One, two, three … it shouldn't be that difficult, should it? Certainly not for a master maths mentor. But in rehearsals for the BBC show Strictly Come Dancing last week, Johnny Ball got his sums all wrong as he pulled his partner, the professional dancer Aliona Vilani, in the wrong direction, twisted her leg awkwardly, and left her in hospital with a hairline fracture to her ankle. Maybe it's because they were trying an eight-count tango rather than the "one, two, three" waltz. Maybe it's just that he was determined to get fractions into the show.

The trail to the Panjawi district of Kandahar Province in Afghanistan, where 16 civilians were murdered in the early hours of Sunday morning, begins at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, a sprawling US military facility just south of Seattle.

Four of the six British soldiers killed in the deadliest single enemy attack on UK forces in Afghanistan since 2001 were aged just 20, the Ministry of Defence revealed today.

Two very funny Shakespeares and an 18th-century romp join the wave of comedies rolling across the British stage

Sam Mendes was a hard act to follow as inaugural artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse.  But Michael Grandage overcame that difficulty with flamboyantly flying colours.

Losing his son in Afghanistan broke Adrian Hume's heart. But pursuing their shared passion – and raising thousands for charity – is helping to keep his memory alive

A man has pleaded guilty to allowing a dog to be dangerously out of control after a six-year-old girl had part of her ear bitten off.

A six-year-old girl is in hospital after part of her ear was bitten off by a dog.

An investigation is under way in Los Angeles after two dogs found a human head in a plastic bag.

A gang of thieves who spent six months digging a 100ft tunnel under a car park in a bid to raid a shop's cash machine may have only escaped with around £6,000, sources claimed today.

"I'm sick and tired of the people we have to deal with in this business," Mark Strong's drug-smuggling hood, Clive, moans.

The soldier who returns to find that he's a stranger in the country he fought for is a familiar figure in drama (one thinks of Simon Stephens' recent Motortown), as is the absconding father who is finally forced to confront the consequences of his neglect.