tampabay.com

Crusoe, 10 p.m. Friday, WFLA: Filmed on location with a high budget, this revival of stranded 17th century Englishman Robinson Crusoe’s classic story turns Friday into a friend rather than a manservant and Crusoe into an island refugee capable of building machines worthy of Rube Goldberg or MacGyver. Crusoe needs them when he’s caught between murderous pirates and Spanish soldiers; cameos from Sean Bean and Sam Neill only add to the prestige.

via comingsoon.net

The announcements were made by Ben Silverman, Co-Chairman, NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios.

[...] Life” resumes its second season on Friday, October 3 (10-11 p.m. ET) in the drama starring Damian Lewis as a wrongly imprisoned police detective who returns to the force searching for justice. “Crusoe,” the action-adventure, contemporary re-telling of the classic Daniel Defoe novel “Robinson Crusoe,” will debut on in a special two-hour premiere on Friday, October 17 (8-10 p.m. ET). “America’s Toughest Jobs” will air in its regularly scheduled timeslot (8-9 p.m. ET) on Fridays leading up to the premiere of “Crusoe.” [...]

The new landmark series “Crusoe” is an epic and ambitious take on Daniel Defoe’s legendary tale that finds the dashing and resourceful Crusoe (Philip Winchester, “Thunderbirds”) after many years of being a castaway on a desert island with his companion Friday (casting to follow). Written by Stephen Gallagher (”Eleventh Hour”) and directed by Duane Clark (”CSI: NY”), “Crusoe” follows the adventures of the two island dwellers while looking in flashback at Crusoe’s life before he was thrown into an isolated existence filled with danger and adventure. Among those are his tragic childhood with widower father James (Sean Bean, “The Lord of the Rings”), the blossoming relationship with the love of his life, Susannah (Anna Walton “Hell Boy: the Golden Army”) and his entrepreneurial aspirations under the watchful eye of family friend, Jeremiah Blackthorn (Sam Neill, “The Tudors,” ‘Jurassic Park”). Overcoming marauding militias, hungry cannibals, wild cats, starvation and apocalyptic lightning storms on his seemingly idyllic island, Crusoe dreams of the day he will be reunited with his beloved family. The executive producers are Justin Bodle for Power, Michael Prupas for Muse and Genevieve Hofmeyr for Moonlighting.

Sean has joined the cast of Crusoe, UK indie Power’s adaptation of the Daniel Defoe story for NBC. Sam Neill (Jurassic Park) is also a member of the cast.

The Northern Echo

[...] Film-makers are lavishing almost £18m on a swashbuckling new version of Daniel Defoe’s classic tale Robinson Crusoe.

And the cameras have now started rolling on the star-studded production, with the North Yorkshire locations including York and Whitby.

Visitors to the former have been startled to see big names like Sean Bean and Sam Neill striding the streets and rowing on the river in full period costume. [...]

World Screen

[...] “With such a wonderful script, a stellar cast and visionary director on board, we are well on course to deliver a landmark piece of event television,” said Bodle, Power’s CEO. [...]

C12Media

[...] The 13-part series, previously reported by C21, is slated for a 20.00 slot in the fall and is being coproduced with Muse and Moonlighting. Previously reported cast members include Philip Winchester (Thunderbirds), who plays Crusoe, and Anna Walton (Hell Boy). Joss Ackland will appear in one episode. Crusoe’s companion Friday is yet to be cast. [...]

TimesOnline

[...] A major new TV adaptation of Robinson Crusoe has just been announced, to be filmed in the Seychelles. Sam Neill and Sean Bean are among the cast but the eponymous role goes to a younger hunk, Philip Winchester (Thunderbirds). The last TV adaptation of Defoe’s novel was way back in 1964, a much-loved version starring Robert Hoffman. [...]

Times Online

[...] The Sharpe star will be joined by the American actor Philip Winchester, as the English castaway, and Sam Neill in the first remake of Daniel Defoe’s novel since 1964. Winchester recently played Scott Tracy in the film adaptation of the television series Thunderbirds. [...]

YorkPress

[...] he pair, who starred in blockbuster movies Lord of the Rings and Jurassic Park respectively, were filming scenes in a boat on the Ouse and then later shot footage in the Guildhall.

A spokeswoman for the production company, Power Studios International, said the actors will be filming in York and the surrounding area for the next two weeks. [...]

DailyMail UK

[...] The show, which was mocked as a “poor man’s Star Trek” for its shoestring effects and scenery as wooden as the acting, was an unlikely hit - with audiences of up to nine million. [...]

Casting has yet to begin for the three main parts of rugged leader Blake, played in the original by Gareth Thomas, his brooding sidekick Avon, played by Paul Darrow, and beautiful but deadly Servalan, originally played by Jacqueline Pearce.

Sean Bean or Ashes To Ashes star Philip Glenister have been tipped as a possible Blake, with Spooks’ Rupert Penry-Jones as Avon and former EastEnder Tamsin Outhwaite as Servalan. [...]

(read full article in dailymail.co.uk »)