... FRI, MAY 12 Coupling BBC2 comedy series (9.30 10pm) Production company: Hartswood Rims. Cast includes: Jack Davenport, Gina Bellman, Sarah Alexander, Kate Isitt, Ben Miles. Writer: Steven Moffat. Producer: Sue Vertue. Director: Martin Dennis. Executive producer: Beryl Vertue. Hubert Gregg Says Thanks for the Memory BBC Radio 2 nostalgia series (7 7.30pm) Producer: Roy Oakshott. SAT, MAY 13 ...

... Helen Mlrren heads the cast of the Donmar Warehouse's production of Tennessee Williams' Orpheus Descending, alongside Stuart Townsend, Saskia Reeves, Sandra Dickinson. Richard Durden, Janet Henfrey, William Hootkins. ?????????????????????????????????????????a Tom Hunsiger. Kristin Marks. Martin Potter. Anne Ridler, Jason Salkey. Lolly Susi and Julia Swift. The production reunites Mirren with ...

... Brands Cochram takes over the role of Mama Morton in Chicago which celebrated its 1000th performance in London at the Adelphi Theatre last Monday (April 17) from May 15, while Nigel Planer returns to the hit musical to guest star as Amos Hart from June 8- July 9. The show presently stars Josenna Gabriel le (Roxie Hart), Anna- Jane Cassey (Velma Kelly). John Diedrich (Billy Rynn), Les Dennis ...

... Othello, by William Shakespeare. Barbican Theatre, Silk Street EC2. Management: Royal Shakespeare Company. Cast includes: Ray Fearon. Zoe Waites. Richard McCabe, Richard Cordery. Henry Ian Cuslck, Rachel Joyce. Catherine Kanter, Aidan McArdle. Geoffrey Whitehead. Director: Michael Attenborough. Designer: Robert Jones. Lighting: Peter Mumford. Music: George Fenton. Press: Cllona Roberts. 020 ...

... SNAPS Jenny Randerson's appoint ment as minister for culture, art and sport has been confirmed by Welsh first secretary Rhodri Morgan. The new portfolio, replacing the old title of minister for culture and education, was agreed in the terms of the Assembly's recent Lib/Lab pact. Randerson, who takes up the post with immediate effect, was Liberal Democrat spokeswoman for sport and the arts in ...

... SNAPS ArtswofW, the first digital channel devoted entirely to the arts, will launch on December 2 on its Sky digital platform with a special preview week end. The channel promises to feature music of all kinds as well as dance, drama, the visual arts, film and books. Lord Dubs, the popular former MP for Battersea, has been appointed deputy chairman of the Independent Television Commission. ...

... -?L ^^^MBBBaMBaaieaH^M The London production of Michael Frayn's Copenhagen now in its second year at the Duchess Theatre and currently starring David Baron, William Brand and Corinna Marlowe will be complemented by the Broadway produc tion, opening on April 11, at the Royale Theatre, New York, starring Philip Bosco, Blair Brown and Michael Cumpsty and restaged by the original production team ...

... BY BEN DOWELL FOR WEEK ENDING JULY 23 Actors, this week's rogues gallery of terrestrial TV's top-rating programmes suggests, are not actors any more. They are more like commodities. Take Ross Kemp hard- nosed EastEnder turned idealistic lawyer in ITV's In Defence. Lured away by big bucks, it was felt that his star status would guarantee viewers whatever the vehicle. Sadly, the drama's ...

... Abandonment, by Kate Atkinson. Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh to August 26. Management: Traverse Theatre Company. Cast: James Cunningham, Michelle Gomez. Kathryn Howden, Patricia Kerrigan, Neil McKinven, Sheila Reid. Elaine C Smith. Director: John Tiffany. Designer: Georgia Sion. Lighting: Ben Ormerod. Music: John Irvine. Press: Jan McTaggart. 0131 228 3223. 42nd Street, by Harry Warren and Al ...

... The Body of a Woman At a Battlefield in the Bosnian War, by Matei Visniec. translated by Alison Sinclair, who also directs. Young Vic Studio. The Cut SE1 to December 2. Management: Reality Productions. Press: Cameron Duncan. 020 7636 3750. Play to Win, by David KS Tse, who also directs. Soho Theatre. Dean Street Wl to December 2. Management: The Soho Theatre Company and Yellow Earth Theatre. ...

... I Richard Briers stars in the world premiere of Spike, by Simon Day, at the Nuffield Theatre, Southampton. Opening on February 1 and running until March 3, the show will see Briers appear along side his wife Ann Davies and his daugh ter Lucy Briers for the first time as he takes the role of Vemon King, a car showroom owner whose world is turned upside down by the arrival of a strange boy. ...

... SNAPS Steven BerkofTs Messiah is expected to have a resi dency at the Old Vic next March. The deal is not yet signed, though producers are negotiating for a ten-week run. Former RSC actor Angus Wright will be recast as Jesus. The Almeida's production of Lulu, featuring Anna Friel, will not be performed at the Old Vic due to lack of funds. West End hit Puppetry of the Penis is extending its run ...