Breaching THE 10TH KINGDOM

By Andrew Osmond     February 12, 2000

In high-concept terms, THE TENTH KINGDOM might be described as 'Lord of the Rings meets the Brothers Grimm.' A $40-million, ten-hour mini-series, the saga follows the adventures of a young woman, Virginia (Kimberly Williams, previously seen in FATHER OF THE BRIDE), and her father, Tony (John Larroquette), both whisked from New York through a magic mirror to the world of the Nine Kingdoms, formerly visited by a certain famous story-teller duo. So that's where the brothers got their ideas...

Like any good fairy-tale world, the Nine Kingdoms - established by the likes of Snow White, Cinderella, Rapunzel and Red Riding Hood are populated by all kinds of fantastic races and characters. (The 'Tenth Kingdom,' incidentally, is our own.) The spin is that this is the Grimm world two hundred years on from when the Brothers left it. Suffice to say, the 'Happy Ever After' line was a touch premature. The kingdoms are fragmenting, and trolls, giants and goblins overrun the land. It's up to our unlikely Earth heroes to put all to rights.

The series is an Anglo-European production between four parties: NBC, Carnival Films, Sky TV and Hallmark. The latter is, of course, now known as a mini-series and TV fantasy factory, having produced such titles as THE ODYSSEY, MERLIN, MOBY DICK, ALICE IN WONDERLAND, NOAH'S ARK and the recent ANIMAL FARM. Hallmark's first hit, Gulliver's Travels, was scripted by Simon Moore, who created this new fantasy. (He first wrote a version of TENTH KINGDOM as a feature film script in the late '80s.)

Along with Williams and Laroquette, the cast includes such familiar genre names as Warwick Davis, the eponymous hero in Willow, and Rutger Hauer (previously in Hallmark's MERLIN), the latter playing a totally murderous Huntsman figure. Scott Cohen is the tormented Wolf, a half-human, half-lupine character torn between his growing love for Virginia and the urge to... well, eat her. Dianne Wiest plays the villainess of the piece, an evil queen, while Ed O'Neill is the equally malignant Troll King. One prominent non-human star is Prince the dog, who in the story is the magically-transformed grandson of Snow White, and leads Virginia and Tony into the new world. His famous grandma (Camryn Manheim) turns up to protect and guide Virginia.

Filming took place in Pinewood Studios in England, and on location in the UK, Austria and France. The series is co-directed by David Carson, who handled the STAR TREK: GENERATIONS movie and episodes of DEEP SPACE NINE, and Herbert Wise, responsible for a number of distinguished British dramas including I, CLAUDIUS, INSPECTOR MORSE and the supernatural chiller THE WOMAN IN BLACK. It is produced by Brian Eastman of Carnival Films, with Simon Moore and Jane Prowse as co-producers. (Eastman and Moore have worked together for over 15 years, on projects including the Liam Neeson film UNDER SUSPICION.) Greetings card mogul Robert Halmi Snr, the Chairman of Hallmark Entertainment, is Executive Producer.

The five-part series is scheduled to be shown on NBC between February 27th and March 6th. If successful, Moore hopes that sequels in the mini-series format will follow.