Noel Clarke: Britain’s Most Successful Film Maker?
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| DATE: 16.11.14
CATEGORY: Film / TV
WEBSITE: www.houseofblack.co.uk |
Noel Clarke: Britain’s Most Successful Film Maker?
With ITV’s recent four part drama series ‘Chasing Shadows’, its quite easy to forget how accomplished and inspiring Noel Clarke’s career has been over the past years. We were first introduced to Clarke back in 1999 when he appeared on the small screen in the TV show ‘Metrosexuality’ playing the role of seventeen-year-old Kwame.
Kidulthood was his first big debut hit on the big screen back in 2006 in regards to his career as a screenwriter. The film received some good reviews from top critics including The Guardian. Kidulthood has become one of the UK’s most moving teenage dramas; the realism in each character enables teenagers of similar backgrounds whether growing up in West London or not to relate to the film.
The sequel Adulthood arrived to the big screens two years later in 2008 becoming an even bigger hit. Taking the front seat in the director’s chair along with his screenwriting credit on Adulthood, the film grossed a whopping £1,203,319 in the week of its release at the UK Box Office. Numbers this great managed to exceed other top films such as Sex and The City and The Incredible Hulk making Clarke a household name and solidifying himself as an impeccable screenwriter and director in film.
The screenplays for the two films were powerful in their own right, making the duo of films to be described as being a seminal for British teenagers.
For two seasons Clarke played the role of Mickey Smith on the British science fiction Doctor Who. Doctor Who is a major credited BBC programme starting in the 1960s. For Clarke to take his talents outside of the box to such a different iconic programme, the popularity of the TV show launched his career to a wider demographic, showing that he can excel in other areas aside from the ordinary London boy.
Other writing credits of his work include: West 10 LDN that premiered on BBC three about kids on a rough housing estate and ‘Combat’, which is an episode from Torchwood, the spin off of Doctor Who. In addition to these writing credits, Clarke has managed to snag roles in films like Centurion, Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, Star Trek Into Darkness and the list goes on and continues to grow.
Now Mr Clarke has made his way into ‘Chasing Shadows’ as Detective Inspector (DI) Prior on ITV. The new four-part mini series focuses on a Missing Persons Field Unit that tracks down serial killers who prey on vulnerable people.
Noel has mentioned in multiple sources that he was in the process of focusing on his film career so when it came to TV it all depended on the type of scripts that were brought to his attention and when he was offered the role alongside Alex Kingston and Reece Shearsmith on ‘Chasing Shadows’ he couldn’t pass up the offer due to the fact that the script contained an intriguing plot that was completely the opposite to most police dramas.
It’s clear that Noel is an industry favourite who seems to be bagging role after role, I will be keeping an eye out to see what his next success will be.
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