BBC AMERICA TO AIR SHORT FILM SERIES SNATCHES: MOMENTS FROM WOMEN’S LIVES STARRING JODIE COMER, SHIRLEY HENDERSON AND MORE

BBC AMERICA TO AIR SHORT FILM SERIES SNATCHES: MOMENTS FROM WOMEN’S LIVES STARRING JODIE COMER, SHIRLEY HENDERSON AND MORE

Eight Short Films Inspired By Women Who Have Spoken Up And Spoken Out To Air Sunday, November 4 at 9:00am

New York – October 24, 2018 – BBC AMERICA will air Snatches: Moments From Women’s Lives, a short film series featuring an all-female line-up of actors and writers, in the current events time slot on Sunday, November 4 at 9:00 am ET.  Snatches: Moments From Women’s Lives airs in partnership with Jezebel and features an introduction by Jezebel Editor-in-Chief Julianne Escobedo Shepherd.

Marking the 100-year anniversary of women getting the right to vote in England, this series of monologues will inspire, infuriate and hopefully engage. Curated by the artistic director of London’s Royal Court Theatre, Vicky Featherstone, the short films tell stories inspired by women who have spoken out, challenged the status quo or made a stand.

Vibrant, visceral monologues full of rage, humor, lust, resentment, joy and guilt, these “snatches” feature performances by Jodie Comer (Killing Eve), Shirley Henderson (Harry Potter), Antonia Thomas (The Good Doctor), Romola Garai (The Hour), Liv Hill (Three Girls), Siobhan Finneran (Downton Abbey), Corinne Skinner-Carter (EastEnders), and Kiran Sonia Sawar (Black Mirror).  The shorts are written by Abi Morgan (The Iron Lady), Vicky Jones (Killing Eve), Rachel De-Lahay (The Last Hours of Laura K), Zinnie Harris (M1-5), Tanika Gupta (East Enders), Charlene James (The Break), E.V. Crow (Glue) and Theresa Ikoko (the play Girls).

“Snatches tells short, electric stories about women’s bodies, women’s voices and women’s full participation in society that could not be more relevant right now,” said BBCA President Sarah Barnett. “Vicky Featherstone and her genius writers and actors show how far we’ve come and how far we have to go.  These stories are moving, rage-inducing and inspiring. We air these short films on the eve of an election in the U.S. where women are front and center both as candidates and as subjects of a fierce conversation around equality.”

“We have come quite a long way in 100 years, but these pieces explode with the proof that we still have a lot further to go,” said Curator Vicky Featherstone, Artistic Director of London’s Royal Court Theatre.  “These snatches are the writers’ ingenious, bold, emotional, funny and angry responses to the place we still find ourselves in 2018.  They are in no way conclusive or comprehensive of all experiences.  They are merely a gesture, an offering, maybe a small beginning of something, they are snatches of extraordinary experiences lived by ordinary women.  We are reclaiming our history and telling our own stories and reclaiming the word.”

"Jezebel's mission has always been to amplify the work and resilience of marginalized women, and we're thrilled to partner with BBC AMERICA on such an urgent, timely short series that uses art to situate the current moment in history,” commented Julianne Escobedo Shepherd, Jezebel’s editor-in-chief. “Their legacies will not be forgotten."

Tipping Point starring Antonia Thomas and written by Rachel De-Lahay

• A pregnant woman in the future is being pursued on social media.

Multiples starring Siobhan Finneran and written by Zinnie Harris

• Accused of the murder of her three babies, a woman educates herself to prove the expert witness wrong.

Pritilata starring Kiran Sonia Sawar and written by Tanika Gupta

• It’s 1932 and Pritilata leads an attack against the European Club in an attempt to gain Independence from the British.

Reclaim the Night starring Liv Hill and written by Charlene James

• 1977 and the first Reclaim the Night march takes place in Leeds in response to the curfew imposed on women to protect them from the Yorkshire Ripper.

Pig Life starring Shirley Henderson and written by E.V. Crowe

• It’s 1991 and rape in marriage has been made illegal.  Our character is shocked to realize what she has been living through.

Bovril Pam starring Jodie Comer and written by Vicky Jones

• It’s the early 1960’s, stuck between Victorian England and the sexual revolution, a secretary in the typing pool finds herself.

Outside starring Corinne Skinner-Carter and written by Theresa Ikoko

• A woman celebrates her 100^th birthday while outside the revolution is beginning.

Compliance starring Romola Garai and written by Abi Morgan

• A hotel room meeting between a young actress and her powerful producer.

Snatches: Moments From Women’s Lives was commissioned by BBC Four in association with the Royal Court Theatre. The executive producer is Debbie Christie made by BBC Studios Pacific Quay Productions and the Directors are Vanessa Caswill (BBC Little Women, Thirteen) and Rachna Suri (Playing Ball).

Snatches: Moments From Women’s Lives airs as part of Galaxy of Women – BBC AMERICA’s cross-platform initiative putting women center frame.

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BBC AMERICA is a hub of innovative, culturally contagious programming including the critically acclaimed series Killing Eve starring Emmy®-nominee Sandra Oh, Jodie Comer and from Emmy®-nominee Phoebe Waller-Bridge; top-rated phenomenon Doctor Who starring Jodie Whittaker; Emmy® and IDA-winning Planet Earth II and the producers’ next epic story of our planet, Dynasties; Emmy®-winning Blue Planet II; acclaimed drama Luther starring Golden Globe®-winner Idris Elba; ground-breaking unscripted series Top Gear; buzzy and hilarious The Graham Norton Show; and the world’s biggest darts championships. A joint venture between BBC Studios (the commercial arm of the BBC) and AMC Networks, BBCA’s influential shows such as Orphan Black and Broadchurch, among many others, have attracted critical acclaim and earned Emmy® Awards, Peabody Awards, Critics’ Choice Awards, TCA Awards and Golden Globes®. Created in 1998, the irrepressible network has garnered one of cable’s most curious, educated and affluent audiences, with many properties boasting super-fan levels of engagement. Get caught up, BBCA offers full episodes On Demand across all major digital platforms, BBC AMERICA app and bbcamerica.com. BBCA on social: YouTube – Twitter – Instagram – Facebook – Tumblr – Snapchat: BBCAmerica_TV

The Royal Court Theatre is the writers’ theatre. It is the leading force in world theatre for energetically cultivating writers - undiscovered, emerging and established.

Through the writers, the Royal Court is at the forefront of creating restless, alert, provocative theatre about now.  We open our doors to the unheard voices and free thinkers that, through their writing, change our way of seeing.

Over 120,000 people visit the Royal Court in Sloane Square, London, each year and many thousands more see our work elsewhere through transfers to the West End and New York, UK and international tours, digital platforms, our residencies across London, and our site-specific work. Through all our work we strive to inspire audiences and influence future writers with radical thinking and provocative discussion.

The Royal Court’s extensive development activity encompasses a diverse range of writers and artists and includes an ongoing program of writers’ attachments, readings, workshops and playwriting groups. Twenty years of the International Department’s pioneering work around the world means the Royal Court has relationships with writers on every continent.

Within the past sixty years, John Osborne, Samuel Beckett, Arnold Wesker, Ann Jellicoe, Howard Brenton, David Hare have started their careers at the Court.

Many others including Caryl Churchill, Athol Fugard, Mark Ravenhill, Simon Stephens, Debbie Tucker Green, Sarah Kane; and, more recently, Lucy Kirkwood, Nick Payne, Penelope Skinner and Alistair McDowall, have followed.

The Royal Court has produced many iconic plays from Laura Wade’s Posh to Jez Butterworth’s Jerusalem and Martin McDonagh’s Hangmen. Royal Court plays from every decade are now performed on stage and taught in classrooms and universities across the globe. 

It is because of this commitment to the writer that we believe there is no more important theatre in the world than the Royal Court. www.royalcourttheatre.com