A tight 5: July 7

THE live episode of Mrs Brown's Boys is to air on July 23 the BBC has confirmed. Creator Brendan O'Carroll previously said: 'When I heard the BBC were letting us go fully live I thought, "They've lost their minds!". I'm seriously delighted about this.'

ENTRIES have opened for the 2017 NATYs – New Acts of The Year – competition. Contestants must have been performing for at least a year, have a 20-minute routine from which they can extract a five-minute audition piece, and have recommendations from two established industry figures. Auditions will be held in London in the autumn ahead of the final at Leicester Square Theatre on January 29. Apply here.

CORK is to get its own comedy festival. Sean Hughes, Deirdre O'Kane and Jason Byrne are among the acts playing the city from September 23 and 25. The event is being staged by Jane Russell, formerly chief executive of Kilkenny's Cat Laughs festival. Website

AUSTRALIAN comedian Josh Thomas is to male a fourth series of his coming-of-age comedy-drama Please Like Me. Production starts in Melbourne this week on six new episodes, which will air from November. The show also airs on digital broadcaster Pivot in the US, but is not screened in the UK.

AMERICA'S ABC network has dropped its sitcom Uncle Buck after one season. The show, based on the 1989 John Candy movie, starred Mike Epps as the slacker looking after his suburban brother's children.

Published: 7 Jul 2016