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Hallmark+ unveils four British cozy mystery series for Sleuthers [Image from Pixabay]

As if Hallmark+ doesn’t already have some great movies and series to watch, Sleuthers are now being treated to four British mystery series.

Now, for their viewing pleasure are Rosemary & Thyme, The Moonstone, Shakespeare & Hathaway, and The Coroner. Read on to learn more about these exciting cozy mystery series coming from the UK.

Hallmark+ streams four British cozy mystery series

Hallmark’s impressive stable of cozy mysteries just got bigger as the network’s streaming channel, Hallmark+, adds four British cozy mystery series. These mysteries are new to the streamer, but those UK-based Sleuthers may have already seen them. Read on to learn details about each mystery series.

Rosemary & Thyme

Starring: Pam Ferris and Felicity Kendal

Availability: Streaming on Hallmark+

Seasons: Three seasons are available for watching

Plot:

The first mystery series, which dropped in 2003, is the first of...

It’s all change at Corinium as the fallout from Declan’s latest interview continues. Here’s our Rivals episode 5 review.

Episode five of an eight-episode series is usually time for a slowdown, of sorts. After last episode’s climactic showdown between Declan and Rupert left the bitter rivals (‘ey up) with a newfound emotional respect, this seems like the perfect opportunity for a lie down with a cream tea and a labrador. This being Rivals, however, the show’s pace seems to have sped up.

There’s rather a lot going on here. Lizzie (Katherine Parkinson), inspired by her passing encounters with Freddie (Danny Dyer) and fully embracing her role as morally upstanding author surrogate, has completed the first few chapters of a new erotic novel which (quelle surprise) everyone says is brilliant. Will her agent read these aloud in a crowded restaurant? Of course she will. This is Rivals.

It’s natural that, while you may want to stay on the cutting edge of prestige TV drama and join in all those “How great is Shogun?!” conversations of the moment, there are also times when the world makes you want to shrink down to the size of a Subbuteo player, step into a book illustration from a copy of Thumbelina you owned as a child, and go to sleep underneath a single feather inside a walnut shell.

Those walnut shell moments demand a TV accompaniment that isn’t noisy or confrontational. There should be no difficult thoughts there, just a gentle tide of ‘everything’s okay-ness’ lapping at your brain’s shore. These British TV shows all provide exactly that sense of comfort. Please recommend your own picks below.

The Good Life

Stream on: BritBox (UK & US)

Tom and Barbara, Jerry and Margo. Repeat those names as a mantra...

They were the box-office titans behind sumptuous period masterpieces. Yet underneath, reveals a new warts-and-all film, they were skint, stressed, prone to blood-curdling bust-ups – and ping-ponging between lovers

If you were asked to guess which prestigious film-making duo had spent their career scratching around desperately for cash, trying to wriggle out of paying their cast and crew, ping-ponging between lovers, and having such blood-curdling bust-ups that their neighbours called the police, it might be some time before “Merchant Ivory” sprang to mind. But a new warts-and-all documentary about the Indian producer Ismail Merchant and the US director James Ivory makes it clear that the simmering passions in their films, such as the Em Forster trilogy of A Room With a View, Maurice and Howards End, were nothing compared to the scalding, volatile ones behind the camera.

From their initial meeting in New York in 1961 to Merchant’s death during surgery...

It’s nearly Christmas and to celebrate we have put together a Binge-worthy bundle from Acorn Media International for you to enjoy over the festive period including All Creatures Great & Small Series One – Four Box Set and The Good Life Complete Collection both on DVD and available now.

All Creatures Great & Small Series One – Four Box Set DVD

The charming, much-loved All Creatures Great & Small, based on the hugely popular novels of James Herriot (aka James Alfred Wight OBE), follows the veterinary adventures, budding romances, and local life in Darrowby, Yorkshire, where treating the animals is as much about looking out for their owners: there are plenty of challenges to meet and life-affirming lessons to learn along the way. Starring an all-star cast including Rachael Shenton, Nicholas Ralph, Samuel West, Anna Madeley, Matthew Lewis and Callum Woodhouse this charming Box set and Christmas special are perfect for a festive binge-watch.

Why do we find murder mysteries so uniquely relaxing? This is one of the age-old questions about human nature, up there with ‘what is consciousness?’ and ‘why do we keep eating mouldy cheese and fish eggs like it’s a good thing?’ Because, despite the grief and blood and mountains of paperwork that a gruesome murder causes, we simply can’t get enough of curling up on the sofa with a mug of tea and a cosy crime drama to keep us blissfully entertained all the way through to bedtime.

This isn’t a new thing, either: while modern series like Death in Paradise and Shakespeare and Hathaway are the current champions of cosy crime TV, back in the eighties and nineties classics like Murder She Wrote and Hetty Wainthropp Investigates taught us how it’s done. So whether you’re after the latest in the cosy crime genre or some more nostalgic viewing,...

A few years before she would become a household name by starring in critically acclaimed films, Felicity Jones had a breakout role in an episode of Doctor Who. The accomplished young actor saw a meteoric rise to the top in such movies as 2014's The Theory of Everything, and she was even nominated for an Oscar for the same film. Often impressing with her range and cross-genre appeal, Jones has starred in gripping dramas and big-budget blockbusters like 2016's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Even in a small part in Doctor Who, she gave a standout performance that offered a clue to her future success.

Felicity Jone's Doctor Who debut came in 2008, and it was the culmination of her years of television work where she starred in projects including The Worst Witch and Northanger Abbey. Appearing in one of the Doctor and Donna's most hilarious adventures, the season 4 episode...

Stephen Greif, who is known for playing Speaker of the House Sir Bernard Weatherill on Season 4 of “The Crown,” has died at 78.

“With great sadness we announce the death of our wonderful client Stephen Greif,” the English actor’s rep Michelle Braidman Associates tweeted Monday. “We will miss him dearly and our thoughts are with his family and friends.”

With great sadness we announce the death of our wonderful client Stephen Greif.

His extensive career included numerous roles on screen and stage, including at the National Theatre, RSC and in the West End.

We will miss him dearly and our thoughts are with his family and friends x pic.twitter.com/sYcwILCvNr

— Michelle Braidman Associates (@TeamBraidman) December 26, 2022

Greif was born on Aug. 26, 1944, in Highgate, London. He is survived by two sons.

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Greif’s extensive career included numerous roles on screen and stage,...

Click here to read the full article.

Veteran British theater actor Stephen Greif has died at the age of 78.

His death was announced online on Monday by his representatives at Michelle Braidman Associates. “With great sadness we announce the death of our wonderful client Stephen Greif. His extensive career included numerous roles on screen and stage, including at the National Theatre, RSC and in the West End. We will miss him dearly and our thoughts are with his family and friends,” the statement on the talent agency’s Twitter site read.

Greif played House of Commons Speaker Sir Bernard Weatherill in the fourth season of The Crown in 2020. And the British actor was also known for his performance as space commander Travis in Blake’s 7, a sci-fi series that ran from 1978 to 1981.

Greif was born on Aug. 26, 1944 in Sawbridgeworth, Herts at a nursing home that at one time was a residence for Anne Boleyn,...

A 100th anniversary is a milestone in the history of any institution. In the case of the BBC, the centenary of its founding on 18 October 1922 triggers a rush of memories, a landslide of couch-bound nostalgia. But whether it’s Doctor Who’s Dalek battles, David Attenborough striking up a bromance with a family of gorillas, or Line of Duty’s Ted Hastings invoking “Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the wee donkey”, the sweep of the corporation’s output across the past century is impossible to condense into a few paragraphs. Still, we’ve tried to pull together some of the most iconic shows of those 10 decades, from drama and documentary to comedy via arts, music and science fiction. All are iconic in their own right. Together they are a portrait of a time, a country, and a belief in broadcasting as a force for good in the world.

20. Line of Duty (2012 – 2021)

Mother of God,...

Shashi Kapoor as “Sanju” (left) and Felicity Kendal as “Lizzie Buckingham” (right) in Shakespeare Wallah

directed by James Ivory Courtesy of the Cohen Film Collection

One evening in India, a troupe of travelling players, the Buckingham Company, finds themselves stranded after one of their vehicles breaks down. They are eventually rescued by Sanju (Shashi Kapoor), who is immediately smitten with Lizzie Buckingham (Felicity Kendal) the actress daughter of the troupe’s owners, Tony (Geoffrey Kendal) and Carla (Laura Liddel).

It’s easy to see why Sanju would be drawn to Lizzie – apart from what she represents (as white, as English) – Felicity Kendal, in her first film role, is luminous and lovely, her acting breathtaking in moments – her freshness as an actor often stands in contrast to the staid, traditional performances of her parents.

The Buckinghams and their rag-tag group of players travel India performing the works of Shakespeare, as they have done for many years,...

The latest Merchant Ivory film to get the full restoration treatment from Charles S. Cohen and his Cohen Media Group is the sumptuous 1965 drama “Shakespeare Wallah,” combining the legendary production duo’s love of family drama, canny political commentary, and a hearty dose of literally Shakespearean entanglements. It’s just one of the 30 films being re-released by Cohen as part of a remastered library includes 21 feature films and 9 shorts and documentaries.

Merchant Ivory Productions was founded in 1961 by producer Ismail Merchant and director James Ivory — together, they produced 44 films. Founder and Oscar-nominated director Ivory has collaborated with Cohen, and serves as creative director, on the restoration, re-release, and promotion of each of the 30 films. Other recent titles of note include “Howards End” and “Maurice,” with plenty more to come.

Read More:Merchant Ivory Films’ Sumptuous Re-Release Gets A Star-Filled New Trailer — Watch

This new “Shakespeare Wallah” restoration came from the 35Mm...

Starring Shashi Kapoor, Madhur Jaffrey, and Felicity Kendal, with original music by Satyajit Ray, Merchant Ivory’s 1965 Shakespeare Wallah will be rereleased in an incredible 4K restoration in New York at Quad Cinemas on November 10th.

Cohen Media Group has announced the brand new 4K scan and restoration from the original camera negative and magnetic soundtrack, and featuring a new 5.1 audio mix from the stereo 35mm mags, all approved by director James Ivory.

The incredible Shakespeare Wallah was the feature film that really put Merchant Ivory Productions on the international movie map, winning them great critical acclaim and now recognized as a classic. Starring Shashi Kapoor, Madhur Jaffrey, and a young Felicity Kendal, the film’s inspiration lies in the real-life adventures of Ms. Kendal’s family as a traveling theater group in India during the final days of English colonial rule. The ‘Buckingham Players’ try to uphold British tradition...

Andrew Moir Oct 26, 2017

Andrew takes a nerdy dive into the pop culture real and fictional that's made its way into the world of Red Dwarf...

Creating culture within science-fiction can be tricky. It’s potentially alienating, with the audience required to understand allusions without a reference point. Then again, if you throw in too many contemporary references, the future starts to look dated pretty quickly. Red Dwarf has walked that fine line, building its own stars and entertainment but chucking in the familiar, just to keep the world grounded. We take a look at humanity’s future culture as seen through the eyes of Lister, Rimmer, Cat, Kryten and Holly.

See related Gunpowder episode 1 review Amazon Prime UK: what’s new in October 2017? New on Netflix UK: what's added in October 2017? Music

Red Dwarf set out its fictional musical world early on with the opening scenes of the first episode...

(See previous post: “Gay Pride Movie Series Comes to a Close: From Heterosexual Angst to Indonesian Coup.”) Ken Russell's Valentino (1977) is notable for starring ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev as silent era icon Rudolph Valentino, whose sexual orientation, despite countless gay rumors, seems to have been, according to the available evidence, heterosexual. (Valentino's supposed affair with fellow “Latin Lover” Ramon Novarro has no basis in reality.) The female cast is also impressive: Veteran Leslie Caron (Lili, Gigi) as stage and screen star Alla Nazimova, ex-The Mamas & the Papas singer Michelle Phillips as Valentino wife and Nazimova protégée Natacha Rambova, Felicity Kendal as screenwriter/producer June Mathis (The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse), and Carol Kane – lately of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt fame. Bob Fosse's Cabaret (1972) is notable as one of the greatest musicals ever made. As a 1930s Cabaret presenter – and the Spirit of Germany – Joel Grey was the year's Best Supporting Actor Oscar winner. Liza Minnelli...

Louisa Mellor Mar 21, 2017

Spoilers ahead in our review of the final series 3 episode of Inside No. 9, which takes us to the world of modern art…

This review contains spoilers.

See related The Last Kingdom series 2 episode 1 review The Last Kingdom series 2: politics, battles and arselings What can we expect from new BBC drama, The Last Kingdom?

Inefficiency. It’s a criticism often levelled at the BBC by a certain species of rapacious vulture who sees the corporation not as the lustrous national gem it is, but as an unjust barrier to the extent to which they’re able to feather their own nests. The BBC is full of waste, they caw. The BBC must be more efficient!

If any of the vultures had the nous to watch BBC Two at 10pm on a Tuesday night for the past few weeks, they’d have been delighted. Well, not delighted.

Britain's Got Talent: ITV, 7pm

The search for a star continues, as the judges Simon, Amanda, Alesha and David travel the country for more singers, dancers, performing animals, and other madcap acts. Ant and Dec present, while Stephen Mulhern hosts the aftershow Britain's Got More Talent.

The golden buzzer sits in the middle of the judges' desk, ready for this week's outstanding acts. Will anyone follow in the dancing footsteps of Paddy and Nico and make it through to the live shows?

Hostages: Channel 4, 8.05pm

The hostage drama opened with a surgeon, Ellen (Toni Collette), being ordered to kill Us President Kincaid as she operates on him. Finally in the season finale, the day of the surgery has arrived. The First Lady has realised Ellen's deception and corners her demanding the truth. Blair's squad of hired terrorists pose as secret service agents, and establish their final plans.

The British public's top ten favourite TV detectives have been revealed.

Britain's Favourite Detectives - a celebration of the UK's greatest fictional crime solvers - will air on Saturday, April 19 on Channel 5.

Benedict Cumbarbatch's dashing Sherlock Holmes, David Suchet's intellectual Hercule Poirot and Life on Mars double-act Sam Tyler (John Simm) and Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister) are among the top 'tecs featured.

Digital Spy can reveal who has made the top ten - though you'll have to tune in at 9.25pm on Saturday to find out which order they come in, and which detective has claimed the top spot.

The top ten list is as follows...

Jonathan Creek (Jonathan Creek)

Miss Marple (Marple)

Sherlock Holmes (Sherlock)

Inspector Morse (Morse)

Di Alec Hardy (Broadchurch)

Di Frost (A Touch of Frost)

Sam Tyler & Gene Hunt (Life on Mars)

Hercule Poirot (Poirot)

Dci Tom Barnaby (Midsomer Murders)

Detective Columbo (Columbo)

Britain's Favourite...

Feature Alex Westthorp 16 Apr 2014 - 07:00

Alex's trek through the film roles of actors who've played the Doctor reaches Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy...

Read the previous part in this series, Doctor Who: the film careers of Patrick Troughton and Tom Baker, here.

In March 1981, as he made his Doctor Who debut, Peter Davison was already one the best known faces on British television. Not only was he the star of both a BBC and an ITV sitcom - Sink Or Swim and Holding The Fort - but as the young and slightly reckless Tristan Farnon in All Creatures Great And Small, about the often humorous cases of Yorkshire vet James Herriot and his colleagues, he had cemented his stardom. The part led, indirectly, to his casting as the venerable Time Lord.

The recently installed Doctor Who producer, John Nathan-Turner, had been the Production Unit Manager on...

Acclaimed director Sam Gold to direct McGregor in The Real Thing, opening October 2014

Ewan McGregor is gearing up make his Broadway debut, it was announced on Thursday. The Trainspotting actor will star in a revival of Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing at American Airlines theatre next year. McGregor will play Henry, a glib and unhappily married playwright, in the Roundabout Theatre Company production, which will run from 2 October 2014 until the following January.

It is a role – and, indeed, a play – with serious calibre on Broadway. Stoppard's drama has been produced twice before on Broadway, picking up Tony awards for best new play and best revival. Both productions delivered best actor and actress wins for its leads, with Glenn Close and Jeremy Irons scooping Tonys in 1984 and Stephen Dillane and Jennifer Ehle following in their footsteps in 2000, after the Donmar Warehouse revival transferred to New York.

McGregor has had a...

Art Malik is renowned for his roles in a succession of films and TV dramas in the '80s centred on the experience of the British Raj.

His evocative portrait of the young Hari Kumar in the ITV production of The Jewel in the Crown led to David Lean casting him in his sweeping epic A Passage to India. Malik was later cast in Mm Kaye's The Far Pavilions.

The Pakistani born British actor has achieved the rare feat of making his presence felt in the realm of international cinema with prominent roles in films such as The Living Daylights, True Lies with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sex and the City 2 and City of Joy.

The versatile star appeared on stage in the West End in the Tom Stoppard play Indian Ink with Felicity Kendal and there was a stint in BBC hospital drama Holby City, in which he played Dr Zubin Khan.

Sam Bain lifts the lid on 'painful' decision to turn down HBO series, Three Men in a Boat stars enter choppy waters – and Britain's smelliest-looking celebrity

This week's comedy news

Laughing Stock this week brings you news, not of something that's happened in the world of comedy, but something that didn't. According to an interview with Peep Show creator Sam Bain on the Stateside podcast A Bit of a Chat, Bain and his writing partner Jesse Armstrong "were about a week away from flying to La to co-create Flight of the Conchords, and then Peep Show got recommissioned and we couldn't go".

Bain and Armstrong had agreed to make the HBO series with Conchords stars Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement – "[although] we didn't know it was gonna be as good as it was," Bain told interviewer Ken Plume. (It turned out – with the Conchords' eventual co-writer James Bobin – to be very good indeed.

Cameron K McEwan Aug 16, 2016

Cameron sings the praises of 25 classic and modern Doctor Who adventures that went underappreciated. See what made the cut below...

Doctor Who fans can be an odd bunch at times (and by that I mean all the time), what's gold to one is dross to another. And when you think everyone is agreed on a genuine stinker (Timelash, for example), you'll find it has admirers in abundance. But what's here are some of the stories that, for whatever reason, get overlooked, underseen and, perhaps, undervalued - in no particular order.

The Awakening

Two-parters often get forgotten about (in classic Doctor Who at any rate) and this Peter Davison story, whilst perhaps best known to Who fans for a famous blooper featuring a horse, has some tremendous imagery and beautiful location shooting. Best of all is the villain of the piece, The Malus, who put the willies...

Feature Cameron K McEwan 26 Apr 2013 - 07:00

Cameron sings the praises of twenty-five classic and modern Doctor Who adventures that deserve more love. See what made the cut below...

Doctor Who fans can be an odd bunch at times (and by that I mean all the time), what's gold to one is dross to another. And when you think everyone is agreed on a genuine stinker (Timelash, for example), you'll find it has admirers in abundance. But what's here are some of the stories that, for whatever reason, get overlooked, underseen and, perhaps, undervalued - in no particular order.

The Awakening

Two-parters often get forgotten about (in classic Doctor Who at any rate) and this Peter Davison story, whilst perhaps best known to Who fans for a famous blooper featuring a horse, has some tremendous imagery and beautiful location shooting. Best of all is the villain of the piece, The Malus,...

Rufus Sewell was a pin-up in the 1990s, then his career stalled. He tells us about moving to La, giving up drinking and why he can't wait to lose his looks

There was a moment in the mid-1990s when Rufus Sewell's international stardom was assured. Before his 30th birthday, he had starred in two hugely successful TV adaptations, of Middlemarch and Cold Comfort Farm, and taken a lead role in the original production of Tom Stoppard's Arcadia, alongside Felicity Kendal and Bill Nighy. He would clearly become stupidly famous. But then he… didn't.

"People talk about opportunity knocking," he says, "but the gate was always swinging in the breeze before I got to the door. I was the lead in Interview With The Vampire, until Tom Cruise decided he was interested. I was in The Wings Of The Dove with Uma Thurman, until that got cancelled. I...

The Good Life

Veteran British TV actor Richard Briers has passed away aged 79 after a long battle with lung disease. Briers had recently spoken publicly about his struggles with emphysema. Briers ranks as one of the most respected comedy actors of his generation. Fans on both sides of the Atlantic grew to love him when he starred alongside Felicity Kendall in The Good Life (Aka Good Neighbors). His other work included Monarch of the Glen, and Ever Decreasing Circles as well as number of Shakespearean roles.

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The sad news broke today (Monday, February 18) that actor Richard Briers has died, following a battle with lung disease. Perhaps best known for his role in '70s BBC sitcom The Good Life, Briers had a long acting career that spanned five decades and included both dramatic and comedic roles.

His extensive theatre work, which included a number of Shakespearean roles, later extended into cinema when he appeared in nine of Kenneth Branagh's films including 1993's Much Ado About Nothing, 1996's Hamlet and most recently 2006's As You Like It - but it is in the arena of television that Briers is perhaps best remembered.

Digital Spy pays tribute to Briers - who passed away at the age of 79 - and recalls his best-known roles below:

The Good Life (1975-1978)

To many fans, Briers will always be Tom Good, the amiable former draughtsman who turned his back on the...

Much-loved TV and Shakespearean actor Richard Briers has died aged 79. He died peacefully at home after suffering from a chronic lung complaint for a number of years.Born in Surrey in 1934, Briers became a living room staple thanks to a long-standing stint in the BBC’s The Good Life, in which he played cantankerous Tom Good to Felicity Kendal’s Barbara from 1975 to 1978, but his profile had already been established thanks to a successful career as a stage and TV actor.Encouraged by his mother’s career as a drama teacher, as a teenager Briers made his way into Rada via stints as a filing clerk and national service in the Raf. From there he made a name for himself on stage doing repertory theatre in Liverpool and Coventry. His performances in West End productions caught the eye of TV producers who cast him in Marriage Lines and Brothers In Law.

Richard Briers has died at the age of 79.

The Good Life actor had recently revealed that he was battling with emphysema as a result of his smoking addiction and his agent confirmed that he died "peacefully" at his London home yesterday (February 17).

> Richard Briers 1934-2013: Career highlights in video

"I've got emphysema, you see, so I'm buggered," Briers told the Daily Mail only last month.

"I haven't even got the strength to garden anymore. Five hundred thousand cigarettes, darling - that's the trouble."

He added: "It's totally my fault. So, I get very breathless, which is a pain in the backside. Trying to get upstairs - oh God, it's ridiculous. Of course, when you're bloody nearly 80 it's depressing because you've had it anyway.

"The ciggies got me. I stopped ten years ago but too late. If you do it in your 30s then you're okay, but after 30 it gets you.

Outstanding actor of stage and screen who made his name as Bri in A Day in the Death of Joe Egg

The British theatre changed for ever when Joe Melia, as the sardonic teacher Bri, pushed a severely disabled 10-year-old girl in a wheelchair on to the stage of the Glasgow Citizens in May 1967 and proceeded to make satirical jokes about the medical profession while his marriage was disintegrating. The play was Peter Nichols's A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, which transformed the way disability was discussed on the stage. It made the names overnight of its author, the director Michael Blakemore, and Melia. Albert Finney took over the role of Bri on Broadway.

Flat-footed, slightly hunched, always leaning towards a point of view, Melia, who has died aged 77, was a distinctive and compassionate actor who brought a strain of the music hall to the stage, a sense of being an outsider.

Channel 4's star-studded Stand Up to Cancer telethon averaged 1.2m over six and a half hours last night, early overnight data shows. Hosted by Davina McCall, Alan Carr and Dr Christian Jessen, the charity fundraiser pulled in an 8.2% audience share between 7.30pm and 2am, peaking with around 2.1m for Cheryl Cole's performance. Channel 4 enjoyed its most popular Friday night since early last month during the Paralympic Games thanks to the broadcast, which raised £6 million for charity. Elsewhere, Piers Morgan's Life Stories scored an unexpected high for the secrets of actress Felicity Kendal - the programme logged 4.14m (18.3%) for ITV1 in the 9pm hour and 201k (1.1%) on +1. However, Have I Got News For You remained dominant for BBC One with 5.15m (22.4%) in its usual half-hour slot from 9pm. At 9.30pm, the (more)...

BBC Shakespeare Festival 2012

N Conrad

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If you are a fan of Shakespeare then Spring 2012 might not be a bard time for you to head over to the UK because the BBC are organizing a two month long celebration of his work. As Best British TV reported in November, a host of stars including Julie Walters and Jeremy Irons are set to star in new adaptations of Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V. However, several new programs have now been produced including Prefaces To Shakespeare in which actors David Tennant, Ethan Hawke and Sir Derek Jacobi explore the stories behind some of the writer’s most famous works.

Fiona Bruce and the Antiques Roadshow team will be hosting an Elizabethan themed episode in the bard’s home town while Survivors star Patterson Joseph leads...

'I actually wanted to be a writer long before I wanted to be an actor'

'Dickens was the most gorgeous person you could possibly meet. He was just amazingly affable. Your day would be absolutely made if you bumped into Dickens. More than that, he possessed the power to make you funnier and more attractive. He would laugh so generously that he actually empowered you. What a gift. No wonder that even during his lifetime people knew he was one of the immortals."

Simon Callow is explaining a lifelong fascination that has led him to write about Charles Dickens, to adapt his work, and to play the man – twice in episodes of Doctor Who alone – as well as his characters on both stage and screen. It is an engagement that reaches something of a culmination next year with the Dickens bicentenary, when Callow will publish a new book about...

BBC One's hit fantasy drama Merlin continues on Saturday nights, and this morning Digital Spy sat down with the show's co-creators Johnny Capps and Julian Murphy to answer your fan questions, submitted via Twitter or through our forums. Read the full Q&A below: Q: Is there any more info on the Merlin movie?

A: "It's in early stages - we're discussing talent right now, e.g writers, directors." Q: Will we ever see Merlin's mother again?

A: "There's every chance! Wait and see!" Q: If you could have any actor star in Merlin, who would it be?

A: "Tom Hollander, Brian Blessed, Felicity Kendal. In terms of guest casting, it depends on the parts - there's lots of names in our heads! Judi Dench, Ian McKellen..." Q: Will we see Morgause again?

A: "Who knows?? There's no such thing (more)...

Wasps. What are they good for? Well, as the old song goes, absolutely nothing – apart from to irritate the hell out of you on a hot summer's day. And even worse, they'll sting you without a second thought. At least bees may think twice about this, given that they're committing suicide in the process. But the wasp has no such mechanism to make it as benign, and more to the point, they'll make you look a fool in the process. Whether you're freezing like a waxwork dummy or doing some sort of crazy war dance in a vain bid to get rid of the annoying bugger, they'll still sting you like no tomorrow.

So a giant wasp should scare the bejesus out of any living man, woman or child. No wonder the latest Doctor Who story makes a virtue out of this with a story called The Unicorn And The Wasp.

British acting legend Diana Rigg has joined her daughter, Rachael Stirling, and Felicity Kendal as a patron of a UK charity that imports products to help people in India.

Kerala Crafts was set up by Christine Snow as a response to being moved by the plight of disadvantaged but skilled women in Kerala, southern India, whilst on holiday in 2001. The fair-trade project was set up primarily to support a women’s welfare centre in Cochin, giving much-needed employment to hundreds of women. Kerala Crafts buys beautiful hand-made, sustainable banana fibre baskets and handicrafts, unique to the UK, with all profits going back to Kerala, to support several co-operatives and indigenous charities.

From day one, all profits from Kerala Crafts has gone back to Kerala to support various projects, including the welfare centre where the baskets are made. The centre is a forerunner in imparting indigenous education through arts, trade skills...

One of Britain's most distinguished actors, known for her roles on stage and screen

Margaret Tyzack, who has died aged 79, was one of Britain's greatest and most popular actors, working on stage, television and film for more than half a century. Sometimes described as being in the mould of Edith Evans and Flora Robson, she will be remembered particularly for performances in the golden age of BBC TV drama – Winifred in The Forsyte Saga (1967), Antonia in I, Claudius (1976) – as well as for stage performances such as Martha in the National Theatre's revival of Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1981), for which she won an Olivier award for best actress, and Lottie with Maggie Smith in Lettice and Lovage (1987 and 1990), which earned her both Tony and Variety Club stage actress of the year awards. In 2008, well into her 70s, she scored perhaps one of her finest triumphs on stage as the wily,...

The Sun today reports that former EastEnders actress Anita Dobson is being lined up to star in this year’s Strictly Come Dancing.

The paper states, “Bosses hope Anita – who is married to Queen guitarist Brian May – will fill the role previously taken by stars such as Felicity Kendal and Pamela Stephenson on the hit dancing series.”

A friend of 62 year old Anita – who of course played Angie Watts, wife of Dirty Den Watts – told the paper that Anita hasn’t yet made up her mind if she’ll take part in the show or not.

She said, “Strictly is a lot of hard work. Anita is still undecided at the moment.”

View the original post Anita Dobson for Strictly Come Dancing 2011? on Unreality TV...

Anita Dobson is set to take part in this year's 'Strictly Come Dancing'. The 'EastEnders' legend - who played feisty former Queen Vic landlady Angie Watts - is in talks with producers to star in the BBC One reality show, with bosses hoping she'll take up the role of the sexy older lady previously filled by the likes of Felicity Kendall and Pamela Stephenson. A source said: "The producers are really keen on her. They think she would be great." However, friends of 62-year-old Anita - who is married to Queen rocker Brian May - say she is weighing up the lucrative offer...

Nirpal Dhaliwal has been watching Bollywood films all his life, so when he was offered a bit part in a new film, he jumped at the chance of a peek inside an industry unlike any other

Liverpool may have spawned the Beatles and Birmingham was the boiler-room of the industrial revolution, but Southall, a drab suburb on the western edge of London, has just as many cultural connotations – if you're Indian. Having been settled by immigrants from the subcontinent since the 1950s (including my grandfather), this assortment of sari shops, temples and halal butchers is known to Indian communities everywhere – whether in Delhi, Nairobi or New York.

Southall, of course, is nuts about Bollywood, the cinematic glue that binds Indians together; it provides the music, stories, fashions and values that enable a Punjabi cab driver in Chicago to have an rapport with a Gujarati radiologist in Berlin. In Britain, Bollywood...

Patsy Kensit is ready to leave 'Strictly Come Dancing'. The actress - who narrowly avoided elimination from the competition last week after landing herself in the bottom two alongside Felicity Kendall - believes her days on the BBC One show are numbered, and is expecting this weekend's tango to be her last. She explained: ''I am not a betting person but if I was I would say it was probably coming to its natural end for me. But that doesn't mean I won't try and put on a great show on Saturday. It is the tango and I'm going to do my best. ..

Patsy Kensit has admitted that she is ready to leave ‘Strictly Come Dancing’.

The actress – who narrowly avoided elimination from the competition last week after landing herself in the bottom two alongside Felicity Kendall – believes her days on the BBC One show are numbered, and is expecting this weekend’s tango to be her last.

She explained: “I am not a betting person but if I was I would say it was probably coming to its natural end for me. But that doesn’t mean I won’t try and put on a great show on Saturday. It is the tango and I’m going to do my best. That would be a wonderful conclusion, ending with the dance I wanted to learn.

“I am here as long as people want me here, that’s the deal. But I watch the others dance and think they are so good that they should go on.

Patsy Kensit has admitted that she was ready to leave Strictly Come Dancing last weekend. The actress, who picked up 28 points for her samba with Robin Windsor, said that she expected to be voted off the show when she found herself in the bottom two with Felicity Kendal. "I don't think it was our best dance," she told It Takes Two. "And being in the bottom two with Felicity - I think she danced beautifully. She danced like a princess and I got off on the wrong trotter, as Len put it. I was so ready to go. But I have been every week." Kensit said that she would miss (more)...

Felicity Kendal has argued that its time for dancing to come to the fore on Strictly. The Good Life actress, who was voted off the BBC One reality show on Sunday, said that it was the right time for her to leave because she was not one of the strongest technical dancers. "Because we're getting near the semi-final, that is where everything becomes really serious, I think that is where the really good dancers need to start taking over and winning the competition," she told It Takes Two. "I can't dance at all. Anything I did right was because of (more)...

More than 15 million watched Paije Richardson become the ninth act to be voted out of The X Factor on Sunday evening, according to the latest audience figures. The programme's results show averaged 15.25m (50%) for ITV1 in the 8pm hour, peaking at a colossal 16.42m (55.8%) for the final 15 minutes. After The X Factor, I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! continued with 10.66m (38.7%) as Gillian McKeith tackled her fifth Bushtucker Trial. Earlier in the evening, The Cube: Celebrity Special appealed to 5.6m (20.8%) on ITV1 from 7pm Strictly Come Dancing pulled in 11.07m (39.2%) on BBC One from 7.30pm, as Felicity Kendal became the seventh celebrity to exit this year's competition. Elsewhere on BBC One, Countryfile brought in a healthy 8m (32.3%) from 6.30pm. Antiques Roadshow managed 6.25m (20.6%) in the 8pm hour, (more)...

Felicity Kendal has become the seventh celebrity to be voted off 'Strictly Come Dancing'. The former 'Good Life' star and her professional dance partner Vincent Simone were voted off the BBC One show after failing to impress viewers with their routine, and Felicity admitted she felt ready to go. She said: ''I absolutely loved the last dance and I think the nicest possible way to end it is to do it with a dance that you were pleased with; that the judges liked, that the people liked, what can be better? I am sitting in a pot of honey and I am fit ..

Felicity Kendal has become the seventh celebrity to be voted out of this year's Strictly Come Dancing. The Good Life actress and professional partner Vincent Simone landed at the bottom of the public vote alongside Patsy Kensit and Robin Windsor, despite having secured her highest score yet for their American smooth in last night's Blackpool Tower Ballroom special. Upon hearing that she had finished in the bottom two for the third time, Kendal rested her head against Simone's shoulder, as he called out in protest. When asked to comment on the result, the 64-year-old stated: "It's been such an amazing thing. I'm here because of [Vincent], he's just phenomenal, he's just a genius." She then looked around at the historic (more)...

In tonight’s Strictly Come Dancing results show, from the world famous Blackpool Tower Ballroom, Felicity Kendal was voted off, becoming the seventh celebrity to leave the competition.

The combination of the judges’ scores and viewer votes meant Patsy and Felicity were in the bottom two with Felicity and her partner Vincent being eliminated.

Of Felicity and Vincent’s dance, the judges said:

Craig Revel Horwood: “I would have liked to have seen a little bit more rise and fall throughout the routine. More efficient spotting when you do your spins. Also, the transitions I thought were very good going in and out of the lifts and that final position actually could have been helped a little bit more actually if you’d just opened your foot up. But apart from that I thought it was great”

Len Goodman: “I thought the lifts were excellent. You got into...

Michelle Williams was the sixth celebrity to be voted off 'Strictly Come Dancing' last night (14.11.10). The former Destiny's Child singer and her dance partner Brendan Cole found themselves in the bottom two - alongside actress Felicity Kendal and dancer Vincent Simone - after failing to win over viewers. Michelle - who had taken part in the dance-off twice before to fight for her place in the BBC One competition - admitted she was ''sad'' about leaving. She joked: ''At least I don't have to worry about being in the bottom two again.'' Judges Craig Revel Horwood, Alesha Dixon, Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli blasted ..

Singer Michelle Williams (II) has hung up her dancing shoes - she is the latest celebrity to be voted off U.K. talent show "Strictly Come Dancing". The former Destiny's Child star failed to impress viewers and was forced to take part in a dance-off against veteran British actress Felicity Kendal to fight for survival on Sunday night, November 14.

But Williams' Paso Double routine did not sway the judges, and she was kicked out of the competition. Judges said her dance with partner Brendan Cole "lost balance" and was "very stiff", while judge Bruno Tonioli added, "It was the right energy but you lost it so many times."

A disappointed Williams says, "I'm sad about going, but you know, at least I don't have to worry about being on the bottom two again. The best thing has been making friends and dancing with the most amazing dancer, Brendan."...