This year, pickings are even thinner.Charlie CourtauldI CAN'T WAIT FOR... ITV will be rolling out their pop-idol style programme to select a candidate - Vote For Me. Expect a row when they have to decide in which seat the winner will fight the incumbent.Don't bother staying in for: The Boat Race - dull on the BBC, it has defected to ITV It'll probably be even worse. And following the success of Strictly Come Dancing, Grumpy Old Men and Who Do You Think You Are?, the scouts are on the lookout for old, forgotten talent. Expect a comeback for long-forgotten favourites like Sale of the Century or Dusty Bin.Something to get excited about: It's probably going to be an election year, so - as usual - watch David wipe the floor with Jonathan in the Battle of the Dimblebys. The band is a two-bass quartet with Greg Cohen and Tony Falanga, and that chip off the old block Denardo Coleman - he's been playing with his dad for 40 years - on drums.Today Gateshead, tomorrow the world: On 5 March, this year's Radio 3 World Music Awards come from The Sage, Gateshead.Phil JohnsonTelevisionTalent to watch: Billie Piper is out to prove her mettle as Doctor Who's new sidekick.
April's Cheltenham International Jazz Festival celebrates Ornette Coleman's 75th Birthday with a special concert of Ornette and his current group. Later in the month, Herbie Hancock does a Barbican blitz, with three concerts in three different formats: quartet, electric, and playing Gershwin with the LSO.Will he, won't he? Be any good, that is. Last time out, the wily old bird from Pittsburgh showed more wit and cunning than almost any old-schooler left alive. Carlos Acosta is likewise itching for challenges: catch him in the new Christopher Bruce/Jimi Hendrix ballet at the Royal in May.Jenny GilbertJazzBrit-Jazz rings out the old, rings in the new: In January, Kenny Wheeler celebrates his 75th birthday with a national big-band tour featuring special guests Lee Konitz, Dave Holland, Norma Winstone and Evan Parker, while more Brit stars d'un certain age are celebrated at a Barbican weekend entitled Jazz Britannia on 12/13 February.The daddy of them all: How all these new hip piano trios measure up to the master can be judged on 6 May when the Ahmad Jamal Trio makes a very rare British concert appearance at the Barbican.
Brazil's colourful Grupo Corpo, French hip-hoppers Compagnie Kafig, NDT2 and Alvin Ailey also tour.Career moves to watch: Sylvie Guillem, re-inventing herself faster than you can fling off a pointe shoe, is on the prowl for new choreography: a project with Akram Khan is mooted. Matthew Bourne revives his adorable Highland Fling for an extensive tour, and the regions can also look forward to the Ballet Boyz with new work from the brilliant Russell Maliphant. It plays Wales Millennium Centre 13-16 July, and the London Coliseum a week later.New moves afoot: A team-up between Akram Khan and Sidi Larbi Cherkouai (Sadler's Wells, 12-16 July) looks explosive, along with the UK debut of William Forsythe's re-formed troupe. Finally, Australian Ballet brings Graeme Murphy's Swan Lake - Oz's award-laden answer to Matthew Bourne. Also visiting the Wells are groups from the Royal Danish and Paris Opera Ballet - not the full complement, but with soloists like theirs who's complaining? Our own Royal Ballet continues its Ashton season and ENB also plans welcome revivals: an authentic Giselle leads the spring tour; Kenneth MacMillan's 20-year-old Sleeping Beauty tours in the autumn - a rare taste of the great British choreographer for audiences outside London.
This could amount to a shortfall for theatre of £30m (taking inflation into account). Artistic directors and managers across the country are determined to survive this divisive move, but it will almost inevitably undermine their creative risk-taking and, if it continues, some of those pioneers now running regional theatres may end up resigning in despair.Kate BassettDanceBallet to book: Start saving now for the three-week Kirov season at Covent Garden in July, but set something aside for Cuban National Ballet at Sadler's Wells in August. Now the government has announced the Council must cope with a standstill, extending to 2008. In the Autumn, The Lord of the Rings will surely include mega-special effects as well as tunes by A R Rahman of Bombay Dreams fame.Bleaker prospects: Encouraged by increased Arts Council funding, the last few years have seen adventurous and high calibre theatre blossom in this country - very notably in the regions. Stephen Daldry directs a presumably all-singing as well as all-dancing Billy Elliot at the Victoria Palace (from 24 March).
Put aside a whole day to see it.Nigel CoatesTheatreHot tips: Book early for Russia's famed Maly Theatre performing Uncle Vanya in the Barbican BITE season (24-28 May). Likewise, beat the stampede for Lorca's Blood Wedding at the Almeida, starring Gael Garcia Bernal from The Motorcycle Diaries (starts 5 May), and for Michael Grandage's production of Guys and Dolls with Ewan McGregor (at the Piccadilly Theatre from 19 May).Clash of the musical titans: Converting recent hit movies into musicals is the West End's masterplan for 2005. If we get it, the money will flow and there'll be a new confidence injected into architecture. If we don't, there'll be lots of fighting about what happens in the Lea Valley, including the Aquatic Sports Centre which is supposed to be built anyway.Must see: The huge exhibition "Arti e Architettura 1900-2000", at the Palazzo Ducale in Genova (to 13 February), is a fusion of architecture and works by artists drawn from many related fields. Welsh National Opera celebrate their move to the Welsh Millennium Centre with Richard Jones's production of Wozzeck (from 19 February) and Glyndebourne offer a new Giulio Cesare conducted by William Christie (from 3 July).And abroad: A big year for new operas as Poul Ruders's Kafka adaptation The Trial premieres in Copenhagen (12 March), and John Adams's Doctor Atomic opens in San Francisco (1 Oct).Anna PicardArchitectureOlympic city: An important factor this year will be London's Olympic bid. For further details visit .Hot tickets at home: Keith Warner's ongoing Ring cycle at Covent Garden sees Lisa Gasteen join the cast as Br?ilde in Die Walk?(from 5 March), while Phyllida Lloyd's ENO staging reaches its endgame with The Twilight of the Gods (from 2 April).