BB FANS

Norton's dance debut on BBC One


Graham Norton signed a deal with the BBC in December 2003
TV host Graham Norton's first show since signing an exclusive BBC deal last year will be based on the ballroom show, Strictly Come Dancing.
Strictly Dance Fever will follow a similar format but feature members of the public instead of celebrities.

"I'm delighted that Graham is as enthusiastic about this project as I am," said the BBC's head of entertainment, Jane Lush.

The BBC One series, due to air in 2005, will offer a top prize of £50,000.

"Graham's unique brand of humour and fantastic rapport with members of the public makes this the ideal show to demonstrate his talents," Ms Lush said.

Thousands of couples will audition berfore being whittled down to 10 pairings who will then be trained by professionals in the run-up to the final.

Norton, 41, will also host a one-off Sound of Music special over Christmas.

He spent the summer launching a US version of his Channel 4 chat show, So Graham Norton.

Norton became famous for his risque language and humour.

BBC/Entertainment

Scourge of showbiz ... Madge's head on Simon's body




Also in today's Bizarre

• Lucky bag that Abi
• Does Jade play fur?
• Best forgotten











MADONNA is on course to claim SIMON COWELL’s crown as the world’s toughest talent-show judge.
The Queen of Pop is stepping into Mr Nasty’s high-waisted trousers in a new US star-search programme to be fronted by hip-hop singer MISSY ELLIOTT.

Madge got the thumbs-up from producers after destroying hopefuls during a screen test with some of the most biting criticism ever seen on a talent show.
Sun

MacKenzie signs up for 'political idol'




MacKenzie: will join former ITV political editor John Sergeant on the judging panel

Kelvin MacKenzie has been signed up as the "new Simon Cowell" for a controversial ITV gameshow in which contestants will battle it out for a chance to stand in the general election.
The former Sun editor will join a judging panel that will help choo
se potential candidates for its "political Pop Idol" show, Vote for Me.
Mr MacKenzie, renowned for his uncompromising rightwing political views, will join former ITV political editor, John Sergeant, on the Vote for Me panel.

A third judge, preferably a young woman with a more leftwing political stance, is still being sought to counter Mr MacKenzie's trenchant views.

Vote for Me, due to be broadcast on ITV1 early next year, will be Mr MacKenzie's first major role in a TV show since his Channel 4 documentary, Kelvin Saves the Tories, was broadcast in June last year.

In typically trenchant style, Mr MacKenzie used the Channel 4 documentary to launch an alternative Conservative manifesto that included policies such as bringing back the death penalty for child killers, scrapping tax for anyone earning under £30,000 and "pulling up the drawbridge on asylum seekers" and sending them to a new holding centre - France.

The Vote for Me panel will soon begin travelling around the country for regional events to begin the selection process for a candidate to stand in the next general election, which is expected to be held in May.

Wannabe Tony Blairs will have to fill in an eight-page document to meet election rules, confirming that they are over 18, have no affiliation to an existing political party and no criminal record. Electoral rules also prevent bishops from standing for parliament.


Vote for Me contestants are then likely to have to try to impress Mr MacKenzie and the other judges with a one-minute manifesto.

The show's producers are also considering putting the potential candidates through tests such as holding a mock press conference and appearing on a TV politics show.

After this selection process, the Vote for Me judges will choose 10 contenders to go forward to the final.

Viewers will then be able to vote on which of the 10 finalists they believe would make the best choice to stand as a candidate in the next general election.

Vote For Me is to be presented by Tonight with Trevor McDonald reporter Jonathan Maitland.

Former ITV controller of news and current affairs, Steve Anderson, who commissioned Vote for Me before quitting the broadcaster to join Mentorn, is executive producing the show.

Vote For Me will finish before the next general election in order to avoid falling foul of regulations about broadcasting political programming during a general election campaign.
mediaguardian

Lorraine for 'MP Idol'





SUN columnist Lorraine Kelly will be a judge on ITV1’s “Political Idol” show.

She joins former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie and ex-BBC and ITV political editor John Sergeant to find a promising candidate for the House of Commons.

The show, called Vote For Me and hosted by Jonathan Maitland, will follow the Pop Idol format — with the panel whittling down hopefuls from auditions ahead of the public vote.

Lorraine, below, said: “Kelvin seems to fancy himself as the Simon Cowell of the show, which means I’ll probably be the Sharon Osbourne.”

The series will be screened in January.

Sun

Torvill & Dean to front celebrity ice dance show


Torvill and Dean are set to skate back into the limelight in a new ITV1 show.

The former Olympic champions will be pitted against each other in the series, Stars on Thin Ice.

They will turn rivals as they train two teams of sequin-clad celebrities in the “art of ice-dance”.

The new series comes just weeks after it emerged that BBC1 was planning an ice-dancing Christmas special.

The BBC has signed up former England star Paul Gascoigne as one of the celebrities for Strictly Come Dancing on Ice.

In the ITV ice-dancing show, one celebrity will be booted off every week and the final winner will be crowned Britain’s new ice sensation.

The contestants, whose names have not yet been announced, will learn a new routine every week with a professional coach.

The show will be a comeback for Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, or T&D as they were known, who were huge stars in the Eighties.

In 1984 over 24 million people tuned into the TV to watch the pair win gold at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics.

The BBC delayed the Nine o’Clock News and MPs in the House of Commons broke off debate to watch the pair.

Dean now lives in the US while Torvill teaches her craft in the UK.

Today she said: “Chris and I ice-dancing to Ravel’s Bolero and winning gold was one of the highpoints of our lives so far.

“It was also one of the trickiest and most difficult.

“Coaching a team of novice celebrities might be equally as challenging but hopefully a lot of fun as well.

The 47-year-old said: “It’s brilliant that we’re going to recreate the magic of the Olympics by teaching ice-dancing and Chris, me and the rest of the country can relive those special moments.”

Dean, 46, said he was “thrilled” to be reuniting with his former ice partner.

“The Olympics were a tough challenge and this will be an Olympian challenge too.

“I can’t wait to get my hands on those celebrities and knock them into shape.

“I’m a very tough teacher and very competitive, so I’ll expect high standards.”

An ITV spokesman said: “Torvill and Dean will be incredibly competitive.

“Both are very driven and will be determined to win. We can expect a few sparks to fly along the way.”

A BBC insider said: “This does sound very similar to our Strictly Come Dancing Special.”
breakingnews

Battling beauties
JUST when you thought TV execs couldn’t come up with another showbiz reality show – get set for Celebrity Combat.

The makers of I’m A Celebrity are lining up the show – dubbed Gladiators meets It’s A Knockout – for prime time Saturday nights next spring. Ready to slip into the all-too-familiar lycra are Liberty X’s Michelle Heaton, Mis-Teeq singer Alesha Dixon and Lady Isabella Hervey.

Sun

The line-up for The Games to be broadcast in the new year.

Chesney Hawkes, Kirsty Gallacher, Anna Walker,
Craig Charles, Jonathan Morris, Philip Olivier, Mel Giedroyc, Kevin Simm, Lisa Mafia and Princess Tamara Czartoryski-Borbon.
Sun

Bob's Back - Without Vic

Bob Mortimer has signed up for his own BBC1 comedy show - without long-time sidekick Vic Reeves.

He will present a new BBC1 celebrity panel game - called 29 Minutes of Fame next month, it is reported.
It is the first time 45-year-old Mortimer has worked without Reeves in his 15-year showbiz career but sources say the two will be getting back together again.

He said: "The show is the antidote to celebrity.

"I've learned all sorts of fascinating facts about famous people. I had no idea Rod Stewart invented bread."

Reeves, real name Jim Moir, worked without Mortimer last month - making a solo appearance on ITV's I'm A Celebrity ... Get me Out Of Here!

The pair rocketed to fame on shows such as the BBC's cult series Shooting Stars.
[url]Ananova[/url]

2005 reality TV highlights

Chesney sings for his supper
Come the New Year, reality TV fans will be spoiled for choice. Here’s our pick of the bunch…

The one and only Chesney Hawkes is the latest celeb to sign up to Channel 4's The Games. Also stretching the dictionary definition of the word “star” to breaking point are TV presenter Anna Walker, Red Dwarf star Craig Charles, Bread actor Jonathan Morris, Brookside’s Philip Olivier, comedian Mel Giedroyc, So Solid’s Lisa Mafia and real-life princess, Tamara Czartoryski-Borbon.

Gordon Ramsay will not return for the new series of Hell's Kitchen. Stepping into his shoes when the show returns next year will be fiery French chef Jean-Christophe Novelli. Ramsay made the first series of the ITV show a massive hit, thanks to his bust-ups with the celebrity chefs, but he won't be returning for the second season after admitting that he did not enjoy training the stars to run a real restaurant. He said: "I've never dealt with so much sh** in my life. I hated doing it.”

Sky TV's The Only Gays in the Village follows celebrity homosexuals Andrew Kinlochan from Phixx, chef Richard Cawley, comedian Scott Capurro and TV presenter Kristian Digby as they're sent to work in a "gay-free" rural village. The show has just been dropped by Sky One, over concerns that it didn't fit the channel's new image, and is now expected to be screened on sister service Sky One Mix.

ITV1’s reality offering comes in the shape of Ladette to Lady, in which a bunch of loudmouths are taught etiquette, elocution and social graces at a boot camp in the north east of England. The contestants include Jemma, who was jailed for flashing her breasts in Faliraki and pint-swilling gas fitter Michelle.

wanadoo.co.uk

reality fight



Ananova

Also from Ananova

Jerry to date 15 bachelors

Jerry Hall is to date 15 young bachelors for a new reality TV show.

Kept, which will be shown on VH1 in June, will attempt to find Hall the perfect partner to share her glamorous lifestyle.

Her favourite contestant will win the chance to live like her for a year, complete with a six-figure allowance, a sports car, a luxury home and tickets to star-studded parties reports Contactmusic.com.

She says, "My job is to turn these American boys into charming European sophisticates."

A close friend adds, "Jerry is having a ball, being wined and dined by these toyboys. They will accompany her to star-studded showbiz dos and hip music events all over London."

that baby thing is sick and should never have been allowed

read about it Here

Kirsty Gallacher, no personality, but who cares, mmmmm

Wonder if the rumours are true about her, i hope so

British TV to test if town can survive without women.
In an experiment designed to test out one of the oldest arguments in the battle of the sexes, a British village is to be temporarily stripped of its womenfolk to see if the remaining men are able to cope.

The stunt will be carried out in Harby, a tiny community in northern England, and filmed for a BBC television "reality" series called The Week The Women Went, the Times newspaper reported in its Thursday edition.

Eighty women will be put up at a hotel for seven days, leaving their husbands and sons to grapple with the likes of babies, washing and shopping.

The BBC has described the forthcoming series as "an intriguing social experiment", but some locals are less sure, the report said.

Such is the worry that the village — and especially its men — might be portrayed in a bad light, the entire population is to hold an emergency meeting, the Times said.

"The village is certainly divided over this, and there has definitely been some bad feeling that was not here before the BBC came along," parish council chairman Richard Croft told the paper.

The producer of the series told the paper that while some men were expected to cope well, in other households "domestic chaos will ensue". usatoday