Category Archives: Television & radio

Jennifer Lopez to produce Bob the Builder movie

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The artist once known as Jenny from the block is spearheading an animated feature about a Latino construction worker voiced by Anthony Ramos

Move over Barbie: the latest Mattel property set for cultural domination has been unveiled as Bob the Builder, the chirpy construction worker who debuted 25 years ago on CBBC and is being belatedly brought to the big screen by booty-shaking multi-hyphenate Jennifer Lopez.

In something of a spin on the original series, the film’s plot will see Roberto (AKA Bob) travel to Puerto Rico for a major construction job, where he “takes on issues affecting the island and digs deeper into what it means to build”.

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Denmark to get own version of The Crown about Queen Margrethe

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Announcement comes less than a week after Denmark’s longest serving monarch abdicated the throne

Having abdicated the Danish throne after 52 years on exactly the same date she became queen – and announced her surprise decision live on TV with just two weeks’ notice – there’s little doubt Margrethe II has a sense of drama.

After signing the abdication declaration last weekend, she left the room with tears in her eyes and the words: “God bless the king.”

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Chris Packham given bodyguard for BBC Winterwatch after ‘threats’

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TV presenter says he reported most recent threats ‘to harm you and your family’ to police

Chris Packham has been given a bodyguard while filming the latest series of BBC’s Winterwatch after “specific threats” were made against him.

The presenter has faced persistent abuse in recent years, including in 2011 an arson attack on his home.

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Money Heist writer returns to scene of the crime with prequel Berlin

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Latest project from screenwriter of Netflix’s most watched non-English-language series revisits its most enigmatic character

After a busy few years chronicling fatal Balearic excess in White Lines and crafting the pulpy trafficking drama Sky Rojo, the Spanish screenwriter and producer Álex Pina is returning to one of his most famous criminal creations.

La Casa de Papel, known in English as Money Heist, grew into a global TV phenomenon after Netflix picked it up from the Spanish network Antena 3 in late 2017. By 2020, Pina’s pacey, violent and stylish series about a gang of red-overalled, Salvador Dalí-masked robbers who target the royal mint and then the Bank of Spain had become the platform’s most watched non-English-language series.

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Rick Astley: why we’re never gonna give up the evergreen 80s pop idol

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As the singer prepares to host the BBC’s new year special, it caps a stellar 2023 for the star who launched a meme phenomenon

Some may think: why is the BBC welcoming in 2024 with “Mr 1987”? Though that suggests they missed the memo about the spectacular revival of Rick Astley. On Sunday night, 1980s pop star Astley will host BBC One’s New Year’s Eve show from the Roundhouse in Camden, north-west London, following in the footsteps of Sam Ryder and Years & Years, fronted by Olly Alexander.

Stars come back. It’s what they do. But few manage to do it in a way that makes them look infinitely cooler than before. As Astley, 57, continues to ride the Rickrolling phenomenon (more of which anon), his 2023 has been stellar.

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King Charles’s Christmas message rules TV ratings, with 5.9m viewers

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BBC showed nine out of 10 most popular shows, according to overnight data, with Strictly coming second and Doctor Who third

King Charles’s Christmas broadcast came top of the TV ratings on Christmas Day, with the BBC showing nine out of the 10 most watched shows.

The king’s message, which reflected on the “increasingly tragic conflict around the world”, attracted an average of 5.9 million viewers, according to overnight ratings.

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James McCaffrey, voice of Max Payne and Alan Wake games, dies at 65

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The actor, who also starred in film and television for decades, was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer

James McCaffrey, the actor who provided the voice of the titular character of the Max Payne video games, has died aged 65.

The actor died on Sunday at his home in Larchmont, New York, having been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer, his wife, the actor Rochelle Boström confirmed.

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Favourites Ellie Leach and Vito Coppola win this year’s Strictly Come Dancing

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The ex-Coronation Street actor grew and grew over the series, while her partner went one better than his runner-up placing last year

It was a night of high-quality hoofing, high scores and high camp but ultimately, the Strictly Come Dancing final went the way that bookmakers predicted. Odds-on favourite Ellie Leach and her professional partner, Vito Coppola, were crowned champions. As they lifted the glitter ball trophy and sparkly confetti fell, it made a fitting climax to another feelgood series.

Former Coronation Street actor Leach, 22, had blossomed before viewers’ eyes. Initially an unfancied contender, she visibly grew in confidence to become a pocket rocket performer.

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BBC shelves Question of Sport, blaming ‘funding challenges’

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Corporation halts production on world’s longest-running sport quiz after 53 years and says it is ‘not the final whistle’

The BBC is pulling Question of Sport, the world’s longest-running sport quiz, citing “funding difficulties”.

The show began in 1970 with David Vine as presenter, followed by David Coleman, Sue Barker and the current incumbent, Paddy McGuinness, who took over two years ago.

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Curb Your Enthusiasm: Larry David comedy to end after 12 seasons

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‘I will now have the opportunity to finally shed this “Larry David” persona and become the person God intended me to be,’ star says

After almost 25 years playing Larry David, Larry David has announced that his award-winning comedy Curb Your Enthusiasm is ending with the next season.

The Seinfeld co-creator has played a curmudgeonly version of himself in Curb Your Enthusiasm since 2000, making it HBO’s longest-running comedy. Much like Seinfeld, the show draws on the humour in everyday life but the dialogue is mostly improvised around an outline written by David, who plays a semi-retired television writer.

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Andre Braugher died of lung cancer, Brooklyn Nine-Nine actor’s publicist says

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Emmy-winning actor, who also starred in Homicide: Life on the Street, died at age 61

Andre Braugher died from lung cancer, a representative said on Thursday.

When the Emmy-winning actor who starred in the series Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Homicide: Life on the Street died on Monday at age 61, his representatives said only that he had been through a brief illness, but his publicist Jennifer Allen gave the cause on Thursday.

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Andre Braugher, Brooklyn Nine-Nine actor, dies aged 61

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The actor who played the deadpan Captain Raymond Holt and starred in Homicide: Life on the Street, has died after a brief illness

Andre Braugher, who starred as Captain Raymond Holt in the hit comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine and as Detective Frank Pembleton in Homicide: Life on the Street, has died aged 61.

The actor died on Monday after a brief illness, his publicist confirmed.

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‘Nobody speaks about this’: Diana Rigg made impassioned plea for assisted dying law before death

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In a recording in 2020, the actor made a case for giving ‘human beings true agency over their bodies at the end of life’

• Read more: ‘Push me over the edge’ – Diana Rigg’s daughter Rachael Stirling writes about her mother’s dying wishes

Diana Rigg made an impassioned case to legalise assisted dying in a message recorded shortly before her “truly awful” and “dehumanising” death from cancer three years ago.

The actor’s statement calling for a law that gives “human beings true agency over their own bodies at the end of life”, published today in the Observer, adds to the ongoing debate on assisted dying, with MPs expected to publish recommendations to the government within weeks.

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Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? star Brigit Forsyth dies at 83

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Actor played Thelma Ferris, wife of Rodney Bewes’ Bob, in popular BBC1 sitcom that aired from 1973-74

Brigit Forsyth, who starred in Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?, has died at the age of 83, her agent has confirmed.

The Scottish actor played Thelma Ferris, the long-suffering wife of Rodney Bewes’ character, Bob, in the 70s BBC sitcom. She died “peacefully in her sleep surrounded by her family” in the early hours of Friday morning, her agent, Mark Pemberton, confirmed.

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University Challenge special axed over lack of support for disabled contestants

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Christmas alumni episode had one blind entrant and another who was neurodivergent, both of whom say they did not get help

The BBC has apologised and pulled a Christmas episode of University Challenge after two contestants complained about a lack of provision for their disabilities.

The festive spin-off from the BBC Two quiz show, hosted by Amol Rajan, features teams of distinguished alumni who compete on behalf of their former universities.

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‘Appalling abuse of animals’: Chris Packham tells Ant and Dec I’m a Celebrity is like dog fighting

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The conservationist compares ITV reality show to pursuits that are ‘the sad preserve of psychopathic criminals’

Chris Packham has written a letter to Ant and Dec, accusing I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! of exploiting animals.

In the missive, released on X (formerly Twitter), he states that this is not the first time he has tried to engage with the show’s presenters about animal welfare standards on the reality show, but that his previous “polite, reasonable and constructive” attempts were ignored so “this time I’ll be a little more frank and forthright”.

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Princess Latifa abduction ordeal to be turned into TV drama

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British writer Lindsay Shapero working with former friend of Latifa on four-part series called The Escape

If a screenwriter were to write a fictional drama about a 21st-century princess’s escape, recapture, imprisonment and release, it might be dismissed as too unbelievable. But the real-life story of Dubai’s Princess Latifa and her escape, recapture, imprisonment and release has inspired a new drama.

A four-part series titled The Escape will go into production next year. Its award-winning British writer, Lindsay Shapero, has been working closely with Tiina Jauhiainen, who as Latifa’s close friend helped her flee Dubai in 2018, only for both women to be forcibly returned and interrogated.

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‘This one has cut deep’: Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer and Lisa Kudrow pay tribute to Matthew Perry

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Actors joined Courteney Cox and Matt LeBlanc in posting tributes to their late Friends co-star, who died unexpectedly last month

Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer and Lisa Kudrow have published tributes to their late Friends co-star Matthew Perry, a day after Courteney Cox and Matt LeBlanc did the same.

“Oh boy this one has cut deep,” began Aniston’s Instagram caption, posted on Wednesday alongside a photo of the two young actors, a text between them and a clip of the series finale farewell between their two beloved characters, Chandler Bing and Rachel Green. “Having to say goodbye to our Matty has been an insane wave of emotions that I’ve never experienced before. We all experience loss at some point in our lives. Loss of life or loss of love. Being able to really SIT in this grief allows you to feel the moments of joy and gratitude for having loved someone that deep.

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The Crown actor says events leading to Diana’s death must have been ‘unbearable’

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Elizabeth Debicki has spoken about filming car chase through Paris that led to Diana’s death for final season of royal drama

The actor who played Diana in The Crown said the moments leading up to her death must have been “completely unbearable” after the cast reenacted the car chase through Paris that led to her death for the final season of the divisive royal drama.

The sixth season of The Crown deals with the weeks preceding Diana’s death, as well as the fallout, after a car crash in Paris in August 1997. The first instalment of the season is released on 16 November.

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Nigel Farage spotted in Brisbane just before start of I’m a Celebrity

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Former Ukip leader has reportedly been offered large sum to appear on ITV show, which begins this month

Nigel Farage has been seen at Brisbane airport in Australia, adding to speculation that he will be joining the lineup in this year’s I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!.

The former leader of Ukip and the Brexit party did not confirm when asked whether he was entering the jungle as part of the ITV show, but did tell a reporter that he “might be going in”.

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