Jonathan Frid, the Canadian actor best known for playing the lead role of Barnabas Collins in the 1960s vampire ‘soap opera’ Dark Shadows, has died at the age of 87.

Frid made many stage, film and TV appearances during his career, but it was his Dark Shadows role that turned him into a household name and kept him busy throughout his career with reunions and fan events.

His other credits include the 1973 TV movie The Devil’s Daughter, co-starring Shelley Winters, and Oliver Stone’s directorial debut, Seizure. He also starred in the Broadway revival of Arsenic and Old Lace in the 1980s.

The role of Barnabas Collins is to be played by Johnny Depp in the forthcoming Tim Burton film adaptation of Dark Shadows, due in cinemas in May 2012. Frid makes a cameo appearance in the film. His character meets Depp’s character in a party scene along with two other original actors from the show.

Read the BBC obituary HERE

Photo (c) ABC/Associated Press

HarperCollins has acquired exclusive worldwide publishing rights from Warner Bros Consumer Products for tie-in books to the two highly anticipated films, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again, directed by Peter Jackson and productions of New Line Cinema and MGM.

“Inspired by the two films based on The Hobbit, the HarperCollins companion books are a fantastic way for fans of the world of Middle-earth to immerse themselves in the film experience,” said Karen McTier, Executive Vice President of Domestic Licensing and Worldwide Marketing for Warner Bros Consumer Products. “HarperCollins has a strong history with the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, and we know that the detailed tie-in books will bring The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again to life in an in-depth and imaginative way.”

The Hobbit, first published by George Allen & Unwin in 1937, has been a perennial bestseller since starting life with a very modest 1,500-copy print run. Since then, it has gone on to sell many millions of copies in more than 50 languages, and in this 75th anniversary year of its publication, is set to captivate another generation of readers. HarperCollins acquired the publishing rights to The Hobbit and its sequel The Lord of the Rings when it bought Unwin Hyman publishers in 1990, revitalizing the books’ sales and steering their publishing and book licensing through the unprecedented heights of The Lord of the Rings film trilogy in 2001-2003.

Author, biographer and broadcaster Brian Sibley, who recently won the BBC Audio Drama Award for his dramatization of The History of Titus Groan, has returned to New Zealand to write the behind-the-scenes Official Movie Guides, while novelist and former Tolkien editor Jane Johnson is writing essential Visual Companions to introduce filmgoers to the remarkable world of the two films, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again. Bestselling New Zealand author and photographer Ian Brodie is writing the Location Guide which highlights the spectacular locations in New Zealand that have provided the settings for the films. In addition, HarperCollins will be breaking new ground with a range of children’s books in the form of annuals, movie storybooks and feature titles, as well as a new series of lavish hardbacks written and designed by the award-winning team at Weta, who are working closely with the production team to guarantee that these books will be bursting with insider information and stunning visual imagery.

Brought to you by the FrightFest convention organisation team, issue 10 of FrightFest, the UK’s free online fantasy and horror magazine, is now ready to download.

This issue contains a feature on the much-hyped Cabin in the Woods, which hits UK cinemas on 13 April 2012. In the first of two reports from the sets of upcoming horror films, Alan Jones recalls his trip to Italy to the set of Dario Argento’s Dracula 3D, while Nina Romain looks at the Count’s popularity with moviegoers. Russ Gomm travelled to America to speak to the Blair Witch team on the set of their latest film Lovely Molly. There is also a preview of the upcoming Terracotta Film Festival, and many other articles of interest to fantasy and horror film fans.

Download a free copy HERE

Romark Entertainment has acquired the film and television rights to the critically acclaimed role-playing game, SLA Industries, from publisher Nightfall Games.  As part of the acquisition, Romark and SLA Industries creators Dave Allsop and Jared Earle are also announcing a partnership that will see the two sides come together under one banner to focus exclusively on the expansion of the 20-year running series into the comic book, video game and art worlds.

Independently released in 1993, SLA Industries is set in a futuristic dystopia where players, wielding advanced weaponry and arcane abilities, take on the roles of Operatives working for an omnipresent and ruthless corporation hellbent on controlling the universe.  In the game, appearance, style and branding are emphasized just as much as combat, politics and subterfuge.  After the overwhelming success of their first year on the market, the franchise was picked up by Magic: The Gathering creators, Wizards of the Coast, and was intended to be their follow up franchise before the focus at Wizards shifted away from role-playing games and into collectible card games.  In 1997 Allsop and Earle reacquired the series from Wizards and returned to the independent market, releasing another 10 books over the following decade, and allowing SLA Industries to become one of the longest-running, and most resilient role-playing franchises in history.

For more information and links, visit the website, where news and other information will be presented as this venture progresses.

After The Woman in Black became the highest-grosssing UK horror film of the past 20 years at the box office, Hammer Films has announced plans to make a sequel. Events in The Woman in Black: Angels of Death will take place 40 years on from the first film. Susan Hill, who penned the original novel of The Woman in Black, is involved in its production.

Hammer also recently announced two more films going into production this year – The Quiet Ones and Gaslight.

Read the BBC story HERE

The Minister of Chance is an audio podcast Doctor Who spin-off written and produced by Dan Freeman of Radio Static. Freeman first created the Minister (then played by Stephen Fry) in the award-winning Doctor Who drama Death Comes To Time.

“Now in his fourth incarnation, defrocked Time Lord, The Minister Of Chance, finds himself saddled with Kitty – an assistant he apparently cannot get rid of – and perilously entangled in the court intrigues and military politics of a forest planet on the brink of war. Jenny Agutter, Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann and Paul Darrow join Julian Wadham (The Iron Lady) and Lauren Crace (EastEnders) in a mould-breaking audio adventure that will take you to a spectacular world where science is heresy and magic is law…”

What’s more, downloads are FREE! For more information, visit the website HERE or download Episode 1: The Broken World from HERE

Actress Jenna-Louise Coleman has been unveiled as the Doctor’s next companion once Karen Gillan leaves the show, the BBC has reported. She is said to be a long-time fan of the show and is delighted at winning the role.

Who she will play, and how her character and the Doctor meet, is being kept firmly under wraps at the moment.

Read the full BBC report HERE

The BBC has reported that Steven Spielberg’s SF drama Terra Nova – shown on Sky 1 in the UK – has been cancelled after just one season by 20^th Century Fox TV, due to lower viewing figures than had been hoped for. It is understood that Fox will try to sell it to another network.

Read the full BBC story HERE

The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Horror Films has announced the nominees for its 38th annual Saturn Awards. Leading contenders in film include Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Hugo, The Adjustment Bureau and Rise of the Planet of the Apes. TV nominations include Doctor Who, Torchwood: Miracle Day, Being Human and American Horror Story. The winners will be announced on 20 June 2012.

In additon to the Saturn Awards, filmmaker Martin Scorsese will receive The George Pal Memorial Award in recognition of his career achievements.

Full story HERE

StarShipSofa #227 is now available for download, containing:

Fact: Science News by J.J. Campanella

Introduction to Under The Moons of Mars by John Joseph Adams

Main Fiction: A Tinker of Warhoon by Tobias Buckell

Fact: Theatre of the Mind by Paul Finch

Narrator: Rajan Khanna