It is a year to the day since Co Antrim actor Liam Neeson was struck by tragedy.

The Ballymena-born star lost his wife Natasha Richardson last March 18th after an accident but has since been able to find solace in his work - helped with support from a fellow actor and long-term friend.

Neeson - who has been making a new version of a classic film set in ancient times - Clash of the Titans - will feature in the epic alongside Ralph Fiennes and $100 million worth of special effects.

Liam found his fellow actor played a tremendously supportive role after Natasha, 45, died of bleeding in her skull a year ago today, just two days after she fell during a skiing lesson in the Canadian resort of Mont Tremblant.

The two had men formed a friendship on the set of Schindler's List in 1993 and will now appear together again in the Greek epic.

Meanwhile, the award-wining locally made film, Five Minutes of Heaven - which was released in the US in August last year - hits the screens today in Australia, with critics noting that the New York premiere was Neeson's first walk down the red carpet after the death of his wife.

As well as filming parts in Clash of the Titans, The A-Team and the Paul Haggis drama The Next Three Days, Neeson's voice will also be heard as Aslan the lion in the next Chronicles of Narnia movie, and he's now at work in Germany headlining the thriller Unknown White Male.

Clash of the Titans is just one of a series of major films underway that hark back to the sword and sandals era of Ben Hur and other blood in the sands movies.

There are also high-profile Ninth Legion films underway, one called Eagle of the Ninth, directed by Kevin Macdonald and Neil Marshall's action movie Centurion is also being made at present.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians is already in the can and Mickey Rourke is starring in Dawn of War, a mortals-versus-gods adventure from the director Tarsem Singh.

The TV series Rome is also being revamped for the big screen, and the hottest story in US TV is the explicit sex and violence in the Gladiator-inspired series Spartacus: Blood and Sand.

According to the London Times, this is not without its critics as the sex and violence in Spartacus, with orgies and on-screen dismemberment, is regarded as controversial.

The British pressure group Mediawatch UK is so offended that it is trying to block Spartacus from reaching UK TV screens.

The cue to the surge in developments is said to be the technology, which has evolved so far that it can allow a new generation of filmmakers to really bring these stories to life.

See: Neeson 'Devastated' Over Natasha's Ski Fall Death

See: Ancient Times Powers Movie Epics

(BMcc/GK)