A tight 5: December 3

RUSSELL BRAND is to face Nigel Farage on BBC One’s Question Time. The two media favourites will both be panelists on the show next Thursday, when it come from Canterbury in Kent, Ukip’s heartland. Labour's shadow international development secretary Mary Creagh is also on the show, which airs at 10.35pm (11.10pm in Northern Ireland).

MEANWHILE Brand says he will sue The Sun over its front-page story today, which labelled him a hypocrite for renting his £76,000-a-year London pad from a landlord based in the British Virgin Islands while campaigning against wealthy tax avoiders driving up property prices. The comic says that if he wins he will donate any damages to the Hillsborough campaign and the New Era Estate residents fighting huge rent increases.

WILL FERRELL has reportedly signed up to star in a movie comedy set in the 'intense, competitive world' of a Shakespearean theatre company.

JOKE THIEVES, the format in which comedians attempt to perform each other’s routines – either faithfully or taking the mickey – is embarking on a world tour next year, encompassing Adelaide, Melbourne, Hong Kong, Manilla, Singapore… and Didcot. Click here for the UK dates.

CHRISTMAS scheduling news: Miranda will air on BBC One at 7.15pm on Christmas Day, with Mrs Brown’s Boys at 10.05pm followed by Michael McIntyre’s Very Christmassy Christmas Show at 10.40pm. The revived Birds Of A Feather will return to ITV1 at 9pm on Boxing Day; and James Corden and Mathew Baynton's The Wrong Mans will begin its four-part second series on BBC Two on Monday December 22.

Published: 3 Dec 2014