ALISON BOSHOFF: Kevin Spacey’s low-budget comeback in a jam as producers seek a distributor

Kevin Spacey is taking the first tentative steps back into the world of film. The actor, 63, plays a hitman in Peter Five Eight, a low-budget thriller which is still seeking a distributor nearly two years after being completed.

In the picture, he tracks down a young woman living under a new identity and working as an estate agent.

In order to get close to her, Spacey strikes up a romance with her colleague, played by actress Rebecca de Mornay. A trailer for the film shows them kissing then sitting up in bed together in their jammies.

Judging by the admittedly brief footage, the film looks unlikely to win Spacey another Oscar.

Kevin Spacey (right), 63, plays a hitman in Peter Five Eight, a low-budget thriller

In the picture, he tracks down a young woman living under a new identity and working as an estate agent

A court in New York last week dismissed a sexual assault lawsuit brought against Kevin Spacey (pictured leaving court on October 20) by fellow actor Anthony Rapp

A court in New York last week dismissed a sexual assault lawsuit brought against him by fellow actor Anthony Rapp, who said Spacey touched him inappropriately at a party in 1986 when he was 14.

The claims became public in 2017 and derailed Spacey’s career. He was dropped from House Of Cards and subsequently replaced in the film All The Money In The World.

Spacey has denied any wrongdoing.

Did Fergie offer her insight on royal life to The Crown?

Gaffe-prone Fergie, the Duchess of York, might need to tread more carefully when it comes to her media career.

For she has become embroiled in an extraordinary row over her dealings with the TV company Left Bank Pictures, makers of The Crown.

Sources at Left Bank say that Fergie sought to partner with them on a TV adaptation of her romance novel, Her Heart For A Compass. During discussions with boss Andy Harries, it’s said the topic of her depiction in The Crown came up.

Fergie offered to help out with information on her character in the show and the inner workings of the Royal Family.

I’m told: ‘She made repeated contact via emails and on the phone. She offered advice and background information and said that she had an inside view which would make her invaluable to the show as a consultant.’

Insider: The Duchess of York (pictured attending The Son red carpet at the 79th Venice International Film Festival on September 7 in Venice, Italy)

Fergie offered to help out with information on her character in the show and the inner workings of the Royal Family. Pictured: Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth II (left) and Jonathan Pryce as Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (right) in the upcoming series five of The Crown

Fergie is understood to have pointed out her own experience in the film industry (she was a producer on the 2009 film The Young Victoria).

She referred to the discussions in an aside in a magazine interview this summer, revealing she had complained about her lack of screen time in the show.

She said she wrote to Harries to say: ‘Hello! Where is Fergie?!’ She added: ‘I said to him: ‘Why can’t I help my character?!’

A few weeks later she told another magazine that she had indeed spoken with Harries about The Crown. She said: ‘I have watched The Crown and I thought it was filmed beautifully. The cinematography was excellently done. I loved the way they included my wedding.

‘I did write to Andy Harries, who produced The Crown, but it was more about the idea of getting Her Heart For A Compass turned into a film or a TV series than it was about my portrayal.’

However, with controversy raging over the series and a growing feeling the Royal Family is starting to actively reject a show they once grudgingly tolerated, she now seems to feel the need to distance herself from The Crown. Contacted about the story, a source close to the Duchess initially said she ‘was thinking she might simply offer some insight into her character and there was certainly no discussion of any fee’.

A few hours later, the source said that there was ‘categorically’ no offer made by the Duchess to consult on The Crown; and claimed her on-the-record comments confirming discussions with Left Bank in interviews had been misinterpreted.

Later still, a spokesman for Ferguson said: ‘The Duchess was in contact with Andy Harries, who produces The Crown, last year and they had a discussion about adapting her novel, Her Heart For A Compass, into a TV series.

‘They did not discuss The Crown, or any idea of her helping with the series in any way. Such a suggestion was made separately at one point by a mutual friend, but was not progressed by either side.’

Series five of the Netflix show will stream from November 9.

Ben Elton is lobbying for the return of Friday Night Live, amid rumours that Channel 4 are giving serious consideration to a new series.

Says Ben, who hosted last week’s one-off special of FNL to celebrate 40 years of Channel 4: ‘I really do hope the powers-that-be say, ‘Hang on a minute, this might not have been just a one-off!’ Even if it’s not me who gets to present it.

The show was a hit in the 80s and it ought to be on regularly. It’s live entertainment — which you can’t get on streaming services — and unique television.’

Stranger things happen when Millie is locked up

She has spent some of the four series of Stranger Things locked up — and actress Millie Bobby Brown winds up behind bars again in Enola Holmes 2.

The film, which comes out on Netflix on November 7, is another fast-paced romp featuring Henry Cavill as her brother Sherlock, improbably hulking in his tweeds; and Helena Bonham Carter as her mother Eudoria.

We see Enola attend her first ball in a lovely gown… and leave in handcuffs, after the police catch up with her, following a spot of pre-dance sleuthing involving a trail of clues and a corpse.

Sleuth: Millie Bobby Brown as Enola Holmes

Brown says of the role: ‘We are both very similar, quite dry and brutally honest. And the fact I can relate to Enola helps me constantly add more things to her, because as I grow, Enola does. Eleven in Stranger Things is so far beyond who I am.’

Director Harry Bradbeer gave his protegee a ‘free take’ on every scene, where she could try the lines as she pleased and the result is a thoroughly charming performance.

At 18, she is so established — and so talented — she almost makes the rest of the cast melt away.

The convoluted plot involves the Match Girls strike of 1888. Sharp-eyed viewers may spot Bonham Carter’s children Billy and Nell, who appear as extras.

No penalty for Adams

Tony Adams’ outrageously entertaining cha-cha on Strictly Come Dancing

The ‘Clauditorium’ balcony on Strictly Come Dancing is a vortex of chaos and bad behaviour — never more so than last Saturday, when the judges were scoring Tony Adams’ outrageously entertaining cha-cha, performed to the Grandstand theme tune.

When Shirley Ballas held up her ‘4’ paddle, Adams was seen on camera bellowing: ‘Shirley! Go home!!’

You might think it’s bad manners to heckle during the judging process, but my BBC source says they are perfectly happy with the former footballer’s outburst.

Our podcast’s dishy, but not boozy

Angela Hartnett has returned for a second series of the hit podcast Dish, with fun-loving DJ Nick Grimshaw.

She seems a little offended when asked about whether it’s as jolly a party in real life as it comes across on air, saying: ‘We actually record with three people in a day, so we can’t be drinking with the guests. I think maybe Nick has talked that end of it up a bit.

‘We never get drunk! We feed them and give them a drink. The idea is that it’s as if they are coming around to your house.’

As for entertaining in real life, Hartnett and husband Neil Borthwick are apparently enthusiastic hosts, even though her day job is as a Michelin-starred chef and broadcaster.

She tells me: ‘We both do a bit of the work when it comes to entertaining at home. It’s not a busman’s holiday because there is no pressure — you aren’t serving paying customers.

‘I really enjoy having friends over and people don’t have to worry about what to give me when I return. I’m just happy if people have made an effort and grateful to have friends to spend time with.’

Asked what she’s had to eat for breakfast that day she sighs: ‘Just coffee. Sometimes it’s good not to be eating every half an hour.’

Graham Norton has revealed he has a blacklist of guests whom he will never invite back to his BBC1 chat show, because they just aren’t entertaining enough.

‘It’s not a long list, but it definitely exists,’ says Graham. ‘If you’re a big movie star with a very successful film, then we’d have you back on regardless.

‘And if you’re a young star — a comedian, actor or singer — then I’d forgive them for being bad first time round and have them back on, because it’s not the easiest thing in the world to be on a chat show and they deserve a second chance.

‘But there is definitely a small group of more mature, middling stars who I would NEVER invite back again — although my lips are sealed as to who they are!’

Lizzo buys Harry’s treehouse

Pop heartthrob Harry Styles pictured singing with his pal Lizzo

They are great friends on the showbiz circuit — and now sheer coincidence has linked them again, as singer Lizzo has bought a house in Hollywood which used to belong to pop heartthrob Harry Styles.

The property, which has a stunning infinity pool and views of Beverly Hills, was Styles’s bolt-hole back in his days with One Direction.

He moved out in 2016 and it was knocked down and remodelled as a luxury treehouse — which Lizzo, 34, has now bought for £13 million.

Paul’s fame game falls flat for ITV

Paul O’Grady has had a rare reverse with his primetime ITV show Saturday Night Line Up

Paul O’Grady has had a rare reverse with his primetime ITV show Saturday Night Line Up.

The show, which progressed from a pilot in 2019 to six episodes and a Christmas special last year, will not be coming back.

The concept was that famous faces had to line up in the order in which the public would put them, in answer to questions such as: who is the richest? And: who would they want to go on a date with?

Alas, the game failed to strike a chord with audiences. Saturday night shows are notoriously difficult to get right. The Masked Singer and Dancer have taken off, but dozens of others have failed.

O’Grady, one of the funniest (and nicest) men in the business, is still making For The Love Of Dogs for ITV, where it is in its tenth series.

Away from the screen he has agreed to star as Miss Hannigan in a touring production of the musical Annie.