Web posted on: Friday, October 09, 1998 6:08:36 PMEDT

• McCartney's death prompts more calls to cancer charity
• 'Costello' canceled first this season
• Ethan Hawke as 'Hamlet'?
• Adulation for Sammy Sosa on 'Leno'

Linda and Paul McCartney

LONDON (CNN) -- Linda McCartney's losing battle to breast cancer has apparently brought more attention to the disease. A leading British cancer charity says its daily call volume doubled after McCartney's death last April. And there was a 64 percent jump in calls in particular about breast cancer. Writing in the British Medical Journal, the head of the charity says many of the women who called were extremely concerned, especially those diagnosed about the same time as Linda McCartney, wife of former Beatle Paul McCartney.

"Costello:" The first to get the boot

HOLLYWOOD (CNN) -- And the loser is ... "Costello." The Fox sitcom now has the dubious distinction of being the first new series of the season to be axed. The final episode of "Costello" will air next Tuesday at 8:30 p.m.

The Boston-set sitcom, starring Boston comic Sue Costello, received poor reviews and ratings. More changes to the Fox lineup are due in coming weeks: The Friday 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. sitcom block of "Getting Personal" and "Living in Captivity" is reportedly on the chopping block.

Hawke

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Variety reports that a contemporary re-telling of Shakespeare's "Hamlet" is in the pre-production phase, with Ethan Hawke in the title role and Kyle MacLachlan as Claudius. Also featured will be Sam Shepard as the ghost, Julia Stiles as Ophelia, Diane Venora as Gertrude and Bill Murray as Polonius.

MacLachlan was last seen on the big screen with Wesley Snipes and Nastassja Kinski in "One Night Stand." Hawke recently starred in the interpretation of the classic Dickens novel "Great Expectations."