Category Archives: Television

Gary Oldman to read CBeebies bedtime story for Children in Need

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Actor ‘honoured’ to recite story and hopes it ‘brings warmth and encouragement’ to children and families

The British actor and Hollywood star Gary Oldman has said he is “very honoured” to read a special CBeebies bedtime story for Children in Need.

The 66-year-old Oscar and three-time Bafta winner will recite the story during Friday night’s 2024 edition of the charity fundraising show. The story of “warmth and encouragement and hope” has been written specifically for Children in Need by Claire Taylor and is based on a true story, with illustrations from Tim Budgen.

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Bafta to revoke future winners’ awards in cases of serious criminal convictions

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Academy unveils new ‘forfeiture process’ after review prompted by case of disgraced Bafta winner Huw Edwards

The British Academy of Film and Television will be able to strip future winners of their awards in cases of “proven dishonesty” or if they’re convicted of a serious criminal offence.

New provisions added to the Bafta rulebook give the body the power to retrospectively revoke competition honours, starting with winners in 2025.

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South Korean actor Song Jae-lim dies aged 39

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Star of Korean dramas Moon Embracing the Sun and Queen Woo was found dead at his home in Seoul

Song Jae-lim, a South Korean actor known for his roles in dramas Moon Embracing the Sun and Queen Woo, was found dead at his home in Seoul. He was 39.

Officials at Seoul’s Seongdong district police station didn’t immediately comment on the cause of death.

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Blockbuster: will Victoria’s tough housing market push The Block into the red?

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Some predict the TV show will lose money this season as investors exit property and contestants face ‘a buyer’s market’ at auction

Channel Nine’s hit series The Block could be caught in the firing line of Victoria’s flat housing market and investor woes, with one expert predicting the show will make a loss this year.

The properties in the seaside township of Cowes, on Phillip Island, are set to go under the hammer on Saturday.

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Shetland man’s bond with otter becomes subject of award-winning film

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Documentary about Billy Mail’s connection with orphaned pup Molly airs on National Geographic next week

National Geographic will be streaming a new documentary about an unlikely bond between a man and an otter in Shetland.

Billy Mail met Molly, a starving pup, in 2021 when he saw her jumping off a pontoon into the sea near his Shetland home. Mail wanted to see how close he could get to her before she fled. But it turned out that Molly had no intention of running away.

Billy and Molly: An Otter Love Story will be available from 14 November on Disney+, and will air on 15 November on National Geographic

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Injury forces dancer Amy Dowden to leave this year’s Strictly

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Spokesperson says Dowden will not take part in the rest of the competition owing to foot injury

The professional dancer Amy Dowden will not be continuing with this year’s season of Strictly Come Dancing to recover from a foot injury.

The development was revealed on the spin-off show Strictly It Takes Two on BBC Two on Monday and comes after a period of absence from the show for Dowden.

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Greggs scoffs at reports of snub by its Christmas ad star Nigella Lawson

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TV chef, who has signed up for bakery chain’s first ever festive advert, says she is a fan of its sausage rolls

Nigella Lawson has issued an impassioned paean to the Greggs sausage roll, amid reports of a banger-based dust-up that threatened to cast a shadow over her appearance in the bakery chain’s first ever Christmas advert.

Greggs confirmed on Sunday that the celebrity chef and cookbook author had agreed to star in its inaugural Christmas promotion, in which Lawson will purr over such delicacies as vegan festive bakes.

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‘Crikey, that was close’: Jeremy Clarkson reveals he needed heart procedure

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Former Top Gear host, 64, says he had stent fitted for blocked artery after ‘sudden deterioration’ in his health

Jeremy Clarkson has revealed he had a heart procedure after waking up feeling “clammy” with a tightness in his chest and pins and needles in left arm.

The 64-year-old former Top Gear host said he was taken to hospital by ambulance before having a stent fitted to open up a blocked artery, which left him thinking: “Crikey, that was close.”

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‘We leave viewers smarter’: fears over plans to close ‘world’s most highbrow’ TV station

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Unique experiment in German-language public broadcasting 3sat faces pressure from populist right

In many countries around the world, breakfast TV means cele­brity interviews, soap operas and last night’s football highlights. On the German-language channel 3sat this Sunday morning, it means a one-hour philosophical discussion on trauma psychology, followed by a book review programme and a classical concert by the Munich Radio Orchestra.

The collaboration between public broadcasters in Austria, Germany and Switzerland is a unique experi­ment in pan-European broadcasting that has defied doubters for almost four decades: highbrow television.

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Netflix to double profits after adding millions of subscribers in three months

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After cracking down on password sharing, expanding into ads and investing billions in live TV, group declares success

Netflix expects to double its profits this quarter after the world’s largest streaming service added more than 5 million new subscribers this summer.

After cracking down on password sharing, introducing adverts to its service and investing billions in live TV, the group declared it had “delivered” on plans to shore up its business.

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‘Heartbroken’: family, friends and fans pay tribute to Liam Payne

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Former One Direction member died after falling from hotel balcony in Argentina on Wednesday

Liam Payne’s family and stars from across the music world have led tributes to the former One Direction star after his death at a hotel in Argentina.

“We are heartbroken. Liam will forever live in our hearts and we’ll remember him for his kind, funny and brave soul,” his family said in a statement issued on Thursday.

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Strictly’s Katya Jones defends dance partner Wynne Evans over ‘hand incident’

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Appearing alongside Evans on BBC spin-off show It Takes Two, Jones insists incident was ‘a silly joke’

The professional dancer Katya Jones has defended her Strictly Come Dancing partner, Wynne Evans, saying he has been “portrayed as someone he is not” after an incident during Saturday’s show when she moved his hand from her waist.

Appearing on BBC spin-off show It Takes Two on Monday alongside Evans, Jones said she wanted to “get something out of the way that I feel overshadowed our performance for absolutely no reason”.

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British musician and broadcaster Yung Filly charged with rape and assault

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Former BBC host, with millions of social media followers, was arrested in Australia following alleged attack on woman in Perth hotel room

The British rapper, YouTuber and television personality Yung Filly has been arrested in Australia and charged with rape and assault.

The 29-year-old, born Andrés Felipe Valencia Barrientos, who was on tour in the country, was arrested in Brisbane and taken to Perth where the alleged incidents occurred.

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Donald Glover cancels Childish Gambino tour dates because of ‘ailment’

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American musician and actor will not play his UK and Ireland dates as he recovers from scheduled surgery

Donald Glover has cancelled the remaining dates on his Childish Gambino tour after scheduling surgery for an “ailment”.

The American actor, rapper and singer was due to head to the UK in November and early December to perform in Manchester, Glasgow, London and Birmingham, as well as Dublin in Ireland. Glover had already postponed the remainder of his North American tour to focus on his “physical health”.

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Argentina’s Javier Milei accused of plagiarising UN speech from West Wing

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Populist leader alleged to have ‘copied word for word’ a monologue by TV show’s fictional president Jed Bartlet

Argentina’s rightwing populist president, Javier Milei, has been accused of plagiarising a chunk of his recent speech to the United Nations general assembly from the political drama The West Wing.

“It seems like fiction, but it isn’t,” the left-leaning Buenos Aires newspaper Página 12 reported on Friday, claiming Milei had “copied, word for word, a monologue” by the television show’s fictional president, Josiah “Jed” Bartlet.

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‘Incestuous fantasy’: Netflix hit crime drama rekindles debate over Menendez murders

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Thousands, many born after the 1989 murders, have sprung to defence of Lyle and Erik Menendez since broadcast of Monsters

It was a crime that shocked and captivated a nation.

On the night of 20 August 1989, Lyle and Erik Menendez, then 21 and 18, stormed into their Beverly Hills mansion, shot their father, Jose, five times at point-blank range in the back of his head, and their mother, Kitty, nine times, including in the face as she tried to crawl away. In a frantic 911 emergency call, they then claimed that somebody had killed their parents.

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Phillip Schofield to return to TV 16 months after quitting This Morning over affair

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Former ITV presenter will appear in Channel 5’s Cast Away, which follows a celebrity stranded off Madagascar

Phillip Schofield is returning to television 16 months after quitting This Morning over what he called an “unwise, but not illegal” affair.

The 62-year-old, who stepped down from presenting the ITV daytime show in May 2023 after 21 years, will appear in a Channel 5 special called Cast Away, which follows a celebrity stranded on an island off the coast of Madagascar for nearly two weeks.

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‘Trailblazing’ TV, film and stage actor Cleo Sylvestre dies aged 79

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Performer was first black actor to land leading role at National Theatre and to be cast in regular role on UK soap opera

The “trailblazing” actor Cleo Sylvestre has died aged 79, her agent has confirmed.

Sylvestre, also known as Cleopatra Palmer, had been a feature of film, stage, television and music since the 1960s, and played Melanie Harper, Meg Richardson’s adopted daughter, in ITV’s Crossroads – making her the first black actor to have a regular leading role in a UK soap opera. She was also the first black actor to land a leading role at the National Theatre.

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Shōgun makes Emmys history as Hacks, The Bear and Baby Reindeer triumph

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Period epic is first non-English language series to win for best drama as Netflix’s controversial breakout hit takes home four awards

Shōgun has made Emmys history as the first ever non-English language series to win for best drama.

The historical epic, based on the 1975 novel, picked up four awards during the evening, including Emmys for lead stars Hiroyuki Sanada and Anna Sawai, the first Japanese actors to win their respective awards.

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Shōgun and Baby Reindeer set to dominate the Emmys – the second ceremony in 2024

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Eugene and Dan Levy set to host this weekend’s big TV awards where historical drama series and controversial Netflix miniseries are predicted to be big winners

Big-budget epic Shōgun is set to become a historic winner at this weekend’s Emmy awards, a ceremony that itself is also making history.

It’s the second Emmys in the same year, an unprecedented and expensive challenge for the industry, a traffic jam insisted by last year’s dual strikes which led to a postponement.

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