WARWICK’S ON THE BOX

It’s another great year for local actor Warwick Davis as the TV appearances stack up.

ESP Magazine was thrilled to see what a great year 2012 was for our local celebrity and he’s clocking up even more appearances as 2013 gets into full swing.

Having recently done his bit for Comic Relief winning the Great British Comic Relief Bake Off Warwick also appeared on The Big Chat for Comic Relief and in the coming weeks he’ll be making even more appearances on the box as Mikey Clarke reports…

Having starred in his own sit-com, Life’s Too Short, working with Ricky Gervais led to the idea of the pint sized actor joining Karl Pilkington in An Idiot Abroad 3. The pair attempted to follow explorer Marco Polo’s historic route from Venice, through Eastern Europe and India, to China – all 5,000 miles of it!

Now he’s starring in another special along with several other TV appearances…

Photo: BBC/Ray Burmiston

Life’s Too Short – The Special

Having starred in his own sit-com, Life’s Too Short, written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Steve Merchant last year he’s back with a one off special. The mockumentary sees the Harry Potter star playing a fictionalised version of himself, struggling as a showbiz dwarf.

The storyline for this one-off special has now been revealed, and once again, things aren’t looking great for Warwick. His old friend Val Kilmer drops by to discuss a sequel to Willow – but it comes at a cost. With money to find, Warwick holds an investment seminar while also persuading Keith Chegwin, Les Dennis and Shaun Williamson to join forces and put together a cabaret show to tour pubs and clubs – The All Star Funtime Roadshow.

With advice on hand from his accountant, spiritual leader and ex-wife, plus old friends Ricky and Stephen, Warwick has his hands full as he tries to balance his agency clients, the roadshow and Val Kilmer’s dreams of Willow 2.

This special episode is expected to air on BBC 2 around March 31 so keep an eye out!

Doctor Who:

In a past interview with Warwick for ESP Magazine, the popular star explained how he’d love to appear in Doctor Who.

That dream has come true, as the Willow actor will indeed be appearing in Neil Gaiman’s upcoming Cybermen episode. The Cybermen are a race of cyborgs that are amongst the most persistent enemies of the Doctor. They bring genuine scares to the show, so this is one not to be missed.

Former EastEnders star Tamzin Outhwaite and Being Human actor Jason Watkins will also appear in the episode, which will be one of the eight episodes coming up in the new series, returning to BBC One on Saturday March 30 and we’ll have more on that soon.

Photo: BBC/Adrian Rogers

The Seven Dwarfs of Auschwitz

Here we’ll see a more serious side of Warwick Davis, as he takes an emotional journey to find out about the story of the Ovitz family, seven Jewish dwarf performers who survived against all the odds during the Second World War.

As you can see from the trailer, this is Warwick as we’ve not seen him before – [youtube id=”NHdHL-pQlj0″ width=”600″ height=”350″]

The Seven Dwarfs of Auschwitz will air on ITV on Sunday March 24, at 10pm.

Willow (On Blu-ray)

Can you believe it’s been 25 years since Willow was first released? Sorry to make you feel old.

To celebrate the anniversary it’s been released on Blu-ray for the first time. One of the many added features includes Warwick discussing making the film.

In a previous interview with Warwick, I asked him why the film was postponed for so long. He explained – “Willow was quite ahead of its time. The scene at the end when the sorcerer turns into a goat was the first time morphing had been done.”

Willow also starred Val Kilmer, who’s often reported online as being a difficult person to work with. Warwick told me that’s not what he found  – “He was, and is, a genuinely nice chap. The media tend to exaggerate stories, but I found him warm, fun and great to hang out with. He’s still a friend now,” – as we’ll see in the Life’s Too Short Special.

I also asked Warwick if he thought Lucas could once again push the boundaries in film. Would there ever be a sequel?  I was surprised to hear – “There are talks. I’ve also spoken to George and he said he’s considered turning it into a TV show. He explained I’m now too old to play the character Willow though… but I like to think by the look he gave me that he was winding me up.”

Willow is out on Blue-ray now! Here’s the trailer – [youtube id=”7YaZDogVrHk” width=”600″ height=”350″]

So it looks as though there is a lot of look forward to if you’re a Warwick Davis fan. Also, why not find out what Warwick had to say on staring in hits such as Harry Potter and Star Wars during this interview – https://www.espmag.co.uk/the-life-and-times-of-warwick/

Mikey Clarke

#LifesTooShort #WarwickDavis