76 Ltd's Peter Lydon Directs Costume Drama Fairytale For Sky And WCRS

WCRS has collaborated with 76 Ltd Director, Peter Lydon, to create Frog Prince - the fourth instalment in Sky's Broadband Fairytale campaign.
The commercial premiered on UK TV on Boxing Day.
The commercial set in a Medieval Tudor Castle sees a beautiful princess interrupted from kissing her Frog Prince by a Lady-in-Waiting who claims to be his former "lover". She says he won't change - after all, he's too useless to even change broadband provider.
Lydon drew on his extensive TV comedy (Shameless/Teachers) and period drama (Garrow's Law) directing background to combine the script's wide ranging elements of humour, history and fairytale.
Lydon handpicked key crew members for their experience in period films like Elizabeth, Pride and Prejudice and Stardust. Many of the costumes have featured in films like The Other Boleyn Girl and Elizabeth. Lydon said: "We wanted to create a truly authentic historical setting to draw the audience in before the rug was pulled." The shoot took place over two days on location at Penshurst Place in Kent.
WCRS TV Producer Eliot Liss said: "My creatives always enjoy collaborating with Peter to craft these beautiful 50-second period pieces and then have some fun with skewing the performances and dialogue to make memorable and funny ads which effortlessly get across detailed product points."
Frog Prince was aired a day after another Lydon-directed project for Sky (Meera Syal's Little Cracker - Uncle Santa). Uncle Santa was transmitted during a prestigious Christmas Day slot. The film is part of a series of high profile shorts written by some of the UK's biggest comedy names. Uncle Santa was produced through Renegade Productions and was the first ever 3D TV drama comedy commissioned in the UK.
76 Ltd Director, Peter Lydon, said: "It was a busy run up to Christmas with these two Sky projects to direct. Both were thoroughly enjoyable though! This is my fourth Fairy Tale collaboration with WCRS creatives Thorn Glover and Eoin McLaughlin. This kind of close relationship means we really understand and respect the way each other work. And it was extremely gratifying to be given the opportunity to direct Meera Syal's Uncle Santa as it was Sky's first piece of 3D drama content."
(KMcA)