Stay tuned: Dobson changing rooms

* Jude Dobson and the team will beam into our living rooms from a swanky new address when the show formerly known as 5.30 With Jude returns in a new 5 pm slot next month. The new home base is a $700,000 palace on the Te Atatu peninsula, a dwelling which will eventually be raffled off for charity. The show's do-up team will focus their efforts on the houses owned by "real people."

* Meanwhile Jude's sidekick on the show, reporter Jeanette Harnish, tied the knot at the weekend, in Remuera. Who was the lucky guy? A policeman by the name of Dave Thomas. Harnish's former beat, you remember, was as a presenter of Crime Scene.

Apparently the romance blossomed independently of the show but after all that hobnobbing with the good coppers on the police programme, the reporter would surely have no trouble talking the right kind of talk.

* Erika Takacs has proved there is life after TrueBliss with her role as presenter of the resurrected Ready To Roll top of the pops show, called RTR 2000 and starting on TV2 this week.

Meanwhile, the Aussie version of docutainment series Popstars will start shortly on TV2, screening here one week after it goes to air across the Tasman on Channel 7.

Makers Screentime searched through all the states of Australia for their five wannabe Spice Girls.

There is another Kiwi connection, apart from the original concept. The Aussie girlie group will be managed by Grant Thomas Management Group, the outfit that manages Kiwi pop icon Neil Finn.

* The Aussies have also picked up on another stroke of Newzild telly genius and will produce their version of local dating show Revell With A Cause, to be called Love Rules. The Fleur Revell-hosted show lasted only one season here but the Aussies are obviously throwing their best talent at the cause. Their version will be hosted by raunchy model-turned-superstar Gabrielle Richens, also known, in true Ocker in-ya-face style, as "the pleasure machine."

* There's no official word yet whether local rural drama Jackson's Wharf will return. But it's looking likely. Word from the acting community is a new series of the show is on the go. And makers South Pacific Pictures have been looking for writers for the new series.

Apparently TV2 is delaying giving the official green light because funding negotiations are still underway with NZ On Air.

* Calling all fans of EastEnders - and we know you're out there. There's good news and bad news about your favourite soap fix. TV One says, yes, it will come back and screen five days a week - after the America's Cup finishes in March.