Changes are part of sweeping shake-up by Victoria Easton Riley, BBC Scotland’s new head of audio and events
There is a “deep sense of unease” among staff at BBC Radio Scotland after a succession of respected arts presenters, more than half of them women, were dropped from schedules.
The changes have prompted questions about diversity of coverage amid an apparent shift to a “more commercial sensibility” for the public broadcaster.
Continue reading...The actor, who played Tracy Jordan’s gentle bodyguard in 80 episodes of the beloved comedy, died in his sleep after years of health problems
Grizz Chapman, best known for his role as Grizz on the hit comedy 30 Rock, has died aged 52.
His cousin, the Harlem Globetrotter Donte Harrison, confirmed Chapman’s death on social media on Saturday.
Continue reading...‘We know that Mark Carney wants to sort of embrace Europe,’ says competition director Martin Green
Canada is welcome to join Eurovision if it wishes, its director has said, months after the country revealed it wanted to “explore” joining the song contest in its federal budget.
Eurovision director Martin Green told the BBC on Wednesday that Canada hadn’t yet applied, but would be welcome to.
Continue reading...Actor and comedian speaks for the first time since his 42-year-old daughter died by suicide in February
Martin Short has spoken for the first time about the death of his daughter, Katherine Short, saying her death has been “a nightmare for the family”.
Katherine died in February aged 42, at her home in the Hollywood Hills. The County of Los Angeles Medical Examiner’s office confirmed she died by suicide.
In the US, you can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
Continue reading...Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, Liverpool-born actor says depression and anxiety followed death of his father when he was 15
The actor David Morrissey has spoken of how “terrible” social anxiety contributed to him becoming an alcoholic.
“I am a recovering alcoholic,” Morrissey, who has been sober for 21 years, told Lauren Laverne on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs. “Drinking first was about anxiety. I’ve had this terrible social anxiety and that helped me get through it.”
Continue reading...Actors Richard E Grant, Michael Sheen and Bella Ramsey among star-studded cast hoping for victory as BBC’s hit spin-off series returns to screens
Considering the Traitors is a game of murderous treachery played out in a castle, the Shakespearian actors in the cast of the new celebrity spin-off series should be well set.
Oscar-winner Richard E Grant, acclaimed actor Michael Sheen and The Last of Us star Bella Ramsey are among the thespians vying for victory this year, all of who have the Bard on their CV.
Continue reading...Speculative reports say Amazon is considering relaunching the reality show once hosted by the US president, with his eldest son floated as a possible host
Amid speculative reports that Donald Trump Jr is being considered by Amazon to lead a reboot of The Apprentice, he’s already received a slightly muted endorsement from the reality show’s former host: his father.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that Amazon was considering rebooting The Apprentice, which was hosted by the now US president Donald Trump between 2004 and 2015, for its streaming service Prime Video.
Continue reading...Ireland and Spain will also not broadcast Eurovision after decision to boycott live event over Israel’s participation
National broadcasters in Ireland, Spain and Slovenia will not air the Eurovision song contest this year, after they decided to boycott the event over Israel’s participation.
Having announced it would not submit a national entry, the Slovenian broadcaster RTV confirmed on Thursday it would implement a broadcasting blackout of the world’s largest live music event and instead show a series of films about Palestine.
Continue reading...Actor who worked with the great French auteurs in the 1970s and 80s and starred in Spielberg’s Catch Me if You Can died of Lewy body dementia, says family
The French film star Nathalie Baye, who starred in Steven Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can, has died at the age of 77, her family said on Saturday.
Baye, a stalwart of French cinema, starred in about 80 films and took home the best actress César, France’s equivalent of the Oscars, four times, including three years running from 1981 to 1983. She died on Friday evening at her home in Paris from Lewy body dementia, her family told AFP.
Continue reading...Wildlife film pioneer has died aged 74 ‘immersed in nature and surrounded by friends’, his representatives have said
An award-winning wildlife cameraman renowned for his work with David Attenborough has died aged 74 while trekking in Nepal.
Doug Allan, described as a “true pioneer” of wildlife film-making, won several Bafta and Emmy awards and was principal camera operator on a number of BBC series including Planet Earth, Frozen Planet and The Blue Planet.
Continue reading...Investigation concludes actor will not face criminal charges, with Ritchson also declining to pursue a potential charge against his neighbor
The Reacher star Alan Ritchson will not face criminal charges in relation to a widely publicised violent confrontation with a neighbor, after Tennessee police found he was acting in self-defense.
In a video obtained by TMZ on Sunday, the 43-year-old actor appeared to strike Ronnie Taylor several times as Taylor kneeled on the ground in a suburban neighborhood in Tennessee. Ritchson’s two children could be seen nearby sitting on motorbikes and watching the incident unfold.
Continue reading...Comedy duo will take the stage together in the West End for the first time in 17 years in Cinderella alongside Julian Clary
Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders are to return to the stage together for the first time in 17 years to play the Ugly Sisters in the London Palladium pantomime.
“It won’t be pretty,” the popular duo predicted in an announcement on Tuesday. “We have wished to play the Ugly Sisters for so many years, it feels this is the fulfilment of a dream – a dream our hearts made.”
Continue reading...The Woman’s Hour host, who has died aged 75, could talk about hydrangeas, campaign against domestic abuse, then tear a strip off a politician – all within a few minutes
Before she took over Woman’s Hour in 1987, Jenni Murray was a presenter on the Today programme. She had joined the BBC in Bristol in 1973, and became a TV reporter and presenter for South Today, so arrived with solid news credentials. But Today in the 1980s was inveterately sexist – the guys took the politics, the women mopped up the rest – that the format was just too small for her.
Woman’s Hour, on the other hand, was absolutely reshaped in her image: there was no preconception of tone, and nothing was too serious or too light for it. Murray, who has died at the age of 75, could tear a strip off a politician, talk about hydrangeas, then campaign against domestic abuse, all within a few minutes. She was instinctively open and generous about her personal experience, but never solipsistic – an incredibly fine balance.
Continue reading...Roberts, who was the first Aboriginal person to host a prime-time current affairs program, was diagnosed with a rare type of ovarian cancer seven months ago
Rhoda Roberts, the Bundjalung Widjabul Wiyebal cultural leader and arts devotee, has died at the age of 66.
In a statement made via Instagram, Roberts’s family announced she had died peacefully in hospital on Saturday afternoon, having been diagnosed with a rare type of ovarian cancer seven months ago.
Continue reading...Family says actor, who played Xander in hit TV series, died on Friday ‘in his sleep of natural causes’
Nicholas Brendon, the actor best known for playing Xander in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, has died. He was 54.
Brendon’s family issued a statement saying that he died on Friday “in his sleep of natural causes”.
Continue reading...Need something brilliant to read this weekend? Here are six of our favourite pieces from the last seven days
Continue reading...Calls for Alexandra Căpitănescu’s Choke Me to be banned as campaigners say lyrics are ‘dangerous’ and ‘reckless’
Romania’s Eurovision entry Choke Me has been labelled “dangerous” and “reckless” for appearing to glamorise sexual strangulation, an unsafe practice that can lead to brain injury and death.
Campaigners against sexual violence said the entry, in which the words “choke me” are repeated 30 times during the three-minute song, was “playing fast and loose with young women’s lives”.
Continue reading...Presenter who entertained children with his sharp-witted, furry puppet Agro Vation, remembered for his brash and unapologetic humour
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Jamie Dunn, a veteran radio personality who unleashed the puppet Agro on Australia, entertaining children and adults alike for decades, has died aged 76.
Dunn, who was once Australia’s longest-serving breakfast radio host, died on Saturday.
Continue reading...Move comes after 35% of sector workers surveyed described their mental health as ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’
The Film and TV charity has unveiled a landmark set of principles for safeguarding mental health in what’s been called a “watershed moment” for the UK creative sector’s duty of care to its production community.
The principles are the result of a collaboration between the charity and more than 45 industry organisations, including all the public service broadcasters, studios, leading streamers, production companies and trade unions.
Continue reading...Actor, who was diagnosed with MS in 2021, says taking her 15-year-old daughter to school has become her ‘favourite thing to do’
Christina Applegate has revealed that she is now largely confined to her bed, five years after she was diagnosed as having multiple sclerosis.
In an interview with People magazine before the release of her memoir, the 54-year-old actor said she spends a lot of her days in bed due to the pain that comes with movement.
The Guardian will run an extract from Christina Applegate’s memoir, You With the Sad Eyes, on 28 February
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