27 June 2024, 20:30
By Tiasha Debray
Stephen Moffat’s new show Douglas Is Cancelled drops on the 27th of June and the cast looks stellar. From Marvel’s Karen Gillan to Ted Lasso’s Nick Mohammad. Here’s the full cast lineup.
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People are getting excited for the release of ITV’s Douglas is Cancelled, a new show written by Stephen Moffat with a star-studded cast.
The drama-comedy is set to air on the 27th of June at 9pm on ITV and is based on the concept of cancel culture as we follow the story of an elder news anchor who hasn’t quite caught up with the times, and faces the wrath of his fans after saying a sexist joke that threatens to go viral.
"His life is privileged as he’s regarded as a national treasure and apparently, can do no wrong," the show’s synopsis reads. "That is until he makes an ill-advised joke at a wedding, which is captured on camera by somebody who threatens to post it on social media."
So who’s in the cast for Douglas is Cancelled and where do you know them from?
Who’s in the cast for Douglas Is Cancelled?
The show is written by Steven Moffat who’s done the likes of Doctor Who, Sherlock and Dracula so you can expect some big names on the cast lineup with a number of them having starred in Doctor Who.
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Hugh Bonneville plays Douglas Bellowes in Douglas is Cancelled
Hugh Bonneville plays, you guessed it, the out-of-touch news anchor whose story this surrounds, Douglas Bellowes.
Douglas works as a news anchor for Live at Six and as Hugh stated in an interview as reported by Yahoo!News: "Just as the dinosaurs didn’t know they were a dying breed, Douglas is blithely unaware that the next generation is smarter, more streetwise and capable of sheer ruthlessness when the chips are down.”
You’ll recognise Hugh from a number of projects over his long career, including Robert Crawley in Downton Abbey, as well as Mr Brown in Paddington.
Karen Gillan plays Madeline Crow in Douglas is Cancelled
Karen Gillan plays the character of Madeline who is Douglas’ career-hungry co-anchor. Madeleine takes advantage of the sensitive position Douglas finds himself in to further her own position.
“Madeline learned in her earliest days in the business how the game is played and rather than complain about it, just decided to play it better. She’s faultlessly charming, lethally professional and an enigma to everyone she works with,” the show synopsis describes.
You’ll definitely recognise Karen herself from her time as Marvel’s iconic villain (turn hero!) across the Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers franchises.
She also starred alongside Matt Smith as Amy Pond in Doctor Who for three series and has a number of high-profile films under her belt such as Jumanji.
Alex Kingston as Sheila Bellowes in Douglas is Cancelled
Speaking of Doctor Who stars, Alex Kingston will star in the series as Sheila Bellowes.
Sheila is Douglas’ wife and also an editor of a newspaper which puts her in a difficult position when her husband becomes the headlines… but not for the reasons they would like.
Alex has enjoyed a successful career in the industry spanning back to the 80s. You’ll recognise her from her time playing Dr Elizabeth Corday in ER and River Song in Doctor Who.
She also starred in The Discovery of Witches between 2018 - 2022.
Nick Mohammed plays Morgan in Douglas is Cancelled
Nick Mohammed will play the role of Morgan a joke writer for the news channel that Douglas works for.
Unfortunately for Morgan, his job is kind of redundant because how many jokes does one actually need on a news program?
You’ll recognise Nick most recently as he starred in the 2024 season of Taskmaster UK.
The comedian-actor was also in the hit comedy show Stath Lets Flats as well as global phenomenon Ted Lasso.
Ben Miles plays Toby Patterson in Douglas is Cancelled
Ben plays Toby who is Douglas’ producer and boss. His character is described as a man who “Prides himself on his sophisticated grasp of newsroom politics, but in truth, he’s an angry cynic who is so busy pretending to understand what’s going on he never finds time to actually understand it.”
Ben’s got one of those faces and that’s because he’s appeared in a number of high-profile gigs and has been working since 1989.
Most recently he starred alongside Joaquin Phoenix in Oscar-nominated Napoleon, he also played Peter Townsend in Netflix’s The Crown.
Simon Russell Beale plays Bently Cassock in Douglas is Cancelled
Bently Cassock is Douglas’ agent and he’s the classic character of an agent.
co*cky, arrogant and selfish, it’s a true wonder that Bently’s remained in work this long but he’s managed to manipulate the game to work in his favour.
Simon Russell Beale is anything but his character, the talented actor has earned himself two BAFTA awards, three Olivier awards, a Tony and a knighthood during his career.
You’ll recognise him as Ser Simon Strong from House of the Dragon, Dinoysus in Thor: Love and Thunder, The Death of Stalin and countless other film and television shows.
Madeleine Power plays Claudia Bellowes in Douglas is Cancelled
Claudia Bellowes is the daughter of Douglas and Sheila Bellowes and the 19-year-old encapsulates the ‘social justice warrior’ type archetype of this day and age.
Claudia thinks everything her parents do is wrong and isn’t afraid to call them out on it.
Madeleine is relatively new to the scene compared to her coworkers and her projects of note include The Last Kingdom, and Six Wives with Lucy Worsley where she played Queen Elizabeth I.
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