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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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”.
Continue reading...Production workers at Strictly Come Dancing allege BBC refused to take their complaints seriously
Production staff who formerly worked on Strictly Come Dancing have complained of a toxic work culture and accused the BBC of failing to take their complaints seriously, in a fresh blow to the corporation’s primetime show, the Observer can reveal.
One former staff member alleged they had been subjected to sexist and sexualised comments, including intrusive questions about their sex life, while another claimed they witnessed “talented co-workers treated with cruelty”.
Continue reading...Accusations of abusive behaviour in rehearsal rooms ‘complete news’ to judge of the dance show
Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood has said allegations of abusive behaviour to past participants on the show have come as a “shock” to him.
Last weekend professional dancer Graziano Di Prima said he was leaving the BBC show after claims about his treatment of reality star Zara McDermott when they competed together last year.
Continue reading...Spokesperson for Graziano Di Prima says he accepts he ‘crossed the line’ in the incident with Zara McDermott
Graziano Di Prima was removed from Strictly Come Dancing after he kicked his celebrity partner Zara McDermott during rehearsals, his spokesperson has said.
Di Prima, who joined the Strictly lineup in 2018, announced last weekend he was leaving the programme.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...Actor, 50, sustains injury hours before the quarter-finals, leaving just four celebrities in competition
Nigel Harman has withdrawn from Strictly Come Dancing after sustaining a rib injury just hours before the quarter-finals of the competition.
The Casualty actor, 50, had been due to compete with a Charleston to Step in Time from Disney’s Mary Poppins with his partner, Katya Jones, on Saturday night.
Continue reading...Case follows Walliams’ exit as BGT judge after transcript surfaced of him making offensive off-air comments about contestants
David Walliams has filed a case against the production company that makes the ITV show Britain’s Got Talent.
The action being taken by the show’s former judge against FremantleMedia is listed as dealing with data protection, according to the BBC. No other details have been given.
Continue reading...The UK series, which employed hundreds of Australian cast and crew, is the latest victim of cost-cutting measures at Disney and beyond
A big budget series filmed in Queensland which employed hundreds of Australian cast and crew has become the latest victim of cuts at Disney, being dropped by the studio after filming – and before it even had a chance to be released.
Nautilus, a UK series that had been set to stream on Disney+, is a prequel story to Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Shazad Latif stars as Captain Nemo, an Indian prince who became a prisoner of the East India Company and sets off on a mission of revenge on submarine Nautilus.
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Continue reading...Streaming platform yet to decide, but its executives were ‘shocked and disappointed’
Clarkson’s Farm could be cancelled after its next series, with Amazon bosses saying they were “shocked and disappointed” by its presenter’s comments about the Duchess of Sussex.
The third series of the hit show about life on Jeremy Clarkson’s Cotswolds farm is being filmed for release in 2024 but Amazon bosses said they have yet to decide if the programme will return for a fourth run.
Continue reading...Ex-newsreader famous for dancing on 1976 Morecambe and Wise show will be joined by Amanda Abbington and Layton Williams
Angela Rippon is to compete in the upcoming season of Strictly Come Dancing becoming the oldest competitor on the BBC primetime show at the age of 79.
The actor Amanda Abbington and Bad Education star Layton Williams have also been announced as the first contestants for the 21st series of the dancing competition this autumn.
Continue reading...The White Lotus star and showrunner Mike White sat down to discuss her career renaissance at 61 and why she’s in a constant state of ‘pure denial’
When Garth Saville heard that Jennifer Coolidge was coming to Sydney: “I think all of our camp little juices sort of overflowed. It was very exciting.”
Saville, along with his fellow Coolidge drag queens and lookalikes in blond wigs and pink sparkles, were among the sold-out crowd of 9,000 at Sydney’s Aware Super Theatre stadium Saturday night.
Continue reading...‘I’m really, really sorry,’ the actor said, a year after she was suspended from show for saying the Holocaust ‘isn’t about race’
Whoopi Goldberg has issued an apology following her use of a racial slur during an episode of ABC’s The View.
On Wednesday, Goldberg used a derogatory term associated with Romani people while discussing former president Donald Trump, saying that his supporters are “people who still believe that he got gypped somehow in the election”.
Continue reading...This year’s Academy Awards with Jimmy Kimmel at the helm drew an average TV audience of 18.7m – and a bigger share of younger viewers
The audience for the 2023 Academy Awards broadcast improved substantially on last year’s unimpressive figures, with a 12% jump on what was the second worst ratings performance in history.
Early ratings from Nielsen, supplied to the Hollywood Reporter, said that the show on ABC attracted an average of 18.7m viewers, compared to 16.6m in 2022. The audience share in the key 18-49 age demographic also improved, from 3.76 last year to 4.0.
Continue reading...Wildlife TV presenter tipped for success after capturing country’s heart on path to Strictly victory
He may have come from relative obscurity but 2023 is predicted to be a big year for the Strictly Come Dancing champion Hamza Yassin, who lifted the glitterball trophy with his dance partner Jowita Przystał on Saturday night.
He pipped fellow finalists Helen Skelton, Fleur East and Molly Rainford to the title in a tense final and insiders are now predicting big things for the wildlife expert, who said he was “over the moon” to win.
Continue reading...Countryfile and former Blue Peter presenter completes lineup of dancers in 2022 show, due to air in September
The Countryfile presenter Helen Skelton has been confirmed as the final contestant for Strictly Come Dancing 2022.
The 39-year-old’s participation was announced on Saturday morning by Claudia Winkleman, who co-hosts the celebrity dance show with Tess Daly, during her BBC Radio 2 show.
Continue reading...Open letter signed by more than 100 actors and public figures urges end to entertainment industry’s ‘entrenched’ ageism
Actors including Juliet Stevenson, Meera Syal, David Tennant and Zawe Ashton have called for better onscreen representation of women older than 45 to fight against the “entrenched” ageism of the entertainment industry.
In an open letter signed by more than 100 actors and public figures, the Acting Your Age Campaign (AYAC) called for equal representation in the UK between men and women over 45 and urged immediate action on a “parity pledge”.
Continue reading...Toxicology test confirmed Tamara Lynn Sytch had blood-alcohol level three times over the legal limit at time of the accident
A member of the World Wrestling Entertainment Hall of Fame crashed into and killed a man while driving drunk in central Florida earlier this year, authorities said.
Tamara Lynn “Sunny” Sytch caused the wreck that killed Julian Lasseter on 25 March but it was not until later that a toxicology test confirmed the 49-year-old former pro wrestling personality had a blood-alcohol level more than three times over the legal limit at the time of the accident, police said in a statement to the Guardian on Monday.
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