SHOW BIZ

Fans are already adding the ‘haunting’ series to their watchlists

Fans of true crime say that they are already ‘hooked’ on the idea of Netflix’s upcoming series as it unveils plans for an adaptation based on a ‘haunting’ bestseller.

The series, The God of the Woods will be based on the New York Times bestselling novel of the same name, written by Liz Moore. It is the same writer behind the book Long Bright River, which was also turned into a series that hit screens last year and starred Amanda Seyfried in the leading role.

Author Moore will also serve as a co-showrunner according to Deadline, alongside Liz Hannah who has previously worked on The Girl From Plainville and Mindhunter. This time around, it has been confirmed that Stranger Things star Maya Hawke has been cast in the starring role.

She will play Judy Luptack, a smart and quietly determined investigator assigned to unravel the disappearance of a young girl from a summer camp in upstate New York. While the show will be a work of fiction, those who are obsessed with true crime have already admitted they can’t wait for the show to release. Unfortunately, there’s currently no confirmed release date.

The official synopsis describes the show as “a multi-generational drama series set in the Adirondacks, exploring the Van Laar family’s dark secrets, class tensions, and the mysteries surrounding the disappearance of 13-year-old Barbara Van Laar from her family’s summer camp – in the wake of an earlier family tragedy that may be related.”

It continues: “As the past and present collide, the Van Laars’ wealth and influence unravel, revealing the damaging consequences of privilege and the abuse of power.”

While this looks set to be the Robin Buckley actress’ next major role for TV, fans will also be able to see her in romantic comedies Wishful Thinking and One Night Only as well as the Hunger Games prequel Sunrise on the Reaping. All of which are all currently scheduled for 2026 releases.

Fans are already highly anticipating the series and claiming this casting news as ‘perfect’. One responded to the news on social media saying: “That sounds like a perfect role for Maya Hawke. She really shines in those layered, introspective characters.

“A quiet but determined investigator in a mystery like this? Yeah, this could be something special. Definitely adding The God of the Woods to my watchlist already!”

Another added: “Read The God of the Woods last year and loved how layered and haunting it is. Maya Hawke feels like perfect casting for Judy Luptackquiet. Intensity is her specialty. Netflix, you’re cooking!”

Someone else replied: “The book-to-Netflix pipeline is undefeated right now. Liz Moore wrote one of the best thrillers in years, perfect choice for adaptation.”

While one person commented: “Maya Hawke in a thriller about a missing girl from summer camp?? This is literally made for my true crime obsessed brain, I’m already hooked.”

Stranger Things is streaming on Netflix now. The God of the Woods will be streaming on Netflix soon.

BUFFY the Vampire Slayer star Nicholas Brendon has died of “natural causes” aged 54.

The actor was known for playing Buffy’s much-loved companion Xander Harris on the hit 90s show and for later appearing in Criminal Minds.

His family released a heartbreaking tribute after his death on Friday.

They told The Hollywood Reporter: “We are heartbroken to share the passing of our brother and son, Nicholas Brendon.

“He passed in his sleep of natural causes. Most people know Nicky for his work as an actor and for the characters he brought to life over the years.”

They added: “While it’s no secret that Nicholas had struggles in the past, he was on medications and treatment to manage his diagnosis and he was optimistic about the future at the time of his passing.”

Nicholas played Xander for seven years and was in all but one of the show’s 144 episodes.

His character was beloved amongst Buffy fans and known for his sarcastic humour and fierce loyalty.

Following the success of Buffy the Vampire Slayer he had a recurring part as Kevin Lynch in Criminal Minds from 2007 – 2014.

He initially pursued a career in acting in order to help manage his stutter which made him fearful of meeting strangers.

Alongside acting he enjoyed painting and photography and sold his own original work.

Nicholas landed his break-out role as Xander at age 25 after he was fired from his job.

After the show finished he announced at a fan convention that he would be entering rehab for alcoholism in 2004.

He married actress Tressa DiFiglia in 2001 before they split in 2006.

Nicholas married Moonda Tee in 2014 one week after he proposed but the couple separated five months later.

The actor had multiple arrests and struggled with depression and alcoholism.

In 2015 the actor was arrested for strangling his girlfriend in Saratoga Springs, New York. Nicholas was charged with felony, third-degree robbery, criminal mischief and obstruction of breathing.

He pleaded guilty to the charges and agreed to start rehabilitation again but he was arrested again in 2017 and 2021.

James Martin has been vocal about his three stone weight loss and has even shared his favourite two-ingredient breakfast that he enjoys as part of his new diet

Celebrity chef James Martin has shared his go-to two-ingredient breakfast following his impressive 3st weight loss, describing the meal as “simple and very tasty”.

The presenter of James Martin’s Saturday Morning on ITV recently travelled to Spain, gathering his favourite regional recipes for a new cookbook called ‘James Martin’s Spanish Adventure’.

The 53-year-old’s remarkable three-stone transformation has reportedly seen fish makeup 80 per cent of his diet nowadays, though he hasn’t given up his beloved butter.

He explained that the recipes featured in his books have been “specifically created” using ingredients they found during their travels. However, his absolute favourite dish can be whipped up at home using just two simple ingredients.

James revealed to Hello!: “Grilled tomatoes on toast. It’s very simple and very tasty. And the barbecued leeks with lardons and hazelnuts.”.

During an appearance on the Spooning with Mark Wogan podcast, James disclosed that his passion for motor racing motivated his significant weight loss, as he would “struggle to get out of them”.

He explained: “It comes down to the fact that I race cars, or I still try and race a few cars and I actually struggle to get out of them now. Getting in them, you kind of fall in them, but then you’ve got to get out of them and it just doesn’t look very good.” Nevertheless, it appears that another of his passions, butter, continues to feature prominently in his diet. The chef’s devotion to the dairy staple is legendary, having written an extensive 517-page tome on the subject.

Named ‘Butter: Comforting, Delicious, Versatile – Over 130 Recipes Celebrating Butter’, James joked that whilst others were releasing books on nutritious eating approximately five years ago, he’d “brought out a book on butter”.

The Home Comforts presenter’s weight loss wasn’t achieved through gym sessions, though, instead attributing it to his “farmer’s kid” upbringing, explaining that he enjoys “simple food” and “great ingredients”.

Indeed, he was candid about avoiding the gym, stating, “I don’t go”, and revealing that his weight loss simply comes down to being able to “get my a**e in and out of a car.”

He explained: “I’m a farmer’s kid, I like pure food, I like simple food and just love great ingredients. I like simple cooking, but also bringing out the flavour of the ingredients is more important than anything else.”

James is back on our screens today for Saturday Morning on ITV1 at 9.25am.

BBC Radio 1 presenter Greg James completed his epic 1,000km tandem bike challenge for Comic Relief.

Following eight days of gruelling effort, BBC presenter Greg James completed his enormous cycling challenge for Comic Relief on Friday afternoon, having covered 1,000km on a tandem bicycle.

Setting off from Weymouth on Friday 13th, the 40-year-old journeyed across England, Wales and Scotland, concluding his expedition in Edinburgh.

Whilst celebrity companions including Jamie Laing and Prince William joined him en route, he tackled the final leg of his ride solo.

During Friday night’s live Comic Relief broadcast (March 20th), Greg appeared alongside Davina McCall on stage to discover his fundraising total. Davina announced he’d amassed an incredible £4,225,939 as the audience broke into thunderous applause.

He responded: “Wow! Thank you to everyone who donated, wow.” Standing momentarily lost for words, spectators began chanting his name in solidarity, reports Wales Online.

Though the BBC broadcaster protested: “I’m uncomfortable with this, please stop. I’m uncomfortable with this. I said, when I finished today, I said please I’ve had too much praise for this now.

“It was a daft idea to raise money and awareness of this amazing charity that Comic Relief supports.

“Can I say one thing? Treat people like you’re treating a minor celebrity that’s riding a tandem past you. There’s too much coming my way, put it somewhere else!”

Discussing his progress thus far, Greg revealed he’d begun cycling in the early hours of this morning. He said: “I’m overjoyed with how much money we’ve raised with this thing and how joyful we’ve managed to make the tandem adventure!”

Meanwhile during the BBC programme, Davina was reduced to tears upon hearing the devastating account of one mother who lost her infant to malaria.

Having chosen to work on the frontline and gain medical knowledge to assist women in the community, preventing the same anguish she’d experienced, Davina became visibly emotional.

As the pre-recorded clip concluded, she said: “Mothers, helping mothers. I love that.

“Community health workers are needed now more than ever. Comic Relief, with your donations, is supporting projects like LWALA and people like Susan, who are helping to save lives.

“She went through something so terrible, and she decided to help others save the lives of their children.

“All of us watching tonight, we’ve all got something in common. We all made it past our fifth birthday, but isn’t that something that every child deserves? Please pick up your phones right now.”

Comic Relief: Funny For Money is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

Kountry Wayne likens the dream he’s currently living to an old sitcom that has made the world laugh for decades. “I feel like I’m the new version of ‘Beverly Hillbillies,’” he says. “I’m in Hollywood — I’m here, but I’m still not here, so I just think that’s the most country thing about me.” To his point, the comedian born DeWayne Colley has definitely hit the big time after getting his start in comedy in 2014 (trying his skills as a rapper before that) by working on his stage craft and cooking up Southern-fried viral skits inspired by his small-town Georgia roots. Fast-forward 12 years and his growing empire includes independent movies (including his upcoming film “That’s Her,” which he financed himself), a flood of both dramatic and comedy-driven short skits featuring a wide range of actors, a debut Netflix special (2023’s “A Woman’s Prayer”) and now his latest hour, “Nostalgia,” premiering Monday on Prime Video.

By spending a new hour looking back at a bygone period, specifically the ’90s, when Wayne grew up, the 38-year-old comedian is bringing a fresh approach to the Def Comedy Jam era that he hopes resonates with comedy fans of his generation and younger fans who found him through TikTok and had no idea he even did stand-up. As someone whose comedy career has skyrocketed over the last several years, Wayne’s sights continue to be set toward future opportunities to bring relatable humor to the masses who have that country cousin who walks, talks and jokes just like him.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What does the word “Nostalgia” mean to you?

A good feeling. It means bringing people together through laughter like the good old shows back in the day — “Saved by the Bell,” “Family Matters.” It just is that feeling, whatever that feeling was that we couldn’t put in a jar, I wanted to bring that in my special to just make everybody laugh and forget about the stuff that’s always gonna be here — bills and drama and violence. Just take a break, have fun, and take the breaks we used to take when we used to watch those TV shows in the ’90s.

By the shows you mentioned, I know we’re about the same age. We grew up with the same TV sitcoms and yet still valued being outside, which feels like a foreign concept today.

Yeah, it’s that feeling of all those movies. Man, “Clueless,” when I see that movie, to this day, I still got crushes on all [those girls]. I always wanted to go to the high school in “Saved by the Bell.” So I just want to give that feeling that I felt, because a lot of the new generation didn’t get to experience those shows and those feelings. So even for the younger generation, I want them to be able to experience that through my special.

What was small–town life in Millen, Ga., like for you as a funny kid growing up?

I was so poor, it wasn’t nothing really funny. The town was so small — one [stop]light, the elementary school, high school, all in one school. You had to joke your way to make you think that you weren’t there. You kind of had to escape through jokes. So I just made people laugh wherever I was. No matter how serious the situation is, I can’t do anything about it. I might as well laugh. I remember the lights went off one time when we were eating cereal. I was like, “Mama, hey, come on. I can’t see — I can’t see the milk, the cereal, the bowl. And you’re telling me I need to do my work. I think you need to go to work.” In a small town, you had to laugh because there was nothing else, there was no opportunity.

“In a small town, you had to laugh because there was nothing else, there was no opportunity,” Kountry Wayne said about growing up in Millen, Ga.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

You gravitated to music early in life, becoming a rapper before you did stand-up. What was it about performing that helped you forget about the troubles that were going on around you?

I always felt like I was onstage already, so by the time I actually got onstage, the lights never did nothing to me, or the fame and all of that. Because I’m just so thankful to be able to do stand-up and have people come and watch me do it. I never had time to really feel the fame and all of that. So I just think everything I went through in that small town helped me. Everything is a small town to me. Hollywood is still a small town to me, because whoever I know, that’s who I know; whoever I don’t know, I just don’t know ’em. Because in that small town, you were so far away from the big cities like Atlanta, New York, L.A. I was three hours from Atlanta [growing up], so I think that really helped me to get where I’m at today to do comedy the way I do it.

Just keep it “kountry.”

Yeah, keep it kountry. Man, oh, that’s the next [title of a new special].

What do you feel like is the most country aspect of you as someone who’s now a popular comedian?

My family — all my family around me. You come to my house. It’s an uncle, daddy, a sister, brother, kids everywhere. I feel like I’m the new version of “Beverly Hillbillies.” I’m in Hollywood, I’m here, but I’m still not here, so I just think that’s the most country thing about me. If you meet my family, you understand. They don’t say shrimp, we say “scrimps” or “o’er dere” [instead of] “over there.” With my accent, imagine it’s 10 times worse with my family. So I think I remind people that everybody in L.A., New York got a cousin somewhere in Mississippi, because a lot of us are from the South anyway. So I just think I remind people of simple, country people.

With the Southern flavor you bring to comedy, I kind of liken it to hip-hop, when it comes to the regional styles of different comics. How does that play into creating a special that brings the South to the world?

It’s crazy that you say that [you] think about hip-hop when I do that. I’m gonna be me so much that people who don’t know me are gonna be interested in me, because it’s different than everybody else. I feel like I’m a really country person with that Southern drawl or the way I talk. I talk like them uncles and all of that. So I just feel like it’s gonna make everybody feel at home. I didn’t try to switch it up. I’m gonna be me because I feel like, deep down, everybody knows [someone like] me somewhere. They’re gonna relate to me in some kind of way, and it feels safe because I’m being me. I’m not out there being fake, this how I talk. I’m a country boy. I’m not from the big city, and this is what I’m giving the world. And those who love it, I appreciate it. Those who don’t love it, I still love you.

“I think I remind people that everybody in L.A., New York got a cousin somewhere in Mississippi, because a lot of us are from the South anyway,” said Kountry Wayne.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

Being a dad to 10 kids is something that’s been a part of your storyline in comedy and that people have gravitated to. How does your ability to survive and make it all work play into your comedy?

Child support would really make you very, very funny. It actually plays a lot into it, because if it wasn’t for those kids, I don’t think I’d stand out as much as I am. Because we’ve heard every joke, everybody’s been funny. Come on, man, we’ve seen Jim Carrey, we’ve seen Eddie Murphy, we’ve seen Dave Chappelle. Funny has already been done. So I think what helps me stand out is my story with my kids and my family. It’s funny, but it’s still OK. This is a different perspective than we see with all those kids, the mothers, you know, but he’s not with the mothers, but he’s there with the kids, and you take care of the mothers. It’s so much of a unique situation that I think that’s what makes it stand out.

Who’s your funniest kid?

[My daughter] Honest. Honest is the funniest person in my life. Her name’s Honest, but she lies — she makes up all these stories about what happened at school. [She’ll say,] “I got arrested today.” I’ll be like, “Honest, you did get arrested?” [She’ll say,] “Well, they was about to arrest me, but they didn’t.” She reminds me of me, but she is just a little bit more witty because she don’t got no trauma like I did. I come from poverty. She’s rich. She goes to this Christian school full of white people, and she thinks she’s a white baby now. The white girls have this clip they put on their hair. She bought her clip. Now her hair not floating like theirs. Her hair is definitely stiff. I’m like, “Honest, you don’t need that clip!” She’s in dancing. She don’t go to practice. When she goes to the dance recitals, it’s clear that she can’t dance and we always ask her, “Do you know the dance?” Every time she gets there, she says, “Yeah,” but she gets there and she’s always watching the other kids. She was the only one [who’s] off.

She is so funny. I put her in the skits. She says the wittiest things. She asked me one day — I got a lot of kids — and she said, “Daddy, which one of your kids you love the most?” She said, “Do you love all your kids?” I said, “Yeah, I love all of y’all.” She said, “Well, come here. Let me talk to you right quick.” She took me to a picture I had in my man cave, “She said, ‘Well, why all of us [not in the picture]?’”… She’s my comedian.

Speaking of the skit-producing pipeline/network you‘ve developed over the last several years, how has that been instrumental to your comedy career, and also your career as sort of a producer in developing content?

I think that content helped me more [with] being known as a producer and a filmmaker and an actor. So I think it helped my acting career, the first part of my life, and all the skits helped my comedy because it was just me being funny, but the skits I put out now help people look at me more as a businessman, an entrepreneur and an actor. And it’s crazy, some people now even know me from the skits. And when they come to the [stand-up] show, they’re going to be shocked. A lot of my fans who met me when I started writing the storylines, when they see this [“Nostalgia”] special they’re like, “He never showed us that!” Because that person I am onstage, I don’t be that on social media anymore, so you have to go watch me on stand-up to give that energy that I give. But my Day 1 fans met that guy. These fans I’ve made over the last four or five years were probably equivalent to my Day 1 fans. It’s a large fan base but they don’t even know that I could [do] stand-up like that.

Comedian Kountry Wayne holds up his gold neck chain with his mom’s face on it.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

That’s nostalgic in a way. I’m thinking of a TV dad like Bob Saget, who was so different when you saw him do stand-up. You’re like, “Wow, Danny Tanner is filthy!” That’s great that you can kind of separate the two personas. What do you feel is next for you in comedy?

To bring that to the big screen, for sure. All my talents and gifts that I worked on, in a way, [have] gotten better. I put the work in, I’m ready to show it on the screen. I think it’s happening organically, like the special [on] Amazon, that’s organic. I had one on Netflix now they wanted me to do one at Amazon, and I just want to show the world what I’ve been working on, and the time, energy I put into a broader scale … So I’m just excited, and I feel like a kid again, because I got so many responsibilities and kids I take care of. It took a while for me to get back to this point where I could just be an artist. Because I wanted to be an artist, but then I had a lot of kids, so I had to be a provider. But now I’m in a position where all that is handled, so I feel like a kid again when it comes to the art.

California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta is asking a judge to unravel Nexstar Media Group’s $6.2-billion acquisition of rival TV station owner Tegna — the latest in a flurry of merger twists.

Nexstar announced late Thursday that it had consummated the Tegna takeover — despite a lawsuit that Bonta and seven other Democratic state attorneys general had filed in federal court the previous day.

The state officials sued to block the union of the station groups, alleging the new colossus would violate antitrust rules and a federal law limiting broadcast station ownership.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Sacramento.

Hours after that filing, the Federal Communications Commission’s Media Bureau in Washington approved Nexstar’s deal — clearing the way for the nation’s largest TV station group owner to swallow the third-largest station group.

The purchase gives Nexstar, which owns KTLA-TV Channel 5 in Los Angeles, 265 television stations.

On Friday, Bonta and the other attorneys general asked a judge for a temporary restraining order to freeze the takeover until a hearing on the matter.

“Nexstar/Tegna is not a done deal,” Bonta said Friday in a statement. “I will not let these corporate behemoths merge without a fight.”

It was not immediately clear when a judge might rule on the request for a restraining order.

Bonta appeared at a lawmakers’ hearing in Burbank on Friday to explore the impacts of another huge merger: Paramount Skydance’s proposed $111-billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery. Bonta’s office has opened an investigation into the Paramount-Warner merger, but Bonta said Friday that no decision has been made on whether he or other attorneys general will seek to block it.

For now, he is focused on derailing the Nexstar-Tegna deal.

“We filed a suit before that deal closed,” Bonta told The Times. “We think our case is extremely strong. There is no way this should be approved.”

At issue is whether the FCC had the power to grant a waiver that would allow Nexstar to control TV stations that reach nearly 80% of U.S. households. In 2003, Congress set the station ownership cap at 39% of the country.

The Department of Justice also gave its blessing to close the deal.

The three FCC commissioners did not vote on the matter — despite pleas from the lone Democrat on the panel who advocated for an open process.

Approval of the merger was rapid after President Trump endorsed the consolidation on Feb. 7.

“We need more competition against THE ENEMY, the Fake News National TV Networks,” Trump wrote in his social media post.

“Letting Good Deals get done like Nexstar – Tegna will help knock out the Fake News because there will be more competition, and at a higher and more sophisticated level,” Trump wrote. “GET THAT DEAL DONE!”

In a statement Thursday, Nexstar founder and chief executive Perry Sook thanked Trump and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, saying Nexstar was “grateful” they recognized the “dynamic forces shaping the media landscape” and allowed the transaction to move forward.

THIS is the moment Justin Timberlake is put in cuffs as the body cam footage of his arrest for drink driving is released.

The pop star, 45, was arrested in Sag Harbor, New York, in June 2024 after he failed to stop at a stop sign and could not stay in his lane.

Shortly after leaving The American Hotel following a night out with friends, the singer was pulled over while traveling southbound on Madison Street, a public highway in the Hamptons village.

Cops, often stationed nearby, noticed Justin swerving on the road and blowing through a stop sign.

They later smelled alcohol on his breath and noted that he was unsteady on his feet and also had slowed speech and glassy eyes.

The body cam footage of his arrest was released on Friday after the star’s legal team reportedly tried to previously prevent its release.

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In the video, an officer can be seen shining a flashlight in Timberlake’s face at the roadside before the star performs poorly on sobriety tests.

He is asked to walk in a straight line but has difficulty with the instructions, appearing confused.

Timberlake tells them: “Guys, I’m just following my friends back to my house. I’m not doing anything.”

While attempting the sobriety test, he stumbles before apologising and saying ” I’m a little nervous”.

When asked to do the next test, the officers are forced to explain multiple times before Timberlake says “sorry, my heart is racing” while clutching his chest.

Looking unsteady on his feet, the singer is then heard saying: “By the way, these are like, really hard tests.”

After failing the roadside tests, an officer is then seen asking Timberlake “turn around for me please”.

Saying nothing and looking resigned, he slowly turns before he’s put in handcuffs.

A friend appears and is shocked when police tell her Justin is going with them, saying: “You’re arresting Justin Timberlake? Stop it. What?”

She pleads with the officers to speak with him and give him his phone before she takes his car home.

She begs: “Can you guys please do me a favour because you loved Bye Bye Bye or Sexy Back, do me one favour. This is insane.”

At the end of the footage, the 10-time Grammy winner can be seen in the back of a cop car behind bars.

He was taken into custody that night and arraigned in Sag Harbor Village Justice Court the following morning.

He was released without bail on his recognizance and was also charged with one count of DWI due to his refusal of the breathalyzer, according to Justin’s lawyer.

Timberlake’s lawyers previously sued the Village of Sag Harbor to prevent the release as it showed him “in an accutely vulnerable state”, reports CBS.

It was later agreed it would be released with redactions.

That September, Timberblake reached a plea deal to bring the case to an end.

The judge sentenced Justin to a $500 fine with a $260 surcharge, and 25 hours of community service at the nonprofit of his choosing.

After the sentencing, Justin said: “Even if you’ve had one drink, don’t get behind the wheel of a car.

“There are so many alternatives. You can call a friend [or] take an Uber.”

He added: “This is a mistake that I made, but I’m hoping that whoever is watching and listening right now can learn from this mistake. I know that I certainly have.”

During the proceedings the star remained standing throughout and gave a statement in which he expressed remorse for his actions.

BBC’s Comic Relief saw host Davina McCall issue an apology during the live show after Nick Mohammed used explicit language during a Rubik’s Cube challenge on Friday night

Presenter Davina McCall addressed viewers watching Comic Relief on Friday night (March 20) following Nick Mohammed’s strong language.

During the BBC programme, which featured Catherine Tate reprising her role as Nan, Celebrity Traitors star Nick was tasked with completing eight Rubik’s Cubes in one minute.

Supporting him on stage was his mate and former Celebrity Traitors co-star Joe Marler, who was dressed up in drag.

When the clock started, it was obvious the comedian was flustered as at one point he was heard saying: “F**k” before later adding “s**t”.

However, Nick didn’t manage to successfully complete any Rubik’s Cube at all before revealing he had been creating a pattern instead, reports Wales Online.

He said: “Ok, right. I was a little bit distracted. But, in all honesty, I was still feeling a little bit guilty for betraying Joe all those months ago.

“So, instead of actually solving the Rubik’s Cubes, I actually just had something that I did want to say to Joe.”

As he turned the items over, the red colours on the blocks spelled out the word ‘sorry’, which earned a huge round of applause from the audience, along with a hug from Joe.

However, Davina quickly addressed the explicit swear words Nick had uttered during his 60 seconds. She commented: “Before we go any further, we just want to apologise if anybody heard any bad language there. It was a very high-stress situation.”

Nick appeared oblivious to the fact he’d sworn on live television as he questioned whether the ‘bad language’ Davina mentioned was his doing. The BBC presenter added: “I’m not sure, let’s not go over it again!”

Throughout the fundraising evening, Davina was accompanied by several guests to assist with co-hosting duties. Initially, viewers were treated to Joel Dommett and Catherine Tate as Nan.

Nick subsequently joined her for the programme’s second segment before Katherine Ryan finally came aboard to conclude the event.

During the broadcast, Davina welcomed Greg James to announce the final sum he’d accumulated over eight gruelling days completing a mammoth cycling challenge.

She informed the radio presenter he’d raised an impressive £4,225,939 as the audience burst into applause.

He responded: “Wow! Thank you to everyone who donated, wow.” Left momentarily lost for words, the crowd began chanting his name in appreciation.

Comic Relief: Funny For Money is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

The channel 4 hit show made a return to our TV screens for a brand new episode

Gogglebox’s Pete Sandiford couldn’t hide his emotions tonight as he broke down in tears during an emotional moment on Friday night’s show.

The television personality initially joined the Channel 4 hit programme back in 2017 during its tenth series alongside sister Sophie. Since then the duo, from Blackpool, quickly became fan favourites as viewers fell in love with their sharp wit, memorable quips and hilarious reactions to the week’s top TV shows and films.

However during Friday’s (March 20) episode of the hit show, things took an emotional turn for Peter as they tuned in to watch Netflix new film, I Swear.

But it was one scene that let Peter in tears as they watched the character John Davidson (played by Robert Aramayo) get interviewed for a job by a school caretaker named Tommy Trotter (played by Peter Mullan).

Throughout the interview, John struggled with her tics and verbal outbursts and he even spat in Tommy’s tea. Despite John’s symptoms being severe, Tommy made John feel accepted and he decided to give him the job.

The moment left the Gogglebox cast feeling emotional, especially Peter who burst into tears. Sister Sophie reached out and offered her support as she rubbed his arm. Pete tearfully said: “That’s got me that.”

I Swear follows the story of real-life Tourette’s activist John Davidson who fights for awareness and understanding about the condition which causes involuntary tics, which can include whistling, clicking, and expletives.

Following his diagnosis aged 15, the inspirational film directed by Kirk Jones follows John’s difficult teenage years in the 1980s when Tourette’s was barely recognised. It continues into the present day, where he is now one of the most prominent campaigners raising awareness for the condition.

The film has been a huge hit as it landed several BAFTA nominations, including for Outstanding British Film, with Aramayo taking home the trophy for Best Actor in a Leading Role. The Guardian called it an “absorbing, compassionate film”, while Mark Kermode said he “absolutely loved it”.

Audiences have also given the film rave reviews, with one IMDb user who saw I Swear at the Toronto Film Festival highlighting the “amazing performances”.

“The performances are so natural that you often forget you are watching a dramatic depiction,” they went on. “Tells the story with a minimum of gloss.

“It had a good chunk of the audience in tears at various points, both for the painful and joyful moments.”

Gogglebox airs Friday night’s from 9pm on Channel 4 and I Swear is available to stream on Netflix

In a week rife with drama involving “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” cast, two stars of the hit reality series appear to be going their separate ways officially.

Jessi Draper and Jordan Ngatikaura’s marriage is coming to an end after five years, with the latter filing for divorce in Utah, according to TMZ, which cited court documents. The estranged pair married in October 2020 and share two children. Ngatikaura is also the father to a teenage daughter from a previous relationship.

A representative for Draper did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday. Ngatikaura, who also did not respond to The Times’ request for comment, issued a statement about his filing to TMZ and People.

He told the outlets his decision to divorce Draper “comes with a heavy heart” and said he is grateful for their time together. Ngatikaura plans to prioritize his children, “ensuring they feel loved, supported, and protected through this transition,” according to People. He said in his statement that he is seeking privacy for his family.

Before Ngatikaura’s divorce filing, the pair’s marital struggles had become public. In November, Draper broke her silence on allegations she had cheated on Ngatikaura and admitted to having an “emotional affair” with “Vanderpump Villa” star Marciano Brunette. At the time, Draper spoke to People about the “emotional abuse” she said she faced from her husband — he took “full accountability for the pain I caused Jessi” — and said, “We both made mistakes for sure.”

The spouses had agreed to a 90-day separation and to work things out together in therapy, People reported last year.

News of the “Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” divorce comes as the franchise reckons with star Taylor Frankie Paul, who faces new allegations of domestic abuse against her on-again, off-again partner Dakota Mortensen. Paul, who was arrested and charged in 2023 for a separate dispute involving Mortensen, was tapped to lead the latest season of “The Bachelorette” set to premiere Sunday, but that all came to a screeching halt earlier this week.

As Utah’s Draper City Police Department confirmed it was investigating alleged incidents of domestic violence involving Paul and Mortensen, TMZ published video Thursday of Paul kicking and throwing chairs at Mortensen in a 2023 dispute while one of her children was in the same room. ABC, home network of “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette,” acted swiftly and pulled the plug on Paul’s upcoming season.

“In light of the newly released video just surfaced today, we have made the decision to not move forward with the new season of ‘The Bachelorette’ at this time, and our focus is on supporting the family,” Disney said in a statement Thursday.

“Taylor is very grateful for ABC’s support as she prioritizes her family’s safety and security,” read a portion of a statement provided by a representative for Paul. The statement went on to say Paul had suffered “extensive mental and physical abuse as well as threats of retaliation.”

Amid the fresh allegations, Paul has seen brand deals fall to the wayside and production on “Mormon Wives” pause pending a decision on her status as a cast member, according to a person briefed on the situation.

Times staff writer Yvonne Villarreal contributed to this report.

HE may be a 63-year-old “normal” dad these days, but Shaun Ryder has not lost the ability to shock.

When the Happy Mondays frontman spoke to host Jack Whitehall at the Brit Awards last month, his tale of nearly being busted for drugs had to be edited out.

But, then again, putting the potty-mouthed and straight-talking singer on live telly is always a risk.

In an exclusive interview with The Sun, the Mancunian reveals that ITV did not appreciate his story of a drugs raid that happened when he was up for a Brit award in 1996.

Back then, Shaun’s other band, Black Grape, had been nominated for British Breakthrough Act.

Shaun says: “I told him I went to score and the gaff where I went to score got raided by the police as I’m scoring and the cops cottoned on who I was.

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“And I’m saying, ‘Oh, I’m getting a Brit Award here’ and they let me go.

“They busted a heroin house and they let me go because I was up for a Brit Award.”

You might think that Shaun, who has already published two autobiographies, has no fresh stories.

But the singer, who has a new memoir out now and who is writing material for Happy Mondays’ first album in 20 years, always has plenty of tales to tell.

In his latest book, 24 Hour Party Person, he recalls facing down what he believes was a killer orangutan, escaping a gun battle and being held hostage by an armed robber.

There are also numerous car crashes from which he somehow escaped alive.

Shaun, who quit drugs aged 40 after 20 years of substance abuse, admits: “I have used up more than nine lives.”

It could all have ended shortly after Happy Mondays’ first album, Squirrel And G-Man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out), came out in 1987.

Shaun, who was not famous at that point, went to Amsterdam to live for a short while.

He remembers: “Some nutcase we knew from Manchester, who was doing armed robberies and was then in Amsterdam, hijacked a load of people, put them in the canal and shot them and then turned up at the gaff where we were staying and held us hostage for a day or two.”

Luckily, Shaun managed to talk the robber into letting them go.

But there was no way of having a nice discussion with a great ape that appeared in front of Shaun on a Barbados beach when he was recording Happy Mondays’ fourth album in 1992.

At the time there were stories in the local Press about a dangerous orangutan, nicknamed Jack the Ripper, on the loose.

Shaun claims: “This thing just dropped out of the trees right in front of me. It was a f***ing big orangutan.”

Telling himself “don’t show any fear”, the musician stood tall and shouted, “Grrr, arrrgh, f*** off, just f*** right off”, at the animal.

Remarkably, the orangutan did as it was told.

Orangutans are not native to the Caribbean, so there is a good chance it was indeed Jack the Ripper.

And Shaun, who was “smoking up to 50 rocks of crack cocaine a day” in Barbados, insists it was not a hallucination.

The album, Yes, Please!, failed to generate enough sales to justify the £150,000 spent making it and the following year the Happy Mondays broke up.

Shaun formed Black Grape in 1993 with his dancer mate Bez and rapper pal Paul “Kermit” Leveridge.

But it did not help keep him out of trouble.

During one trip to Jamaica, he and Kermit found themselves in the middle of a gun battle while trying to buy drugs.

He recalls: “I was going scoring and someone got shot, shot in the head. We just ran for it. If you’re a junkie going scoring, that’s the sort of s**t you come across.”

It was getting together with third wife Joanne which finally helped Shaun give up drugs and stop boozing.

They had dated briefly before Happy Mondays had hits, but he says: “She blew me out.”

Joanne, who now manages the TV part of his career — which has included two appearances on I’m A Celebrity . . . Get Me Out Of Here! — remained in the same circle as him.

The couple got together more than 20 years ago and married in 2010.

They have two daughters, Pearl, 17, and Lulu, 18.

Shaun, who also has four other children with previous partners, says: “She reeled me in and it’s a good job. “She didn’t let me get away with half of the stuff.

“If she hadn’t I’d have just carried on with crashing, but once I hit 40, I was determined to give up drugs anyway.”

His older children had to deal with his absences and spells in rehab.

But the youngest two have grown up in a more stable environment.

Shaun, who is also stepdad to Joanne’s son Oliver, explains: “I’ve still got two kids at home, so for the last 18 years, I’m just Dad.

“They’ve grown up coming and watching us at music festivals, and they’ve seen me in the jungle, but they’ve never seen that Shaun Ryder who’s off his nut.

“I pick them up from college and all that sort of thing, and drop them off. I’m the f***ing taxi service.

“In this house, you know, we don’t even have booze or anything, so, we’ve just been like a normal f***ing mad family for the past 18 years or whatever.”

Shaun says he did not see much of his older children and admits he was not a good dad to them.

But he says: “I’ve had really no trouble off my kids, I’ve been very lucky with the kids.”

This year is going to be an important one for Shaun.

Apart from the book and new album out next year, he is doing a Q&A tour and is on the road with Happy Mondays.

The return to the studio is due to former Creation Records label boss Alan McGee.

Shaun reveals: “I’m writing it now. Alan McGee wanted a new Mondays album, so Alan usually gets what he wants.”

When it comes out, it will be 40 years since the Manchester group’s first release in 1987.

These days various health problems, including a recent bout of pneumonia, means performing is harder than ever for Shaun.

One legal substance that has helped keep him on the road is the fat jab Ozempic.

Shaun says: “You just raid the medicine cabinet, don’t you, and get on with it, so the show must go on.

“I have an overactive thyroid, so even if I ate f***ing lettuce and tomatoes, I would be big.

“Since I started on the injections my thyroid started to get better.”

If Shaun has his way he will keep performing until the Grim Reaper finally catches up with him.

And the singer would settle for dying on stage, like the comedian Tommy Cooper.

He says: “In this game, you’re doing some Tommy Cooper style, you know what I mean?

“As long as you enjoy it, do what you do, f***ing do it and I still do.

“I’ll still make music and go play music out there until I f***ing drop dead on stage.

“It’s a good place to go, innit? To drop dead on stage, singing Kinky Afro.”

• Shaun’s new book 24 Hour Party Person is available from awaywithmedia.com.

Davina McCall and Joel Dommett hosted BBC Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day special, with the TV presenter forced to caution viewers

BBC Comic Relief’s Davina McCall found herself compelled to issue a warning to viewers just moments into the programme.

The charity fundraiser made its annual return to our telly screens on Friday (March 20) evening, as the Red Nose Day squad tackled the biggest night in comedy and entertainment.

TV favourite Davina took on presenting responsibilities, joined by co-host and close mate Joel Dommett for the entire evening’s entertainment.

They were joined by comedic luminaries such as Katherine Ryan, Nick Mohammed and Catherine Tate (reprising her role as Nan from The Catherine Tate Show).

This year’s live broadcast once again brought more energy and enthusiasm than ever before. The three-hour extravaganza kicked off with a special message from Sir Lenny Henry, who retired from his hosting duties back in 2024, and a musical number from Catherine Tate, reports Wales Online.

However, early into the proceedings, Davina found herself obliged to issue a warning to viewers when the cast of The Play that Goes Wrong provided a step-by-step guide on how to donate to Comic Relief during the show.

The programme switched to a clip of the cast performing a skit involving some perilous stunts. Following the clip, Davina began by saying: “Thank you so much to the cast of the Play that Goes Wrong. Smashing… literally.

“The actors used specially designed fake props and are all professionally trained in the art of tomfoolery.”

She cautioned: “Please do not try anything that you saw at home, especially taking a swig from the bottle marked with a warning and skull and cross bones label.” Joel chimed in: “Don’t do that.”

The charity event, held at Salford’s MediaCity, showcased sketches from Amandaland, the Bank Job featuring the dynamic This Morning pair Dermot O’Leary and Alison Hammond, and The Traitors: The Movie – The Sequel.

Communities, workplaces, schools and families have contributed to raising more than £1.6 billion over the past 41 years, benefiting over 100 million people, according to Comic Relief.

The charity has been instrumental in supporting communities by offering food, healthcare and shelter to those most in need. Meanwhile, Greg James participated in a colossal Comic Relief challenge, which saw him raise over £4million.

He embarked on his journey from Weymouth on Friday 13 March. The star endured eight gruelling days of pushing himself to the extreme, cycling through England and Wales before crossing the finish line in Edinburgh on Friday 20 March.

Comic Relief: Funny For Money is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

Inara George looks back on it now as wistfully as someone remembering a love affair or a semester abroad.

“It was at this tiny theater on Pico near LaBrea, next to a barbecue place,” she says. “Our backstage was behind the theater, so we’d sit out there wearing these crazy corseted outfits while the guy next door was smoking brisket.”

A fixture of the Los Angeles music scene known for her solo records and as half of the Bird and the Bee, George is recalling the summer she spent working as a 20-something actor in “The Wandering Whore,” a musical set in 18th century London by composer Eliot Douglass and lyricist Philip Littell that played L.A.’s Playwrights’ Arena in August 1997.

“There was a scene where I die,” George adds, “and then I get reanimated by a ghost and someone pays — I don’t know if you need to put this in the article — someone pays to have relations with me.” She sighs.

“It was just such a rich time.”

Three decades later, George’s warm feelings for that era — and especially for the duo who soundtracked it — have led to an exquisite new album, “Songs of Douglass & Littell,” on which she sets aside her own songwriting to interpret nine tunes by these under-the-radar veterans of West Coast musical theater: searching, funny, vividly emotional songs like “Tired Butterfly,” about a busy insect in search of “a little nap,” and “The Extra Nipple,” which ponders a “harsh encounter with another heart.”

Think of the record as George’s take on one of Ella Fitzgerald’s classic “Song Book” LPs from the late ’50s and early ’60s, when the jazz star was systematically enshrining the work of Cole Porter, Irving Berlin and other authors of the Great American Songbook.

“These men deserve to have some attention,” George says of Douglass and Littell, the latter of whom she’s known since she was a little girl performing in plays at Topanga Canyon’s Theatricum Botanicum. “I want to give them their flowers.”

Yet if the album is rooted in the creative awakenings of George’s youth, it’s also the 51-year-old’s way of embracing middle age.

Inspired by singers like Helen Merrill and Chet Baker — “Elis & Tom,” a 1974 duo album by Brazil’s Elis Regina and Antônio Carlos Jobim, was another touchstone — George turns on “Songs” from the Bird and the Bee’s blippy electronica and the folky pop of her solo work to a jazzier sound that puts her cool, breathy vocals amid piano, strings and horns.

“This is a grown-up record,” says George, who shares three teenage children with her husband, the movie director Jake Kasdan. “I don’t want to be making music that makes me feel like I’m trying to be younger — I wanted to make something that makes me feel my age.”

Inara George at home this month.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

The singer is at home near Griffith Park on a recent afternoon; with her kids at school and Kasdan away on a film shoot, the house is quiet, though signs of music are everywhere: a drum set, a grand piano, a guitar once owned by George’s late father, Lowell George, who founded the cult-fave L.A. rock band Little Feat and who died of a heart attack when Inara was only 4.

“As a woman, it’s a weird time in life — there’s something in-between about it,” she says. “Even the question of what do you wear. When you’re younger, you’re like, I’m gonna wear a dress — is it sexy, is it cute? Now, all of a sudden, all I want to do is wear suits.” She laughs.

Douglass, who plays piano on the new album, hears a “groundedness” in George’s singing all the more remarkable given that the arrangements represent “a new kind of school for her,” he says. “I was wondering how she would approach it, and she’s done it with such aplomb and wisdom.”

On Friday night, Douglass will accompany George — along with more than a dozen other players — in a record-release concert at Largo at the Coronet, with proceeds going to the nonprofit LA Voice, which seeks to organize voters on issues related to immigration and affordable housing.

George happily describes “Songs of Douglass & Littell” as a passion project. “I think you get to a certain point where selling a million records is not your intention,” she says. “Obviously, I wouldn’t make a record like this if I had that intention.” (Counterpoint: the arena-filling success of Laufey.)

“I’m just about the experience,” she adds, “and this has been an amazing experience.”

The experience began one night a few years ago when George hosted a wine-soaked reunion of performers who’d worked with Douglass and Littell back in the ’90s on shows like “The Wandering Whore” and “No Miracle: A Consolation,” the latter a song cycle rooted in the losses of the AIDS epidemic.

Philip Littell, from left, Eliot Douglass and Inara George.

(Thomas Heegard)

After her years of childhood dramatics at the Theatricum — Littell remembers meeting “this bird of a girl with these huge eyes” — George had gone to Boston’s Emerson College to study acting but dropped out and returned to L.A., where she eventually made her name as a musician. (In addition to the Bird and the Bee, her duo with the Grammy-winning producer Greg Kurstin, she’s also played with the Living Sisters and sung with Foo Fighters.)

Yet her postcollege stint in the experimental theater scene always stuck with her, she says. Reconnecting with Littell, whose other work includes the libretto for André Previn’s operatic adaptation of “A Streetcar Named Desire,” and Douglass, who played piano for years with Cirque du Soleil, got George thinking about how she might help preserve their music and bring it to a modern audience.

In 2024, she put together a trio for an intimate gig at Pasadena’s Healing Force of the Universe record store; her old friend Mike Andrews, who produced her solo albums, was there and told her they should record the material. Given the number of ballads she’d worked up, George asked Douglass and Littell to write a couple of new uptempo tunes; among the ones they came up with was the frisky “La Lune S’en Va.”

Does George speak French?

“Not at all,” she says, smiling. “But Philip does. It’s so fun — I was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll take it.’ I think the pronunciation’s OK.”

She and a small crew of musicians cut the album live in the studio over three days — in part an attempt to capture some energy, in part an acknowledgment of an economic reality.

“Is music just a hobby for me now? Yeah, it is,” says George, who’s putting “Songs” out through her own label, Release Me Records. “I mean, I’m spending money to do it.” She worries about the disappearance of music’s middle class even as she notes happily that “Again & Again” by the Bird and the Bee “recently had a little TikTok moment,” as she puts it. (With 86 million streams, it’s the duo’s most popular track on Spotify, followed by an ethereal cover of the Bee Gees’ “How Deep Is Your Love.”)

Yet all that seems less important to George than taking the opportunity to honor “these incredibly talented, very sensitive people” who she says shaped the artist she became.

“Their songs just mean so much to me,” she says of Douglass and Littell. “More than ever, this is the music I want to listen to.”

It’s been an eventful 12 months for Gogglebox’s Siddiqui family – from celebrating a big birthday to suffering a heartbreaking loss

The Siddiqui family are one of Gogglebox’s original stars – but the clan have had an up-and-down past 12 months away from the programme.

The beloved family joined the very first series of the Channel 4 show back in 2013, and consists of Baasit and his two brothers, Umar and Raza, as well as their father Sid. The mum, Nasreen, however, has not appeared on the show.

And it’s fair to say it didn’t take the Siddiqui family – who live in Derby – long to become firm favourites with fans.

However, the past 12 months have no doubt been a tough time for the family: from a sad death to member of the family being hospitalised.

The Siddiqui family suffers tragic death

In September 2025, the Siddiquis shared an emotional post on Instagram, revealing that their beloved cat Poppy had passed away. Alongside an image of a grey cat the caption read: “Sleep Tight Little One. Our little Diva Poppy – nearly 14 years and still didn’t feel long enough.

“A lifetime of memories we will all never forget. We hope you are reunited with your big brother Rufus and are both chasing rainbows together. Pets leave paw prints on our hearts, and memories in our souls. Sleep tight, little one.” The family received messages of sympathy from supporters following the tragic announcement.

Baasit and Mel’s anniversary

The Siddiquis had something to celebrate in October 2025 though, as Baasit and wife Mel hit a major wedding milestone. Posting on the Siddiqui family’s official Instagram account, Baasit wrote: “13 years married today, 16.5 years together – forever to go.

“Happy Anniversary to the absolute best, couldn’t do life without you. Love you xxx #weddinganniversary #anniversary #love.”

Baasit and Mel have been together for several years and are parents to a daughter named Amelia and a son named Theodore.

Raz’s horror fall

More recently, in February 2026, the family revealed that Raza had ended up in hospital and would be absent from the episode at the time. They upload a series of pictures of the TV star in hospital. In some images, he was hooked up to breathing machines.

And to explain his absence from the show, the post read: “For you eagle-eyed Goggleboxers, you may have noticed that Raza (@razathefaint) hasn’t joined us on the sofa so far this season. Sadly he had a bit of a fall, a few weeks back and cracked some ribs.”

The post said they fully expect him to return in a few weeks as he is recovering well. It went on: “He’s absolutely smashing his recovery, staying positive and keeping himself entertained with walks, telly, reading and nephew cuddles with Theodore.

“I know you guys reaching out and sending your well wishes will put a bigger smile on his face than morphine ever could. Can’t wait for all four Siddiquis to be back on team @c4gogglebox with the rest of the fab families.”

Sid’s 81st birthday

The Siddiquis celebrated a special day last month to mark dad Sid’s 81st birthday. They uploaded several family photos from over the years to Instagram, and captioned the post: “Happy Birthday Day aka Sid. Wishing you the most wonderful day! We love you xxx.”

Sid’s daughter-in-law Mel, who is married to Baasit, shared her well-wishes in the comments section, writing: “Happy birthday Sid AKA grandad. Have the best day!”

Supporters were also quick to express their affection, with one follower commenting: “Have a Wonderful Happy Birthday, may your day and year be filled with those you love, things that matter and above all joy.”

Gogglebox airs every Friday at 9pm on Channel 4

Fans of the Ryan Murphy drama were left ‘shattered’ by Episode 8, which featured Princess Diana’s death

The most recent instalment of Love Story: John F Kennedy Jr and Carolyn Bessette has left audiences “shattered”.

Followers have been gripped by the new series for over a month, exploring the high-profile romance between its leading pair.

Created by Ryan Murphy, the drama unveils John (portrayed by Paul Anthony Kelly) and Carolyn’s (Sarah Pidgeon) relationship in the years preceding their tragic deaths on July 16, 1999, after a plane crash.

Episode 8 transports audiences to August 30, 1997, capturing the hours before Princess Diana’s heart-breaking death. The Royal passed away on the 31st after a car accident in Paris.

Carolyn is deeply affected by Princess Diana’s death because she had recently been seated behind her at Gianni Versace’s funeral. She also starts fearing for her own future under public scrutiny, whilst John appears to dismiss her worries, reports the Daily Record.

Viewers have been left heartbroken by the moving episode, with one X user posting: “I’m shattered beyond words this really broke me #lovestory.”

A second contributed: “#lovestory’s last episode might kill me, poor Carolyn,” whilst a third commented: “That was an unpleasant episode #LoveStory.”

And a fourth audience member remarked: “Just finished episode 8 of Love Story and I’m in tears. Those 42 minutes flew by and hit me so deeply I cried my eyes out.”

So when can audiences return to the drama?

How many episodes are left in Love Story Season 1?

As per usual, Love Story will be ready to stream on Disney+ next Friday (March 27). Unfortunately, that episode will be the series finale.

Entitled ‘Search and Recovery’, Episode 9 sees John and Carolyn battling to keep their relationship intact. As we witnessed in the series premiere, the pair will set off on a journey to Hyannis Port, accompanied by Carolyn’s sister Lauren (Sydney Lemmon).

We observed John clarifying that he would be piloting their small aircraft, before the show reverted back to the now-wedded couple’s initial encounter.

If the most recent episode left viewers teary-eyed, we can only image how emotional the responses to the series finale will be.

Love Story: John F Kennedy Jr and Carolyn Bessette ends with Episode 9, landing on Disney+ next Friday, March 27.

The crime drama from Death in Paradise’s creator has returned to screens with its third season and viewers were delighted

The beloved mystery drama, The Marlow Murder Club, made its comeback to our TV screens with the eagerly awaited third series and viewers have declared the opening instalment “brilliant”.

Adapted from the novels by Death in Paradise creator Robert Thorogood, the programme unfolds in the charming Buckinghamshire town of Marlow.

Where retired archaeologist and amateur detective Judith Potts (Samantha Bond) joins forces with dog walker Suzie Harris (Jo Martin) and vicar’s wife Becks Starling (Cara Horgan) to crack a series of captivating crimes.

Every series has featured an array of famous faces, with the likes of Peter Davison (The Gold, Gentleman Jack), Tony Gardner (The Larkins, Last Tango in Halifax) as well as the comedy icon Harry Enfield making a guest appearance in the newest series, reports Hello.

In season three, Judith, Suzie and Becks confront a new batch of baffling mysteries, assisted by Marlow Police’s senior detective, Tanika Malik (Natalie Dew).

The synopsis reads: “From the sudden death of the town’s beloved mayor – the nicest man in Marlow – to a celebrity chef found dead at the launch of his cookbook with half the town in attendance.

“The team will be working under the watchful eye of the Marlow community.

“They’ll also be called to action at a university reunion in an eerie manor house where, in a surprising twist, Becks finds herself amongst the suspects. Could this case threaten our amateur sleuths’ roles as civilian advisors?”

This gripping drama represents cosy crime at its finest. With absorbing mysteries, ingenious plot twists and abundant charm, it’s hardly surprising that The Marlow Murder Club has become such a firm favourite with audiences.

Sharing their reaction on social media, fans have praised the programme’s much-anticipated third run as “brilliant”.

One viewer posted on X: “Last night’s #MarlowMurderClub series 3 premiere was off to a great start, brilliant stuff from Samantha bond, Cara Horgan, Jo Martin, Natalie Dew.”

Whilst another commented: “So pleased this is back on. I love it.” A third audience member commended the show as a “brilliant crime drama,” whilst another applauded the “beautiful scenery and laugh out loud moments”.

Meanwhile, the programme has garnered favourable reviews from television critics, with The Times likening the drama to “the TV equivalent of a garden wallow listening to birdsong whilst enjoying a nice cup of tea,” in its three-star assessment.

Awarding four stars, the Daily Mail praised the show as “cosy crime at its snuggest and most comforting”.

All six episodes of The Marlow Murder Club Season 3 are now available to stream on U and Channel 4.

Davina McCall has opened up about one of her concerns ahead of the Comic Relief programme due to be broadcast on the BBC and YouTube simultaneously for the first time

TV host Davina McCall has joked that she is “mildly terrified” of one of her Comic Relief colleagues.

Davina, 58, will be co-hosting Comic Relief alongside a bevvy of different comedians and television personalities and has opened up about her fears ahead of the programme this evening (Friday, March 20).

Speaking to Bella magazine, Davina said: “What’s so nice is that I’m hosting with Joel Dommett, and Joel’s actually one of my best friends!

“So, it’s great to be presenting with him. Knowing that I’m with him while also presenting with Nan (Catherine Tate) is very reassuring, because actually, I am mildly terrified of Nan, if I’m honest.”

Davina also spoke of her job in making sure all the celebrities who do appear and take part on stage don’t break any rules, including when it comes to swearing.

She added: “How I’m going to stop her from swearing, I just don’t know! Obviously ‘please do not swear’ was my catchphrase – so I’m going to have to stay on my toes.”

Davina’s opening up about being on guard and making sure everyone behaves during Comic Relief comes after the former Big Brother spoke out about her health.

Earlier this year, she backed a call by the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) to improve the understanding between menopause and mental health.

The menopause occurs when periods stop because of a drop in hormone levels. It can take place between the ages of 45 and 55, but can sometimes happen earlier. During the transitional phase, known as the perimenopause, a variety of symptoms can hit people.

Speaking about the impact of those symptoms Davina, an honorary fellow of RCPsych spoke of the wider impact of the menopause on someone’s life, reports the Independent.

Davina, who has also battled breast cancer and a brain tumour in recent years, said: “Some women sail through the menopause unscathed. But some don’t, and the impact on their mental health can be devastating and have a huge impact on their lives and their relationships.

“Together, we must make the link between mental health and menopause known across society, among health professionals, NHS, government, members of the public and employers, to improve the policies, care and support provided for all women experiencing menopause.”

Meanwhile, the Comic Relief broadcast is set to begin at around 7pm on BBC One from MediaCityUK in Salford. As well as streamed on the BBC, it will go out live on the BBC’s YouTube channel.

CHUCK Norris’ heartbreaking final post after his death has been revealed.

The 86-year-old actor died on Thursday after being hospitalized in Kauai for an undisclosed medical incident.

“I don’t age. I level up,” the actor captioned a video of him sparring with boxing gloves on.

“I’m 86 today! Nothing like some playful action on a sunny day to make you feel young. I’m grateful for another year, good health and the chance to keep doing what I love.

“Thank you all for being the best fans in the world. Your support through the years has meant more to me than you’ll ever know.”

The actor turned 86 on March 10.

GOODBYE, TEXAS RANGER

Chuck Norris dead at 86 after suffering ‘medical emergency’ in Hawaii

STILL FIGHTING

Legendary actor Chuck Norris ‘rushed to hospital’ after ‘medical emergency’

The medical emergency that landed him in the hospital reportedly happened suddenly and unexpectedly.

TMZ reported earlier in the week Chuck was training in Hawaii with friends, as shown in his final video.

The actor’s family confirmed his death in a social media statement.

“It is with heavy hearts that our family shares the sudden passing of our beloved Chuck Norris yesterday morning,” the statement, posted on his Instagram, began.

“While we would like to keep the circumstances private, please know that he was surrounded by his family and was at peace.

“To the world, he was a martial artist, actor, and a symbol of strength. To us, he was a devoted husband, a loving father and grandfather, an incredible brother, and the heart of our family.”

The family continued, “He lived life with faith, purpose, and an unwavering commitment to the people he loved. Through his work, discipline, and kindness, he inspired millions around the world and left a lasting impact on so many lives.

“While our hearts are broken, we are deeply grateful for the life he lived and for the unforgettable moments we were blessed to share with him.

“The love and support he received from fans around the world meant so much to him, and our family is truly thankful for it. To him, you were not just fans, you were his friends.

More to follow… For the latest news on this story, keep checking back at The U.S. Sun, your go-to destination for the best celebrity news, sports news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures, and must-see videos.

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Spring is the season of creation, a time of renewal and new beginnings. In Los Angeles, alas, we were, last spring, a city of cinders. It was a time to mourn.

A hard year followed with floods, ICE, AI, etc., menacing our native optimism. Making matters worse, in December we lost L.A.’s grand visionary vizier, the architect who time and again built us out of civic funk and transformed L.A., inspiring the city he so loved to look good, feel good and do good.

But that is still the case. So many plans Frank Gehry imagined for L.A. still remain. Gehry bequeathed blueprints and models, sketches and concepts, for his large and devoted team of younger architects and next-generation visionaries equipped to fabricate our way out of angst.

Isn’t there supposed to be an Olympics on the way for which the city appears ill-prepared? Spring 2026 is the time to build.

A couple of springs ago, L.A. County dubbed the blocks around Gehry’s masterpiece, Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Grand Avenue Cultural District. This includes the rest of the Music Center, Museum of Contemporary Art, the Broad and Colburn School. The Grand, Gehry’s resplendent complex across the street from Disney, had recently opened and ground was about to be broken for the Colburn Center, a 1,000-seat concert hall equipped to also serve dance, opera and whatever yet-to-be-invented genres Gehry designed it to enable.

The Colburn Center is well on its way to completion next year. Bits of the building’s pink skin have started to peek out like spring blossoms on the construction site at 2nd and Olive. The Broad has begun an expansion. But after two years, nothing else has been done to make this the cultural district it must become, one unlike anything else in any city.

Four springs ago I toured Grand Avenue with Gehry to gather what he had in mind for an arts district. When Disney Hall opened in 2003, it instantly became an enduring symbol of L.A., overtaking the Hollywood sign in many cases. The Dodgers want to parade joy in winning their second World Series in row last October, where else but in front of Disney? But not in front of all Gehry had in mind.

We will soon have a pair of futuristic new museum buildings to show off this year: the David Geffen Galleries, the controversial Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Peter Zumthor building (I predict it will prove a sensation), and the new Lucas Museum of Narrative Art (no predictions on that one) next door to the Coliseum. But the fact that each is a 15-minute ride away from the cultural district’s new Metro station only makes the district even more of a center.

A center, indeed. Gehry’s vision included completing the original plans cost-cut out of Disney a quarter-century ago, along with new modifications and much more throughout the area. Some are more costly than others. Enough could be done on Grand Avenue in time for the Olympics to make a difference if we begin this minute.

Since its opening, Disney has been — shamefully — the most poorly lit building of its stature in the world. Gehry had chosen the specific steel for its capacity to reflect light. His idea was to project on the building whatever concert was taking place that night. No sound, just imagery. Belt-tighteners didn’t want to commit the $2 or $3 million or whatever and go through the trouble.

It was spectacularly tested at the hall’s 10th anniversary, but with tacky prerecorded video and crummy amplification. Facilities are now included in the Grand for projectors. It would have been amazing in 2003 and will be amazing now. The Grand has been disappointingly slow to attract the restaurants, bars, cafes and shops it needs to create a scene. The projections could change all that and even create enough of a ruckus to get a reluctant, car-crazed city to make that Grand Avenue block pedestrian.

There is much more for Disney. Gehry wanted to turn BP Hall, where preconcert talks occur, into a small chamber music hall with a suspended balcony. He had plans for reconfiguring the seldom-used small outdoor Keck Amphitheater into an enclosed jazz club for Herbie Hancock and turning the little-used 1st Street entrance into a glass-enclosed bar that would be named the Ernest, in tribute to Ernest Fleischmann, the L.A. Phil executive director who was responsible for building Disney.

Disney was supposed to have a pit for the orchestra, allowing for staging opera and dance. The plans exist. That could be done in a summer for a couple million. Bottom-liners had also nixed Gehry’s original design for a more gracious lobby with a cafe out front, not the gloomy one installed against his will.

The Colburn Center has the potential for being another game changer for the area, a vibrant new hall where we are promised upward of 200 events a year from all walks of musical life, local and international. But Gehry had in mind even more.

He intended to lower the steep and pedestrian unfriendly 2nd Street hill, so that it would be an easy walk from the new Metro station two blocks away, and add two more pedestrian blocks by diverting traffic to the 2nd Street tunnel. This would connect the cultural district with Grand Central Market on one end and the Broad on the other. Then 2nd could itself become a lively street with the stores and restaurants a “district” needs.

A model of architect Frank Gehry’s design of an addition for Colburn School.

(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)

The extraordinary original plans for the Colburn Center included turning the parking lot across 2nd from the hall into a public plaza with a giant video wall and high-end outdoor sound system, for projecting nightly concerts in the hall. Gehry was a devoted outdoor-indoor architect, and he designed for the hall a balcony on which musicians can perform.

That initiative has thus far been blocked by City Hall officials, fearful of the tunnel’s aging infrastructure. Although if that’s the case, I’m not all that eager to be in the tunnel as it currently is when the Big One comes along. This is where L.A. shows its moxie. Upgrade the tunnel. Now! If this were Beijing, New Delhi or Hanoi, it would be a no-brainer.

Gehry next proposed building low-cost artist housing in Grand Park directly across from the Music Center, which would further create a true arts community. There has been talk of renovating the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion for three decades and that’s all it’s been. The corporate-esque recent Music Center plaza could use a little excitement, maybe a Phase II.

Arts make a city. The Edinburgh Festival in Scotland was created after World War II to help bring the city back to life. After its fire-bombing, Tokyo founded a bevy of symphony orchestras as a phenomenal experiment in mass antidepression. Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony played no small role in lifting the collective mood, preparing Tokyo to create what now feels like the world’s most arresting capital.

Unlike Scotland, unlike England, unlike Germany, unlike France, unlike Italy, unlike Poland, unlike Russia, unlike Finland, unlike the Czech Republic, unlike China, unlike any number of countries, America has no major international arts festival these days. We had one in L.A. in 1984 with the Olympic Arts Festival. The Cultural Olympiad in 2028 has shown no bones. But if we make the cultural district what it could be, there would be no better place anywhere for a major festival.

We have the goods. L.A. artists helped make the modern Salzburg Festival the meaningful model for all others. In 1992, the summer before Esa-Pekka Salonen became music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, he and the orchestra were invited to shake up clinging Austrian tradition. With the help of director Peter Sellars, they staged Messiaen’s epic opera “Saint François d’Assise,” with pyramids of televisions, resulting in music and monitors upending, in Mozart’s hometown, the role of the modern opera and, so to speak, the sound of music.

Over succeeding decades, both Sellars and Salonen have been Salzburg Festival lodestars. Last summer they were back staging two monodramas, Schoenberg’s “Erwartung” and “Abschied” (the last movement of Mahler’s symphonic song cycle “Das Lied von der Erde”). Conductor and director looked with shocking depth into the “Expectation” of death and gave a “Farewell” to the “Song of the Earth” we all await. I saw it twice and can’t imagine how anyone came away from it quite the same person, not more alive, not more fragile. Art on the stage doesn’t get deeper than “One Morning Turns Into an Eternity,” as Sellars named the production. Salonen, who conducted the production with Vienna Philharmonic, is now about to become the L.A. Phil creative director in the fall and will bring the production to Disney with the L.A. Phil next season. It is thus far the most important opera news of next season in America. All the more reason to build that pit in the hall and get started on much bigger plans.

Salzburg, which manages to come up with around $80 million from here and there, also helped with the question I’ve evaded: Who’s going to pay for all this? I’ve evaded it because it’s the wrong question. Money only started pouring into the building of Disney Hall when people got wind of what it was going to become. Five years ago, Crypto.com paid more than $700 million to change the name of Staples Center. That amount, which created nothing but an advertisement for a product of dubious value to society, is the price of two Walt Disney Concert Halls and probably all of Gehry’s projects put together. It is the amount that could fund nearly nine Salzburg-scale festivals.

If we let ourselves believe that L.A. wealth only cares for mega-crypto advertising, mega-mansions and mega-yachts, then L.A. is over. It isn’t. Do we want to show only that to the world? Downtown, and prominently Crypto.com Arena in L.A. Live, have been designated a center for LA28, as we’re calling the Olympics. That makes a graciously glorifying cultural district, which functions as creation being existential not commercial, just up the road from L.A. Live, L.A. live.

When one morning turns into an eternity, you don’t ask for the bill.

The winners of Jonathan Ross’ new Channel 4 reality series, Handcuffed: Last Pair Standing, appeared on Friday’s Good Morning Britain

Channel 4 recently aired a new reality series that saw 18 people chained to someone who is their polar opposite for as long as they can manage, all in an effort to win a £100,000 prize.

Hosted by Jonathan Ross, Handcuffed: Last Pair Standing, saw nine couples forced to spend their every moment together, bound by a pair of handcuffs.

They slept in the same bed, showered together and even used the toilet in close proximity with their new companion.

Earlier this week, viewers saw Staffordshire porn star Rob, 32, and West Sussex homemaker Charlie, 44, who is a self-professed prude, make it all the way to the end, winning the show and a suitcase bulging with £100,000.

Appearing on Friday’s Good Morning Britain, the duo spoke about their time on the show and winning the programme. As per the reality series, GMB decided to handcuff the duo together for their interview.

Host, Ranvir Singh, said: “I’m afraid we’ve handcuffed you again… to really, like, hammer home the point that you were handcuffed.”

Talking about how they got involved with the show and if they knew what it was about, Charlie admitted: “I didn’t find out for quite a while!

“They approached me, found me on TikTok, and said, ‘We’re casting for a social experiment. We’re bringing two opposing worlds together, and we think you’d be great.’

“So I said to the family, ‘I’ve just had this message, what do you think?’ They were like, ‘Yeah, you’d be great, mum, go for it!’ Then it was down the line, weeks down the line, they said the show was called Handcuffed.

“[I thought I was getting involved in] a social experiment to bring two different worlds together and see if they could work together. I knew it would be a challenge, but I didn’t realise…”

It was a similar story for Rob, who recalled: “I was reached out on Instagram and I was like, in 2025, for me, was a Yes Man year. I don’t know if you’ve seen the film Jim Carrey Yes Man.

“That year, for me, was just like, whatever comes at me, I’m going to say yes to it and I did. I thought, you know what, I don’t care what it is, I’m just going for it and that’s what I did.”

Talking about why they think they won the show, Rob said: “Respect! Respect and communication, I think they’re the two biggest things.”

To which Charlie added: “And kindness. Rob was really kind and thoughtful and made the whole thing easier from the first moment.”

Good Morning Britain continues on weekdays at 6am on ITV and ITV X.

There is no such thing as a day of rest for artist Kenny Scharf, not even Sunday. “I wake up super early. It’s still dark outside,” the Los Angeles native says.

Rising before the sun anchors his active day. “I always have to keep moving,” Scharf says. “Otherwise, I’ll get very depressed.”

An avid hiker and swimmer, Scharf, 67, also maintains a disciplined yoga practice and cycles daily from his Culver City home to his Inglewood studio. There almost everything serves as a canvas, including painted trash doubling as decor and the silkscreened couch on which he’s seated.

In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.

“I don’t like to waste good paint and silkscreen ink. Why wash it? We apply it everywhere until we use it up,” Scharf says.

Scharf, who grew up in the Valley before making his way to New York City, first gained acclaim in the ‘80s East Village art scene alongside his friends and contemporaries Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring, his former roommate. The trio also befriended Andy Warhol, who predicted Scharf’s fame.

Renowned for his self-coined “pop surrealism,” Scharf often populates his bold, colorful work with grinning cartoon faces, elastic blobs, and sci-fi creatures floating through cosmic landscapes. Anxieties about overconsumption and environmental degradation lie beneath the playfulness.

Like their creator, Scharf’s works are always on the move, either rolling down the street on the cars he’s painted — featured in his recently published book “Karbombz!” — or traveling to forthcoming exhibitions in Wuhan, Tokyo and Paris.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for length and clarity.

5:30 a.m.: Wake up and feed the cats.

My cats, Cutie and Socks — one’s a tabby and the other is a tuxedo cat — wake me up by mewing and walking on me. They’re like, “Hey, I’m hungry.” So I get up and crack open the cans. They like that disgusting, smelly canned food. And then they go out into the yard.

I got the cats because I went to New York for a show. I was gone for five days and I live next to a park, so there are a lot of animals. I came back and my entire house was overrun by mice. I was like, “What the hell am I gonna do? I need cats.” The mice are gone and now I have these cats. They’re so cute and so much fun. They take over my life.

6 a.m.: Detox

I make lemon and hot water. It’s a good way to start the day and clear out the toxins. Right now, I have a lot of citrus because Ed Ruscha’s studio is across the street from my house, and in the back of the studio he has a citrus farm. I go there, especially during this time of year, and get bags of citrus. It’s like a farm community in the middle of L.A. I love L.A. because you can surround yourself with trees and gardens and kind of pretend that you’re not living in a giant metropolitan area.

8:30 a.m.: Iyengar yoga

An Iyengar yoga instructor comes to my house. I find Iyengar is great for aging. You use ropes and gravity to hang and do different things, using your body weight so you can relax into the positions. I also have a swing to go upside down on. When people walk into my living room, they go, “What’s going on here?” because of the ropes on the wall.

In the summer, I’ll go to the beach in Venice and swim in the ocean. It’s wonderful when I’m out in the water. It’s cathartic and cleansing, and sometimes I see dolphins. I’ll go early in the morning before the crowds come.

11:30 a.m.: Mar Vista Farmers’ Market

It’s fun to go there with my daughter Zena, who’s a chef, and my grandkids. We stroll around and get food. All the food stands are delicious. I grew up here in L.A., so I’m into Mexican food. I don’t really want to eat American food. I’m not into hamburgers. I want all the stuff with the culture. I like hot and spicy.

I also buy apples and berries, whatever I can’t grow, because I grow my own food at home.

And I buy stuff from an Indian man who sells Chyawanprash, which is kind of a jam. It’s really concentrated and like an elixir. He also sells Shilajit, which almost looks like tar. You put a little bit under your tongue and it dissolves, and it’s got like every single mineral in it.

2 p.m.: Painting at the studio

I’m painting seven days a week, but I really love coming here on Sundays because nobody’s here and the phone doesn’t ring. Sometimes, my granddaughter, Lua, will come. She paints. Upstairs at the studio I have a little painting area with easels for my grandkids, but my grandson, Jet, isn’t that into painting. I do my work, and Lua’s up there keeping herself busy painting, and it’s great.

Kenny Scharf in his paint-splattered studio he bikes to every day.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

5 p.m.: Hike

The easiest one is right behind my house. It goes up to the top of the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook where the [Culver City] Stairs go. It’s one of the best views in all of L.A. You can see from the airport to the ocean, downtown, Mount Baldy. You can see almost all the way to Palm Springs, Mount San Gorgonio. The view is amazing.

We also hike a lot in Kenneth Hahn [State Recreation Area].

My grandkids often like to go on a waterfall hike, so there are a couple in Malibu. There are also a couple over in the San Gabriel [Mountains]. We’ll get into the car and drive an hour and hike.

6:30 p.m.: Dinner at a restaurant

Zena, Lua and Jet live close to me, so we have dinner together at least three or four times a week. Because Zena’s a chef, we don’t go out to eat that often, but sometimes we go to a restaurant called Madre that I love. It’s on National [Boulevard]. The food is so good. They often have squash blossoms. They fry them and put a little cheese in them.

I also love Gjelina in Venice. Sometimes I take people from Europe there because it is quintessential California. All the food they make is from the farmers market, so you get a tomato salad with incredible tomatoes.

8 p.m.: Read

I just finished Patti Smith’s latest book, “Bread of Angels.” It’s beautiful. I love her. I saw her perform at Disney Hall recently, and she was selling this book. I actually saw her perform at the Santa Monica Civic [Auditorium] when I was 19. I’d been wanting to move to New York for a lot of reasons, but when I saw her performance, it was, “I’m moving there.” There was so much energy in her.

9 p.m.: Bedtime

Usually I’m in bed by 9 and asleep by 10. When I was young, I was very involved in nightlife. I was working in nightclubs, all of my friends were in nightclubs, so I lived that big time. But now I’m jaded. I don’t want to sound above it all, but I don’t see anything going on that I’m getting excited about the way it was. And I’m not a nostalgic person, so I choose not to go out. I’m happier getting a good night’s sleep.