BBC2 sitcom Heading Out has also been dropped

Jonathan Krisel DVD/Blu-ray (350mins)

John Lloyd, the brains behind some of Britain's most successful comedy shows of the past 40 years, is planning to use his QI production company to challenge broadcasters online because of his despair at the "moribund" state of television commissioning.

TIMELINE

A lot of Pinot Grigio has passed under the bridge since, at a small-scale and low-key event, I saw Helen Dunmore receive the inaugural Orange Prize for fiction in 1996. Dunmore, who won for the outstanding A Spell of Winter, goes from strength to strength.

Dominic Brigstocke, Steve Connelly DVD/Blu-ray (360mins)

There was an unnerving moment in the first episode of Up the Women when it looked as if Jessica Hynes might have contracted a bad case of Eltonitis, an inflammation of the funny bone that can render even the most talented writers temporarily witless.

Roger Michell's unofficial sequel to The King's Speech has Bertie and the Queen Mum visiting Franklin D Roosevelt (Bill Murray) at his mother's country mansion.

The second Crystal Fighters album channels Hispanic folk and Afrobeat through Anglo-American indie rock and their own half-baked spirituality.

The Archers' outgoing editor Vanessa Whitburn has denied that the drama has been competing with soaps such as EastEnders for sensational storylines.

Beware of Greeks bearing iPhones

John Schlesinger DVD/Blu-ray (96mins)

The Hi-de-Hi! actor Paul Shane died today at the age of 72 following a short illness, his agent said.

Towards the end of his show rapper-turned comic Doc Brown (real name Ben Bailey Smith) says that he feels he is “still drifting”and that his career journey so far could still be a work in progress.