Comedy this month sees Limmy's Show, Burnistorm and Gary - tank Commander all back for a second series. Phone Shop starts work on its full series after a successful pilot and Watson and Oliver return with more sketches and characters. The British Comedy Awards finds a new and more apt home on Channel 4, The Accidental Farmer stars Ashley Jensen as a city girl who buys a Yorkshire farm after discovering her boyfriend is two timing her, Sex And The Chippy is a new female-skewed sitcom and The Jason Lewis Experience pilots.

Over in factual, Peter Tatchell presents a profile of the controversial head of the Catholic Church to be shown in conjunction with his visit to the UK, the Royal Family open their doors to exhibit some of the priceless artworks we hardly ever see and James May's Man Lab looks to see if men come up to scratch in the 21st century. Hidocte looks at the enduring appeal and influence of the famous gardens, Barrington Court sees the stately home get a makeover reflecting the different periods in its history and Hidden Heroes follows the selection of the British Paralympics team for 2012. One Minute To Midnight is a feature-length documentary about the Cuban missile crisis, Toy Soldiers examines the experiences of children whose parents are fighting on the front line and Census Week looks at the census and how it has changed over the last 200 years.

Drama for July includes the return of Torchwood after a significant financial commitment from US network Starz Entertainment, Top Boy looks at London's East End gang culture and Living TV commissions their first original drama Bedlam which fits in well with their other supernatural programming. South Riding adapts Wilfred Holby's novel set in Yorkshire in the early 20th century, The Hour is set behind the scenes of a broadcast news room in 1956 London and The Shadow Line follows the parallel lives of a police officer and an underworld boss.

Lots of very healthy projects in features with blockbusters such as Clash Of The Titans II and Pirates Of The Caribbean 4 being joined by Spielberg's War Horse, Saving Amy and children's favourite Horrid Henry all shooting here soon. Meryl Streep is rumoured to portray Margaret Thatcher in Iron Lady set in the run-up to the Falklands conflict, Mary J. Blige is expected to portray blues legend Nina Simone in bio-pic Nina and Ray Winstone encounters racism at a seaside town in Silent Bark. Lots of Literary adaptations in the pipeline including le Carrier's Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy, David Nichols One day, Susan Black's The Woman In Black, Sebastian Faulks' On Green Dolphin Street and Ian McEwan's In Chisel Beach which has Sam Mendes attached to direct.

Finally good news for fans of the high-jinx campery of Pineapple Dance Studios, Louis Spence and his high-kicking palls will be back with a new as yet untitled series next year.

Martin Brand

Crimson Date Book

July 2010

It's too hot to do anything this month, so do yourself a favour and blow up your kid's inflatable swimming pool throw yourself in and work from there.

Galway, Jerusalem, Durban and Poland are having film festivals. Here we've got Rushes and that's about it, everything else is music; the Proms, Cambridge, Buxton, Henley, Cheltenham - big business music, you all want to change jobs.

Right, I'm off to put my feet in a stream. As you were.

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