British TV soccer drama Footballers’ Wives is to be made into a US show with X-Men and Superman Returns director Bryan Singer involved.

The ABC network has enlisted 41-year-old Singer to help turn the successful series into someting American audiences will want to view with US pro football replacing British soccer as the theme.

Singer has a deal with ABC to develop TV projects and previously directed the pilot for the hit TV drama House and remains an executive producer on the series.

Comedian Pauly Shore has defended the comedy club hoax that suggested he’d been beaten up onstage, insisting he was merely poking fun at audience members who pretend to be members of the paparazzi.

Shore staged the prank at a club in Odessa, Texas and asked members of his audience to shoot footage on cellphone cameras. One fan aired the footage of what appeared to be Shore getting thumped by a cowboy heckler on the internet and the grainy film created a cyberspace sensation.

Ricky Gervais is tipping fellow British funnyman Sacha Baron Cohen to follow in his footsteps by triumphing at next year’s Golden Globe Awards.

Gervais won a Best Actor For A Television Series Golden Globe in 2004 for The Office - and Borat star Cohen was nominated for two of the prestigious awards last week.

He says, “Sacha is just a different class. He is so brave. His work is on an entirely different level. No wonder he’s just been nominated for two Golden Globes.”