Simon MacCorkindale joins "The Sound of Music"

Simon MacCorkindale (Greg Reardon from FC's seasons 4 & 5), is to join the cast of The Sound Of Music at the London Palladium from 25 August, taking over from Simon Burke as Captain Von Trapp.

MacCorkindale starred as hospital manager Harry Harper in long-running drama Casualty for six years, leaving earlier this year. He had previously enjoyed an extensive television and film career in the UK and US with credits including Poltergeist, Counterstrike, Falcon Crest, Manimal, Death On The Nile and Quatermass. Also a producer, director and stage actor, MacCorkindale has directed at the National and in the West End and last appeared on stage in a national tour of Agatha Christie whodunit The Unexpected Guest in 2007.

In The Sound Of Music, MacCorkindale plays widowed father Captain Von Trapp, who employs nun-turned-nanny Maria to be governess to his seven unruly children in his Austrian home. As well as taming the kids, tomboyish Maria melts the heart of the frosty Captain, but their domestic idyll is threatened by the rise of the Nazi party and the onset of war.

MacCorkindale joins a cast that includes Summer Strallen, who has been playing the part of Maria since March 2008, when she took over from Connie Fisher. While Fisher was cast through BBC reality television show How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?, Strallen’s arrival in the musical was also influenced by television, as a storyline on C4 soap Hollyoaks saw her character, Summer Shaw, cast in the famous role before Strallen took to the Palladium stage in reality.

The cast also includes Margaret Preece as Mother Abbess, Fiona Sinnott as the Baroness and Paul Grunert as Max. Also on 25 August, Rebecca Luice takes over as the eldest Von Trapp child Liesl and Nadim Naaman joins the cast as Rolf.

This production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The Sound Of Music, directed by Jeremy Sams, opened at the London Palladium in November 2006. The first show to use television casting, it paved the way for subsequent productions of Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Grease and the forthcoming Oliver!, all of which have cast major roles through television programmes.

HBO Cancels Drama Series "Tell Me You Love Me" starring David Selby

HBO has no love for their drama series "Tell Me You Love Me" as they scrap the plans for its second season and cancel the show completely.

The show's creator Cynthia Mort said in a statement, "Given the considerable amount of time that has passed and despite the best efforts of everyone involved, we were unable to find the direction of the show for the second season."

"There are so many other stories to tell and many other ways to tell them. I look forward to doing that with HBO in the future."

The cable channel picked up the series for a second season last October, but the show had yet to resume production.

"Tell Me You Love Me" centered on the lives of three couples and their problems concerning intimacy. They seek the help of a therapist, who has issues with her own relationship.

The casts included Jane Alexander, David Selby, Michelle Borth, Luke Kirby, Tim DeKay, Ally Walker and Sonya Walger.

Shayne Lamas Calls Off Wedding

Shayne Lamas, the winner of "The Bachelor" reality show, has reportedly dumped "The Bachelor" Matt Grant, according to reports Friday.

Lamas and Grant were engaged, but Lamas has reportedly called off the engagement and wedding. On Wednesday, the New York Post reported that Lamas, the daughter of actor Lorenzo Lamas, had cheated on Grant with Las Vegas media mogul Justin Weneger.

Lamas and Grant were on the TV Guide Channel in May, expressing their love for one another and stressed the bond of their relationship.

Grant selected Lamas over Chelsea Wanstrath in the final episode of "The Bachelor: London Calling".