Acts appearing at last month's V99 Festival in Chelsmford signed the plaques from their dressing room doors for the week-long sale starting next Friday.

Autographs by James Brown, Spice Girl Mel C and the Manic Street Preachers will all go under the hammer on the eBay website.

Rock group Gomez added sketches of themselves to their door sign, while Suede star Brett Anderson signed on behalf of his cat, Fluffington.

Agutter returns to the Railway

Jenny Agutter is to star in a 30th anniversary TV version of The Railway Children as the mother of the character she played in the 1970 film.

She is the first person signed up to appear in the two-hour adaptation of the children's classic, scripted by Men Behaving Badly writer Simon Nye.

"It is one of the key roles and we were keen to tie her role up first. They are now casting the children and looking at locations," said a spokeswoman for Carlton, the company behind the project.

Agutter, 46, played the sensible elder sister Roberta in the 1970 original film, alongside Sally Thomsett, later known for the sitcom Man About The House, and Bernard Cribbens.

Street's Judy quits for film career

Coronation Street actress Gaynor Faye is preparing to leave Weatherfield to concentrate on a film career.

Faye has played the long-suffering but ever chirpy Judy Mallet since 1995.

The actress has already filmed a romantic comedy called Fanny and Elvis, written and directed by her mother Kay Mellor, and due for release in October.

Her Street character will make a shock exit from the show later this month.

Britney hits the mark with album sales

Pop star Britney Spears has become the first teenage girl to top the six million sales mark with an album in the US.

The 17-year-old chart-topper accomplished the feat with her debut album Baby One More Time, according to figures from the Recording Industry Association of America.

She surpasses previous record-holder LeAnn Rimes, whose Blue album has sold 5m.

Album sales by other teen stars Brandy and Tiffany stand at 4m.

EastEnders take a trip to the seaside

Albert Square residents are escaping grey Walford for the sun, sea, and candy floss of the south coast.

Several of the EastEnders cast have been filming in the popular seaside town of Brighton for an episode to be transmitted in November.

The group includes Mark Fowler, Sam Mitchell and Melanie Healey.

They are expected to be seen on Brighton's famous Palace Pier, beach, promenade, and in the town's bars.

Millennium makeover for Blue Peter tune

Blue Peter is set to undergo a revamp for the Millennium with a new studio, a new set, and a re-worked theme tune.

Composer David Arnold was drafted in to update the score for Blue Peter's trademark Barnacle Bill tune.

Programme editor Steve Hocking said, "We wouldn't even consider changing the tune. It's just been done in a more classical style."

Blue Peter returns for a new season on BBC One on 13 September.

Mel C prepares for world tour

Pop fans can snap up tickets for the first solo world tour by a Spice Girl from today as Mel C prepares to hit the road on 27 September.

She begins her series of shows on home turf by playing the Royal Court in Liverpool - one of only two dates in the UK during her five-week From Liverpool To Leicester Square tour.

Mel previewed her switch from pop to rock when she played two shows at the V99 festival last month.

More digestible ending for Lambs sequel

Author Thomas Harris has had to come up with a new ending for Hannibal, his sequel to Silence of the Lambs, which will make the story easier to film.

Reports in Hollywood say producer Dino De Laurentiis and UK director Ridley Scott had deemed the ending to be "too uncinematic".

Now script writer David Mamet is incorporating Harris's solution.