A tight 5: September 5

COMEDIAN Karl Spain is to try to shed the pounds on Irish reality TV show Celebrity Operation Transformation. The stand-up weights more than 20 stone and says: 'I'm hoping I can get to the point where, if I do feel the urge to eat a kebab, or a slice of cake, that it doesn't become my unraveling'. The dieting series starts on RTE One on Wednesday.

THE finalists have been named in this year's Funny Women competition. Catherine Bohart, Harriet Braine, Rosie Jones, Micky Overman, Rose Robinson and Rivka Uttley. The winner will be chosen at the final on September 28 at KOKO in London - hosted by Kerry Godliman.

BBC One's revival of Goodnight Sweetheart attracted 3.7 million viewers at 9pm on Friday night; with Young Hyacinth winning 3.4million immediately afterwards. Both are down on the 4.1million that slot normally averages. And on Saturday the second run of ITV's Newzoids scored 3.3million, after inheriting 8.3million from X Factor.

MARC MARON is joining a Netflix show about female wrestlers of the 1980s. The comic will play Sam Sylvia, a washed-up Hollywood executive with a 'complicated history with women' in G.L.O.W. Alison Brie, who played naive Annie Edison in Community has also joined the cast.

TABOO in comedy is to be discussed at an international conference next week. Academics and comedians will be taking part in Mock the Weak: Comedy and the Politics of Representation conference at Teesside University from September 13 to 15. Details

Published: 5 Sep 2016