BBC News - Entertainment & Arts

25 January 2011 Last updated at 19:52 ET

King's Speech leads Oscars field

British movie The King's Speech leads the nominations for this year's Academy Awards with 12 nods, including best film and best actor, for Colin Firth.

Major cuts to BBC World Service

BBC World Service is to close five of its language services, with the likely loss of up to 650 jobs, it is understood.

Downfall producer Eichinger dies

German film producer Bernd Eichinger, who worked on films including Downfall, The Neverending Story and The Name of the Rose, dies in Los Angeles at the age of 61.

Jackson doctor pleads not guilty

Dr Conrad Murray pleads not guilty to a charge of involuntary manslaughter over the singer Michael Jackson's death in 2009.
Dench feted at South Bank awards

Dame Judi Dench is among the recipients of this year's South Bank awards, winning an outstanding achievement accolade for her distinguished career.
Bollywood stars face 'tax raids'
Warhol self-portrait up for sale
Derek Walcott wins TS Eliot prize
BBC finishes Dickens's Drood book
Three awards for Bolshoi Ballet
Somali poet braves wrath of al-Shabab

Also in the news

Gomp/arts

Mind your head

In a spin about Martin Creed's new work
Stretching sculpture
Light and shade

Arts & culture

Thousands queue to see Monet show

Thousands of art lovers queued for hours in freezing temperatures over the weekend for a final look at a major Claude Monet retrospective in Paris.
Writers pull out of Lanka event
Branagh waxes Lyrical in Belfast

Film

Twilight stars get it in the neck at Razzie nominations

Vampire movie The Twilight Saga: Eclipse and M Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender lead this year's Razzie nominations.
Portman comedy tops US box office
King's Speech wins best film gong

Music

Indian singer Bhimsen Joshi dies

One of India's most famous musicians, Bhimsen Joshi, dies at a hospital in the western city of Pune, aged 89.
Stone Roses gig features in film
Funeral held for Gerry Rafferty

TV & radio

Skins US version 'is dangerous'

The US version of hit teen drama Skins causes controversy as a parents' group claims it could be violating child porn laws.
BBC to cut online budget by 25%
US Office cameo for Ricky Gervais

Features & analysis

Oscar hits and misses

What was predictable and what was surprising about the Oscar nominations?
Deeply disturbed

Nicole Kidman confronted her own fears for Oscar-nominated role
In Pictures

Exhibition combines photosand Japanese animation
The Queen's man

Peter Morgan on working with Hollywood royalty
'Enemy of the people'

Russian actors give London bitter taste of Stalinist terror
Howard's dilemma

Oscar-winner Ron Howard on film controversy
Comics in the Congo

Kinshasa, the unlikely capital of cartoons in Africa