The Lord Thy God Steven Moffat (Thou Shalt Worship No Other Gods Before He) has confirmed that none of the major characters from the Russell Davies era of Doctor Who will appear in his first series of the drama. The new show runner previously revealed that the Weeping Angels, the Daleks and the Silurians would appear in Matt Smith's first year as The Doctor, but ruled out a return of any human characters introduced by his predecessor. Moffat told the Gruniad Morning Star: 'The more you back-reference, the more it feels like a sequel and the sequel is never as good as the original.' 
Well, except for Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads? Err ... And The Godfather, Part II. But apart from them ... Oh, well there's The Empire Strikes Back as well, I guess. But, that's it. 'Old favourites can return, provided you can do something new and exciting with them,' he added: 'There are no past characters coming back in this series, but I imagine that kids would love to see Captain Jack meet the new Doctor.' On the subject of his changing job from writer to executive producer, Moffat claimed: 'You don't think of it in terms of a challenge. You think "Ooh, wouldn't it be great to do that!" and I'm now in the fortunate position of being able to think that and make it happen.' And The French Connection II. And Superman II. And Aliens. And The Wrath of Khan. Actully, come to think of it, there's load of sequels that are better than whatever they were a sequel to.
Mariah Carey's new LP has been cancelled, according to reports. So, there is a God after all, it would seem.
Christine Bleakley has reportedly ruled out supporting her boyfriend, Frank Lampard, at the World Cup this summer.
The ONE Show host has decided that flying out to South Africa for the tournament is out of the question because she wants to carry on 'taking things slowly' with the footballer, according to the Daily Star. Bleakley is said to have told a friend: 'It's going well with Frank. But going to South Africa would send out totally the wrong message. And there's no way I want to be classed as a WAG.'
The BBC and ITV have confirmed their split of matches for this year's World Cup. England's first match against the USA will air at 7.30pm on Saturday 12 June on ITV. Their second game against Algeria will be broadcast on Friday 18 June at 7.30pm, also on ITV. The final group game, against Slovenia will be on Wednesday 23 June at 3pm and that'll go out on BBC1. In the knockout phases, the BBC will have first pick of the round of sixteen and quarter-final matches. If England reach the semi-final the game will be simulcast live by both broadcasters. ITV and the BBC will also both show the final live. And, the BBC will get more viewers because they always do. ITV's controller of sport Niall Sloane said:
'We're delighted that ITV will kick off coverage of this summer's World Cup and that England's two opening games will be shown live on ITV in peak time. There is no bigger event on UK television or online than the World Cup and ITV will be at the heart of the action from the first kick through to the final whistle.' BBC head of TV sport, Philip Bernie added: 'The BBC are very happy with how the TV split of matches for the World Cup has been resolved. The BBC has some of the most appetising of the group fixtures, and will be showing live every England match from their final group game onwards, so we hope to be with them for a long and successful campaign. The BBC will aim again to capture the very best of the biggest event of the year across all its outlets, on TV, on radio and online.'
GMTV was wrong to allow consumer expert Martin Lewis to promote his commercial website on Lorraine Kelly's show, the broadcasting watchdog Ofcom has ruled. In its March bulletin, Ofcom said GMTV had breached its broadcasting code by re-directing viewers to Lewis' website from the morning show's own web-page. The ruling referred to a segment on 14 January in which Lewis claimed free gym passes were available on GMTV's site. To obtain them, however, viewers had to 'click through' to the Lewis own site.
GMTV said that any suggestion the item in question was intended to direct traffic to its gm.tv site and then the Lewis site was 'inaccurate and disingenuous.' It said its viewers could obtain the benefits of the advice offered without visiting moneysavingexpert.com. But Ofcom ruled that 'by inviting viewers to obtain further information and vouchers on the GMTV website, and then re-directing them to Martin Lewis's commercial website to obtain that information, the programme was effectively promoting his business.' It therefore found GMTV in breach of Rule 10.3 of its broadcasting code, which 'prohibits the promotion of products and services, unless they meet the Code's definition of programme-related material.'
Sky has reportedly instigated an operational restructure involving the departure of commercial director Stephen Nuttall and director of strategic product development Gerry O'Sullivan. The restructure, which was announced internally to staff last week, is part of efforts to ensure Sky is ready to leverage convergence opportunities from its TV, mobile and Internet product portfolio. Over the past eight years, Nuttal has played an important role in shaping Sky's portfolio of services, including the Sky Player web-TV platform, Sky Mobile TV and Sky Songs. During a decade spent at the satellite broadcaster, O'Sullivan has also helped to develop and launch a range of products, such as Sky+, Sky Broadband and 3D television. Sky chief executive Jeremy Darroch has instigated the restructure to create two distinct product divisions, one for research and another for development and design. Alun Webster, current group director of strategic product delivery, will oversee the latter group and report directly to Sky chief operating officer Mike Darcey. In a leaked e-mail to staff, seen - of course - by the Gruniad Morning Star, Darroch said: 'This will bring together, for the first time, management of our full product suite and future product roadmap across all platforms and technologies, something that is essential in a world where convergence is blurring traditional boundaries.'
House actress Olivia Wilde is reportedly in talks to appear in the next Bond movie.
According to Ace Showbiz, Wilde would play 'a double-crossing UN worker based in Afghanistan' in the next franchise film. Sam Mendes (American Beauty) is expected to direct the twenty third Bond adventure, with star Daniel Craig expected to return in the title role. Slumdog Millionaire co-star Freida Pinto was also rumoured for a role in the project, but this has been denied by her representatives. 'I would like to confirm that as of today, Freida Pinto has not been approached to be part of the next Bond film,' a spokesperson for Pinto told India's NDTV.
Emmerdale star Danny Miller has admitted that he has received some 'negative' letters from homophobic scum viewers since his character's current gay storyline began. The actor explained that the hate mail comes in addition to heckling which he sometimes receives on the street after his alter-ego Aaron Livesy's sexuality confusion. Speaking on This Morning, Miller explained: 'You do often have people say things on the street and writing to you that are quite negative. It is upsetting.' However, he added: 'On the positive side, I had a couple of [letters] last week saying, "I just feel like I'm watching myself on TV - this is the exact journey I've been through." It's nice when they're giving you praise and saying, "You're playing it well and it's exactly how I was when I was coming out." It's a great feeling.'
Jack Thorne (who wrote The Scouting Book For Boys) has been hired to pen the big screen version of E4 show Skins.
According to the Gruniad Morning Star, Thorne will write a movie for Film4 which brings together all the different casts of the popular teen drama. The show helped launch the careers of Nicholas Hoult and Dev Patel, whilst current lead Kaya Scodelario (Effy) will appear in Clash Of The Titans next month. The programme, which revolves around a diverse group of teenagers growing up in Bristol, recently wrapped up its fourth series with the shock death of Freddie McLair (Luke Pasqualino). A completely new cast, the show's third, is expected for its next TV run. Thorne has previously written five episodes of Skins and also worked on Shameless and Cast Offs.
Blog readers who watch Qi regularly - so, that'll be those of you with Dave, basically - may remember a particularly fine episode from a few years ago which covered Death and, in which the guests played a game of Killer Mushroom Roulette. In this, Stephen Fry mentioned that the last case of someone dying when eating poison mushrooms in this country was so long ago that no one could even be sure of an exact date. Well, sadly, that's no longer the case.
A woman died from eating poisonous mushrooms which her niece had found growing wild at a botanical garden last month, a coroner has found. John Matthews, the coroner for the Isle of Wight, released a verdict that Amphon Tuckey's death was an accident. The Times reported that both Mrs Tuckey and her niece, Pern, ate the mushrooms, later identified as amanita phalloides, but the younger woman recovered after treatment at a London hospital. Two species of phalloides - commonly known as The Death Cap and The Destroying Angel - were two the deadly mushrooms featured on the Qi episode. They are among of the most dangerous mushrooms known although it should be noted that out of the three thousand five hundred types of mushrooms which grow in Britain only around one hundred are poisonous and, of those, only approximately fifteen are likely to be fatal if the amount ingested is large enough. Pern Tuckey testified that she and her husband were worried about the mushrooms. But she was reassured when her aunt ate a small quantity and felt no ill effects, the report said. Tuckey, after she became sick, told paramedics and her doctor that she had eaten raw sausage - apparently because her husband had warned her about eating the mushrooms and she was afraid he would be angry. Matthews called the lie 'unfortunate. But even if they had been made aware right from the beginning that she had eaten fatal mushrooms, the amount she had ingested meant she would have inevitably died,' he concluded.
Bernard Sumner has admitted to having mixed feelings about the popularity of 1980s-influenced music.
The former Joy Division, New Order and Electronic guitarist told The Quietus that he is aware of bands like Delphic, whose debut CD, Acolyte has been accused of ripping off his former bands' sound and style. Sumner said: 'I've actually met them, they're very nice boys. But I don't know. When we started out, in Joy Division, we were influenced by a lot of stuff. I don't think any young musician starts at year zero. We used to listen to Iggy Pop, The Velvet Underground, MC5, Love, Led Zeppelin, even Santana! I don't think anyone should be shot down for having influences, really.' He added: 'But this eighties revival is bit weird for me, because if I was to do a track that sounded like it was from that time, I'd get crucified! Maybe music's gone as far forward as it possibly can, so you have to start looking back, I'm not sure.'
The former Village People singer Victor Willis is apparently planning to sue the producers of The Cleveland Show. Willis, who appeared as the cop in the gay disco group's original line-up, is considering taking legal action over the false suggestion that he provided a voiceover in what he deemed to be an 'offensive' episode of the animated comedy. One which made fun of the 'In The Navy' band.
His spokeswoman Linda Smith told WENN: 'Victor was offended by the episode and says he would never have agreed to do a voiceover for such an offensive portrayal of The Village People police character originally created by him.' The episode, titled Buried Pleasure, was broadcast on 14 February, and featured an animated version of The Village People cop parading around in shorts before 'eventually jumping on the backside of a male after effeminately yelling, "Dog pile!"' It probably loses a lot in translation, dear blog reader. Smith added: 'Victor is appalled by the show's portrayal. He never wore shorts as the original Village People lead singer and cop. So how does FOX justify such an outright false portrayal, while publishing to the world that Victor Willis did the voiceover? And now it's all over the Internet, clearly suggesting to the public that the cop character portrayed in the show is Victor Willis. He does not endorse the show or its portrayal. Moreover, he did not do that insulting and effeminate Cleveland Show voiceover.' In a 'cease and desist' letter that makes clear Willis' intention to sue, Willis has demanded an apology from FOX, a ban on the episode airing in future without attendant corrections as well as an unspecified amount in damages. Willis is also currently suing The Village People's latest line-up for unauthorised use of his voice and image, as well as greeting cards company Hallmark for imitating his voice on several musical cards. Blimey. Litigious cop, is he not? Willis, it should be noted, has not performed with The Village People since 1984.
Kerry Katona's estranged husband, Mark Croft, has reportedly decided to launch a new career as a magician. The former cab driver is said to have used the auction website, e-Bay, to stock up on supplies for his new ambition.
A 'source' told the Daily Star: 'It's sad really. Only last week Mark was busy telling the world how much he had enjoyed spending Kerry's six million pound fortune. He spent years with her, blowing hundreds of thousands of pounds on flash cars. But now he's spending his days buying magic sets on e-Bay so that he can try to make some money as a magician. His pals reckon he will use his split with Kerry to start a new career in entertainment. He always was a bit of a showman. He's going to have to find a new way to make a living now he's without Kerry and all her cash.'
Well, except for Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads? Err ... And The Godfather, Part II. But apart from them ... Oh, well there's The Empire Strikes Back as well, I guess. But, that's it. 'Old favourites can return, provided you can do something new and exciting with them,' he added: 'There are no past characters coming back in this series, but I imagine that kids would love to see Captain Jack meet the new Doctor.' On the subject of his changing job from writer to executive producer, Moffat claimed: 'You don't think of it in terms of a challenge. You think "Ooh, wouldn't it be great to do that!" and I'm now in the fortunate position of being able to think that and make it happen.' And The French Connection II. And Superman II. And Aliens. And The Wrath of Khan. Actully, come to think of it, there's load of sequels that are better than whatever they were a sequel to.Mariah Carey's new LP has been cancelled, according to reports. So, there is a God after all, it would seem.
Christine Bleakley has reportedly ruled out supporting her boyfriend, Frank Lampard, at the World Cup this summer.
The ONE Show host has decided that flying out to South Africa for the tournament is out of the question because she wants to carry on 'taking things slowly' with the footballer, according to the Daily Star. Bleakley is said to have told a friend: 'It's going well with Frank. But going to South Africa would send out totally the wrong message. And there's no way I want to be classed as a WAG.'The BBC and ITV have confirmed their split of matches for this year's World Cup. England's first match against the USA will air at 7.30pm on Saturday 12 June on ITV. Their second game against Algeria will be broadcast on Friday 18 June at 7.30pm, also on ITV. The final group game, against Slovenia will be on Wednesday 23 June at 3pm and that'll go out on BBC1. In the knockout phases, the BBC will have first pick of the round of sixteen and quarter-final matches. If England reach the semi-final the game will be simulcast live by both broadcasters. ITV and the BBC will also both show the final live. And, the BBC will get more viewers because they always do. ITV's controller of sport Niall Sloane said:
'We're delighted that ITV will kick off coverage of this summer's World Cup and that England's two opening games will be shown live on ITV in peak time. There is no bigger event on UK television or online than the World Cup and ITV will be at the heart of the action from the first kick through to the final whistle.' BBC head of TV sport, Philip Bernie added: 'The BBC are very happy with how the TV split of matches for the World Cup has been resolved. The BBC has some of the most appetising of the group fixtures, and will be showing live every England match from their final group game onwards, so we hope to be with them for a long and successful campaign. The BBC will aim again to capture the very best of the biggest event of the year across all its outlets, on TV, on radio and online.'GMTV was wrong to allow consumer expert Martin Lewis to promote his commercial website on Lorraine Kelly's show, the broadcasting watchdog Ofcom has ruled. In its March bulletin, Ofcom said GMTV had breached its broadcasting code by re-directing viewers to Lewis' website from the morning show's own web-page. The ruling referred to a segment on 14 January in which Lewis claimed free gym passes were available on GMTV's site. To obtain them, however, viewers had to 'click through' to the Lewis own site.
GMTV said that any suggestion the item in question was intended to direct traffic to its gm.tv site and then the Lewis site was 'inaccurate and disingenuous.' It said its viewers could obtain the benefits of the advice offered without visiting moneysavingexpert.com. But Ofcom ruled that 'by inviting viewers to obtain further information and vouchers on the GMTV website, and then re-directing them to Martin Lewis's commercial website to obtain that information, the programme was effectively promoting his business.' It therefore found GMTV in breach of Rule 10.3 of its broadcasting code, which 'prohibits the promotion of products and services, unless they meet the Code's definition of programme-related material.'Sky has reportedly instigated an operational restructure involving the departure of commercial director Stephen Nuttall and director of strategic product development Gerry O'Sullivan. The restructure, which was announced internally to staff last week, is part of efforts to ensure Sky is ready to leverage convergence opportunities from its TV, mobile and Internet product portfolio. Over the past eight years, Nuttal has played an important role in shaping Sky's portfolio of services, including the Sky Player web-TV platform, Sky Mobile TV and Sky Songs. During a decade spent at the satellite broadcaster, O'Sullivan has also helped to develop and launch a range of products, such as Sky+, Sky Broadband and 3D television. Sky chief executive Jeremy Darroch has instigated the restructure to create two distinct product divisions, one for research and another for development and design. Alun Webster, current group director of strategic product delivery, will oversee the latter group and report directly to Sky chief operating officer Mike Darcey. In a leaked e-mail to staff, seen - of course - by the Gruniad Morning Star, Darroch said: 'This will bring together, for the first time, management of our full product suite and future product roadmap across all platforms and technologies, something that is essential in a world where convergence is blurring traditional boundaries.'
House actress Olivia Wilde is reportedly in talks to appear in the next Bond movie.
According to Ace Showbiz, Wilde would play 'a double-crossing UN worker based in Afghanistan' in the next franchise film. Sam Mendes (American Beauty) is expected to direct the twenty third Bond adventure, with star Daniel Craig expected to return in the title role. Slumdog Millionaire co-star Freida Pinto was also rumoured for a role in the project, but this has been denied by her representatives. 'I would like to confirm that as of today, Freida Pinto has not been approached to be part of the next Bond film,' a spokesperson for Pinto told India's NDTV.Emmerdale star Danny Miller has admitted that he has received some 'negative' letters from homophobic scum viewers since his character's current gay storyline began. The actor explained that the hate mail comes in addition to heckling which he sometimes receives on the street after his alter-ego Aaron Livesy's sexuality confusion. Speaking on This Morning, Miller explained: 'You do often have people say things on the street and writing to you that are quite negative. It is upsetting.' However, he added: 'On the positive side, I had a couple of [letters] last week saying, "I just feel like I'm watching myself on TV - this is the exact journey I've been through." It's nice when they're giving you praise and saying, "You're playing it well and it's exactly how I was when I was coming out." It's a great feeling.'
Jack Thorne (who wrote The Scouting Book For Boys) has been hired to pen the big screen version of E4 show Skins.
According to the Gruniad Morning Star, Thorne will write a movie for Film4 which brings together all the different casts of the popular teen drama. The show helped launch the careers of Nicholas Hoult and Dev Patel, whilst current lead Kaya Scodelario (Effy) will appear in Clash Of The Titans next month. The programme, which revolves around a diverse group of teenagers growing up in Bristol, recently wrapped up its fourth series with the shock death of Freddie McLair (Luke Pasqualino). A completely new cast, the show's third, is expected for its next TV run. Thorne has previously written five episodes of Skins and also worked on Shameless and Cast Offs.Blog readers who watch Qi regularly - so, that'll be those of you with Dave, basically - may remember a particularly fine episode from a few years ago which covered Death and, in which the guests played a game of Killer Mushroom Roulette. In this, Stephen Fry mentioned that the last case of someone dying when eating poison mushrooms in this country was so long ago that no one could even be sure of an exact date. Well, sadly, that's no longer the case.
A woman died from eating poisonous mushrooms which her niece had found growing wild at a botanical garden last month, a coroner has found. John Matthews, the coroner for the Isle of Wight, released a verdict that Amphon Tuckey's death was an accident. The Times reported that both Mrs Tuckey and her niece, Pern, ate the mushrooms, later identified as amanita phalloides, but the younger woman recovered after treatment at a London hospital. Two species of phalloides - commonly known as The Death Cap and The Destroying Angel - were two the deadly mushrooms featured on the Qi episode. They are among of the most dangerous mushrooms known although it should be noted that out of the three thousand five hundred types of mushrooms which grow in Britain only around one hundred are poisonous and, of those, only approximately fifteen are likely to be fatal if the amount ingested is large enough. Pern Tuckey testified that she and her husband were worried about the mushrooms. But she was reassured when her aunt ate a small quantity and felt no ill effects, the report said. Tuckey, after she became sick, told paramedics and her doctor that she had eaten raw sausage - apparently because her husband had warned her about eating the mushrooms and she was afraid he would be angry. Matthews called the lie 'unfortunate. But even if they had been made aware right from the beginning that she had eaten fatal mushrooms, the amount she had ingested meant she would have inevitably died,' he concluded.Bernard Sumner has admitted to having mixed feelings about the popularity of 1980s-influenced music.
The former Joy Division, New Order and Electronic guitarist told The Quietus that he is aware of bands like Delphic, whose debut CD, Acolyte has been accused of ripping off his former bands' sound and style. Sumner said: 'I've actually met them, they're very nice boys. But I don't know. When we started out, in Joy Division, we were influenced by a lot of stuff. I don't think any young musician starts at year zero. We used to listen to Iggy Pop, The Velvet Underground, MC5, Love, Led Zeppelin, even Santana! I don't think anyone should be shot down for having influences, really.' He added: 'But this eighties revival is bit weird for me, because if I was to do a track that sounded like it was from that time, I'd get crucified! Maybe music's gone as far forward as it possibly can, so you have to start looking back, I'm not sure.'The former Village People singer Victor Willis is apparently planning to sue the producers of The Cleveland Show. Willis, who appeared as the cop in the gay disco group's original line-up, is considering taking legal action over the false suggestion that he provided a voiceover in what he deemed to be an 'offensive' episode of the animated comedy. One which made fun of the 'In The Navy' band.
His spokeswoman Linda Smith told WENN: 'Victor was offended by the episode and says he would never have agreed to do a voiceover for such an offensive portrayal of The Village People police character originally created by him.' The episode, titled Buried Pleasure, was broadcast on 14 February, and featured an animated version of The Village People cop parading around in shorts before 'eventually jumping on the backside of a male after effeminately yelling, "Dog pile!"' It probably loses a lot in translation, dear blog reader. Smith added: 'Victor is appalled by the show's portrayal. He never wore shorts as the original Village People lead singer and cop. So how does FOX justify such an outright false portrayal, while publishing to the world that Victor Willis did the voiceover? And now it's all over the Internet, clearly suggesting to the public that the cop character portrayed in the show is Victor Willis. He does not endorse the show or its portrayal. Moreover, he did not do that insulting and effeminate Cleveland Show voiceover.' In a 'cease and desist' letter that makes clear Willis' intention to sue, Willis has demanded an apology from FOX, a ban on the episode airing in future without attendant corrections as well as an unspecified amount in damages. Willis is also currently suing The Village People's latest line-up for unauthorised use of his voice and image, as well as greeting cards company Hallmark for imitating his voice on several musical cards. Blimey. Litigious cop, is he not? Willis, it should be noted, has not performed with The Village People since 1984.Kerry Katona's estranged husband, Mark Croft, has reportedly decided to launch a new career as a magician. The former cab driver is said to have used the auction website, e-Bay, to stock up on supplies for his new ambition.
A 'source' told the Daily Star: 'It's sad really. Only last week Mark was busy telling the world how much he had enjoyed spending Kerry's six million pound fortune. He spent years with her, blowing hundreds of thousands of pounds on flash cars. But now he's spending his days buying magic sets on e-Bay so that he can try to make some money as a magician. His pals reckon he will use his split with Kerry to start a new career in entertainment. He always was a bit of a showman. He's going to have to find a new way to make a living now he's without Kerry and all her cash.'
