A round-up of what's happening in the arts
Stephen Fry is joining Sam Mendes on a white charger and going to the rescue of Kevin Spacey's beleaguered Old Vic by writing Cinderella, this year's panto. However, Fry was "too busy" to finish an episode of Doctor Who (the real reason being that the budget would have been too high for his script, which was set in the 1930s). He is also following up his wonderful documentary on manic depression with one about Aids. "Obviously, for the purposes of it, I had to infect myself, which was fun," he says. Stephen, Stephen . . .
As predicted in this diary, Roger Wright has landed the job of director of the Proms in addition to staying as controller of Radio 3. The Beeb's creative supremo Alan Yentob tells me it will be "very demanding" for him - an understatement, if you speak to some worried Radio 3 staff.
Bloomsbury has cancelled a book deal with Ruth Badger, star of last year's series of The Apprentice, after she realised that she had signed a confidentiality agreement with the show's producers, Talkback Thames. Doh!
Years of ferocious middle-class campaigning for a "children's Radio 4" ("What do we want? Nourishing kids' radio! When do we want it? In due course!") led to the birth of Go 4 It. But sources close to the brainbox Radio 4 controller, Mark Damazer, say the axe is poised, as he "can't stand the show". Does he know what he's letting himself in for?
The Life on Mars actor Philip Glenister tells me he wants to do a stage-musical version of the hit television show, which has just come to an end. He is planning to pen an "I'm 'avin' hoops" song for his unreconstructed copper character, DCI Gene Hunt. I think he's joking, but you never know.
bendowell@btinternet.com
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