A tight 5: May 2

THE competition has now opened for the public panelists on the Foster’s Edinburgh Comedy Awards. Organisers are looking to select die-hard comes fans able to go to the Fringe from August 10 to 24 and see six shows a day. Panellists have their travel and accommodation paid for. Details

MIRANDA RICHARDSON and Anna Chancellor will take the lead roles in the new BBC One adaptations of Mapp And Lucia. League of Gentleman star Steve Pemberton will adapt EF Benson's novels for three hour-long specials. The snobbish characters were previously played by Prunella Scaes and Geraldine McEwan in a 1985 Channel 4 series.

JERRY SEINFELD’s web series Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee has been renewed for 24 more episodes by the video website Crackle.

RICHARD GADD won the £100 for the best contribution to Chortle’s Correspondents section in April, for his piece about going from the Free Fringe to the Soho Theatre.

THAI comedian and activist Yosawaris Chuklom yesterday lost an appeal against a two-year prison term handed down under the country’s strict laws against ‘defaming’ the royal family. He was jailed over a speech delivered during mass protests against the previous government in 2010.

Published: 2 May 2014