Just ask This Morning co-host Alison Hammond, who may have bagged herself the presenting role on Channel 4’s Great British Bake Off and ITV’s For The Love Of Dogs, but has had less luck on the BBC.
I can reveal the pilot she did for the channel’s new dance show, Clear The Dancefloor, won’t be getting made into a full series.
The news comes just months after Beeb gameshow I Can See Your Voice, in which she starred, was also axed.
A TV insider said: “This will be gutting for Alison, as getting an ongoing gig on the Beeb is seen as many a presenter’s ultimate goal.
“There were high hopes for Clear The Dance-floor as it seemed to tap into the same energy as Strictly, which she appeared on in 2014. But she won’t be short of work this year anyway.”
The series was to feature amateur dancers competing against each other, with a celebrity panel judging their efforts.
It’s not the first time Alison has faced disappointment like this, however.
In 2020 she made a pilot for a reboot of Wheel Of Fortune, but the job later went to Graham Norton.
Thankfully, along with For The Love Of Dogs and Bake Off, she’s also one of the panellists on new Sky show Smart TV.
And it remains to be seen just how much time she will spend on This Morning alongside co-host Dermot O’Leary when the show gets a long-awaited relaunch this spring.
With such a packed diary, she might be relieved to have lost a little of her Midas touch.
Clever dick Noel
WITH all those cloaks, wigs and guy-liner, playing an 18th Century highwayman was always going to be dream gig for Noel Fielding.
And he revels in the role in new Apple TV+ comedy The Completely Made-Up Adventures Of Dick Turpin.
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The Great British Bake Off host and Mighty Boosh funnyman is at his swashbuckling best alongside a band of stars including Hugh Bonneville, Tamsin Greig, Dolly Wells and Greg Davies.
The trailer for the seven-parter, which drops on the streaming service on March 1, leaves us in no doubt just how saucy it promises to be.
The tagline reads: “You think you know danger, you think you know adventure. You don’t know Dick.”
I reckon it’s going to make Bake Off look innuendo-free by comparison.
Jungle reveal’s bab fab
THEY say I’m A Celebrity . . . Get Me Out Of Here! is an unforgettable experience, so no wonder Babatunde Aleshe still has revelations from his time Down Under.
The comic, who appeared alongside Matt Hancock in the 2022 series, has told how one scene, where he freaked out over a run-in with toads, ended up on the cutting- room floor.
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Chatting on Russell Howard’s Wonderbox podcast, out today, he said of the show: “They blindfold you then Ant and Dec are in your face and I’m like, ‘I don’t like this’. I got locked in a box with toads. I hate toads.
“The camera crew, everyone is laughing and I’m just like, ‘You pr*cks!’ because everyone knows I’m scared of frogs.
“When we finished and I got out and everyone got a piece of my mind. Me popping off was cut out.”
Funny, that.
JOHANNES RADEBE has confirmed my story from September that his memoir will be turned into a film.
JoJo: Finally Home is being adapted as a movie, with the Strictly star choreographing the musical numbers as it charts his journey from growing up in poverty in Africa to the BBC ballroom.
Famara swears by gord
YOUNG MasterChef winner Famara Kurang is already showing huge promise in the kitchen.
But the 22-year-old worries he is becoming too much like his idol Gordon Ramsay.
Fresh from clinching the BBC title on Monday night, Londoner Famara told me: “Gordon Ramsay, he’s not for everyone but he’s loud, he’s out there and I just love that about him.
“I’m not as out there with my swearing as Gordon, but if things get intense I might let out one of two.
“There were some slip-ups filming Master- Chef, but I tried to keep it as PG-friendly as I could – which is hard in that high-stress environment.”
Modest Famara added: “I’m the Young MasterChef champ, but it’s definitely my mum who’s the best cook in the family.”
Agatha strikes again
AFTER the post-Christmas success of its Agatha Christie adaptation Murder Is Easy, the BBC is turning its attentions to the crime writer’s book Towards Zero.
The 1944 novel has already been adapted as a French mystery film, but will now be given the small screen treatment.
The official synopsis for the novel reads: “An elderly widow is murdered at a clifftop seaside house.
“What is the connection between a failed suicide attempt, a wrongful accusation of theft against a schoolgirl and the romantic life of a famous tennis player?
“It’s all part of a carefully paid plan – for murder.”
Two-parter Murder Is Easy starred David Jonsson, Mathew Baynton and Nimra Bucha and proved a hit on BBC One.
Filming for Towards Zero will begin over the summer.
VIEWERS were captivated by the true crime case of Gypsy-Rose Blanchard after Joey King’s portrayal in The Act.
Now they can follow abused Gypsy’s real life after her release from jail for her role in her mother’s murder.
A new fly-on-the-wall series, to air on Lifetime this year, will record Gypsy “as she experiences life as a free woman”.
Ian top in army faves
THE late Dad’s Army star Ian Lavender takes centre stage in the most popular episode of the classic BBC sitcom, according to new rankings.
The wartime Home Guard caper’s last-surviving cast member, who died last week age 77, was famed as hapless Private Pike.
And in 1974 episode A Man Of Action, Pike stars as he gets his head stuck in a gate when a prank goes wrong.
Sky has ranked all 80 episodes of Dad’s Army by viewing figures streamed on Gold last year.
Pike – famously referred to as “stupid boy” – also had a starring role in the second-favourite episode,
When You’ve Got To Go, in which he passes medical tests to take up an RAF post.