With filming for the Love Actually sequel well and truly underway, the hype is certainly building up. And on Thursday, Emma Freud - the screenwriter partner of director Richard Curtis - took to social media to tease more pictures from the upcoming ten-minute Comic Relief special, dubbed Red Nose Day Actually. She confirmed that day two of the shoot saw the return of Rufus, the eccentric jewellery salesman, who was made famous by Rowan Atkinson.
After posting a series of cryptic tweets from the set, inside a Sainsbury's store, Emma finally revealed who the mystery character was. Alongside a picture of the 62-year-old actor and her partner, she confirmed: "Oh look who we found in @sainsburys. Day 2 filming for #rednosedayactually going well... actually." The writer later uploaded another picture of Rowan in character, and tweeted: "Oh Rufus. There's something unexpected in the bagging area. #rednosedayactually day 2. Done."
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News of the special was announced last week with Hugh Grant, Keira Knightley and Colin Firth all confirmed to reprise their roles. The first day of filming started the following day with Liam Neeson and Thomas Brodie-Sangster, who played widower Daniel and his beloved stepson Sam respectively. They were pictured recreating their bench scene by the Thames - 14 years after the iconic moment. The pair were also joined by actress Olivia Olsen, 24, who was just 11 when she played Sam's childhood love interest Joanna in the movie.
Although fans will be happy to see the return of several characters, it was recently revealed that Emma Thompson will not be reprising her role as Karen, the betrayed wife of Harry, who was played by the late Alan Rickman. Speaking in an interview with Press Association, Richard confirmed the movie will not feature a tribute to the late star. He explained: "You know dealing with Alan is very complicated so not really."
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Love Actually was released in 2003 and has gone on to become one of the most watched romantic Christmas films of all time. "I would never have dreamt of writing a sequel to Love Actually, but I thought it might be fun to do ten minutes to see what everyone is now up to," said writer Richard in a statement. The sequel, which will centre on what the characters are up to now in 2017, will be shown on 24 March on BBC One as part of the Red Nose Day appeal.
