Love Actually sequel to air on Red Nose Day
Hugh Grant, Martin McCutcheon, Keira Knightley, Colin Firth, Liam Neeson, Bill Nighy and Rowan Atkinson are among the cast returning for short film follow-up Red Nose Day Actually
A sequel to hit 2003 film Love Actually is to air after Red Nose Day next month.
Unlike the original, the follow-up will air on TV rather than in the cinema with a much shorter run-time, but will reunite many of the movie's cast members including Hugh Grant, Martine McCutcheon, Keira Knightley, Andrew Lincoln, Colin Firth, Liam Neeson, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Bill Nighy and Rowan Atkinson.
The short film – titled Red Nose Day Actually – will be broadcast on BBC1 in the UK on 24th March, to coincide with the TV fundraiser which the movie's screenwriter Richard Curtis founded in 1985. The sequel will then air on NBC on 25th May to coincide with America's Red Nose Day equivalent.
Notable absentees from the cast list include Alan Rickman, who passed away early last year, and his on-screen wife, Emma Thompson.
Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman in Love Actually
Speaking of his long-awaited follow-up, Curtis said: "I would never have dreamt of writing a sequel to Love Actually, but I thought it might be fun to do 10 minutes to see what everyone is now up to. Who has aged best? I guess that’s the big question… or is it so obviously Liam?
"We’ve been delighted and grateful that so many of the cast are around and able to take part – and it’ll certainly be a nostalgic moment getting back together and recreating their characters 14 years later."
Released in cinemas in 2003, Love Actually received a mixed response from critics but has gone on to become a Christmas classic, endlessly analysed and spoofed by the internet.
Last year it was voted Britain's favourite Christmas film in a poll of 1,500 RadioTimes.com readers.
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