Ninja rodent

That kooky couple David Arquette and Courteney Cox, pictured above, are at it again. Their production company is working on a new project for MTV, mixing live action and animation. The show has the working title Dirt Squirrel, and will star Arquette as the eponymous crime-fighting superhero who takes on neighbourhood villains with his own martial-arts style while dishing out some snappy oneliners. Among those voicing the bad guys in the pilot episode are Paul "Pee Wee Herman" Reubens and Ms Cox herself.

Down to earth

He might have gained fame by floating around the stratosphere on a very snazzy spaceship, but Patrick Stewart has his feet on the ground these days. He's back on ITV later this year for a series of science thrillers called 11th Hour. The former Trekkie will play Ian Hood, a physics professor now serving as an adviser to the government, tackling disasters caused by modern science.

Ashley Jensen, soon to be seen in Ricky Gervais's new comedy Extras, plays his right-hand lady.

Sex and effects

Expect another highly sexed summer on Channel 4. The channel's obsession with matters below the belt continues with Sexology, a new strand of programmes examining the outer reaches of contemporary sexual behaviour.

Obscene Machines looks at the ways in which some people are utilising weird technology to crank up their love lives, while Attack of the 50 Foot Woman deals with certain males' fantasies for really, really tall women. And we're talking actual giants here: giantessophilia, they call it. Finally, and more unpleasantly, Sex Slaves reveals the inside story of the global trade in women from the former Soviet Bloc. Using undercover cameras and featuring harrowing eyewitness accounts, the film follows the multibilliondollar underground industry from Ukraine to London.