Ben Dowell's round-up of what is going on in the Arts world
David Blunkett clearly has a short memory. Having spat feathers at the digital channel More 4 for its rollicking drama A Very Social Secretary ("This really is the liberati getting their own back . I'm deeply hurt," he told his diaries), he is coming back to the channel: as himself. He's sitting down with psychologist (and Mrs Billy Connolly) Pamela Stephenson in March for 60-minutes of in-depth "psycho-dynamic" conversations in a new show called Shrink Rap, which will also put Robin Williams, Susan Sarandon, Stephen Fry and Sarah, Duchess of York to the test. Dr Connolly says of the new series: "We have a society which teaches its kids that the highest good is to be well known. And yet who is known? Not the true self. It's a self that famous people have created to deal with their fame and the wider the gap the more trouble they get into." Mmm . . .
Britz, Peter Kosminsky's first fiction film, will have a go at the government's anti-terror laws when C4 shows it next year. The two-part drama tells the story of a young Muslim brother, who gets recruited by MI5, and a sister Nasima (Manjinder Virk from Bradford Riots), who is studying medicine and becomes radicalised by the relentless targeting of her neighbours and peers.
David "The Hoff" Hasselhoff has just been offered a starring role in The Producers in Las Vegas after Mel Brooks personally pursued his services. Bit of a step up from earlier this year when this column revealed that he pulled out of playing Captain Hook beside Bobby Davro in Peter Pan at the New Wimbledon Theatre.
Watch out for Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars, the extraordinary band formed in refugee camps during the nine-year civil war - who are making their UK debut at London's Carling Academy Islington on 4 December. It follows the critical success of their album, Living Like a Refugee.
bendowell@btinternet.com
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