With a new series of his sitcom Moone Boy starting Monday night, a rom-com in cinemas and a stint on the New York stage with James Franco coming up, Chris O’Dowd is in demand on both sides of the Atlantic, he tells Jay Richardson

In 1978, a young woman named Cheryl agreed to appear as “bachelorette” on The Dating Game, a forerunner to our own Blind Date which aired on US television throughout the seventies and eighties.

In the past week I have learned that quite a few people listen to the radio. More than a few actually. It appears that more people listen to the radio than do other basic, everyday things such eat cheese or dye their hair or own a dog.

Boring TV? Don’t knock it until you've tried it – millions are settling in for hours to watch mundane events such as knitting or a train journey

The capital's opinionated broadcaster LBC is going national in a digital reincarnation. What will those beyond the M25 make of presenters Boris, Nick et al?

Who was Ian Fleming? A new drama about the creator of 007 throws up some nasty surprises, says Gerard Gilbert

The stars and director talk taking on the famous story for a new TV miniseries

In 2011, a fourth instalment of Pirates of the Caribbean, On Stranger Tides, limped into cinemas – confirming that a franchise which had appeared fresh and funny in 2003 – when Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow first quipped his way into our hearts – had, after eight years, well and truly fizzled out. And with that, also, the pirate genre seemed to have run its course for the time being.

The two actors - who have been friends since childhood - have written a comedy drama about a star who hires her best friend as her assistant

Joseph will star in Channel 4's big winter tent-pole drama Babylon as Deputy Commissioner Charles Inglis

Will you be boycotting the Winter Olympics on human rights grounds? And would anyone notice if you did? People would certainly notice a Clare Balding boycott. She’s one of the BBC’s most popular personalities and one of the country’s most visible gay women, yet, as you read this, she’ll already be in Russia, preparing to lead BBC2’s coverage all the way through to the closing ceremony on February 23rd.

TV picks, Wednesday 5 February

He has been written off as racist, sexist and a homophobe but the unrepentant old-school comic will now be offered a return to peak-time television by his new benefactors at Channel 5

'My Mad Fat Diary', E4's hit show chronicling the life of a teenage girl with mental health issues, struck a chord with viewers

So just who was “mother of three”, the master-mind behind the plot to create a deadly pandemic? And will Saga and Martin ever find happiness within a romantic relationship? If you know what I’m talking about then you might also be feeling understandably anxious as the second series of The Bridge draws to its conclusion with another blistering double-episode featuring the world’s least touchy-feely fictional detective (and that includes Sherlock), the Porsche-driving, leather-trousered Saga Noren (Sofia Helin).