Tom Felton Is Up to No Good in First Look at Murder Mystery Period Drama Romance Parody ‘Fackham Hall’ [Exclusive]

Have you ever watched a show like Downton Abbey or The Gilded Age and thought to yourself, “I wish they’d lighten up a bit”? Being rich and wearing big dresses and fancy suits can be so drab! Thankfully, a new production is on the way for all those period drama lovers out there who are also in need of a good chuckle. Today, Collider is thrilled to unveil the first-look images of Fackham Hall, a movie that mixes the seemingly unmixable. As per its official synopsis, the film is “a spoof that crosses Downton Abbey with Airplane! and Monty Python.” Sign us up! Additionally, we have an exclusive interview with the project’s director, Jim O’Hanlon, who was incredibly open about how the film came to be, his inspirations, and the impressively stacked cast that brings the story to life.

Starring Ben Radcliffe (The Witcher), Thomasin McKenzie (Jojo Rabbit), Fackham Hall follows a smooth and suave pick-pocket named Eric Noone (Radcliffe), who finds himself faced with an offer he can’t refuse — a job at an English manor. Thanks to his charisma and smooth-talking ways, he not only climbs the career ladder but also strikes up a forbidden romance with the lady of the house, Rose Davenport (McKenzie). Unfortunately for Eric, his luck hits a dead end after a murder occurs, and he becomes the primary suspect. Now, he’ll have to prove his innocence and help the Davenport family recover from the shocking and sudden loss.

Plenty of familiar faces dot the ensemble behind Fackham Hall, with many featured in today’s first-look images. Not only do the shots capture the early blossoming romance between McKenzie’s Rose and Radcliffe’s Eric, but they also show off iconic comedian Jimmy Carr decked out in priest robes, with another catching Damian Lewis (Billions) and Nathan McMullen (Doctor Who) enjoying a spot of tea. A few group shots capture the madness that unravels on the sprawling property, with Tom Felton (the Harry Potter franchise) and Katherine Waterston (Alien: Covenant), also getting in on the action. Additionally, audiences can look forward to seeing performances from Emma Laird (Mayor of Kingstown), Tom Goodman-Hill (Baby Reindeer), Ramon Tikaram (Pennyworth), Tim McMullan (Magpie Murders), Anna Maxwell Martin (Bleak House), and Sue Johnston (Waking the Dead).

The Vision Behind ‘Fackham Hall’

For its helmer, O’Hanlon, Fackham Hall was something he’d always dreamed of doing, combining two of his favorite genres and making one incredibly entertaining production. Reflecting on his influences and how the project came to be, he told us,

“I grew up watching and loving spoofs like Airplane and The Naked Gun, and I’d directed a series of three really funny spoof detective dramas called A Touch of Cloth (written by Charlie Brooker) which I’d really loved making, so when Kris (Thykier, Producer) sent me the script for Fackham Hall, I jumped at the chance to direct it.

What I loved about the script was that it was both a hilariously funny, brilliantly inventive parody of British period dramas like Downton Abbey or Gosford Park, but also, at the same time, very much it’s own thing – I found myself rooting for Rose and Eric, the young couple at the centre of the forbidden romance, but at the same time laughing out loud at the ludicrousness and craziness of the shenanigans going on around them. I thought if we can get audiences doing the same, then we’re on to a winner.”

If you’re anything like us, the call sheet for Fackham Hall is enough to gain our viewership. We already know and love so many of these performers for their dramatic chops that we can’t wait to see how they work the deadpan comedy into their performances. Of his impressive lineup of actors, O’Hanlon said,

“A great deal of the comedy of Fackham Hall comes from the gap between the ludicrousness of the plot and dialogue and the action, and how seriously the characters appear to be taking the whole enterprise. So it was a very deliberate choice to cast actors who could just as feasibly appear in a ‘real’, British period drama, and to get them to play everything as straight as possible, without any winking to the camera or hamming it up or reacting to the craziness going on around them in any way. We lucked out insofar as we managed to attract an absolutely stellar cast who completely jumped on board the tone I was looking for and just totally nailed it.

That said, it’s a very slightly heightened version of ‘straight’, because the film is a comedy first and foremost – and a very funny one at that! – so it was a very delicate balance every day trying to find the right levels of deadpan seriousness whilst still allowing the comic ridiculousness of the film to shine. Nigel Tufnell, the guitarist in Spinal Tap, famously said of his amplifier ‘this one’s got 11’; I used to tell our cast on a daily basis that ‘this one’s got ten and a half!’”

On the topic of the first-look images, which you can see above, O’Hanlon explained that Fackham Hall will provide audiences with just about every type of comedy under the sun. “The film is a riotous cocktail of jokes of every kind, verbal and visual, subtle and unsubtle, silly and (occasionally!) sophisticated,” he told Collider. “We actually had an Executive Producer who counted the number of jokes in an early cut and it came to a whopping 278 – everything from daft physical gags like the manservant who makes sure the Lord of the Manor doesn’t have to lift a finger (literally!), to the Vicar, played by Jimmy Carr, whose inability to follow basic punctuation provides some of the funniest sequences of the movie. So hopefully there’s something for everyone in there, whatever their taste in comedy!”

Most of all, the director says he’s just looking forward to folks sitting back, relaxing, and laughing their butts off at an incredibly unique take on period dramas. “The film is a very affectionate parody of both period dramas and murder mystery films, so I really hope audiences come away having laughed themselves silly at the crazy, surreal goings-on at Fackham Hall, but also having found themselves fully engaged with both Eric and Rose’s forbidden romance and also the murder mystery story,” he explained. “If we can get audiences laughing their heads off and also wanting to find out what happens in the end, we’ll count that as a huge win!”

Check out the first-look images of Fackham Hall above and see it in cinemas on December 5.