Entertainment Live: Stormtrooper Eric travels the UK; Jamelia joins Strictly

Taylor Swift is still bringing out the stars for her Los Angeles run of concerts at the Staples Centre.

Last night, Beck and St Vincent appeared on stage with the singer to perform Beck's new song, Dreams.

If that wasn't enough, apparently John Legend happened to be in the area so he swung by and sang his hit All of Me.

Even when they're not on stage, celebs are clamouring to get a piece of TayTay as actresses Jessica Alba and Kate Hudson proved on Instagram.

Sky, HBO, Wildside 2015Copyright: Sky, HBO, Wildside 2015

We've seen plenty of paparazzi shots of Jude Law on the set of The Young Pope (like below), but now producers have released the first official photo of the British actor in character as Pope Pius XIII.

The eight-part series is a co-production between Sky, HBO and Canal+, and sees Law playing fictional American-born pope, Lenny Belardo.

The "controversial story" sees his "complex and conflicted" character facing turbulent times that test his faith.

The series is directed by Italian film-maker Paolo Sorrentino, who won an Oscar for his 2014 film The Great Beauty and has described it as a tale exploring "faith" and how people "handle and manipulate power".

Diane Keaton stars alongside Law, as a nun called Sister Mary.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

Here's a round-up of some of the other entertainment and arts stories making headlines on the BBC News website today.

• BBC TV boss Danny Cohen has defended the corporation's right to make entertainment shows like The Voice. Culture Secretary John Whittingdale has also questioned whether the broadcaster should compete with commercial rivals to buy the British rights of such shows. [Read more]
• TV companies must make "a concerted effort" to improve diversity behind the camera, the Directors Guild of America says. [Read more]
• Dylan Thomas biopic Set Fire to the Stars, starring Celyn Jones and Elijah Wood, has received seven nominations for this year's Bafta Cymru awards. [Read more]
• Jonathan Church, the man who led a major turnaround in UK theatre, has taken on one of the top jobs in Australian theatre. [Read more]
• Meet the costume-maker inspired by 1950s Barbie. [Watch the report]

Channel 5Copyright: Channel 5

Channel 5 is to air US magic show Penn & Teller: Fool US in Vegas, hosted by Jonathan Ross.

The show, which is filmed at the Penn & Teller theatre at the Rio in Las Vegas and airs on the US CW network, sees the illusionists trying to figure out tricks performed by magicians from around the world.

The show was previously broadcast on ITV in 2011, but was axed after one series. It was broadcast by The CW last year and after good ratings the network ordered a second series which is currently on air. A third season has also been commissioned.

"The public's appetite for this magical duo has never abated," said Channel 5's head of acquisitions, Katie Keenan.

"Pair them with Jonathan Ross in a glamorous Vegas setting and you have event TV at its best."

Whovians from around the world have been making their mark on the streets to show their appreciation for their favourite sci-fi drama.

Doctor BastienCopyright: Doctor Bastien

.Copyright: .

Take a look at some of the other Doctor-inspired art around the world.

A 17th Century painting inspired by Leonardo da Vinci is back on display in Taiwan after a 12-year-old boy accidentally punched a hole in it. 

The boy was walking round the Taipei gallery when he stumbled and put his fist through the $1.5m (£960,000) artwork by Italian artist Paolo Porpora.

Thankfully, Taiwanese restorer Leo Tsai managed to patch it up within two days.

Leo TasiCopyright: Leo Tasi

Have a look at some other costly art mishaps.

ThinkstockCopyright: Thinkstock

BBC Four almost doubled its viewers when it aired the unlikely hit, All Aboard! The Canal Trip, as part of its Slow Week back in May - a two-hour programme featuring a canal journey filmed in real time with no commentary, no music and no presenter.

Now the channel's making another foray into the world of "slow TV" - with plans to take UK viewers on a sleigh ride in Lapland this Christmas.

Director of TV Danny Cohen said he'd been "struck by the audience's passion for quite slow television", and it fitted with plans for BBC Four to be "more characterful" with a "slightly eccentric quality", airing shows "no one else would ever make".

The phenomenon was inspired by a Scandinavian TV trend that has spawned a seven-hour film about a train journey, a 12-hour knitting marathon and a live five-day boat trip which was watched by more than half the Norwegian population.

BBC Four will rig a traditional reindeer sleigh with a fixed camera to capture the "unique point of view of a Sami reindeer herder travelling in real time". It's being billed as "a silent and majestic journey through Lapland's frozen wilderness".

No word yet on whether Santa will make an appearance.

Images following the adventures of a Star Wars action figure called Eric have helped photographer Darryll Jones gain a big following online.

The South African who posts snaps of Eric in various locations around the UK and in different situations on Instagram, also includes other Star Wars figures in the scenes.

"I just enjoy making people smile," Jones said. "I really love the expressionless face that stormtroopers have. The more I develop little story lines, the more the characters become alive, and they seem to tell their own stories."

Read the full story.

It seems like not a day goes by without Forbes magazine releasing another rich list.

This time, we've been made to feel jealous over the world's highest-paid TV actors - topped by The Big Bang Theory's Jim Parsons who took home a cool $29m (£18.6m) between 1 June 2014 - 1 June 2015.

CBSCopyright: CBS

He's leapt up the rankings from ninth place to the top thanks to a new lucrative contract netting him and co-stars Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting and Johnny Galecki $1m (£642,000) per episode.

Galeki comes second with $27m (£17.3m), while fellow co-stars Simon Helberg and Kunal Nayyar are joint third with incomes of $20m (£12.8m).

New contract deals for the cast on Modern Family also propelled cast members Ty Burrell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet and Ed O'Neill into the list for the first time.

NCIS star Mark Hamon was the highest earning drama actor also tied at third with $20m, along with Two and a Half Men star Ashton Kutcher.

Other stars appearing on the list include House of Cards' Kevin Spacey, The Mentalist's Simon Baker and former Grey's Anatomy star Patrick Dempsey.

Expect the rich list of actresses to be out soon - no points for guessing who is at the top.

See the full list.

BBCCopyright: BBC

Hollywood star Russell Crowe has ruled out the prospect of buying Leeds United.

The Oscar winner, who already owns an Australian rugby league team, explained his decision in a series of tweets.

Read the full story.

Lots of you have been tweeting us about the BBC's director of TV Danny Cohen saying he is "truly sorry" Sir Tom Jones was upset by the way he was axed from The Voice.

Here's a sample of what you've been saying:

APCopyright: AP

Bruce Springsteen album Born to Run turns 40 this week. To celebrate, Radio 5 live’s Rhod Sharp spoke to Eric Meola - the man who took the photos for the famous cover. 

Nuggets he revealed during the chat included:

1. Meola had no idea the photo would be cropped to chop off most of Bruce’s saxophonist Clarence Clemons:

Quote Message: John Berg was Columbia’s head of design. He’d come across that particular image and had a different way of looking at things. He added the white space to the right. What’s Bruce looking at? It made you turn the album over.

John Berg was Columbia’s head of design. He’d come across that particular image and had a different way of looking at things. He added the white space to the right. What’s Bruce looking at? It made you turn the album over.

2. Springsteen was not happy about having to take a break from the studio for the shoot. He had cancelled on four previous occasions:

Quote Message: There were moments where at the very least he was questioning why the hell he was there. He was a single minded guy and the pressure of that album and the need to succeed were tantamount in his mind. Perhaps I caught that in that moment.

There were moments where at the very least he was questioning why the hell he was there. He was a single minded guy and the pressure of that album and the need to succeed were tantamount in his mind. Perhaps I caught that in that moment.

3. While the cover was being shot Meola played Astral Weeks by Van Morrison on his stereo. 

So that’s what Springsteen was listening to at the exact moment the picture was taken, making him Born to Van.

Listen to the interview.

Johan PerrsonCopyright: Johan Perrson

Benedict Cumberbatch's Hamlet has finally had its official press night, after unofficial reviews came out earlier this month.

A celeb-packed audience turned up at the Barbican in London for the show, including Cumberbatch's Sherlock co-stars Mark Gatiss and Martin Freeman.

Gatiss said the star was "magnificent" as Hamlet.

However critics have given the play mixed reviews.

Quote Message: [Cumberbatch] is, in truth, a blazing, five-star Hamlet trapped in a middling, three-star show. from Dominic Cavendish, The Telegraph

[Cumberbatch] is, in truth, a blazing, five-star Hamlet trapped in a middling, three-star show.

Quote Message: Cumberbatch, in short, suggests Hamlet's essential decency. But he might have given us infinitely more, if he were not imprisoned by a dismal production that elevates visual effects above narrative coherence and exploration of character from Michael Billington, The Guardian

Cumberbatch, in short, suggests Hamlet's essential decency. But he might have given us infinitely more, if he were not imprisoned by a dismal production that elevates visual effects above narrative coherence and exploration of character

Quote Message: It's a rather mixed affair – stunningly designed by Es Devlin, with a fair bit of text and story-line shifted around by Turner, to sometimes eloquent, sometimes irritating effect. from Paul Taylor, The Independent

It's a rather mixed affair – stunningly designed by Es Devlin, with a fair bit of text and story-line shifted around by Turner, to sometimes eloquent, sometimes irritating effect.

Read the full story.

NetflixCopyright: Netflix

The BBC's revealed it wanted to make royal drama The Crown - written by Peter Morgan of The Audience and The Queen fame - but "couldn't compete" with the amount of cash Netflix was prepared to pay for it.

Director of TV Danny Cohen called the series "a classic BBC subject" but says they couldn't match the US streaming service's budget, "even though we would have loved to have been a co-producer with Netflix on it".

Netflix is rumoured to be spending £100m on the drama, directed by Stephen Daldry, which will document the Queen's life since 1947 over six series, airing from 2016.

Season one's being filmed in Cambridgeshire at the moment, with Claire Foy (below left) playing the Queen and former Doctor Who Matt Smith as the Duke of Edinburgh.

BBC/GettyCopyright: BBC/Getty

But Cohen said there were no hard feelings towards Netflix.

"I understand their model - their model is they want global rights to put it on all their services," he said.

"They're really good at what they do and they've got very ambitious plans to give themselves global scale in a short space of time... you've got to respect that."

BBCCopyright: BBC

A Street Cat Named Bob, the best-selling book about a ginger cat who helped a recovering drug addict turn his life around, is to be made in to a film.

Luke Treadaway, who found fame on stage in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, will play busker James Bowen who found the injured Bob in his sheltered accommodation in 2007 and nursed him back to health.

The pair became inseparable and Bowen credits the scarf-wearing cat with aiding his own recovery.

Work on the film will begin in October.

Read the full story.

PACopyright: PA

Yesterday we told you the funniest joke of the Edinburgh Fringe - awarded to Darren Walsh for his quip: "I just deleted all the German names off my phone. It's Hans free."

Now there's a bit of a brouhaha as another comedian has claimed he was the first to tell the joke.

Pete Cunningham told the BBC he had been using the joke as part of a routine as his alter ego Frank Sanazi for about seven or eight years.

The pair, who "go back a few years", had a Twitter exchange in April where Cunningham tweeted the gag to Walsh. 

TV channel Dave, which sponsors the funniest joke award, said it was "entirely confident" the prize had been given to the rightful recipient.

What do you think - do jokes ever have owners?

Read the full story.

The X Factor judges are getting together in London later for a big shiny press launch of the new series, which kicks off this Saturday on ITV. It seems new host and former runner-up Olly Murs is feeling the pressure though.

Meanwhile Radio 1 DJ turned X Factor judge Grimmy has posted this image of some "serious posing" behind the scenes at the team photoshoot...

Here's what the photo turned out like:

ITVCopyright: ITV

The new Ghostbusters film has been much criticised for its cast of all-female characters.

In response, its star Melissa McCarthy has tweeted an image featuring all the female cast and crew in the movie, saying: "When we stand together we are unstoppable! #Girlpower."

Take that, critics!

AFP/GettyCopyright: AFP/Getty

Kanye West will be honoured with a lifetime achievement prize at this year's MTV Video Music Awards.

MTV says the rapper's being given the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard award to celebrate his "ground-breaking videos, legendary performances and continued impact on music, art, fashion and culture".

Billboard has already suggested Taylor Swift (who leads this year's nominations with nine) should be the one to hand it over - after West's stage-storming at 2009's ceremony while she was accepting best video. Luckily the pair are now friends, as detailed by Swift in Vanity Fair recently.

But if Kanye's getting the award, who can we trust to launch a stage invasion?

APCopyright: AP

Cara Delevingne film Paper Towns has topped the UK box office in its opening weekend.

The movie, based on the 2008 book by John Green (pictured above with Cara), took £2.1m, easily beating Pixar's Inside Out - which took £1.38m in its fifth week of release.

The animated film has now taken a massive £30.6m in the UK.

Horror film Sinister 2 entered the chart at three with £1.07m, but other new entries from comedies Vacation and The Bad Education Movie didn't perform so well.

National Lampoon film Vacation took £608,748 at number seven, while Jack Whitehall's big screen version of his BBC Three show struggled with £594,861 at eight.

Here's how the top five looked:

1. Paper Towns - £2.1m
2. Inside Out - £1.38
3. Sinister 2 - £1.07m
4. Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation - £1.04m
5. The Man from U.N.C.L.E - £917,934

PACopyright: PA

The BBC's director of TV Danny Cohen says he's "truly sorry" Sir Tom Jones was upset by the way he was axed from talent show The Voice.

Sir Tom criticised the BBC's "sub-standard behaviour" after he was replaced by Boy George two weeks ago - telling fans he was given "no idea" and "no warning" he would not be returning to the BBC One show for a fifth series.

"I've got huge respect for Tom and I'm truly sorry he's upset, because I am a big fan of his," said Cohen.

But fear not if you're already suffering Sir Tom withdrawal - he'll be back on BBC One in November for a Children in Need concert.

Read more.

BBCCopyright: BBC

Jamelia is the latest star donning dancing shoes to join the Strictly Come Dancing line-up.

The Superstar singer and Loose Women presenter joins the likes of chef Ainsley Harriott, BBC weather presenter Carol Kirkwood and Peter Andre.

"My girls are huge fans of Strictly, but when I told them I was doing it they laughed as they know that dancing is not my forte!" said Jamelia.

"The girls are amazing dancers though so I definitely want to learn a new skill so that I'll be able to give them a run for their money, and end them teasing me once and for all!"

The final three Strictly contestants will be announced later this week.

Read more.

Got something to say on today's news or think there's something we should be covering?

Let us know via entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk or tweet @BBCNewsEnts. Your messages may be published here so no swearing please!

Welcome along to today's Entertainment Live page, where we'll be keeping you up to date with all the latest developments in the world of arts, entertainment, culture and the media.

It's already looking like a bumper day so stick with us for news on the Strictly line-up, a big award for Kanye West and an apology for Tom Jones.

And if you missed what happened yesterday, check out Tuesday's live page.