Wales on Sunday

The Belle of the Ball

TRICTLY Come Dancing is having a rough ride this year. First there was Arlene-gate, and then the race row, while X Factor continues to win the ratings war for primetime Saturday night viewing. But over on the other side of the Atlantic, our very own Kelly Osbourne is making headlines for all the right reasons in Dancing With The Stars.

5 Minutes with ... Jamie Theakston

Britain's Best Brain has now started. Are you excited about being back on the box? Yes, I'm very excited. It's a fun show and we had a great time making it, so I can't wait for everyone else to see it. It seems like a game show like no other on television at the moment. It's very different to other shows. Essentially it's five players in each episode and they compete in five different challenges which test five different parts of the brain, so it's not about general knowledge, it's about brai...

Eastenders (Bbc One): Heather [ ... ] ; Soapbox Coming This Week

Coronation Street (Itv1): Maria [ ... ] ; Soapbox Coming This Week

Pobol Y Cwm (S4c): [ ... ] ; Soapbox Coming This Week

Emmerdale (Itv1): Debbie Looks Forward [ ... ] ; Soapbox Coming This Week

Topmovies

Dahi-Icious but Not, Quite Fantastic

HIP indie director Wes Anderson (The Royal Tenenbaums) is an odd fit for Roald Dahl's classic children's story. The film-maker certainly brings his offbeat and distinctly adult sensibilities to bear on Fantastic Mr Fox, creating another portrait of familial dysfunction and miscommunication.

Dvds

TRUE BLOOD - THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON (Cert 18, 691 mins) BILL Compton (Stephen Moyer) is a bloodsucker who has "come out of the coffin" and now lives amongst the mortals thanks to the invention of synthetic blood. One such human is telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin), who works all the hours at Merlotte's bar and is tired of having to listen in to other people's thoughts. She is irresistibly drawn to Bill because she cannot hear what he is thinking. Meanwhile, her brother Ja...

Tony - I Still [ ... ] ; Keeping It Real!

Tony - I still can't believe the prizes we have been giving away again on our competition Risk It For A Biscuit this week. Angela - Oh I know, all that money and some wonderful experiences.

Topgame

Books

Newalbums

Best of the Rest

The Wurzels @ The Globe, Cardiff (Friday) HUGE in Nempnett Thrubwell, these legendary bunch of haystack-headed, cider-soaked and dung-booted minstrels from Avonmouth remain firm favourites among the sozzled samplers of the fermented apple. Call: 029 2023 0130 Biffy Clyro @ Solus, Cardiff University Students' Union, Cardiff (tonight) HEAVILY-INKED Scots rockers - don't call them emo! - bang out some tunes from their new Only Revolutions LP.

Bowerbirds @Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff [ ... ]

Bowerbirds @ Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff (Thursday) THERE'S been a huge explosion of late in the number of bands springing up who're plaid of shirt, bushy of beard and who've invariably recorded their new record in a remote log cabin somewhere. In fact, you can't so much as throw a stone in some hedgerow without hitting him off of Bon Iver or one of those Fleet Foxes chaps. Well, if you go down to the woods today, you'll still be in for a big surprise as Bowerbirds, a rustic rocking duo from Nort...

Best Show

Best Dvd

Tomorrow's Gonna Be Alright (out now) EVERYONE knows the story of what happened to the Stereophonics after they made it big in the music biz, but what about all the bands they left behind? Put together on a relative shoe-string, this documentary looks at all the acts that sprang up around the epicentre of the late 90s 'Phonics explosion, and how, for a brief moment, anything seemed possible. Grainy archive footage and frank interviews paint a portrait of how those big dreams of similar succes...

Best Day Out

The Dylan Thomas Festival @ Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea (Monday- Saturday) "I HAVE had 18 straight whiskies, I believe this to be a record," said Dylan Thomas, shortly before falling from his bar stool in New York's slovenly-lovely Chelsea Hotel for the very last time. Me? I once drank half a shot of Bourbon and then tried to take my trousers off over my head.

Tvchoice

best film The Dark (BBC1 Wales, Friday, 11.40pm)SET in Wales, but actually filmed on the Isle of Man, this creepily-effective horror tells of how the parents of a young girl feared drowned while on holiday begin to believe she's actually trapped in a shadowy parallel world called Annwyn. While the script draws on Celtic myth, Sean Bean and Maria Bello spend most of the time running around doing the whole scared/ confused thing pretty well, while Maurice Roeves' familiar, craggy face turns up ...

Turning the Air Blue

OLLOWING its critically acclaimed big screen spin-off, In The Loop, Armando Iannucci's Bafta-winning satire, The Thick Of It returns to our TV screens. An acidic 21st-century version of 1980s Yes, Minister, the series also marks the return of venomous press co-ordinator, Malcolm Tucker, pictured right, who's incandescent rants have gained him cult status. Just click on to YouTube for samples of Malcolm's brilliant tirades, a tribute in his ability to turn a dressing down into an art form.