News round-up: Mr Selfridge, Death of a Salesman, Your Dog and your chance to tweet a question for Zoë

6 February 2015 23:51

Zoë's on-screen son in Mr Selfridge, Leon Ockenden, has praised the 'passion and intensity' in her approach to acting. Interviewed by the Sunday People, Ockenden emphasises that 'She did such a brilliant accent that everyone mimicked her on set and she kept it going all day. It's only at the end of the day when you get in the car with her that she changes. That's when you see the real Zoë.'

And in an interview on daytime chatshow Loose Women today, Ockenden revealed that Zoe makes the best vodka martinis!

Zoe's role in Mr Selfridge has captured the attention of the Independent.ie, which remarks that 'the wonderful Zoe Wanamaker [...] will doubtless bring an injection of energy and wit' to the series. Similarly, Metro finds Princess Marie a compelling character, 'thanks to Zoe Wanamaker's incredible and complex talent'.

You can catch up with episodes one and two of Mr Selfridge's third series on the ITV Player. Episode three will be broadcast on Sunday, at 9pm on ITV1/STV. The whole of series three is available to pre-order on Region 2 DVD; it is due to be released on 20 April.

Zoë has recently been rehearsing a new radio production of Arthur Miller's masterpiece, Death of a Salesman, in which she will star alongside David Suchet. As many of you will know, they have worked wonderfully well together on previous productions such as All My Sons (2010) and, of course, several episodes of Agatha Christie's Poirot; and so the radio play is sure to be a real treat for fans.

The rehearsals took place at the premises of Mousetrap Theatre Project, the theatre education charity of which both Zoe and her co-star are patrons. You can see a photo of the cast on Mousetrap's Twitter profile. The broadcast date for the play has not yet been announced, but Suchet has tweeted that it is due to air in the autumn, in which case it will coincide with the centenary of Miller's birth.

The March issue of Your Dog magazine features a lovely interview with Zoë about her support for the Bark and Read project, which is funded by the Kennel Club Charitable Trust. The project supports efforts to encourage schoolchildren to read to specially trained support dogs. By reading to a calm, non-judgmental canine audience, pupils can increase their confidence and literacy levels.

As well as discussing the 'wonderful' Bark and Read, Zoë recalls her parents' pet dogs. 'I've grown up with dogs all my life,' she emphasises. She has particularly fond memories of Pasha, an Afghan Hound. 'He was a stunning dog, with a flowing beard and a real sense of humour – he actually laughed. But he was uncontrollable with a mind of his own and would run off – Afghan Hounds run like the wind!'

Pasha, as Zoë points out, was the inspiration for her 1996 performance as a dog, Sylvia, in A.R. Gurney's play of the same name. 'I had a collar – a necklace with a chain – made specially' for the production, she says. Playing a dog was 'great fun'.

Your Dog is available to purchase in print and as a digital edition.

What would you like to ask Zoe? To celebrate its twentieth anniversary, the Dyslexia Research Trust, an Oxford University-based charity that tackles reading problems, is giving people the chance to tweet questions for Zoë, who will answer the top three in due course.

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