SHOW BIZ

WAYNE Rooney boozed until the early hours with two women at a Manchester hotel on Saturday during a pre-Brit Awards bash.

At one point, the former Manchester United and England striker struggled to keep his trousers up in the bar at a posh hotel.

Pictures and video obtained by The Sun show the dad of four, married to Coleen, relaxing in the Manchester venue in the early hours of Saturday.

It was full of celebrities ahead of Saturday night’s Brits ceremony in the city.

One surprised onlooker told The Sun: “People who noticed Wayne were saying, ‘What would Coleen think?’. She was nowhere to be seen.”

They added: “Wayne appeared to have been drinking. He seemed to have had a few.”

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It comes after he revealed last year that he had curbed his boozing after hitting the bottle too hard in his football career, and said he would be dead if it was not for the support of Coleen.

Rooney had been at the city centre hotel with pop star Calum Scott before he appeared to catch the attention of the two women. One was with her boyfriend.

The group also included a male pal of Rooney.

Witnesses said he looked “worse for wear” at 1.30am when he came out of a ­toilet and fumbled with his trousers.

One told The Sun: “Wayne couldn’t seem to get his trousers done up.

“At one moment, they almost dropped to the floor but he managed to save them.”

He then “kept pulling his trousers up, but then they’d fall down again”.

Rooney went on to spend almost two hours chatting to the two mystery ladies and knocking back drinks.

An onlooker said: “He seemed like he was ­having a laugh and joking around with the women.”

Rooney and one of the women eventually left the establishment, before getting into separate cars just after 3.25am.

One witness said: “He later left alone. He stood outside where there were quite a few people gathered and got into a car.

“Around eight minutes later, a taxi came and picked the woman up.

“People in the queue recognised it was him and were saying he didn’t seem to be in a great place.”

Wayne had been at a party with stars including I’m A Celebrity’s Shona McGarty and rapper Aitch prior to spending time with the women.

Shona shared a photograph of her posing with Wayne inside the bash on Instagram and wrote: “Just a little pre Brits party.”

The former EastEnders actress appeared in ITV’s I’m A Celeb jungle show with Wayne’s wife Coleen in 2024.

Rooney, now a BBC pundit on Match of the Day, has had a string of incidents involving other women over the years.

He admitted using sex workers before he married childhood ­sweetheart Coleen, who is mother to their four sons Kai, 16, Klay, 12, Kit, ten, and Cass, eight.

It was also reported that Wayne even had a threesome with two sex workers while Coleen was pregnant with Kai.

In 2017, he was arrested for drink-driving, with office worker Laura Simpson in the car, following a night out in Cheshire.

Rooney was hit with a driving ban.

Last September, he emotionally revealed that Coleen, 39, was helping him cut down on booze.

Rooney said: “I honestly believe if she weren’t there I’d be dead.

“I’ve made mistakes in the past which are well documented and whatever but I’m a little bit ­different at times and she keeps me on that path and she’s done it for 20-odd years.

“I wanted to go out and enjoy my time with my friends and have a night out. It got to a point where I went too far.

“That was a moment in my life where I was struggling massively with alcohol.

“I didn’t think I could turn to anyone. I didn’t really want to because I didn’t want to put that burden on anyone.”

Rooney, who is Man United’s all-time leading goalscorer, added of his wife: “She’s managed me because I needed managing.”

Speaking in 2023, Coleen admitted their relationship has at times been “hard”.

But she went on: “There’s always been love there so why give up on it?

“If the love’s still there, why not see if you can work it out?

“People haven’t seen that because we’ve done that behind closed doors and it’s been a battle at times, it’s been hard.

“People only see what’s in the Press, they don’t know what goes on in our life.”

She added: “It was out there, we’ve dealt with it, and we’re moving on.”

Yesterday, Coleen opened up about their marriage again in another interview.

Asked if her husband would think she was bossy, Coleen replied: “He would probably say that, but I would say he needs ­telling sometimes.”

She added: “You have your ups and downs, you have things that happen in life.

“But I think being together from a young age, we know each other inside and out.

“We’re a team. I wouldn’t say we’ve changed.

“I would say things around us have changed.”

SINNERS star Delroy Lindo said he appreciates the “love and support” he has received after the N-word was shouted while he was on stage at last week’s Baftas.

The 73-year-old actor and co-star Michael B Jordan were presenting an award when Tourette’s sufferer John Davidson involuntarily blurted out the racial slur.

Lindo addressed the controversy while on stage at the NAACP Image Awards in California on Saturday.

The British-born actor said: “We appreciate – I appreciate – all of the support and love we have been shown in the aftermath of what happened last weekend, it means a lot to us.

“It is an honour to be here amongst our people this evening, amongst so many people who have shown us such incredible support.

“And it’s a classic case of something that could’ve been very negative becoming very positive.

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“Thank you so much for the support.”

Lindo praised the ceremony as “a room where being fully seen is not rare, but it is expected”.

Campaigner John said he was “deeply mortified” by what happened.

Jordan and Lindo were acknowledged by actress Regina Hall as she presented the first award of the night.

Hall, best known for appearing in the Scary Movie franchise, said: “I just want to take a moment to the two kings who are in this audience and just send you so much love for your class.”

The 57th NAACP Image Awards were held in Pasadena and hosted by actor and comedian Deon Cole.

Cole took aim at the Bafta incident, joking: “If there are any white men out here in the audience with Tourette’s, I advise you to tell them they can read the room tonight.”

HE FINALLY patched things up with brother Liam for the Oasis reunion last summer.

And it seems that Noel Gallagher is now closer than ever with his nephews Gene and Lennon — after teaching them how to party hard at Sony Music’s official Brit Awards after-party.

The Rock ’n’ Roll Star songwriter proved he was exactly that, as the last man standing at 3:45am yesterday at the do in Manchester’s amazing Soho House — despite knocking back endless bottles of Peroni until the bar stopped serving.

An onlooker said: “Noel and Liam’s sons are really close, and they hung out all night at the Sony bash.

“He might be in his fifties now but Noel still knows how to party and he put his nephews to shame with the amount of booze he could knock back.

“Noel was in really high spirits after getting the Songwriter Of The Year award and he had so many people coming up and congratulating him.

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“Gene and Lennon tried to keep up with Noel but they couldn’t, he out-partied them by a country mile.

“Even Noel’s daughter Anais gave up trying and left at 3am — Noel just carried on drinking bottles of Peroni.

“When Noel left, it was amazing he could walk straight.

“But he is a proper rocker and showed all those young ones right up.

“When Gene finally decided he wanted to try and one-up his uncle, he went to the bar and was told they’d stopped serving.

“He tried three times to be served and was in a huff when he was told no.

“To be fair it was almost 4am — and he should have just kept up with Noel when he had the chance.”

Noel’s hedonism clearly rubbed off on the other stars at Sony’s bash, which was the best of all the star-studded after-parties, thanks to its stellar guest list.

Brits host Jack Whitehall told me earlier this month that he would be having an early night because his fiancée Roxy Horner and their toddler daughter were coming to Manchester to be with him.

But he ended up partying into the early hours of yesterday morning.

I spotted him holding court with a group of his mates upstairs near grime star Skepta, with Jack finally heading back to his hotel at 3am.

Hopefully he had some Nurofen stashed in a bag because I think yesterday could have been blighted by one almighty hangover — and a very excitable toddler.

LIAM GALLAGHER praised his brother from home as Noel collected his award.

He posted on X: “All hail the greatest songwriter this country has ever seen since Lennon and McCartney.”

He also showed his support for former foe Robbie Williams’ tribute to Ozzy Osbourne, writing: “He was unreal”.

Liam also revealed why he didn’t go to the event at Co-op Live. He told a fan: “I was scared… Of all those cool folks in 1 room, they make me nervous.”

Olivia’s up fur a party

OLIVIA DEAN had good reason to smile as she headed to an after-party following her incredible four wins.

The singer scooped Artist and Pop Act, plus Album and Single of the Year for her record The Art Of Loving and her Sam Fender collaboration, Rein Me In.

Olivia wrapped up in a fur coat which covered her sparkly minidress – but didn’t hide her legs from the northern chill.

She did opt to wear sunglasses too, but at that time of night, they certainly weren’t needed.

LILY GIVES DO COLD SHOULDER

LILY ALLEN pulled out of attending the Brits as she’s desperately trying to recover in time for the launch of her first tour in seven years.

She was up for three gongs – although she was pipped to the post for all three by Olivia Dean – and had been due to travel to Manchester on Saturday morning.

But Lily made the last-minute decision not to attend after battling a brutal cold last week.

She launches her Lily Allen: Performs West End Girl tour in Glasgow this evening and has been trying to conserve energy.

Last Tuesday, she told fans she had been in bed for two days because she was “so sick” and hadn’t been able to rehearse.

When she did get back to practising, she said she had lost the lower register of her voice.

There are very high expectations for the tour, as every date sold out on the day they became available.

So a night of partying probably wouldn’t have done her any favours.

ALEX WARREN performed Ordinary at the ceremony but it’s his new single Fever Dream which is climbing the charts.

The American, who was accompanied by James Blunt on piano at the show, released the track on Friday and it’s on course to be his second No1.

But Ordinary is also rising – up four places to No15 in the midweek charts.

Jade throws shade

JADE THIRLWALL’s feud with Noel Gallagher started at the Brits five years ago.

Following Little Mix’s win for British Group, he said they were “not in the same league as Oasis.”

And she made her feelings towards him clear when Noel was accepting his Songwriter Of The Year gong at this year’s awards – by swiftly exiting the room.

She chose that exact moment to head backstage as she prepared to present the International Artist of the Year award to Rosalia.

Back in 2021, Jade hit back at Noel’s comments and said: “We are the most successful girl group in the country – but he’s not even the most successful performer in his family.”

Something tells me she isn’t praying for another Oasis tour.

JOEL: NOT GRIM UP NORTH

WOLF ALICE drummer Joel Amey told me he’s pleased the Brits came to Manchester.

The North West city will host the ceremony for the next two years and, speaking backstage, and despite being a Londoner, Joel think it is a great move.

He said: “Not everything being in London is a good thing. Manchester has an incredible band culture, it has an incredible heart – it’s nice not to be in the same place all the time.

“As Londoners, we get so much there and people get a jaded – we need more of this feeling around the country. The Mercury Awards were in Newcastle and everyone got behind it, we need more of it.”

Of next year’s ceremony, Joel has a suggestion for the Global Icon award.

He added: “I would love to see Andre 3000 get it. I love him, everything Outkast has done is amazing and he has been doing this for ever.

“He was ahead of his time and we can see how influential he is now.”

STYLES HAS SPA QUALITY

HARRY STYLES kept things gentle at the Brits, having first kicked off the day at a top health spa in nearby Warrington.

The Aperture singer was seen getting a sweat on at the Park Royal Hotel, where one guest told me: “It was about 10.30am and Harry walked into the gym and started working out.

“I had to do a double take and other people clocked him, but no one bothered him. It was all very low key, you would never have known he is one of the biggest stars on the planet. It felt so surreal.”

Harry was very much man of the night at the Co-op Live Arena, but after his incredible opening performance, he didn’t go wild.

Despite having a table, Harry never left his backstage area and once the show had ended, he headed to Sony’s after-party for a quick 30-minute appearance.

A source said: “Harry was keen to be seen supporting Sony and the Brits but also is aware his tour kicks off on Friday at the Co-op Live Arena back in Manchester.

“It was a very low-key weekend for him, he left the party after half an hour.”

One person who was happy to let her hair down after performing though was Dua Lipa.

She hot-footed it to Warner Music’s official after-party alongside her family, who were taken to Manchester by her record label on the cool British Pullman Train, specially hired by the label for the weekend.

Dua made a beeline for the dancefloor with a gaggle of about ten pals before taking some time out for a cheeky ciggie in the smoking area.

Keen not to let her night end there, the Houdini singer was whisked across town to attend Sony’s after-party.

There she hung out with Mark Ronson and drank picantes until the early hours.

Mark so dashing

MARK RONSON delivered one of the most memorable sets of the night.

He played a medley of his hits and was joined on stage by Dua Lipa, and US rapper Ghostface Killah.

But the producer made a mad dash to the Manchester airport in the early hours and only just made his flight home to New York.

Following his Outstanding Contribution To Music win and stellar performance, he celebrated at Sony Music’s party at Soho House and took to the decks until 2am.

But he was forced to make a desperate plea for help after his hour-long DJ slot ended and no one had turned up to take over.

Mark, who was supported by Dua on the dancefloor, told the crowd: “I’m having a lot of fun but I have to catch a flight in two hours so can the other DJ please report to the booth.”

I’m told he made it to the airport by the skin of his teeth, and arrived safely back in the chilly Big Apple.

It’s a good thing he’s used to exceptionally late nights.

AFTER picking up two awards, Sam Fender was in the mood to party – but he shunned the posh dos for a backstage booze-up.

“Sam and his mates loaded up on cans of lager and stayed in the Co-op Arena,” one of my backstage moles explained.

“The stage was being dismantled and all the parties were open but Sam decided to hang around. He was on a massive high and was singing and laughing with his mates as they went to the artists’ green room to crack open some tinnies.”

Never change, Sam.

It starts with the exclamation point, right there in the title. “The Bride!” is a wild, willfully over-the-top double-barreled reinvigoration of 1935’s “Bride of Frankenstein” that is always doing something a little extra in telling its unpredictable story of identity and the reclamation of the self.

“I probably can’t definitively explain it,” says writer-director Maggie Gyllenhaal about that punctuation. “I think I first just put it there and wondered when someone was going to tell me to take it away. And nobody ever did.”

Set in a dreamscape 1930s — imagine a steampunk-meets-art-deco version of “Bonnie and Clyde” — the film features a title performance by Jessie Buckley in three roles, sometimes in conversation with each other. First, there’s Ida, a Chicago party girl who is killed when she becomes an inconvenience to powerful men. Then there’s “Frankenstein” author Mary Shelley, taking possession of another person’s body and voice.

Finally, there’s the Bride herself, the rebellious, reanimated corpse of Ida brought back to life as a companion to a creature here known as Frank (Christian Bale). The duo sets off on a lovers-on-the-run-style crime spree that captures national attention.

On a February Los Angeles morning, Gyllenhaal moves briskly across the lobby of a low-key-chic hotel, barely breaking stride to ask that, instead of a discreet celeb-friendly indoor corner table, perhaps our interview could take place on an outdoor patio. She would like to take in a bit more California sunshine before returning home to wintry Brooklyn.

Dressed in a baggy suit that is both sharp and casual, Gyllenhaal doesn’t come across as particularly fussy but, rather, as someone certain of what she wants, even if what she wants is to explore the messiness of uncertainty, pushing the edges for herself and her collaborators.

Jessie Buckley in the movie “The Bride!”

(Warner Bros. Pictures)

Take, for example, that exclamation point. What might at first seem a bit of preciousness, and which even Gyllenhaal initially makes seem a bit of a throwaway, reveals itself to have a much deeper meaning.

“It wasn’t that it was careless,” Gyllenhaal says with a calm focus. “If you are Ida or Mary Shelley or many women in the world and you’ve been sort of tamped down and silenced and not able to express everything it is that you wanted or needed to express, it’s like if you’ve had your hand on a geyser. When the geyser finally breaks, it’s going to break with a whole lot of extra energy. And maybe that’s where the exclamation point comes from.”

“The Bride!” is the second feature film as writer and director for Gyllenhaal, 48, following 2021’s “The Lost Daughter.” That movie, a bracing examination of the psychological toll of motherhood, would go on to wide acclaim and awards recognition, including Oscar nominations for actors Buckley and Olivia Colman, as well as for Gyllenhaal’s screenplay (an adaptation of the 2006 novel by Elena Ferrante). Prior to that, Gyllenhaal had been known for emotionally fearless performances in films such as “Secretary,” “The Dark Knight” and “Crazy Heart,” for which she received a supporting actress Oscar nomination.

Deciding how to follow up “The Lost Daughter” wasn’t easy. Gyllenhaal says she went to a party and saw someone with a tattoo on their forearm of Elsa Lancaster‘s intense gaze from “Bride of Frankenstein.” Taken with the image, Gyllenhaal checked out the movie and was surprised to discover Lancaster’s iconic character was only in it for a few minutes. After reading the original novel of “Frankenstein,” she started to wonder whether Mary Shelley had other things on her mind at the time of her debut novel.

“I just had this fantasy,” she says with a slightly conspiratorial air. “I’m not speaking for Mary Shelley, but there must have been some other, naughtier, wilder, more dangerous things that Mary Shelley wanted to say that weren’t said in ‘Frankenstein.’ What else might she have wanted to express?”

Christian Bale and Jessie Buckley in the movie “The Bride!”

(Warner Bros. Pictures)

And so Gyllenhaal set about writing, with her “Lost Daughter” star in mind for the lead, though she initially didn’t tell Buckley. One of Gyllenhaal’s biggest learning curves in directing “The Lost Daughter” was figuring out how to speak to each actor individually to get the most out of them.

“With Jessie, I just spoke to her like I speak to myself,” Gyllenhaal said. “No translation needed.”

Reached via email, the “Hamnet” star evokes a Frida Kahlo painting to convey their closeness.

“We share two beating hearts,” Buckley says. “Maggie has absolutely been instrumental to waking me up to a part of myself I needed to know — and I think vice versa. We share a similar language and curiosity.”

Moving from the intimate scale of “The Lost Daughter” to the expanded scope of “The Bride!” was exciting for them both.

“I loved seeing her in a bigger sandpit,” Buckley says. “From ‘The Lost Daughter’ it was clear that Maggie had something to say as an artist. But where do we grow? What’s the scarier place? What are the questions we might whisper to ourselves? And what happens if we put those whispers into the ether?”

Gyllenhaal’s new film is unafraid to risk being too much. One extravagant party turns into a musical sequence that finds Bale’s creature singing and dancing to “Puttin’ on the Ritz” — a wink to a whole other self-aware frame of reference and Mel Brooks’ satirical 1974 “Young Frankenstein.”

“Sometimes it was too much too much — that’s the line I was trying to walk,” Gyllenhaal says. “I think so many women are told that we’re too much, over and over again, from the moment we get here. And so I’m used to that.

“But I think that scene is sort of about that. It’s about a kind of explosion of life and humanity. So much of the movie is about these people who cannot fit into their box. This is where they celebrate their bigness, their too-muchness, their monstrousness. That’s the monster mash: ‘I am who I am.’”

“Sometimes it was too much too much — that’s the line I was trying to walk,” Gyllenhaal says. “I think so many women are told that we’re too much, over and over again, from the moment we get here. And so I’m used to that.”

(David Urbanke / For The Times)

Making a purposefully idiosyncratic retelling of a classic tale came with its own challenges. “The Bride!” was originally scheduled to be released by Warner Bros. last fall, on the date that would eventually go to “One Battle After Another.” When a rescheduled March 2026 opening was announced, there were reports — “Beware ‘reports,’ ” Gyllenhaal tells me, wryly — of behind-the-scenes clashes between the director and the studio.

Gyllenhaal doesn’t deny that, to find the final version of the movie, she worked closely with Pam Abdy, who, along with Mike De Luca, is co-chair and co-chief executive of Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group. This time the stakes were higher, the filmmaker says, and being left to her own devices, as she had been on “The Lost Daughter,” wasn’t always the best solution.

“If I make a big, hot roller coaster of a movie and remain totally honest in what I’m trying to explore and think about inside it, will people respond? That was my question,” she says. “And then I cut it in a way that was entirely my expression. And I have to say in particular, Pam, who was my point person on this and also has become a friend, she really took me to task on that and said, ‘You want many people to respond and understand this. You have to clarify here and here.’ ”

Though Gyllenhaal admits there were moments of “friction” and that Abdy “has a slightly different agenda than I do,” she now sees the merit in the process. “Something really alive was born, and I think the movie is better for the work that she and I did together,” Gyllenhaal says. “I know that’s an unusual thing to say. I know that you have lots of people saying like, ‘Ah, the studio f— my movie up.’ That is not my experience. It’s really not.”

In a phone interview, Abdy says, “Listen, she tasks me with challenging her, and I task her with challenging us. We’re all in the service of making the best movie we can possibly make for the audience. And we, privately, all of us — studios, directors, filmmakers — we go through a process. It’s unfortunate that certain people choose to assume they know what’s happening in those rooms. But they don’t.”

Abdy describes their collaboration as a healthy and normal one. “You test the movie, you get information, you make adjustments,” she says. “And we needed the time and space to do that.”

Maggie Gyllenhaal, right, on set with Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale while making “The Bride!”

(Warner Bros. Pictures)

The courage Gyllenhaal once exhibited as a performer now seems to be serving her as a filmmaker. The last feature Gyllenhaal appeared in as an actor was 2018’s “The Kindergarten Teacher,” playing an overzealous mentor to a young poetry prodigy. She also appeared in three seasons of the HBO series “The Deuce” from 2017 to 2019, in which she played an adult film performer struggling to move behind the camera into directing.

As to whether she will return to acting, Gyllenhaal says, “I don’t know. I really prefer directing. This is a better job for me.”

Better how? “I felt as an actress, to be honest, like I always would hit up against a wall of how much I was able to participate or express,” she says. “And I thought for a long time, OK, this is the gig, and what I have to do is learn how to protect self-expression, even if that means I just need a tiny bit of space around me where I have the real estate to do what I need to do as an actress.

“And then when I moved into writing and directing, I didn’t have to play that game anymore,” she says. “And also I could create an environment where nobody had to play that game. Anyone could explore and express the things that were interesting to them. It was ultimately up to me to decide if I wanted to use them or not. So why not let people explore and surprise me?”

Gyllenhaal’s “The Bride!” may catch the same current wave of pop-inflected Gothic-style romances as Emerald Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” and Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein.” A catchphrase that emerges in the film is “brain attack,” the Bride becoming a folk hero to women around the country who emulate her distinctive look: Jean Harlow by way of Courtney Love with an inky smear of makeup across the face.

There is something intuitively catchy about brain attack, even if it’s also a little bewildering.

Gyllenhaal remembers an “aspect of terror” about stepping into a bigger studio release. “So do most things that require that you really grow and learn in order to do them. But I’m interested in terror and so I guess I was playing around with the idea of heart attack, panic attack. And I think in order to really do that, some brain attacks are required.”

Gyllenhaal tells me how a few days earlier she had been wearing a hat with the phrase on it while reading by the hotel pool and three 20-something women, maybe a little day drunk, began asking her about it. Two of them seemed puzzled by the phrase, struggling to parse out its meaning, while the third instinctively got it. She just knew. So Gyllenhaal gave her the hat.

“I guess ‘brain attack’ is a phrase you might have to feel,” Gyllenhaal offers, her mouth widening into a smile.

So too, perhaps, with Gyllenhaal’s telling of “The Bride!” with its visions of reckless abandon and personal reclamation — exclamation point and all. It will become a movie waiting for those who need it.

THE Apprentice star Luisa Zissman was forced to improvise to keep her kids entertained as they took shelter during missile strikes on their adopted home in Dubai.

The podcaster, 38, is one of many celebrities who relocated to UAE and was caught up in the terrifying Iranian missile strikes in Dubai this weekend.

Luisa spoke of how the family had planned to head out to the park when the Iranian missiles started hitting Dubai, so they retreated to the basement to stay safe.

She and two of her daughters, Indigo Esme, nine and Clementine, seven, moved earlier this year to join her millionaire husband Andrew Collins.

Her eldest daughter Dixie, 15, with ex-husband Olivier Zissman, is staying in the UK to finish her schooling.

Luisa described the situation in Dubai as “surreal and scary” and showed how she was keeping her kids distracted, including doing baking and watching.

Ziss-ling

The Apprentice star Luisa Zissman shows off figure in bikini as she quits UK

DU-BYE

The Apprentice’s Luisa Zissman reveals she’s quitting ‘unsafe’ UK for Dubai

 “Home baked bread rolls. Keeping the kids entertained and indoors,” she captioned a post on Instagram.

“We got itchy feet and went to take them to the park and literally as we went to step foot out the door we heard two massive explosions that shook the house, we retreated and then heard another two. So now movie time in the basement.”

Luisa concluded: “So surreal and scary. I do faith that UAE defence will keep us all safe.”

She also showed fans how she had set up her basement to take shelter, including setting up some sleeping space for friends who were going to stay with them.

“We’ve decided to try and carry on as normal for the moment,” she explained, then showed how she’d stocked up the basement mini fridge with bottles of water though she was, “sure it won’t come to that.”

“Nothing major has happened, everything is relatively fine… when you’re here, it’s not so bad.”

Before retreating to the basement and as the missile strikes began, Luisa had thanked her fans for their concern.

“Lots of messages re Dubai,” she penned on her Instagram stories, alongside a selfie.

She added: “Lots of bangs we are hearing. Stay safe fellow UAE gang.”

Iran launched a barrage of rockets at nations across the Middle East after vowing revenge for the US and Israel’s huge blitz on the regime.

As the United Arab Emirate’s top holiday hot spot, Dubai has become a sought after travel destination for celebrities and influencers.

In more recent times, stars from the United Kingdom have been emigrating there, with many Brit celebs choosing Dubai as the place they want to bring up their families and base their careers.

Famous holidaymakers such as Vicky Pattison and Laura Anderson are currently stuck in Dubai amid the missile strikes.

Vicky was connecting through the city on her way to Australia with her husband Ercan.

But taking to Instagram on Saturday evening, she wrote: “Ercan and I were due to fly to Sydney this evening.

“But like many others, our flight has been cancelled and we are now effectively stuck in Dubai.”

When the Screen Actors Guild gathers to present its annual awards for the 32nd time on Sunday at 5 p.m. at the Shrine Auditorium in L.A., the event will have a new name: the Actor Awards presented by SAG-AFTRA. The new moniker aligns with the name of the statuette that’s been presented to winners since 1995 (but a lot of folks are still referring to them as the SAG Awards). The show will stream live on Netflix, with Kristen Bell hosting for the third time, after previous gigs in 2018 and 2025.

In the film categories, just two weeks before the Academy Awards, the top contenders are “One Battle After Another” and “Sinners.” Paul Thomas Anderson’s political thriller led all films with seven nominations, including cast in a motion picture and individual recognition for actors Leonardo DiCaprio, Chase Infiniti, Teyana Taylor, Benicio del Toro and Sean Penn.

“One Battle’s” toughest competition will likely be Ryan Coogler’s Southern vampire horror-musical, “Sinners,” which earned five nominations. Michael B. Jordan, Wunmi Mosaku and Miles Caton each earned individual nominations, as well as nods for the film’s cast and stunt ensembles.

Timothée Chalamet, nominated for male actor in a leading role for “Marty Supreme,” could be the first performer to win in consecutive years after taking home the Actor last year for his portrayal of Bob Dylan in “A Complete Unknown.” “Marty Supreme” has three nominations overall, including Odessa A’zion for female actor in a supporting role and performance by a cast in a motion picture.

In television, Apple TV’s “The Studio” scored the most nominations, with five, including one for performance by an ensemble in a comedy series. The show’s individual nominees are Seth Rogen, Kathryn Hahn, Ike Barinholtz and the late Catherine O’Hara.

HBO’s “The White Lotus” and Netflix’s “Adolescence” followed with four nominations each. The latter’s nominees include 16-year-old Owen Cooper, who would be the youngest performer to win an individual Actor Award. Currently, the youngest winner is Kate Winslet, who was 20 when she won for female actor in a supporting role for “Sense and Sensibility” in 1996.

Harrison Ford will be presented the SAG-AFTRA Life Achievement Award during the telecast. Recent honorees include Jane Fonda, Barbra Streisand and Sally Field.

Follow along as we update the list live throughout the evening. Nearly everyone in attendance will go home with an actor, but who will take home an Actor statuette?

Performance by a cast in a motion picture

“Frankenstein”
“Hamnet”
“Marty Supreme”
“One Battle After Another”
“Sinners”

Performance by a female actor in a leading role

Jessie Buckley, “Hamnet”
Rose Byrne, “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You”
Kate Hudson, “Song Sung Blue”
Chase Infiniti, “One Battle After Another”
Emma Stone, “Bugonia”

Performance by a male actor in a leading role

Timothée Chalamet, “Marty Supreme”
Leonardo DiCaprio, “One Battle After Another”
Ethan Hawke, “Blue Moon”
Michael B. Jordan, “Sinners”
Jesse Plemons, “Bugonia”

Performance by a female actor in a supporting role

Odessa A’Zion, “Marty Supreme”
Ariana Grande, “Wicked: For Good”
Amy Madigan, “Weapons”
Wunmi Mosaku, “Sinners”
Teyana Taylor, “One Battle After Another”

Performance by a male actor in a supporting role

Miles Caton, “Sinners”
Benicio del Toro, “One Battle After Another”
Jacob Elordi, “Frankenstein”
Paul Mescal, “Hamnet”
Sean Penn, “One Battle After Another”

Performance by an ensemble in a comedy series

“Abbott Elementary”
“The Bear”
“Hacks”
“Only Murders in the Building”
“The Studio”

Performance by a female actor in a comedy series

Kathryn Hahn, “The Studio”
Catherine O’Hara, “The Studio”
Jenna Ortega, “Wednesday”
Jean Smart, “Hacks”
Kristen Wiig, “Palm Royale”

Performance by a male actor in a comedy series

Ike Barinholtz, “The Studio”
Adam Brody, “Nobody Wants This”
Ted Danson, “A Man on the Inside”
Seth Rogen, “The Studio”
Martin Short, “Only Murders in the Building”

Performance by an ensemble in a drama series

“The Diplomat”
“Landman”
“The Pitt”
“Severance”
“The White Lotus”

Performance by a female actor in a drama series

Britt Lower, “Severance”
Parker Posey, “The White Lotus”
Keri Russell, “The Diplomat”
Rhea Seehorn, “Pluribus”
Aimee Lou Wood, “The White Lotus”

Performance by a male actor in a drama series

Sterling K. Brown, “Paradise”
Billy Crudup, “The Morning Show”
Walton Goggins, “The White Lotus”
Gary Oldman, “Slow Horses”
Noah Wyle, “The Pitt”

Performance by a female actor in a television movie or limited series

Claire Danes, “The Beast in Me”
Erin Doherty, “Adolescence”
Sarah Snook, “All Her Fault”
Christine Tremarco, “Adolescence”
Michelle Williams, “Dying for Sex”

Performance by a male actor in a television movie or limited series

Jason Bateman, “Black Rabbit”
Owen Cooper, “Adolescence”
Stephen Graham, “Adolescence”
Charlie Hunnam, “Monster: The Ed Gein Story”
Matthew Rhys, “The Beast in Me”

Action performance by a stunt ensemble in a motion picture

“F1”
“Frankenstein”
“Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning”
“One Battle After Another”
“Sinners”

Action performance by a stunt ensemble in a television series

“Andor”
“Landman”
“The Last of Us”
“Squid Game”
“Stranger Things”

CHARLOTTE Crosby has revealed that her one-year-old baby daughter has taken her first steps in a very sweet update.

The Geordie Shore legend, 35, took to Instagram to share the adorable news with her fans.

Charlotte posted some cute clips and captioned them: “Had some little milestones while out here. Alba officially ditched her night nappies. 5 nights and counting no nappy no accidents.

“And Pixi took her first steps! I really truly think next week we are gonna have an official little walker!

“She’s so tiny it looks so strange her taking steps. She’s definitely earlier than Alba my clever little munchkin.

“Feeling all the emotions watching them take these next steps.

EMOTIONAL MOMENT

Sharon Osbourne pays touching tribute to late husband Ozzy at Brit Awards

NEW HOME

Maya Jama confirms she’s moved to Manchester with Ruben Dias as she wows at BRITs

“My girls, my two little best friends.”

In a later snaps, a giggling Pixi looked adorable as Charlotte captioned them: “We caught this one step on camera last night but she did about 4 at once yesterday.”

A gorgeous snap of Alba followed with her dancing adoringly for the camera, as her proud mum captioned the clip: “I just can’t with her,” alongside a string of loving emojis.

The TV personality laid bare her life last year in the Paramount+ show, Geordie Stories: Charlotte Mam of Two.

However, Speaking exclusively to The Sun, Charlotte said: “You heard it here first. I won’t be continuing doing that one, not that exact show.

“Whether or not I have another show about my life or following my wedding, that will happen at some point when I do decide to get married, but right now that show with Paramount is parked up.”

The series showed Charlotte’s busier than ever lifestyle with a months-old baby and a toddler.

It also followed Charlotte’s romance with Jake Anker, and the ups and downs of their relationship.

The pair previously opened up to The Sun that the couple struggled financially after having their second child. 

A young Charlotte. first appeared on our screens back in 2011 as a wild 21-year-old living it up in the Geordie Shore house.

The show was a British spin-off of the American series Jersey Shore, and was set in Newcastle.

Bubbly Charlotte also made appearances on Celebrity Big Brother, Celebs Go Dating and Tattoo Disasters UK.

However, she is desperate to pull on a murderous cloak for BBC‘s The Traitors and is a massive fan of the show.

But when her agent tried to get her on series two he was told reality stars are ‘banned’.

In an exclusive interview with The Sun, Charlotte said: “I would love to do that but you do know they’ve got a no reality rule. That is a genuine fact.”

Charlotte shares her two daughters with fiancé Jake, who she got engaged to in November 2023.

Jake runs the Streamline Executive chauffeur company, with clients including David Beckham. 

The couple are very proud parents to Alba, born in 2022, and Pixi, born in 2025.

A highly anticipated new Western drama in the hit Yellowstone franchise is about to start on Paramount+

Yellowstone’s new spin-off that puts Kayce Dutton (played by Luke Grimes) at the forefront is finally here, and it’s a must-watch for fans of the gripping Western drama.

Airing today (Sunday, 1st March) on CBS in the US and later available on Paramount+, Marshals: A Yellowstone Story follows the rancher and former Navy SEAL as he enlists with an elite squad of US Marshals to deliver justice across Montana.

As he wages war against violence and learns to adapt to working with a team, he must also strive to become the best father possible to his teenage son, Tate (Brecken Merrill).

The latest of several spin-offs from the popular neo-Western saga created by Taylor Sheridan, Marshals promises action-packed cases and gripping drama each week that is sure to keep viewers satisfied.

Although reviews have been mixed so far, garnering a 50 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, critics agree the show has huge potential and is bound to keep die-hard fans enthralled.

Collider has praised Grimes’ central performance as Kayce, writing that he comes into his own as the Yellowstone franchise’s newest lead.

“Grimes carries the series with ease,” they went on, “graduating from being a supporting cast member roaming alongside Kevin Costner’s shadow to the leading man of his own cowboy-flavoured crime drama.”

Their review also assured fans that the shift to CBS hasn’t sanitised the gritty Yellowstone brand too much, adding: “Marshals is a neo-Western that is chock-full of potential.

“It’s action-packed, thrilling, and full of everything you could ask for in a Kayce Dutton-led series that fights hard to divorce itself from the “Y” that still lingers in the background. It’s not perfect, nor does it claim to be, but once it gets through the initial growing pains, it will be able to stand firmly on its own.”

Men’s Journal described the series as “kick-a**”, promising it still has the “Yellowstone magic”.

The review went on: “Marshals may not be as twisty or unpredictable as 1923 or the recent season of Landman, but it has that same sparkle and magic of the other Sheridan westerns.

“It’s the sort of show that doesn’t ask much to get invested, and rewards you with the simple pleasure of feeling good after you’ve watched an episode. In a world of morally grey anti-heroes, Kayce Dutton is here to be the perennial good guy on horseback. And frankly, it’s good to have him back.”

TVLine was also impressed with the Yellowstone universe’s latest offering, urging potential viewers not to be put off by Marshals’ broadcast on CBS, home to crime procedurals such as NCIS and FBI.

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“Marshals actually manages to serve both of its masters quite well,” they wrote.

“With its swelling score, sweeping cinematography, and gorgeous opening credits sequence (a dying art!), you’ll often find yourself wondering, ‘Wait, am I really watching a network procedural right now?’

“Marshals fires on all cylinders, sending the team on explosive missions that guarantee your Sunday nights will end with a bang.”

They concluded: “A visual treat with genuine heart, Marshals is enough of a crime procedural to appeal to viewers who enjoy a complete story told in 60 minutes, while also remaining prestigious enough to satisfy Yellowstone fans who might not typically watch a show like, say, S.W.A.T. or NCIS.”

Marshals: A Yellowstone Story premieres Sunday, 1st March on CBS and the following Monday on Paramount+.

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The lovely, funny “American Classic,” premiering Sunday on MGM+, is a love letter to theater, community and community theater. Kevin Kline plays Richard Bean, a narcissistic stage actor. He’s famous enough to be opening on Broadway in “King Lear,” but he has to be pushed onstage and is forgetting lines. After he drunkenly assails a hostile New York Times critic — caught on video, of course — he’s suspended from the play, and his agent (Tony Shalhoub) advises him to get out of town and lay low until the heat’s off, as they used to say in the gangster movies.

Learning that his mother (Jane Alexander, acting royalty, in film clips) has died, Richard heads back to his small Pennsylvania hometown, where his family — all actors, like the Barrymores, but no longer acting — owns a once-celebrated theater. To Richard’s horror, it has, for want of income, become a dinner theater, hosting touring productions of “Nunsense” and “Forever Plaid” instead of the great stage works on which he cut his teeth.

Brother Jon (Jon Tenney), running the kitchen at the theater, is married to Kristen (Laura Linney), Richard’s onetime acting partner, who dated him before her marriage; now she’s the mayor. Their teenage daughter, Miranda (Nell Verlaque) — a name from Shakespeare — does want to act and move to New York, as her mother had before her, but is afraid to tell her parents. Richard’s father, Linus (Len Cariou), is suffering from dementia, though not to the point he won’t actively contribute to the action; every day he comes out again as gay.

Across the eight-episode series, things move from the ridiculous to the sublime. Richard’s attempt to stage his mother’s funeral, with her coffin being lowered from the ceiling, while “Also sprach Zarathustra” plays and smoke billows toward the audience, fortunately comes to naught; but he announces at the ceremony that he’ll direct a production of Thornton Wilder’s 1938 play “Our Town” at the theater, to “restore the soul of this town.” (His big idea is to ignore Wilder’s stage directions, which ask for no curtain, no set and few props, with a “realistic version,” featuring a working soda fountain, rain effects and a horse.) Fate will have other plans for this, and not to give away what in any case should be obvious, the title of the play will also become its ethos, with a cast of amateurs, including Miranda’s jealous boyfriend, Randall (Ajay Friese), and ordinary people standing in for the ordinary people of Wilder’s Grover’s Corners.

The series has a comfortable, cushiony feeling; it’s the sort of show that could have been made as a film in the 1990s, and in which Kline could have starred as easily in his 40s as in his 70s; it has the same relation to reality as “Dave,” in which he played a good-hearted ordinary Joe who takes the place of a lookalike U.S. president. The town is essentially a sunny place, full of mostly sunny people, to all appearances, a typical comedy hamlet. But we’re told it’s distressed, and Mayor Kristen is in transactional cahoots with developer Connor Boyle (Billy Carter), who wants clearance to build a casino on the site of a landmark hotel. (Much of the plot is driven by money — needing it, trading for it, leaving it, losing it.) He also wants his heavily accented, bombshell Russian girlfriend, Nadia (Elise Kibler), to have a part in “Our Town.”

As in the great Canadian comedy “Slings & Arrows,” set at a Shakespeare Festival outside of Toronto, themes and moments and speeches from the play being performed are echoed in the lives of the performers, while the viewer experiences the double magic of watching a fine actor playing an actor playing a part. Kline, of course, is himself an American classic, with a long stage and screen career that encompasses classical drama, romantic and musical comedy and cartoon voiceovers; the series makes room for Richard to perform soliloquies from “Hamlet” and “Henry V,” parts Klein has played onstage. He brings out the sweetness latent in Richard. Linney, who played against her sweetheart image in “Ozark,” is happily back on less deadly ground (though she’s tense and drinks a little). Tenney, who was sweet and funny on “The Closer,” and who we don’t see enough of these days, is sweeter and funnier here, and gets to sing. (All the Beans will sing, except for Linus.)

As a comedy, it is often predicable — you know that things will work out, and some major plot points are as good as inevitable — but it’s the good sort of predictability, where you get what you came for, where you hear the words you want to hear, ones you could never have written yourself. “American Classic” is not out to challenge your world view in any way but wants only to confirm your feelings and in doing so amplify them. Shock effects are fine in their place — and to be sure there are major twists in the plot — but there is a certain release when the thing you’re ready to have happen, happens, whether it brings laughter or tears. Either is welcome.

Tim Lovejoy made a return to Channel 4 alongside co-host Simon Rimmer on Sunday morning

Sunday Brunch suffered an awkward moment as Tim Lovejoy was quick to question a guest on her unexpected “feud” with David Attenborough.

During Sunday’s (March 1) episode of the Channel 4 hit show, Tim made a return to TV alongside co-host Simon Rimmer, for the usual three-hour show packed with celebrity interviews, culinary demonstrations and light-hearted entertainment.

On the long-running programme, the pair chatted to the likes of EastEnders Samantha Womack and American pop star Tiffany Renee Darwish.

However it was their interview with Dame Maggie Aderin-Pocock that took everyone by surprise as Tim was quick to call out the science expert on her unexpected fall out with David Attenborough.

Without hesitation, Tim went on to say: “I’ll just put it out there, we understand you’ve got beef with David Attenborough. You fell out with him.”

Maggie burst out laughing as she replied: “Yeah, It’s an ongoing feud, he’s going down.”

Tim wasted no time digging for information as he jumped in: “Tell us about that because you’re both legends of this country and you don’t like each other.” Simon: “It’s so sad actually.”

Maggie explained: “So I was sitting next to him at dinner and I was gobsmacked sitting next to him and he was lovely and wonderful and we started talking about each other’s lives.”

Tim joked: “When did you fall out, was it the main course?” Maggie burst out laughing as she continued: “We were talking about life beyond the earth. It’s just sort of a lovely topic and he was like, no, no Maggie, you know, life needs water.

“And I was like ‘but David no’. I was thinking because that’s life as we know it. All life on earth needs water. But out there there could be life.”

She added: “So we had this ongoing debate, at the end, I said, ‘okay, David, I’m gonna go out and prove my theory’. He said, ‘Maggie, you’re a star. Stay here with us’.”

Viewers watching at home were pleased to see Dame Maggie as they rushed to social media to share their reaction.

One viewer wrote on X: “I could listen to Dame Dr. Maggie all day. She’s got that infectious enthusiasm that always reels me in. #SundayBrunch.” Meanwhile another added: “I love Maggie she’s so humble and nice #SundayBrunch.”

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LOVE Island beauty Ella Barnes has revealed she was evacuated from Dubai airport amid Iran missile strikes.

The influencer, 25, who starred on the ITV show in 2023, took to Instagram to explain her flight had been cancelled.

Ella posted an image of the empty airport to her social media account and captioned it: “Got evacuated out of Dubai airport and my flight home cancelled.

“Guess, I’ll be staying here a little longer.”

A scared Ella, later posted snaps of missiles in the air and wrote: “Missiles in the sky.

“No this is so scary. Listen to how loud the explosion is at the end. WTF.”

thaw-blimey

Love Island’s Ella Barnes strips off to lace lingerie in the snow

glam girl

Love Island’s Ella Barnes leaves nothing to the imagination in see-through dress

However, earlier today, Ella posted a snap of her driving along a deserted highway and wrote: “We are out of here. Thanks for all the messages. Had so many”

Ella found fame in Love Island 2023, and stole Sheffield lad Mitch Taylor, 28, from his partner Abi Moores, 25, after entering the matchmaking series as a bombshell.

Ella and Love Island alum Mitch announced their split at the end of August 2023, with two separate statements on social media.

Since then, Ella has seen her screen career go from strength to strength.

She bagged a role on TOWIE as the love interest of Roman Hackett prior to their split.

She then became loved-up with her wealthy entrepreneur man Neil Farrugia after the pair made their relationship official  in 2024.

But, she split from the hunk last year as the pair struggled to find time to see each other after a year of dating.

Ella is based in Kent in the UK, while fitness fanatic Neil who previously dated fellow Love Islander Gemma Owen, lives in Malta.

On Saturday, black smoke was seen billowing across the skyline in Dubai after debris from Iran’s missile blitz across the city.

Iran launched a barrage of rockets at nations across the Middle East after vowing revenge for Trump and Israel’s huge blitz on the rogue nation today.

The United Arab Emirate’s top holiday hot spot Dubai is usually a sought after travel destination for celebrities and influencers.

In more recent-times, celebrities from the United Kingdom have been emigrating there, with many Brit celebs choosing Dubai as the place they want to bring up their families.

Sam Gowland from Geordie Shore shared how a “rocket” flew over his home.

“Right above us on the Palm in Dubai today, bloody scary, I tell you that. Never heard a noise like it before,” he penned.

He then later shared a photo of a rocket near his home, writing: “Rocket above my house wtf this is crazy.”

Love Island star Arabella Chi, who relocated from the UK to Dubai with her partner, Billy Henty, and their daughter, Gigi, in 2025, has also shared posts about the scary time she is enduring.

“Dubai friends. Scary times. Stay safe,” she penned on her Instagram stories.

Just hours before the missile strikes, Arabella and her partner were playing with their daughter in the sand.

Paul Thomas Anderson’s darkly comedic action-thriller “One Battle After Another” won the top prize at the Producers Guild Awards on Saturday, continuing its dominating run through awards season.

The PGA honor, presented at a ceremony in Beverly Hills, cements Anderson’s celebrated film as the front-runner for the best picture Oscar. Since 2009, when both the Producers Guild and the motion picture academy expanded their best picture nominee slates from five to 10 and adopted a preferential ballot, the PGA winner has gone on to win best picture all but three times.

The last time the groups diverged came six years ago when PGA winner “1917” lost the Oscar to Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite,” a film that surged in momentum in the weeks leading up to the 2020 Oscars.

No other movie this season has shown that kind of strength other than Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners,” which scored a record-breaking 16 Oscar nominations in January. However, “One Battle” has prevailed at the major ceremonies since then, winning best picture at the British Academy Film Awards last week and Anderson taking the top honor with the Directors Guild earlier this month.

“Sinners” has one more chance to reverse the tide. It will compete against “One Battle After Another” for the cast award at the Actor Awards on Sunday. That ensemble honor, the most prestigious prize handed out by SAG-AFTRA voters, isn’t as strong a precursor as the PGA’s best film. But “Parasite” did win it right before the 2020 Oscars.

Hope springs eternal. Oscar voting ends on Thursday.

Read the full list of 2026 Producers Guild Award winners below.

Darryl F. Zanuck Award (outstanding theatrical motion picture): “One Battle After Another”

Outstanding animated theatrical motion picture: “KPop Demon Hunters”

Norman Felton Award (outstanding episodic television — drama): “The Pitt”

Danny Thomas Award (outstanding episodic television — comedy): “The Studio”

David L. Wolper Award (outstanding limited or anthology series): “Adolescence”

Outstanding televised or streamed motion picture: “John Candy: I Like Me”

Outstanding nonfiction television: “Pee-wee as Himself”

Outstanding live entertainment, variety, sketch, standup and talk series: “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert”

Outstanding game and competition television: “The Traitors”

Outstanding documentary film: “My Mom Jayne”

Outstanding children’s program: “Sesame Street”

Outstanding sports program: “Formula 1: Drive to Survive”

Outstanding short form program: ” Adolescence: The Making of Adolescence”

PGA Innovation Award: “The Wizard of Oz at Sphere”

David O. Selznick Award: Amy Pascal

Milestone Award: Jason Blum

Norman Lear Award: Mara Brock Akil

In a rare case of “Saturday Night Live” bringing on a guest host at the exact right moment, Connor Storrie of the hit Canadian hockey romance “Heated Rivalry” brought sexy charisma to the show, even if a lot of the sketch material didn’t rise to occasion.

“SNL” parodied the show last month by mixing it with “Harry Potter,” but with Storrie, and all the attention hockey got with Team USA’s gold medal wins at the Winter Olympics, this hosting appearance felt especially well-planned. And that was even before members of the men’s and women’s teams dropped by, as did Storrie’s co-star on “Heated Rivalry” Hudson Williams, who showed up to a raucous audience reaction for a sketch, showing that a lot of people have caught up with the series since it debuted on HBO Max in November.

As for Storrie’s performance, it was perhaps the best thing on the show, which had a lot of weak sketches, from a fairly obvious cold open to an early piece that seemed like an excuse for Marcello Hernández to play a goofy teacher with an exaggerated accent.

Things got a little better with a pre-taped period piece about gentlemen giving glove slaps and Williams’ appearance in a sketch about a man’s marriage proposal going sideways because he keeps getting distracted by a group of happy men ice skating at Rockefeller Center. Storrie also played a cool teen trying to extend kindness to his extremely dorky tutor (Ben Marshall) and his equally dorky parents (Ashley Padilla and James Austin Johnson), a man who helped his friend out with his absurd leg-lengthening surgery, and an office worker who proposes a romantic office dance. Best of the night for Storrie, perhaps, was one in which he played a very injured stripper at a Las Vegas bachelorette party.

What was clear was that across a pretty broad range of character types, Storrie held his own and brought some smoldering looks and playfulness that the show, for the most part, didn’t know what to do with.

Musical guests Mumford & Sons, along with Aaron Dessner from the National, performed “Rubber Band Man” with Hozier and “Here” with Sierra Ferrell.

This week’s cold open tackled the very recent attack on Iran with President Trump (Johnson) addressing why he acted at 2 a.m. on a Saturday: “It’s after the stock market closes for the weekend and it’s to cause immeasurable fear, rage and chaos in the ‘SNL’ writers’ room,” he explained. Trump sang, “War! What is it good for? Distracting from the Epstein Files!” before introducing Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (Colin Jost), who chugged a non-alcoholic Four Loco and showed off his knuckle tattoos for “EPIC FURY.” After a brief aside for Trump and Hegseth to complement the underappreciated Nintendo GameCube console (on which Hegseth said he played the game “Prince of Persia: Sands of Time”), Hegseth said, “We took out a horrendous, horrible leader who was opposing his own people.” Trump cut in: “But don’t get any ideas!”

In his monologue, Storrie joked about the cultural appeal of “Heated Rivalry,” which he said, “taught a lot of people about hockey… and taught a lot of straight women that their sexuality is actually gay guy.” Storrie discussed growing up in Texas, working as a waiter before he was cast in the series, and how little time he had to prepare to play a Russian hockey player for the show. He was then joined by Jack and Quinn Hughes of the men’s Olympic hockey team. But the reaction to the Hughes brothers was topped considerably in audience reaction by women’s team players Hilary Knight and Megan Keller, who came on stage. “It was just gonna be us, but we thought we’d invite the guys, too,” Knight said. “We thought we’d give them a little moment to shine,” Keller added.

Best sketch of the night: How dare they save the best jokes for a video sketch!

At a posh London gathering in 1892, things get out of hand (literally) when two men (Mikey Day and Storrie) engage in a war of words that escalates to cries of “How dare you!” followed by slaps with a glove. Others get involved, but it really gets out of hand when one man violates the so-called “gentleman’s code” by using a fist. Soon, a dog and a baby are involved in the increasingly silly slapping. Storrie’s comedic timing is particularly good in this one and the sketch resists the “SNL” trope of going straight to hardcore violence and bloodshed that it’s been doing in a lot of video sketches of late.

Also good: Tipping is appreciated for dancing while hurt

At this point, “SNL” has probably done 100 bachelorette party sketches, but none of them had Storrie showing off his abs or getting his tearaway pants pulled off. Apart from the eye candy for those seeking it, the sketch offered some solid physical comedy with Storrie playing a stripper who shows up at a hotel suite severely injured after getting hit by a car. He pushes on to fulfill his job duties, but can barely stand. Storrie does a nice job flailing and flopping, throwing his bloodied-up body around the stage and around the bachelorettes (Padilla, Sarah Sherman, Veronika Slowikowska and Jane Wickline), who don’t know whether to be repulsed or turned on.

‘Weekend Update’ winner: Advice to future maids of honor — avoid headlines

Unfortunately, both “Weekend Update” character segments felt underbaked this week. Sherman played another oversexualized pop-culture meme in an elaborate costume — the negligent mother of Punch, the baby monkey — hitting on Jost in hopes of getting pregnant. A little better, but still rough, was Slowikowska as Katie, the maid of honor at a wedding who makes jokes about the proceedings that play off of major news headlines, like cartel violence in Mexico, the Epstein files or the ongoing war in Ukraine. This one feels like it probably sounded really funny and smart at the table read, but it landed with a thud for the audience because the premise was so muddled.

Nigel Clarke, who is a presenter on CBeebies, said his daughter was hit in the face when somebody tried to snatch her phone on the London Underground and she retaliated

A BBC star’s daughter was hit in the face and left with a black eye after somebody attempted to steal her phone on the Tube. Nigel Clarke, who is a CBeebies presenter, said somebody tried to steal his daughter’s phone while she was on the Tube earlier this week.

He explained that his daughter managed to hold onto her phone before kicking the person who tried to steal it Nigel said his teenage daughter was then hit in the face in retaliation.

The TV star used his platform to send a message to parents, especially those in London.

He said: “Parents, Londoners, phone snatching is rife right now and four weeks ago I witnessed it on the tube and then this week someone tried to steal my daughter’s phone on the tube as well.

“She managed to hold on to her phone, she lashed out and kicked them, they hit her in the face, as you can see she’s got a black eye.

“I’ve spoken to her about this, about not retaliating… but I’ve praised her for holding her ground and holding on to her phone. Lots to unpick there but what I want to talk about is this crime on the tube.

“There’s an easy way to stop it or minimise the numbers of it happening and I want you to spread this and share it to your teens, I want adults to do it, whatever.

“It happens at stations just before the doors are about to close, just as the beep beep beep happens they snatch your phone then they run out the door, doors close and you can’t get to them.

“Don’t have your phone one out near the door and don’t have it out at the time when you’re in the station and the doors are about to close.

“If you want to get your phone out, change your song, do whatever you want to do, do it when you’re deep between the stations, when the doors are not open, it’s way less likely to happen then, okay.

“That’s the first thing we can do to combat it on the tube. I know it’s happening in the streets as well with people on bikes, that’s a whole different situation but for this one we can definitely bring the numbers down by being smart.”

Dozens of people commented under the video to send Nigel’s daughter well wishes and express their admiration for her.

One person said: “I hope your daughter is ok. I keep telling mine to keep her phone in her bag, don’t walk with it in her hand etc.”

A second said: “Hope daughter is ok strong young lady.”

A third added: “incredibly brave young lady. sending lots of love.”

BBC Breakfast’s Roger Johnson and Rachel Burden returned to our TV screens on Sunday’s (March 1) morning to deliver the day’s headlines

BBC Breakfast’s latest broadcast started with a distressing news update on the “most devastating offensive operation in history”.

During Sunday’s (March 1) episode of the BBC hit show, Roger Johnson and Rachel Burden returned to our screens as they delivered the day’s top headline stories from the UK and around the globe.

However, just moments into the live broadcast, Roger shared the news that Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been killed following US-Israeli strikes on Tehran.

Rachel also revealed: “The Red Crescent says more than 200 people have been killed in the strikes with state media reporting at least 85 deaths following one air strike on a school in Iran.

“Overnight the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned it would attack US bases and Israel in retaliation for Khamenei’s death with what it called ‘the most devastating offensive operation in history of the Islamic Republic.”

This is a breaking showbiz story and is being constantly updated. Please refresh the page regularly to get the latest news, pictures and videos. You can also get email updates on the day’s biggest stories straight to your inbox by signing up for our newsletters.

REALITY star Kylie Jenner shoulders the brunt of the promotional work for her beauty range.

The 28-year-old slipped a tube of hydrating-butter lip balm under the strap of her mini dress for a shoot.

Kylie, who is dating Oscar-nominated Dune actor Timothée Chalamet, said setting up her cosmetics firm was born of insecurity — especially about her lips.

It has also helped her amass a £540million fortune.

But Kylie appeared to dissolve her lip filler when she attended the Baftas in England.

She debuted a much more natural look at the event with her boyfriend Timothee by her side.

Read More on KYLIE JENNER

LESS LIP!

Kylie Jenner appears to dissolve her lip filler as she debuts more natural look

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Kylie Jenner squirms at the Baftas as Alan Cummings makes filthy joke about her

The reality star and her actor partner were in attendance at the Baftas which were held at London’s Royal Festival Hall.

While they did not walk the red carpet together, they were seen sitting side-by-side during the ceremony.

In the snaps, Kylie’s face appeared more natural than usual, with her lips looking thinner.

After the images from the event circulated online, one person on social media asked, “She dissolve that lip?”

“She looks like her old self,” penned a second.

A third added, “She looks sm younger.”

“Her lips actually look normal here,” penned a fourth.

“Honestly she looks so much better than she has done recently,” wrote a fifth.

Suranne Jones returns in a beloved BBC psychological drama’s third and final series, nine years after the show gripped the nation in 2017.

If you were amongst the millions of viewers who tuned into the finale of Doctor Foster’s second series back in 2017, you’d be forgiven for thinking that was the end. Yet, following an extended nine-year break, the much-loved BBC psychological drama that kept audiences gripped is returning with a thrilling third chapter.

The forthcoming five-part television series will see Suranne Jones reprising her role as Gemma Foster, alongside Bertie Carvel, who returns as Simon, and Tom Taylor portraying their son Tom. Penned by Mike Bartlett, the synopsis for the new season states: “10 years ago, on discovering her husband Simon was having an affair, Gemma Foster enacted a masterful revenge.

“But the fallout was devastating when her 15-year-old son Tom disappeared. Now, in series three, Gemma is still a GP, still in the same house, but on the brink of a fresh start: she has met someone new and is getting married. But as the wedding day draws closer, and friends and family gather, shadows from the past begin to re-emerge, threatening both her happiness and her reputation.

“As Gemma fights to protect those she loves and expose whoever’s intent on hurting her, will she be able to put the past to bed, dispense justice, and claim the future she deserves, before it is too late?”

Lindsay Salt, Director of BBC Drama, described it as “a privilege to welcome Doctor Foster back to the BBC after almost a decade away”.

She continued: “The extent to which the first two series gripped the nation is a credit to Mike’s writing, the talented team at Drama Republic and our magnificent cast – and now we’re ready do it one more time in this epic final chapter. Bring it on!”

Based on IMDb reviews, audiences of the programme have expressed their views on the opening two seasons. One viewer branded the show a “BBC winner” and a “treasure”.

They commented: “Have found myself watching the BBC less over the years, there are, though, a fair share of treasures like Doctor Foster. It is very well made visually, stylish and audaciously with a fluid way of how it’s shot.”

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Another remarked: “One of the greatest BBC shows with strong Shakespearean drama elements of personas and duplicity, betrayal, obsession, jealousy, revenge, conniving and plotting, and distrust.

“An amazing and gripping show that makes an intense and horrific portrayal of something as domestic as marriage and its complications (an understatement). Carrying strong tones of paranoia, calculated revenge, depiction of ‘natural’ misogyny, and with undertones of misanthropy, this show will give you knots and chills and keep you hooked.”

Another viewer remarked: “I don’t normally write reviews, but if you like nail-biting drama, watch this. Block out five hours of your life and get comfy. You won’t want to leave the telly!”.

A third person observed: “This program is engrossing, well-written and well-acted. It walks a fine line between being utterly disgusting and completely relatable, making me hate it and love it all at once. You definitely have to be patient to watch all the incendiary acrimony!”.

“Sinners,” the blockbuster film that has been a major contender during awards season, was the dominant winner at the 57th NAACP Image Awards.

The film scored trophies for outstanding motion picture and most of the acting awards, including breakthrough performance, awarded to Miles Caton. Michael B. Jordan, who won for actor in a motion picture, also won entertainer of the year.

Before the ceremony, Ryan Coogler won writing and directing honors, while Wunmi Mosaku and Delroy Lindo won the supporting actress and actor awards, respectively.

But the ceremony was not only about honoring Black excellence in entertainment. The event was also flavored by several remarks from celebrities addressing the divisive political climate and recent events that have targeted and affected Black entertainers.

Viola Davis received the chairman’s award during the 57th NAACP Image Awards on Saturday.

(Chris Pizzello / Chris Pizzello/invision/ap)

Host Deon Cole kicked off the ceremony by welcoming the audience to “the Trump Image Awards. Because you know he wants his name on everything.”

Asking permission to “buy a curse word,” he made a joke that was bleeped out during the live stream, but was apparently aimed at federal ICE agents. The comment sparked a standing ovation from the predominantly black-tie audience, many of whom wore anti-ICE pins.

“I don’t want to see no ICE ever again,” he said. “When I looked at the guest list, I took off Ice Cube, Ice-T, Ice Spice. I don’t want no ice cream, I don’t want no ice in my drink.”

Samuel L. Jackson said in a tribute to the late Jesse Jackson, who died earlier this month, that President Trump’s attacks on diversity and his quest to remove references to slavery and Black history from museums would not succeed.

Utilizing one of Jackson’s trademark slogans, Jackson said, “We will not be erased from this country’s history because I am somebody.”

And in accepting the award for actor in a drama series for “Paradise,” Sterling K. Brown added, “Like Sam said, they can’t erase us because there is no country without us.”

The event also continued to put a spotlight on the uproar surrounding the shouting of a racial slur during the BAFTA Awards last week.

Jordan and Lindo were presenters during the BAFTA Awards, which took place at London’s Royal Festival Hall. As they were introducing the visual effects category, a member of the audience shouted the N-word. The two actors paused momentarily before continuing.

Director Ryan Coogler, left, and actor Delroy Lindo presenting the award for actress in a motion picture. The pair addressed the incident at the BAFTAs in their remarks.

(Chris Pizzello / invision/AP)

Later, awards host Alan Cumming addressed the outburst, referencing the nominated film “I Swear,” which is about Scottish campaigner John Davidson, who has Tourette syndrome and shouted the racist slur from the audience. Cumming apologized, while Davidson, an executive producer for the BAFTA-nominated film, left his seat midway through the ceremony. BAFTA later issued an apology to the actors.

Cole delivered a comic prayer referencing the incident: “Lord, if there are any white men out there with Tourette’s, I advise you to tell them to read the room tonight, Lord. It might not go the way they think.”

Actor Rebecca Hall early in the awards show said she wanted to pay tribute to “two kings. Thank you for your grace.”

Lindo later in the ceremony said, “We appreciate all the support we’ve been shown in the aftermath of what happened last weekend. It is an honor to be here among our people this evening … It’s a classic case of something that could have been very negative becoming very positive.”

Here is a list of the night’s winners:

Entertainer of the year
Michael B. Jordan

Outstanding motion picture
“Sinners”

Actor in a motion picture
Michael B. Jordan, “Sinners”

Actress in a motion picture
Cynthia Erivo, “Wicked: For Good”

Breakthrough performance in a motion picture
Miles Caton, “Sinners”

Drama series
“Reasonable Doubt”

Actor in a drama series
Sterling K. Brown, “Paradise”

Actress in a drama series
Angela Bassett, “9-1-1”

Comedy series
“Abbott Elementary”

Actress in a comedy series
Quinta Brunson, “Abbott Elementary”

Actor in a comedy series
Cedric the Entertainer, “The Neighborhood”

Chairman’s Award
Viola Davis

Hall of Fame Award
Salt-N-Pepa

President’s Award
Colman Domingo

BRIT Award viewers were left fuming after the show’s In Memoriam segment – blasting it as “a pathetic attempt”.

On Saturday night’s show, The Charlatans musician Tim Burgess was brought on stage to lead the In Memoriam tributes, leading on the loss of his close friend, Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield of The Stone Roses and Primal Scream, who died in November.

However, the artist struggled to say his speech, simply referring to “Mani” which some viewers thought to mean Manchester, or not recognising who he was referring to.

A videotape then played, showing the name of dozens of stars who have passed across the past year, flashing on screen briefly as a select number of artists were played in the background.

But fans were left less-than-pleased at how quickly the segment ran, before the show cut to an ad break.

Complaining to X (formerly Twitter), one fan wrote: “What a pathetic memoriam to artists who had passed away last year.

blues up

Noel Gallagher BOOED at Brits just seconds after picking up prestigious award

bleep-gate

Brits host Jack Whitehall takes swipe at Baftas after N-word outburst outrage

“Surely you could have made more time to show Mike Peters (a Welsh Brit) and also Rick Buckler of The Jam (another Brit) and a great drummer of his generation.”

“That tribute to all artists that have passed over this year was laughable,” wrote another.

“Wow! One of the worst ‘In Memoriam’ I have ever seen,” noted a third.

“What on earth was that all about #Brits2026 ?” complained a fourth. “I’m talking about those who lost their lives in the last year – that was disrespectful to many of those who passed.”

While a fifth wrote :”Putting the In Memorial names up quicker than anyone can read them. Poor show Brits, poor show #Brits2026″

“Whose idea was that In Memorial section? Blink and you’ve missed it – must get the adverts in….” wrote a sixth.

While on stage, Sturgess told the crowd at Manchester’s Co-Op Arena: “Hi everyone, I’m here tonight to pay tribute to my good friend. Mani changed music and inspired generations ahead of him. These songs he recorded will be his legacy.

“He was truly one of the phenomenal ones. I’d like you to think about Mani for a moment and we can cherish the thought that we got to experience our time and his time together.

“Let’s take a few moments to remember Mani.”

While the In Memoriam segment may have been lacking, the awards show was filled with tributes to artists loved and lost.

It’s a Wednesday afternoon in West Hollywood, one day after the city was blanketed in a light coating of rain. The midday sun has only just begun to peek through the overcast sky.

Its beams are slightly more vivid through the large windows of the Edition, which sit at the edge of a secluded area of the hotel. Jamie Hewlett sits at a wooden table stirring a cappucino with a black straw.

“I mean, who drinks out of a straw when you get past the age of 10, right?” he says, jokingly. After 25 years of bouncing around the globe with Gorillaz, he’s still longing for a jet lag cure. Coffee can only do so much.

Leaning back in his chair, in a suave, all-beige outfit, he starts to grin while recounting his day in Los Angeles.

“We’ve been walking around the streets having a very rare morning off together. We bought some weed, which is always one of the most wonderful things about this state,” he recalls.

He also finds humor in L.A.’s obsession with driver-less food delivery.

“Every time we saw a post-bot driving down the road, we stopped and doffed our caps. … In the future, when robots take over and destroy us all, they’ll remember me for being nice to the post-bot!”

It’s been a long few weeks for Hewlett and bandmate Damon Albarn as they roll out the group’s latest endeavor, “The Mountain,” out Friday. Just one day prior, “House of Kong” opened at Rolling Greens in downtown L.A. The exhibition, initially intended as a Gorillaz 25th anniversary event, has landed on the West Coast.

“I think with this album, we were both quite happy with what we’ve done … and feeling like it was an honest, genuine adventure that was taken, and what we’ve given is something that we’re proud of,” Hewlett says.

He and Albarn are also artists at heart and in nature. It’s why Gorillaz continues to look and sound the way it does, and why the group is consistently pushing the agenda of how a nonexistent band can still resonate with a group of fans who are very much alive.

“The process, the research, the putting it together, the making of it is really fun, and the delivery of it is kind of like a mini death syndrome,” he says. “What you’re required to do is get straight on to the next thing, and you won’t have any time to waste thinking about the fact that the completion of that left you feeling numb, because then you’re excited about the next project.”

He adds that Albarn, similarly, is like a “kid in a sweet shop” when he’s making music: “The moment it’s finished, there’s no interest in discussing it.”

Even so, the album is undeniably their most intimate in recent history.

Perhaps it’s something to do with the experience of grief that the two lived through, losing their fathers only 10 days apart and just before a trip to India. Or maybe it’s a testament to the process behind “The Mountain,” which saw Hewlett and Albarn travel the country, spending more time together there than during previous album productions.

“It’s weird, because I’m born 10 days after Damon… the idea presented itself, and at that point we were going down that road, and there was no avoiding it… It wasn’t even necessarily going to be a Gorillaz project; ‘Let’s go together and see what happens.’ ”

“I completely fell in love with the place and got into their whole concept of death,” Hewlett says of India.

(Blair Brown)

Hewlett says the album was also inspired by his late mother-in-law, Amo, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2010 and opted for Eastern medicine instead of chemo.

“She said, ‘No, I’m going to India.’ … She was into Ayurveda medicine and knew this doctor, and she spent three months in India [being treated]. When she came back, her cancer had gone. In France, they call her in for a checkup, and they give her a scan. They say, ‘Where’s your cancer gone?’ She said, ‘I’ve been in India,’ and they say, ‘We don’t believe in that.’ ”

It wouldn’t be until 2022 when Jamie visited India himself, under unfortunate circumstances. He was in Belgrade with Albarn shooting the second video from “Cracker Island” when he received a call from his brother-in-law, who said that Amo had just had a stroke.

“They said they saved her, but she went into a coma. I was on a plane to India as quickly as I could get a visa, which wasn’t easy at the Indian Embassy in London,” he said. “I spent eight weeks with my wife, Emma, in Jaipur, dealing with that, in a public hospital during a pneumonia epidemic… having that experience that was traumatic; it should have been a reason for me to never go back to India ever again.”

But during his time there, it became clear that being in the country had the opposite effect on him.

“I completely fell in love with the place and got into their whole concept of death. … We met a lot of families who became friends of ours because we were at the hospital every day,” he continued.

“A loved one who was dying, who was in tears because they knew they were going to die, but also there was a celebration about the fact that they were coming back,” he said. “Their understanding of the cycle of life is a lot more appealing to me.”

Shortly after, Hewlett returned to Europe and went straight to Albarn with an idea: “I said, ‘We have to go to India, it’s so amazing,’ and of all the places he’d been around the world, that was the place he still hadn’t been. So we decided to go.”

Albarn first visited India in May 2024 alongside Hewlett.

(Blair Brown)

“The Mountain” is, as expected, heavily doused with notions on the concept of death. Inevitably, the question arose: “How can we make an album about death that would leave the listener feeling optimistic?”

But Gorillaz has always been a group entwined with different, equally heavy topics. On “Plastic Beach,” they tackle the climate crisis and human extinction. The enchanting and rhythmic “Dirty Harry” also examines war and soldiers, with its single cover even giving a nod to Stanley Kubrick’s “Full Metal Jacket.”

The tone Gorillaz achieved on “The Mountain” is an extension of that.

“The Happy Dictator,” released as the lead single in September, parodies megalomaniac Saparmurat Niyazov’s approach to governing in Turkmenistan. As Sparks produce stunning vocals, singing “I am the one to give you life again,” Gorillaz fictional frontman 2-D (voiced by Albarn) breaks in to pronounce, “No more bad news!”

Equally as enjoyable is “The God of Lying,” the third single released, featuring Idles. Joe Talbot hauntingly asks, “Do you love your blessed father? / Anoint by fear of death / Do you feel the lies creep on by? / As soft as baby’s breath.” It’s a bouncy song that could have been pulled straight out of the band’s self-titled debut, all the way back from 2001.

Even so, it feels criminal to compare it with the band’s earlier catalog, given that Hewlett and Albarn are artists in “perpetual motion.” This has resulted in some of their most sonically and visually impressive work — with styles and genres consistently shifting — but also asks the listener to be willing to evolve with them.

“I think art has to be an evolution,” Hewlett explains. “I know what David Hockney does at 88 years old, still smoking and drinking his red wine. He wakes up every day … and he does something new, and then the next day he does something new, and that promotes longevity. He’s never bored.”

Gorillaz’s exhibition in “House of Kong” seems to be contradictory in its existence, more or less serving as a retrospective from a band that not only doesn’t like to look in the rearview, but likely has it taped over altogether.

But it’s also an organic experience, teeming with originality, despite its familiar marketing as an “immersive experience.” It’s more comparable to something out of a Disney or Universal theme park than another gallery that merely projects video onto a wall.

“Down here at Kong, we are creating something that … only really existed in Jamie’s drawings and animations and in the minds of the fans of Gorillaz,” says Stephen Gallagher of Block9. He served as creative director on the project but has worked with the band since 2018 and previously collaborated with Banksy for his “The Walled Off Hotel” and “Dismaland.”

“I’d had this idea already: ‘What about if we built a film studio, and then you could do a backstage tour, and you’re seeing behind the scenes of the making of all of these music videos?’ ” he continued. “Then that evolved, and it became the ‘House of Kong.’ ”

As for why the exhibition landed in L.A. for its second showing, Hewlett compares the city to Shanghai when it was “still free and decadent and swinging.”

“I love L.A. … I love it. I’ve been coming here since I was 19 years old. … L.A. might be the last one [showing], to be honest,” he says. “All that stuff in the exhibition belongs to me; this is part of my lifelong collection of weird s—!”

“I’d love to get it back at some point,” he jokes.

Final Oscar voting began yesterday. How many of the nominated movies have you seen? Are you doing your due diligence in all the categories before the March 15 ceremony or, given the summer weather outside your window, might the mountains be calling?

I’m Glenn Whipp, columnist for the Los Angeles Times and host of The Envelope newsletter. It’s never too early for flip-flops, is it?

Testing out a new mandate

To vote for the Oscars, you have to watch all the nominated movies.

This may seem obvious. But until this year, the motion picture academy operated entirely on the honor system, strongly encouraging members to see everything before voting.

Now voters have to show their work — up to a point.

This year, academy members are required to certify through the group’s screening room portal that they have viewed all nominated films in each category to be eligible to vote in that category. Since nominations were announced in January, the academy has been emailing voters with updates on their progress, indicating where they’re cleared to vote and where they still have work to do.

One wrinkle, and it’s not a small one: Members can simply check a box indicating that they’ve watched a movie outside the academy’s platform. Perhaps they saw it at a festival, on a streaming platform other than the portal or the place God intended films to be seen — a movie theater.

Whether they actually did watch the movies is left to the honesty of the voter. It’s still an honor system, and members do not need to show movie stubs, tickets or receipts.

Talking with academy members, there seems to be a little wiggle room when it comes to having a clear conscience.

Take the voter who loved Ethan Hawke‘s lead turn as legendary lyricist Lorenz Hart in “Blue Moon,” but hated “Marty Supreme,” turning it off 20 minutes after starting it. Since the academy’s screening room counts a movie as watched only if it’s viewed in its entirety, this voter told me they planned on restarting “Marty Supreme” one night and running it on mute so he could vote in the lead actor category.

“I’d seen enough,” he said. “Watching [Timothée] Chalamet play another pingpong tournament wouldn’t make me change my mind.”

Other academy members told me they were OK marking the “watched” box next to a movie they hadn’t seen, provided they had viewed four of the category’s other nominees. By and large though, they were the outliers. Most voters said they were happy to abstain from voting in a category in which they hadn’t watched all the nominated work. (As academy members may not publicly state voting decisions or preferences, voters spoke on the condition of anonymity.)

“I don’t need to see another ‘Avatar’ movie,” a producers branch member said. “So I’m fine not voting for visual effects or costume design this year. Life is short.”

“I like the idea that I can abstain from categories without any guilt,” an Oscar-nominated writer noted, adding that she thought the new system has been “helpful, reminding me to watch things.”

To that effect, academy members have been receiving a flurry of emails and texts that would give off Big Brother vibes if it didn’t simply boil down to an admonition to watch “Frankenstein” so they could vote in the nine categories where Guillermo del Toro’s monster movie is nominated.

It really isn’t that big an ask, as in recent years the Oscars have become increasingly dominated by a smaller number of movies vacuuming up a greater share of the nominations. This year, the five movies earning the most recognition — “Sinners,” “One Battle After Another,” “Marty Supreme,” “Frankenstein” and “Hamnet” — hauled in 56 nominations.

If an Oscar voter viewed the 10 best picture nominees, they’d be eligible to mark their ballots in best picture and eight other categories — supporting actor, adapted screenplay, casting, cinematography, film editing, production design and original score. Add Hawke’s “Blue Moon” and that opens up lead actor. Make it a double feature with “It Was Just an Accident” and original screenplay becomes available.

“You don’t really need to be much more than a casual moviegoer to knock out most of your ballot,” an actors branch member told me, “except for things like animation and documentaries and the shorts. I don’t know how many people watch all of those.”

Nobody does, save for the PricewaterhouseCoopers accountants counting the ballots. The question vexing both voters and the awards consultants paid to persuade them is how this new, formalized voting will affect the results. As Oscar winners are sometimes the movies that are the most-watched, might requiring voters to see all the nominated work boost less-publicized efforts?

“If ‘Sirât’ wins sound over ‘F1,’ then I think it’s a new ballgame,” one veteran campaigner said. “Right now, though, nobody knows.”

We will soon. In the meantime, with Oscar voting running through Thursday, some academy members tell me their weekend is booked.

“Three nights, three movies,” one voter said. “And then I’m watching ‘Bridgerton.’”

The Brit Awards viewers were left unimpressed by ITV’s decisions on a number of occasions during the ceremony hosted by Jack Whitehall

Viewers of the Brit Awards were left incensed by ITV as they watched the annual ceremony. As many tuned in to see how would be winning the biggest gongs of the year, they fumed as the ITV show kept being censored.

Bosses made the decision to blank out several of Jack Whitehall’s jokes throughout his hosting duties. And as a number of winners used their acceptance speech time to share their views, they also found themselves censored. Among those being bleeped was Geese frontman Cameron Winter.

The singer of the Brooklyn indie rock band took to the stage as the band won their first ever Brit Award for International Group of the Year. During his acceptance speech, he said: “I just want to say, Free Palestine, F–k ICE, go Geese!”

READ MORE: Sharon Osbourne defends Robbie Williams for Ozzy Brits tribute with telling commentREAD MORE: Jim Carrey’s unrecognisable new look has fans questioning if he is wearing a mask

But viewers at home didn’t get to hear his actual speech, with interference played over the top. The same thing happened during Noel Gallagher’s speech after he accepted the accolade for Songwriter of the Year.

After thanking his brother and his bandmates, Noel shouted: “Up the f***ing Blues” in reference to his beloved Manchester City. But the moment was banned from TV, and instead viewers at home just heard the aftermath of boos.

And another getting the bleep button was Angry Ginge as he took aim at London. The Manchester native made his feelings known as he called the country’s capital a “s***hole”.

Fans weren’t impressed with the cuts and on Twitter/X they let their feelings be known. One user ranted: “The buzzing to bleep things out is getting annoying. I’m sure what they’re saying is not that bad to air at 9.30 pm. #Brits2026”

“Free speech and all that. Bleep bleep. #Brits2026,” moan another. A third added: “I’ve never known the Brits bleep out so much stuff? What is happening #Brits2026”

A fourth tried to make light of the situation and create a drinking game for the irritation. “Take a shot every time there is a bleep #Brits2026 #BRITs.” And a fifth simply wrote: “Bleep bleep bleep bleeeeep #Brits2026”

The rage continued when Sharon Osbourne was also censored. A fan ranted: “It’s 23:00 and ITV are censoring Sharon Osbourne accepting an award for her late husband.”

But despite the complaints, one user had a different idea, hitting out at host Jack. “Why do they hire Jack Whitehall to present every year if they’re gonna bleep half the jokes just get someone else #Brits2026.”

Elsewhere at the awards ceremony, in between the awards wins, Jack “let slip” who will be the new Strictly Come Dancing hosts. Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman stepped down at the end of the last series and ever since speculation over their replacement has been rife.

Speaking to Bez and Shaun Ryder of the Happy Mondays, Jack joked they were ready for the role and “revealed” their secret. Shaun labelled Jack a “grass” as he played along with the joke announcement.

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