Alesha Dixon to Host New CBBC Street Dance Contest

Strictly Come Dancing judge (and previous winner) Alesha Dixon will soon be hosting her own dance show on CBBC called Alesha’s Street Dance Stars.

The 10 part series is seeking to find the best young street dance talent in Britain, and will see Alesha scouring the nation searching for a new dance star.

Polly Perkins Joins Eastenders Cast

Polly Perkins is set to join cast of BBC soap Eastenders as Dot Branning’s estranged sister Rose. Polly is an actress/singer best known for playing Trish Valentine in 90’s soap Eldorado.

Rose will arrive in Albert Square after Dot decides to track her down and put things right following a bout of hypochondria. The sisters have been estranged for most of their lives after Rose had an affair with Dot’s husband Charlie.

Polly says “I am thrilled to be joining the cast of EastEnders, the show is a real British institution with an extraordinary creative team. I’m really looking forward to working with June again, who I have been friends with for over 30 years.”

New BBC Three Shows for 2011

The BBC has today announced a host of new original programmes which are to be aired on BBC Three in 2011.

Up For Hire Live

This live event will be stripped across a week. The show will follow 4 unemployed youngsters as they fast track their way to a career – going from ‘tea boy’ to executive decision maker in just 4 short weeks. As well as the documentary, there will also be a live studio debate each evening discussing issues and themes from the show.

Mixed Up in the Middle East

This current affairs show centres around Reya, a half Arab, half Jewish girl, whose parents fell in love across the Middle Eastern divide. We follow her as she visits Israel and Palestinian territories for the first time – meeting people from both sides of the divide, and spending time with her extended family to discover how everyday life is for those who live at the heart of the hostilities.

Britain You’re Welcome To It

This show follows a group of fresh off the plane Eastern Europeans on a bus tour around the UK, as they learn about their new home, and face the realisties of life as a newcomer to Britain.

Life Story

Life Story is a new comedy written and starring Sharon Horgan (Pulling) and Holly Walsh (Mock The Week). Sharon stars as Helen, a woman who is falsley imprisoned in Broadmarsh Prison for the murder of her boss.

Other characters include her useless lawyer (who is an injury at work specialist), a fiance who is keen to dump her, a cousin who has stolen her flat and pub quiz team place, a weirdo workmate who visits each week, an arsonist cellmate who just wants a hug, and a death row pen pal.

Wilfred

Wilfred is a half-hour comedy series starring Elijah Wood (Lord of The Rings) which is based on the critically acclaimed Australian series of the same title. Elijah stars as Ryan, a young man who joins his neighbour’s dog Wilfred (who he sees as an Australian bloke in a cheap dog suit) on a series of comic and existential adventures.

Eggbox

This new BBC Three pilot is a comedy drama about life on a teenage cancer ward written by Tom Bidwell and Mark Catley. Tom survived cancer himself when he was 15, and also wrote the oscar-nominated short Wish 143, a film about a teenager with cancer who asks to lose his virginity before he dies.

IED

IED is a single-camera sitcom about a group of soldiers in a British bomb disposal detachment. The series is written by James Cary and Richard Hurst who have co-written episodes of the award-winning Miranda.

White Van Man

Will Mellor returns to BBC Three with a second series of White Van Man. Will reprises his role as Ollie, ‘a man with a van’ who is joined once again by his hapless mate Darren (Joel Fry). Filming on the series will start later this year.

Matt Edmondson to co-host Xtra Factor 2011?

The Sun has today published a story claiming Matt Edmondson has been chosen as the new presenter of ITV2’s X Factor spin off ‘The Xtra Factor‘.  They claim he will host alongside a co-presenter, who is rumoured to either be Kimberley Walsh from Girls Aloud, Frankie Sandford from The Saturdays, X Factor alumni Stacey Solomon or I’m a Celeb’s Caroline Flack.

Popstar to Operastar Returns to ITV

ITV’s Popstar to Operastar returns on Saturday the 4th of June with a special 1 hour intro show hosted by Myleene Klass introducing this year’s contestants.

The celebrities appearing  this series are;

• X Factor winner Joe McElderry
• soul diva Jocelyn Brown
• Erasure’s Andy Bell
• singer/songwriter Midge Ure
• Former Pussycat Dolls member Melody Thornton
• Former Steps singer Claire Richards
• Toploader’s Joseph Washbourn
• Bucks Fizz singer Cheryl Baker

The first live performance show will air on Sunday 5th June at 8pm, with the results on at 10pm.  Katherine Jenkins and Rolando Villazon also return to the show as mentors.

Last year’s Popstar to Operastar was won by former Pop Idol contestant Darius Campbell (formerly Danesh), and also featured Vanessa from The Saturdays, Danny from McFly, Alex James from Blur and Jimmy Osmond.

Single Review – The Saturdays: Notorious

I bloody love these girls, and I bloody love this song.

The Saturdays are back back BACK with Notorious, the lead track from their upcoming album.  In my opinion it’s their strongest lead single to date, and surely (SURELY) will give the girls that much sought after number 1 (download it from iTunes now, they bloody deserve it).  ‘Notorious’ sounds a bit like they’ve taken ‘Up’, given it a dance remix and added bags of attitude, sex appeal and autotune.  In short, it’s amazing.

Luther returns to BBC One

One of our favourite BBC dramas from last year was Luther, and we’re pleased to hear it’s returning to our screens soon in two new specials.

Idris Elba stars as the central character DCI John Luther, a maverick detective with a troubled past, who in the first series saw himself framed for the brutal murder of his wife.  The new series kick off with Luther returning to work in the newly created Serious and Serial unit, working alongside his old partner Detective Justin Ripley (played by Warren Brown).    We see the pair faced with a dark and challenging case – a masked man is wandering the streets of London, carrying out ritualistic murders in historic locations.

Returning to the BBC One drama are series one characters Alice Morgan (played by Ruth Wilson) and Mark North (played by Paul McGann).  The cast are also joined by Kierston Waering (who is currently starring in BBC One’s The Shadow Line) as new character Caroline Jones.

The new series starts Tuesday 14th June on BBC One at 9pm.

The Cheesy Pop Archives

In recent months we’ve been collating a pretty self explanatory Spotify playlist called Every Song I’ve Ever Loved – it is full of around 400 songs that are equally shit and amazing.  On browsing through ‘related artists’ on Spotify I’ve uncovered some long-forgotten gems from pop groups some people probably haven’t even heard of (and for good reason).  Below are some examples – depending on your musical tastes this list is either a collection of ultimate pop turds, or classic cheesy “choooonz”.

allSTARS

This was a cheesy British pop group made up of 3 girls and 2 boys, who were around in 2001/2 and had a shit TV show on CITV called STARStreet.  The group members included Darren from Hollyoaks (look at how young he looks!) and Balls of Steel/Star Stories regular Thaila Zucchi.

Bump in the Night – reached #12 in 2001

ABC Upfronts 2011: Once Upon a Time

Next up is fantasy drama Once Upon a Time.  This stars Jennifer Morrison (How I Met Your Mother) as a woman with a troubled past who is drawn into a strange town called Storybrooke after a boy shows up claiming to be her son.  The show features a host of fairytale characters such as Snow White (played by Ginnifer Goodwin), Prince Charming (Josh Dallas), and Pinocchio (Jakob Davies), and also stars Scottish actor Robert Carlyle (Trainspotting, The Full Monty).

ABC Upfronts 2011: Charlies Angels

Another new ABC show for 2011/12 is Charlie’s Angels – a modern reboot of the classic girly action series.  The show stars Minka Kelly (Friday Night Lights, The Roommate), Rachael Taylor (Grey’s Anatomy, Headland) and  Annie Ilonseh (Melrose Place) as the new Angels with Robert Wagner playing the voice of Charlie.  Drew Barrymore, star of the 2000 film version is also on board as a producer of the new series.