The musical drama “Spike Island” debuted at the 56th BFI London Film Festival at Odeon West End on October 11, 2012 in London, England. The film was directed by Mat Whitecross and stars Emilia Clarke, Matthew McNulty and Antonia Thomas.
Gracing the red carpet premiere were Adam Long, Oliver Heald, Jordan Murphy, Nico Mirallegro, Elliott Tittensor, director Mat Whitecross and producer Fiona Neilson, producer Esther Douglas, writer Chris Coghill, Matthew McNulty, Kaya Scodelario, Andy Serkis, Antonia Thomas and Angela Griffin.

“Spike Island” is the story of a rising indie band that travels to Spike Island, Cheshire, in May of 1990 to see The Stone Roses.

This is the debut of “Spike Island” and it does not have a published date for a release in the U.S. According to imdb.com the film will be put in wide release sometime in 2012.

56th BFI London Film Festival runs from October 10 through October 21.

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The cast of Homefront have said it was a huge relief when real army wives endorsed their new ITV1 drama.

Outnumbered actress Claire Skinner, Misfits actress Antonia Thomas, Nicola Stephenson and Clare Higgins are among the stars of the series on the trials of being an army wife.

Nicola said it was a huge relief when she found out the army wives who had seen the first episodes had liked it.

“When they said they could identify with it, and gave it their approval there’s no better endorsement, no greater praise,” she said.

Homefront was conceived when creator Sue Teddern taught creative writing to a woman who had served as a physiotherapist for injured soldiers.

It has been brought to screen by former Coronation Street producer Kim Crowther and The Street and Breaking Bad director Terry McDonough.

:: Homefront begins on ITV1 on Thursday September 27.

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ANTONIA THOMAS had to impress a tough crowd when she filmed gritty new Army drama Homefront — Gareth Malone’s 50-strong Military Wives Choir.

Misfits star Antonia plays Army widow Tasha Raveley in ITV1’s six-part series and the chart-topping singers were brought in to give their feedback.

She said: “It was really amazing to watch the show with the choir last week and get their response, which seemed positive.”

To research her role as a young mum who learns her husband Matt has been killed by a bomb in Afghanistan, Antonia spent hours chatting to Army wives and widows.

She told TV Biz: “It’s a very sensitive area. I managed to speak to a few widows who had obviously been through it and gave me some insight. It wasn’t too difficult for the emotion to come when we filmed the scenes.”

Filming took more than three months and Tasha admits it opened her eyes to the lives of Army families. Episode one sees Tasha struggle to deal with the strict nature of the repatriation of her late husband’s body.

She said: “Several of the wives and mothers said they wanted to run up to the coffin and weep but you can’t do that.

“You have to hold yourself and do it the Army way. That must be a really difficult thing to have to do.” Another eye-opener for Antonia was how the death of their loved one was played out in the news.

She said: “That hit me. It’s definitely a public death, not a private thing.”

Homefront will air on ITV1 towards the end of this month.

Antonia Thomas fans have a lot to look forward to over the next year, with the actress working on the new television show Homefront as well as movies including Spike Island and Rearview. For the second part of our interview, we chatted with the actress about what it was like to appear in a Coldplay video and how Lady Sybil is a complete bitch.

Misfits spoilers below.

What was it like to star in a Coldplay video?
It was amazing fun! I couldn’t believe I was doing it.  It was like being at a private Coldplay gig for two days — brilliant.

When did you realize you wanted to be an actor?
I realized from quite a young age.  I joined a youth group called the National Youth Music Theatre when I was 14 and we toured musicals around japan and England.  From then on i had the bug.  I thought I wanted to be in musicals at first and then it changed to just straight acting, although I would like to sing and use my voice in my work at some point – I’d love to do a musical film.

What actors/directors did you first notice, do you look up to?
I hugely admire British actresses like Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet — they have had such wonderful careers and are brilliant British actors and ambassadors.  I also love Daniel Day Lewis, Anthony Hopkins Chiwetel Ejiofor and Michael Fassbender.

In terms of directors, I am a massive fan of Steve McQueen’s work and think that he is a brilliant role model for black people in this industry.

Who would you love to work with?
I would love to work with Steve McQueen, Michael Fassbender, Tom Hardy and Emma Thompson.

What is it like having Lady Sybil slit your throat?
Haha – Jess is so lovely and although it was a bit of a traumatic experience we managed to have fun! I hope to get to work with her again in the future.

Any chance we may see you back for a scene or two in season 4?
I won’t be back for season four, but you never know with Misfits what could happen in the future.

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Antonia Thomas shot to fame with her role on the British television show Misfits, now getting its first American run on Logo every Thursday night at 10/9 c, and we took some time to chat with the gorgeous 25-year-old about working on the hit show and her new projects. The first part of out interview will run today, free of any Misfitsspoilers for all you new fans, and you can check back here tomorrow for part two.

Can you talk about landing the role of Alisha in Misfits? What the audition process was like and finally finding out you received the role.

I auditioned for Misfits while I was in my final year of drama school.  I had just signed with my agent and they had started to put me up for auditions.  When the Misfits audition came through I was rehearsing my final year play and was having to commute from Bristol to London to audition, and then get back in time for rehearsals (some of which I missed).  I had around 7 auditions – it was an extremely thorough process and I was sure that I hadn’t got the job.  It was so great when I found out that I had got it, I couldn’t believe it! I was very excited and very scared, as my drama school training had mainly been theatre based, and so the thought of doing a high profile TV job was very daunting.  But I learned quickly and it was the best screen training I could have asked for, and the best first job!

 Did you and the cast spend time together before you began filming to build up a sense of comradery?

Once we had all been cast our director, Tom Green, sent us off on a team building army assault course so that we could bond.  It was absolutely hilarious! He wanted us to do it in character, but that quickly went out the window.  For starters, I think my character, Alisha, would have refused to do it and I really wanted to join in!  It was a great way to break the ice quickly!

What was the set like? Your favorite episode or scene to shoot?

The set was great – the designer did a brilliant job.  My favourite part of the set was Super Hoodies Lair – it was epic!

It is difficult to choose a favourite episode because they were all great fun.  I’d say Episodes 3 and 4 in series two were my favourite episodes in terms of Alisha’s journey.  SPOLIER ALRERT! Her journey of falling in love with super hoodie/future Simon, whilst being with Curtis and then Superhoodie saving her life and dying leaving her to deal with it all on her own was a brilliantly dramatic and heartfelt storyline for Alisha to explore.

Do you still keep in touch with the cast?

Yes we are all very close.  I have certainly made some best friends out of misfits.

Can you talk about some of your new projects, especially Spike Island and your new show Homefront?

I have just finished filming an ITV drama called Homefront about military wives and families.  It focuses on the wives and families left at home (whilst their husbands are away fighting in Afghanistan), and how they cope, on a day to day basis with their loved ones being away, out of immediate contact and in continuous danger.

It was so interesting to explore this world which is so removed from my normal life.  How these women seem to be in a constant limbo, on tenterhooks waiting for news, hopefully not bad. Also, how when their partners arrive back there is an awkward readjustment stage when the wives have to get used to them being back, and often the husbands find it difficult being back in a domestic setting having spent six months in a war zone.

The main story focuses on four different wives who are married to husbands of different ranks and positions in the army and how they deal with it on a day to day basis.

I play and extremely young wife called Tasha who has a small 2 and half year old son to look after while her husband Matt is away fighting.

I shot Spike Island just before Homefront.  It is based on the band The Stone Roses in the 90s in Manchester.  It is about a group of boys, who are in their own band, who are desperately trying to get tickets to The Stone Roses famous gig on Spike Island.  I play Lisa, one of their girl friends. I am best friend to the main character’s love interest, Lisa (played by the lovely Emilia Clarke from Game of Thrones).

I had such a brilliant time on this film, it is only a small part but was so brilliant to be involved in such a fantastic film.

And I am currently now in the midst of dance training for a new film I am about to start filming called Northern Soul, also starring Steve Coogan.  It is about the northern soul dance movement in the north of England in the 70s.  Northerners basically started a craze for American soul music – the more obscure, lesser known tracks.  They shipped it over and created their own style of dance to it, a mixture of break dancing and acrobatics and complicated foot work.  It is extremely cool.

I play Angela, the love interest of the main character.  She is a nurse and hugely into the Soul scene and she is meant to be a great dancer so I have a lot of work to do!

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