Stewart Lee, co-creator of the hit-and-miss Jerry Springer: the opera, is preparing a new stage show. Its working title, What Would Judas Do?, suggests that the bequiffed, Mini-driving leading light of the British Humanist Association is in no mood to water down his comedy for all those Christian fundamentalists he offended first time around.
The show takes as its starting point the notion that Judas did a good turn by allowing Jesus to die and thereby atone for the sins of mankind. Ben Elton is a target as a traitor to his principles, and Lee plans to finish by putting a noose around Elton's neck and asking the audience if anyone wants to kick the chair away. It is pencilled in for the Bush Theatre early next year as part of a double bill with a monologue from the great Mark "Shopping and F**king" Ravenhill.
Is it me, or is the BBC's notion of "opinion formers" - these people whom the corporation invites to its lavish parties celebrating certain programmes or seasons - not a little, how shall I put it, Stalinist? The most recent one was a shindig at the Serpentine Gallery in London to mark Simon Schama's new arts series, and the "opinion formers" on the guest list included Dame Judi Dench (below) and other luvvies. I bet the 2,000 or so people losing their jobs in the latest round of BBC staff cuts would be interested to hear how much parties like this cost.
After much wrangling behind the scenes, the composer Simon Boswell has released a selection of his best film-score music on iTunes, an album called Close Your Eyes. The highlight is a rap by the Scots actor Ewan McGregor (above right), in which he takes the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Sid Vicious and Marc Bolan to task for dying young. The expletive-laden lyrics refer to the line from The Who's anthemic song "My Generation": "I hope I die before I get old". McGregor sings: "F*** Pete Townshend and the song that he sung/I don't wanna die while I'm still young." And goes on: "Don't wanna be Sid Vicious, be a c*** and OD/Or get it on like Marc Bolan, wrap my Mini round a tree/Don't wanna take a jet and have some terrorist bomb it/Don't wanna be like Jimi Hendrix and make a meal of my vomit." Great stuff.
The actor David Tennant was a memorable guest presenter on Who Do You Think You Are?, the BBC genealogy series in which celebrities trace their ancestors. However, a friend of the Scottish actor tells me that he now regrets doing the programme because it's exposed his relatives to the public gaze.
I hear from insiders that Lost, which has just finished its second series on Channel 4, will run to four seasons. The fan sites all predict seven, but they are apparently well wide of the mark. Four it is . . . which is probably good news. Watching it is like the toothache for me - I can't help touching the affected area even though I know it's doing me no good.
David Blunkett's political diaries are to be published soon, but will first appear serialised on Channel 4. The word is that there are "one or two" revelations, but he doesn't even mention the name Kimberly.
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