Richard Beaumont, Director of local theatre company Blag, best known here for their Chorleywood summer youth projects, joins the cast of internet drama series Shades Of Bad for the second series this month.
The dark comedy about serial killer Doris Shades has been released in 3 minute episodes online every Sunday since June and also stars Blag Co-Director, Richard’s wife Lynn, Chorleywooder Donna Flinn and Jean Heard from Northwood who plays the main character Doris.
Richard is already a favourite among local theatregoers for his legendary role of the loveable, slightly senile retirement home resident Sir Stanton Davenport, a character who has featured in a West End run of Entertainment My Arts as well as being woven into shows at The Pump House, Watford, CW Memorial Hall, Watersmeet, Rickmansworth and Chesham Elgiva.
In Shades of Bad, the Sir Stanton personality is almost paralleled in Reg Mandell, an ageing local councillor ‘on the take’ who tries to stand up against Doris.
“Reg is a pedantic character, constantly correcting people about the spelling of his name and his wife Margaret’s.” says Richard, “He likes things in order. It turns out that he’s not all sweetness and light and has a dark side. I spent a lot of the filming session being dragged across the floor in a bin liner – it was a challenging day!”
Shades of Bad creator Stuart St Paul has worked in the entertainment industry since he was 15, a total 46 years.
“Shades of Bad is the first web soap and it’s shot like a film in true HD quality. This new form of programming has evolved in an era where audiences have limited time and attention. The web now sits as our ‘High Street’, with the ‘shops’ being Amazon, Netflix and YouTube. Web series is the new TV and fits neatly into our current lifestyle. It is timeless, international and has no restrictions.”
Each season of Shades (20 episodes) has a different tone and a different plot though the story is continuous in a similar way to soaps like Emmerdale where I worked as a creative advisor for 26 years.”
The series has just been picked up by Disney’s label, Maker Studios and there’s a new kindle book too with over 40,000 words with the chilling title Who dies today?
“The book has far more rounded characters and depth than the scripts and played slightly differently from on screen. There are links to the website so readers can see how the director and actors worked the script, plus blogs that discuss book verses screen”.
“The one thing you can guarantee in life is change” add St Paul
And Shades of Bad is different and leading the way.
Shades of Bad Season Two starts 11 October. More about the series, the other characters and a link to all episodes on Daily Motion via link at Shades of Bad
Donna Flinn in Shades of Bad