Robin Hood Will Undergo “Doctor Who” Makeover

Warning: links contain spoilers. It has been announced that At Home with the Braithwaites writer Sally Wainwright will take over the reins for Robin Hood‘s fourth season. “The BBC has asked me to take over Robin Hood in a way Russell [T. Davies] does on Doctor Who. They have a third series going out in the spring which I have had nothing to do with, but they have asked me to reinvent it and they want it to be very different, which is why they have come to me. It’s going to be a completely different show,” Wainwright told The Stage. “I want to model Robin Hood more on Doctor Who, in terms of quality of script and quality of direction.” (Yay, does this mean Robin’s getting a bisexual sidekick? I vote for Allan-A-Dale.) The Stage’s Scott Matthewman gives his take on the behind-the-scenes changes.

In other news:

• Call me crazy, but I don’t think Lily Allen‘s latest “controversial” statement is all that outrageous: “The only story is that drugs are bad and they will kill you – you will become a prostitute, a rapist, or a dealer. But that’s not true. I know lots of people who take cocaine three nights a week and get up and go to work. But we never hear that side of the story. I wish people wouldn’t sensationalize it. Some people are just bad at taking drugs.” (The Sun)
• Matt Smith, the new Doctor Who, isn’t the only actor to find success after the BBC series, Party Animals.(Telegraph)
• You may have seen Matt Smith‘s sister shaking her nether regions in a music video.(The Sun)
• If acting work ever dries up for John Barrowman, he could always be the next Richard Simmons. He’d look a hell of a lot better in short shorts.
• Gavin & Stacey‘s Mathew Horne is making his theater debut as “the charismatic psychopath” in Joe Orton‘s play, Entertaining Mr. Sloane. The transition from TV has been harsh, Horne tells The Guardian. “TV’s so quick,” he says. “You make a choice and you do it, and if the director thinks that’s wrong then you make another choice and you do it, and that’s it. This is a really complex process and discipline. It’s a real shock to the system. [The first few days of rehearsal] were like being hit by a bus.”
• British It actor Robert Pattinson has snubbed Rosario Dawson‘s indie movie Parts Per Billion to make the next Twilight installment.(E!)
• Dominic Cooper and his Mamma Mia co-star, Big Love‘s Amanda Seyfried, were seen “indulging in some heavy petting” in a nightclub.(Daily Mail)
• Graham Norton advises more poor sods in his Telegraph column.
• Aren’t her inner demons enough?: “Islamic extremists” have named Amy Winehouse on a hit list of “top Jews to target” in the wake of the Gaza attacks. (NME)
• Nadine Coyle of Girls Aloud is enjoying a Miami vacation with her NFL star boyfriend.(The Sun)
• A painting of Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy will be auctioned off. Too bad it isn’t a portrait of him emerging from the water all wet and sexy.(Telegraph)
• Leon Jackson makes excuses for why Leona Lewis and Alexandra Burke are outselling him. “Women vocalists have an amazing voice range. They can reach really high notes and often they have a strong diva-like image. Both Leona and Alex have really big voices. There’s no doubting they can nail songs that us guys can’t. I think that gives them a certain edge. Females always generate attention from the way they look, too. They are always changing their hair and some of their outfits can be really daring – it can be really hard to compete.”(Daily Record)
• Free Little Boots downloads over at ArjanWrites.com.
• The police (!) are among the most gay-friendly employers in Britain.(Guardian)
• An interesting numerical breakdown of Britain’s hit songs in 2008: 41 percent were by American artists; 42 percent by Britons.(Guardian)
• The BAFTA longlist has been announced. Looks like a big year for Frost/Nixon and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.(Guardian)