Film

• Sam Rockwell and Mickey Rourke to play the baddies in Iron Man 2?
• But what will the story theme be?
• Darko acquires rights to Fade
• New Regency acquiring rights to Beat the Reaper for diCaprio
• Teresa Palmer to play female lead in The Sorcerer's Apprentice
• Lena Headey to direct Kill Drug
• DJ Caruso to direct Jack the Giant Killer

British TV

• 3.4m watch Oz and James
• Series four of Robin Hood to be complete revamp, better than series three [spoilers]?

US TV

• The first 90s of BSG's fifth season
• Weeds creator developing Ronna and Beverly for Showtime
• TNT picks up Time Heals and The Line for 10 episodes each
• Season 9 of Smallville could still happen
• Balthazar Getty leaving Brothers and Sisters early

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Doctor Who

• No. Not Matthew Horne. A woman. Or even an 'ethnic doctor' (instead of an 'ethnic actor' presumably). Oh the shock. I think I'm going to have a touch of the vapours
• Although Dervla Kirwan (who'd know of course) reckons there's a shortlist of six actors for the part including Martin Clunes

Film

• Barry Sonnenfeld to direct The How-To Guide For Saving The World
• Tr2n to be shot entirely in 3D
• Anna Friel to star in The Wedding
• Which goodies (and baddies) are going to be in Iron Man 2 (allegedly)
• Bourne 4 filming to begin in summer
• UA to adapt Conjure Wife

Theatre

• Lucy Davies is the new producer of the National Theatre of Wales

British TV

• Sky makes advances in 3D television
• James Corden's new show censored?
• Gavin and Stacey Christmas photos

US TV

• Trailer for future Smallville episodes
• Watch The Flight of the Conchords season two premiere [US only, because only the US counts of course. Screw New Zealand who'd have no interest]
• 24's James Badge Dale to star in AMC's new political thriller
• ABC greenlights An American Family
• HBO greenlights Hung. What a surprise
• Life on Mars, 24 and Dollhouse production budgets being cut

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Read other posts about: 24, Gavin and Stacey, Jason Bourne, Life on Mars, Smallville

Doctor Who

• David Morrissey talks about the Christmas special [video, spoilers]

Film

• Rutger Hauer to star in Dutch film for first time in 29 years
• Justin Chadwick to write and direct The Tenderness of Wolves
• Keanu Reeves to star in YA 47 Ronin adaptation
• Next Bourne movie to be based on non-Bourne Ludlum novel?

British TV

• Ruth Jones and Bob Hoskins to join The Street
• Steve Coogan doing a time travel TV series for the Beeb
• Graham Norton to replace Terry Wogan on Eurovision
  
• Peter Salmon appointed director of BBC North
• Episode colourised for Dad's Army night
• A clip from the Gavin & Stacey Christmas special
• C4 and ITV may get free use of the iPlayer

US TV

• Four more join Matthew Perry's The End of Steve
• Royal Pains near to series order
• Sonya Walger to be female lead of increasingly English Flash Forward
• Martian Manhunter spin-off from Smallville planned?
• ABC commits to pilot based on DC's Fables
• Showtime developing sci-fi series about synthetic organs
• NBC axing 500 staff
• Dead Like Me returning as direct-to-DVD movie

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Film

• Chris Rock to remake Death at a Funeral
• Joe Johnston to direct First Avenger: Captain America
• Phillip Noyce to direct Above Suspicion
• Nicole Kidman to marry Charlize Théron for The Danish Girl
• 10 new Terminators for Terminator 4 [video, spoilers]

French TV

• French government revamps France Télévisions

Theatre

• Robin Williams to do two nights at the Gielgud this month

British TV

• Channel 4 to launch a religious strand
• No new factual formats for ITV
• BBC and Showtime working on contemporary retelling of Camelot

US TV

• Most of Knight Rider cast gets fired as series reboots
• Life gets a full second season
• Tiffani Thiessen to co-star on White Collar
• Michael Rapaport signs development deal with CBS
• Tori Spelling to return to Smallville and maybe 90210
• FX cancels 30 Days

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In the UK: Saturdays, BBC1, 7.30pm
In the US: NBC, some time in the 2008-9 season. Probably

Ever since the return of Doctor Who made Saturday evenings viable viewing slots again, the onus has been on broadcasters not to fill their schedules with rubbish. ITV1 has tried to compete using shows like Primeval as well as a 1,001 singing and dancing shows; the Beeb, since you can't have Doctor Who all year round, has done likewise but also rolled an updating of Robin Hood into the mix, to not great success. 

Now here comes its latest effort: Merlin. You remember Merlin, don't you? Son of a demon/dragon, lives his life backwards? Welsh wizard pal of King Arthur?

Ah. Apparently, most of that was wrong. Because we're in for a good dose of 'Welsh washing' here for a slightly less whimsical version of Harry Potter.

Continue reading "Review: Merlin 1x1"

Read other posts about: Smallville, Torchwood

In the US: Thursdays, 8/7c, The CW

You just can't keep a good Superman down, can you? We are now officially entering year eight of Smallville, aka Superman: The Early Years. But as you might expect, it's starting to show its age a little.

Tom Welling, despite playing a character who's only just sort of cleared college age, is now in his 30s, and the rest of the cast aren't as young and vigourous as they once were either - or they've scarpered for the hills as soon as they were free of their contracts at the end of the last season. The creative force behind the show, Miles Millar and Alfred Gough, have also left, leaving their deputies in charge.

So with a skeleton crew on board and no captains at the helm any more, is season eight going to flounder and crash onto the rocks?

Continue reading "Review: Smallville 8x1"

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Doctor Who

• Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss to write contemporary Sherlock Holmes stories
• A Doctor Who movie?

Awards

• Edinburgh gives plaudits to Doctor Who and Gavin & Stacey

Film

• Transporter 3 trailer
• Fast and the Furious 3 trailer
• Frost/Nixon trailer
• Kevin McKidd to star in next Highlander film?
• Superman to be rebooted?
• Woody Harrelson to star in Zombieland
• Michael Keaton to play Barbie's Ken in Toy Story 3
• Press Gang: the movie?

Radio

• I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue to return to Radio 4

Canadian TV

• Flashpoint gets a second season

British TV

• New Red Dwarf episode to be filmed?
• Chris Evans to return to TV as The One Show stand-in
• Martin Clunes to be the new Reginald Perrin
• More drama for More4…
• …and BBC3
• BBC4, CBBC and CBeebies to be simulcast from next month
• Rab C Nesbitt to return for one-off special
• More BBC2 sitcoms
• Sky looking for an Apprentice of its own…
• …after dropping Project Catwalk

US TV

• ABC picks up three dramas and two sitcoms, including Cupid and Nathan Fillion's Castle
• No Supergirl spin-off for Smallville, but some plot resolution
• Guess who's coming back to Lost [spoiler]
• Video of KITT transforming

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Read other posts about: Gavin and Stacey, Lost, Smallville, The Apprentice

Doctor Who

• Photos from Torchwood filming

Film

• Ben Affleck to star in Mike Judge's Extract?
• Alex Proyas to adapt Heinlein's The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag

French TV

• Babies banned from watching TV

British TV

• NBC acquires Carnival, may buy more indies
• Sky launching seven new HD channels
• BBC to adapt The 39 Steps
• QI moving to BBC1
• Secret Millionaire gets best ever ratings
• Irvine Welsh to direct one-off comedy drama for ITV4
• BBC1 to combine natural history and entertainment

US TV

• New brother sought for Brothers and Sisters
• Stargate: Atlantis cancelled, will go into movies
• More DC villains sought for Smallville
• Mad Men ratings down 1m from premiere
• More webisodes planned for BSG

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Doctor Who

• John Barrowman and Naoko Mori sing “The Last NIght of the World” at Comic-Con [video]
• Twist for Christmas special? [spoiler?]

Film

• Jack White and Alicia Keys writing the Quantum of Solace theme
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince trailer
• Marvin the Martian being developed into a feature
• Johnny Depp to play the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland?
• Guillermo del Toro to produce remake of Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

Art

• Damien Hirst auction to fetch more than £65m

Theatre

• Simon MacCorkindale to play Captain Von Trapp in The Sound of Music

British TV

• BBC to celebrate 40 years of Dad's Army
• Cannibal sex for Wire in the Blood
• Gordon Ramsay nearly killed by puffins

US TV

• US version of Most Haunted commissioned
• Twist for KITT in Knight Rider [spoiler]
• Joss Whedon planning sequel to Dr Horrible
• Lex Luthor's replacement on Smallville
• HBO picks up Conversations With The Fat Girl for series
• Josh Lucas to star in Showtime's Possible Side Effects
• HBO orders pilot of comedy How To Make It In America
• L&O:CI to get two showrunners
• ABC to remake Fais pas ci, fais pas ça

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Read other posts about: Smallville, Torchwood

Film

• DreamWorks close to leaving Paramount
• Sienna Miller to play Maid Marian in Ridley Scott's Nottingham

British TV

• 20th Century Fox and ITV create joint development fund to create original series and remake older shows: first up, British Versions of Dharma & Greg and Southern Comfort
• Suranne Jones to star in ITV's ex-con drama Unforgiven

US TV

• BSG's Sam Witwer to play Doomsday on Smallville
• Matthew Perry to play sweary talk show host on Showtime's The End of Steve
• Wilmer Valderrama to star in The Emancipation of Ernesto pilot
• The Riches execs joining Captain Cook's Extraordinary Atlas
• Mary Tyler Moore joining Lipstick Jungle as Brooke Shields' mum
• Weeds creator wants a spin-off
• Men in Trees' James Tupper joins Samantha Who?

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Read other posts about: Battlestar Galactica, Smallville