JANE Horrocks was just 15 when Gracie Fields died.
So despite sharing Lancashire backgrounds, Jane told me that, growing up, she knew very little about the woman who was once the highest paid performer in the world.
We met at the Young Vic Theatre in London, where Jane is currently starring in a revival of the Irving Berlin musical Annie Get Your Gun.
Long before series eight, episode four.
The one where Lucas North (Richard Armitage) and his past collide.
And he also visits Waterstone’s bookshop in London’s Piccadilly.
“I AM not a number. I am a free man.”
Every day’s a sunny day in The Village.
Last night I was among 400 people invited to an exclusive UK screening of a 21st century version of The Prisoner.
ROY Cropper made a big splash in Weatherfield last night.
Left to drown in a canal by killer Tony Gordon.
And summed up in two clear and simple lines:
Roy: “I can’t swim.”
Tony: “Good.”
David Neilson (Roy) and Gray O’Brien (Tony) filmed the canal scenes near Corrie’s Manchester HQ.
“I was out for every night of the canal shoot,” Corrie producer Kim Crowther told me when we met up recently.
SADLY, Matthew Macfadyen has no plans to release his latest performance as a single.
The former Spooks, Pride and Prejudice, Little Dorrit and Criminal Justice star plays Enid Blyton’s first husband Hugh Pollock in Enid (BBC4, 9pm tomorrow).
At one stage singing along to the Flanagan and Allen song Run Rabbit Run.
But the iTunes store will just have to do without Matthew’s rendition.
“WHO doesn’t want to be a dead billionaire?”
That’s the nightmare game show at the heart of Spooks episode three.
Along with very angry man in black Lucas North (Richard Armitage) having that fight in a swimming pool.
And something that may come as a shock to those viewers unfamiliar with The Way Spooks Works.
ONE of the TV highlights of the year arrives on BBC4 next Monday.
Enid won’t win massive ratings.
But I’d urge you to forget celebs in the jungle or Life as BBC1 knows it.
And treat yourself to this superb 90-minute film.
It stars Helena Bonham Carter as Noddy and Famous Five author Enid Blyton.
IT would be too easy to say ITV is hoping for a smash hit with Collision.
So I won’t go down that road.
But it might be worth the while of UK readers to watch this drama serial unfold over the next five nights.
SO Sir Harry survived.
As Hermione Norris (Ros) told me recently: “Spooks without Harry Pearce would be non-existent.”
Fans knew in advance that Ruth was returning.
The big surprise in episode one was Malcolm walking away from The Grid after his decision to retire.
Is that the last we will ever see of him?
Episode two includes the arrival of Malcolm’s replacement Tariq Masood, played by Shazad Latif.
THE end of an era for Doctor Who approached on a screen in central London today.
“It’s been something that I’ll be forever proud of,” David Tennant told us afterwards.
“Filming the very, very final scenes was very sad.”
The Waters Of Mars is as dark and as thrilling an episode of Doctor Who as any I’ve ever seen.
It’s the second of four farewell specials starring David as the tenth Time Lord.
And it foreshadows his departure in a final two-part story to be screened at Christmas.
The hour-long episode, premiered at the press launch today, will be broadcast on BBC1 at 7pm on Sunday Nov 15.
There’s a full transcript below of this morning’s post-screening Q&A with David and outgoing Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies.
But first a little background.
Life of Wylie 