Playing the biggest hits of Dire Straits at the Alban Arena this Sunday (16) will be The Straits, featuring the original band’s sax player Chris White and keyboard player and producer Alan Clark.

The Straits originally considered using an entire line-up of ex-Dire Straits players for the band but opted instead to start with a new blank canvas.

They have already secured a loyal fan base and will be performing such hits as Sultans of Swing, Brothers in Arms, Romeo and Juliet, Money for Nothing and Walk of Life.

The gig begins at 7.30pm and tickets at £27.50 and £25 are available from the Arena box office on 01727 844488 or online www.alban-arena.co.uk

CBeebies double act, Chris and Pui, return to the Arena with their roadshow for two performances at 11am and 2pm next Thursday, February 20.

The popular couple will be bringing songs, rhymes, comedy sketches and lots of audience participation to the stage as the audience is encouraged to help Chris and Pui help Old MacDonald find his animals.

It is a chance for young audiences to meet Incy, Humpty, the Duke of York, King Cole and Little Bo Peep along the way.

Tickets are £12 with concessions £2 off.

n Saving Mr Banks is showing at The Arena next Tuesday, February 18.

It stars Tom Hanks as Walt Disney and Emma Thompson as the creator of Mary Poppins, P. L. Travers, in a tale of how it took 20 years to obtain the rights for the book.

Disney comes up against a cantankerous, uncompromising author with no intention of letting her magical nanny get chewed up and spat out by the Hollywood machine. But as the books stop selling and money grows short, Travers eventually agrees to go to LA to hear his plans for the adaptation.

The film is being shown at 7.30pm and tickets are £7 or £5 for concessions.

Another critically-acclaimed film, The Butler, is showing at Arena at 1.30pm and 7.30pm next Wednesday, February 19.

Cecil Gaines (Forest Whitaker) grew up in the 1920s as a domestic servant for a white family who casually destroyed his. Eventually breaking out on his own, Cecil becomes a hotel valet of such efficiency and discretion, that he is hired as a butler in the White House itself.

There, Cecil would serve numerous US Presidents over the decades as a passive witness of history with the American Civil Rights Movement gaining momentum even as his family has troubles of its own.

As his wife, Gloria (Oprah Winfrey) struggles with her addictions and his defiant eldest son, Louis, strives for peace and justice in the world, Cecil must decide whether or not he should take action in his own way.

Tickets for the matinee are £5.