MAN ABOUT TOWN

According to his page on the Internet Movie Database, Scottish actor James McAvoy is set to play Bilbo Baggins in the screen adaptation of The Hobbit to be directed by Guillermo del Toro. Anyone heard anything more concrete on this?

He's rumoured to be making a return in the current UK series (season four) of Doctor Who , along with Rose (a "harder... sadder" version of her character, actor Billie Piper confirmed in a recent BBC interview) but it's now also confirmed that the dashing, devilish Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) will be back for the third season of Torchwood in 2008. No definite news yet on who is to flesh out the team following the tragic end of season two, however, though Mickey Smith and Martha Jones are both said to be possibilities. According to this website , however, at this stage the BBC has only green-lit five one-hour specials of Torchwood , with no word yet on whether we can expect more episodes after that. This makes sense, in a way, as it parallels the current plans for Doctor Who in 2009, which will also see only a limited number of one-off episodes produced, in order to allow David Tennant time off to play Hamlet ; with season five not scheduled to screen unti...

As I still haven't got over this ghastly lurgie that's been afflicting me for almost a week now (note to self: Eurovision parties the day after you've come down with a viral infection are a bad idea; fun, yes, but still a bad idea) I can't quite bring myself to blog about anything too serious just now. Instead, let me give in to my inner geek once again, and post a few more Doctor Who snippets for you all (and for me, if I'm being completely honest). Firstly (and thanks to Simon for showing me this) author Neil The Sandman Gaiman is a big Who fan, and wrote this over on his journal upon hearing that current Doctor, David Tennant, is taking time off in 2009 to play Hamlet: "I know that David Tennant's Hamlet isn't till July. And lots of people are going to be doing Dr Who in Hamlet jokes, so this is just me getting it out of the way early, to avoid the rush... "To be, or not to be, that is the question. Weeelll.... More of A question really. No...