NEWS
updated 16th December 2009

LIP SERVICE
A new 6 part drama series being made by the BBC. Laura has been cast as one of the three female lead roles in Lip Service, a bold new drama for BBC Three about the sex lives and love affairs of twenty-something lesbians living in contemporary Glasgow. The other leads are Ruta Gedmintas and Fiona Button.
Ruta Gedmintas plays Frankie, an irreverent and provocative photographer who avoids commitment at all turns; Laura Fraser plays Cat – Frankie's former lover, who may not be as immune to Frankie's charms as she professes to be; and Fiona Button plays Tess – Cat's best friend and flatmate who has an uncanny knack of attracting all the wrong sorts of women.
As well as the three lead roles, major supporting roles in Lip Service include Roxanne McKee as Lou, Emun Elliott as Jay, Heather Peace as Sam, James Anthony Pearson as Ed and Tom Mannion as Frankie's uncle Cameron, amongst others.
The series will be shown on BBC3 during Spring 2010.

THE BOYS ARE BACK
Laura will be appearing in this new film directed by Scott Hicks. The film is a UK-Australian co-production and is billed as a love story between a single parent father and his two sons. From the plot summary, it appears Laura will only have a minor role.
Clive Owen stars in the film.
The movie has been filmed in Adelaide Australia, and Laura's role was filmed in mid November 2008.
It will premiere at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival.

CUCKOO
Laura has filmed a new independent film 'Cuckoo' in Norfolk. She has the starring role of Polly. 'Cuckoo' is a psychological thriller and also stars Richard E Grant and Tamsin Grieg. It is written and directed by Richard Bracewell. The film is expected to be released in early spring 2010.
Polly is a fed-up medical researcher, with a wild rock star boyfriend (Adam Fenton), a jealous younger sister (Antonia Bernath) and an over interested boss (Richard E Grant). Polly has a chance to escape with a new job, but then things start to go a little odd. The noises start late at night. Polly is alone, she thinks she's losing her mind - no one else seems to hear. Polly's sure she's not crazy, but why won't the noises go away?

Older News

NO HOLDS BARD
Laura has just been announced as a cast member of this BBC comedy drama celebrating the life of Robert Burns. It's classified as a 60-minute comedy mockumentary which follows the lives of five people as they prepare to vie for the 2009 Cup O' Kindness, a trophy awarded for the best recital of the works of Robert Burns.
Starring alongside Laura will be Forbes Masson, Ashley Jensen, Gregor Fisher, Bill Paterson and Denis Lawson
This programme will be screened in 2009 - the 250th anniversary of Burns birth

FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE
Laura takes the title role in this little-known story of a critical time in the life of Florence Nightingale, one of the most famous, but least understood, figures in British history.
Florence Nightingale seemed to be about the only good British thing to have come out of the Crimean war. The Crimean campaign had been a farce of mismanagement that needlessly exposed British servicemen to suffering, disease and death. While recovering from the trauma of what she had seen, Florence badgered the authorities into allowing her to investigate the ineptitude of Britains military commanders through a Royal Commission. What she didnt anticipate was what that investigation would reveal about her own shortcomings.
Her crisis and its eventual resolution lies at the heart of this powerful drama.
(from BBC1 Winter Press Release)

THE PASSION
Laura played Abigail in this new production of the story of The Passion, a bold event drama retelling the last week in the life of Jesus Christ, written by Emmy Award winner Frank Deasy and developed by Nigel Stafford-Clark (Bleak House).
Joseph Mawle, James Nesbitt, Paul Nicholls, Ben Daniels, Laura Fraser, Denis Lawson and David Oyelowo lead the cast in this unique and compelling dramatisation. The Passion ran across Easter week, drawing to a dramatic climax on Easter Sunday 2008.
Visually arresting and rich in colour, the story is rooted in the tangled and chaotic world in which it took place – the city of Jerusalem during Passover week.
Set in the political and religious context of the time, it combines both narrative tension and thematic power to convey the extraordinary events that took place that week in a bold and distinctive way.
This version places the audience at the heart of the action by telling the story from three points of view: the religious authorities, the Romans and Jesus. For the first time, all the key players are intimately characterised, with Jesus at the centre. Beginning with Jesus’s prophetic entrance through the East Gate, the production follows him to his crucifixion and its startling aftermath.

TALK TO ME (previously known as IS THIS LOVE?
ITV Have renamed 'Is this Love' to 'Talk To Me', and scheduled it for UK screening. It will be a 4 episode series, screened on Sunday nights on ITV at 9:30pm. A DVD release (UK region 2) will follow in July
Laura is playing the female lead in this ITV drama series. Here are the plot details from IMDB:-
The four-part television drama is a warm hearted show about modern relationships and modern lives. It's Cold Feet - with tough edges. At the heart of it is a love triangle between Claire, Woody and Mitch (Max Beesley). Claire and Woody have been together for 8 years, have a young baby and are planning their wedding. Mitch Moore is a late-night radio presenter in London, who spouts advice about life and love to the crazy folk who call his show even though his own life is in chaos. Mitch is Woody's best friend, but he also loves Claire. Mitch can't have the woman he loves without destroying the most important friendship in his life, but can he ignore his smoldering feelings, and can Claire resist his charms?
Max Beesley plays Mitch Moore, with Laura Fraser as Claire Bellington, Joseph Millson as Woody, Emma Pierson as Claire's best friend Ally, Kate Ashfield as Mitch’s teacher sister Kelly, Adrian Bower as Kelly's husband Scott, plus Angel Coulby, Amanda Douge and Nicholas Farrell. It is written by Danny Brocklehurst, whose credits include Shameless and Linda Green.

The Flying Scotsman
The World Premiere of 'The Flying Scotsman' took place at the 60th Edinburgh International Film Festival on Monday 17 August 2006, with Laura and other cast members attending. The movie is based on the life story of cyclist Graham Obree and stars Johnny Lee Miller as Obree. With no prospect of a job, a young baby to feed and a mortgage dragging him ever deeper into debt, Obree - at 27, an old man in cycling terms – decided to have one last attempt to make a living from the sport, spurred on by his friend Malky McGovern (Billy Boyd) and wife Anne (Laura Fraser). With no money, no sponsor and no backer, Obree decided to build his own bike. Using the boatshed of his friend and confidante, Rev. Douglas Baxter (Brian Cox), Graeme used metal he found in the gutter, bits of an old lock, tubing from a kid’s BMX bike and a cannibalised washing machine.
The film will get a limited USA release on May 4th 2007, and general release in the UK on July 6th 2007.
Reviews for 'Flying Scotsman' have generally been very positive. It was also nominated for 5 Scottish BAFTA awards (including Laura as Best Actress), so should be worth seeing.

An unofficial movie site has been set up here
MGM has now set up an official site here
You can also view the trailer on Youtube here

Reichenbach Falls
Laura featured in this one-off drama made for BBC4. It is based on a short story by Ian Rankin.
Originally known as 'The Acid Test', it is a psychological thriller set in the underbelly of Edinburgh, and is described by the BBC as "a " set in the city's literary world. Alec Newman stars as a hard-boiled detective whose life starts to unravel as he investigates a 100-year-old murder case in the Scottish capital.
The cast also includes John Sessions, Laura Fraser, Alastair Mackenzie, Nina Sosanya and Richard Wilson (as Arthur Conan Doyle).
Filming began in September 2006 in Edinburgh. The script was written by James Mavor (adapted from the Ian Rankin story), and the film directed by John McKay.
Screening was on March 1st 2007. No details yet on a UK terrestrial screening.

Nina's Heavenly Delights
Nina Shah is a feisty young Indo–Scottish woman with an identity crisis. Nina previously left home under a cloud after a row with her father. When her father dies suddenly, Nina is forced to return and run the family owned Curry House. This reunites her with her childhood friend Bobbi, a Bollywood drag queen and brings her face to face with Lisa, a charismatic young woman to whom Nina’s father sold 50% of the restaurant. Nina embarks on a personal mission to win the ‘Best of the West’ curry competition, a highly coveted prize in the world of Indian cuisine. But Nina’s feelings are thrown into turmoil when she realises that she is falling in love......with Lisa! Can she win both prizes?
The movie stars Shelley Conn, Laura Fraser, Kulvinder Ghir, Art Malik.
The UK premiere of this film was on 29th September 2006 to generally favourable reviews.
Many thanks to director Pratibha Parmar for the pictures supplied to the webmaster for the site. Click hereto see them.
This film has recently been released on DVD in the UK
The official site is at http://www.ninasheavenlydelights.com

Land of the Blind
This movie premiered at the Rotterdam Film Festival in January 2006, and in at the Tribeca Film Festival in North America in June 2006, but has not received a general release. It was released direct to DVD in America on 15th August 2006.
A satirical and timely war thriller about terrorism, revolution, and the power of memory. In an unnamed place and time, an idealistic soldier named Joe (Ralph Fiennes) strikes up an illicit friendship with a political prisoner named Thorne (Donald Sutherland), who eventually recruits him into a bloody coup d'etat. But in the post-revolutionary world, what Thorne asks of Joe leads the two men into bitter conflict, spiraling downward into madness until Joe's co-conspirators conclude that they must erase him from history. This film has recently been released on DVD in America.

Skin and Bones
A BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Reading, which was broadcast on 1st September 2006.
Francis is not interested in food, but when she invites her newly-discovered half-brother to dinner she experiences a revelation.
By Sophie Cooke and read by Laura Fraser.

Meet the Clan
It was reported previously that Laura has a lead role in a new movie"Met the Clan". Other cast members include Pam Grier, James Fox and Fiona Shaw. Screenwriter is Trix Worrell and director is Jeremy Wooding. The movie is a comedy about a mother who gives up her son for adoption and meets him again 20 years later. There has been no news on this movie for ages now, suggesting it has fallen through.

copyright Clive Sarney 2003
Last Updated 16/12/2009