Has RTé got news for you

Nearly 20 years after it first aired in the UK, Irish television is to get its own version of a topical TV quiz Have I Got News For You, or at least something very like it.

The Diary has learned that RTé is about to give the green light for a seven-show series which will air from January.

Made by Midas Productions and titled, in Dublinese, So What's The Story?, the quiz features Barry Murphy as host and newspaper columnist Kevin Myers and Gift Grub star Mario Rosenstock as team captains.

"The first thing I want to say about it is that I hate when people do Irish versions of English formats, but that's not what's happening here," said Mario Rosenstock. "You have to realise three people sitting around talking about the news stories of the week isn't an English format. There is no country that doesn't have that kind of show. Why should Ireland be any different? The problem is, any show where you talk about the events of the week that's not Questions and Answers, well it's going to be Have I Got News For You."

RTé bosses are said to have been impressed by a pilot for the new quiz, which was shot in Dublin's Sugar Club over the summer. But if you're expecting a cross of Après Match and Gift Grub, think again. Murphy and Rosenstock will be playing, well, themselves. "Everybody knows Barry for the characters he does on Après Match but he's really funny as himself as well. I'm hoping it's the same for me," said Rosenstock. "People only know me from the characters on Gift Grub. The challenge on this new show is for me to be funny out of character. The producers believe I can be funny as myself without resorting to impressions. I think it could be weird in some ways because people will be meeting the Mario they know from down the pub, without the drink of course."

But if you are a fan of Rosenstock's impressions, we suggest you check him out during his Vicar Street run in November. Co-produced by his Today FM colleague Ian Dempsey, the shows are described as multi-media events.

"People should go home thinking they've met about 150 people. It's got everything short of me ringing the space station like Bono did on the last U2 tour," said Rosenstock.

Sarah & Steve creator hangs around with the skinny jeans set

Talented Dan & Becs creator David Coffey has revealed a major change in his Irish version of MTV show The Hills which the media excitedly reported on during the summer.

Rather than being based on Dublin versions of Paris Hilton in Krystle nightclub, producers have decided the reality show should be centred on indie musicians hanging out in Fade Street.

"We figure musicians, being creative people, will have better stories to tell," said Coffey.

Coffey's new mini-drama on RTé2, the excel­lent Sarah & Steve, also marks some­thing of a change in class and surroundings in the Dublin writer's output, the Tallaght couple being a million miles, or a good stretch of the M50, away from his previous characters Dan & Becs.

"In Dan & Becs I was ripping the piss out of southsiders. Steve and Sarah live in a different world; they're real characters and don't spend as much time driving around in nice cars."

Sarah & Steve goes out on Monday nights on RTé2 at 10.50pm.

The Frank & Walters & Brendan

Journalist Brendan O'Connor returned to TV screens last week in the first episode of The Apprentice: You're Fired.

But did you know about O'Connor's past as an indie musician? Mark McAvoy's new book Cork Rock recounts how, back in 1988, O'Connor sang lead vocals in a Cork band featuring brothers Niall and Paul Linehan and drummer Ashley Keating, later to become UK chart stars the Franks & Walters. "Obviously there were times when you turned on Top of the Pops and saw guys you used to go jamming with on there and you thought, maybe I should have stuck with them," said O'Connor.

Lobbing a comedic hot potato

The controversy which erupted around Tommy Tiernan's jokes about the Holocaust last week brought back memories for fellow comics Joe Rooney and Paul Tylak.

Back in 1992 the two Irish comedians, then a duo known as the Quack Squad, were performing at a fundraiser in New York.

"The act before us was a guy doing a monologue about the Holocaust," said Tylak. "I remember the compère bounced on straight after to introduce us, saying, 'One way to kill people is to put them in concentration camps. Another way is to take away their potatoes. Ladies and gentlemen, from Ireland, the Quack Squad."

Since then Rooney has found fame in Father Ted and Killinaskully while Tylak wrote and performed in awardwinning RTé sketch show Stew.

Scene and heard

* Girl band the Sugababes were forced to pull out of the Arthur's Day celebrations in Dublin last week after singer Keisha walked out of the band. The pop act had been due to perform two gigs, at Dublin's Vicar Street and the Guinness Storehouse on Thursday, but cancelled after the 24-year-old's decision to leave the group. Despite this, over 60 artists performed as part of the celebrations both in Dublin and across the globe.

* The third floor of Brown Thomas was the place to be on Tuesday night for the launch of the revamped Living Floor. Guests included artist Graham Knuttel and fashion designer Louise Kennedy, who both signed items from their limited-edition café-ware for Tipperary Crystal. On Wednesday model Ruth Kelly showcased Kennedy's brand new autumn/winter collection at her Merrion Square boutique. "I wanted it to be a black season," said Kennedy about her collection, which features clean sculptural shapes and unadorned necklines.

* Marks and Spencer marked 30 years of trading in Ireland on Wednesday with a fashion show in the Irish Museum of Modern Art. The autumn/ winter show also marked the debut of new head of design in Per Una, Helen Low, who jetted in from London for the event.

* Wesley Quirke celebrated his 26th birthday with a bash in the newly opened Wright Venue in Swords last weekend. The only thing missing was a former Miss World – one Rosanna Davison, Quirke's other half, who missed the party because she was attending London Fashion Week. But Quirke didn't seem too unhappy about Davison's absence, especially with Leeroy Thornhill of the Prodigy manning the DJ?decks.

* Cliff Richard and his long-time backing band the Shadows enjoyed a meal in Dublin's Trocadero restaurant after their show in the O2.