THE MIDNIGHT GAG Official Trailer (2024)

THE MIDNIGHT GAG Official Trailer (2024)

Travis Jackson, a respected and experienced detective, is still trying to come to grips with the tragic death of his wife from an unsolved hit and run incident. Now dating a new girlfriend, his hoped-for recovery suffers a severe setback when a young girl named Sofia contacts him to report that a stranger has assaulted her. After Jackson reluctantly agrees to investigate, strange inexplicable events begin to occur. Is Sofia’s assault the work of a fearless psychopath who is luring his victims into sinister traps, or breaking into their residences only to leave behind messages so chilling they will never be forgotten.
Hailed as “the heir to Roald Dahl” by The Spectator, the UK’s #1 bestselling children’s author, David Walliams, will have fans of Jeff Kinney and Rachel Renee Russell in stitches!

David Walliams burst on to the American scene with his New York Times bestseller Demon Dentist, and now he’s bringing his signature humor to the sick ward in The Midnight Gang.

Tom lands in the hospital with a nasty bump on the head after a gym class accident. And things only get worse when he meets the hospital staff, including the wicked matron of the children’s ward.. But luckily, Tom’s time in the hospital will be anything but boring when he discovers that his fellow patients turn the awful ward into the most wondrous world after lights out
Here’s one nurse you wouldn’t clap for: equal parts Miss Trunchbull and Miss Hannigan, the monstrous Matron in The Midnight Gang wants the “little stinkers” on her children’s ward to pass out with fear. Played with swagger and wicked disdain by Jennie Dale, she is a brilliantly hissable villain in this musical version of David Walliams’ bestseller. When we get to the end, my six-year-old, Hilda, rewinds to watch Matron get her comeuppance again.

That’s one benefit of watching plays online. A fairly rudimentary archive recording of Chichester Festival theatre’s 2018 production, adapted by Bryony Lavery with music and lyrics by Joe Stilgoe, has been made available to view until 29 May. I haven’t read any of Walliams’ books, and neither has Hilda or her sister, Aggie, 10, but the RSC’s glorious version of The Boy in the Dress last year made me want to read more. Or, indeed, watch more: Walliams has become one of the most bankable names in children’s theatre as well as literature. In 2018, there were UK stage versions of Gangsta Granny, Awful Auntie, Mr Stink and Billionaire Boy, too.

You could call this one The Boy in the Nightdress. That’s what Matron gives the unhappy Tom to wear when he arrives at a creaky old London hospital with an almighty bump to the head from a cricket game. Tom has neither PJs nor parents – they’re far away, and he soon finds the other young patients feel similarly abandoned. Their secret gang isn’t so much about midnight feasts, to my two girls’ dismay, but about helping realise each other’s dreams. Tom is hesitantly allowed to witness them recreate a north pole expedition for their friend, Amber, as a sort of DIY Punchdrunk immersive experience.

Albie Stisted, Cody Molko, Dickon Gough, Fibian McKenzie and Cooper Snow in The Midnight Gang.
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Albie Stisted, Cody Molko, Dickon Gough, Fibian McKenzie and Cooper Snow in The Midnight Gang. Photograph: Manuel Harlan
Solidarity between kids and the shared spirit of mischief – being “a little bit naughty”, as Matilda might put it – run throughout Dale Rooks’ production. The gang is a tradition that has kept going for years, passed down from kid to kid (“like nits!” we’re told gleefully). Aggie and Hilda enjoy the antics – what’s not to love about crinkly-bottomed Nelly floating away nude with a bunch of helium balloons? – and there’s plenty of crowd-pleasing toilet humour. But they are also intrigued by little mysteries in the staging. How did they make Tom’s cricket ball-sized bump? How does the actor playing Robin, dressed with bandages and glasses like James Whale’s Invisible Man, see what’s going on? And is the actor playing Nelly really 90 years old? (No: it’s the fantastic Marilyn Cutts.)

Designer Simon Higlett’s imposing hospital is grim and gothic with a moonlike window from which Matron watches the children. There’s some satire of hierarchies, budget cuts and bureaucracy, especially in an opening scene where Tom is quizzed by a bumbling junior doctor about his NHS experience so far, despite having only just been admitted.

The standout number is a rollicking breakfast anthem performed by Lucy Vandi and there are Mission: Impossible-esque instrumentals full of intrigue. But a great musical should leave you singing or at least humming one song, and none of these melodies linger. Not that the girls seem bothered, although Aggie thinks few songs can top the classic Delia’s a Weirdo, from the Tom Gates stage show.

Funny, touching and spirited, The Midnight Gang is particularly suited to lockdown viewing with kids. It not only urges you to be kind while confined but also to beat boredom with the instruction: “Do a bit of pretending and your dreams come true.”

The Midnight Gang is available to view for free until 29 May.
When Tom is injured during a cricket match he finds himself in Lord Funt Hospital, where he goes on magical adventures with a group of kids called the Midnight Gang, but his Headmaster wants him back at school! Based on the book by David Walliams.
Director
Elliot Hegarty
Cast
Alan Davies, Haydn Gwynne, David Walliams
Production Company
BBC Studios
Year
2018
Filming location(s)
Scotland
Casting The Wonderful World of David Walliams for Zany Adventures
Universal Extras supplied extras and supporting artists on The Midnight Gang TV special. Readers of Grandpa’s Great Escape will likely enjoy David Walliams’ recent release, The Midnight Gang, also illustrated by Tony Ross. Presented with opening credits, a set illustration, a cast of characters, and a teaser, the book begins like a feature film with twelve-year-old Tom Charper taking the spotlight as the story’s protagonist.

Walliams welcomes readers to the children’s ward on the 44th floor of Lord Funt’s Hospital, where the children’s parents don’t visit because they are either too poor, too ill, or live too far away to travel. Essentially abandoned and living under the control of a cruel hospital matron, the children make their own adventures with the help of the hospital’s porter, a man whose real name is a mystery and whose job is to move people and things around the hospital.

Twelve-year-old Amber Florence Harriet Latty, the self-proclaimed leader of the gang, is confined to a wheelchair after having broken both arms and legs. She explains to Tom, the newest patient on the floor, that the gang originated with a child in the hospital who passed down the tradition of bringing the children’s dreams to life.

Filled with humor, imagination, and childish pranks, Walliams story entertains while it teaches about the connection between physical and mental health: “. . . if the patients in this hospital are happy, then there is a much better chance of [their] getting better” (146). It also cautions readers about the consequences of judging others based on appearances and shares a basic truth about the preciousness of life and the importance of being kind while there is still time.
From exploring the changing equation between young and reckless college friends to unravelling the hidden secrets of a family in Madrid, Netflix has dropped new trailers of shows you can watch on the streaming platform soon. Here’s what to expect.

Mismatched Season 2

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The trailer of Mismatched, a romcom series based on Sandhya Menon’s 2017 novel When Dimple Met Rishi, is out. Directed by Akarsh Khurana and Nipun Dharmadhikari, the show promises possible love triangles, conflicts and drama.

The two-minute-eight-second-long trailer shows the main characters dealing with their bittersweet experiences from the first season. We all see Rishi taking the ‘cold coffee’ revenge on Dimple at the start. The second season will throw them into yet another competitive project which will test their mettle and interpersonal skills. The series, produced by Ronnie Screwvala’s RSVP Movies, stars Prajakta Koli, Rohit Saraf, Rannvijay Singha and Vidya Malvade in prominent roles.

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Mismatched Season 2 will arrive on October 14.

The Green Glove Gang

The trailer of Polish heist thriller series The Green Glove Gang follows the life of three ‘nobel’ thieves as they find a hideout in a nursing home to dodge the police.

Directed by Tadeusz Śliwa, the series has been penned by Joanna Hartwig-Skalska and Anna Novak-Zemplinska. The eight-episode series features Magdalena Kuta, Małgorzata Potocka and Anna Romantowska, and Beata Bandurska, Karolina Rzepa and Mirosław Zbrojewicz.

The official synopsis reads, “After a failed robbery, the elusive gang of three noble thieves — Zuza, Kinga and Alicja — hides in a quiet nursing home. While the police are on their heels, the gang continues their activities at the centre, giving its elderly residents a second youth.”

The Green Glove Gang will be available to stream from October 19.

The Midnight Club

The trailer of upcoming horror series The Midnight Club promises a spooky experience. Created by Mike Flanagan, who previously helmed Netflix’s highly acclaimed The Haunting of Hill House, the show is based on Christopher Pike’s 1994 novel of the same.

The synopsis reads, “At a hospice for terminally ill young adults, eight patients come together every night at midnight to tell each other stories – and make a pact that the next of them to die will give the group a sign from the beyond.”

The Midnight Club will be available to stream from October 7.

Holy Family

Spanish thriller series Holy Family, starring Money Heist star Alba Flores (Nairobi), is set to premiere on October 14. Created by Manolo Caro, who is known for shows like The House of Flowers and Someone has to Die, this series promises suspense, drama and unravelling of dark secrets.

The official synopsis of the series reads, “A family hiding a shocking secret starts over in Madrid, where new relationships complicate their plans and the past begins to catch up with them.”

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