Westlife retain top spot

Long life for Westlife at number one

Westlife have shown staying power at the top of the singles charts.

The Irish boy band retained the number one spot on Sunday to become the first act in more than a year to stay at the top for more than three weeks.

The single I Have a Dream/ Seasons in the Sun first got to number one for Christmas.

Cher was the last artist to keep top spot for at least four weeks. Her smash Believe was number one for seven weeks in 1998.

Chart analyst Gennaro Castaldo said sales of singles were low following the Christmas rush.

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Depp dresses down

Depp: Grunge chic

Hollywood hunk Johnny Depp stunned guests at a lavish celebrity dinner to celebrate the UK release of his new film by turning up in a woolly hat.

The 36-year-old star of Sleepy Hollow arrived at London's Simpsons restaurant in dirty jeans and a battered leather jacket.

Amongst the guests - dressed in more conventional designer labels - were Brit actor Nick Moran, ex-EastEnders star Patsy Palmer, MTV presenter Donna Air and Sleepy Hollow's director Tim Burton.

Sleepy Hollow opens in the UK on 7 January and stars Depp as a policeman sent to investigate a series of ghostly murders in a country village.

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New Rosie Webster for Corrie

Helen Flanagan is "thrilled" with her new role

Coronation Street bosses have found a budding actress to take the place of the departing child star Emma Collinge who plays Rosie Webster.

Nine-year-old Helen Flanagan from Bolton will join the soap on 23 January.

She said she was "thrilled to be working with such kind people".

Emma Collinge, who has played the daughter of Sally and Kevin Webster since she was 10 days old, left the show to devote more time to gymnastics.

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Brits scoop Monte Carlo awards

British stars Jane Seymour and Roger Moore are to receive awards for best actress and actor at the Monte Carlo Festival of Television in February.

Seymour won small screen stardom for her role in Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman.

She was singled out for "the quality of her many roles and the active part she plays in humanitarian organizations".

It will be the first acting awards have been scheduled for the festival. Formerly, awards were given to programmes, rather than individuals.

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Bono calls on France to drop the debt

U2 singer Bono has appealed directly to the French people to help relieve billions of pounds of Third World debt, by writing in the daily paper Le Monde.

The 39-year-old star has championed the international effort to release poor nations from paying back huge loans.

"The moment has come for France to take centre stage," he wrote in the paper.

"It can completely erase £7bn of debt owed by the world's poorest countries."

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Eastwood family features in golf ads

Clint Eastwood has turned his latest venture into a family affair, using his nearest and dearest in adverts for his range of golf clothing.

The 69-year-old Dirty Harry star has launched a line of men's and women's clothing with his wife Dina Ruiz and their two-year-old daughter in the ads.

Eastwood, who also appears in the company's promotional material, is building a golf course near his home in the Californian coastal town of Carmel

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Reynolds to direct Karloff remake

Burt Reynolds is to try his hand as a director on a remake of the 1945 Boris Karloff classic, Isle of the Dead.

Reynolds, who made his comeback in the award-winning Boogie Nights, may also take a co-starring role in the film, which tells the story of a group of people stranded on a Greek island.

The actor is best known for his roles in Deliverance and Smokey and the Bandit and most recently appeared as a retired mobster in the comedy, The Crew.