SHOW BIZ

EXCLUSIVE: Death in Paradise star Don Gilet has teased the return of a familiar face in Sunday night’s Christmas special

Don Gilet, known for his role as Mervin Wilson in the BBC series Death in Paradise, has hinted at the reappearance of a well-known character in the upcoming Christmas special. In an exclusive chat with Reach PLC and other media outlets, Don gave a sneak peek into what viewers can anticipate from the festive episode airing this Sunday.

Without revealing too much, Don hinted that fans should brace themselves for the return of a familiar face – a speculation some fans believe they’ve already figured out.

He revealed, “It’s a very interesting thing to think about that one of the characters, who is the beating heart of this whole thing that has been there from the beginning, the thought that, from a character perspective, they may not be there anymore, and what hole that leaves.

“Because I suppose, in terms of family, they are the closest thing, and then to think, Mervin is back to feeling like an orphan again, just when he’s starting to embrace what Saint Marie has to offer.”

Speaking on the UK crossover in the holiday episode, Don added, “I think it’s great to see what the UK looks like at the very same time as Mervin is solving crimes in the beautiful sunshine,” reports the Express.

This revelation follows Don Warrington’s surprise cameo in Beyond Paradise’s Christmas special last weekend. Warrington, who portrays Commissioner Selwyn Pattison in Death in Paradise, was seen reuniting with Humphrey Goodman (played by Kris Marshall) and Martha Lloyd (portrayed by Sally Bretton) as the pair finally tied the knot.

The episode concluded with Selwyn receiving a phone call from Mervin, hinting at the Commissioner’s appearance in the upcoming festive episode.

Fans took to a Facebook fan page to share their theories and excitement. One viewer exclaimed, “What a surprise ending and lead into DIP Christmas special.”

Another chimed in, “Should be interesting, looking forward to it.”

A third fan added, “Loved the crossover with Selwyn involved.”

Yet another commented, “Intriguing about the Commissioner’s phone message, and hopefully we will find out in the DIP Christmas special.”

The synopsis for the Christmas episode teases: “The office Christmas party of a lifetime takes a dark turn when four co-workers wake up to find a stranger dead in the pool of their Caribbean villa.

“DI Mervin Wilson and the team identify the murder weapon, but they’re left baffled when they find that it was locked in a drawer when the murder took place… thousands of miles away from the crime scene, in Swindon!”

“Stranded in Saint Marie, the team enlists the help of a familiar face to solve the case. Meanwhile, Mervin anxiously awaits news from his newly discovered brother, which hinders him from fully embracing the Christmas festivities of Saint Marie. Can Mervin resolve his family situation and get into the festive spirit – for the sake of his team and the island?”

Death in Paradise is set to air on Sunday at 8.30pm on BBC One.

**For the latest showbiz, TV, movie and streaming news, go to the new **Everything Gossip** website**

TYLER Perry is facing a second sexual assault claim from an actor who is seeking $77 million in a new lawsuit.

Mario Rodriguez, who had a minor role in Tyler’s 2016 movie Boo! A Madea Halloween, has alleged the actor sexually assaulted him and made unwanted sexual advances while promising him future movie roles.

The model is being represented by attorney Jonathan J. Delshad, who also represented Derek Dixon, another actor who made allegations against the 56-year-old earlier this year.

However, Tyler’s attorney has claimed the lawsuit is a “failed money grab.”

Alex Spiro said in a statement: “Having recently failed in another matter against Mr. Perry, the very same lawyer has now made yet another demand from more than a decade ago which will also be a failed money grab.”

According to PEOPLE, who obtained the lawsuit, Mario has alleged that he was approached by a trainer while at a gym in Los Angeles who said Tyler wanted to meet him.

He said that the two ended up having a conversation on the phone and he was offered the role of Frat Guy #10 in the Halloween film.

The lawsuit alleges that in November 2018, Perry allegedly “grabbed [Rodriguez’s] penis” and he “repeatedly told Mr Perry to stop” and he had to “physically struggle to get away”.

Mario goes on to claim that Perry would allegedly tell him to “let it happen” and “if you were to be with me, I would take care of you.”

The lawsuit claims that after two incidents, Tyler reportedly apologized, handed him $5,000 “and sent him away”.

The pair allegedly had their final encounter in April 2019 where Mario has claimed: “More than ever before, it was clear that Mr. Perry would do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted, to whomever he wanted no matter how many times he was rejected.”

The U.S. Sun have contacted Tyler’s representatives for a comment.

The lawsuit comes after the media mogul was sued by actor Derek Dixon after the pair two worked together on his show, The Oval.

Derek accused Tyler of sexual assault, sexual harassment and sexual battery, with his team denying all allegations and labelling the lawsuit as a “scam”.

The Hollywood star was officially handed the papers at his lavish mansion on August 25.

The filing listed his description and stated he received the documents while he was home at 2:29 pm.

His lawyer Matthew Boyd said in a statement at the time: “This is an individual who got close to Tyler Perry for what now appears to be nothing more than setting up a scam.

“Tyler will not be shaken down, and we are confident these fabricated claims of harassment will fail.”

Derek, who is seeking $260 million in damages, originally filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles Supreme Court.

However, it’s since been transferred to federal court in Georgia, where Tyler Perry Studios is headquartered.

Following a $1-billion-grossing, Oscar-winning smash could have left writer and director Jared Bush and director Byron Howard feeling like rabbits in the headlights, but they seem to have outfoxed the challenge. “Zootopia 2” has already stampeded past $1 billion to surpass its predecessor, and the awards nominations have just begun slithering in. But how did the sequel survive such high expectations, stay as socially relevant as the original and navigate the peril of too many cooks in the kitchen?

“Animation’s a team sport,” says Howard, referring to the sheer number of people who worked on the film over five years. “It’s 700 in the crew, but in this building, it’s about 1,000 and another 300 in Vancouver. So it’s everyone’s collective ideas, saying, ‘Here’s where we can do better.’ So everyone has skin in the game and they all want these movies to be great. It’s an emotional investment.”

The creative team screened “Zootopia 2” for all of Disney Animation multiple times in various stages of development. A feedback system enabled every employee to respond.

Bush says Disney regularly seeks internal reactions after screenings, “but we asked way more direct questions for this one, like at an audience preview. Then we shared that feedback, unfiltered, with the entire building. That allowed people to see that their feedback mattered because you could actually see ideas that came in [manifest] from screening to screening.”

Bush and Howard acknowledge that having that many collaborators keeps the inspiration flowing but also allows fragments of the colossal group brain to sneak into the film unnoticed. Even they aren’t sure where all the in-jokes are planted.

A “story jam” — reminiscent of a TV writers room — was just one of many avenues for collaboration in the making of “Zootopia 2.”

(Disney)

Like its predecessor, the sequel is packed with movie references and animal puns — “A Moose Bouche”; “Gnu Jersey” — and the directors are quick to spread the credit (or blame). “ ‘A Moose Bouche’ — we’ve gotten emails about that one,” says Howard. “Cory Loftis, our production designer, came up with it.”

There’s a “Star Wars” cantina bit, a soupçon of James Bond in the score at a fancy gala and dashes of Steven Spielberg in the camerawork. It’s easy to spot “Ratatouille” when an animal chef is revealed to have a rat under its hat, but Bush asserts there’s a second reference in that moment — the animal declaring “I knew it!” isn’t just any raccoon, but “Raccacoonie” from “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” That character is itself a “Ratatouille” reference (and, Bush points out, “EEAAO’s” Oscar-winning supporting actor Ke Huy Quan voices “Zootopia 2’s” lead snake, Gary). So it’s a reference coupled with another reference to another film’s reference to the first reference. Whew.

Those Easter eggs, including an extended callback to Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining” — the realization of which they credit to animator Louaye Moulayess, a “Shining” superfan — speak to a willingness to cater to audiences beyond kids. Presumably, most children attending “Zootopia 2” haven’t watched Kubrick’s film. That’s a shoutout to the grown-ups for bringing the kids and, hopefully, discussing the historical practice of redlining with them after the show.

Byron Howard, left, and Jared Bush.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

The first “Zootopia” was not notable just for funny talking animals but also the fact that the funny animals were talking about bigotry and stereotyping. Perceptive viewers may have noticed a mammalian bias in the original — there were no reptiles to be found in its near-perfect society. It turns out they were discriminated against as a class and denied their rightful place as residents, as we learn in “Zootopia 2.” Bush said that concept fit right in with “continuing this discussion about how we as human beings have a hard time looking past each other’s differences.”

Howard says the diversity-as-strength theme plays out not just in grand terms but also in the dynamic between the two protagonists, Judy (a rabbit, voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin) and Nick (a fox, voiced by Jason Bateman): “Nick and Judy are such different, contrast[ing] characters that are really stronger [together] because of those differences, and that speaks to something we really value, which is differences between each other as a working pair,” he gestures to Bush and himself. “We continue to thrive in that way.”

Howard agrees with the comparison of him and Bush to conductors of a giant orchestra, listening for notes being played just right. He thinks of composer Michael Giacchino “onstage with those virtuosos at their respective instruments; we work with masters all around us, so we have a lot of trust in them.”

However, he admits with all those voices, “Writers have a tough time here because we scrutinize these movies and redo them over and over and over again. Jared is a great example of someone who thrives in this environment.”

Bush, explaining he came from the culture of TV sitcoms and all their constant revisions in writers rooms, says, “We have this amazing luxury of being able to rewrite and rethink and absorb these better ideas over years. It is an extreme luxury.

“There’s nothing else like this in Hollywood that I’ve seen — that level of deep collaboration and iteration. There’s no place I’m ever going to be that I will love as much as this.”

EastEnders flashes forward to New Year’s Eve 2026 showing Max Branning getting married, but even the cast don’t know who the bride will be

New Year’s Eve in Walford is always more explosive than a firework display, but this year is set to bring a fresh set of mysteries to its celebrations, as EastEnders jumps a year into the future.

During the Christmas specials, viewers watched as Chrissie Watts (Tracy Ann-Oberman) revealed she’d been the one tormenting Zoe Slater (Michelle Ryan). But now the countdown to New Year’s Eve is on, and it’s all about the Brannings.

In the upcoming episode, the show will flash forward a year in time to New Year’s Eve 2026. As Walford prepares to ring in 2027, Max Branning (Jake Wood) is getting married. But to whom? What does his daughter Lauren (Jacqueline Jossa) think? And what has his year been like up until then?

Ahead of the New Year’s episode, Mirror hears from Jake and Jacqueline. “I think Max is probably at an all-time low on New Year’s Eve,” Jake says. It’s not hard to imagine – in the lead up to Christmas, Max discovered he had a secret daughter that Lauren had lied to him about. “And then we go into the flash forward and it’s in such stark contrast. So see a man who’s maybe at his lowest we’ve ever seen him and then we flash forward and things are maybe not quite as bad.”

He added that he was really excited about new love interests who will be introduced for his character and shared that even he didn’t know who his character would marry in 2027.

Fans have already started speculating about it, especially as a drunken Max slept with Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins) over Christmas. Some wonder if Cindy, who didn’t realise it was Max, will be the bride – despite the fact that she blames Max for her son Stephen’s death.

Jake’s onscreen daughter Jacqueline Jossa also said she had “so many questions” and that none of the cast know who Max is set to marry. “I haven’t got a clue so we’ll find out next year probably with all of you lot.”

She revealed that though she got a full script for the New Year’s episode, it had so many gaps, she still didn’t know what would happen in 2026. “Obviously we’ll get the answers as we go which means every time I get a script now, I’m looking for the answer.” But this wasn’t easy: “There’s so many questions and no answers.”

Over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, viewers watched as Jasmine (Indeyarna Donaldson-Holness) met up with Chrissie Watts (Tracy-Ann Oberman), revealing that the evil murderer was the true mastermind tormenting Zoe ( Michelle Ryan ). Why did the two team up? Jasmine felt abandoned by the mother who walked out on her and her brother when she was an infant, and Chrissie felt Zoe hadn’t paid for her part in Den Watts’ (Leslie Grantham) murder 20 years ago.

Since she returned, Zoe, who believed her daughter had died, has been looking for her son – something Jasmine has resented. But some fans think all Zoe will find is a grave. Writing on Reddit, one fan said, “I said it on another thread, but I think the boy twin is dead.

“I think he’ll have needed a transplant of some sort, and Jasmine wasn’t a match – but Zoe could have been. But because she abandoned the babies at the hospital and they had no record of her, no one was able to find her, and the twin died. Hence why Jasmine is angry as f***.”

Fans replied to the post, agreeing it was an “interesting theory”. If true, it could explain why Zoe’s private investigator never managed to find any further details about her son and his current whereabouts.

Jasmine hasn’t yet offered any new information about her brother or her life before arriving in Walford a few months ago. Nor has she revealed why she has been so obsessed with Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins).

Now, the New Year will focus on Max Branning and the flash forward episode.

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We might rarely get to see snowfall in Los Angeles, but logging onto social media in December means the arrival of a different kind of flurry. The one where our friends, both close and parasocial, excitedly share the year-end music-listening data dumps of their Spotify Wrapped.

Spotify Wrapped only represents the culmination of our listening habits on a single music platform, but every shared Wrapped post seems to come with some self-evident clarity about our personal identity. Spotify Wrapped bares our souls and provides us the opportunity to see ourselves deconstructed via our musical inclinations. By most accounts, it’s an irresistible delight. Oh, Spotify, you rascal, you’ve got us pegged.

For anyone in Los Angeles, 2025 has been one hell of a year to get the Wrapped treatment. We’re still processing the aftermath of the devastating Eaton and Palisades fires — and haunted by ICE raids and the federal administration’s ceaseless attacks on California. Not to mention Jimmy Kimmel getting silenced.

Maybe it’s not such a bad idea to take that temperature check.

But listening to music can be a passive experience — one enjoyed in tandem with folding laundry, or driving a car. To really learn about ourselves and how our year has been, we might want to turn elsewhere, to a habit with more intention. I’m talking, of course, about reading.

While there’s apps for tracking our reading habits, like StoryGraph or Goodreads, I’m devoted to a wholly analogue tracking method that’s helped me churn through books faster and with more intent than ever before: the book stack.

Starting every January, whenever I finish a book, I place it sidelong atop a shelf in the corner of my living room. With each new book I conquer, the stack gets taller, eventually becoming a full tower by December. A book stack, low on analytics, can’t tell me the total number of pages I’ve read, or how many minutes I spent reading, but it’s a tangible monument to my year’s reading progress. Its mere presence prods me into reading more. It calls me a chump when the stack is low and cheers for me when it reaches toward the ceiling.

My first book stack started in 2020, a wry joke to demonstrate the extra time we could all devote to reading books during a pandemic. The joke barely worked. I ended up reading just 19 books that year, only a few more than I had the previous year (though it could’ve been more if one of those books wasn’t “Crime and Punishment”).

Still, the book stack model gamified my reading habits and now I give books time I didn’t feel I had before. I bring books to bars, movie theaters and the DMV. If ever I have to wait around somewhere, you better believe I’ll come armed with a book.

The pandemic may have waned, but my book stack count continued to climb, peaking in 2023 after reading 52 books, averaging one per week.

But, hey, it’s about quality, not quantity, right? If there’s a quality to be gleaned from my 2025 book stack, you’d see that I’ve been looking for hot tips on how to survive times of extreme authoritarian rule. Some were more insightful than others.

In the stack was Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward’s “All the President’s Men,” a landmark true story about two intrepid reporters who brought down the president of the United States by repeatedly bothering people at their homes for information. Fascinating as it is, it also feels like a relic from a time when doing something like that could still work. Philip Roth’s “The Plot Against America” tells the story of a Jewish New Jersey family in an alternate timeline where an “America First” Charles Lindbergh beats Franklin Roosevelt in the 1940 presidential election, ignoring the threat of Hitler in Europe and giving way to a rise in antisemitism at home. Roth paints a dreary portrait of how that scenario could have played out, but the horrors are resolved by something of a deus ex machina rather than by any one character’s bold, heroic actions. Then there’s Anthony Doerr’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “All the Light We Cannot See,” about the converging stories of a German boy enlisted in Hitler’s army and a blind French girl during World War II. Sadly, this novel reads less like a book about living under fascist rule than a thirsty solicitation to become source material for Steven Spielberg’s next movie.

Each of these titles have merit, but this year’s book stack had two gems for anyone who wants to know how best to resist tyranny. Pointedly, there was Timothy Snyder’s tidy pocket-sized handbook “On Tyranny” filled with 20 short but fortifying chapters of practical wisdom like “Do not obey in advance,” “Defend institutions” and “Believe in truth.” Each is applicable to our current moment, informed by historical precedent set by communist and fascist regimes of the past century. This book — well over a million copies sold — came out at the start of Trump’s first term in 2017, so I came a little late to this party. The fact that Snyder himself moved to Canada this year should give us all pause.

Practical advice can also be found in great fiction, and on that front I found comfort and instruction in Hans Fallada’s “Alone in Berlin” (a.k.a. “Every Man Dies Alone”), based on the true story of a married couple living in Berlin during World War II who wrote postcards urging resistance against the Nazi regime and secretly planted them in public places for random people to discover. Under their extreme political conditions, this small act of civil disobedience means risking death. Not only is the story riveting, there’s also great pleasure in seeing the mayhem each postcard causes and how effective they are at exposing the subordinate class of fascists for what they truly are: nitwits.

Also notable in “Alone in Berlin” is the point of view of both the author and his fictional heroes. Neither a target of persecution, nor a military adversary, Fallada nevertheless endured the amplified hardships of living under Nazi rule during World War II. His trauma was still fresh while writing this book and it’s evident in his prose. He survived just long enough to write and publish “Alone in Berlin” before dying in 1947 at the age of 53.

If I’ve learned anything from these books, it’s that it’s in our best interest to not be afraid. Tyrants feed on fear and expect it. A citizenry without fear is much harder to control. That’s why we need to raise our voices against provocations of our rights, always push back, declare wrong things to be wrong, get in the way, annoy the opposition, and allow yourself to devote time to do things for your own enjoyment.

And in that spirit, my book stack also includes a fair amount of palate cleansers in the mix: Jena Friedman’s “Not Funny,” short stories by Nikolai Gogol, Jhumpa Lahiri’s “The Namesake” (whose main character is named after Gogol), and a pair of Kurt Vonnegut novels. Though it’s hard to read Vonnegut without stumbling upon some apropos nuggets of wisdom, like this one from his novel “Slapstick:” “Fascists are inferior people who believe it when somebody tells them they’re superior.”

Zachary Bernstein is a writer, editor and songwriter. He’s working on his debut novel about a poorly managed remote island society.

Christmas is behind us, and the New Year is bearing down on us with alarming speed. It’s hard to believe that it has been almost a full year since the devastating fires erupted in Altadena and the Pacific Palisades, sending many of us, our neighbors and friends fleeing to far corners of the state to escape the flames and smoke.

That tragic week marked the beginning of 2025 and the dawn of the second Trump term, ushering in a year that would challenge us in more ways than could have been imagined at the end of 2024.

As I look back on all the stories that The Times’ arts team covered over the last 12 months, it’s notable that the fires and Trump’s effect on the arts dominated the top of the most-read list. But there were also joyful stories about the people, shows and trends that shaped the cultural narrative of the endlessly surprising mid-2020s.

Without further ado, here are the top 10 most-read arts stories of 2025.

1. “Inside the dash to save the Getty Villa from the Palisades fire” chronicled a timeline of how Getty staff worked to face down the flames as they came perilously close to the beloved museum and its priceless treasures.

2. “The architecturally significant houses destroyed in L.A.’s fires” cataloged the irreplaceable loss of treasured historic structures including Will Rogers’ home in the Palisades and the Zane Grey estate in Altadena.

3. “Eames House, arboretum and other L.A. cultural gems threatened by fire: updates,” a running list of architectural landmarks endangered by the encroaching flames but not destroyed.

4. “What Netflix’s ‘Maria’ gets so wrong about Maria Callas,” Times classical music critic Mark Swed’s column about how the streaming giant’s biopic failed to grasp the fabled genius of the opera star.

5. “Ken Burns’ absorbing new Leonardo da Vinci doc on PBS sidesteps one important question,” former Times art critic Christopher Knight’s column about how the critically lauded doc danced around the question of the Renaissance genius’ homosexuality.

6. “Bruce Springsteen speaks out on Trump again: ‘They’re persecuting people for their right to free speech’,” a news story featuring a video of the Boss tearing into the president during a May concert in Manchester.

7. “New Kennedy Center board makes Trump chairman, prompting Shonda Rhimes and others to resign,” a follow-up story to the shocking news that Trump had fired the board and had his eye on becoming chairman. It soon happened and an exodus of top talent commenced.

8. “In first Kennedy Center visit, Trump slams ‘Hamilton’ and lauds other ‘Broadway hits’” :The headline says it all.

9. “CNN will broadcast a Broadway performance of George Clooney in ‘Good Night, and Good Luck.’ Don’t miss it,” Times theater critic Charles McNulty extolling the Broadway production and urging readers to catch it on television.

10. “Why ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ at the Hollywood Bowl is ‘the musical theater version of the Avengers’,” a preview of the now legendary show starring Cynthia Erivo as Jesus and Adam Lambert as Judas, which played for three nights in early August.

I’m arts and culture writer Jessica Gelt wishing you a happy, safe and healthy new year. Here’s your arts news for the week.

Our critics

Art critic Christopher Knight’s recent retirement reminded us how fortunate we are to have the finest critics covering the arts in Southern California. Here are a few of our most read pieces of criticism from 2025.

The new David Geffen Galleries, opening in 2026, are composed entirely of Brutalist concrete.

(Christopher Knight / Los Angeles Times)

Art, Christopher Knight
The new LACMA is sleek, splotchy, powerful, jarring, monotonous, appealing and absurd

The most significant American art museum show right now topples white supremacy

How a tiny stone from a warrior’s tomb is shaking up ancient Greek art at Getty Villa

Dudamel launches his final season at Walt Disney Concert Hall on Sept. 25, 2025, in Los Angeles.

(Timothy Norris / Los Angeles Philharmonic)

Music, Mark Swed
Empty seats, no Dudamel: L.A. Phil opens its Hollywood Bowl season on somber notes

For beloved conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, a final bow from the podium

Dr. Gustavo Dudamel leads the New York Philharmonic, with L.A. style

Raul Esparza as Pontius and Cynthia Erivo as Jesus in the Hollywood Bowl’s production of “Jesus Christ Superstar.”

(Farah Sosa)

Theater, Charles McNulty
‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ transcends in starry Hollywood Bowl celebration led by divine Cynthia Erivo

Robert O’Hara’s incoherent ‘Hamlet’ is even more of a mystery than the original

In Broadway’s latest ‘Gypsy,’ Audra McDonald takes our critic from doubt to spiritual epiphany

Good riddance, 2025 … er, Happy New Year!

Countdown NYE
The giant intergalactic rave, promising alien contact, four stages and all-night debauchery, moves to the L.A. Convention Center for its 11th edition with headliners including John Summit, Above & Beyond, Pryda, Madeon, Slander, Sub Focus, Crankdat and Wuki.
7 p.m.-5 a.m. Los Angeles Convention Center, 1201 S. Figueroa St., downtown L.A.. countdownnye.com

A preview of last year’s New Year’s Eve LA Midnight Countdown at Gloria Molina Grand Park.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

Countdown to 2026
Gloria Molina Grand Park’s free, all-ages New Year’s Eve celebration, reportedly the largest on the West Coast, rings in the holiday with live music and performances on the Get Down Stage (hosted by Shaun Ross, featuring Ashley Younniä, Clax10 and DJ Wayne Williams) and the Countdown Stage, hosted by DJ Gingee featuring Ceci Bastida, Bardo and Ruby Ibarra.
8 a.m.-1 p.m. Wednesday. 200 N. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. grandparkla.org

New Year’s Eve with El DeBarge
The R&B crooner of such hits “All This Love,” “I Like it,” “Stay With Me” and “Rhythm of the Night” helps the new live jazz venue inaugurate a new tradition.
8 and 11 p.m. Wednesday. Blue Note LA, 6372 W. Sunset Blvd. bluenotejazz.com

The Roots ring in the New Year at Walt Disney Concert Hall.

(Los Angeles Philharmonic Assn.)

New Year’s Eve with the Roots
Philly’s finest take a break from “Tonight Show” duties to bring their eclectic blend of hip-hop to L.A. for two shows to close out the year.
7 and 10:30 p.m. Wednesday. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. laphil.com

Queen Mary New Year’s Eve
Party in timeless elegance aboard the iconic ocean liner (safely moored in Long Beach to ensure there’s a morning after) with its Masquerade Soirée, live music, performances, casino games and fireworks.
8 p.m. Wednesday. 1126 Queens Highway, Long Beach. queenmary.com

Culture news and the SoCal scene

Eugène Grasset, “Vitrioleuse (The acid thrower)” (detail), 1894, from the periodical L’Estampe Originale, album 6, April–June 1894. Printed by Auguste Delâtre. Lithograph, hand stenciled in five colors. 22 7/8 x 18 in.

(UCLA Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, Hammer Museum. Bequest of Elisabeth Dean.)

A great gift
The UCLA Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts marks its 70th anniversary in 2026 and the Hammer Museum is presenting a two-part exhibition drawn from the center’s more than 45,000 prints, drawings, photographs, and artist’s books. Part one of “Five Centuries of Works on Paper: The Grunwald Center at 70” features nearly 100 works ranging from the Renaissance to contemporary art and includes pieces by Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt van Rijn, Vassily Kandinsky, Käthe Kollwitz, Ansel Adams, Elizabeth Catlett, Corita Kent, Bridget Riley, Ed Ruscha and Vija Celmins. The exhibit opened Dec. 20 and runs through May 17. Part two is scheduled from June 7-Oct. 25.

Fred Grunwald, a shirt factory owner, began collecting art in Germany in the 1920s with a focus on German Expressionism. After the Nazis seized most of the original collection, he and his family immigrated to the U.S. in 1939. Grunwald started a new shirt factory and resumed his collecting in Los Angeles, expanding his interests to include prints from 19th and 20th century Europe, 19th century Japan and contemporary America. In 1956, Grunwald donated his extensive collection to UCLA so it would be accessible to students. His wife and children continued making gifts to the Grunwald Center after his death in 1964.

Back to Cambodia
The Art Newspaper reported Wednesday that the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art in Washington, D.C. has voluntarily returned three statues to the Cambodian government. An internal investigation by the NMAA determined that the objects were removed during the country’s civil war more than 50 years ago.

“There is very strong evidence that all three pieces came out of Cambodia, out of a context of war and violence and the dissolution of order,” said Chase F. Robinson, the NMAA’s director. “All three can be connected with problematic dealers, and no evidence emerged that gave us any confidence that the pieces came out in anything other than those circumstances. So after a lot of internal research and several visits to Cambodia, we worked closely with both the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts as well its legal representative Edenbridge, shared the information we had, and came to the conclusion that all three pieces should be returned.”

The three returned artifacts are a 10th century sandstone head whose ornate carved designs match others at the temple of Pre Rup; a four-foot-tall sandstone sculpture of the goddess Uma, also from the 10th century, whose detailing ties it to the temple of Phnom Bakheng; and a bronze statue of Prajnaparamita, the goddess of transcendental wisdom, from around 1200.

— Kevin Crust

And last but not least

Once you’ve slept off the New Year’s Eve festivities and had your fill of football, settle in Thursday at 8 p.m. for PBS SoCal’s broadcast of the Vienna Philharmonic’s annual concert from the city’s historic Musikverein. The ensemble will be conducted for the first time by Yannick Nézet-Séguin and feature performances by the Vienna State Ballet and location segments hosted by “Downton Abbey’s” Hugh Bonneville.

Coronation Street’s Debbie Webster actress Sue Devaney has teased all about the big soap wedding, Carl Webster’s comeuppance and the explosive Corriedale episode

As Coronation Street‘s Debbie Webster continues to adapt to living with young onset vascular dementia, one thing she’s determined to see go ahead is her extravagant wedding to Ronnie Bailey.

But actress Sue Devaney, who has played the fan favourite since 1984, warns there’s plenty of tension as the big day arrives thanks to Debbie’s warring siblings Kevin [Michael Le Vell] and Carl [played by Jonathan Howard].

Sue, 58, says Debbie won’t let their feud spoil the wedding of her dreams though. The hotel owner hasn’t had much luck with men in Weatherfield, dumped by tearaway Dazz in the 80s, before her scheming ex Ray Crosby brought trouble to her door in 2020, a year on from her return to the Cobbles.

But Debbie has finally found the one in Ronnie amid the devastation of her diagnosis. “She’s never found true love until now,” admits Sue. “I think because Ronnie said to her, ‘I’m not going anywhere, you might be poorly, you might have dementia, but I’m sticking by your side,’ she just sees that as true love.”

READ MORE: Emmerdale star speaks out over Kerry and Eric’s ‘ridiculous’ secret weddingREAD MORE: Soap spoilers for next week: Multiple exits ‘sealed’, wedding drama and flashforward

Sue originally joined the soap as a teenager in 1984 and bowed out a year later, before becoming a key character after her return in 2019. She’s proven a hit with fans ever since, and so her character’s sad health news came as a blow. Sue and show bosses have promised there’s plenty more to see from Debbie before her eventual heartbreaking exit.

As the soap continues to highlight the condition and what it’s like to live with dementia, Debbie’s wedding sees a performance from the dementia choir in an emotional touch. “I was over the moon because it was so beautiful,” shares Sue. “When they started singing, I had a little tear. It was fabulous. They sounded amazing.”

Sue even got to have her say when it came to Debbie’s amazing wedding look, sharing her inspiration behind the dress. She admits: “I said I just want to look like a Joan Collins from Rochdale. They delivered brilliantly. I wanted that shape, you know, because I like the feathers and that kind of 50s shape with big shoes and a big feather headdress.”

The day is not without its drama, as attention falls on Carl who has been targeting Debbie, even using her diagnosis against her as he plots to flee with her money. With plenty of secrets set to come out, it’s on Kevin and his ex Abi [Sally Carman-Duttine] to expose the truth. “In Debbie’s eyes, Carl can’t do anything wrong, because she loves her brother,” Sue confesses. “I think there’s going to be a lot of tension around the wedding where Abi is watching out for Carl because she doesn’t trust him.

“I think Debbie is letting him get away with little bits. She’s not that far down the line that she doesn’t see things. Love is blind, isn’t it?” Sue reveals the events of the wedding will lead into dramatic scenes as Coronation Street collides with Emmerdale in a special crossover episode, dubbed Corriedale.

“She doesn’t want Carl to leave,” Sue explains. “She doesn’t want Carl to leave the wedding. Also he’s drunk, so she doesn’t want him to drive off. She jumps in the car thinking, ‘Well, you can’t go anywhere if I’m in the car.’ And he thinks, ‘Well, I’m going somewhere,’ and carries on driving far too fast.”

It seems Debbie and Carl could be caught up in the big crash stunt too in something unexpected, possibly, to fans. As Sue shares all about filming for the episode, she appears to confirm Debbie and Carl will be in Carl’s car, after fans had speculated it could be her wedding party bus caught up in the drama. She also addressed some stunt work.

She says: “There was one scene where Carl had to drive off really fast and they had a dummy for me, you know, with the hair and feathers in the hair and everything. And I said to our director, ‘Can I not speed off with the stunt guy?’ and he said, ‘Yeah, go on then.’ He let me do it! It felt like doing a little movie or something.”

It’s safe to say that there will be big consequences in the fallout to Christmas and the start of 2026 too. “It’s not going to be plain sailing,” warns Sue. “There’s going to be some massive reveals, things that we didn’t know about Debbie, and quite a bit of reflection.”

Sue’s also hoping for more scenes with Debbie’s female pals, including Christina Boyd and Glenda Suttleworth, expressing the importance of women supporting women. Sue says: “I think that those friendships and those bonds that you have with another woman is something that has to be highlighted, because you don’t see it that often in soap. I think they should do an episode just with women.”

While it’s been a busy time for the actress, she’s planned a relaxing time off over the Christmas period with her husband Jim O’Farrell, whom she married in a private ceremony last year. “I’m going to be away for three weeks,” Sue teases. “Me and my husband are going to relax in the sunshine. Stepping off that plane, hiring a car, going island hopping. And not a script in sight. I’ll tell you what else is not in sight: phone is off.”

Coronation Street airs Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV1 and ITV X. * Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .

DUNCAN James has revealed how Blue has managed to avoid the boyband curse and not hate each other’s guts ahead of their new album.

The four-piece formed in 2000 and have a wealth of hits to their name including All Rise, One Love and Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word.

To mark their 25th anniversary, Blue – which also consists of Lee Ryan, Simon Webbe, Antony Costa – are releasing a new album in January, and are stronger than ever.

Speaking to The Sun, Duncan, 48, said: “We’re very busy with the new album Reflections coming out.

“Then a big world tour for our 25th anniversary. I just can’t believe we have got to 25 years and we’ve never lost a member.

“We’ve stayed together for 25 years and we’re still there.”

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He’s right – it’s a rare feat in boyband terms to not only have all original members in the band, but for there to still be a lot of love and respect for one another.

Original British boyband Take That famously lost Robbie Williams to a solo career in the mid-90s, and currently perform as a trio after Jason Orange decided to hang up his mic in 2014.

One Direction lost Zayn Malik partway through their world-dominating success, while Westlife lost Brian McFadden after five years and Five fell apart in spectacular fashion at the peak of their fame, before all of them finally reunited for their successful 2025 arena tour.

Meanwhile Boyzone has grabbed headlines in recent years after documenting the tensions behind-the-scenes and announcing a surprise farewell gig with all four remaining members agreeing to take part.

Despite Blue going on hiatus from 2005 to 2011, they reformed as a four-piece to represent the UK at the Eurovision Song Contest, and have remained together ever since.

Revealing the key to their success in avoiding the boyband curse, Duncan said: “I’ve had these ups and downs and different things, we’ve all had a lot of ups and downs but we’re still together.

“For me, I think it’s because we have a lot of loyalty to one another. And I think boys as well, we never really argue.

“We don’t have these bitchy squabbles about clothing or who is going to have what.

“But I think honestly, it’s probably down to the fact that I’m an only child, so I never had any brothers and sisters.

“So when I got into Blue and at the height of it all it was just crazy, we were all over the place around the world, doing songs with Elton John and all that, and I think you just become really close like brothers.”

They’re brothers that I never thought I’d ever have, and we’re family. We always say that to each other, we’re family. And I think that’s the key.

Duncan James

Duncan, who came out as gay in 2014, continued: “They were there for me through everything that I’ve been through in my life, they are literally my brothers.

“They’re brothers that I never thought I’d ever have, and we’re family. We always say that to each other, we’re family. And I think that’s the key.

“There’s been a lot of stuff that’s gone on and we’ve always stood by each other and supported each other, and that’s what families do, don’t they?”

Because of this, the lads still all share a dressing room when they go on tour, but there is one thing they refuse to do.

Duncan, who spoke to us while attending the Children with Cancer gala, said: “The only thing we don’t do is sit next to each other on an aeroplane.

“We all like a window seat and so we all want that seat, and if you don’t get a window, it’s like ‘Oh for God’s sake!’, that’s when you could have an argument!”

New album Reflections, released on January 9, and lead single One Last Time, shows a more grown-up side to the band, who are fans of bands including The Killers and Kings of Leon.

Duncan previously told The Sun: “I think all of us collectively have always loved that rock sound.

“But when you’re put into a boy band, you’re given a kind of direction to go down.”

LITTLE MIX’s Perrie Edwards flashed her bare baby bump as she gave a peek into family Christmas with hubby Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

The singer, 32, shared sweet snaps from her Christmas with her footballer Alex, 32, and their son Axel, 4, as the couple prepare to welcome their second child together.

She posted a sprawling message on her Instagram to her 18.6million followers, exposing her huge baby bump as she spoke of feeling “content and blessed”.

Alongside a series of festive snaps and footage, she wrote: “Merry Christmas everyone!

“Excitement pumping through the family, amazing food, Christmas magic on repeat, house is now a pigsty, overstimulated, stayed in pj’s all day”.

Her caption continued: “Axels hair is a birds nest, I’m the size of a beach whale, can’t consume any more chocolate if I tried, need fork lifting off the sofa… but my goodness I feel content and blessed”.

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Among the selection of snaps, Perrie included a sweet video of her son Axel singing to her festive track Christmas Magic, which she released last year.

The singer, who is currently heavily pregnant, received over 500,000 likes on her Instagram post, as friends and fans threw support towards the couple in the comments section.

One wrote: “Axel singing christmas magic no i’ll sob that’s your biggest fan fr he’s giving us all a run for our money“.

Another commented: “My goodness, Axel is the cutest kid ever he’s gonna be the best big brother ever”.

A third added: “Merry Christmas beautiful & to all your family”.

Perrie recently revealed the couple suffered a devastating miscarriage before they had Axel, and lost another baby at 24 weeks in 2022.

Alex also broke his silence on their devastating losses, and said: “When you start a family, that’s when you start to learn it’s not easy to have a child, that things can go wrong.

“It’s so difficult — especially for women when they are literally growing another human being inside them, the connection they feel to that, and then can things go wrong and they can lose the baby.

“And it’s so difficult, especially losing the baby so late into the pregnancy.”

Perrie confirmed she was pregnant again in September, just weeks after opening up about her two miscarriages.

Speaking on the We Need To Talk podcast with Paul C Brunson, she said: “It’s weird, because the first time it happened, I think because it was so early, I was like, ‘Oh, that’s hard’.

“But I think when you’re 24 weeks and you’ve planned out that room and all these things, it’s really hard. And nobody knows other than immediate friends and family.

“I remember shortly after, friends would message and be like, ‘How’s the bump?’ And I’d be like, ‘There is no bump’.”

Perrie was also full of praise for Alex during the interview, saying: “He’s very mature. He’s very laid back. He’s very level-headed.

“He’s not the type to get mad or get angry or get funny about things. It might sound boring to some, but it’s so unproblematic.”

Hello! I’m Mark Olsen. Welcome to another edition of your regular field guide to a world of Only Good Movies.

Even as the year winds down, there are still some exciting new releases hitting theaters.

Few films this year are arriving on quite the wave of expectation behind Josh Safdie’s “Marty Supreme,” in part because of the unhinged, go-for-broke promo push from its star Timothée Chalamet. The film tells the story of Marty Mauser, a shoe salesman in 1950s New York who dreams of becoming a champion table tennis player and will stop at nothing to make it happen.

As Amy Nicholson put it in her review, “Like Marty, Chalamet was raised in New York City, and since he arrived on the scene, there’s never been a doubt he’ll win an Oscar. The only question is, when? To Chalamet’s credit, he’s doing it the hard way, avoiding sentimental pictures for pricklier roles about his own naked ambitions. … The movie’s moxie makes it impossible not to get caught up in Marty’s crusade. We’re giddy even when he’s miserable.”

The surprise winner of the Golden Lion at this year’s Venice Film Festival, Jim Jarmusch’s “Father Mother Sister Brother” is a gently enigmatic film revolving around, as the title suggests, parents and siblings. Told in three separate stories — set in New Jersey, Dublin and Paris — the film stars Adam Driver, Tom Waits, Mayim Bialik, Cate Blanchett, Vicky Krieps, Charlotte Rampling, Luka Sabbat and Indya Moore.

Tom Waits in Jim Jarmusch’s movie “Father Mother Sister Brother.”

(Atsushi Nishijima / Mubi)

In his review, Tim Grierson wrote, “The film’s persistent brittleness may make some viewers antsy. That’s partly the point, but hopefully, they’ll soon be swept away by the movie’s melancholy undertow. … Eventually, we learn to look past Jarmusch’s deceptively mundane surfaces to see the fraught, unresolved issues within these guarded families. The characters occasionally expose their true selves, then just as quickly retreat, fearful of touching on real conflict.”

Tim Grieving spoke to composer Daniel Blumberg, who won an Oscar earlier this year for “The Brutalist,” about his work on “The Testament of Ann Lee,” director Mona Fastvold’s portrait of the founder of the Shaker religious movement. Singing and dance were an integral part of the Shakers’ spiritual practice, so the music for the film was of special importance.

“Ann Lee was very radical and extreme,” said Blumberg, “and Mona is as well.”

De Los also recently published a list of the 25 best Latino films of 2025 as picked by Carlos Aguilar. His favorites include Amalia Ulman’s “Magic Farm,” Pasqual Gutierrez and Ben Mullinkosson’s “Serious People,” Diego Céspedes’ “The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo,” Petra Costa’s “Apocalypse in the Tropics” and Kleber Mendonça Filho’s “The Secret Agent.”

All three of this year’s Envelope roundtables are now available to watch: actors, actresses and directors.

New Year’s Eve at the movies

Daniel Day-Lewis and Vicky Krieps in the movie “Phantom Thread.”

(Laurie Sparham / Focus Features)

When people talk about holiday films, they typically mean Christmas. But what if the movies that featured a New Year’s Eve scene were sneakily better? To judge by the titles playing around town this week, an argument could be made.

Take for example Kathryn Bigelow’s “Strange Days.” An exciting techno-thriller set during the last two days of then-future 1999, it’s about a hustler (Ralph Feinnes) who finds himself in way over his head. The film builds to a huge millennial New Year’s Eve street party filmed in downtown Los Angeles. Still something of a rarity on streaming, “Strange Days” will be showing in 35mm at the New Beverly on Friday afternoon and then at the Aero on Wednesday 31, early enough in the evening to leave time for more fun after.

Then there is Paul Thomas Anderson’s achingly romantic and bitingly funny “Phantom Thread,” in which the controlling fashion designer Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis) initially refuses to leave the house on New Year’s Eve, but then races to be with his muse and lover Alma Elson (Vicky Krieps) after she goes out without him. The movie will be showing on New Year’s Day in 70mm at the Aero.

Anderson’s 1997 “Boogie Nights,” which will show in 35mm at Vidiots on the afternoon of Dec. 31, features a very different take on New Year’s Eve. In a pivotal sequence, many of the film’s characters converge on a NYE party to ring in the transition form 1979 to 1980. It does not go well.

jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine in 1960’s “The Apartment.”

(Bettmann Archive / Getty Images)

Billy Wilder’s “The Apartment” will play in 35mm at the New Beverly on Saturday and Sunday and also at the American Cinematheque’s Los Feliz Theater on Dec. 30. In the film Jack Lemmon is a lonely office drone who finds his complex relationship with a co-worker (Shirley MacLaine) ultimately coming to a head on a fateful New Year’s Eve.

Rob Reiner’s 1989 “When Harry Met Sally…” will likely be playing several times over the next weeks in tribute to the filmmaker. Starring Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal as two friends trying to figure out if their relationship can (or should) be something more, the film features not one but two memorable New Year’s Eve scenes. It will be playing at the New Beverly on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Katie Holmes, left, and Sarah Polley in the movie “Go.”

(Tracy Bennett / Columbia Pictures)

Doug Liman’s “Go,” from a screenplay by John August, is not strictly speaking a New Year’s Eve movie, but it does take place in the sort of liminal zone of ongoing partying that occurs during holiday time. With a cast that includes Sarah Polley, Katie Holmes, Timothy Olyphant and many more, the film revolves around a few grocery store co-workers, some low-stakes drug dealing, questionable choices and a lot of miscommunication. The movie shows at Vidiots on Tuesday.

In a review of the film, Kevin Thomas wrote, “When all is said and done, ‘Go’ is a film about people going too far, which works precisely because its makers know when to hold back. ‘Go’ keeps us guessing … but it never forgets it’s a comedy; if it was too serious it would burst like a bubble. So uniformly skilled and talented is the film’s cast, which has 15 featured players, that it is impossible to single out any one. ‘Go’ is perfectly titled: Exhilarating and sharp, it never stops for a second.”

Points of interest

The Marx Brothers’ eternal comic mayhem

Chico Marx, left, Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx and Margaret Dumont in the movie “Animal Crackers.”

(Universal)

It has become a tradition around town for theaters to show Marx Brothers movies at the holidays, and who are we to argue with that? For pure whimsy and comedy that hits somewhere deep in the unconscious, the Marx Brothers are still pretty much unbeatable.

The New Beverly played some Marx Brothers movies on Christmas Day. For those who still want more, Vidiots will be showing 1935’s “A Night at the Opera,” directed by Sam Wood and including the famous stateroom scene in which more and more people cram into a single room on an ocean liner.

On New Year’s Day, the Aero will show 1933’s “Duck Soup,” directed by Leo McCarey, in which the brothers take over the fictional nation of Freedonia. That will be followed by 1930’s “Animal Crackers,” directed by Victor Heerman, in which Groucho Marx plays African explorer Rufus T. Firefly.

Eric Rohmer’s ‘The Green Ray’

A scene from Eric Rohmer’s “The Green Ray.”

(Janus Films)

Initially released as “Summer” in the U.S., Eric Rohmer’s “The Green Ray” won Venice’s Golden Lion in 1986. The film follows Delphine (Marie Rivière, who co-wrote the script with Rohmer), a single woman in Paris, as she struggles to find someone to go on a holiday trip with her, leading to a series of serio-comic misadventures. The film will show Thursday in 35mm at the American Cinematheque’s Los Feliz Theater.

Reviewing the film in 1986, Michael Wilmington asked if watching a Rohmer film is really, to quote Gene Hackman on Rohmer movies in “Night Moves,” like watching paint peel? “Not at all,” Wilmington wrote. “‘Summer’ is one of the masterpieces of 1986. It’s one of the most finely wrought, stimulating films of an erratic year. It’s intellectual in the best sense: engaging you emotionally and mentally. It moves faster, wastes less time, and has more to offer than most movies now on view — and those who are skipping it are missing one of the year’s real treats.”

The new series of BBC’s Call The Midwife will feature a brand new cast playing some of the much-loved characters at the ages they were when WWII broke out

The prequel of BBC One’s Call the Midwife, set at the start of World War Two and featuring younger versions of at least three of the show’s best-known characters, will launch next year on Christmas Day.

Despite the audience not knowing the actors who will play the earlier models of Jenny Agutter’s Sister Julienne, Pam Ferris’ Sister Evangeline or Judy Parfitt’s Sister Monica Joan, BBC bosses have such confidence that the show’s loyal fans will tune in, that the drama is expected to keep its prime festive slot.

Executive producer Pippa Harris, of Neal Street Productions, revealed that the prequel would kick off in the place usually reserved for Call the Midwife. Introducing the upcoming 15th series, she was asked if BBC bosses were concerned about being left with “a blank space” for 2026 and replied: “No, it will be on at Christmas.” That festive outing will be the first glimpse that viewers have of the wartime spin-off, which came about after writer Heidi Thomas had a desire to go further back in time.

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“Having wept, laughed, and raged my way from 1957 to 1971, I found myself yearning to delve into the deeper past,” she has explained. The brand new series, which does not yet have a title and will film next year, is set in 1939, nearly two decades before Jennifer Worth’s original memoirs began in 1957.

Heidi admits she needed a “temporary pause in the usual pattern” after 15 years of Call the Midwife. “I don’t think any other show has produced a series every year for that period of time,” she said. “So I think this is a lovely opportunity for us to press pause and refresh a little bit and come back with more exciting things.”

She stressed that a 16th series, picking up in 1973, would follow on TV in due course. “We’re not going anywhere,” she stressed, “Except for maybe Australia.” A movie version for cinema release, set in 1972 and featuring the regular cast, is likely to be set in Australia.

On the film, to be shot at the end of next year, Heidi said: “Australia is likely, I can say that. But there are a number of places within Australia where that could be, all of which would be very different. We won’t be making any official announcements until we know exactly .” One possibility is that Miriam Margolyes will make a welcome return as Mother Mildred, as the actress is based in Australia.

Helen George, who has played nurse Trixie Aylward since the first episode aired in 2012, said she was happy to have a year off before returning to make the movie. “The truth is no one knows who’s going to be in the film yet,” she admitted. “It has to make sense that all of these characters end up in Australia. So even though I may want to go – of course I bloody do! – it can’t be so extraordinary that it doesn’t make sense.”

She said a feature-length film would provide the “space and the time” to explore their characters further. “Australia is so beautiful, when we did the South African Christmas special it was so cinematic and the lighting is all different. This would be their missionary work potentially, because this is what the nuns would do. It makes complete sense for them to branch out into the world.”

Trixie wasn’t born in 1939, but Helen, 41, believes that expanding the Nonnatus world backwards is also a fantastic idea. “The prequel will have characters that we know so well, but we’ll be going back and seeing the start. When we first began, we’d have sets with the remnants of buildings that had been bombed in the Blitz. It’s fascinating to go even further back, and I will definitely be watching.

“The fact that the British public still want us around is amazing,” she laughed. “It’s right to change the format – we all need a new lease of life.”

In the series starting next month, it is 1971 and the midwives and nurses are getting to grips with the women’s liberation movement. In one scene, some of the Nonnatus regulars are seen burning their bras, and while she didn’t do that herself, actress Linda Bassett, who plays nurse Phyllis Crane, said she did get involved in other ways.

“I was involved in various women’s groups – it affected all our relationships, people were very enthused,” she recalled. “I was very young and we had groups where we sat in a circle and got out speculums and looked up our own vaginas, at the cervix. That was what we did! I don’t think Heidi wanted to put that in the film. It was all about being free and feeling at one with your body and not being ashamed.”

Linda, 75, said she didn’t actually burn her bra. “That was a publicity thing. People did it and I’m not knocking it but no, I didn’t.” Annabelle Apsion, who plays Poplar’s much-loved mayor and shop-owner Violent Buckle, said it had been fun to film the bra burning, with some members of the team finding it quite emotional.

“Lisa, who directed it, was crying, because she remembered all of that. A lot of young women now don’t realise how things were. It would probably be a big shock to them to hear that women didn’t get the same pay for the same job.

“It was a beautiful day and it was hilarious how the men, like Dr Turner, were saying things like ‘have you left me a casserole?’”

Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.

VICTORIA Beckham gushed over her husband David Beckham as he continued a sweet family tradition with their daughter, Harper.

The former Spice Girl gave an insight into their family Christmas which they celebrated with their extended families and three of their four children, Cruz, Romeo and Harper.

Victoria shared a range of photos and videos from their festive Christmas, including a video of David dancing with Harper, 14, to the Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton hit, Islands in the Stream.

David and his wife have long danced to the hit song at anniversary and birthday celebrations as a mark of their love, have even inspired a viral TikTok trend in 2024.

Now David is continuing the tradition with his daughter and they sung the lyrics as they danced, and the former England footballer then dipped Harper who held on and smiled.

“Truly the best daddy,” Victoria captioned the video which she shared to her Instagram stories.

united front

Inside the Beckhams’ Christmas without Brooklyn as they ‘send message’ to son

FESTIVE FEUD

Brooklyn Beckham spends Xmas with famous tennis star

Notably absent from their celebrations was the couple’s oldest son, Brooklyn and his wife, Nicola Peltz.

Brooklyn himself posted a Christmas Eve snap of his wife, declaring that she’s his “everything” amid the feud with his family.

The couple then spent Christmas Day hitting the courts with tennis  player Reilly Opelka, as well as Nicola’s brother Bradley.

The ongoing feud between Brooklyn and his family escalated this month when he blocked his famous parents on Instagram.

The move infuriated brother Cruz, 20, who addressed the drama – revealing that Brooklyn removed the entire family – including 14-year-old Harper – from his social media.

The musician confirmed his parents woke up to being banned from seeing Brooklyn’s profile, and said: “My mum and dad would never unfollow their son.

“They woke up blocked. As did I.”

Brooklyn’s wife Nicola is also not following any of the Beckham family on Instagram – weeks after the couple were absent from David’s long-awaited knighthood celebrations.

Meanwhile David and Victoria were not present for Brooklyn and Nicola’s New York wedding vow renewal in August.  

The couple, who tied the knot in 2022, were last pictured with David and Victoria last Christmas.

Earlier this week, Brooklyn reportedly called for his parents to apologise to Nicola, with a source claiming: “There was a long briefing war where it was open season on Nicola. They (David and Victoria) targeted Nicola and thought that they could do so without consequences.

“You can’t inflict that much pain and damage on two people and then expect to pick up the relationship via a public social media post. The person who caused the pain does not get to decide when they declare it is over.

“If they want to make up then they need to apologise and acknowledge the pain caused and make changes to show that it is not going to happen again.”

Internalized Shame

This community rejection can be painful. “It wasn’t strangers attacking me. It was my own people, speaking the same language I grew up with, who decided I didn’t deserve respect anymore. And that hurts in a way racism from outsiders never could, because it feels like rejection from your own bloodline,” says Vairavanathan.

Mental health professionals who work with South Asian clients say that collectivist traditions, where family reputation is often prioritized over individual expression, can lead to the stigmatization of LGBTQ identities.

On the AAHNA South Asian therapy website, they write that understanding taboos associated with sexual orientation “is crucial for effective therapeutic practice, as they can significantly influence mental health and well-being.”

Balancing Dual Identities

Jiya Rajput, a British Indian content creator and founder of the QPOC Project, says the balancing act of her sexual and racial identity can be tough: “Being both South Asian and queer sometimes feels like having two vastly different identities,” Rajput told Uncloseted Media. “I have tried my best to blend my queerness with my desi identity. However, it is not often easy, with stereotypes and prejudice sometimes making me feel out of place.”

This balancing act may involve navigating stereotypes and racism inside queer spaces, which can have negative mental health outcomes. A 2022 survey of LGBTQ Asian Americans found that discomfort with one’s race or ethnicity within queer communities was associated with lower psychological well-being for those who consider their racial identity important.

Dating as a Queer South Asian Woman

Balancing this dynamic can make dating challenging. A 2023 study revealed that queer Asian American women are frequently subject to rigid racial dating preferences, with most preferring to date within their own racial group, often as a reaction to feeling fetishized or rejected from white queer spaces.

And even dating within communities of color presents its own set of challenges. “Racism is not exclusively a white people’s issue,” Patel says, noting that she experienced subtle discrimination with another girlfriend who was neither white nor South Asian.

Photo courtesy of Patel

“[She] was genuinely trying to relate with me, she just couldn’t,” she says.

Patel remembers her girlfriend holding many assumptions, such as the belief that all South Asians share the same cultural traditions, such as Bhangra, a lively Punjabi dance, or Garba, a traditional Gujarati folk dance performed during festivals.

“It comes from a place of just wanting to be seen for their own culture,” Patel says, noting that many people of color aren’t accustomed to being truly heard or understood. “There’s so much excitement in dating someone from a different background that sometimes you forget to actually listen and receive the culture through their lens.”

When South Asian women do decide to date white women, Patel says it can feel like one “should just assimilate … and try to keep the pressures of being brown [and] growing up in a stricter, possibly patriarchal, culture at bay.”

These pressures in queer spaces caused Lavina Sabnani to leave her culture behind in an effort to feel accepted.

“It felt wrong to push away everything my ancestors carried with them for so long,” Sabnani told Uncloseted Media. “There’s a standard of whiteness at Pride, at lesbian parties, at cultural and social clubs. … Me and the other brown girls never get noticed. It was like you’re invisible within a community where you’re supposed to be counted in.”
“Being a lesbian South Asian means breaking the mold in every possible way,” says Hubiba Ali, a first-generation Pakistani American, self-described “butch lesbian” and food scientist from Chicago. “Pakistani women I was raised around don’t wear boyish clothes, have short, cropped hair, thick muscles, and hairy legs. They do not eat with gusto, laugh and joke boisterously, or take up space. I gave up a lot of my birthright participation in my culture in order to live free.”

Underrepresented and Under Researched

To make change, Sabnani says South Asian representation in queer spaces is essential. But it’s not happening yet. According to GLAAD’s “Where We Are on TV” 2024-2025 study, Asian Pacific Islanders represented only 11% of LGBTQ characters on broadcast, 2% on cable and 14% on streaming.

Even shows that strive for diversity, like “The L Word: Generation Q,” fail to include South Asian characters. “They had everyone—Black, Latinx, East Asian—but not a single South Asian woman,” says Patel.

She recalls a dating app called Her that featured an image of two white women kissing—one of whom had a tattoo of a Hindu deity.

“They’ll use our gods, but not our faces,” she says.
Outside of Patel’s research, little information exists about racism and homophobia toward queer South Asian women.

Photo courtesy of Patel

And even in queer nightlife, Ali describes feeling sidelined. She says that while there are a few South Asian LGBTQ organizations in Chicago, finding meaningful representation is hard even in those scenes.

“They tend to be hosted in a part of town colloquially known as ‘Boystown,’ which semantically already does not center women or lesbians,” she says. “The events are usually held at gay bars for gay men.”

Finding Acceptance

Patel says that to make spaces truly inclusive, folks need to “start by listening to queer brown women, understanding our unique challenges, and amplifying our voices.”

And despite all of these challenges, many queer South Asian women are still surviving and building a more inclusive future.

Artists like MANI JNX, a British Punjabi indie musician, are using music to explore queer South Asian love, trauma and joy. And visual creators like Mina Manzar are building online communities through art. “Funnily enough, here in NYC, so far from Pakistan, is where I’ve found the most vibrant and beautiful South Asian queer community,” Manzar told Uncloseted Media.

As for Patel, she has found a relationship with a Tamil woman that is grounded in mutual respect and cultural exchange. “I’ve learned how to make Tamil food, I’m learning the language, and she comes to Garba with me and dances every year,” she says. Their shared commitment to honoring each other’s traditions illustrates the importance of genuine cultural understanding in queer relationships that goes beyond surface-level acceptance or stereotypes.

Her hope is that the commitment to understanding that she has developed with her partner can become more reflective of how society tries to understand the experiences of queer South Asian women.

“Let’s just address each racialized group as a different racialized group and give them some damn visibility,” Patel says. “It’s not that hard.”

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OLIVIA ATTWOOD has branded her personal life was ‘garbage’ after spending Christmas Day alone.

The TV presenter, 34, made the admission on the Sunday Roast podcast with close pal Pete Wicks, as the pair discussed their personal lives during the Christmas special.

The former Love Island star revealed that she wants to “really get my s*** together in 2026” as she and Pete read out new years resolutions sent in by fans.

“I want to really get my s*** together in 2026”, she said on the podcast.

Olivia continued: “I feel like I had a good work year. I think my personal life was garbage, so I’d like to have more of a balance in 2026.”

Pete, 37, responded by telling pal Olivia that he would aim to settle down in the next 12 months, but his claim was swiftly dismissed by Olivia.

Read more on Olivia Attwood

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Olivia Attwood reveals she’s spending Christmas ‘alone in a hotel room’

Knowing Pete for over eight years, she branded him “

Pete, 37, responded by saying that maybe he would aim to settle down in the next 12 months, but Olivia refused to believe him. 

After knowing Pete for over eight years, Olivia branded him “attention-seeking”.

And she suggested that the said the TV star is more likely to settle down when he’s 45.

The pair first met back in 2017 after appearing on ITV2 reality show The Only Way Is Essex.

They quickly became pals and have remained close ever since, and this year that friendship became a working relationship as the pair managed to bag their own The Sunday Roast podcast on KISS FM.

Olivia spoke candidly about her festive period – and told how she’ll be enjoying December 25 with her dogs instead.

It has been a tough few weeks for Olivia, who recently broke down in tears as she bid farewell to the Cheshire mansion she shared with Gillingham footballer Bradley Dack, 31.

The couple, who tied the knot two years ago, moved into the stunning pad in 2021, with the star hailing it her “dream home”.

But the pair are relocating back to London – nearer to Brad’s Kent club – for their next “chapter” amid a difficult time for the couple.

After admitting Brad will be playing football or training “most of the time” she said: “I’m in London for Christmas.

“I’m staying in London but going to a hotel, we did the family already, we’re done… We can’t go skiing because of the football.’

She told Towie star Pete on their show: “I decided to do a hotel which is just 10 minutes from my house, I feel I physically, mentally needed a break from where we’re currently living, because we’ve got s**t everywhere, boxes, suitcases.

“I just need to not be there.”

It came after she previously uploaded a video to social media where she wrote over the clip: “Saying goodbye to the house I will never call home again.”

The video finished with a heartbroken Olivia seen waving goodbye to her home.

Writing over the last bit of the clip, she said: “Next chapter pending.”

Welcome to Screen Gab, the newsletter for everyone who would rather reflect on the year in pop culture than look at their current bank statement.

Santa wasn’t the only one making lists this year. As the final days of the year come to a close, we’ve gathered several of our key year-end TV and film lists for 2025 in one handy place for easy browsing while you wait in return lines, prepare to board flights or zone out on the couch.

We also threw in some other recent lists, unbound to 2025 but still useful this time of year when our brains need all the help they can get to winnow down viewing choices.

Enjoy!

From left, Tessa Thompson in “Hedda”; Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman in “The Roses”; Michael B. Jordan and Miles Caton in “Sinners.”

(Photo illustration by Josep Prat Sorolla / For The Times; photos from Amazon Prime, Searchlight Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures )

The 10 best movies of 2025 — and where to find them: The best movies of 2025 include “Sinners,” “Hedda,” “One Battle After Another,” “Eddington” and “The Naked Gun,” according to our critic Amy Nicholson.

The 12 best needle drops of 2025: These songs made their scenes indelible, from classic rock and dance pop to old-timey blues and thrash. There’s even a former Beatle on here.

34 movies and shows to watch on a plane — or trapped at the airport — this holiday season: In addition to getting you where you want to go, those hours spent on a plane — or trapped at the airport — are a guilt-free opportunity to catch up on or revisit great movies and shows.

10 on-screen political thrillers that stood out in a year of upheaval and partisanship: At a time of political unrest, the political thriller on television and film is both a reflection of, and an escape from, turbulent times.

Ho-ho-rror for the holidays: 15 scary watches for the dead of winter: Ghost stories have long been a holiday tradition, so gather ‘round the electronic hearth and watch some (or all) of these.

Best of 2025: Television — from left, Anna Lambe in “North of North,” Ethan Hawke and Michael Hitchcock in “The Lowdown,” “Women Wearing Shoulder Pads.”

(Photo illustration by Josep Prat Sorolla / For The Times; photos by Netflix, FX and Warner Bros.)

The best TV shows of 2025: The TV series on this list delivered real surprises with new directions and original formats, while others just had good old-fashioned storytelling, according to our critic Robert Lloyd.

The 16 best documentaries of 2025: The documentary films and series that captured our attention this year feature famous people and ordinary people, as well as new ideas and perspectives.

The 12 unforgettable TV moments of 2025: Some of the year’s most memorable TV moments and episodes

The best reality TV of 2025: Scandals, competitions and breakups are par for the course on reality shows, but this year also brought some tender moments that made for must-see TV.

The 33 best comedy specials of 2025: Specials by Frankie Quiñones, Andrew Schulz, Jordan Jensen, Sebastian Maniscalco, Bill Burr, Atsuko Okatsuka and Gabriel Iglesias make our list.

15 must-watch British crime drama series: Whether with an old-fashioned one-case-per-episode or a more sprawling multistrand story, quaint or violent, historic or modern, the birthplace of Agatha Christie understands that we all need stories that make sense of seemingly senseless acts.

The 7 best Netflix holiday movies to watch, from a secret Santa con to a crime caper: “My Secret Santa” starring Alexandra Breckenridge is the latest holiday film to be released on the streamer, which has several new offerings and recent classics worth revisiting.

Perry Bamonte, guitarist and keyboardist for the Cure, has died. He was 65.

The band announced on its website on Dec. 26 that Bamonte died “after a short illness at home over Christmas.”

“Quiet, intense, intuitive constant and hugely creative, ‘Teddy’ was a warm hearted and vital part of the Cure story,” the band said.

The London-born Bamonte began touring with the Cure as a guitar tech and assistant in 1984, then joined the band full-time in 1990. He performed over 400 shows with the group and recorded on the albums “Wish,” “Wild Mood Swings,” “Bloodflowers,” “Acoustic Hits” and “The Cure.”

Bamonte parted ways with the Cure after 14 years, later performing with the group Love Amongst Ruin. He returned to the Cure in 2022 for “another 90 shows, some of the best in the band’s history,” the group said, including the Nov. 1, 2024, London show documented on the concert film “The Show of a Lost World.”

As a member of the Cure, Bamonte was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2019. The band is still scheduled for a run of European festivals and headline shows in 2026.

“Our thoughts and condolences are with all his family,” the group said. “He will be missed.”

WITH her steamy shower scenes and sexy outfits, you might assume the much-hyped Sydney Sweeney is the centre of attention in new thriller movie The Housemaid.

Instead, critics are raving about her older co-star Amanda Seyfried as the standout of the film that hit UK cinemas yesterday.

Mamma Mia! actress Amanda, 40, is tipped for an Oscar nod for The Testament Of Ann Lee, which is out in February and sees her play the founder of the Christian fundamentalist Shaker Movement in the 18th century.

But it is The Housemaid, based on the same-named bestselling 2022 novel by US author Freida McFadden, that will be putting bums on seats first.

In the sexy flick, Amanda plays deranged housewife Nina Winchester, who hires 28-year-old Sydney’s Millie Calloway to take care of domestic chores and her daughter.

But nothing is what it seems in this psychological potboiler as Amanda — also famed for 2004 teen movie Mean Girls, as a student who believes her breasts predict the weather — steals the show.

united front

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wedding prep

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Revelling in the role, she teases: “It’s dark as s**t. But when you get opportunities like that — to go nuts, go anywhere — I’m so happy I can still do it.

“There were ample opportunities for me to play unhinged, and playing unhinged is delicious. I had so much fun.”

In The Housemaid trailer, the two co-stars appear to be at each other’s throats. There is shouting, screaming and knives are reached for.

But in real life, fellow Americans Amanda and Sydney became great pals while making and promoting the film.

‘She’s a sweetheart’

For a bit of fun together, they even took a lie-detector test for Vanity Fair magazine, with a very animated Amanda asking Sydney whether her breasts were real.

Sydney is now caught in a storm over her recent “great jeans” ad, as some claimed its pun on “genes” hinted at white supremacy.

But Donald Trump, hailed it “the hottest ad out there”.

There have also been online rumours of her having romances with co-stars including Housemaid actor Brandon Sklenar and Glen Powell, who Sydney got steamy with in 2023 rom com Anyone But You. None of it was true.

Amanda knows about falling for a co-star, having dated Dominic Cooper from 2008 film Mamma Mia! for three years before the British actor reportedly broke her heart.

But asked about all the hype around pin-up Sydney, she told Vanity Fair: “I don’t envy anything she’s going through.

“I’ve spent a lot of time with her, we just hit it off immediately. She’s a sweetheart. I did not have a moment like she’s having, ever.”

If Sydney ever wanted to know more about the ups and downs of fame, Amanda would be a great person to chat to.

People would run into me and kids would be like, ‘Hey, can you tell us what your boobs are thinking?’ I got that so often, but I didn’t mind it’

Amanda Seyfried

Her pharmacist dad Jack and mum Ann, an occupational therapist, brought her up on a college campus in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

At school, Amanda started modelling then, in her teens, broke into acting with roles in US soap operas As The World Turns and All My Children.

This led to the “liberation and freedom of living on my own in New York City”, as her career took off.

She says: “I was having so much fun — paid a thousand dollars a day and working, like, three times a week — for a 17-year-old.”

The dream seemed to be over when the TV work dried up, and she enrolled at college.

But then an audition for mega-hit Mean Girls, which starred Lindsay Lohan and Rachel McAdams, saved her career.

Amanda says: “I was just happy to be working — big cheque.”

But playing that student who believes her boobs have superpowers led to some pointed questions from admirers.

She recalls: “People would run into me and kids would be like, ‘Hey, can you tell us what your boobs are thinking?’ I got that so often, but I didn’t mind it. I did my job, good enough, I guess.”

Four years later, she got the lead role of Sophie in Abba-inspired smash-hit movie musical Mamma Mia!, alongside Meryl Streep.

Amanda says of the much sought-after part: “I can’t f***ing believe I got that role but it felt like something I should be doing, could be doing.”

She was on a roll as further box-office success followed, including 2009 comedy-horror Jennifer’s Body with Megan Fox, 2010 romantic drama Dear John with Channing Tatum, and 2012 hit Les Miserables.

But not all of her career choices turned out well. She passed on the role of green alien Gamora in 2014 superhero blockbuster Guardians Of The Galaxy, only for it to take nearly £600million worldwide and spawn a pair of sequels.

The part was played instead by Zoe Saldana. Amanda says: “The offer came in and I was like, ‘I should take this, right? But this is going to be Marvel’s first bomb and I do not want to be ruined for the rest of my life. Who the f is going to see a movie with a talking raccoon?’”

But her later decision to star in an off-Broadway play in New York called The Way We Get By in 2015 was to have a major impact on her personal life. Co-star Thomas Sadoski would become her husband two years later.

She says: “We met, we came very, very close, and then we started seeing each other a year later — and now we have kids [a daughter born in 2017 and son born in 2020].”

Amanda had never intended to be a mum because she feared it might ruin her career.

But she says: “If you’re lucky enough to accidentally get pregnant, which was me twice, I’m just like, thank God. I would have been, ‘I’m too busy’, ‘I’m gonna disappear from Hollywood and it’s gonna be hard to get back on track.’”

If you’re lucky enough to accidentally get pregnant, which was me twice, I’m just like, thank God. I would have been, ‘I’m too busy’, ‘I’m gonna disappear from Hollywood and it’s gonna be hard to get back on track.’

Amanda

In reality, after getting pregnant, Amanda took only a few months off and discovered she was being offered “mum” roles by casting directors.

She says: “There’s something that happens to you when you become a mother or a father.

“You know, when your life no longer matters as much and you can’t live for yourself any more.

“That sacrifice also is very enriching and the roles got better. But it was funny how fast that happened. They’re like, ‘She’s pregnant. Is she pregnant? Oh, she had a baby. Oh, yeah, no, she’s a mom. She’s a mom now.’

“But I did play one character where I was not a mom, since then.”

One mum she played was silent film star Marion Davies in Gary Oldman’s 2020 movie Mank, about alcoholic screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz railing against 1930s Hollywood society while completing the screenplay of 1941 movie classic Citizen Kane.

That led to a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination in 2021, which in turn secured a starring role in the Disney+ series The Dropout, for which she won an Emmy and Golden Globe.

‘Weird dance’

Amanda says: “Going to the Oscars, you’re like, ‘I’m just happy to be here’, honestly. But it brought me up the casting list. I got the offer for The Dropout the next day.”

But there were restrictions on playing real-life character Elizabeth Holmes in The Dropout because the medical fraudster was not convicted until January 2022.

The programme’s lawyers even advised against sex scenes.

Amanda says: “Every script went through a team of lawyers.

“We couldn’t say certain things, we couldn’t do certain things. We couldn’t show them making love, so we had that weird dance scene because that was their foreplay.”

Every script went through a team of lawyers. We couldn’t say certain things, we couldn’t do certain things. We couldn’t show them making love, so we had that weird dance scene because that was their foreplay

Amanda Seyfried

Fast-forward to now, and her title role in upcoming period drama The Testament Of Ann Lee, about the UK-born Shaker Movement being taken to the US by Manchester lass Ann in 1774.

It sees Amanda shake ecstatically as the ultra-puritanical sect, which avoided earthly pleasures such as sex, celebrated the Almighty.

Also known for their pacifism, the Shakers’ number peaked in the mid-19th century but then declined with industrialisation, with only one active community remaining today, in Maine. Amanda says of Ann: “Nobody could have sex because sex, she thought, was the root of all evil — the root of why she was in so much pain.

“She had got pregnant and lost her babies.

“The idea that taking sex away could make you closer to wholeness is kind of beautiful. I think she’s nuts and also very cool.”

But despite her impressive credits reel, Amanda still reckons she must battle to stay on the “list” of most-wanted actresses in Hollywood.

She says: “These f***ing lists. Every time I’m auditioning it’s like I fluctuate. I fall down the list, I go to the top of the second list or keep going back to the bottom of the first list, and it’s like, I’m lucky to be on the list at all.”

But after The Housemaid, she shouldn’t need to worry about being on that Tinseltown A-list.

EROTIC AND CAMP

THE HOUSEMAID (15) 131mins

★★★☆☆

By LINDA MARRIC

A GLOSSY, erotic thriller that is as hilariously camp as it is suspenseful.

Adapted from Freida McFadden’s smash-hit novel by director Paul Feig and screenwriter Rebecca Sonnenshine, Sydney Sweeney stars as Millie, a young woman fresh out of prison.

She takes a live-in maid job at the lavish home of wealthy couple Nina and Andrew Winchester (Amanda Seyfried and Brandon Sklenar).

What initially promises a fresh start for the young woman, quickly turns into something far stranger as Nina’s wildly erratic behaviour borders on the theatrical, while Andrew’s “perfect husband” routine grows increasingly unrealistic.

Feig, usually known for his work in comedy, brings an over-the-top energy to this adaptation that makes for a fun, if slightly ridiculous, ride.

While his shift into psychological drama feels a bit bumpy, the film’s knowingly silly vibe is exactly what makes it so entertaining.

But it struggles with its own shifting tone and at 131 minutes, the pacing sags and several twists are made a little too obvious.

Sweeney does her best with the script but it is Seyfried who ultimately comes out on top here, putting in a brilliantly unhinged performance as Nina.

The Housemaid may lack subtlety and genuine menace but no one can deny that it is a great deal of fun from start to finish.

NEW YORK — Two sisters testified at Harvey Weinstein’s most recent criminal trial. Kaja Sokola accused the disgraced movie mogul of sexual assault. Ewa Sokola was called as a witness to boost her claims, but ultimately ended up helping the defense.

Now, Ewa Sokola is suing Kaja on claims of defamation, alleging in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court that the psychotherapist and ex-model’s public remarks amount to libel and are damaging Ewa’s reputation and business as a cardiologist in Poland.

Ewa Sokola says that her younger sister has made false statements subjecting her to public hatred, shame, contempt, ridicule, ostracism and disgrace in Wrocław, Poland. She seeks unspecified damages.

Messages seeking comment were left for Kaja Sokola’s lawyers and spokesperson on Thursday and Friday.

In a split verdict in June, Weinstein was convicted of forcibly performing oral sex on film and television production assistant and producer Miriam Haley and acquitted on a charge involving Kaja Sokola’s allegations of similar conduct. Both women said they were assaulted in 2006.

The judge declared a mistrial on the final charge, alleging Weinstein raped former actor Jessica Mann, after the jury foreperson declined to deliberate further.

Weinstein has not yet been sentenced as a judge weighs a defense request to throw out the verdict after two jurors told Weinstein’s lawyers that other jurors had bullied them into convicting him. Judge Curtis Farber is expected to rule on Jan. 8.

Kaja Sokola has said her sister’s testimony at Weinstein’s state court trial in New York earlier this year undermined her own testimony that he forced oral sex at a Manhattan hotel just before her 20th birthday.

Weinstein had arranged for Kaja Sokola to be an extra for a day in the film “The Nanny Diaries,” and separately agreed to meet her and Ewa. After they chatted, she testified, Weinstein told her he had a script to show her in his hotel room, and she went up with him. There, she said, Weinstein pushed her onto a bed and assaulted her.

After the trial, Kaja Sokola criticized her sister’s testimony, saying that though she was called as a prosecution witness, she ended up serving Weinstein’s cause by providing his lawyers with a journal in which she wrote about the men who had sexually assaulted her in her life but did not include Weinstein.

According to the lawsuit, Kaja Sokola repeatedly characterized her sister’s testimony as a personal “betrayal” and falsely accused her of omitting journals in which she described what happened with Weinstein.

The lawsuit also said Kaja Sokola had falsely accused Ewa Sokola of homicide, theft, falsification of medical records, sexual impropriety and immoral conduct, and of colluding with Weinstein’s defense team.

The lawsuit said Kaja Sokola’s false claims have cost Ewa Sokola referrals and led to a reduction in patients and employees for her medical practice while damaging her professional reputation and her standing within the medical community.

Sisak and Neumeister write for the Associated Press.

CARDI B’s boyfriend Stefon Diggs seemed to finally confirm he has welcomed more than one baby this year.

The New England Patriots player, 32 – who welcomed a son with rapper Cardi in November – posted three separate photos of three infants on his Instagram Stories on Christmas Day.

In one, Stefon held a baby boy in front of a colorful Christmas tree.

“One of my boys’ first Christmas,” he proudly posted.

The identity of the baby’s mother is unclear- though Stefon was rumored to have fathered a mystery child after TMZ obtained photos of him loading a baby carrier outside a New York hospital in May.

In the second photo, the NFL star posed with a baby girl – who appears to be Charliee, his daughter with Instagram model Lord Gisselle, who also goes by Aileen Lopera.

HOT MAMA

Cardi B amazes fans by going out HOURS after announcing birth of her 4th baby

The U.S. Sun exclusively confirmed Stefon was the father of Aileen’s baby after she took him to court to confirm paternity and request child support in Los Angeles.

The baby was born in April 2025 – just seven months before Cardi gave birth to his son.

In Stefon’s third photo, Cardi, 33, held their son in front of a sparkling Christmas tree.

“Miss yaw!” he captioned the pic. “Don’t be squeezing him too tight, you making him soft.”

Cardi and Stefon first stepped out publicly in May of this year, and she announced her pregnancy in September.

She is the mother of three kids with ex Offset- Kulture, Wave and Blossom. She gave birth to her youngest daughter in September 2024.

Stefon also has an older daughter named Nova, 8.

ROSIE Huntington-Whiteley goes through a purple patch in lingerie from her Marks and Spencer range.

The 38-year-old, married to movie action hero Jason Statham, 58, also modelled a modest red set.

The ex-Victoria’s Secret model-turned-actress has worked with the high street giant since 2011.

Action film star partner Jason Statham, 57, popped the question in 2016, but she later said getting married was “not a priority”.

A source said: “Jason might be 20 years older than Rosie, but they are on the same page with each other in so many aspects of their lives.

“Their love for each other, and their children, is incredibly reassuring and something their friends look up to.”

JUST ROSIE

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley looks incredible as she strips off to lingerie

TIGHT WHITELEYS

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley sizzles in tight top and string bikini bottoms

The couple have been together since 2009, and they have two children aged seven and three.

Earlier in the year, the couple teamed up for their first photoshoot together.

They were promoting Italian fashion brand Falconeri.

Rosie said of the photoshoot: “It was relaxed and easy.

“We got to spend a day together, working with a team we love, in a place we love.

What more can you ask for?”

Emmerdale has announced when Celia Daniels and Ray Walters will leave the village as their reign of terror on the Yorkshire village ends – with one more victim ‘revealed’

Emmerdale has confirmed when Celia Daniels and Ray Walters will leave the village as their reign of terror comes to an end. The mother and son duo have been causing heartbreak and havoc in the sleepy Yorkshire village.

The pair are running a modern slavery ring, and have got teenagers April and Dylan involved in drug dealing, leaving Marlon and Rhona terrified for their family’s life. As suspicions grow around Ray and Celia, it seems like they’re keen to make their exit.

Speaking previously, actress Jaye Griffiths shared Celia’s plan to leave the village. She said: “Celia doesn’t mark Christmas. And this year she is planning on them leaving the area. As it has all got too complicated, April’s family are an irritant to her and things are also getting complicated business wise as Moira is becoming troublesome by asking too many questions.

“But more alarmingly Ray has gone and fallen in love. So she’s extricating them to another area. It is clear that this is something they have done before – find another farm in another location and set up their enterprise again.”

In today’s episode of Emmerdale, Ray seemed to have convinced April to leave the village with them to move to a new area to continue their criminal work if they keep her family protected.

As Ray explained the plan to April, he said they had set a date on January 1st to head out of the village, leaving April shocked that it was so soon. He warned her to enjoy her last Christmas in the village.

Fans have known for a while that this storyline with Ray and Celia would be ending soon. Jaye explained: “I knew it was finite from the start, which I am very sad about. I would like to stay forever, but it’s such a strong arc.

“It’s heaven [working on Emmerdale], one of the nicest places I’ve ever worked, and I’ve done a little bit of work before! It is gentle and kind and professional and funny, and people care that it’s good. People care that we tell the story properly.”

Speaking about her villainous character, she added: “I love her. She doesn’t have many laughs, I’m hardly swinging from the rafters but no, it’s just so wonderful to explore someone who doesn’t mind whether you like or not, because your opinion is of less than no value.

“It simply doesn’t cross her mind that you have one or that I should take any note of it. So it makes her big and to never be afraid, to never feel fear, because the worst that could happen has already happened, and she survived. So bring it on. Just bring it on!”

Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.

Most things in this world have their good points and their not-so-good points, and this is certainly true of “The Copenhagen Test,” a science-fiction spy story about a man whose brain has been hacked. Without his knowing it, everything he sees and hears is uploaded to an unknown party, in an unknown place, as if he were a living pair of smart glasses. Created by Thomas Brandon and premiering Saturday on Peacock, its conceit is dramatically clever, if, of course, impossible. What do you watch when you learn that what you’re watching is being watched?

In a preamble, we meet our hero, Andrew Hale (Simu Liu, “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”), a first-generation Chinese American Green Beret, rescuing hostages in Belarus. A voice in his headset instructs him that there is enough room for one on a departing helicopter and that he must prioritize an American citizen. Instead he picks a foreign child. This, we will learn, is the less-preferred choice.

Three years later, Hale is working for the Orphanage, a shadowy American intelligence agency that spies on all the less-shadowy American intelligence agencies — watching the watchers. (So much watching!) Its proud boast is that, since its inception in the Bush I administration, it has never been compromised. (Until someone started looking through Hale’s eyes, that is.) There is a secret entrance to their giant complex, accessed by locking eyes with a statue in a library — it’s thematically appropriate, but also very “Get Smart!” That is a compliment, obviously.

The lower floor is where the analysts toil; entry to the upper floor, where the action is, is by the sort of fancy key that might have been used to open an executive washroom in 1895. (The decor is better there, too, with something of the air of an 1895 executive washroom.) Hale, who has been been listening to and translating Korean and Chinese chatter, dreams of moving upstairs, which will come with the discovery that his head is not entirely his own.

Meanwhile, he has been suffering migraines, seizures and panic attacks. Ex-fiancée Rachel (Hannah Cruz), a doctor, has been giving him pills under the table. Other characters of continuing interest include Michelle (Melissa Barrera), a bartender who will spy on Hale from the vantage point of a girlfriend, sort of; Parker (Sinclair Daniel), a newly promoted “predictive analyst” with a gift for reading people and situations; Victor (Saul Rubinek), an ex-spook who runs a high-end restaurant and has known Hale forever; Cobb (Mark O’Brien), a rivalrous colleague whose Ivy League persona has been drawn in contrast to Hale’s; and Cobb’s uncle, Schiff (Adam Godley), who also has spy knowledge. Peter Moira (Brian d’Arcy James) runs the shop, and St. George (Kathleen Chalfant) floats above Moira.

As parties unknown look through Hale’s eyes, the Orphanage is watching Hale with the usual access to the world’s security cameras. (That bit of movie spycraft always strikes me as far-fetched; however, a conversation in the privacy of my kitchen will somehow translate into ads on my social feeds, so, who knows?) “The Copenhagen Test” isn’t selling a surveillance state metaphor, in any case; this is just one of those “Who Can You Trust?” stories, one that keeps flipping characters to keep the show going, somewhat past the point of profitability.

Like most eight-hour dramas, it’s too long — “Slow Horses,” the best of this breed, sticks to six — and over the course of the show, things grow muddied with MacGuffins and subplots. While it’s easy enough to enjoy what’s happening in the moment, it can be easy to lose the plot and harder to tell just who’s on what side, or even how many sides there are. (It doesn’t help that nearly everyone is ready to kill Hale.) I can’t go into details without crossing the dreaded spoiler line, but even accepting the impossible tech, much of “The Copenhagen Test” makes little practical sense, including the eponymous test. (Why “Copenhagen?” Det ved jeg ikke. Danish for “I don’t know.”) I spent so much time untwisting knots and keeping threads straight that, though I continued to root in a detached way for Hale, I ceased to care entirely about the fate of the Orphanage and the supposedly free world.

The show is well cast. While the characters on paper are pretty much types, each actor projects the essence of the part, adding enough extra personality to suggest a real person. (And they’re all nice to look at.) When not keeling over from pain, or engaged in a shootout or hand-to-hand combat, Liu is an even-keeled, quiet sort of protagonist — rather in the Keanu Reeves vein — and as a Chinese Canadian actor, still a novelty among American television action heroes. He does have a kind of chemistry with Barrera, who has screen chemistry all on her own, though it’s somewhat limited by the demands of the plot.

The ending, including a diminished-chord twist, is pretty pat, if happier than one might imagine given the ruckus that’s gone before. Neat bows are tied — though at least one has been left loose in hopes, according to my own predictive analysis, of a second season. And though releasing a series in the last week of the year doesn’t exactly betoken confidence, I can predict with some confidence that there might be one.