Michael Palin joins WWI drama in first acting role in 15 years

LONDON (Reuters) - British TV presenter Michael Palin is taking up his first acting role in more than 15 years, joining a drama about soldiers producing a newspaper from the battlefields of World War One.

Palin, 70, a former member of the Monty Python comedy team, has concentrated his career in the past two decades on making TV travel documentaries such as "Around the World in 80 days" and "Pole to Pole".

Britain's state broadcaster, the BBC, said on Tuesday that Palin was one of the cast members for "The Wipers Times", a 90-minute drama based on the true story of a satirical newspaper produced by soldiers fighting from the trenches from 1916.

The newspaper was started by two soldiers who found a printing press in the bombed-out ruins of Ypres in Belgium and it continued to be produced until the end of the year despite constant bombardment and fighting.

The name of the paper was named after the battlefield mispronunciation of Ypres.

"Just like the original Wipers Times, this new history drama will be filled with jokes, spoofs and amazing examples of courage behind the laughs," Janice Hadlow, controller of BBC Two and BBC Four, said in a statement.

Palin's last acting role was in the comedy film "Fierce Creatures" in 1997 in which he played a retired police officer running a zoo.

His last TV role was in Alan Bleasdale's seven-part drama "GBH" in 1991 in which he played a headmaster intimidated by a militant city council leader.

"The Wipers Times" was written by Ian Hislop, editor of the satirical magazine Private Eye, and scriptwriter Nick Newman and will be shown on BBC2 later this year.

(Reporting by Belinda Goldsmith, editing by Paul Casciato)

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'Twisted' Premiere: Teen Drama With A Murder-Mystery Twist

'Twisted' Premiere: Danny Faces Accusations That He Killed One Of His Classmates

After offering viewers a sneak preview of the pilot for their new teen drama back in March, ABC Family finally launched "Twisted' this week. This new series may have all the teenage angst that fans of their other hit shows have come to expect, but it also has a murdery mystery at its center.

The story picks up when Danny gets out of juvenile detention. He killed his aunt when he was only 11-years old, and has been away from his hometown ever since. He returns home and tries to reconnect with childhood friends and find his place in this familiar -- and yet almost alien -- place. But then, one of his classmates winds up dead.

Of course, Danny is suspect number one even before an investigation can begin. But Danny isn't alone in this. He has Denise Richards chewing up the scenery as his devoted mother, Karen. When he started getting suspected of the new murder, Karen even offered to move somewhere else so they could start over.

"I haven’t brushed up on my criminal law lately, but I think fleeing town might make me look guilty," Danny told her.

To a lot of the townsfolk he already looks guilty, adding a layer of darkness to the series. Hollywood Life says the premise has them hooked for at least a few episodes. The LA Times called it "Bates Motel"-lite, but did say it has some promise. "A cynic might think ‘Twisted’ is a bald attempt to capitalize on the success of ‘Pretty Little Liars’ while possibly adding a Y chromosome to the mix," they wrote. "The non-cynic might see in Danny yet another metaphor for the alienation and ‘otherness’ many teens feel. And in these days of zombies, werewolves and vampires, a garden-variety child murderer feels almost ... quaint.”

Danny's struggle to fit in, as well as the "whodunnit?" murder mystery, continues on "Twisted" every Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET on ABC Family.

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