A tight 5: May 14

Ricky Gervais has secured the funding for his Office spinoff movie Life On The Road, charting David Brent’s attempts to become a rock star. After Entertainment One and BBC Films backed the film, Gervais said: ‘I’m so excited that the world will see what David Brent is up to now and where his future lies. This film delves much more into his private life than The Office ever did and we really get to peel back the layers of this extraordinary, ordinary man.’

HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU is to be shot on the day of transmission for the second week running. Last week’s usual Thursday night recording was moved to Friday so it could include the election news; while tonight’s filming has been postponed until tomorrow because of a strike by ITV staff at London Studios, where the panel show is taped.

JASON ALEXANDER is set to return to TV. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Seinfeld star is filming an as-yet untitled pilot in which he stars as a psychotherapist who snaps and starts behaving bizarrely with his patients.The 15-minute show would be for Adult Swim in the States.

ARMANDO IANNUCCI will deliver the keynote MacTaggart lecture at this year’s Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival in August. The creator of The Thick Of It and Veep will talk about the future of BBC funding. He’s previously talked about a subscription model and said: ‘Why not just bite the bullet and say, “OK, let’s do a completely different way of funding” rather than having a switch forced… by circumstances or legislation.’

GRAHAM NORTON earned £2.2million last year in presenter fees, production fees and royalties, accounts from his company have revealed.

Published: 14 May 2015