+ Screen News

* This month’s

Variety, the bible of the entertainment industry, has published a list of salaries of the top TV stars in the US. The

gures given are per episode, and they make for interesting reading. Among the headliners are:

Norman Reedus ( The Walking Dead) $1 million; Julia Roberts ( Homecoming) $600,000; Elisabeth Moss

( The Handmaid’s Tale) $1 million; John Goodman ( The Conners) $375,000; Winona Ryder ( Stranger Things) $350,000; Sean Penn ( The First) $500,000; Sandra Oh ( Killing Eve) $100,000.

* The buzz about Russell T Davies’ new BBC drama, Years and Years, has been loud. And it’s getting louder, now that the cast has been announced. Oscar-winner Emma

Thompson will be joined by Jessica

Hynes, Rory Kinnear,

Anne Reid and Russell

Tovey for a sweeping six-part series about the twists and turns experienced by one family over the course of 15 years, from 2019 to 2034. Thompson plays Vivienne Rook, an outspoken celebrity turned political gure whose controversial opinions divide the UK.

* Former Girls Aloud singer (and almost Six singer), Nadine Coyle, will get a chance to prove her acting and indeed her comedy chops when she joins the cast of upcoming BBC drama, Soft Border

Patrol. The Derry chanteuse will appear alongside comedian

Shane Todd for this vepart mockumentary series in which a team of people endeavour to help people cross the reintroduced border between the two parts of Ireland. Neil Delamere also stars, in the role of Niall Sweeney, Head of Virtual Border.