Ross honoured

Jonathan Ross picks up top TV entertainer prize

Funnyman Jonathan Ross was named TV's top entertainer as he landed a major broadcasting award.

The presenter fought off competition from regular prize winners Graham Norton and Ant and Dec to collect the trophy for Best Entertainment Performance at the Royal Television Society Awards in London.

Other highlights included:

• Best Serial/Single Drama - Out of Control (BBC1)
• Best Drama Series - Clocking Off (BBC1)
• Best Soap - Coronation Street (ITV1)
• Best Factual Presenter - Susannah Constantine and Trinny Woodall (What Not To Wear, BBC2)
• Best Entertainment - Pop Idol (ITV1)
• Best Comedy Performance - Ricky Gervais (The Office, BBC2)
• Best Sitcom/Comedy Drama - Phoenix Nights 2 (Channel 4)

Dennis Waterman will play a TV cop for the first time since The Sweeney ended 25 years ago.

The actor - who played Detective Sergeant George Carter in the hard-hitting ITV series - is to appear in BBC1's New Tricks.

In the comedy drama he plays Gerry Standing, one of three retired policemen who comes back to look again at an unsolved crime.

ITV1 is to move its main bulletin to 9pm, programme chiefs have announced.

The programme - normally around 10pm or later - will be anchored by Sir Trevor McDonald in Kuwait City.

The move is to keep viewers up to date with breaking news on the looming war with Iraq.

Two New York mobsters have been convicted of trying to extort up to £2 million from Hollywood star Steven Seagal.

Anthony Ciccone and Primo Cassarino, who worked for the Gambino crime family, were found guilty of demanding payoffs from the Exit Wounds star.

The actor told Brooklyn Federal Court he was ordered to hand over the cash during a meeting at a Brooklyn restaurant arranged by his former business partner.

BBC1 chiefs have said they have ruled out having permanent presenter for the next series of satirical quiz Have I Got News For You.

Regular host Angus Deayton was axed last year after revelations about his private life meant he became the target of jokes from panellists.

He was replaced by a series of guest presenters and TV bosses say that system will continue when the show returns.

Rock star Mark Knopfler is recovering after being badly hurt in a motorcycle accident.

The Dire Straits front man damaged six ribs and his collar bone in the crash in central London.

His Honda motor cycle was involved in a collision on Monday with a Fiat Punto car being driven by a woman, police said.

Sir David Attenborough won the people's vote with two top prizes at the WHSmith Book Awards.

The veteran presenter won best autobiography for Life On Air, which beat the memoirs of yachtswoman Ellen MacArthur and veteran BBC war correspondents John Simpson and Kate Adie.

And The Life Of Mammals, the book which accompanied his acclaimed TV series, won in the best general knowledge category.