Lily proud to be prejudiced

Lily Allen is to make her feature film acting debut in a spoof movie version of classic novel Pride And Prejudice.

Jane Austen Handheld will see the singer play Lydia Bennett, while Russell Brand stars as her lover, and Mr Darcy's arch enemy, George Wickham.

Stephen Fry meanwhile will play Lydia's father Mr Bennett with Hollywood legend Carrie Fisher his wife Mrs Bennett.

Sprout, the London company behind the production, confirmed the £2.5m movie will start shooting this spring. The traditional lead roles of Lizzie Bennett and Mr Darcy have yet to be cast.

The script has been written by Robert Farrarm, who wrote the 1999 rom-com Bedrooms and Hallways which starred James Purefoy, Simon Callow and Jennifer Ehle. The film will be directed by Tristam Shapeero, who has previously worked on Green Wing, Peep Show and Brass Eye.


Crowe making his own reality TV show

Russell Crowe is to make his own reality TV show documenting how he helped to restore an ailing Australian rugby club.

The movie star and his millionaire friend, Peter Holmes, bought the South Sydney Rabbitohs and filmed the rebuild to make TV show South Side Story.

Producer Marc Fein explained: "If you can imagine the city of New York owning the Yankees and letting the team fall into disrepair, you can start to understand the magnitude of what Russell and Peter were up against to rejuvenate the club."

Kids not alright?

Media regulator Ofcom has called for a national debate on the future of children's TV in Britain, saying just 17% of output is now homegrown.

It stressed that such shows attract more than a third of all viewing. In a report, Ofcom said parents were understandably concerned about the decline in British-made programmes in favour of cartoons and US imports.

It said investment by ITV1, GMTV, Channel 4 and Five had halved in real terms since 1998.
Greg Childs from the campaign group Save Kids' TV said funding was needed to improve children's broadcasting.

Radiohead album available again

Radiohead's official website is back online after demand for their new album caused the site to crash on Monday.

The band announced their new release In Rainbows would only be available to order via www.radiohead.com. Fans can pre-order the download at any price they choose or pay £40 for a "discbox", which includes two CDs, two records, plus artwork and booklets.

The band's spokesman Murray Chalmers said the website's problems had now been ironed out.
He said the collapse of the site had been caused by waves of fans first logging on in the UK after the announcement about the new album. They were followed by fans on the east coast of the US when they woke up to the surprise news, followed by west coast Radiohead lovers.

Mr Chalmers also said that to date, most fans were pre-ordering the "discbox" and that very few fans were trying to download the album for next to nothing. He said: "Although the idea is that you can decide what you want to pay, most people are deciding on a normal retail price with very few trying to buy it for a penny."

In other news

* Manchester City boss Sven-Goran Eriksson has ordered his squad to take English lessons in order to continue their impressive start to the season. The Swede has 15 nationalities represented in his squad and believes improved communication on the pitch will lead to even better results.

* Adverts featuring supermodel Kate Moss with computer-enhanced eyelashes broke advertising rules, the Advertising Standards Authority has said.

* Charlotte Church has revealed she gavebirth in front of a rugby match - but admits she wasn't paying full attention to the television. The singer and presenter returned to her Cardiff home where she and Henson put the Wales v Japan Rugby World Cup match on television.

* EastEnders star Ross Kemp has landed a deal worth £200,000 to play a panto villain.

* Simon Pegg and Nick Frost apparently tricked Mischa Barton into ordering a work by made-up artist. Mischa dropped a few mispronounced names of artists she approves of so Simon casually mentioned that he loves the work of Baco The Foil.

* X Factor winner Shayne Ward is stepping up security to avoid being harassed by an obsessed fan.


Clips of the day

Gingerbread Haka

http://youtube.com/watch?v=oulQwIP9VQQ

Insane Skipping

http://www.break.com/index/worlds-greatest-jump-roper.html


Emo 16 – cheer up luv

http://www.davesdaily.com/videoclips/emo-sixteen.htm