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You may have noticed yourself recently feeling compelled for some reason to run around buying gifts for everyone you know.

There's less than a week left until Christmas, but if you're like most of the country, you still have plenty of gift-buying left to do.

Jonathan Ross has offered to accept a 50 per cent pay cut on his new contract that will reduce his future income by 3m, it is reported.

Jonathan Ross is said to have offered to accept a 50% pay cut - which would slash his annual salary by A 3 million.

Iowans have an affinity for British comedy. It could be our reserved nature that makes us susceptible to understated humor.

Have British Bed and Breakfasts improved since the days of Fawlty Towers? Photo: BBC I rather like the sound of the Vogelenzangs' B&B in Liverpool.

In recent years, DVDs have become popular gift items to purchase during the holiday season.

What is it? Fawlty Towers : The Complete Collection Remastered, 12 episodes on three discs from BBC Video.

A BBC production firm was axed yesterday for hoaxing viewers of top shows. Faking on Trash For Cash and Sun, Sea And Bargain Spotting included staff being passed off as the public and events restaged for the cameras.

Russell Brand has said he would have done nothing differently over the prank calls he and Jonathan Ross made to Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs - saying the scandal "worked out really well". Brand resigned from his Radio 2 show, which broadcast the lewd remarks made by Brand and Ross, and Ross was suspended for three months over the affair.

Home : Features : Movies : BBC Films to teach 'The First Grader' BBC Films to teach 'The First Grader' 28-Nov-2009 Written by: Sari N. Kent Helmer of the 2008 Natalie Portman/Scarlett Johansson/Eric Bana historical biodrama, 'The Other Boleyn Girl,' Jason Chadwick, will also be directing 'The First Grader,' the first film from Origin Pictures, ...

Modern sitcoms may seem cutting age, but they are more conservative than ever. And they are driven by old-fashioned virtues BBC The high comfort factor of 'Gavin and Stacey' is the perfect antidote to the bitterness of modern life and has all the classic ingredients of a winning sitcom enlarge The new series of Gavin and Stacey represents a ...

Justin Chadwick is tasked with directing "The First Grader," a movie that marks the first production from ex-BBC Films chief David Thompson's Origin Pictures.

Iannucci says some producers are "scared of crossing the line" "Jokes aren't true - they're lies they're exaggerations, they're distortion, they're imbalance, they're having a go, they're bullying, they're insulting," says The Thick of It creator Armando Iannucci "Of course the intention is to cause offence.

COMEDIAN Russell Brand was condemned as 'arrogant' last night after he vowed he would never tone down his routine.

Writer and actor John Cleese says he has a single claim to fame: that he's taller than Dick Cheney.

FAWLTY Towers opened its doors in Rhyl last night with not one, but two Basils. The town's very own Centre Stage Theatre Company performed three classic episodes of the hit BBC comedy at Rhyl Town Hall.

THE MARIE Curie Hospice in Hampstead has emerged as the shock benefactor of a prank phone call made to actor Andrew Sachs by Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand.

TV comedy shows don't come any better than Blackadder. It's up there with Fawlty Towers, the BBC's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy TV series and the classic Monty Python.

Fear of causing offence has left TV in danger of becoming too bland, Channel 4's programme chief has said.