No sport lends itself to the prose stylist and the lyrical poet quite like cricket

When Alan Ball quit vampire drama True Blood at the end of its fifth season, he knew he was taking a risk. Few US show creators choose their exits – indeed The Walking Dead appears to sack one a season – and to leave, as Ball did, for an as-yet-untested show is the biggest risk of all.

It seems that Tory and Lib Dem party managers have come up with an ingenious way of making tired peers stay late for crunch votes in the House of Lords.

After The Paradise, TV drama is once more running for the tills with Mr Selfridge. Are department stores really the new Downton?

Viewing figures slump in the great Christmas TV turn-off - audience numbers are lowest for a decade

Estate of the nation – Stenham goes back to the drawing-room

Mrs Patmore will be so pleased that her pots pans and crockery will be raising standards in households across the world

With the much-publicised trouncing of The X Factor in the ratings by Strictly Come Dancing, the rivalry between ITV and BBC is as healthy as ever. But have the networks called a Christmas truce?

A friend of mine visiting from Miami was stunned by way different cultures mix

This week the Independent's pedant-in-chief considers the stars, takes on "whet" vs "wet", and severs a misunderstanding

Famed director says his 'bizarre' outburst was a result of 'disorientation'

Downton Abbey creator would like to introduce black or Asian characters into the period drama set in an English country home. 

ITV chairman Archie Norman has described television advertising as a "faulty shower" and it looks like the metaphorical water pressure could well be on the blink again.