SAC actress is to star in ITV drama

5:36pm Thursday 21st August 2008

Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon has signed up to the ITV follow-up to Quentin Crisp drama The Naked Civil Servant.

An Englishman in New York will feature Nixon, who played the forthright Miranda in Sex and the City, as performance artist and playwright Penny Arcade.

John Hurt reprises his role as flamboyant Quentin Crisp in the drama, which is being filmed in the Big Apple and picks up where the 1970s classic The Naked Civil Servant left off.

Nixon's character Arcade formed a close bond with Crisp in his latter years and the two created the long-running performance The Last Will and Testament of Quentin Crisp.

The ITV1 drama will also feature US actors Denis O'Hare as magazine editor Phillip Steele, up-and-coming actor Jonathan Tucker will play a young artist who befriended Crisp, and Pushing Daisies star Swoosie Kurtz is Crisp's US agent, Connie Clausen.

Executive producer James Burstall said: "Choosing to shoot the film in New York was a risky decision as the drama industry works very differently in the US from the UK.

"But the huge amount of strategic planning and the leap of faith are delivering a first rate calibre of cast. There is a real buzz about the project in Manhattan as Quentin was a much loved and notorious figure - everyone has an anecdote to tell about him.

"And we've been touched by the number of friends and admirers of his (some of whom he never knew) who have wanted to help with the project in myriad different ways."

ITV drama director Laura Mackie said: "We are delighted to be making another film about Quentin Crisp given The Naked Civil Servant was such a landmark film for ITV.

"It's a real thrill and honour to be bringing an actor of John Hurt's stature back to the channel to reprise such an iconic role. This is largely down to the quality of Brian Fillis' wonderful script, which completely captures the extraordinary and outrageous character of Quentin Crisp."

Around Herefordshire