NORTH KOREANS could soon be laughing at the exploits of The Good Life, as BBC Worldwide is negotiating with the television station run by the brutal regime to export shows that could alert citizens to the outside world without offending leader Kim Jong-un. A Foreign Office source told the Sunday Times that possible shows could be Mr Bean, Teletubbies or 'The Good Life, with a bit of gardening and squabbling in the kitchen'.

THE finalists in this year's Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year Competition have been announced. Nominated by clubs around the country, they are Dane Baptiste, Dave Green, Elliot Steel, Harriet Kemsley, Kate Lucas, Mark Silcox, Phil Jerrod and Daisy Earl. The final takes place on February 22.

KERRY GODLIMAN has announced her first stand-up tour, with 21 dates of the Face Time show kicking off in Leicester, also on February 22. She has previously supported Micky Flanagan on tour and won acclaim as an actress plain Hannah in Ricky Gervais's Channel 4 comedy, Derek. Dates

LEAGUE OF GENTLEMAN star Reece Shearsmith is to play murderer Malcolm Webster in an ITV factual drama based on his crimes. He will start opposite Sheridan Smith in The Widower, which covers a 13-year period in which he poisoned his first wife and attempted to do the same to his second. Jeff Pope, head of factual drama for ITV Studios, said: 'Webster was a banal, almost benign face of evil.'

US COMIC Denis Leary is to play a middle-aged rock star making a comeback in a new sitcom being piloted by America's FX channel. His character in the series, Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll, is called Johnny Rock.

Published: 13 Jan 2014