Hope for new skin cancer therapy as UK cases soar

Researchers discover a technique that can kill melanoma cells with few toxic side effects, but warn there is still no cure

Skin cancer rates are rocketing. Thanks to over-enthusiastic sunbathing in previous decades, melanoma cases have tripled in numbers in the UK since the early 1990s – and scientists predict worse is to come.

The type of cancer once relatively rare in Britain is now its fifth most common. Broadcaster Chris Evans recently revealed he had been diagnosed with the disease.

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Billie Piper: From vulnerable teen pop star to director of an ‘anti-romcom’

The characters she plays do not match her own life, the actress insists, but it’s hard not to see parallels with her own journey

Billie Piper has occupied a near continual, if shifting, position in the public imagination for almost a quarter of a century. That’s a notable achievement by any reckoning of a performer’s career, but it’s also rather alarming, given that she’s still only 38.

Having started out as 15-year-old chart sensation, she walked away from the pop music treadmill, enjoyed a boozy marriage with the DJ Chris Evans, returned to frontline fame in Doctor Who, struck out on a path of acclaimed dramatic performances on TV and the stage, and has now made her directorial debut with the feature film Rare Beasts.

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