Nice Q&A session with Ray on The Sun website. Some interesting questions and answers!

In the Radio Times 10-16 July, there is a list of the 40 most powerful names in British TV drama. Ray comes in at no 13!

Reviews from North America are now up on the King Arthur page. Many reviewers think Ray is the best thing about the film.

According to Paul, Ray will be interviewed on ITV's This Morning programme on Wed 14 July starting at 10.30am.

Ray as 'Bors' in King Arthur

Nice interview in the Daily Mail with Ray about his role as 'Bors' in King Arthur.

And doesn't this picture of Ray as 'Bors' above remind you of Will Scarlet twenty years ago:

Ray as Will Scarlet

June 2004

In a poll conducted by Skymovies.com, Ray has come seventh in the list of 'Britain's Sexiest Actors'. The top ten were (from 1 to 10): Orlando Bloom, Sean Bean, Hugh Grant, Ewan McGregor, Jude Law, Christian Bale, Ray Winstone, Jonny Lee Miller, Jason Statham, Paul Bettany. More information at Sky News. Congratulations Ray!

May 2004

King Arthur now has an official site where you can view the trailers, see photos and download lots of goodies such as screensavers, desktop wallpapers etc.

There has been more talk about the Krays film, Chain of Fear, in which Ray is set to star as both Ronnie and Reggie Kray. It is to be directed by Ray Burdis and feature Bob Hoskins as the Scotland Yard detective Nipper Read. Still no details on when filming will take place.

According to Adam Jahnke, in August this year a limited edition five-disc set of director Alan Clarke's films is being released. The box includes the movies Made in Britain, The Firm, Elephant and both the BBC and theatrical versions of Scum. Also included is a documentary on Alan Clarke with contributions from Tim Roth, Danny Boyle, Ray Winstone and others.

Along with Kevin Spacey and others, Ray is to take part in London's first 24 Hour Plays at the Old Vic Theatre on Sunday 6 June at 7.30pm - the performance of six short plays, all written and rehearsed in under 24 hours. Further info and ticket information is at The Old Vic website (click on 24 Hour Plays). More about the whole process here.

Photo by Amelia Troubridge - click for full pictureApril 2004

Nice picture of Ray in Brick Lane from 1998, by Amelia Troubridge. Click on image for full picture.

According to Vogue, photographer Rankin has just shot his second ad campaign for motor giant Ford, with actor Ray Winstone posing moodily with the Mondeo ST220 in the backstreets of his native east London.

Ray attended the TV BAFTA Awards on Sun 18th.

Ray featured on Celebrity Who Wants To Be A Millionnaire on Saturday 17 April at 8.05-9.15pm on ITV1, repeated on ITV2 at 12.05am Sunday. He played alongside fellow actor Amanda Redman. Ray and Amanda raised £64,000, half of which will go to his local charity, Haven House Children's Hospice. More about Ray's involvement.

Apologies for the lack of March news - I had the builders in and so normal service was interrupted!

On 24 March, Ray attended the memorial service for David Hemmings, who co-starred with him in Last Orders.

Henry VIII was shown in Australia on The ABC recently (so welcome to all our Aussie visitors!). Here are a couple of reviews: Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian "Winstone brings to the role a passion and menace that works".

Ray's next film, Jerusalem, for his new production company, Flicks Productions, has been officially announced, with Ray to play artist-poet William Blake in a biopic. See December below for further details.

Ray Winstone as Teague in Cold MountainFebruary 2004

Ray was on the jury of the 2004 young people's First Light Film Awards. The awards celebrate examples of digital short films made by 7 to 18 year olds through the UK Film Council's Lottery-funded programme, First Light. The ceremony took place on 25 Feb.

19 Feb: HAPPY 47th BIRTHDAY RAY!

Best Short Film winner at the BAFTA Awards on Sunday 15th Feb was Brown Paper Bag, which Ray executive-produced. It is made by Dreamfinder Productions, the same people who made the short film Bouncer, in which Ray starred. They are hoping to produce a DVD of the two short films with a commentary by Ray. More info here and here.

January 2004

Happy New Year! Rumours abound that Ray has been signed up to play the new Dark Arts teacher, Mad-Eye Moody, in the fourth Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. It has been reported by movie news website, Dark Horizons, The Leaky Cauldron, and here. This is just a RUMOUR at this stage!

December 2003

The Cold Mountain webpage has been updated with a list of reviews. Many say that the film is cold and fails to convince. The official movie website is here.

The King Arthur movie now has a website of its own where you can view the trailer in a variety of formats. There are some quick shots of Ray in it!

The London Premiere of Cold Mountain took place on Sunday 14 December, with the stars in attendance. The BBC website has a nice piece about it. The Mirror shares some gossip about 'bulky heart-throb Ray Winstone', while The Times reports Ray's unflattering opinion of Romania, where the movie was filmed.

Ray at Cold Mountain London PremiereLATEST PRESS RELEASE 9 Dec 03: Actor Ray Winstone and business partner Michael Wiggs said Tuesday that they are finalizing plans for a movie based on the life of artist-poet William Blake. The movie, Jerusalem, will mark the film production debut for Winstone (Cold Mountain) and Wiggs' production label Flicks Prods. Winstone and former agent Wiggs founded the production company about six months ago and plan to produce Jerusalem as their first film in October 2004. The movie has artist and short filmmaker Sam Taylor-Wood attached to direct from a script written by Philippa Goslett (The Long Hot Summer). Also on board is director of photography Seamus McGarvey (The Hours), who worked with Winstone on Tim Roth's The War Zone.

November 2003

22 Nov: According to The Sun, Ray has shelved plans to fly to Istanbul today for new ITV drama series She’s Gone following the terrorist attacks this week.

As mentioned below in July 03, Ray's new TV production company, Size 9 Productions, has now announced its first project in the industry-leading publication, Variety: a two-part telepic for ITV called She's Gone, which follows a father’s desperate search to find his eight-year-old daughter who has gone missing in Istanbul. More details below under July.

Ray attended the inaugural Irish Film and Television Awards in Dublin on 2 Nov.

Ray in Crazy WorldThanks to Brian Berry, an extra in the production, we now have pictures and programme details from Ray's first professional theatrical engagement: What A Crazy World in 1975 at the Theatre Royal, Stratford E15. Ray was credited as 'Raymond Winstone'.

October 2003

The Cold Mountain trailer is now online! It has a brief shot of Ray, and you can hear his voice on the soundtrack. You can watch the trailer here.

Ray as BorsSome nice new pictures of Ray as Bors in the new King Arthur movie.

Nil By Mouth is being released on Region 1 DVD (North America) on 23 December! It's available to pre-order from Amazon.

I've created three new wallpapers of Ray as Henry VIII.

Lots more (big!) pictures from Henry VIII on that page. The first part got an astonishing 7.7 million viewers, 34% of the audience share, according to overnight figures at The Guardian.

Another picture of Ray and his family (including baby Ellie Rae) on the Biography page.

A bit more information about the Kray twins film mentioned in September. It's to be directed by Ray Burdis (who produced the 1990 film with the Kemp brothers) and they hope to start filming in January.

Ray told Radio One:

"The script's really good, a really intelligent script.... And I was quite interested in playing them both because I always thought that the big thing about the story about them two is that they are identical twins.... I wouldn't have fancied playing Ronnie and someone else playing Reggie, I want to play them both.... And we found out that they can do it that way and, please God, we'll be starting it in January,"

Picture from Daily TelegraphThe Henry VIII production is generating a bit of historical controversy over a scene in which Henry 'rapes' Anne Boleyn. The scene has no basis in fact and is regarded as a ratings-booster.

You can view the 'coming soon' UK trailers for Henry VIII at www.full-of-beans.net.

Set your videos: the 2-part drama Henry VIII will be shown on ITV1 on Sundays 12 and 19 October! There is another article about it on the Articles page.

The region 2 DVD/video of Henry VIII will be released on 27 October. You can pre-order it from Sendit for £17.99 including UK p&p.

The part that Ray plays in Cold Mountain is 'Teague', a homesteader.

There's a nice little article here about the Liverpool chef who worked on Cold Mountain and met Ray.

Another article in the Epping Forest Guardian says that Ray will be present at the opening of a new nightclub Club one9five in Epping on Tuesday 7 Oct.

September 2003

photo by Muir VidlerAccording to the BBC and ITV websites, Ewan McGregor has recorded a controversial rap song which satirises famous rock stars who died young. Ray is due to feature in the song (or video?) which is due to be released later this year.

According to the Radio Times, Ray is being lined up to play both Kray twins in a forthcoming movie about their lives. There's a bit more about the Kray project which is written and directed by Ray's friend Ray Burdis, in the Epping Forest Guardian.

He is also being touted to play the role of Harry Stark, a violent and openly gay character, in a film adaptation of the book The Long Firm by Jake Arnott. Set in 1960s West End London and 1980s Spain, it mixes fiction and historical events.

July 2003

Some great new pictures of Ray as Bors in the new film of King Arthur courtesy of The Z Review.

Ray as BorsRay's production company Size Nine is producing a drama entitled She's Gone for ITV1. It is written by Simon Tyrrell (The Bill, The Vice) and is the story of a businessman's attempts to find his daughter who has gone missing in the seedy Istanbul underworld. Ray plays the father, and is also credited as producer, along with his Size Nine partners Joshua St Johnston and Michael Wiggs. Footballers' Wives star Gary Lucy is also scheduled to star.

Nice short interview with Ray on the Henry VIII page.

June 2003:

A few more (larger) pictures have been added to the Henry VIII page.

Ray as Henry VIIIThe Bergerac episode from the early 1980s in which Ray has 3 scenes is being shown on UK cable/satellite channel UK Gold on Friday 6 June.

Also, Ray has written the foreword to a forthcoming book due for release in August by an ex West Ham United footballer called Frank McAvennie. You can pre-order it at Amazon.

May 2003:

The troubled production of Ripley's Game finally gets a cinema release in the UK on 30 May. Ray has said how he didn't enjoy filming it. See here.

Thanks to Bev, you can now download some wav files from the Fanny and Elvis page.

March 2003:

The Sun has a great article about Ray's Henry VIII project currently filming, complete with pictures of Ray in armour!

Sexy Beast is to be premiered on Channel 4 on Sunday 30 March at 10pm.

Ray is set to feature as Bors in a new film version of the legend of King Arthur, starring Clive Owen as Arthur and Stephen Dillane as Merlin. More details on the project from Murph's excellent Clive Owen website and the IMDB.

Feb 2003:

DVD of the film version of Scum is finally released on 24 Feb. No interesting extra features, unfortunately. You can buy it here for £5.99.

Bouncer, a 10-min film by Michael Clifford and starring Ray, has been nominated for a BAFTA Award. Ceremony is on 23 Feb.

It has been confirmed that Helena Bonham Carter will play Anne Boleyn opposite Ray's Henry VIII in the ITV series.

Ray attended a fundraising evening for the Woodford Green children's hospice Haven House on Valentine's Day. More info here.

Jan 2003:

Ray came second to Michael Caine in a survey of 4000 people conducted by Diamond White cider for Britains "Number One Diamond Geezer". The final line-up was 1. Michael Caine, 2. Ray Winstone, 3. Guy Ritchie, 4. Vinnie Jones, 5. Sean Bean, 6. Ian Wright, 7. Martin Kemp, 8. Mike Reid, 9. Goldie, 10. Tom Jones.

Happy New Year! It's been a quiet couple of months but this year we have Ray's portrayal of King Henry VIII on ITV to look forward to, as well as Cold Mountain in the cinemas.

Nov 2002:
Ray's 20-year-old daughter Lois has her first TV role in The Bill at the moment, as a tearaway 16-year-old, Chloe Kendrick. You can read more about it and see pictures of Lois at The Sun's website. Ray also attended the British Independent Film Awards on 30 Oct with his middle daughter 17 year old Jaime (see left).

Jaime and Ray at the BIFA awardsFilmFour screened Sexy Beast at 10pm on Mon 4 November, preceded at 9pm by a major interview with Ray. They will also broadcast other Ray films during November, including The War Zone, Scum and Ladybird Ladybird. Check out the Filmfour website for more info on their film schedule and a clip from the interview. The interview is repeated on Nov 10th at 9.00pm, Nov 14th at 11.35pm and Nov 30th at 9pm.

There is to be a new animated film version of the children's TV classic The Magic Roundabout. Robbie Williams is to voice Dougal, Kylie Minogue is Florence and Joanna Lumley is Ermintrude. Ray is to voice a new character called Soldier Sam! More info here.

Sept 2002:
Ray will be taking a masterclass with young people from Northern Ireland as part of Cinemagic's World Screen Festival in Belfast in November. For more information go here.

After technical problems, Ripley's Game has at last had a screening at the Venice Film Festival this month.

Ray photo-ed by Neil CooperThe original, banned BBC 'Play for Today' version of Scum was screened by Channel 4 on Sunday 15 September at 00.30. It has a short introduction by Mark Kermode.

For those looking for some sounds from Sexy Beast, Daniel has set up a stylish website here with lots of MP3s from the film.

August 2002:
HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY TO THIS WEBSITE! First created in August 1998.

Ray is currently shooting Cold Mountain in Romania. This film has a budget of US£80m and is due for release at the end of 2003. He was also the official spokesperson for the Rushes Soho Shorts Festival, 27 July - 2 August.

July 2002: Lenny Blue, the 2-part sequel to Tough Love, was shown on ITV1 on Mon 1 July and Tues 2 July at 9pm. Tough Love has just been released on video and you can buy it here.

And thanks to the Radio Times for the link to this site in their Ray interview in the 28 June edition of the magazine!

It also appears that filming of the Henry VIII drama has been postponed until 2003.

And there are rumours that Ray might star in a new version of the 70's crime show Hazell. Terry Venables has drafted a new script which is being considered by ITV, and Ray has expressed an interest if the series is commissioned and Venables commits to write it.

The little-seen film The Sea Change from 1998 starring Ray with Maryam D'Abo and Sean Chapman is now finally available on DVD. You can read more about it and buy it here.

June 2002: UK film channel FilmFour will soon be conducting a major interview with Ray to be screened in November (to coincide with the TV premiere of Sexy Beast). You can submit your questions to be put to Ray here. Now's your chance!

May 2002: The Night Heron has now closed and Ray's next project is a role in the new Anthony Minghella film Cold Mountain, based on the Charles Frazier best-selling novel about a love story in the American Civil War. The film is to star Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Natalie Portman and Renee Zellweger.

April 2002: The Night Heron has been extended for a week and will now close on 18 May.

The release of the film 'Ripley's Game' which Ray made in 2001 has been delayed because of a technical error which has left smears all over the picture. The film has been returned to the lab for remastering. See Ananova for more details.

Ray has recently set up a production company called Size Nine, with producer Joshua St Johnston and Michael Wiggs, Ray's long-time agent. One of their projects is about 19th century poet and artist William Blake.

March 2002: Ray has given an interview to the Newham Recorder, an East London local newspaper, about his love for West Ham United. You can read it here.

A new book with CDRom entitled Chasing the Wind: A Quadrophenia Anthology by Gary Wharton has just been published. For more info, visit his website here.

Ray from Surface magFebruary 2002: Ray will be back on stage again at the Royal Court Theatre in Sloane Square from 11 April - 11 May. He will be starring in 'The Night Heron' by Jez Butterworth. More details here.

Sexy Beast has just been released in Spain and has a lovely multimedia website here (it's in Spanish of course).

Ray has been nominated as Best Actor for Sexy Beast in the Chlotrudis Awards, a non-profit making corporation that supports and honours independent film. The Awards Ceremony is on April 6, and in the meantime you can vote for Ray's performance.

Ray WinstoneRay was expected to attend the London Film Critics' Circle Awards ceremony on February 13 at the Dorchester Hotel in London, in support of the NSPCC.

January 2002: Sexy Beast will be released on video on 21 January.

Ray's Henry VIII project goes into production in June 2002 and is now a two-parter.

Ray was a guest of Johnny Vaughan's 'Tonight' show on BBC1 on Wed 8 Jan at 11.10pm. He mentioned that two of his favourite films were 'The Tin Drum' and 'Becket'.

The UK release date of Last Orders is 11 January 2002. Check here to find a cinema near you that is showing it.

Ray presents 'Big Shots'December 2001: Ray is rumoured to be starring in a film, produced by Guy Ritchie, about Charlie Richardson, the London gangster from the 60s. Ray will play Charlie, Nigel Havers will play the judge at the trial, and Michael Caine will also have a role.

November 2001: Ray is currently filming a sequel to the 2000 TV series Tough Love, tentatively titled Lenny Blue. The series should be screened sometime in 2002.

October 2001: Ray lost out to Ben Kingsley in the British Independent Film Award for Best Actor, for Sexy Beast. Ray presents the Channel 4 documentary Big Shots which kicks off their season of gangster films. Big Shots is on at 11.40pm on Saturday 27 October and traces the history of the genre.

September 2001: Ray's new film The Martins (formerly called 'Tosspot) was released in the UK on 14 September. It is written and directed by Tony Grounds(writer of Last Christmas, Births, Marriages and Deaths, Lee Evans and Ray Winstone in 'The Martins'and Our Boy) and stars Lee Evans and Kathy Burke. Ray plays a supporting role 'Mr Marvel'. It is about 'the family from Hell'. There is an official website here. A synopsis, picture gallery and RealVideo trailer (which features Ray briefly) are available at Cinema.com. Reviews have not been great, though. Andrew Anthony of The Observer wrote on Sunday 16th Sept: "it's a confused mess that has nothing to say and yet still says it loudly. There is one good scene, though, in which Ray Winstone gives Evans a good kicking. Alas, it only lasts for a few seconds - about an hour and a half too short. "

The Fred Schepsi film Last Orders receives its World Premiere Gala Screening at the 26th Toronto International Film Festival 6-15 September 2001. More info here.

August 2001: Thanks to 'the bean' for posting this to our discussion board:

Ray recently gave his list of nine favourite songs to www.uplister.com. It's an interesting selection - a mixture of crooners like Sinatra, Tony Bennett and Harry Connick Jr, and punk(ish) bands like The Sex Pistols and The Clash, with Madness and Al Green thrown in. Top of the list is "I've Got You Under My Skin" by Frank Sinatra - which Ray sang so memorably in Births, Marriages and Deaths. You can view read the whole list by going to Uplister, clicking on 'download' and then selecting 'Celebrity Playlist Archive'. You don't have to download their software to read the list, but you will if you want to listen to any of the tracks.

There's Only One Jimmy Grimble was released on DVD and sell-through video on 13 August.

June 2001: Sexy Beast has opened in the US and Canada to generally good reviews.

Ray features in the Channel 4 documentary 'Football Stories' on Monday 11 June at 9.00-10.00pm. The documentary is a profile of the 1980s West Ham footballer Frank McAvennie.

It's the Daddy Holsten Pils advertsMore May 2001 news: Laura and Paula (friends of Ray's wife Elaine) have told me that Elaine went into labour and gave birth to a 5lb baby girl at the Portland Hospital on 21 May 2001. She has been named Ellie Rae Winstone.

28 May 2001 - Ray will begin shooting Das Cowboy in Spain, a new British comedy about film-making, produced by Monty Python's Terry Jones and directed by Julian Doyle. It co-stars Ray's old friend Robert Carlyle as a B-movie horror writer and Ray stars as the film's producer. Read more about it here.

Boxer Roy Shaw 's official site mentions that Ray is down to play him in the film Pretty Boy but I have no further information on this.

Ray Winstone in Sexy BeastMay 2001 - Sexy Beast will be released on PAL VHS (rental) and Region Two DVD on 16 July 2001. Extras on the DVD will include the US and UK theatrical trailers, actors' commentaries, poster gallery, deleted scenes, cast and crew interviews and behind the scenes footage.

April 2001 - Ray is currently filming the £30m Ripley's Game, an adaptation of a Patricia Highsmith novel. The film also features Dougray Scott as Jonathan Trevanny (who starred with Ray in To The Green Fields Beyond), Lena Headey and John Malkovich as Tom Ripley. Read more about it here. Ray has finished working on this film and did not enjoy the experience - see here.

Watch out for Ray in the new Holsten Pils 'It's The Daddy' TV adverts. You can watch and download the ads online at the Holsten Pils website.

It has been announced that Ray will be starring as King Henry VIII in a 6-part ITV series about the king and his six wives, written by the award-winning writer Alan Bleasdale. The series will be shot in 2002 and there is much speculation about who will play the Six Wives, ranging from Kathy Burke, to Anna Friel, to Kate Winslet. This will be Ray's first true pre-20th century costume drama (unless you count Robin of Sherwood).

26 February 2001 - Sexy Beast was nominated for the BAFTA The Alexander Korda Award for the Outstanding British Film of the Year but lost out to Billy Elliot.

12 Jan 2001 - Sexy Beast released, to generally good reviews. Read the reviews and view the trailer via the Sexy Beast page.

10 Jan 2001 - new interview at BBC News online about Sexy Beast here.

Ray as Gary in Sexy Beast from Sight and Sound Jan 2001Jan 2001 - New wallpapers and screensaver added to the Interactive page here!

Ray featured briefly on BBC1 on Monday 18 December on The BBC and BAFTA tribute to Michael Caine at 10.35pm until midnight, making a short tribute.

Ray's new film Sexy Beast is scheduled to have a UK release on 12 January 2001. It was given a sold-out Gala screening at the 44th London Film Festival on Saturday 11 November 2000. It also stars Ben Kingsley, Ian McShane, Amanda Redman and James Fox. It has an official site here. It has also been picked up by Fox Searchlight which means it will get a US release as well.

Ray filming 'Last Orders'Now that To The Green Fields Beyond has closed (25 Nov), Ray has immediately started filming the movie Last Orders, also starring Michael Caine, Helen Mirren and Bob Hoskins. Last Orders is based on the novel by Graham Swift (Waterland) and directed by Fred Schepisi (Fierce Creatures, Roxanne).

Ray in 'To The Green Fields Beyond'Click here for links to reviews of To The Green Fields Beyond which closed on 25 November 2000.

Take a trip down memory lane! The BBC website has a clip of Ray's guest role in a 1995 episode of their series Casualty. Click here.

Adrian Dunbar and Ray Winstone in 'Tough Love'Ray's new two-part Granada TV series, Tough Love, was broadcast on ITV at 9pm on 1 and 8 October 2000. Described as being "about corrupt cops, greed and betrayal". Ray sports a Mancunian accent.

Ray Winstone as Harry in "There's Only One Jimmy Grimble"There's Only One Jimmy Grimble, Ray's latest film co-starring Robert Carlyle and Gina McKee, premiered at the Blackpool Odeon on Wednesday 2 August, and was released on 25 August 2000. The official website is at www.jimmygrimblethemovie.com and I have some reviews here.

Ray is starring again on the London stage! Ray is starring in To The Green Fields Beyond directed by Sam Mendes. It opened at the Donmar Warehouse on 25 September (previews from 14 Sept). Click here for further information.

Ray does Radio!
Former boxer Ray presents a series called Kings of the Ring profiling great fighters of the past, on BBC Radio Five Live (909 & 693 MW) at 9.00-9.30pm on Thursdays. Radio Five Live has a live Realaudio webcast here.

Ray's recent movie Five Seconds To Spare premiered at the Greenwich Film Festival on Saturday 17 June.

Births, Marriages and Deaths was nominated for a British Academy Television Award for Best Drama Serial. The ceremony took place on 14 May and the award was won by Warriors.

Sunday 30 April, Ray played at a charity celebrity football match at Ford Sports Ground, Romford in Essex. The match took place between Glen Murphy's Ex-West Ham & Celebrity XI and The Chigwell Ringers (Metropolitan Police) for the Chris Barrel Memorial Trophy. [Chris Barrel was a 21-year-old who played for various clubs and later in the Army himself, but was stabbed in Chadwell Heath in May 1991. The matches have been held annually ever since.]

Ray captained the Ex-West Ham & Celebrity XI alongside Tony Grounds, scriptwriter of Our Boy, Births, Marriages and Deaths, and Last Christmas. Ray was man of the match after scoring a hat trick. [Thanks to Phil Clements for this info]

Sunday 16 April, Ray took part in a charity football competition featuring various UK celebrities in aid of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund. The match took place at Wembley Stadium before the Stoke/Bristol match. Ray was Captain of the Stoke City XI(which unfortunately lost to the Bristol City XI).

Ray presented 3 awards at the British Academy Film Awards at the Odeon Leicester Square on Sunday 9 April.

Ray in 'five seconds to spare'The distributor of Five Seconds to Spare, Winchester Films, has a page about the new film on their website with the groovy picture of Ray on the left, plus the trailer to download.

Denise van Outen and cast of 'Love Honour and Obey'Love, Honour and Obey was released in the UK cinemas on Friday 7 April. It has its own very cool website, which is a movie in itself! The film premiered at the Camden Odeon. Photo on the left shows Denise van Outen (centre) with, from right, Sean Pertwee, Rhys Ifans, Ray Winstone, Ray Burdis and Sadie Frost at the premiere.

Those of you who get the TV Channel Sky One will have noticed that Ray features in the new batch of Sky Digital advertisements. He looks very dapper, leaning over a snooker table and telling us all that we can get movies when we want on the new digital channels.

Ray is currently filming Tough Love, a 2 x 1 hour police drama for Granada TV which should be shown at the end of the year. He also presented an award at the British Fashion Awards in London.

Births, Marriages and Deaths has won an Award for Best Drama at the Broadcast Awards.

The Angelica Huston directed film Agnes Browne was been released in London cinemas on 3 March, to average reviews. "Ray Winstone sporting an Irish accent as ill-fitting as his clothes" [Philip French, The Observer, 5 March 2000].

Love Honour & Obey was screened at the American Film Market in February.

There is a page about the film from the British Council here.

Five Seconds to Spare also has a page from the British Council with a brief synopsis here.

Video News: Final Cut was being released on PAL VHS on 6 March, 2000, with Births, Marriages and Deaths following a week later on 13 March.

Feb 2000: Ray's next feature film project is Tosspots.

3 Jan 2000: There was a private get-together for the Robin of Sherwood cast at which Ray met up with Clive Mantle (Little John) , Nickolas Grace (The Sheriff), Richard Carpenter (Writer), Peter Llewellyn Williams (Much) and Jeremy Bulloch (Edward of Wickham) .

Ray starred in a family fantasy drama on 22 December 99 on BBC1 called Last Christmas, in which he played Neville, a trainee angel come back to earth to help his young son come to terms with his death. It was written by Tony Grounds (Births, Marriages and Deaths).

Ray was nominated for the European Actor of the Year for his performance in The War Zone, but lost to Ralph Fiennes (Sunshine).

Ray also features in the Bob Hoskins-directed segment of Tube Tales, a collection of nine satirical mini-movies all set on the London Underground. Ray's short, moving segment is called My Father, The Liar and it shows how when a young boy witnesses a man throw himself in front of a train, his father tells him that the man didn't jump, he fell. It was screened at the London Film Festival on 16 and 17 November and on Sky Premier.

Ray was a guest on Channel 4's breakfast show 'The Big Breakfast' (7-9 am) on Friday 12 November 99, promoting Fanny and Elvis. He was also on Channel 4's 'TFI Friday' on the same day.

Ray appeared briefly for a quick question and answer session after the Gala Screening of Fanny and Elvis at London's Odeon West End on 10 November 99. His wife and daughters were also there. Fanny and Elvis was released in the UK on Friday 19 November 99.

October 99: Ray is currently working on his latest film The Next Jimmy Grimble with Face co-star Robert Carlyle. "It's about football" he says.

The largely improvised film, Final Cut, featuring Ray with Jude Law and Sadie Frost opened in London on 1 October 99 to indifferent reviews. However, when I saw it in the second week of release it was still attracting respectable audiences.

Ray's film The War Zone directed by Tim Roth, opened in the UK on 3 September 1999. It is a tough and uncompromising film about the incestuous relationship between a father and daughter and has had mixed reviews. Ray was nominated for the European Actor of the Year for his performance, but lost to Ralph Fiennes (Sunshine).

Ray featured in a BBC2 documentary on 22 Sept 99 entitled Close Up about the career of Tim Roth.

Darkness Falls (1998)News of more of Ray's movies:
Darkness Falls opened for a limited theatrical release in the UK on 27 August, and Final Cut opened in the UK on 1 October 99, to not very enthusiastic reviews.

Fanny and Elvis ("a cuddly teddybear of a film") was screened in the London Film Festival on Wed 10 November and Thurs 11 November 1999.

One of Ray's latest films Five Seconds to Spare had a preview showing in London's Prince Charles's Cinema on September 15th. It also has German distribution.

Ray was seen on UK television in the four-part BBC TV series Births, Marriages and Deaths which began on 22 February 1999 (and which also stars Phil Davis, who worked with Ray in Robin of Sherwood and Face).

Kathy and Ray on Comic ReliefHe also made an appearance (sporting a beard as you can see) with Kathy Burke (his co-star in Nil By Mouth) on Red Nose Day for Comic Relief on 12 March 1999 (actually 13 March as it was after midnight). As well as drinking at the bar with presenter Chris Evans, the two starred in three bizarrely funny satires of the infamous Gold Blend coffee adverts where a couple meet when he comes to her door to borrow some coffee. Only in this story "Kath" and "Ray" have been married before, and then Cedric, "Gay Ray"'s boyfriend, and Eddie (Izzard), Kath's boyfriend, turn up.....

The 1997 film Face, which stars Ray and Phil Davis along with Robert Carlyle, had its TV premiere on BBC2 on Monday 5 April.

Click here for recent news


Back to Scarlet Inside