Film

• Rob Thomas and Kristen Bell discussing Veronica Mars movie

Theatre

• Tamsin Greig to debut at National in David Hare's Gethsemane

British TV

• Ronnie Corbett to star in David Walliams/Rob Brydon sitcom
• Channel 4 undergoes ratings crash…
• …as does ITV1
• BBC wants a Gaelic soap for BBC Alba
• ITV2 unveils Autumn schedule, new logo (includes videos)

US TV

• MGM options online black British superhero comic The Many Worlds of Jonas Moore
• Valerie Bertinelli signs on to TBS sitcom pilot
• More Life on Mars cast pics

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Film

• Deleted scene from Iron Man
• Remake of Candy Man planned - without a black lead?!
• Matthew Vaughn to direct Kick-Ass
• Danny Huston, Shawn Roberts and Bojana Novakovic join Edge of Darkness
• Mike Myers to appear in Tarantino's Inglorious Bastards
• Steve Carell and Tina Fey to play couple in Date Night
• Tom Cruise to star in remake of French movie The Tourist
• Superbad's Greg Mottola to direct Simon Pegg and Nick Frost's road movie

Theatre

• Porridge to become stage show

British TV

• Griff Rhys Jones to host new It'll be Alright on the Night
• Props for The IT Crowd requested
• YA phone vote fix

US TV

• Banana Splits to return
• Madchen Amick to star in My Own Worst Enemy, John Eisendrath to be showrunner
• Moonlight's Alex O'Loughlin signs one year with CBS
• Pictures of Gene Hunt and Annie from Life on Mars remake
• Sigourney Weaver to play Eli Stone's therapist
• Pics of Shannen Doherty and Jennie Garth in 90210 spin-off
• True Blood trailer

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Read other posts about: Life on Mars, Moonlight, The IT Crowd

Doctor Who

• BBC America buys the third series of Torchwood. Plus a few hints of what will happen

Film

• John Boorman to make film about Hadrian at last
• Trailer for George Bush biopic W
• Warner Bros to adapt Asimov's Foundation series
• Scream 4 with Wes Craven might go ahead
• Green Arrow movie gets the go-ahead?
• No Fantastic Four 3?
• Russell Brand sings up for Sarah Marshall sequel

British TV

• Leaked Ofcom report to give go-ahead for ITV PSB reduction and C4 top-slicing
• Alan Carr signs with Channel 4 for £3m

US TV

• CBS to remake The Streets of San Francisco
• Gretchen Mol to play Annie in Life on Mars?
• ABC teams with CBC for comedy pilot 18 to Life
• Bryan Singer to direct Studio 54 pilot
• The Hoff to revive What's My Line??
• Chuck vs the season two montage

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Doctor Who

• Journey's End most watched TV programme of the week
• Catherine Tate injures ankle, cancelling first night of Under the Blue Sky

Film

• Will Ferrell to play split-personality racist in Two Face
• Terminator Salvation teaser trailer
• Wanted 2 will happen

Radio

• Ruth Jones to get a BBC Wales radio show

British TV

• The Bill teaming up with Germany cop show SOKO Leipzig for a special
• Hayley Atwell joins cast of The Prisoner
• Top Gear audience waiting list now 21 years long
• Bone Kickers ratings drop 1.6 million for second episode
• Shooting Stars back for a Christmas special

Canadian TV

• CBC has hopes for new pilots

US TV

• Katie Holmes to guest star on Eli Stone. Yes, she will sing. And she may return
• ABC's fall schedule
• Burn Notice's ratings up a third on last year
• No more Babylon 5 ever?
• Kurt Russell or Laurence Fishburne to replace William Petersen on CSI?
• Big changes are afoot at Life on Mars, with only one original cast member remaining
• HBO Films developing post-Vietnam spy flick Irreparable Harm
• Scrubs might last more than a season at ABC
• Office spin-off dead?

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Read other posts about: Burn Notice, CSI, Gavin and Stacey, Life on Mars, Scrubs, Top Gear

Doctor Who

• Police boxes to make a come-back in Bournemouth?

Film

• Justin Theroux to write Iron Man 2?
• Joel Silver and the Wachowskis to make Plastic Man with Keanu?

Theatre

• West End Art Theatre to close five months early

British TV

• Patrick Baladi and Nicholas Burns join cast of No Heroics

US TV

• Now Chris is back too: Life on Mars hires October Road's Jonathan Murphy
• Jerry Seinfeld endorsed Letters from a Nut to be adapted again
• Amy Poehler to star in Office-like series?
• Ted Danson's back in Damages
• Nip/Tuck to end in 2011
• William Petersen leaving CSI full-time

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In the UK: Tuesdays, BBC1, 9pm. Also available on the iPlayer

Nominative determinism is an interesting thing, isn't it? Does your name make you turn out the way you are or is it irrelevant?

Here's a simple experiment: let's look at Bonekickers. It's supposed to be an action-adventure show about archaeologists. It's got a great cast, including Adrian Lester and Michael Maloney. It has a great team behind the scenes, including Life on Mars's Ashley Pharoah and Matthew Graham.

But it also has a bollocks name. Will it follow nature and have the qualities expected of its progenitors? Or will it follow the powers of nurture and nominative determinism and turn out to be bollocks?

Continue reading "Review: Bonekickers 1x1"

Read other posts about: Life on Mars

Doctor Who

• Ask Rusty a question
• Catherine Tate to return to comedy show. Some time

Film

• Original cut of Metropolis found
• Hellboy 2 promoted with Chuck, Actors Studio and American Gladiators crossovers
• Val Kilmer and Xzbit join Bad Lieutenant

Art

• A bit of Tracey Emin's Liverpool sculpture goes missing

Theatre

• David Walliams to make West End debut in No Man's Land

British TV

• Jerry Springer opponent bankrupt and wants Beeb to pay
• Barristers complain about Criminal Justice
• Top Gear criticised for drink-driving at the North Pole

French TV

• France Televisions' Patrick de Carolis threatens to quit over government funding

US TV

• Ray's back! The Sopranos' Michael Imperioli to play Ray Carling in Life on Mars
• Tori Spelling might be out of 90210 spin-off
• Spin-off from Criminal Minds planned

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Read other posts about: Life on Mars, Top Gear

In the US: Thursdays, 10pm, ABC. No start date yet

Ah, Life on Mars. Everyone's favourite BBC show about time-travelling cops who are really stuck in a coma (there's more than one, you know). Harking back to bygone days of politically incorrect cops shouting "Gov!" and beating up crims before going to the pub for a swift pint or seven, it gave us lovable rogue Gene Hunt to grudgingly admire while we simultaneously gloried in nostalgia and looked at the recent past with just a touch of smug superiority.

But, oh the wailing and gnashing of teeth when it was heard that US network ABC was going to remake it. "Bloody yanks. They're just not going to get it," screamed a thousand armchair and pub xenophobes around the land. And when that trailer came out, many a person could see their point.

Even ABC saw their point after giving the pilot a look-over. At the moment, it's busy relocating the whole thing to New York from Los Angeles and is recasting.

So what, you might ask, is the point of reviewing this, the original pilot? Well, I think it's instructional. Firstly, given the script itself probably won't change that much, it's interesting to see what changes have been made and will probably make it through to the series proper. Secondly, it's interesting to see whether the trailer made the pilot look better or worse than it actually is. And thirdly, is Colm Meaney as Gene Hunt anywhere near as good as Philip Glenister, assuming he doesn't get recast?

Continue reading "Preview: Life on Mars (US)"

Read other posts about: Ashes to Ashes, Life on Mars

Doctor Who/Torchwood

• It's RTD OBE now
• Which evil genius might that be [spoiler via]
• Russell T to write one of the new Torchwood episodes
• John Barrowman to be a judge on Canada's How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?
• Gareth David-Lloyd trying to crack Hollywood

Awards

• Winners of the Monte Carlo TV festival [free registration required]
• John Pilger's War on Democracy wins Best Documentary at One World Media awards [free registration required]

Theatre

• Kevin Spacey to teach theatre at Oxford

Film

• Eva Mendes to star opposite Nicolas Cage in Bad Lieutenant
• The first seven minutes of Wanted
• Aaron Ashmore joins Val Kilmer in The Thaw

British TV

• Maggie Thatcher drama gets BBC4 third highest ever ratings [free registration required]
• Noel Edmonds to 'mend broken Britain' for Sky One
• BBC preparing to launch integrated next generation iPlayer [free registration required]
• Chris Morris goes to CERN
• New DVD label for stand-up comics launches, with Stewart Lee as first disk

US TV

• AMC adds more dramas, include adaptation of Carter Beats The Devil, to roster
• Janel Moloney and Patrick Breen to star in Captain Cook's Extraordinary Atlas
• Life on Mars makes the move to New York
• Jason Bateman makes first-look deal with Fox
• NBC picks up John Wells' LAPD pilot
• More BSG next season plus TV movie prequel

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Read other posts about: Chris Morris, Life on Mars, Torchwood

Doctor Who

• Torchwood re-signs John Barrowman; third series to be a week long

Film

• Tim Burton to direct Johnny Depp in Dark Shadows
• Lily Allen to get a cameo in James Corden's new movie
• Robert Ludlum's The Sigma Protocol fast-tracked

Books/Comics

• Steven King's The Stand to be adapted as a comic

British TV

• Welsh heritage minister says build on Gavin & Stacey to create a £100m TV industry

US TV

• The Simpsons cast sign up for four more years
• Billy Zane to star opposite Teri Polo in Finnegan
• Life on Mars pilot may be dumped and recast?
• Arrested Development's Tony Hale to recur on Chuck and Samantha Who?
• Extremely long Ronald D Moore interview

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Read other posts about: Battlestar Galactica, Gavin and Stacey, Life on Mars