Tom Jones to make acting debut

 
20 April 2012
The Weekender

Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for exclusive competitions, offers and theatre ticket deals

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Veteran chart star Sir Tom Jones is to make his acting debut in a new TV drama.

The It's Not Unusual singer will star alongside Alison Steadman and Brenda Blethyn in the film, King Of The Teds.

Sir Tom - soon to be seen as a coach on BBC1's forthcoming talent search The Voice - will be seen in the Sky Arts drama in the spring.

The 71-year-old plays Ron, a former bottle factory worker who was once the top Teddy Boy in his area as a youth. He and his wife Tina find their lives turned upside down when they once again meet a friend from their early days.

The Welsh singing star previously took a brief cameo role in Tim Burton's comedy Mars Attacks, playing himself.

The new film is part of a Sky Arts series called Playhouse Presents, which features one-off dramas with star names. This Is Spinal Tap star Harry Shearer will play Richard Nixon in one film, while David Tennant will appear in another scripted by novelist Will Self.

And Paul O'Grady has written his first screenplay - in which he also stars, alongside Sheila Hancock - called Nellie And Melba.

Geraldine James, Richard E Grant and Trevor Eve star in a further film in the series called The Other Woman.

James Hunt, director of Sky Arts, said: "We are thrilled to have this phenomenal calibre of talent involved in such interesting and original films on the channel.

"We're hugely ambitious about bringing the very best comedy and drama Sky Arts to our customers, and we have no doubt that these stars, in the hands of these award-winning production companies, will do just that."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in