A puppet from the Gerry Anderson series Captain Scarlet that was estimated to fetch between £12,500 and £13,500 failed to find a buyer when it went up for auction yesterday at Bonhams' Entertainment Memorabilia sale in London.

The Captain Brown puppet consisted of an original, restored head with reproduction body and uniform. The character of Captain Brown featured in the first episode of Captain Scarlet as well as in flashback in the second episode. The puppet was then used for other characters in the series, including Major Reeves and Dr Conrad, before being "recycled" for other Gerry Anderson shows.

Approximately 22in (56cm) high, it also appeared as Dr Blakemore in the Joe 90 episode Operation McClaine and as Harry Sloane in Double Agent in the same series. In The Secret Service it portrayed several characters, including the spy George Grey and, with grey hair and moustache, General Brompton in the episode Hole In One.

A prop stardrive device from the Blake's 7 episode Stardrive (series 4, episode 4) went for £1,187, having had an estimate of £500-700. Meanwhile, a mothership model from Series 10 of Red Dwarf was bought for £562 (estimate £500-700), while an Annihilator model spaceship from the same series fetched £750 (estimate £500-700). All sale prices included the premium.

The auction was held at Bonhams' Knightsbridge saleroom.

The BBC One drama Last Tango In Halifax has been commissioned for a second series while the first one is still airing.

Written and created by Sally Wainwright and made by Red Production Company, the series - which sees would-be childhood sweethearts Alan Buttershaw, played by Derek Jacobi, and Celia Dawson (Anne Reid) reunited after 60 years - has been the biggest new mid-week drama on any channel this year, with the programme attracting an average consolidated audience of 7.1 million.

With episodes directed by Euros Lyn and with music by Murray Gold, it also stars Sarah Lancashire as Caroline Elliot, Nicola Walker as Gillian Greenwood, and Nina Sosanya as Kate McKenzie.

As with the first series, the second one is understood to be of six episodes, and a Red Production Company spokeswoman told News In Time And Space that filming was likely to start next June. The transmission date is yet to be fixed.

This recommission becomes the fifth successful new returning drama series to be launched on BBC One this year, with the others being The Syndicate, Prisoners' Wives, The Paradise, and Call The Midwife.

BBC One Controller Danny Cohen said: Sally Wainwright said: Ben Stephenson, Controller of BBC Drama Commissioning, said: Co-executive producer Nicola Shindler added: The final two episodes of the current series will air on Tuesday 18th December and Wednesday 19th December on BBC One at 9pm on both days.

The BBC One fantasy drama Merlin draws to a close later this month with the two-part story The Diamond Of The Day.

Written by Jake Michie and directed by Justin Molotnikov, it guest-stars Erin Richards as Eira, John Lynch as Balinor, and Peter Guinness as Ari.


Part one airs on Saturday 22nd December at 7.55pm, with the second and concluding part - the final episode of the show - being broadcast on Monday 24th December at 8.15pm.

Another set of pictures from the final episode has been released by the BBC:


A set from the last episode was also released by the BBC last month.

In addition, to mark the end of the series as a whole, a video interview with Colin Morgan, who plays Merlin, has been released by the BBC, in which the actor reflects on the show:

Tickets were going on sale today for a Wallace & Gromit show taking this year's special BBC Prom concert to a wider audience in Australia and England.

Wallace & Gromit's Musical Marvels, which takes place next spring, is billed as a family show with the audience invited behind the scenes as Wallace prepares to perform his Proms commission My Concerto in Ee, Lad.

As with the Prom, specially-filmed Wallace & Gromit animated scenes show the duo's backstage exploits as they prepare for the performance, with the audience being entertained meanwhile with classical favourites - this time including music by Mozart, Debussy, and Stravinsky. After the interval there will be a special screening of the multi-award-winning Wallace & Gromit film A Matter of Loaf and Death with the soundtrack performed live.

The music will be performed in Australia by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and in England by the Aurora Orchestra.

Merlin Crossingham, the show's creative director, said: The concert dates and venues are as follows:

• Friday 8th February: The Plenary, Melbourne, 7.30pm
• Saturday 9th February: The Plenary, Melbourne, 11am
• Saturday 30th March: Brighton Dome, 2.30pm and 7pm
• Sunday 31st March: Hammersmith Apollo, 7pm
• Monday 1st April: Hammersmith Apollo, 2.30pm and 7pm

Tickets were being made available via this link for the Australian concerts, this link for the Brighton Dome performances, and this link for the Hammersmith Apollo ones.

The Wallace & Gromit BBC Prom (number 20 in the 2012 series) was held at the Royal Albert Hall in London on Sunday 29th July.

Pictures from episode 11 of Merlin were released by the BBC today.

Written by Julian Jones and directed by Declan O'Dwyer, The Drawing Of The Dark guest-stars Alexandra Dowling as Kara and has been confirmed to air at 8.15pm on Saturday 15th December.

The award-winning comedy-crime-drama Jonathan Creek is to return for a one-off episode next Easter, the BBC announced today.

Starring Alan Davies as the eponymous mystery-solver and with Sheridan Smith returning as his sidekick Joey Ross, the 90-minute special - entitled The Clue of the Savant's Thumb - has been written by David Renwick, who created the show and who wrote all its previous episodes. It is to be made by BBC In-House Comedy for BBC One, with filming starting later this month.

In the story, Creek and Ross are drawn into a complex case involving a secret society, seemingly supernatural events at a girls' boarding school, and the miraculous disappearance of a body in front of three witnesses.

Davies said:
Pete Thornton, the creative head of BBC In-House Comedy, added:
No director has been announced yet, but it will be produced by Rosemary McGowan, with Pete Thornton as the executive producer.

Jonathan Creek first aired in 1997 and there have been four series and two specials so far. In 1998, it won the BAFTA for Best Drama Series. Julia Sawalha, who played the Doctor's assistant and love interest Emma in Steven Moffat's Doctor Who spoof The Curse of Fatal Death for Comic Relief in 1999, was Creek's assistant Carla Borrego between 2001 and 2004, while guest stars have included Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Paul McGann, Maureen O'Brien, Mary Tamm, and Geoffrey Beevers.