Absence

Joy Behar is trading her usual spot at “The View’s” roundtable for the spotlight in one of London’s West End theaters.

The comedian, who is one of the talk show’s longest-running hosts, is taking a temporary leave from the daytime program to take her play, “My First Ex-Husband,” overseas for the first time. The 83-year-old TV personality announced her break on Tuesday, on the podcast, “Behind the Table,” a companion program of “The View.”

“I fly to Paris this week, and then I go take the Chunnel to London after a week, and I’ll be in London a second week doing my play, ‘My First Ex-Husband,’ at the Boulevard Theatre in the West End,” Behar said on the podcast.

Behar confirmed she has already pre-taped several installments of “The Weekend View,” ahead of her absence. She will miss the next two weeks of tapings. Her last appearance on the weekday edition of the show is Thursday.

In Behar’s absence, several “View” regulars will step in. Brian Teta, the show’s producer, said on the podcast that Sheryl Underwood, Kara Swisher and Ana Navarro will make appearances in the coming weeks. Whoopi Goldberg, another one of the talk show’s staple personalities, will also be coming in on Fridays, which is her usual day off.

“I don’t think she knows yet, but I’ll let her know that she’s going to be here,” Teta joked of Goldberg’s new responsibility.

Behar’s play, “My First Ex-Husband,” first debuted off-Broadway in New York in 2025. The comedian wrote the show over the span of 12 years. The story follows a rotating cast who tell chaotic stories about past relationships. The play is set to debut in the coming weeks, according to Behar. She and Jackie Hoffman will be two American narrators for the show, while two British actresses perform the scenes.

Emma Raducanu suffered a narrow first-round defeat in Strasbourg as she returned to action after more than two months away from the WTA Tour.

The British number one has been recovering from a post-viral illness and had not played since a third-round defeat by Amanda Anisimova at Indian Wells in March.

Granted a wildcard for the WTA 500 event in Strasbourg, her return did not go to plan as she fell to a 6-4 7-6 (7-4) defeat by French home hope Diane Parry.

It means Raducanu will have played just one match on clay before the French Open – the second Grand Slam event of the year – starts on Sunday.

After a 10-week absence from the Tour, Raducanu has slipped from 23rd to 37th in the world rankings and she will not be seeded at Roland Garros.

Playing her first match since reuniting with coach Andrew Richardson – who helped guide her to the US Open title as a teenage qualifier – Raducanu got off to a strong start in France, spraying fierce backhand winners down the line and moving nimbly around the court as she broke for a 4-2 lead.

But double faults started to creep into the her game and Parry reeled Raducanu back in before taking charge to wrap up the opener.

After saving five break points to stop Parry from pulling away early in the second set, Raducanu briefly rediscovered her rhythm to strike first – only to watch the world number 94 break back immediately again.

The Frenchwoman broke again to go 5-4 up, but Raducanu held firm to stop Parry from serving out the victory on two occasions and force a tie-break.

After whacking the ball into the stands in frustration, Parry regained her composure to eventually see out the straight-set victory after two hours and 26 minutes.

While the loss limits Raducanu’s preparation for the French Open, there are positives to take for the Briton as she heads to Paris.

She looked relaxed as Richardson dished out instructions and encouragement from the player’s box, while she showed resilience in fending off 16 break points and making it difficult for Parry until the end.

Parry will face either China’s Shuai Zhang in the second round after she defeated Spain’s Cristina Bucsa 2-6 7-6 (9-7) 7-5.

Saturday Kitchen presenter Matt Tebbutt joked with Rivals stars about a missing guest on this week’s show.

Matt Tebbutt explained why his Saturday Kitchen co-star was missing.

Saturday Kitchen returned this weekend, with presenter Matt Tebbutt hosting some of the stars of the newly released second season of Rivals.

He introduced Gary Lamont, Lisa McGrillis and Emily Atack from the series and asked them all about their characters and what they get up to in the Jilly Cooper adaptation.

After speaking to the Rivals cast, Saturday Kitchen’s Matt Tebbutt addressed viewers, explaining one star’s absence from the line-up.

Helen McGinn, wine expert and presenter, had not been able to take part in the show as Matt said: “Now, Helen McGinn had to stay at home today because last night she had a binge-watch party with her neighbours in the leafy gated community of Hampshire.

“And seriously, she is too much of a fangirl to sit here today; her jaw would be on the floor. She can’t believe she’s missing out on our Rivals special.”

“So guys, please say hello to Helen.” The cast then waved and blew kisses, with Lamont saying, “Wish you were here.”

“Are you hungover, Helen?” McGrillis added cheekily as Matt joked, “Probably is. Helen, drop us a text, let us know what you are up to.”

Viewers took to X noticing her absence, with one sharing: “Rivals dropped last night, and Helen is not doing the wine this morning. Coincidence? #SaturdayKitchen”

Will Murray, Jake Croft and Kate Jenkins were on hand to serve up some culinary delights inspired by 80s classics in homage to Rivals.

Ollie Smith served up some classic cocktails, which were also in tribute to the Disney+ “bonkbuster” series.

Tebbutt and Smith spoke to the Rivals cast about the new season with the show’s host bingeing the first two episodes.

“It’s absolutely brilliant,” Tebbutt said. “And I have to say, none of you looks anything like you do.” Later in the episode, Tebbutt expressed his surprise at the stars’ transformations in the series.

Saturday Kitchen airs on BBC One on Saturdays at 10am

Westlife have paid tribute to Simon Cowell during an appearance on Britain’s Got Talent, with Shane Filan, Nicky Bryne and Kian Egan all taking to the stage without bandmate Mark Feehily

Westlife have paid tribute to Simon Cowell during an appearance on Britain’s Got Talent.

The band – which features Shane Filan, Nicky Bryne and Kian Egan – performed their biggest hits ahead of their 25th anniversary tour. However, they were without bandmate Mark Feehily, who will also not appear on the tour.

There was no specific mention of Mark, but the trio paid a heartfelt tribute to judge Simon, who was instrumental in their success.

“It’s been a long time since Simon Cowell suggested standing up from our stools on a key change,” Nicky said. Kian went on to pay tribute to Simon and said they wouldn’t have been there without him.

In June, it was confirmed Mark would be absent from the tour. The band said in a statement: “Sadly, Mark will be unable to join the celebrations. We hope he can join us back on stage when he is ready and able. He sends his love and positivity to you all as always.”

Mark announced he would be taking a break from Westlife just days before first ever tour of America in 2024. At the time, he shared: “Hello and much love to you all! It’s Mark here.. Most of you are aware that I have had some health challenges over the past while.

“It actually all started 3.5 years ago in August 2020 when I had surgery. Within a few days of this surgery I was in severe pain and was rushed into A&E. I eventually ended that awful day in ICU (Intensive Care Unit) where I was informed that due to a complication with the surgery, I had developed severe ‘Sepsis‘, a life-threatening infection that would require immediate emergency surgery to rectify the problem and basically save my life.”

He explained that he was in hospital for months during lockdown, and was later told he needed more surgery.

“It was physically and mentally a very difficult time, not to mention traumatic having to spend so long in ICU. In late 2021, I became very ill in Newcastle before a concert and ended up back in A&E, this time being told I had pneumonia. I was told I had to go straight home to recover and regrettably miss the rest of the concerts that December,” he said.

Speaking about Mark missing their big anniversary tour, Kian told us: “We’re devastated he won’t be joining us on this tour. We’ll be missing him every night just as much as the fans will. But he’s given us his full support. This is the 25th anniversary, it’s something that we all felt needed to be celebrated. We hope as soon as he’s ready he’ll be back with us and we look forward to that moment.”

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Towering superstar Victor Wembanyama toppled onto his face Tuesday night — timberrr!!! — and the NBA playoff scenario immediately became as scrambled as the San Antonio Spurs’ 7-foot-4 center’s thoughts must have been moments after he suffered a concussion.

Without Wembanyama for nearly three quarters, the Spurs fell to the underdog Portland Trail Blazers, 106-103, with the first-round series tied 1-1 and headed to Portland for Game 3 on Friday.

Meanwhile, without superstar guard Luka Doncic, the Lakers powered past the Houston Rockets, 101-94, to take a 2-0 series lead. Guard tandem Marcus Smart and Luke Kennard combined with the ageless LeBron James to make up for the absence of injuries to Doncic as well as fellow starting guard Austin Reaves.

Peering forward, an extended absence by Wembanyama would seem to place the Spurs in serious jeopardy of a first-round exit. After all, “Wemby” is the league’s defensive player of the year in addition to averaging 25 points and 11.5 rebounds a game. He is a two-way force of unprecedented magnitude.

Meanwhile, the Lakers have responded to the loss of Doncic so well that Times columnist Bill Plaschke declared “believe it, this series is already over” after their Game 2 victory Tuesday night. The absence of Doncic and his 33.3 points, 8.3 assists and 7.7 rebounds a game was masked by the exceptional play of teammates.

Does that make Wembanyana more valuable than Doncic? Does it raise Wembanyana’s NBA Most Valuable Player credentials to the level of fellow finalists Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic?

That’s a topic worth debating on another day. For now, the pertinent questions are how severely Wembanyana is injured and how long will he be sidelined. The Spurs and Trail Blazers play Game 3 on Friday night, Game 4 on Sunday and Game 5 on Tuesday night. The median time lost to concussion in the NBA is seven days.

“He has a concussion and he is in the protocol,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said afterward. “We’ll obviously take the proper and appropriate steps.”

A player in concussion protocol must have at least 48 hours of inactivity and undergo neurological testing while meeting certain criteria without symptoms before being cleared to play. A decision on clearance will come from the NBA concussion protocol director Dr. Jeffrey Kutcher in consultation with the Spurs’ team doctor.

The injury occurred early in the second quarter. After backing into the paint with the ball, Wembanyama turned to explode toward the basket. Portland defender Jrue Holiday executed a maneuver termed “pulling the chair” — moving completely away from the Spurs center, who clearly was expecting contact.

Wembanyama lurched forward, toppled and slammed the right side of his face on the floor. He stayed down for several seconds before sitting up and putting his hands on his face. Television analyst Reggie Miller exclaimed, “He is dazed.” Wembanyama finally stood and jogged directly to the locker room. He did not return.

Meanwhile at Crypto.com Arena, Doncic and Reaves cheered from the bench throughout the Lakers’ inspired dismantling of the Rockets. Smart scored 25 points and Kennard added 23.

“I know we just kind of flipped the switch,” Kennard said. “We told each other, this is what we got right now. We’ve got to believe in what we have.”

Added Smart: “The word is, ‘elevate’ for us, and that’s all we’ve been trying to do, is elevate our play on both ends.”

Wembanyana’s backup is Luke Kornet, who has played for six teams since going undrafted out of Vanderbilt in 2017. He was effective during a 14-minute stint in the Spurs’ Game 1 victory over Portland and had 10 points and nine rebounds in Game 2 after Wembanyana exited. He’ll need to step up the way Smart and Kennard have for the Lakers.

Injuries are inevitable. How teammates respond when a superstar is sidelined provides insight on multiple levels. So far, the loss of Doncic — and Reaves — has been overcome by the Lakers while the loss of Wembanyama could cripple the Spurs.

However, he returned to Naples to hold what have been described as “calm, collaborative and constructive” talks with his club. The discussions also included his agent Federico Pastorello and Napoli sporting director Giovanni Manna.

The talks are understood to have led to an amicable solution, with sources insisting the matter is now closed.

During the discussions, Lukaku updated Napoli on his recovery. It is hoped the striker will be available for selection in about two weeks.