Carole emailed me saying that she noticed that “Bright Young Things” will be released on DVD in the US (hopefully in Canada too) on February 8th. Check out Amazon for prices and shipping costs.

Pat also said that she discovered that a few of REG’s works have become available on DVD Region 2 that she hadn’t seen available before – Including Tooth (Small Role), Killing Dad and Trial & Retribution III. The later comes on a disk with other T&Rs so it’s a bit pricey.

Pat noted that Amazon.co.uk now rents DVD’s as well.

Thanks for the news, guys.

Victoria Wood: A BAFTA Tribute
BBC1 on Saturday 5th February at 9:05 pm – 10:10 pm (65 minutes)

BAFTA and the BBC host a special gala event to celebrate one of Great Britain’s best loved stars, Victoria Wood. Collaborators and fellow entertainers Julie Walters, Lenny Henry, Richard E Grant and Jim Broadbent gather together to pay tribute, and there are contributions from Peter Kay and French and Saunders.

The event looks back at her extraordinary career, features celebrity tributes and clips of her work, and culminates with a presentation of the prestigious BAFTA Special Award. There is also a one-off preview of Victoria’s new project, Acorn Antiques The Musical.

Thanks for the follow up, Joan.

Richard E. Grant will be appearing on this weeks Richard & Judy Show discussing Justin Cartwrights’s “The Promise Of Happiness” (Bloomsbury £7.99). The program airs on Wednesday at 5pm (Channel 4).

Thanks Denise.

The cream of British comedic talent were out in force at the West End for a special event in honour of writer and performer Victoria Wood. After 30 years of devising some of the most well-liked and influential material on television, the comedian behind Dinnerladies and As Seen on TV was celebrated in a star-studded tribute from Bafta.

Established names of British comedy, such as Lenny Henry and Richard E Grant were joined by leading members of the new guard, including the men behind the League of Gentlemen, and Simon Pegg from cult film Shaun of the Dead.

Wood, 51, is also famous for writing the error-ridden soap spoof sketch Acorn Antiques – so it was perhaps a fitting irony that most of the presenters at the Prince of Wales theatre took several attempts to get their deliveries right.

Richard E Grant led the way in a battle with the “small” autocue, having it rewound back and forwards a handful of times before getting through his citation, while Lenny Henry needed five attempts to pronounce Andrew Lloyd Webber correctly in one of his gags.

Despite a confident start, Neil Morrissey nailed his passage only after a number of takes, whereas a clearly emotional Jim Broadbent – who decided to avoid the technological problems by doing his speech off by heart – had to stop several times to check his notes.

Lenny Henry, who first met Wood in a talent competition in the mid-Seventies, said: “She is fabulously talented. You always knew she was going to do well – she had a quiet determination.”

Morrissey, who is starring in the West End musical version of Acorn Antiques, due to open next month, said: “It’s a real honour to be working with her material. Victoria is an icon for all of us – that’s why so many people are here.”

The League Of Gentleman’s Steve Pemberton added: “It seems unlikely because our comedy is so dark, but Victoria has been a huge influence on us. She has great way of making characters come to life.”

The tributes were led by chairman of Bafta chairman Duncan Kenworthy, followed by a string of citations and clips from her shows – including As Seen On Television’s classic BBC spoof announcement, “We’d like to apologise to our viewers in the North – it must be so awful for you up there.”

Wood was also reunited with former costars Celia Imrie and Julie Walters – who gave the audience an exclusive taste of the new musical with a storming tapdancing number. But, in classic Acorn Antiques-style, the performance had to be restarted after the actors beat the cameras to the punch.

Afterwards, Wood said: “I suppose it was a bit like Acorn Antiques – maybe they did it in my honour. I’m just very pleased with tonight – although I couldn’t watch most of it as I didn’t want to cry.”

Thanks to Sue W and the Evening Standard for the news.

Initial upgrading of the News templates has been good, though there are still a few things to iron out with the search function. It’s not decided yet but I may dump the “News specific” search function for a more well rounded site-wide search bar. That way the entire site can be keyword searched – rather than just the news section.

All of the basic design has now been finalised and the templates made. I’ve decided against my original thought of updating the site section by section. Instead I’ll complete the upgrade offline and then upload the new site pages in one step. That way I’ll avoid the “mish-mash” of two seperate looking sites at the same time.

As the Temple site now runs to over 1400 pages this could take some time. :-)