We've had a taste of village life on South Bank recently and enjoyed the Alternative Village Fete's knitting, vegetables, simple but mesmerising games and the home-made cakes that were part of the National Theatre's Watch This Space offering. And this weekend, we can expect more... On Saturday and Sunday, you can head to the Lambeth Country Show in Brockwell Park and pretend you're way out in the sticks with the farm animals, funfair, story-telling,......

There are more theatre openings in London this week than decent sunny spells, many of them featuring some familiar (read: off telly) faces... Under the Blue Sky, a story of three intertwined love stories with Catherine Tate, a couple of girls you'll recognise from Cranford, and him from the IT Crowd starts previews at the Duke of York today. Over at the Vaudeville, more Cranfordians tread the boards in The Female of the Species......