You aren’t alone if you could watch only some of The Call Centre, BBC3’s fly-on-the-wall series filmed at a Swansea cold-call factory, where bad banter met worse suits. The man in charge, Nev (that’s him in the brown suit with one of his acolytes) emerged instantly as a real-life David Brent, dispensing business park maxims and behaviour to make an HR department shudder.

Bring on the swords, sex, saucy language ... oh, and dragons

Who knew that Ricky Gervais claims to have read precisely the one novel? Aged 28, he heroically ploughed through JD Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. He says he was not impressed and when, another 28 years later, he did Desert Island Discs, it was a book of coffee-table art that Kirsty Young gave the nod to.

David Brent will be back on our TV screens in March - “fact”.

Gervais claims the character in his controversial new sitcom isn't meant to be disabled - but how is he perceived?

Stand down patriotic TV watchers; Julian Fellowes is going Stateside, but all is not lost.

The media giant NBC- Universal broke US ad-sale records for its Olympic programming this year. But, as more people skip ad breaks, television shows must do all they can to make money. Product placement has long been a fixture of American TV, with some shows working real-life products into scripts without too much damage to reputations.

The family show has 'run its natural course' according to actor Colin Morgan

Why is it this buttoned-up drama is such a hit in the US?

OperaUpClose veer towards greatest-hits territory while a lupine concert holds toddlers transfixed

One famous pirate lost out to a whole family of them when the Waterstone's Children's Book Prize was awarded.

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.

'Sometimes it all gets too much: two hours in a room with Ricky can seem a long time'