Entertainment Live: Lily James at Zombies premiere; Bowie and Rickman tributes

Photographer Annie Leibovitz has snapped 13 of cinema's "finest [and] fiercest" actresses for a set of Vanity Fair portraits. 

She lined up [L to R] Jane Fonda, Cate Blanchett, Viola Davis, Jennifer Lawrence, Charlotte Rampling, Brie Larson, Rachel Weisz, Lupita Nyong'o, Alicia Vikander, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Dame Helen Mirren, Saoirse Ronan and Diane Keaton for the shoot. 

That's a lot of talent in one picture...

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The late David Bowie is to receive a further homage at this month's Grammy Awards, where pop star Lady Gaga will honour him with what's being described as an "an experiential tribute".

The performance will be overseen by Chic's Nile Rodgers, who produced Bowie's hit album Let's Dance in 1983.

"The tribute will be a multisensory testament to the icon's incredible artistry and a reflection of his limitless creativity," said the Recording Academy in a statement.

Gaga has previously credited Bowie, who died of cancer last month at the age of 69, as an inspiration.

"He's sort of like an alien prince," she once told chat show host Alan Carr. "Every morning I wake up and I think, 'What would Bowie do?'"

The Grammys will be held on 15 February.

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Bill Cosby appeared to need support as he arrived at a courthouse in Norristown, Pennsylvania, to request that a criminal case lodged against him be dismissed.

The 78-year-old was charged in December with sexually assaulting Andrea Constand in 2004 at his home near Philadelphia.

Mr Cosby's lawyers will argue that he had a deal with a prosecutor in 2005 that he would not be prosecuted over a deposition he gave in a civil action brought by Ms Constand in 2005.

The actor and comic admitted in the deposition he had a series of affairs with young models and actresses, obtained quaaludes to give women before sex and gave Constand three pills before the alleged assault took place.

The deposition forms the basis of the aggravated indecent assault charge Cosby hopes to have thrown out, on the grounds he had been granted immunity by former Montgomery County district lawyer Bill Castor.

Mr Castor is scheduled to appear for the defence on Tuesday.

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David Bowie and Alan Rickman will be commemorated at the Berlin Film Festival later this month with screenings of The Man Who Fell to Earth and Sense and Sensibility.

Bowie died of cancer aged 69 on 10 January, while Rickman died of cancer, also aged 69, four days later.

Festival director Dieter Kosslick said Bowie, who starred as an alien in Nicolas Roeg's sci-fi drama and who recorded some of his most seminal albums in Berlin, was "a tremendous musician [and] an avant-garde artist who expressed his creativity in many disciplines".

Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility, in which Rickman played Colonel Brandon, won the festival's Golden Bear award in 1996.

Kosslick praised Rickman's "ability to transform himself, his artistry in playing ambivalent characters and his distinctive voice", calling him a "great actor".

The festival is also commemorating Italian director Ettore Scola, who died aged 84 last month, by showing his film Le Bal, which won the Silver Bear in Berlin in 1984.

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BBCCopyright: BBC

Bridget Kendall, the BBC's diplomatic correspondent, is leaving the corporation later this year to become Master of Peterhouse College, Cambridge. 

Kendall, who has been at the BBC since joining as a trainee in 1983, is one of the corporation’s most respected international correspondents. 

Her interviewees include a range of international leaders that include Margaret Thatcher, George H Bush, Vladimir Putin, Hillary Clinton, King Abdullah of Jordan, Ban Ki Moon and Mikhail Gorbachev.

Here's what she had to say about her time at the BBC.

Quote Message: I cannot think of any other job which would have given me so much variety, excitement and so much fun. As a BBC correspondent I have had a ringside seat at some of the most extraordinary moments in modern history.

I cannot think of any other job which would have given me so much variety, excitement and so much fun. As a BBC correspondent I have had a ringside seat at some of the most extraordinary moments in modern history.

Kendall's contributions also include Why Strictly dances to Russia's beat, a piece featured recently on these very pages.

The article explored why Russian dancers are so prominent on BBC One's Strictly Come Dancing.

Jonathan Munro, the BBC's head of newsgathering, said Kendall would be missed "hugely" and would "no doubt bring [her] fierce intellect and forensic mind" to her new role.

Jane Austen would be pleased with how her classic novel has been adapted as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, according to former Doctor Who actor Matt Smith.

Douglas Booth, Smith's co-star in the film, is also of the opinion that the author would approve of the gory genre mash-up, saying the film is "a testament to how brilliant her original work was".

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Here's a shot of George Clooney and Channing Tatum pretending to autograph each other at last night's Los Angeles premiere of Hail, Caesar!, the latest comedy from sibling film-makers Joel and Ethan Coen (below).

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Josh Brolin, Jonah Hill and Clooney's wife Amal were also on hand at the event, which saw its stars arrive in vintage automobiles in keeping with the film's 1950s setting.

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Hail, Caesar!, a satire about a Hollywood studio fixer who has his work cut out keeping its stars in line, will be released in the UK and Ireland on 4 March.

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Welsh screenwriter Andrew Davies has told an audience in Cardiff that subscription streaming services cannot compete with the BBC's drama output.

"People say 'everybody's watching Mad Men, everybody's watching the American version of House of Cards'," he said at a preview screening of the final episode of his adaptation of War and Peace.

"They're not. It's just people in the business [who] are watching it."

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Online drama 'can't compete' with BBC

Welsh screenwriter Andrew Davies says subscription streaming services cannot compete with the BBC's drama output.

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EPACopyright: EPA

Here's a picture of Barei, the singer who'll be representing Spain at this year's Eurovision Song Contest.

And here's how the 33-year-old performer - who'll be hoping to become Spain's first Eurovision winner since 1969 with her track Say Yay! - celebrated being chosen on Monday.

The final of this year's Eurovision Song Contest takes place in Stockholm on 14 May.

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The return of '70s soft-rock legends ELO was precipitated by a one-off BBC concert at Hyde Park two years ago. 

The rapturous reception prompted founder member Jeff Lynne to complete Alone in the Universe, the band's first album in more than a decade.

The Hyde Park performance was the brainchild of Radio 2's head of music, Jeff Smith, who first saw the band at Wembley as a teenager and had long harboured an ambition to see them reform.

So it's no surprise he's excited about their Glastonbury booking, which was announced yesterday. (The band are playing the "legend slot" that's previously hosted performances from Dolly Parton and Lionel Richie.)

Quote Message: I can't think of anybody better to do Glastonbury. I think Jeff Lynne will wow the crowds like Dolly, and I think he'll have them singing along on that Sunday teatime.

I can't think of anybody better to do Glastonbury. I think Jeff Lynne will wow the crowds like Dolly, and I think he'll have them singing along on that Sunday teatime.

Quote Message: Having 'Mr Blue Sky' in that slot - it just couldn't be better, could it?

Having 'Mr Blue Sky' in that slot - it just couldn't be better, could it?

Here's Lynne performing that ELO classic to get you in the mood.

BBCCopyright: BBC

War and Peace star James Norton (above) has said it's "a real shame" that "at least half the press coverage" about Eddie Redmayne (below) "is about the fact he went to Eton".

Norton, who is set to reprise his role as the psychotic Tommy Lee Royce in Happy Valley, said it is "ridiculous" there is so much focus on where Redmayne, the Oscar-winning star of The Theory of Everything and The Danish Girl, was educated.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Quote Message: It's a real shame... when you get somebody like Eddie Redmayne, who is such a great ambassador for British drama - two Oscar nominations in two years, it's extraordinary - and at least half the press coverage on him is about the fact he went to Eton.

It's a real shame... when you get somebody like Eddie Redmayne, who is such a great ambassador for British drama - two Oscar nominations in two years, it's extraordinary - and at least half the press coverage on him is about the fact he went to Eton.

This issue looks set to rumble on. 

Jim HighamCopyright: Jim Higham

Colin Vearncombe, who performed as Black, is to be remembered in his native city at a memorial in Liverpool Cathedral, following his death in a road accident. 

The singer died on 26 January after a car crash in Ireland left him with swelling on the brain. He had a private funeral.

"Everyone is warmly welcome to join Colin's family to give him one last wonderful send-off," his management said.

The memorial will be held on the evening of 19 February "for the multitude of family, friends, acquaintances and music fans who have expressed a desire to come together to celebrate Colin's life".

Black's most famous singles were the '80s hits Wonderful Life and Sweetest Smile. He also released 15 albums under his own name, published poetry and exhibited his paintings in Cork, where he lived for more than 10 years.

Getty Images / ReutersCopyright: Getty Images / Reuters

The popularity of homegrown artists like Zhou Bichang and western stars like Taylor Swift mean China will become one of the biggest markets for pop music in the next decade.

That's the striking finding of a report by Nielsen, who have conducted their first ever study of music consumers in the world's most populous country.

They found that 72% of the country's 1.3 billion people listen to music every week - rising to 83% amongst the more affluent sections of society.

But piracy and bootlegging remain a threat to the growth of the music industry. Just 3% of low-income consumers said they would be "very likely" to pay for a streaming service in the future.

Read more on this story.

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Oscar-nominated Trumbo star Bryan Cranston, who played Walter White in Breaking Bad, has admitted he does not miss the show despite its huge success.

Quote Message: We were together for six years, and a lot of life happens in six years. But we had a beautiful beginning, middle and end. And you have to know when to end.

We were together for six years, and a lot of life happens in six years. But we had a beautiful beginning, middle and end. And you have to know when to end.

It's fair to say that Cranston had quite a water-cooler moment as White, the high-school teacher diagnosed with terminal cancer who manufactures methamphetamines to provide for his family after his death.

Now, though, he says he's happy to step off the fame rollercoaster.

Quote Message: I often now opt to stay at home, when I may have had a desire to go out. I'm less social than I used to be. I have a tendency to hide away.

I often now opt to stay at home, when I may have had a desire to go out. I'm less social than I used to be. I have a tendency to hide away.

Cranston, who also starred in hit sitcom Malcom in the Middle for six years, said his reason for acting was not about making money or being well-known.  

Quote Message: I just wanted to make a living acting. That is still my most cherished professional accomplishment.

I just wanted to make a living acting. That is still my most cherished professional accomplishment.

Trumbo - which tells the story of Dalton Trumbo, the Hollywood screenwriter whose affiliations with the Communist Party saw him blacklisted in the 1950s - opens in the UK and Ireland on Friday.

Pop star Mariah Carey has been talking to the BBC about being a mother of two, her upcoming UK concerts and her "glamorous" new engagement ring.

The 45-year-old, who got engaged in January to Australian billionaire James Packer, kicks off her European tour next month with six dates in Scotland, England and Wales.

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Another 13 names have been added to the list of people who'll be presenting awards at this year's Oscars.

And from the look of them, it seems as if organisers have taken recent criticism over the awards' lack of diversity to heart.

Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra, South Korean actor Byung-hun Lee and Django Unchained actress Kerry Washington (pictured) are among those who will join the presenters previously announced.

There's also a slot for music producer Quincy Jones, who said last month he would not accept the invitation to appear unless he was given the chance to speak on the subject of diversity.

Previous Oscar winners Jared Leto, Julianne Moore and JK Simmons are also among the presenters who, according to Oscars co-producer Reginald Hudlin, "have enriched the international moviegoing experience with a range of memorable work from the comic to the profound".

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Rock group Def Leppard have postponed the remainder of their North American tour "due to illness". 

The British band, whose hits include Animal and Pour Some Sugar On Me, have ditched 10 dates, saying they will be rescheduled "soon".  

Drummer Rick Allen explained that singer Joe Elliot had been ordered to rest his voice.

Elliot's throat problems recently caused problems on a "Def Leppard Cruise". The singer was laid low on the second day at sea, with guest vocalists taking his place.

Former Dio bassist Jimmy Bain was also on board the vessel when he died in January.

UniversalCopyright: Universal

As funny and beloved as the original Dad's Army sitcom was, it could hardly claim to have been ahead of the curve when it came to female characters.

It's an imbalance the new film version was keen to rectify - not just by having Catherine Zeta Jones (pictured above with Toby Jones) play a glamorous journalist, but also by giving a face to Elizabeth, Captain Mainwaring's often-mentioned but hitherto unseen wife.

Our entertainment correspondent Tim Masters has been looking into the matter with the help of the film's cast, its screenwriter Hamish McColl and Imperial War Museum historian Ian Kikuchi.

Read his feature.

Warner Music UKCopyright: Warner Music UK

You might not know Anne-Marie by name... but if you've seen Rudimental in concert, you'll recognise her voice.

The singer has been playing with the dance collective for the last two years, and sang lead vocals on last year's Rumour Mill single.

Now the Essex-born singer has struck out on her own - and she's got the seal of approval from MTV viewers, who have declared her the winner of the station's "Brand New for 2016" competition.

Anne-Marie beat the likes of Jack Garratt, WSTRN and Sigala to take the title, receiving 204,577 votes - the highest number ever cast in the history of the competition.

"I've just loved seeing my fans and family and friends rooting for me," said the singer as she received the award.

You can hear her debut single Do It Right below.