Chris Long
Entertainment reporter

That's all we have time for today. Thanks for joining us for another busy day at the entertainment coalface.

And before you go giving us a disapproving look for leaving you, know this - you'll not better the one that someone (literally Some One, as that's the user name) has made Luke Skywalker give.

Re-editing the end of Star Wars: The Force Awakens (and don't shout at me, it's been in the cinemas and out on DVD for yonks now, so it's not a spoiler), they've made the moment Rey hands him his lightsaber look like he's giving her a Death Star-sized cold shoulder.

But then he was hiding on an island on a distant planet when she barged in to his rocky outcrop, so maybe this version is closer to the truth than the one JJ Abrams came up with.

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Image source, PA

Pop band McFly have postponed their entire UK tour after drummer Harry Judd (pictured second-right above) suffered a herniated disc.

His injury occurred at the base of his neck, and will require several months rest and treatment.

"I'm absolutely gutted that we've had to postpone the tour," he said in a statement to fans.

"I've honestly tried everything to make it work, but I'd never want to do a tour where I wouldn't be able to give you the 110% performance you deserve."

Bandmate Tom Fletcher cheekily added: "Sorry we've had to move the tour. Completely Harry's fault. All complaints to be sent to @mcflyharry."

If you were in the Liverpool area last week, you may have seen Swiss artist Raphael Hefti perform a live casting of his latest sculpture.

Image source, Nick Mizen

The artist shipped in 80 tonnes of sand to turn a part of Kings Dock into a makeshift foundry to create a piece to be displayed at the Pullman Liverpool hotel.

Demonstrating his thermite welding technique - that's melting and joining steel to you and me - the process was filmed to also create a digital artwork.

Image source, Nick Mizen

Little Mix's Jesy Nelson has returned to the stage after injuring her foot playing in Kuala Lumpur on 21 May.

She pulled out of the remainder of the gig after tearing a ligament during a vigorous dance routine at the Malaysian capital's Live at Life Centre.

But fans in Singapore were rewarded when she returned on Monday night with the aid of a wheelchair. 

Such a trooper.

Fifty years after it was ruled as being "not obscene" by a court in America, William S Burroughs' jarring and controversial novel Naked Lunch is to be turned into a punk album featuring recordings made by the author himself.

Published in 1959, the profanity-laden Naked Lunch became one of the go-to texts for the 1960s counter-culture and remains the last book prosecuted for obscenity in the US.

Shortly before his death in 1997, Burroughs recorded parts of the novel to create an album, but the project was abandoned.

However, producer Hal Willner - best known for his work with Lou Reed - and punk act King Khan are resurrecting the recordings for an album.

Let Me Hang You, named after one of the episodes in the novel, will be released on 15 July.

And if you want an idea of what it might end up sounding like, you'll have to have a root around the internet for Burroughs' clips yourself, because it really is so heavily littered with swearing that we couldn't possibly include one here.

Mark Savage
Music reporter

Image source, Ignition Records

Indie-rock heroes The Coral headline Liverpool Sound City this weekend, riding hot on the heels of their comeback album Distance Inbetween.

Released in March, it was the band's first album of new material in six years - an almost unimaginable gap given their prolific productivity in the early 2000s.

Speaking to me ahead of Sunday's show, singer James Skelly and keyboard player Nick Power talked about their creativity, and how it sometimes spiralled out of control.

We hereby start the campaign to get this lost album (You Otter Know? Otter Than Hell?) released. If someone could set up a Kickstarter page, that'd be grand.

Image source, Manuel Harlan

London's Old Vic hasn't put on a dance production in over a decade, so choreographer Drew McOnie was always facing the weight of expectation when he was asked to bring the artform back to the theatre.

His choice of subject, a version of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, made his task even greater, given that modern audiences already know the big reveal which shocked Robert Louis Stevenson's readers 130 years ago.

As a result, British dance's new prodigy has had to come up with ways to make the darkly psychological story work in 2016, including setting the story in the 1950s.

Vincent O'Dowd spoke to him and his cast about his new show, which takes inspiration not just from the Victorian novel but also Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho and Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club.

Read more.

Image source, Holly Wren

The Donmar Warehouse in London's Covent Garden is to set up an in-the-round, 420-seat temporary theatre at King’s Cross for 13 weeks to host versions of William Shakespeare's plays The Tempest, Julius Caesar and Henry IV.

All three productions will be directed by Phyllida Lloyd and star all-female casts, and be set in a women's prison. On special days the productions will also be performed back-to-back.

Dame Harriet Walter will lead all three productions, taking the roles of King Henry in Henry IV, Prospero in The Tempest and Brutus in Julius Caesar.

The plays will begin on 23 September, with 25% of the tickets being offered for free to under-25s as part of the theatre's Young and Free initiative.

Director Lloyd said the setting the plays in a women's prison was about giving a voice to the unheard.

Mark Savage
Music reporter

Image source, Reuters

Rihanna's performance of Love On The Brain at Sunday's Billboard Awards has been widely praised as the stand-out moment of the night.

The star's raw-yet-nuanced delivery was a revelation - Rihanna is not particularly known for her vocal prowess - as she tore into the song's impassioned melody.

Although it wasn't available online immediately after the show, Rihanna's team have wisely added the performance to her YouTube channel this morning.

If you haven't seen it already, check it out. It's one of those rare songs that can completely change your perception of an artist.

Dame Helen Mirren lends her voice to a recording of a new story by celebrated children's author Beatrix Potter, rediscovered after 100 years.

Image source, PA

Comic Harry Hill has paid a lovely tribute to actor Burt Kwouk in The Guardian. The Pink Panther star used to appear regularly on Hill's comedy show.

Here's a snippet:

Read the full tribute., external

The Sun

Image source, PA

"The name's Bond... Jamie Bond."

That may not be the usual way the most famous of secret agents introduces himself, but if the latest rumours about who will play James Bond when Daniel Craig leaves the role turn out to be true, it soon could be.

Jamie Bell - who rose to fame in Billy Elliott and has since appeared in the likes of King Kong, The Adventures of Tintin and, most recently, Fantastic Four - has held informal talks with producers about replacing Craig, according to The Sun, external.

Bell is about to star in Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool, a project from Bond producer Barbara Brocolli, who has reportedly been a fan of his "for a long time".

The Night Manger and Avengers star Tom Hiddleston is thought to be the favourite for the role, though he laughed off the idea in an interview earlier this month. Others linked with the part include Luther actor Idris Elba, Poldark's Aidan Turner, Mad Max himself Tom Hardy and even X Files' Dr Dana Scully, played by actress Gillian Anderson.

As her counterpart in that show, Fox Mulder might have said, the truth remains out there...

Image source, AP

The internet is awash with lemon emojis again today, after Jay Z made a reference to wife Beyonce's huge album Lemondade on a new track. 

He joined Fat Joe, Remy Ma and French Montana on a new remix of Fat Joe's All the Way Up, which sees him rapping: 

Cleverly, you can only listen to the full track on Jay-Z's streaming service Tidal, external - although it did also get randomly premiered at a New York Yankees game.

The track also sees Jay Z rapping about daughter Blue Ivy's gold chains and Prince, paraphrasing Let's Go Crazy.

Meanwhile reports claim the much-rumoured joint album from Beyonce and Jay Z is in production - with Page 6 claiming, external sources have exclusively told them it's "complete" and will be heading to Tidal soon.

Image source, Netflix

On-demand video streaming services face a call that at least 20% of the catalogues they offer to EU subscribers should be made locally.

The European Commission has also proposed the programming must be given "good visibility".

The move would affect US-based services including Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.

However, one expert suggested the new rules might not have as much impact as intended.

The call is part of a proposed update to the 28-nation bloc's Audiovisual Media Services directive.

Other measures include:

• a requirement that video-sharing platforms including YouTube adopt "better" measures to protect minors from violent content and people of all ages from clips that act as an incitement to hatred
• a call for the creation of new symbols or phrases that would warn viewers of potentially harmful video content - such as bad language, sex or drugs - that would be used across the EU by both broadcasters and internet-based platforms
• the ability for TV broadcasters to have more flexibility as to when they show adverts

Read more.

Image source, Royal Exchange Theatre

Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre celebrates its 40th year this autumn with a modern retelling of an American classic and a look at one of Britain's most brilliant minds.

Maxine Peake, who stars as Titania in BBC One's adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream to be screened on Monday, will take on an equally weighty role at the theatre, starring as Blanche DuBois in a new production of Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire.

The production, which opens the season on 8 September, will "explore the complexities of Blanche", according to director Sarah Frankcom - who previously worked with Peake on productions of Hamlet and Miss Julie at the theatre.

It will be followed in October by a revival of Hugh Whitemore's Breaking The Code, which tells the story of mathematician and computer pioneer Alan Turing.

Turing, who worked in Manchester and died at his home in nearby Wilmslow in tragic circumstances, will be played by Daniel Rigby, who was most recently seen in the Channel 4 dark comedy Flowers.

Other highlights include new play Wish List, which looks at "the helpless uncertainty of zero-hours contracts", and a Christmas production of the musical Sweet Charity - which gave the world the songs Big Spender and If My Friends Could See Me Now.

Robert Plant says it is with "great disappointment" he's had to withdraw from the bill at this year's Meltdown Festival, being curated by Guy Garvey in London next month. 

A statement from Plant's representatives said: 

"Robert is a defendant in a court case in LA which was due to take place May 10th. Through court rearrangements, the hearing has been moved to June 14th."

The Led Zeppelin star and bandmate Jimmy Page are currently at the centre of a copyright claim over their song Stairway to Heaven. Lawyers for the estate of one of the members of the band Spirit claim they stole the intro from Spirit's 1968 song Taurus. 

Led Zeppelin have denied the claim.

Plant was set to take part in an all-day event addressing the refugee crisis called The Boat We're In at the Southbank Centre on 19 June - a special concert to launch Refugee Week featuring Garvey, Nick Mulvey and Nadine Shah. 

The statement said Plant had been "passionately drawn" to the Meltdown event and had hoped to increase "awareness and support of so many powerless and distraught peoples."

Following the sad news of the death of Pink Panther star Burt Kwouk yesterday afternoon, more tributes have been paid to the actor.

Music and theatre tickets are being sold unlawfully on the UK's biggest secondary websites - including Viagogo, Stubhub and Seatwave - says Which?

Image source, ITV

Where else can you see stormtroopers dancing to classic disco hits on TV other than Britain's Got Talent? We're pretty sure nowhere.

The dancing troupe scraped through to this weekend's final after splitting the judges, but gaining the largest share of public votes.

British Army soldier and magician Richard Jones was the overall winner of the third semi-final after performing a trick involving a page of Amanda Holden's autobiography.

The semis continue tonight at 19:30 on ITV.

You'd have to be living under a rock to not have heard about the recent trouble Johnny Depp had after his wife Amber Heard avoided a conviction for illegally bringing their two dogs into Australia.

The star and Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce have been trading jibes ever since - the latest coming from Depp describing Mr Joyce as looking "somehow inbred with a tomato".

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Now Mr Joyce has responded by saying he's moved on from the dispute but is still inside Deep's head "pulling little strings, pulling little levers".

"Long after I've forgotten about Mr. Depp, he's remembering me," he said.