Throng

Looks like everyone at the BBC is defecting to ITV these days.  Joining Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley, Jonathan Ross' band, Four Poofs and a Piano, have signed a deal to sing on GMTV revamp show, Daybreak.

The four lads are going to sing the news and will also appear every Friday with a topical song based on weekly events.  The group said in a statement, "We can't wait to work with the lovely Adrian - and of course Christine."

Daybreak replaces GMTV and kicks off on Monday 6th September.

Abrams developing Alcatraz series

J.J. Abrams is currently developing a new drama series based around the infamous prison island Alcatraz. Abrams will team up with a former Lost producer on the project who will also write the pilot episode.

Strictly not to clash with X Factor

The Strictly Come Dancing launch show will not clash with ITV’s The X Factor like it did last year, with the BBC scheduling it for 6.25pm on BBC One. A smart move considering Strictly lost out in the ratings to The X Factor last year when they screened at the same time.

Celebrity MasterChef victor Lisa Faulkner has been offered a cooking job by hosts John Torode and Greg Wallace which the actress said she is tempted to take.

Faulkner has been offered a role in one of the chefs’ kitchens and said she is eager to learn about working in a professional kitchen.

She told Absolute Radio: "Well they said that I could come and work in their kitchens, so I'd love to take them up on that, but I'm hoping that it doesn't mean just chopping veg or washing pots!

"I think the thing is that I'm desperate to just keep learning, because I've got this whole passion for cooking and I just want to keep doing it, and so they've said 'Come and work in the kitchens if you want to do that', because I just go into restaurants now and go, 'Can I come and see the kitchen, can I do some work in there?' because it's just amazing." 

Dancing On Ice has confirmed that the new season of the show will be filmed in a new location following a disruption with the original arena.

As we reported earlier in the week, the Dancing On Ice arena had been claimed by another production for the period when the reality show was supposed to shoot.

Now it has been confirmed that the show will film in a new arena at Shepperton Stuios where two new ice rinks are being built for practise and the studio.

It has also been confirmed that all the judges will return to the show for the new season which will also be shot in HD.

LIVING HD launches today on Sky, meaning that Sky has now confirmed all 50 High Definition (HD) channels that will be available by Christmas, in line with its promise to customers.

Good Food HD launched earlier this week, and HD channels including Eden HD, ITV 2 HD, ITV 3 HD and ITV 4 HD will follow Living HD, which becomes the 46th HD channel on the Sky platform. More HD channels will be announced in the coming months.

The announcement coincides with the news that Sky has now attracted more than three million HD subscribers, meaning that today over 30% of customers chose to pay for our best viewing experience. In the three months ending 30th June , Sky increased its HD customer base by 429,000, bringing twelve month cumulative growth to 1.6 million.

Danny Cohen, Controller, BBC Three announces new drama series, Touch, has been commissioned for the channel at the Edinburgh Television Festival today.

From acclaimed theatre, film and TV writer Jack Thorne (Skins, The Scouting Book For Boys, Cast Offs) comes an edge-of-the-seat supernatural thriller, made by BBC Drama Production.

In Touch the vengeful dead walk on Earth and only uber-geek Paul can save the living from a fiery Armageddon.

Paul is an ordinary young man from an ordinary town who discovers an extraordinary ability – he can see the dead. As he comes to terms with a nightmare reality he meets others who share his powers and share a horrifying secret – the spirits are waging war on the living. Mankind will be destroyed.

But the most terrifying twist is yet to come – Paul discovers that only he holds the key to the world's salvation.

The daredevil drivers are returning to HISTORY™ in 2010 for a fourth series of Ice Road Truckers as they transport oil across the hazardous ice roads of the Dalton Highway.

This series follows the team across Alaska to Prudhoe Bay, hauling huge loads over the most dangerous of terrain imaginable. Tensions run high as they race to deliver the goods. The race is on - the bigger their load, the bigger their pay and everything is at stake.

Each trucker must make important decisions to ensure their loads get to their destinations on time and in one piece. One rookie mistake could mean an end to their trucking career and possibly their lives. They have everything to gain and everything to lose as they each tally up deliveries of much needed supplies. As they drive across some of the most remote, treacherous places known to man, the Ice Road Truckers undertake one of the deadliest jobs on earth.

As Simon Cowell slams Strictly Come Dancing, saying it should be on television earlier in the afternoon for its older viewers, the BBC have confirmed that the launch of the dancing show will not compete with The X Factor in the same time slot.

Strictly Come Dancing lost out in the ratings war last year and it looks like they want to save themselves the embarrassment this year.

The launch of the eighth series of the ballroom dancing show will be screened on September 11 and will feature its first ever red carpet event where partners will meet each other for the first time.

Bruce Forsyth and Tess Daly will reveal which celebrities will be taking part as well as who they will be partnered with in a one hour special at 6.25pm on BBC.  The X Factor's latest auditions show will not start until 7.45pm.

Channel 4 to air Trinny and Susannah show

Channel 4 has picked up the recent Trinny and Susannah web series and will air it as a one-off programme later in September. The series, entitled Trinny and Susanna: What They Did Next, comprised of 16 six-minute episodes in a spoof documentary format.

The Bill finished with 4.4m

Over 4.4 million viewers tuned in to watch the final ever episode of ITV1 police drama The Bill on Tuesday night. The 27-year-old drama series finale ended with a 18.8% audience share in the 9pm hour beating BBC One’s The Deep.

Morgan confirms CNN talks

The BBC has lost its fight to keep the identity of The Stig a secret after heading to court against HarperCollins.

Lawyers from the broadcaster lost out in keeping Top Gear driver Ben Collins’ autobiography under wraps with a judge ruling the publication can go ahead.

The BBC wanted to keep the identity of the infamous Top Gear test driver confidential in order to not disturb the viewers; enjoyment of the show.

They claimed Collins’ book was a breach of contract and subsequently took the 35-year-old driver to court.

Collins is known to the second Stig on the show, taking up the gig in 2003 after original black Stig Perry McCarthy was axed following his identity being revealed.

The BBC is to broadcast comprehensive coverage of the Mercury Prize 2010 across TV, radio and online.

Coverage of the night will be presented live from the event, on 7 September, by Lauren Laverne on BBC Two and Steve Lamacq on BBC 6 Music.

Steve Lamacq presents 6 Music's coverage of the event from 8pm. Alongside interviews with some of the nominees and the attending great and good of the music industry, the show features live performances from the night and expert analysis of proceedings from Steve, 6 Music News and industry insiders on the build-up to the live announcement of the winner.

Lauren Laverne presents BBC Two's coverage of the awards show, hosted by Jools Holland from London's Grosvenor House Hotel. This live programme, from 10-10.30pm, includes clips of all 12 of the nominated acts performing and the live announcement of this year's winner.

To mark the 70th anniversary of The Battle of Britain and to bring the nation together in a moment of remembrance, the BBC is airing a landmark pan BBC season of programmes, The Battle Of Britain Season.

From memorial events, to fascinating documentaries and thought-provoking drama, this BBC season will shine a light on this dramatic turning point in the history of the Second World War and a defining moment in World history.

Martin Davidson, Commissioning Editor, History and Business, says: "There are few occasions in history when the actions of a few changed the destiny – not just of a country – but of the world. The Battle of Britain is one of those moments and this season will hopefully unite us all in a moment of important remembrance.

Channel 5 boss Richard Desmond is hoping that a £10 million fee will lure Katie Price out of her newly signed £3 million contract with Living TV.

Price signed with Living from ITV2 however Desmond is keen to relaunch Channel 5 "with a bang" and hopes that Price will help to do so.

So keen is Desmond that he wants to buy her out of her Living contract.  An insider said, "Money is no object for Richard and he thinks Katie would be the perfect person to help kick start Channel Five in a new era."

Price's two year Living contract is for a new series of 'What Katie Did Next' and she is also due to appear in other shows; one about ghosts and one about horses. 

Gervais not heading back to The Office

Ricky Gervais has confirmed that he will definitely not be taking over from Steve Carell in the American remake of The Office. The comedian confirmed at the recent Emmy Awards that he will not take any acting part in the show and would prefer to simply keep his post as producer.

BBC Three commissions Touch

BBC Three has announced that it has given the go-ahead to a new six-part supernatural drama series entitled Touch. The series is written by ex-Skins scribe Jack Thorne and follows a character called Paul as he interacts with ghosts and uncovers a war between the living and the dead.

BBC taking legal action over The Stig book

An early frontrunner has been marked by bookies to take out The X Factor this season.

Mary Byrne has been installed as favourite to win the ITV reality show after impressing the judges on last Saturday’s audition episode with her rendition of I Who Have Nothing.

The supermarket checkout worker has odds of 6/1 at Paddy Power while young Gamu Nhengu is second at 8/1.

Other X Factor contestants from the second audition tipped to go far include The Reason, Husstle, Matt Cardle and Annastasia Baker.