No Idle Hands for Palin

It looks like 2014 is going to be a busy year for Michael Palin. The Hollywood Reporter notes that he will be starring in a three-part drama for the BBC. It sounds great, though I’m having trouble picturing him as a resident of a nursing home. If he was that old, he wouldn’t be doing ten Python shows at the O2 this summer, right?

No air date yet–I will post when more details are available.

3:18 AM PST 1/16/2014 by Georg Szalai

Jo Hal/Getty Images

In his first TV drama lead role in more than 20 years, he will star opposite “Game of Thrones” actor Mark Addy.

LONDON – Monty Python’s Michael Palin will star in a three-part BBC supernatural thriller in his first lead role in a TV drama in more than 20 years.

Remember Me will see him play a “mysterious” resident of a nursing home who becomes the only witness to a violent death. Palin will star opposite Game of Thrones and The Full Monty actor Mark Addy, who will portray a detective.

Palin, mostly known for his comedic work, last had a lead role in a TV drama in 1991 when he played a principal in GBH on Britain’s Channel 4.

“It’s also a return to Yorkshire [where the mini-series is shooting now], where I was born, brought up and learned my acting in amateur dramatics,” Palin told the Guardian. “I was attracted to Remember Me not only by the Northern setting, but also by a good, strong, challenging role, something I could really get what remains of my teeth into.”

The show will air on BBC One, the U.K. public broadcaster’s flagship channel. Said BBC One controller Charlotte Moore: “It’s a real coup for us that Michael Palin has chosen to make his return to a leading role for the first time in over 20 years on BBC One.”

Palin will reunite with the other surviving members of comedy troupe Monty Python for a series of sold-out shows at London’s O2 Arena in July.