Judi Dench returns after injury

Dench plays a noblewoman in the work by Japanese playwright Yukio Mishima

Dame Judi Dench will return to the West End Stage later after recovering from an ankle injury.

The actress was forced to pull out of four performances of Madame de Sade after stumbling outside the Wyndham's theatre, London last week.

She was taken to hospital and diagnosed with a severely sprained ankle, which she was advised to keep her weight off.

Dame Judi will now have to use a stick to aid her walking during performances until her ankle has fully recovered.

A spokesperson for the Donmar Warehouse theatre company said this was a temporary measure to ensure the actress could return to the role as soon as possible.

"The company are working together to facilitate any changes this may mean to the onstage performances and technical aspects of the production," it said in a statement.

Dame Judi added: "I am thrilled to be returning to Madame de Sade, and would like to thank everyone for their support during this time.

"We are having enormous fun as a company, and I am looking forward to getting back to the role of Madame de Montreuil" she added.

The play, which stars Rosamund Pike in the title role, has received mixed reviews.

Press reviews: Priscilla Queen of the Desert

The road movie The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of Desert became a cult hit after its 1994 release.

Go West is one of the big production numbers in the stage version

It followed two drag queens and a transsexual on a bus trip across Australia, the home country of director Stephan Elliott.

Elliott reworked the story as a stage musical which opened to acclaim in Australia in 2006. It now transfers to London with Jason Donovan, who started his West End career sporting the many coloured coat of Joseph, in the lead role.

SIMON EDGE - THE DAILY EXPRESS

A full-cast rendition of Go West makes the Village People look restrained, while the disco anthem Don't Leave Me This Way becomes the soundtrack to a high-camp funeral.

Some of the jokes are as corny as Fray Bentos beef and, this being Australian humour, nobody gives a XXXX about polite language. Kanako Nakano's showstopping turn as a Thai bride doing unspeakable things with ping-pong balls is a benchmark for the level of humour - it really isn't Oscar Wilde.

But all wrapped up as a shiny, pinkbowed package, this sumptuously dressed show works gloriously, with its parade of ever more jaw-dropping costumes an utter feast for the eye.

Loud, lewd and lavish, it's about as subtle as a smack in the teeth with a didgeridoo, but who cares when it's this much fun?

MICHAEL BILLINGTON - THE GUARDIAN

Everything in the stage version is underscored and overstated.

Jason Donovan dons a head dress of many colours

The gags have got cruder and camper, so that the bus now bears a sign saying "Rear Entry - Upon Request".

What the show is really about is spectacle; which, thanks to Brian Thomson's production design and the costumes of Tim Chappel and Lizzy Gardiner, is hurled across in bucketloads.

It's all eye-poppingly extravagant; but, in the last resort, there seems something defiantly tasteless about the fulfilment of a drag queens' dream to do a Kylie medley on top of the sacred Ayers Rock.

Read full review

REBECCA JONES - BBC CULTURE CORRESPONDENT

It's gaudy and garish with plenty of crude puns. Camp, camp, camp in capital letters.

Jason Donovan has an easy charm, even if he is a bit bland, but Tony Sheldon is the star of the show as Bernadette, the character played by Terence Stamp in the film.

You could pick this show apart if you wanted to - it isn't subtle and the content is a bit thin, but if you want a fun night out with toe-tapping tunes, you'll love it.

NICHOLAS DE JONGH - THE EVENING STANDARD

London has never played host to a musical pitched on a higher level of gayness and camp comedy, transsexual barrier-breaking and bitchy, witty drag-queenery, than this ingenious adaptation of the sensational film of the same name.

At a time when escapist musicals are all the rage, here's a rare one that takes you happily out of yourself and into daring places your wildest fantasies might never have dreamed of visiting.

Read full review

BENEDICT NIGHTINGALE - THE TIMES

There's energy, fun, tunefulness and, above all, the most outrageous swirl of costumes that

The stage production weaves in classic 70s pop tunes

I, who have seen La Cage aux Folles and even boggled at Ian McKellen's Widow Twankey, have yet encountered.

Only one thing is missing, and that's the desert of the title.

This is inevitable, given that the Palace stage is the size of a sandpit, but still a pity. The vast stony, scrubby vistas we saw in the film weren't just decorative. The idea was to suggest that here was a pristine wilderness inhabited, if at all, by strange and exotic creatures.

Read full review

MICHAEL COVENEY - THE INDEPENDENT

Donovan, it has to be said, seems to have lost what little stage personality he had developed as Joseph in the dreamcoat, and turned, well, rancid - while the long-standing Australian drag queen Tony Sheldon, who starts off promisingly as a dead-ringer for Kim Cattrall and descends into big-mouthed anonymity, and Oliver Thornton as the wicked Felicia - look like Friday night acts at the long-ago Vauxhall Tavern.

Read full review

Priscilla Queen of the Desert continues at the Palace Theatre, London.

Woodstock founder plans 'sequel'

An estimated 400,000 people attended the original Woodstock

Michael Lang, the co-founder of the legendary 1969 Woodstock festival, is reportedly seeking sponsors for a 40th anniversary reprise in New York City.

"The chances that something will happen are probable," he told the Times. "But I don't really have the answer yet as to what that will be."

Central Park has been suggested as a possible location for the event.

The Who were among the acts who played at the original concert, which took place in Bethel, New York State.

A 30th anniversary concert held in 1999 at a former air force base outside New York ended in looting and violence.

'Legacy bands'

According to Billboard magazine, Mr Lang hopes the concert would be "a free event" leaving "as small a carbon imprint as we can."

To this end, he is seeking raise $10m (

Pop art in the era of the pixel

by James Alexander BBC News

It is 70 years since the first album cover. But, now that discs are giving way to digital downloads, what is the future for album art?

Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon album over is iconic

For generations of music fans, the album cover has a special place. We all have our favourites (and least favourite) - images stared at and studied in teenage bedrooms the world over.

From Andy Warhol's banana on the front of the first Velvet Underground record to the underwater baby pursuing a dollar bill on the cover of Nirvana's Nevermind, these were pictures that teased and intrigued.

They offered a tantalising glimpse into worlds that seemed glamorous, exciting and strange. But the once vast canvas is shrinking - whereas on glossy LP covers these images enjoyed a full 12 inches of sleeve space, this reduced to five inches with the advent of the CD.

And now, with the shift from discs to downloads, the space allotted to album art is even smaller. On many MP3 players the sleeve appears not much bigger than a postage stamp - so can the album cover survive?

Album cover reform

It was in 1939 that young designer Alexander Steinweiss persuaded Columbia Records that the use of original artwork might attract more buyers.

Previously records came in drab brown cardboard covers with little to mark them out except the name of the artist and the album.

The change was a big hit. Label bosses soon found the extra sales more than made up for the added printing costs.

In the 1960s the Beatles took album art to a new level - Sgt Pepper, with its colourful cast of characters, came in a gatefold cover complete with a psychedelic inner sleeve and even a cardboard moustache to cut out and keep.

In the years that followed, no expense was spared in creating ever more extravagant and experimental designs.

The golden age of the album cover is pretty much over Simon Warner, lecturer in popular music at Leeds University

The multi-layered artwork for New Order's 12-inch single Blue Monday cost so much to produce Factory Records claimed it actually lost money on every copy sold.

Of course not every sleeve was memorable for the right reasons - some were tacky and cheap, others were simply bizarre. Even a classic like the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds suffers from a cover photo that takes a horribly literal approach to the album's title.

The art of Storm Thorgerson is as famous as the music it accompanies. A childhood friend of the founding members of Pink Floyd, he went on to become their designer-in-chief, fashioning a string of eye-catching creations.

There was the mournful-looking cow on the front of Atom Heart Mother, the burning businessman on the sleeve of Wish You Were Here, the giant pig flying over Battersea Power Station and - most famously of all - the prism spreading a spectrum of colour across The Dark Side Of The Moon.

'Cool graphic'

"It's a nice but simple idea," Thorgerson explains, surrounded by books and sketches in the same North London studio where the design took shape three decades ago.

Storm Thorgerson created a string of Pink Floyd covers including Pulse

"Refracting light through a prism is a common feature in nature, as in a rainbow. I would like to claim it, but unfortunately it's not mine!"

The idea was sparked by Pink Floyd's keyboard player, the late Richard Wright.

"He said, somewhat provocatively, 'Let's not have one of your photos, we've had your photos before. Can't we have a change? A cool graphic - something smart, tidy, elegant.'"

Thorgerson responded with seven rough suggestions that he pinned to the wall of Abbey Road studios.

The band took just seconds to plump for the prism, an image that seemed to perfectly embody the stark themes that underpin The Dark Side Of The Moon.

Design matters

Although Thorgerson remains best-known for his collaborations with Pink Floyd, his design credits also include albums by Led Zeppelin, Peter Gabriel and Muse.

Now he has collected his favourites into a limited edition box set, alongside signed prints and previously unseen drawings.

He continues to be in demand and says he's untroubled by the shrinking space given to album art.

Thorgerson's design credits also include albums by Peter Gabriel

"I think it's more about the design that matters. So, once that has been uncovered, then you have an image that will hopefully work everywhere and always," he says.

"I don't worry if it's an LP, CD or MP3 - I always see it as very big. Even though it may be very small, it will get used big somewhere - a hoarding or a poster or an advert in a magazine."

And this may be the future where designs are experienced less as album covers and more as billboards, concert images, screensavers, even as framed pieces of art.

"The golden age of the album cover is pretty much over," says Simon Warner, a lecturer in popular music at Leeds University.

"There has been a revival in vinyl sales the last few years driven largely by nostalgia. But, in overall terms, the era of vinyl - the era of the album cover - has gone," he says.

"We live in an age when you can download videos to your computer or iPod. We can still enjoy a wide range of imagery associated with an artist, but that idea of the static 2-D work of art is no longer necessarily the only way to enjoy an artist's essence."

It is doubtful the traditional album sleeve that has excited generations of music lovers will hold the same fascination for fans of the future.

But it seems likely the magical marriage of sound and vision, music and art will continue to colour the songs we hear.

Taken by Storm - album art by Storm Thorgerson is published by Genesis Publications.

Bafta nod for EastEnders' Brown

Brown (left) receives her first Bafta nomination at the age of 82

EastEnders star June Brown is among the stars nominated for this year's British Academy Television Awards.

Her nomination for best TV actress marks the first time the veteran soap star has been recognised by Bafta.

Stephen Fry, Harry Hill and Jonathan Ross compete for the best entertainment performance prize alongside ITV duo Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly.

BBC drama Hancock and Joan has received three nominations, including a best actor nod for star Ken Stott.

Stott's competition includes rising star Ben Whishaw for Criminal Justice and Jason Isaacs, cited for his role as comedian Harry H Corbett in The Curse of Steptoe.

Documentary

Brown's fellow best actress nominees include Andrea Riseborough, recognised for playing the young Margaret Thatcher in The Long Walk to Finchley.

Elsewhere, Welsh star Rob Brydon gets a nomination for best comedy performance for his role in BBC sitcom Gavin and Stacey.

The show was the big winner at last year's event, winning best comedy performance for James Corden and the audience award.

Peep Show's David Mitchell, also recognised in the comedy performance category, gets a second nod for best comedy programme for That Mitchell and Webb look.

Fry also gets a second nomination for his BBC Four documentary on the Gutenberg Press.

This year's awards will be held on 26 April at the Royal Festival Hall on London's South Bank.

Director faces child porn charges

Karl Francis denied charges of downloading child pornography

A film director and a former head of drama for BBC Wales has pleaded not guilty to charges of child porn.

Karl Francis denied eight counts of making indecent photographs of a child and one of arranging or facilitating sex causing a child sex offence.

Mr Francis, 66, of Cardiff, who has directed films such as Rebecca's Daughter starring Peter O'Toole and Joely Richardson, was released on bail.

The case at Cardiff Crown Court was adjourned until trial in the summer.

Mr Francis was released on bail on the condition that he attends the trial or any other hearing listed in the meantime.

Judge William Gaskell adjourned the case until 27 July to allow the defence team to seek expert evidence and produce a defence statement.

Mr Francis, who also directed One Of The Hollywood Ten in 2000 starring Jeff Goldblum and Greta Scacchi, was described by defending barrister Jonathan Rees as a "renowned film director".

Soap actor admits teenager attack

The actor has been in Emmerdale since the age of 13

A television actor has pleaded guilty to fracturing the jaw of a 16-year-old in an attack in Greater Manchester.

Luke Tittensor, 19, who plays Daz Eden in the ITV1 soap Emmerdale, admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm on the boy in Rochdale on 15 February 2008.

Bolton Crown Court heard the boy was left badly injured and needed surgery after the attack.

Tittensor, of Ryecroft Avenue, Heywood, was given unconditional bail and will be sentenced on 29 April.

Mark Ford, prosecuting, told the court his victim suffered a displaced fracture to his lower jaw which needed corrective surgery.

Child actor

"He was in hospital for three days and had a metal plate and screws inserted into the bone in order to repair the damage inflicted."

Mr Ford said the young victim, who cannot be named, had displayed "an extremely mature attitude" towards the proceedings.

"He is a young man, only 16 at the time of this attack," Mr Ford told the court.

"His overriding concern, however, was that the defendant should accept responsibility for what he did to him."

Tittensor, who has been in the cast of the soap since he was 13, spoke only to confirm his name and enter his plea during the hearing on Monday.