ACTOR Tony Robinson met a guinea pig called Baldrick, named after his much-loved character in the TV series Blackadder, during a visit to Crabbs Cross.

Hopper Haven and Littlefoot Sanctuary welcomed the celebrity, who also presents Channel 4’s Time Team, last week so he could meet volunteers and find out about the important work the refuge does in finding new homes for rescued guinea pigs and rabbits.

The sanctuary is always keen to hear from residents who could provide a home for one of the animals.

For more details, call 07949 657268.

Source: buddytv.com
Actor Hugh Laurie has built an impressive career in the entertainment industry, and in May, he received another high recognition for his work.

According to the Associated Press, the 48-year old actor was given membership to the Order of the British Empire, the first level in the British order of chivalry. The honour, which is given to accomplished individuals of the United Kingdom, was bestowed upon Laurie by Queen Elizabeth II herself.

Laurie, who has also worked as a comedian and writer, first rose to fame with his performance in the annual revue, The Cellar Tapes. He, along with co-stars Stephen Fry, Emma Thompson, Tony Slattery, Paul Shearer and Penny Dwyer, were the recipients of the first Perrier Comedy Award. The revue began airing on television in 1982, and from there, Laurie continued to work with Fry, most notably on the Blackadder series.

Currently, he is known among the television world as crabby diagnostician, Gregory House. His portrayal has earned him 2006 and 2007 Golden Globe Awards for Best Actor in a Television Drama and a 2007 Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Male Actor in a Drama Series.

House has been a favourite among viewers since its debut in 2004. The show has also been a recipient of many prestigious awards, including a 2006 Peabody Award and a 2005 writing Emmy for the show’s creator, David Shore, for the episode “Three Stories.”

Source: Timesonline

Book early to avoid disappointment. Stephen Fry has written a pantomime version of Cinderella to be staged next Christmas at the Old Vic theatre in London. Oh yes he has.

Fry is not just a comic actor and raconteur. Oh no he isn’t. An accomplished writer, he is responsible for a large handful of books. He also earned tidy sums with his reworking in 1983 of Me and My Girl, the musical, which gives him tried and tested stage script credentials. Oh yes it does. Fry has no difficulty meriting a place in our pantheon of national treasures. Oh no he doesn’t. For all his plummy locution and toffish mannerisms, Fry’s appearances in Blackadder, Jeeves and Wooster, and as compere of the Baftas, has wide appeal. He is well placed to take the pantomime formula and improve it. Oh yes he is.

The cross-dressing tradition of pantomime dames, coupled with Fry’s own tendency to delve into the language of the sewer for gags and bons mots, provides no shortage of openings for tasteless double entendres and savvy smut. These could also become tedious and appeal more to a knowing adult audience than impressionable youth. Oh yes they could. There is, happily for Fry and his doting public, little chance that another unfortunate episode of melancholia will strike Fry and prompt him to leave audiences in the lurch as he did in 1995 by fleeing to Belgium instead of treading West End boards.

So is Fry’s Cinderella set to be a Christmas cracker? As long as the naughtiness is nicely framed, and the deft Fry uses this most English of dramatic forms to display refined examples of his wonderful English wit, success is almost guaranteed. Oh yes it is.