Yer Keith Telly Topping happened to open a fortune cookie on Friday, dear blog reader. It said 'You will find yourself in a position of dignity in the end.' That'll make a nice change, he thought. Anyway ...
More than twenty nine million smackers have been raised for a variety of global causes by the celebrities, sportsmen and, of course, the public themselves taking part in the BBC's Sport Relief charity event. The telethon - from seven o'clock on Friday evening to the early hours of Saturday - featured special editions of BBC staples like Masterchef, Ashes to Ashes and Mock the Week. Noteworthy fundraising efforts included The ONE Show presenter Christine Bleakley water-skiing across the English Channel. A team of celebrities - including David Walliams, Paddy Kielty and Davina McCall - cycled from John O'Groats to Lands End in four days of ball-chilling frost earlier in the year.
And, probably most impressive of all, last September, the world's best known Action Transvestite, dear old Eddie Izzard, completed his quite astonishing endurance feat of running forty three marathons in fifty one days around Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Even Mama Telly Topping was pretty impressed with that. 'It was healthy, it was an adventure and it raised money for people in the UK as well as in the poorest countries in the world,' The Godlike Edster told the BBC. Highlights of the live telethon included the old BBC children's format We Are The Champions, revived with Paddy McGuinness as host, the Match of the Day team taking part in a special edition of Masterchef (won by Alan Hansen with his sausage, mash and burned onion!) and comedian Frank Skinner hosting an A Question Of Sport special. Sadly, it also featured way, way, way, way too much of James Corden. Then again, twenty seconds would have been way, way, way, way too much of James Corden. Good cause or not, there's only so much of that talentless berk I can take. Almost nothing, basically.
Matt Smith has told the Mirror that landing the title role in Doctor Who is 'the equivalent of signing for Manchester United.' What, suddenly finding yourself being supported by lots of people from Essex? Interesting theory, Matthew.
February 2010 proved to be a record-breaking month for BBC iPlayer, with a rise of eighty one per cent on February 2009 for the number of TV programme requests. Daily requests reached three and a half million in February, while the month as a whole drew an average of just under one and a half million users per day. The live episode of EastEnders proved the iPlayer's most popular show in February with more than one million individual requests. Consolidated viewing figures for the live special - across all channels but excluding the iPlayer - reached 18.8 million.
'The best birthday present EastEnders could possibly have is to know that twenty five years in it can still grab the biggest audience in the UK,' said John Yorke, Controller Drama Production & New Talent at the BBC. The iPlayer notched up a total of 116.4 million requests last month, including a record breaking 68.7 million requests for TV programmes alone. New benchmarks were set for both TV shows - with an average of two and a half million requests daily, and radio programmes - with an average of just over one million requests daily. Sixty four minutes was the average amount of time people spent on the iPlayer per week watching TV programmes last month, while one hundred and sixty three minutes was the weekly average for radio. The iPlayer is now in its third year and is available on more than twenty different devices, including games consoles and mobile phones.
And, so to the next batch of Top Telly Tips:
Friday 26 March
'Lose all thoughts of Judy Garland - I want [my] Dorothy [to be] slightly differently. I want to hear something with a bit of edge,' Andrew Lloyd Webber suggested to the thousands of Dorothy wannabes who queue up to audition for the lead role in his planned West End production of The Wizard of Oz.
In Over the Rainbow - 9:00 BBC1 - which starts tonight and continues tomorrow and for the next nine weeks, not only is he looking for someone who can step into those famous ruby slippers and make them her own, but he is also searching for a canine star to play Toto. This, dear blog reader, from the man who once brought us Cats! No justice. Following the - moderate - success of his earlier BBC talent show searches Any Dream Will Do, How Do You Solve a Problem like Maria? and I'd Do Anything, Lloyd Webber is reunited with host Graham Norton. The judging panel has a different look, though. Gone is Big Gay John and Little Pregnant Denise. Now, we've got actors Sheila Hancock and John Partridge (EastEnders' Christian) and singer Charlotte Church. But as ever, it's the viewers who will choose the winner over the coming weeks.
Tonight's episode of Qi - 8:30 BBC1 - (but not tomorrow's Qi: XL. Because there isn't one - just what the hell are you playing at, BBC?) is one that yer Keith Telly Topping has been particularly looking forward to all season.
Stephen Fry goes green, with the help of Jezza Clarkson, Bill Bailey, Danny Baker (first appearance in six year on this show for Dan The Man) and, regular, Alan Davies. Two of yer Keith Telly Topping's favourite motormouths, Jez and Dan, on one TV show? That's gonna be a question of who can get a word in edgeways, isn't it?! Anyway, let's all be glad that after three weeks of farting around with rugby and bollocks like that, we've finally got a run of the last few Qi episodes of series G. Hopefully, next year, they might give it an uninterrupted run. I wouldn't bank on it, though.
Comedy Rocks with Jason Manford - 9:00 ITV - feels uncomfortably like ITV trying something along the lines of Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow. Which is fine, but to be honest, Jason Manford is capable of so much more. On the press release for this, Jason describes his new format as 'a variety event.' Seriously?
Couldn't you have just said 'it's a big variety show with the singing and the dancing and the comedy just like Seaside Summer Special used to be' instead of all this 'event' bollocks? Anyway, they'll be hoping, obviously, to fend off too many comparisons with Comedy Roadshow and Live at the Apollo, so they're playing up the variety idea, because there will be music acts, too. Namely Pixie Lott (oh, God) and Scouting for Girls (I repeat, oh God). As well as Manford, Jo Brand, Joe Pasquale, ventriloquist Paul Zerdin and the great John Bishop will be hoping to provide the laughs. Good line-up, that. I know Pasquale's an acquired taste, but I like Jason, Jo and John Bishop a lot so I've a feeling this should, at least, have some - intentionally - funny moments amid the dancing girls.
Saturday 27 March
In Casualty - 8:50 BBC1 - May's confidence soars when she impresses Jordan with a patient and she realises she's a serious contender for the JAFA. When her patient crashes, May is determined to prove herself and prepares to intubate alone. But as she does, she hears a sickening crack and realises she has broken her patient's neck. Dixie wakes at Lena's side on the morning of her wedding, but decides to go ahead with the ceremony for the sake of her father. Alice is upset when Adam avoids her after their night together.
Tonight also sees - seemingly in lieu of the new series which, we were assured by Channel 4's press office would 'be back in March' - a repeat of one of the 2008 Time Team Special - 7:30 Channel 4.
March, eh? Isn't that the month just finishing, or did I dream that? Anyway, at least Londinium, the Edge of Empire is ninety minutes of classic Time Team. Tony Robinson follows the excitement as a large team of archaeologists spends nine months digging a huge site in the heart of the City of London. Roman London had always been thought of as a somewhat primitive city at the very edge of the empire, but the discovery of a bronze arm, the remains of a temple, and two of the most sophisticated mechanical devices discovered anywhere in the Roman Empire, has turned convention on its head.
Sunday 28 March
Wonders of the Solar System - 9:00 BBC2 - this week sees cheery, enthusiastic Brian Cox describing how the laws of nature have carved natural wonders across the solar system.
The worlds that surround our planet are all made of rock but there, the similarity ends. Some - like Venus - have a beating geological heart. Others - like Mars - are, quite literally, frozen in time. Brian travels to the tallest mountain on Earth and the volcano Mauna Kea on Hawaii, to show how something as basic as a planet's size can make the difference between life and death.
Oh, and it's the final of Dancing on Ice (7:45 ITV) tonight as well. So you might want to give that one a miss.
Monday 29 March
Paul Heiney and the team return with a brand new series bringing you the best of Britain's coast and country in Countrywise - 8:00 - one of ITV's surprise hits of last year. In this episode, Paul has a close encounter with a wolf and food expert Mike Robinson explains how the countryside is his larder. We meet the vicar who trains sheepdogs in different languages and visit the watermill that is alleged to produce some of Britain's healthiest flour.
Award-winning writer Guy Hibbert returns to the BBC with a powerful drama about two women and their extraordinary journey into the dark world of African politics.
Blood and Oil - 9:00 BBC2 - is a, sadly horribly topical, story about four British oil workers being kidnapped from an installation in a remote part of the Niger Delta in Nigeria. One of them is Mark Unwin. Back in the UK, his wife Claire is assured by his employers, Krielson International, that his speedy release is merely a formality. 
The militant group responsible for the kidnapping, Mend, depend on the ransoms of foreigners to finance their military operation - so the workers are always returned alive and in good health. Nevertheless, Claire travels to Nigeria in a bid to bring Mark back to the UK. Sounds suitably gripping - the trailer looks good - and it stars two of my favourite actors, David Oyelowo from [Spooks] and A Small Island and Paterson Joseph from Survivors. The second part is on tomorrow.
The Secret Millionaire - 9:00 Channel 4 - is, of course, a series in which a millionaire goes undercover in a deprived area in the hope of changing someone's life with a generous gift of their own hard-earned money. There's a touch of North East interest in this week's episode as David Jamilly travels to Redcar on Teesside, where hundreds of jobs are being threatened by the partial mothballing of the local steel plant by Corus. He goes undercover to see how he can help an area facing thousands of redundancies and also pays a visit to Zoe's Place Baby Hospice near Middlesbrough.
Tuesday 30 March
There's one of CSI 'funny episodes' on tonight - 9:00 Five.
That's funny 'har-har' as opposed to funny 'peculiar' ... although, to be fair, they do some of those too. Ray Langston and the team are called in when a former professional golfer is found dead on a course. With suspects ranging from the victim's angry ex-wife to a disgruntled caddy and a variety of other bizarre characters who surround the golf circuit, the CSIs face a tricky - and puzzling - case.
Richard Hammond explores the astonishing miniature universe all around us, revealing that small is not only beautiful, it can also be very powerful in the highly watchable Richard Hammond's Invisible World - 9:00 BBC1. From seeing the microscopic changes to ice crystals that can trigger an avalanche to watching the invisible aftermath of a sneeze on a commuter train and learning how the surface of a plant hides an secret that will make walking on the moon safer. The first episode of this show was really rather decent. A cautious recommendation for this one.
The World's Most Dangerous Place for Women - 9:00 BBC3 - focuses on twenty-three-year-old Judith Wanga. Judith grew up in London but was born thousands of miles away in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Sent away by her parents to live in Britain as a small child, she's now going back to Congo - twenty years later - to meet them for the very first time.
She wants to understand the childhood she missed and the country she was forced to leave and find the missing piece in the jigsaw puzzle of her life. After the reunion with her parents, Judith visits an area of the country devastated by the conflict, where rape has become a weapon of war. Judith meets survivors, women and children as well as perpetrators, and finds out what is driving this brutality. Discovering the harsh realities of her homeland, she develops a better understanding of why her parents sent her away all those years ago. The film is narrated by Thandie Newton, who is involved in the work of campaign groups in the UK to stop violence against women in the Democratic Republic Of Congo.
Wednesday 31 March
The story of John Darwin - the man who faked his own death in 2002 as part of a complicated insurance scam - fascinated the world when it finally came to light five years later.
Having supposedly drowned off the Durham coast, John subsequently lived secretly with his wife, Anne, in their family home and the bedsit next door – accessible through a hole in the bedroom wall hidden behind a wardrobe. The couple eventually headed to Panama to start afresh using the life insurance that Anne has received. But, when John realised that things weren't going to be as straight forward as he first thought, he believed his best option is to return to the UK and claim to be suffering from amnesia. And became a running joke for Andy Parson on Mock The Week. Canoe Man - 9.00 BBC4 - is a drama based of this, almost unbelievable, real-life true story which features the great Bernard Hill and Saskia Reeves as the Darwins.
Heads or Tails - 7:30 Five - is a (very generic) game show where members of the public are given the opportunity to become millionaires thanks to the simple toss of a coin. Friends and family are on hand to provide the contestants with assistance in calling heads or tails. What's to assist? It's either one or the other, you've got a one-in-two chance every time. Jeez, it's not rocket science. With one word the contestant could win a million quid, but will they make the right decision or the wrong one? In this edition, music student Theo tries his luck. Presented by Justin Lee Collins. Who can, himself, be something of a tosser. So he's well suited to this format.
Who Needs Fathers? For The Sake Of The Kids - 9:30
BBC2 - is a documentary which investigates The Children Act and whether its key principle is being adhered to. That in any family breakdown, separation and divorce, the welfare of the child is always the paramount issue. It's a shocking statistic for many people of my generation, but these days it is estimated that one in three British children have parents who are separated. It's the child's relationship with the absent parent which is often the key factor in their long-term emotional well being. This film follows two families in very different circumstances.
Thursday 1 April
On Corrie - 8:30 ITV - Becky is not well, but is something seriously wrong? Meanwhile, will Rita arrange a date with dashing Lewis? Elsewhere, David has a shocking announcement for Gail.
Cutting Edge - Lost Abroad: The Parents' Story 9:00 C4 - follow the story of two families whose children died abroad, and their quest to uncover the truth behind their deaths.
Erica Duggan heard her terrified son crying down the phone and hours later learnt that he had been hit by cars while running down a motorway in Germany. Bill Hawker received a call in the early hours of the morning to say his daughter Lindsay had been found murdered. In an instant both families were caught up in a personal tragedy in a foreign land, in a foreign culture, in a foreign language and, in the hands of police and lawyers with whom they could barely communicate. Each gradually came to believe that the only hope of uncovering the truth of their child's death was by taking on the investigation themselves. For the Hawkers, in 2009, there was an unexpected conclusion. When the search seemed hopeless, the prime suspect in their daughter's murder was arrested and charged. In an emotional and uplifting conclusion to the film, the family celebrate the news they have fought so hard for. Lost Abroad: The Parents' Story follows these families on their journeys in search of answers, but also remembers two exuberant young travellers and their joy at heading out into the world for the first time. Quite an upsetting subject, obviously, but from the bits I've seen this appears to handled with some dignity.
And, lastly for the latest batch of - frankly disappointing - Top Telly Tips, in EastEnders - 7.30 BBC1 - angered by Whitney's efforts to keep Billie away from them, his former crew takes action against his family and friends, in tonight's visit to Albert Square. Janine is still hoping to get her hands on Archie's money and, needing a new plan, she sends Ryan after Roxy. Despite Bradley's death being still fresh in their hearts, the Branning family gather for a big party to celebrate Lauren's birthday. Still, it's not all bad news, Have I Got News For You is back for a new series at 9:30 on BBC1.
Ultimately, however, it's a bit of a rubbish week all-round, Blood and Oil and HIGNFY notwithstanding. Thankfully, in the next batch of Top Telly Tips, yer Keith Telly Topping will be able to tell you about all the things happening over Easter weekend and into the first week of April - when Ashes To Ashes and Doctor Who will be back. Hurrah. It feels like spring has arrived at last!
So, on to the latest industry news, and we start with a sad one. The actor Fess Parker, famous for playing American pioneer Davy Crockett in Walt Disney's classic 1950s TV series, has died in California at the age of eighty five. The Texas-born actor launched a craze for coonskin caps and buckskin shirts with his manly turn as the US icon.
Parker went on to play Daniel Boone, another real-life frontiersman, in a 1960s TV show before retiring. Actor turned California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger paid tribute to him as 'a true Hollywood legend. Fess Parker has been a role model and idol of mine since I first saw him on the big screen,' he said in a statement. 'As a talented actor and successful businessman, he was an inspirational Californian whose contributions to our state will be remembered forever.' Born in Fort Worth and raised in San Angelo, Parker served in the US Navy and graduated from the University of Texas before trying his hand at acting. In 1954, at the age of twenty nine, he was cast in a three-episode miniseries about Crockett, 'the King of the Wild Frontier' whose life became an American folk legend. The programme was enormously popular with viewers and featured a memorable theme song - 'The Ballad of Davy Crockett', sung by Parker himself - which topped the US charts. After largely retiring from acting, Parker became a prominent California winemaker and developer. Parker married Marcella Belle Rinehart in 1960. They had two children — Fess Elisha III and Ashley Allen — along with eleven grandchildren.
Being Human actress Lucy Gaskell has landed a role as a mental health nurse in Casualty. The actress, twenty nine, who has previously appeared in Cutting It and Doctor Who, has been cast as the 'fiery and vivacious' Kirsty Clements.
Gaskell's first appearance in the long-running BBC medical drama will air on 15 May. 'Joining Casualty has all been a great big whirlwind, but the cast and crew have been welcoming and friendly from the moment I walked through the doors,' she said. 'It's been really easy to fit in and I've not once felt like the "new girl."' Series producer Oliver Kent added: 'We are delighted to welcome Lucy to Casualty. She's exactly the right person to bring the human whirlwind that is Kirsty to life and she's settled into the Casualty team beautifully.'
John Barrowman has said that he doesn't want his Torchwood character's sexuality to be reversed in any potential American version of the Doctor Who spin-off. According to Entertainment Weekly, the proposed US remake of Torchwood has plans to make his Captain Jack role straight.
'I hope wherever [the franchise] goes that the show stays the same,' said the actor. 'The last thing I would want would be for Jack to become this heterosexual, straight hero. He's an omnisexual guy. He likes men, women, aliens, whatever. I think we should continue going down that route.' The star added that any effort to change Captain Jack's sexual orientation would need to involve 'a big discussion' between creator Russell Davies and his producing partner Julie Gardner. As for additional information about the spin off, Barrowman claimed that he only knows what has already been reported, including that FOX has commissioned Davies to write the pilot script.
Plans for Jonathan Ross to sign a new deal with Channel 4 have been shelved, a report has claimed. According to the ever reliable Gruniad Morning Star, the controversial presenter was being lined up to move his BBC chat show to C4 in a deal which would have earned his production company ten million pounds. However, it is thought that the idea is now off the table pending the arrival of Channel 4's new chief executive, David Abraham, who reportedly has doubts over whether Ross would be an appropriate signing. Sources have suggested that the contract would have tied Ross down for two years and seen him presenting twenty episodes of his programme per year. It is understood that some figures at Channel 4 hope that Abraham can be persuaded of Ross's potential. However, it is claimed that no other major UK broadcaster is in talks for the presenter's format, leaving the network with extra time to consider its next move. A spokesman for Channel 4 said: 'We continue to talk to Jonathan about working together.'
Coronation Street actor Ryan Thomas has been charged with failing to stop after his car crashed into a lamp post.
Thomas, twenty five, who plays builder Jason Grimshaw in the ITV soap, is accused of crashing his Chrysler at 4AM on 31 October last year. It crashed into the lamp post and crash barriers at the junction of Chester Street and Oxford Road in Manchester city centre. He will appear at Manchester Magistrates' Court on 16 April. Another man was arrested at the scene and charged with driving under the influence of drink or drugs and having no insurance. But the charges were later dropped and replaced with the charge of perverting the course of justice. Thomas is accused of leaving the scene after the accident and failing to report it to police.
There's a very good, balanced and well-argued piece by the former England cricket captain Mike Brearley - a very smart man in every sense of the word - in Friday's Gruniad Morning Star on the consequences (both good and bad) of returning The Ashes to terrestrial TV.
The BBC has apologised after Radio 4 programming was interrupted on Thursday by transmissions from 6 Music. During Radio 4's seven o'clock news bulletin and at the start of long-running drama The Archers, the broadcast clashed with 'Wednesday Week', a song by The Undertones which was being played on 6 Music. As you can hear! That's pretty funny, actually. In response, a BBC spokesman said that the problem occurred due to 'a technical error' and listeners will be able to hear The Archers again without interruption the next day. 'We are very sorry to listeners for loss of service. Transmission was interrupted for just under two and a half minutes at 19.01,' he said.
'An announcement was made on-air that The Archers can be heard again at 2pm Friday and is available on iPlayer for the next seven days.'' The spokesman also dismissed any suggestions that the mix-up was some kind of protest against the BBC's planned closure of digital station 6 Music. During his show on Friday morning on 6 Music, DJ Shaun Keaveny played The Archers theme tune to 'redress the balance.' Speaking about the transmission clash, he also joked: 'I actually don't think it was a mistake - it could actually be a new management direction. It might just be a stealth way of putting us on as many different networks as possible, to get us exposure. A last-gasp attempt to get us over the million mark of listeners. I applaud it if that's the case. Stick us out over the ten o'clock news for five minutes.'
24 showrunner Howard Gordon has announced plans for a new series. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Gordon - who previously worked on The X-Files and Buffy, among other series - is producing a TV drama provisionally titled Patriots. The project is based on the Israeli drama Prisoners of War which recently went off-air. 24 executive producer Alex Gansa has also signed-up for the project, along with Gideon Raff, the creator of the Israeli version. The show will centre on three American soldiers who were thought lost during the Iraq War and reappear in a cave ten years later.
Jon Stewart impersonated FOX News pundit Glenn Beck on Thursday night's episode of The Daily Show.
According to Entertainment Weekly, the comedian mimicked the right-wing thug anchor's mannerisms and expressions, using Beck's signature expressions like 'TOTAL CONTROL!' and 'BLOW YOUR MIND.' 'In my America, nobody tells people when they can masturbate,' said Stewart as the self-proclaimed 'voice of reason.' A representative for Beck said that the presenter watched the show and thought 'It was hilarious. But even Jon Stewart can't make fun of me as well as I can make fun of me.'
Michael Grade departed ITV last year with a £2.7 million payment, whilst incoming chief executive Adam Crozier stands to earn at least £3.2m over the next three years. According to ITV's annual report for 2009, which was published yesterday, Grade collected £2.126m in salary and annual bonus for his final year as the broadcaster's executive chairman. Nice work if you can get it.
Laila Rouass will appear in the next season of [Spooks].
The former Footballers' Wives actress and Strictly Come Dancing contestant will join the cast of the BBC1 espionage drama when it returns in the autumn. Sophia Myles, who has starred in Doctor Who, and Mistresses actor Max Brown are also lined up to appear in the ninth series of the programme. However, the BBC's Sarah Brandist refused to reveal details of the new cast members' characters. 'The new additions will really ruffle some feathers,' she said. 'But we don't want to give too much away as intrigue and betrayal are at the heart of the storylines.'
Meanwhile, Laila's ex-Footballers' Wives and Strictly colleague, Zoe Lucker has joined the cast of EastEnders as a new love interest for Max Branning.
The thirty five-year-old mother-of-one, who played glamourous the bitchy Tanya Turner in the ITV football drama, takes on the role of 'dynamic and assured' businesswoman Vanessa and immediately attracts the attention of Max. When Vanessa stops by the car lot to do business with Max (Jake Wood), there's an immediate chemistry between the pair and it looks like Max has finally met his match. But it soon becomes clear that all is not what it seems. As usual on Easties. Speaking of her casting, Lucker said: 'I'm a huge fan of the show and I'm really looking forward to working closely with Jake Wood. I've heard fantastic things about the show though friends like Kacey Ainsworth and Natalie Cassidy, so I can't wait to get started.'
Former GMTV journalist Gloria de Piero has won her selection battle to become a candidate for a safe Labour parliamentary seat. The thirty seven-year-old political correspondent looks likely to become MP for the Nottinghamshire seat of Ashfield at the forthcoming general election. She would replace former Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon who is retiring.
When officials asked for the Welsh translation of a road sign, they thought the reply was just what they needed. Unfortunately, the e-mail response to Swansea council said in Welsh: 'I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated.' So that was what went up under the English version which barred lorries from a road near a supermarket.
'When they're proofing signs, they should really use someone who speaks Welsh,' said journalist Dylan Iorwerth. All official road signs in Wales are bilingual, so the local authority e-mailed its in-house translation service for the Welsh version of: 'No entry for heavy goods vehicles. Residential site only.' The reply duly came back and officials set the wheels in motion to create the large sign in both languages. The notice went up and all seemed well - until Welsh speakers began pointing out the embarrassing error. Welsh-language magazine Golwg was sent photographs of the offending sign by a number of its readers. 'They're circulating among Welsh speakers because, unfortunately, it's all too common that things are not just badly translated, but are put together by people who have no idea about the language. It's good to see people trying to translate, but they should really ask for expert help. Everything these days seems to be written first in English and then translated. Ideally, they should be written separately in both languages.' A council spokeswoman said: 'Our attention was drawn to the mistranslation of a sign at the junction of Clase Road and Pant-y-Blawd Road.'
Craaaaaaig Dayyyyvid has admitted that he didn't realise Motown was a record label.
The self-confessed bed-wetting, kestrel-owning singer, last seen working in a Call Centre in 2009's Bo Selecta! Michael Jackson Special was being interviewed by the Mirror. Why, I know not. He said: '[I] didn't actually know that Motown was a label. I thought it was an era or genre, like New Jack Swing or something. I didn't know that if you weren't on Motown Records, it wasn't Motown.'
And finally, Chloe Madeley has signed for a week-long stint as a presenter on Live From Studio Five. As if there weren't enough reasons already for not watching it, yet there's another one. Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan's daughter, who has previously hosted Big Brother's Big Mouth, will fill in before Emma Willis takes over the job permanently after Easter. 'The show has a great energy to it and I can't wait to get stuck in,' she told the Sun. Willis was confirmed as Melinda Messenger's full-time replacement earlier this week. Natalie Pinkham and Ricky Whittle have previously guest hosted alongside show regulars Ian Wright and Kate Walsh.
More than twenty nine million smackers have been raised for a variety of global causes by the celebrities, sportsmen and, of course, the public themselves taking part in the BBC's Sport Relief charity event. The telethon - from seven o'clock on Friday evening to the early hours of Saturday - featured special editions of BBC staples like Masterchef, Ashes to Ashes and Mock the Week. Noteworthy fundraising efforts included The ONE Show presenter Christine Bleakley water-skiing across the English Channel. A team of celebrities - including David Walliams, Paddy Kielty and Davina McCall - cycled from John O'Groats to Lands End in four days of ball-chilling frost earlier in the year.
And, probably most impressive of all, last September, the world's best known Action Transvestite, dear old Eddie Izzard, completed his quite astonishing endurance feat of running forty three marathons in fifty one days around Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Even Mama Telly Topping was pretty impressed with that. 'It was healthy, it was an adventure and it raised money for people in the UK as well as in the poorest countries in the world,' The Godlike Edster told the BBC. Highlights of the live telethon included the old BBC children's format We Are The Champions, revived with Paddy McGuinness as host, the Match of the Day team taking part in a special edition of Masterchef (won by Alan Hansen with his sausage, mash and burned onion!) and comedian Frank Skinner hosting an A Question Of Sport special. Sadly, it also featured way, way, way, way too much of James Corden. Then again, twenty seconds would have been way, way, way, way too much of James Corden. Good cause or not, there's only so much of that talentless berk I can take. Almost nothing, basically.Matt Smith has told the Mirror that landing the title role in Doctor Who is 'the equivalent of signing for Manchester United.' What, suddenly finding yourself being supported by lots of people from Essex? Interesting theory, Matthew.
February 2010 proved to be a record-breaking month for BBC iPlayer, with a rise of eighty one per cent on February 2009 for the number of TV programme requests. Daily requests reached three and a half million in February, while the month as a whole drew an average of just under one and a half million users per day. The live episode of EastEnders proved the iPlayer's most popular show in February with more than one million individual requests. Consolidated viewing figures for the live special - across all channels but excluding the iPlayer - reached 18.8 million.
'The best birthday present EastEnders could possibly have is to know that twenty five years in it can still grab the biggest audience in the UK,' said John Yorke, Controller Drama Production & New Talent at the BBC. The iPlayer notched up a total of 116.4 million requests last month, including a record breaking 68.7 million requests for TV programmes alone. New benchmarks were set for both TV shows - with an average of two and a half million requests daily, and radio programmes - with an average of just over one million requests daily. Sixty four minutes was the average amount of time people spent on the iPlayer per week watching TV programmes last month, while one hundred and sixty three minutes was the weekly average for radio. The iPlayer is now in its third year and is available on more than twenty different devices, including games consoles and mobile phones.And, so to the next batch of Top Telly Tips:
Friday 26 March
'Lose all thoughts of Judy Garland - I want [my] Dorothy [to be] slightly differently. I want to hear something with a bit of edge,' Andrew Lloyd Webber suggested to the thousands of Dorothy wannabes who queue up to audition for the lead role in his planned West End production of The Wizard of Oz.
In Over the Rainbow - 9:00 BBC1 - which starts tonight and continues tomorrow and for the next nine weeks, not only is he looking for someone who can step into those famous ruby slippers and make them her own, but he is also searching for a canine star to play Toto. This, dear blog reader, from the man who once brought us Cats! No justice. Following the - moderate - success of his earlier BBC talent show searches Any Dream Will Do, How Do You Solve a Problem like Maria? and I'd Do Anything, Lloyd Webber is reunited with host Graham Norton. The judging panel has a different look, though. Gone is Big Gay John and Little Pregnant Denise. Now, we've got actors Sheila Hancock and John Partridge (EastEnders' Christian) and singer Charlotte Church. But as ever, it's the viewers who will choose the winner over the coming weeks.Tonight's episode of Qi - 8:30 BBC1 - (but not tomorrow's Qi: XL. Because there isn't one - just what the hell are you playing at, BBC?) is one that yer Keith Telly Topping has been particularly looking forward to all season.
Stephen Fry goes green, with the help of Jezza Clarkson, Bill Bailey, Danny Baker (first appearance in six year on this show for Dan The Man) and, regular, Alan Davies. Two of yer Keith Telly Topping's favourite motormouths, Jez and Dan, on one TV show? That's gonna be a question of who can get a word in edgeways, isn't it?! Anyway, let's all be glad that after three weeks of farting around with rugby and bollocks like that, we've finally got a run of the last few Qi episodes of series G. Hopefully, next year, they might give it an uninterrupted run. I wouldn't bank on it, though.Comedy Rocks with Jason Manford - 9:00 ITV - feels uncomfortably like ITV trying something along the lines of Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow. Which is fine, but to be honest, Jason Manford is capable of so much more. On the press release for this, Jason describes his new format as 'a variety event.' Seriously?
Couldn't you have just said 'it's a big variety show with the singing and the dancing and the comedy just like Seaside Summer Special used to be' instead of all this 'event' bollocks? Anyway, they'll be hoping, obviously, to fend off too many comparisons with Comedy Roadshow and Live at the Apollo, so they're playing up the variety idea, because there will be music acts, too. Namely Pixie Lott (oh, God) and Scouting for Girls (I repeat, oh God). As well as Manford, Jo Brand, Joe Pasquale, ventriloquist Paul Zerdin and the great John Bishop will be hoping to provide the laughs. Good line-up, that. I know Pasquale's an acquired taste, but I like Jason, Jo and John Bishop a lot so I've a feeling this should, at least, have some - intentionally - funny moments amid the dancing girls.Saturday 27 March
In Casualty - 8:50 BBC1 - May's confidence soars when she impresses Jordan with a patient and she realises she's a serious contender for the JAFA. When her patient crashes, May is determined to prove herself and prepares to intubate alone. But as she does, she hears a sickening crack and realises she has broken her patient's neck. Dixie wakes at Lena's side on the morning of her wedding, but decides to go ahead with the ceremony for the sake of her father. Alice is upset when Adam avoids her after their night together.
Tonight also sees - seemingly in lieu of the new series which, we were assured by Channel 4's press office would 'be back in March' - a repeat of one of the 2008 Time Team Special - 7:30 Channel 4.
March, eh? Isn't that the month just finishing, or did I dream that? Anyway, at least Londinium, the Edge of Empire is ninety minutes of classic Time Team. Tony Robinson follows the excitement as a large team of archaeologists spends nine months digging a huge site in the heart of the City of London. Roman London had always been thought of as a somewhat primitive city at the very edge of the empire, but the discovery of a bronze arm, the remains of a temple, and two of the most sophisticated mechanical devices discovered anywhere in the Roman Empire, has turned convention on its head.Sunday 28 March
Wonders of the Solar System - 9:00 BBC2 - this week sees cheery, enthusiastic Brian Cox describing how the laws of nature have carved natural wonders across the solar system.
The worlds that surround our planet are all made of rock but there, the similarity ends. Some - like Venus - have a beating geological heart. Others - like Mars - are, quite literally, frozen in time. Brian travels to the tallest mountain on Earth and the volcano Mauna Kea on Hawaii, to show how something as basic as a planet's size can make the difference between life and death.Oh, and it's the final of Dancing on Ice (7:45 ITV) tonight as well. So you might want to give that one a miss.
Monday 29 March
Paul Heiney and the team return with a brand new series bringing you the best of Britain's coast and country in Countrywise - 8:00 - one of ITV's surprise hits of last year. In this episode, Paul has a close encounter with a wolf and food expert Mike Robinson explains how the countryside is his larder. We meet the vicar who trains sheepdogs in different languages and visit the watermill that is alleged to produce some of Britain's healthiest flour.
Award-winning writer Guy Hibbert returns to the BBC with a powerful drama about two women and their extraordinary journey into the dark world of African politics.
Blood and Oil - 9:00 BBC2 - is a, sadly horribly topical, story about four British oil workers being kidnapped from an installation in a remote part of the Niger Delta in Nigeria. One of them is Mark Unwin. Back in the UK, his wife Claire is assured by his employers, Krielson International, that his speedy release is merely a formality. 
The militant group responsible for the kidnapping, Mend, depend on the ransoms of foreigners to finance their military operation - so the workers are always returned alive and in good health. Nevertheless, Claire travels to Nigeria in a bid to bring Mark back to the UK. Sounds suitably gripping - the trailer looks good - and it stars two of my favourite actors, David Oyelowo from [Spooks] and A Small Island and Paterson Joseph from Survivors. The second part is on tomorrow.The Secret Millionaire - 9:00 Channel 4 - is, of course, a series in which a millionaire goes undercover in a deprived area in the hope of changing someone's life with a generous gift of their own hard-earned money. There's a touch of North East interest in this week's episode as David Jamilly travels to Redcar on Teesside, where hundreds of jobs are being threatened by the partial mothballing of the local steel plant by Corus. He goes undercover to see how he can help an area facing thousands of redundancies and also pays a visit to Zoe's Place Baby Hospice near Middlesbrough.
Tuesday 30 March
There's one of CSI 'funny episodes' on tonight - 9:00 Five.
That's funny 'har-har' as opposed to funny 'peculiar' ... although, to be fair, they do some of those too. Ray Langston and the team are called in when a former professional golfer is found dead on a course. With suspects ranging from the victim's angry ex-wife to a disgruntled caddy and a variety of other bizarre characters who surround the golf circuit, the CSIs face a tricky - and puzzling - case.Richard Hammond explores the astonishing miniature universe all around us, revealing that small is not only beautiful, it can also be very powerful in the highly watchable Richard Hammond's Invisible World - 9:00 BBC1. From seeing the microscopic changes to ice crystals that can trigger an avalanche to watching the invisible aftermath of a sneeze on a commuter train and learning how the surface of a plant hides an secret that will make walking on the moon safer. The first episode of this show was really rather decent. A cautious recommendation for this one.
The World's Most Dangerous Place for Women - 9:00 BBC3 - focuses on twenty-three-year-old Judith Wanga. Judith grew up in London but was born thousands of miles away in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Sent away by her parents to live in Britain as a small child, she's now going back to Congo - twenty years later - to meet them for the very first time.
She wants to understand the childhood she missed and the country she was forced to leave and find the missing piece in the jigsaw puzzle of her life. After the reunion with her parents, Judith visits an area of the country devastated by the conflict, where rape has become a weapon of war. Judith meets survivors, women and children as well as perpetrators, and finds out what is driving this brutality. Discovering the harsh realities of her homeland, she develops a better understanding of why her parents sent her away all those years ago. The film is narrated by Thandie Newton, who is involved in the work of campaign groups in the UK to stop violence against women in the Democratic Republic Of Congo.Wednesday 31 March
The story of John Darwin - the man who faked his own death in 2002 as part of a complicated insurance scam - fascinated the world when it finally came to light five years later.
Having supposedly drowned off the Durham coast, John subsequently lived secretly with his wife, Anne, in their family home and the bedsit next door – accessible through a hole in the bedroom wall hidden behind a wardrobe. The couple eventually headed to Panama to start afresh using the life insurance that Anne has received. But, when John realised that things weren't going to be as straight forward as he first thought, he believed his best option is to return to the UK and claim to be suffering from amnesia. And became a running joke for Andy Parson on Mock The Week. Canoe Man - 9.00 BBC4 - is a drama based of this, almost unbelievable, real-life true story which features the great Bernard Hill and Saskia Reeves as the Darwins.Heads or Tails - 7:30 Five - is a (very generic) game show where members of the public are given the opportunity to become millionaires thanks to the simple toss of a coin. Friends and family are on hand to provide the contestants with assistance in calling heads or tails. What's to assist? It's either one or the other, you've got a one-in-two chance every time. Jeez, it's not rocket science. With one word the contestant could win a million quid, but will they make the right decision or the wrong one? In this edition, music student Theo tries his luck. Presented by Justin Lee Collins. Who can, himself, be something of a tosser. So he's well suited to this format.
Who Needs Fathers? For The Sake Of The Kids - 9:30
BBC2 - is a documentary which investigates The Children Act and whether its key principle is being adhered to. That in any family breakdown, separation and divorce, the welfare of the child is always the paramount issue. It's a shocking statistic for many people of my generation, but these days it is estimated that one in three British children have parents who are separated. It's the child's relationship with the absent parent which is often the key factor in their long-term emotional well being. This film follows two families in very different circumstances.Thursday 1 April
On Corrie - 8:30 ITV - Becky is not well, but is something seriously wrong? Meanwhile, will Rita arrange a date with dashing Lewis? Elsewhere, David has a shocking announcement for Gail.
Cutting Edge - Lost Abroad: The Parents' Story 9:00 C4 - follow the story of two families whose children died abroad, and their quest to uncover the truth behind their deaths.
Erica Duggan heard her terrified son crying down the phone and hours later learnt that he had been hit by cars while running down a motorway in Germany. Bill Hawker received a call in the early hours of the morning to say his daughter Lindsay had been found murdered. In an instant both families were caught up in a personal tragedy in a foreign land, in a foreign culture, in a foreign language and, in the hands of police and lawyers with whom they could barely communicate. Each gradually came to believe that the only hope of uncovering the truth of their child's death was by taking on the investigation themselves. For the Hawkers, in 2009, there was an unexpected conclusion. When the search seemed hopeless, the prime suspect in their daughter's murder was arrested and charged. In an emotional and uplifting conclusion to the film, the family celebrate the news they have fought so hard for. Lost Abroad: The Parents' Story follows these families on their journeys in search of answers, but also remembers two exuberant young travellers and their joy at heading out into the world for the first time. Quite an upsetting subject, obviously, but from the bits I've seen this appears to handled with some dignity.And, lastly for the latest batch of - frankly disappointing - Top Telly Tips, in EastEnders - 7.30 BBC1 - angered by Whitney's efforts to keep Billie away from them, his former crew takes action against his family and friends, in tonight's visit to Albert Square. Janine is still hoping to get her hands on Archie's money and, needing a new plan, she sends Ryan after Roxy. Despite Bradley's death being still fresh in their hearts, the Branning family gather for a big party to celebrate Lauren's birthday. Still, it's not all bad news, Have I Got News For You is back for a new series at 9:30 on BBC1.
Ultimately, however, it's a bit of a rubbish week all-round, Blood and Oil and HIGNFY notwithstanding. Thankfully, in the next batch of Top Telly Tips, yer Keith Telly Topping will be able to tell you about all the things happening over Easter weekend and into the first week of April - when Ashes To Ashes and Doctor Who will be back. Hurrah. It feels like spring has arrived at last!
So, on to the latest industry news, and we start with a sad one. The actor Fess Parker, famous for playing American pioneer Davy Crockett in Walt Disney's classic 1950s TV series, has died in California at the age of eighty five. The Texas-born actor launched a craze for coonskin caps and buckskin shirts with his manly turn as the US icon.
Parker went on to play Daniel Boone, another real-life frontiersman, in a 1960s TV show before retiring. Actor turned California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger paid tribute to him as 'a true Hollywood legend. Fess Parker has been a role model and idol of mine since I first saw him on the big screen,' he said in a statement. 'As a talented actor and successful businessman, he was an inspirational Californian whose contributions to our state will be remembered forever.' Born in Fort Worth and raised in San Angelo, Parker served in the US Navy and graduated from the University of Texas before trying his hand at acting. In 1954, at the age of twenty nine, he was cast in a three-episode miniseries about Crockett, 'the King of the Wild Frontier' whose life became an American folk legend. The programme was enormously popular with viewers and featured a memorable theme song - 'The Ballad of Davy Crockett', sung by Parker himself - which topped the US charts. After largely retiring from acting, Parker became a prominent California winemaker and developer. Parker married Marcella Belle Rinehart in 1960. They had two children — Fess Elisha III and Ashley Allen — along with eleven grandchildren.Being Human actress Lucy Gaskell has landed a role as a mental health nurse in Casualty. The actress, twenty nine, who has previously appeared in Cutting It and Doctor Who, has been cast as the 'fiery and vivacious' Kirsty Clements.
Gaskell's first appearance in the long-running BBC medical drama will air on 15 May. 'Joining Casualty has all been a great big whirlwind, but the cast and crew have been welcoming and friendly from the moment I walked through the doors,' she said. 'It's been really easy to fit in and I've not once felt like the "new girl."' Series producer Oliver Kent added: 'We are delighted to welcome Lucy to Casualty. She's exactly the right person to bring the human whirlwind that is Kirsty to life and she's settled into the Casualty team beautifully.'John Barrowman has said that he doesn't want his Torchwood character's sexuality to be reversed in any potential American version of the Doctor Who spin-off. According to Entertainment Weekly, the proposed US remake of Torchwood has plans to make his Captain Jack role straight.
'I hope wherever [the franchise] goes that the show stays the same,' said the actor. 'The last thing I would want would be for Jack to become this heterosexual, straight hero. He's an omnisexual guy. He likes men, women, aliens, whatever. I think we should continue going down that route.' The star added that any effort to change Captain Jack's sexual orientation would need to involve 'a big discussion' between creator Russell Davies and his producing partner Julie Gardner. As for additional information about the spin off, Barrowman claimed that he only knows what has already been reported, including that FOX has commissioned Davies to write the pilot script.Plans for Jonathan Ross to sign a new deal with Channel 4 have been shelved, a report has claimed. According to the ever reliable Gruniad Morning Star, the controversial presenter was being lined up to move his BBC chat show to C4 in a deal which would have earned his production company ten million pounds. However, it is thought that the idea is now off the table pending the arrival of Channel 4's new chief executive, David Abraham, who reportedly has doubts over whether Ross would be an appropriate signing. Sources have suggested that the contract would have tied Ross down for two years and seen him presenting twenty episodes of his programme per year. It is understood that some figures at Channel 4 hope that Abraham can be persuaded of Ross's potential. However, it is claimed that no other major UK broadcaster is in talks for the presenter's format, leaving the network with extra time to consider its next move. A spokesman for Channel 4 said: 'We continue to talk to Jonathan about working together.'
Coronation Street actor Ryan Thomas has been charged with failing to stop after his car crashed into a lamp post.
Thomas, twenty five, who plays builder Jason Grimshaw in the ITV soap, is accused of crashing his Chrysler at 4AM on 31 October last year. It crashed into the lamp post and crash barriers at the junction of Chester Street and Oxford Road in Manchester city centre. He will appear at Manchester Magistrates' Court on 16 April. Another man was arrested at the scene and charged with driving under the influence of drink or drugs and having no insurance. But the charges were later dropped and replaced with the charge of perverting the course of justice. Thomas is accused of leaving the scene after the accident and failing to report it to police.There's a very good, balanced and well-argued piece by the former England cricket captain Mike Brearley - a very smart man in every sense of the word - in Friday's Gruniad Morning Star on the consequences (both good and bad) of returning The Ashes to terrestrial TV.
The BBC has apologised after Radio 4 programming was interrupted on Thursday by transmissions from 6 Music. During Radio 4's seven o'clock news bulletin and at the start of long-running drama The Archers, the broadcast clashed with 'Wednesday Week', a song by The Undertones which was being played on 6 Music. As you can hear! That's pretty funny, actually. In response, a BBC spokesman said that the problem occurred due to 'a technical error' and listeners will be able to hear The Archers again without interruption the next day. 'We are very sorry to listeners for loss of service. Transmission was interrupted for just under two and a half minutes at 19.01,' he said.
'An announcement was made on-air that The Archers can be heard again at 2pm Friday and is available on iPlayer for the next seven days.'' The spokesman also dismissed any suggestions that the mix-up was some kind of protest against the BBC's planned closure of digital station 6 Music. During his show on Friday morning on 6 Music, DJ Shaun Keaveny played The Archers theme tune to 'redress the balance.' Speaking about the transmission clash, he also joked: 'I actually don't think it was a mistake - it could actually be a new management direction. It might just be a stealth way of putting us on as many different networks as possible, to get us exposure. A last-gasp attempt to get us over the million mark of listeners. I applaud it if that's the case. Stick us out over the ten o'clock news for five minutes.'24 showrunner Howard Gordon has announced plans for a new series. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Gordon - who previously worked on The X-Files and Buffy, among other series - is producing a TV drama provisionally titled Patriots. The project is based on the Israeli drama Prisoners of War which recently went off-air. 24 executive producer Alex Gansa has also signed-up for the project, along with Gideon Raff, the creator of the Israeli version. The show will centre on three American soldiers who were thought lost during the Iraq War and reappear in a cave ten years later.
Jon Stewart impersonated FOX News pundit Glenn Beck on Thursday night's episode of The Daily Show.
According to Entertainment Weekly, the comedian mimicked the right-wing thug anchor's mannerisms and expressions, using Beck's signature expressions like 'TOTAL CONTROL!' and 'BLOW YOUR MIND.' 'In my America, nobody tells people when they can masturbate,' said Stewart as the self-proclaimed 'voice of reason.' A representative for Beck said that the presenter watched the show and thought 'It was hilarious. But even Jon Stewart can't make fun of me as well as I can make fun of me.'Michael Grade departed ITV last year with a £2.7 million payment, whilst incoming chief executive Adam Crozier stands to earn at least £3.2m over the next three years. According to ITV's annual report for 2009, which was published yesterday, Grade collected £2.126m in salary and annual bonus for his final year as the broadcaster's executive chairman. Nice work if you can get it.
Laila Rouass will appear in the next season of [Spooks].
The former Footballers' Wives actress and Strictly Come Dancing contestant will join the cast of the BBC1 espionage drama when it returns in the autumn. Sophia Myles, who has starred in Doctor Who, and Mistresses actor Max Brown are also lined up to appear in the ninth series of the programme. However, the BBC's Sarah Brandist refused to reveal details of the new cast members' characters. 'The new additions will really ruffle some feathers,' she said. 'But we don't want to give too much away as intrigue and betrayal are at the heart of the storylines.'Meanwhile, Laila's ex-Footballers' Wives and Strictly colleague, Zoe Lucker has joined the cast of EastEnders as a new love interest for Max Branning.
The thirty five-year-old mother-of-one, who played glamourous the bitchy Tanya Turner in the ITV football drama, takes on the role of 'dynamic and assured' businesswoman Vanessa and immediately attracts the attention of Max. When Vanessa stops by the car lot to do business with Max (Jake Wood), there's an immediate chemistry between the pair and it looks like Max has finally met his match. But it soon becomes clear that all is not what it seems. As usual on Easties. Speaking of her casting, Lucker said: 'I'm a huge fan of the show and I'm really looking forward to working closely with Jake Wood. I've heard fantastic things about the show though friends like Kacey Ainsworth and Natalie Cassidy, so I can't wait to get started.'Former GMTV journalist Gloria de Piero has won her selection battle to become a candidate for a safe Labour parliamentary seat. The thirty seven-year-old political correspondent looks likely to become MP for the Nottinghamshire seat of Ashfield at the forthcoming general election. She would replace former Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon who is retiring.
When officials asked for the Welsh translation of a road sign, they thought the reply was just what they needed. Unfortunately, the e-mail response to Swansea council said in Welsh: 'I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated.' So that was what went up under the English version which barred lorries from a road near a supermarket.
'When they're proofing signs, they should really use someone who speaks Welsh,' said journalist Dylan Iorwerth. All official road signs in Wales are bilingual, so the local authority e-mailed its in-house translation service for the Welsh version of: 'No entry for heavy goods vehicles. Residential site only.' The reply duly came back and officials set the wheels in motion to create the large sign in both languages. The notice went up and all seemed well - until Welsh speakers began pointing out the embarrassing error. Welsh-language magazine Golwg was sent photographs of the offending sign by a number of its readers. 'They're circulating among Welsh speakers because, unfortunately, it's all too common that things are not just badly translated, but are put together by people who have no idea about the language. It's good to see people trying to translate, but they should really ask for expert help. Everything these days seems to be written first in English and then translated. Ideally, they should be written separately in both languages.' A council spokeswoman said: 'Our attention was drawn to the mistranslation of a sign at the junction of Clase Road and Pant-y-Blawd Road.'Craaaaaaig Dayyyyvid has admitted that he didn't realise Motown was a record label.
The self-confessed bed-wetting, kestrel-owning singer, last seen working in a Call Centre in 2009's Bo Selecta! Michael Jackson Special was being interviewed by the Mirror. Why, I know not. He said: '[I] didn't actually know that Motown was a label. I thought it was an era or genre, like New Jack Swing or something. I didn't know that if you weren't on Motown Records, it wasn't Motown.'And finally, Chloe Madeley has signed for a week-long stint as a presenter on Live From Studio Five. As if there weren't enough reasons already for not watching it, yet there's another one. Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan's daughter, who has previously hosted Big Brother's Big Mouth, will fill in before Emma Willis takes over the job permanently after Easter. 'The show has a great energy to it and I can't wait to get stuck in,' she told the Sun. Willis was confirmed as Melinda Messenger's full-time replacement earlier this week. Natalie Pinkham and Ricky Whittle have previously guest hosted alongside show regulars Ian Wright and Kate Walsh.
