Category Archives: Television

Martin Mull, Arrested Development and Roseanne actor, dies aged 80

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Mull, known for his droll and esoteric comedy, dies after ‘valiant fight against a long illness’, says daughter

Martin Mull, whose droll, esoteric comedy and acting made him a hip sensation in the 1970s and later a beloved guest star on sitcoms including Roseanne and Arrested Development, has died, his daughter said Friday. He was 80 years old.

Mull’s daughter, TV writer and comic artist Maggie Mull, said her father died at home on Thursday after “a valiant fight against a long illness”.

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Film and TV crew members reach deal with Hollywood studios to avert strike

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Iatse union agrees tentative three-year deal with Disney, Netflix and others over pay, AI protections and residuals

The union that represents film and television crews has reached an agreement with Hollywood studios that will stave off a major strike – a welcome development after the industry saw significant labor turmoil last year.

The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (Iatse) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) announced on Tuesday they had a tentative three-year agreement that will affect about 50,000 crew members.

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Donald Sutherland, Don’t Look Now and Hunger Games actor, dies aged 88

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The prolific actor appeared in more than 190 films and TV shows and was a vocal anti-war activist

Donald Sutherland, whose acting career spanned six decades and included starring in such highly acclaimed films as Don’t Look Now, M*A*S*H and The Hunger Games, has died aged 88.

He died in Miami after a long illness, confirmed by his representatives.

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TV doctor Michael Mosley goes missing during holiday in Greece

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Agent says columnist and presenter has been missing since he went for a coastal hike on Greek island of Symi

A search is under way for the TV doctor and newspaper columnist Michael Mosley, who went missing after going on a coastal walk on the Greek island of Symi.

The 67-year-old, known for his appearances on The One Show and This Morning, was last seen when he set off hiking along St Nicholas beach at 1.30pm local time (1130 BST) on Wednesday. His wife, Dr Clare Bailey, alerted authorities after he failed to return by 7.30pm, but they were unable to locate him overnight.

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Jeannette Charles, actor who played Queen Elizabeth II in dozens of films and shows, dies aged 96

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The lookalike actor who played the Queen for 50 years, including in Naked Gun and Austin Powers films, died on 2 June

Jeannette Charles, the British actor best known for her striking resemblance of Queen Elizabeth II that landed her roles in Naked Gun and Austin Powers, has died at the age of 96.

On Wednesday the actor’s daughter, Carol Christophi, announced her mother died on 2 June in a care home in Great Beddow, Essex.

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Alec and Hilaria Baldwin to share family life in reality show

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The actor and his wife will be the focus of a TLC docuseries, announced just weeks before his manslaughter trial begins

Alec Baldwin and his wife Hilaria have announced a new TLC reality show following their family life.

The 66-year-old actor, whose films include Beetlejuice and Glengarry Glen Ross, shared a video on Instagram with his seven children.

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Toby Jones praises ‘extraordinary dignity’ of Post Office accused

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Actor, who played campaigner Alan Bates in TV drama, calls Horizon scandal a ‘Hitchcockian nightmare’ at Hay festival

The post office operators prosecuted in the Post Office Horizon scandal have “extraordinary dignity” after living 20 years in a “Hitchcockian nightmare”, according to actor Toby Jones.

Jones played Alan Bates, a former post office operator and leading campaigner for justice for staff wrongly blamed for accounting shortfalls caused by faulty software, in the ITV drama that put the scandal back in the spotlight.

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Johnny Wactor: General Hospital actor shot dead in suspected robbery

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37-year-old actor killed in Los Angeles early on Saturday after confronting three men allegedly attempting to steal from a vehicle

Johnny Wactor, the actor best known for his role on long-running soap opera General Hospital, has died after being shot during a suspected robbery in Los Angeles. He was 37.

His mother, Scarlett, first confirmed his death to TMZ. The Los Angeles police department later confirmed that Wactor was shot around 3am on Saturday after confronting three men who were allegedly attempting to steal the catalytic converter from a vehicle.

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‘Funny and kind of sad’: how Clarkson’s Farm has captured Chinese viewers

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Jeremy Clarkson’s reality TV show has particular appeal for young people with no experience of farming

To one Chinese reviewer, Jeremy Clarkson is “a stupid old British man with too much money who farmed for a year without harvesting anything”. To another, he is “the British version of Li Ziqi”, a 33-year-old woman who is one of China’s biggest internet celebrities thanks to videos of herself farming and cooking in the idyllic Sichuanese countryside.

Clarkson’s Farm, the former Top Gear presenter’s beguilingly popular reality television show about his pivot from petrolhead to farmer, has been hugely successful on his home turf, becoming the most watched show on Amazon Prime in the UK. It is also a hit in China.

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Starmer tries to curry favour with electorate through Sunday Brunch tandoori

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Labour leader’s appearance on chatshow reflects politicians’ more general move away from hard news outlets to cosier, more niche settings

When Keir Starmer appeared on Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch to cook his favourite tandoori salmon recipe, host Tim Lovejoy had a question: “What on earth are you doing here? You should be on the BBC with Laura Kuenssberg.”

“This is so much nicer!” replied the Labour leader.

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How Bridgerton’s real life Lady Whistledown scandalised 18th-century society

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The subversive work of Eliza Haywood, the feminist forerunner of the TV show’s gossip columnist, is about to be republished

She is the real-life Lady Whistledown, an eyebrow-raising female writer who penned a salacious anonymous gossip sheet that skewered 18th-century London society.

Like the fictional pamphlet from Netflix hit Bridgerton, which returned for a third series last week, Eliza Haywood’s The Parrot, published in 1746, has a distinctive, mocking voice that punches up and “speaks truth to power”. Now, a new book will republish Haywood’s funny, subversive periodical, which she wrote from the perspective of an angry green parrot, and seek to raise awareness of her groundbreaking work.

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Netflix’s One Hundred Years of Solitude brings fame to Gabriel García Márquez’s Colombian hometown

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Locals hope TV adaptation of One Hundred Years of Solitude will bring new life to Aracataca, birthplace of author’s magical realism

In sweltering mid-afternoon heat, children splash in the clear water of the canal that threads through town as elderly neighbours look on from rocking chairs on the porches of their sun-washed houses. Butterflies spring from every bush, sometimes fluttering together in kaleidoscopes.

At the foot of Colombia’s Sierra Nevada mountains, about 20 miles from the Caribbean coast, Gabriel García Márquez’s fictional world of Macondo lives on.

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Baby Reindeer: MP asks Netflix to prove ‘convicted stalker’ allegation

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Firm asked to back up claims about Fiona Harvey after executive’s appearance before select committee

An MP has asked Netflix to provide evidence that the woman who inspired the character Martha Scott in Baby Reindeer is a “convicted stalker”, claiming that a record of her conviction has not yet been found.

Netflix’s director of public policy, Benjamin King, told the culture media and sport committee on 8 May that the show was “the true story of the horrific abuse that the writer and protagonist, Richard Gadd, suffered at the hands of a convicted stalker”.

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Eurovision loses almost a quarter of UK viewers compared with 2023

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Saturday night’s final watched by average of 7.64m as Britain’s entry Olly Alexander finished in 18th place

Eurovision lost almost a quarter of its UK viewers compared with last year’s Liverpool extravaganza, amid a row over Israel’s participation.

Saturday night’s grand final on the BBC was watched by an average of 7.64 million people, peaking at 8.46 million, according to official figures provided by the agency Digital i. Britain’s entry, Olly Alexander, finished in 18th place with 46 points after he was awarded zero in the public vote.

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TV has become exploitative and cruel, says Ofcom chair Michael Grade

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The boss of the broadcast regulator has expressed concern about how the chase for audience ratings is harming the industry

Television has become more “exploitative and cruel”, according to Michael Grade, the chair of the broadcasting regulator, Ofcom.

“The exploitation dial has been switched up more and more for ratings,” said the peer and former chair of the BBC board. “It makes me mad. I really don’t like it or enjoy it.

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Catholics’ fury as Italian TV ad depicts nuns eating crisps for communion

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Viewers’ association accuses Amica Chips of resorting to blasphemy in order to increase sales

An Italian TV advert that depicts nuns eating crisps instead of altar bread while receiving holy communion has been accused of blasphemy by an outraged association of Catholic TV viewers.

The 30-second advert for Amica Chips – one of Italy’s top crisps brands – takes place in a monastery and opens with nuns preparing to receive holy communion. Their mother superior realises that the tabernacle is empty of hosts, and so fills it with crisps.

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Pat Sajak to take final spin as host of Wheel of Fortune on 7 June

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Sajak, 77, announced last summer he was ready to retire as host, marking the end of a four-decade gig on venerable gameshow

Pat Sajak will take his final spin on Wheel of Fortune on 7 June, marking the end of a four-decade gig as host of the venerable gameshow.

Sajak, 77, announced last summer that he was ready to retire as host from the show, which features contestants guessing letters to try to fill out words and phrases to win money and prizes. Deadline confirmed his final date on air on Friday.

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Actor in spinoff to TV western Yellowstone found dead in Kansas

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Cole Brings Plenty, 27, had gone missing amid domestic violence investigation

An actor who appeared in a spinoff of the popular television western Yellowstone was found dead after he went missing amid a domestic violence investigation in Kansas, authorities said on Friday.

The Johnson county sheriff’s office said in a statement that deputies found the body of 27-year-old Cole Brings Plenty in a wooded area. Crime scene investigators and the medical examiner were at the location, but no details were released about a cause of death.

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Chance Perdomo, star of Gen V and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, dead at 27

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Television star was killed in a motorcycle accident that involved no other parties, representatives say

Chance Perdomo, the British American actor who starred on the television shows Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and Gen V, has died in a motorcycle accident. He was 27.

Nobody else was involved in the accident, his representatives said in a statement. No details on the location or date of the accident were shared.

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‘Flat and shallow’: Netflix’s 3 Body Problem divides viewers in China

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Eight-episode series based on Liu Cixin novels triggers accusations of ‘Americanisation’ of a Chinese story

Netflix’s big-budget adaptation of Three-Body Problem, a series of novels by the Chinese author Liu Cixin, has divided opinion on Chinese social media.

The eight-episode series, 3 Body Problem, was released in full on Netflix on Thursday. It is based on the first book in Liu’s trilogy, an ambitious sci-fi series spanning civilisation from the 1960s to the end of humanity.

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