OFF to the gym as part of your New Year detox?
Demons star Christian Cooke will not be joining you.
He had to be fit for his role as Luke Rutherford in the new ITV1 drama which starts tomorrow night.
But like many young actors, Christian has to be careful not to bulk up too much.
“I went for a meeting a few weeks ago to play a skinny white kid,” he explained.
“So I guess now I’ve stopped going to the gym because I feel like it’s going to restrict me from getting certain parts.”

SHERIDAN Smith revealed a few behind the scenes secrets when I met her earlier this year.
She stars in the New Year’s Day return to BBC1 of Jonathan Creek.
And is back as Michelle (pictured) in BBC3 Manchester-set sitcom Grownups from Jan 13.
As a huge Creek fan, Sheridan was delighted to land the role of Joey Ross.
It was written for her by David Renwick.
He also wrote Love Soup, in which Sheridan played a perfume counter girl.
TV legend Verity Lambert was the producer behind both Jonathan Creek and Love Soup.
She was Doctor Who’s first producer in 1963.

RAIN was lashing down on the roof of his trailer the last time I caught up with Robert Glenister on location.
We were sat at the end of a muddy farm track by the Grand Union Canal in Rickmansworth.
He was taking a break from filming the fourth series of Hustle, which was screened the following year – 2007.
A very different spot compared to the original February 2004 launch for the drama at an impossibly cool bar in London’s Knightsbridge.
Robert was dressed in costume as Ash Morgan, who in the story being filmed was posing as a racehorse owner.
After that last series was aired, it appeared that Hustle was no more.

JUST a few hours to go now before the big Christmas Day TV highlights.
Doctor Who kicks off this evening’s viewing for me.
Followed by the hour long Christmas night special of Coronation Street.
It should be a cracker after last night’s classic episode featuring the attack on Jed Stone.
With echoes back to the 1960s for long-time Weatherfield fans.
Regular readers will already know not to miss Wallace and Gromit’s A Matter Of Loaf And Death on BBC1 at 8.30pm.
And along with millions of others, I have high hopes for the return of The Royle Family.

SPARE a thought for the trials our TV stars have gone through to entertain us this Christmas.
Former Spooks leading man Rupert Penry-Jones plays Richard Hannay in a new adaptation of classic novel The 39 Steps.
And he risked life and limb for some of the action scenes.
“I used to get injured all the time in Spooks from diving over cars and pulling muscles and running down streets and all that kind of thing,” Rupert told us at a recent press launch.
“I’ve just finished The 39 Steps, which was even worse than Spooks.
“It’s basically one long chase movie.
“I was running every day on that and hurt myself quite a lot.

THE world wide web can be a wonderful place.
Especially when you discover a haunting Christmas film like this.
It was posted on YouTube on December 18.
By someone called Oscar Villarreal, who is proud of his home town.
Using one of the new pocket sized high definition mini camcorders.

PHILIP Glenister in boots.
They’ve made many a female fan swoon when he’s worn them for roles on screen.
Vanity Fair, Island At War, Hornblower and Cranford all spring to mind.
It turns out there’s a family connection.
“All I know is my family come from Wellingborough, or something really interesting like that,” he says.
“They probably made boots for a living…shoemaking land.”
Phil made the comment at the recent press launch for ITV1’s Demons.
There’s a feature interview with him in today’s MEN, which I’ve just posted online here, including a pic gallery.

HERE’S the front cover of today’s MEN Christmas TV special.
It’s something I’ve been proud to write for a number of years.
Lots of hard work goes into the supplement, not least from our talented team of sub editors, designers and features executives.
If you can’t get hold of a hard copy, some of the feature material is available online.
As well as a preview piece I wrote for yesterday’s paper.

ALAN Davies always brings a sense of mischief to interviews.
As is the way with television, we met up in August to discuss the return of Jonathan Creek on New Year’s Day.
While Alan also voiced his fears about QI’s move from BBC2 to BBC1.
The online version of today’s TV feature interview with Alan is here.
And here’s some of the extra material which failed to make the final cut:
On his Creek debut almost 12 years ago:
“When I originally started it was very good for me, because I hadn’t been on a film set before. So the first episode of Jonathan Creek was the first proper acting I’d done.
“And it was a very good school. You had to learn every last syllable and get it right, and get it right from every angle. So I was back to school, in a way. Here we are – this is proper television now.

THE sun was streaming through the windows of the conference room where I met up again with Robson Green and Mark Benton.
We were there to discuss their ITV1 Christmas film Clash Of The Santas.
Plus, as it turned out, Robson’s views on Coronation Street and Mark’s role in Harry Hill’s new comedy Soapington Way.
Clash Of The Santas features Robson in a skirt.
“It’s a very short skirt, and green tights,” he pointed out.
“After a while, I forgot I had them on.”
As well as dressing up as an elf, Robson got to wear a Rainbow Santa suit.