Iggy Azalea takes a tumble during VMA charity gig

Plus, Dancer bitten by anaconda during Nicki Minaj rehearsal; There’s life after Mars for creators of hit BBC TV drama; A baggage carousel show by Cirque du Soleil; and Jurassic Park star to perform in New York.

The Australian rapper Iggy Azalea. Steve C Mitchell / Invision / AP Photo

Iggy Azalea tumbled off the stage during an MTV Video Music Awards benefit concert. The Australian rapper fell on Friday night while performing her hit Fancy at The Avalon in Los Angeles. Security guards quickly pulled her back onto the stage and she barely missed a beat as Charli XCX joined her for the performance of the chart-topping single. Azalea appeared to have avoided any serious injury and told the crowd she felt "very blessed" that she had not broken her legs. She appeared to be taking the mishap in good humour, even posting a video of the fall on Instagram. She wrote in the caption: "I know I laughed." Tori Kelly and Sam Smith also performed at the event benefiting Lifebeat – Music Fights HIV/Aids. Azalea is nominated for seven awards and is scheduled to perform at the MTV VMAs, which takes place tonight, August 24, in Los Angeles and will be broadcast on August 25 in the UAE. – AP

Dancer bitten by anaconda during Nicki Minaj rehearsal

A dancer was bitten by a snake while Nicki Minaj rehearsed a performance of her hit song Anaconda at the MTV Video Music Awards, according to the entertainment website TMZ. It said the woman was taken to hospital for treatment. Anacondas are not venomous but their bites can cause serious infections. It wasn't clear whether the snake would remain part of the performance at the awards ceremony. The last time a singer appeared on stage with a snake at the awards was in 2001, when Britney Spears appeared with an albino Burmese python draped around her shoulders while performing her song I'm a Slave 4 U. Other exotic animals were also used, including a white tiger, and Spears faced intense criticism from the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. – The National staff

There’s life after Mars for creators of hit BBC TV drama

The co-creators of the critically acclaimed BBC drama Life on Mars and its sequel, Ashes to Ashes, are teaming up again for a new show, Entertainment Weekly reports. The Living and the Dead, written by Ashley Pharoah and Matthew Graham, is set in Somerset, England, in 1888, and features "a land and a community on the edge of monumental change, on the great hinge between ancient traditional ways and an industrial, scientific future". Producers say the show is about "a land of ghosts and myths, poltergeists and demons – if there was ever a time for those ghosts to rise out of the ground, this would be that time". The central character in the show is Nathan Appleby, a farmer obsessed with proving the existence of the afterlife, who investigates hauntings and other paranormal activity. Filming is due to begin next year on the show, which will be broadcast on BBC One and BBC America. Life on Mars, starring John Simm as a modern-day policeman who wakes up in the 1970s after an accident, was a huge hit, along with its 1980s-set sequel, Ashes to Ashes. – The National staff

A baggage carousel show by Cirque du Soleil

Visitors flying into Las Vegas got more than just their luggage at the carousels. The cast members from Cirque du Soleil danced on the carousels, did handstands on the moving sidewalks and rode a vintage Volkswagen Beetle into the terminal at McCarran International Airport. The unannounced, three-song show marked the 50th anniversary of The Beatles' flight from San Francisco to Las Vegas. The British band's two-show gig in 1964 was the only time the Fab Four performed in Sin City. Cirque du Soleil has a Beatles-themed resident show at The Mirage casino called LOVE. The cast's re-creation of The Beatles' journey also included a preflight performance at San Francisco International Airport. – AP

Jurassic Park star to perform in New York

Jeff Goldblum will perform in New York next month, but not on a Broadway stage – he'll be singing with his band. The music venue Café Carlyle said the Jurassic Park and The Fly star will perform a string of gigs from September 16 to 20 with his jazz band, The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra. The actor has sung and played piano with the band for years but the concerts mark their New York debut. The group are named after a friend of Goldblum's family and they play improvised versions of jazz standards such as Summertime and The Sidewinder. Other stars due to perform in the next few months at Café Carlyle, a legendary lounge inside the hotel Carlyle on Manhattan's Upper East Side, include The Breakfast Club star Molly Ringwald, Woody Allen and his jazz band, and the It's Complicated actress Rita Wilson. – The National staff