BBC

Alan Carr is back with a new series of Changing Ends – however, he may be following in the footsteps of his Celebrity Traitors co-star Claudia Winkleman as Strictly’s new host

The job offers haven’t stopped rolling in for Alan Carr since his momentous Celebrity Traitors win, with the comedian even tipped to take over hosting duties on BBC One’s Strictly Come Dancing. While he’s back with a new series of his hit comedy Changing Ends, the 49-year-old admits he’s unsure whether he could handle the challenge of stepping into Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly’s sparkly shoes.

“My name is in the hat,” he says. “What an honour. It’s a bit like when my name got bandied about for Britain’s Got Talent and The Great British Bake Off – I’m always on the periphery.

“I don’t know how serious it is. No one has approached me. People are so passionate about it and you saw me sweating in the castle when I was a Traitor, imagine me doing live telly with how many million people watching!”

READ MORE: BBC Celebrity Traitors star admits ‘one thing dawned on me early on’READ MORE: Celebrity Traitors finalist says ‘this is what Claudia Winkleman was really like’

Although, after a star turn on The Celebrity Traitors, he knows how to convincingly lie – and that could come in handy on Strictly. “If someone’s cha-cha-cha is a bit s**t, I’ve got the poker face!” he jokes.

“So many things have come from The Celebrity Traitors – so many job offers coming in – I’d be flattered but I don’t know if I could do it [Strictly] justice. I just don’t want to ruin it for people.”

Alan is back on more familiar ground with Changing Ends – the semi-autobiographical sitcom about his childhood in 1980s Northampton. Series three follows teenage Alan (played by Bafta nominee Oliver Savell) as he navigates obstacles such as stressful swimming lessons, and, more importantly, his first big crush – young Alan is smitten with Jake, the Saturday boy at the charity shop.

“I really got into charity shopping,” Alan smiles. “I used to go in there every Saturday and flick through the posters to catch his eye. I must have stunk like an old woman because I would get flares, I wore my dad’s sheepskin and we didn’t have dry cleaning like we do these days.

“I just wanted to be in love really. It still hasn’t happened!” With Alan now single after divorcing ex-husband Paul Drayton back in 2022, is he hoping his teenage crush will reach the real-life inspiration behind Jake?

“The boy knew then because I was just as unsubtle as I am now,” he laughs. “When I went back to Northampton, I saw him queuing up at a cash point. My knees went to jelly and I thought, ‘Oh my God, there he is.’ But I didn’t want to say hi.

“There’s still something there, but I don’t want a Surprise Surprise moment. He had his chance and he missed it! He could be dating a national treasure now.”

Fans will already know that Alan’s father Graham was famous himself – having been a professional footballer in the 1960s who went on to manage Northampton Town among other clubs. However, the new series also sees Alan’s mother Christine embracing life as a local WAG.

“We would drop my brother [Gary] off at Beavers and me and mum would sit in the Tesco café for an hour with a cup of tea and a Chelsea bun,” he says. “I remember this woman coming over in the canteen to ask for an autograph – I mean, it was funny.

“It sounds weird but in Northampton, my dad was famous – people would stop him. My mum didn’t get the same standard as my dad, but it was funny. She was stopped a few times and people whispered, ‘That’s Graham Carr’s wife.’ Now she gets, ‘That’s Alan Carr’s mum – that’s the Traitor’s mum!’”

Christine isn’t always pleased with how Alan portrays his childhood, with Nancy Sullivan and Shaun Dooley playing his long-suffering parents. “My mum goes, ‘Oh Alan, it wasn’t that obvious you were gay when you were a child.’ My mum, bless her – she’s still that she-wolf who goes up the school. ‘Don’t you pick on my Alan, he does fancy girls!’ I don’t think she realises how camp I am, she just loves me.”

Both his parents visited the show’s “surreal” set in Enfield, north London, which completely recreates his childhood home. “My poor dad walked up the stairs and nearly fell to his death because he thought the bedroom was upstairs,” he says. “How weird is that? It’s identical to the house. To have it decompartmentalised in a warehouse is so strange.”

As for whether we can expect more episodes of Changing Ends in the future, Alan says that it’s up to the fans. “I like the stage it’s at – that weird puberty stage,” he says. “If people are watching and they want it to come back, I’ll think about writing some more.

“But when it gets to the call centre years at 18 and when I started packing shampoo and dog food, I think I’m going to run out of stories because that was a really bleak time. It could be like The Office and be called The Warehouse!”

Although, after managing to make it all the way to the very end of The Celebrity Traitors without being found out as a Traitor, Alan is concerned that viewers won’t trust him any more. “I want it to be really authentic, but I worry now after doing The Celebrity Traitors people aren’t going to believe a word of Changing Ends!” he laughs.

Changing Ends airs Sunday at 10:05pm on ITV1 and ITVX.

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Suranne Jones’ hit TV show Doctor Foster will reportedly be returning to screens after an almost decade-long break, according to TV insiders

Suranne Jones is set to bring back her best-ever TV character after an eight-year break.

The former Coronation Street star will reprise the lead role of Gemma Foster in the BBC One drama Doctor Foster. The award-winning series saw Suranne play a scorned GP who takes revenge on her cheating husband, played by Bertie Carvel.

According to a report, Suranne and the team feel there is “unfinished business” for the character. Filming is reportedly due to start next year, with a view to it potentially airing at the end of 2026 or early 2027.

A TV insider said: “There was always a sense of unfinished business with Doctor Foster as the storyline could easily roll on and on.”

“It went out on a massive high, too, with around eight million tuning in every week to watch the drama unfold between the three lead characters,” they added to The Sun.

More than 10 million people tuned in to see the finale of Doctor Foster’s first series in October 2015. It won multiple awards including the best actress Bafta for Suranne Jones.

The second series did similarly well and the finale was watched by an average of 7.2 million viewers, according to overnight figures. But the ending did split viewers as Gemma Foster and her ex-husband fought over their son Tom.

Speaking about the series in 2017, Suranne admitted it could be “uncomfortable” viewing at times but says the show has a ” weird, sexy edge to it. We all know what it feels like to be in a room with an ex-partner,” she goes on.

“Everybody has had a relationship, everyone has had exes, everybody has been in difficult circumstances. I’m sure myself and Bertie have had those thoughts and feelings; otherwise we wouldn’t be able to draw on them.

“But at the same time, with the style of writing and the style of the programme, you’re able to go further.

“It has a fantastical edge as well as being deep-rooted in naturalism. It also has an exaggerated way of showing how far you could go if you really wanted to.”

The Mirror approached the BBC about reports of a third series Doctor Foster but were told there would be no immediate comment.

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The BBC is in turmoil. A leaked dossier exposing a misedited speech of United States President Donald Trump and other editorial concerns has triggered resignations at the top – and a $1bn lawsuit threat from the US leader. Why the leak surfaced now, and who steps in next, are still open questions. Most importantly, will the BBC be able to recover from this moment?

Contributors:
Ben de Pear – Former editor, Channel 4 News
Jane Martinson – Professor, University of London
Karishma Patel – Former newsreader, BBC
Tom Mills – Author, The BBC: Myth of a Public Service

On our radar

This week, Ahmed al-Sharaa became the first Syrian president ever to set foot in the White House. A landmark diplomatic trip filled with photo ops and political theatre, marking his transition from a US-designated terrorist to an ally. Meenakshi Ravi reports.

AI slop tsunami: Is the internet now a junkyard?

Elettra Scrivo explores how social media platforms are rapidly changing with the surge of AI content. Low-quality, mass-produced, artificially generated content, otherwise known as AI slop, is designed to trigger the algorithms and generate revenue for Big Tech companies.

Featuring:
Drew Harwell – Technology reporter, The Washington Post
Mark Lawrence Garilao – AI video content creator
Myojung Chung – Associate professor, Northeastern University

BBC Breakfast hosts Naga Munchetty and Charlie Stayt comforted a grieving guest on Saturday

BBC Breakfast shared tragic death news on Saturday (November 15) as a grieving mum “relives it every day”.

On today’s episode of the popular morning show, hosts Naga Munchetty and Charlie Stayt kept viewers up-to-date with the latest news from across the UK and globally.

Joining them in the studio was Mike Bushell, who took charge of the sports segment, while Sarah Keith-Lucas provided regular weather updates throughout the programme.

Later on, Naga and Charlie shared the heart-wrenching story of 14-year-old Jacob Calland, who tragically lost his life earlier this year when his e-scooter collided with a car.

Jacob’s mum, Carly, has since initiated a campaign to alert other families about the potential dangers of e-scooters, reports the Express.

In a pre-recorded segment, Carly spoke about her campaign, stating: “The reason we’ve gone with empty chairs is because this Christmas, I am going to be sat at my Christmas table with an empty chair.

“The thought of that is hard, and I don’t want anyone else to have to sit with an empty chair at Christmas. My 14-year-old boy is not going to be with me this Christmas… I just want people to keep their families [close], because I’ve not got mine this year.”

While it’s legal to use an e-scooter through a rental scheme, riding private e-scooters on our roads is illegal, yet it happens frequently. Jacob’s mother isn’t campaigning for a ban, but she wants them to be regulated and made safer.

Carly made an appearance on BBC Breakfast, where she honoured her son by introducing his journey teddy bear.

“Jacob’s dream was to travel the world, so his ashes are inside the bear and he’s now travelling with us,” she shared.

“It’s comfort knowing that he’s by my side and I’m by his side, and we’re doing this journey together.”

Charlie then observed: “Whilst you’re obviously passionate and want to make change, that, in itself, can’t be easy because you’re having to relive something that is deeply, deeply painful.”

Carly continued: “I’m reliving it every day. The thing is for me, I like to turn my pain into Jacob’s power. I’m saving people’s lives. Every day I show up, every day I get through my days. It’s not easy. I do have bad days, but at the end of the day, Jacob’s legacy is going to save people’s lives.”

Naga consoled the mother by concluding: “You’re entitled to as many bad days as you like, may I say.”

BBC Breakfast airs daily on BBC One at 6am

If you were affected by the issues raised in this story, organisations which can offer help include Child Bereavement UK and Sue Ryder

The US president signals legal war even as the British network apologises for an ‘error of judgement’ in editing his January 6 speech.

United States President Donald Trump says he would likely sue the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) next week for as much as $5bn after the British broadcaster admitted it wrongly edited a video of a speech he gave, but insisted there was no legal basis for his claim.

“We will sue them for anywhere between a billion and five billion dollars, probably sometime next week. I think I have to do it. They have even admitted that they cheated,” Trump told reporters on board Air Force One late on Friday.

Trump’s lawyers had sent the BBC a letter on Monday, accusing it of defaming the US president with the video of the speech before the 2021 US Capitol riot and giving it until Friday to apologise and pay compensation for what they described as “overwhelming reputational and financial harm”.

The controversy centres on the BBC’s edit of Trump’s remarks from January 6, 2021, the day his supporters stormed the US Capitol. The dispute has pushed the network into its most severe crisis in decades, triggering the resignations of two senior leaders and prompting a wave of political scrutiny.

“The people of the UK are very angry about what happened, as you can imagine, because it shows the BBC is fake news,” Trump said.

He added that he planned to raise the BBC issue with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has backed the broadcaster’s independence while avoiding taking sides against Trump.

“I’m going to call him over the weekend. He actually put a call into me. He’s very embarrassed,” Trump said.

‘Beyond fake, this is corrupt’

The documentary, aired on the BBC’s flagship Panorama programme, stitched together three separate clips of Trump’s January 6 speech. His lawyers say the sequence created the false impression he was inciting the riot, calling the edit “false and defamatory”.

In an interview with GB News, Trump accused the BBC of misconduct. He said the edit was “impossible to believe” and likened it to election interference.

“I made a beautiful statement, and they made it into a not beautiful statement,” he said. “Fake news was a great term, except it’s not strong enough. This is beyond fake, this is corrupt.”

He dismissed the BBC’s apology as insufficient, arguing that the broadcaster had spliced together remarks that were nearly an hour apart. “It’s incredible to depict the idea that I had given this aggressive speech which led to riots,” he said.

BBC chair Samir Shah issued a personal apology to the White House and told British lawmakers that the edit was “an error of judgement”. Culture Minister Lisa Nandy said on Friday the apology was “right and necessary”.

The crisis has already cost the BBC its director general, Tim Davie, and its head of news, Deborah Turness, both of whom resigned this week as accusations of bias and editing failures mounted.

Tiffany Calver has quit her role on BBC Radio 1 after seven years on air and has been inundated with messages from her celebrity friends over her decision to step down

A broadcaster has quit her role on BBC Radio 1 with an emotional message. Tiffany Calver, 31, first joined the station in 2019 as a replacement for fellow DJ Charlie Sloth but announced on Friday evening that she had made the decision to ‘move on’ after so many years on air.

She took to social media to post a lengthy statement in which she admitted it had been ‘sheer magic’ to have had that job but that it was time to move on. She wrote: “Hey friends. I’d like to share that I’ve made the decision to move on from 1Xtra.

“It’s quite hard to put into words just what it means to be given the opportunity to live your dream for as many years as I have had the pleasure of doing. I will never be able to quite explain the sheer magic that happens when you press play on that first song, or greet your listeners for the first time on air every week, and I will miss it dearly.”

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During her time at the radio station, Tiffany became known for curating playlists and made history as the first female to host Radio 1’s Rap Show before moving on to her current position.

She added: “I am so grateful for the memories made and for the opportunity to grow as a broadcaster during my time in one of the best places for radio in the world. I feel like now is the right time for me to continue to grow, but from outside of the station.

“Most importantly, I want to thank those of you who have tuned in and spent some time with me and my never-ending quest to keep finding and sharing the music I love with you all every week. That part will never change, as big as this might feel.

Tiffany was inundated with messages from celebrity pals, including Little Mix star Jade Thirlwall, who wrote: “We [love] you! Excited for your next chapter,” whilst Love Island host Maya Jama wrote: “gwan!” and emblazoned her comment with a series of clapping hand emojis.

BBC’s RadioXtra account wrote: “You’re going to be SO missed! Thanks for 7 incredible years of passion and for championing the artists who matter!”

When Tiffany landed her own show in 2023, Kenny Allstar took over from her on Rap Show. At the time, he said: “From the age of 11, I remember taking my mother’s cassette tapes to record The Rap Show on Saturdays.

“This was more than a radio show it was my entire social life. I always wanted to one day be the host of this powerful slot on these powerful networks.

“I hope to uphold the legacy that Tiffany left in place and continue to showcase the hottest in Hip Hop music on a global scale”.

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US President Donald Trump has said he will file legal action against the BBC next week over how his speech was edited by Panorama, after the corporation apologised but refused to compensate him.

Speaking to reporters on board Air Force One on Friday evening, Trump said: “We’ll sue them for anywhere between a billion and $5bn probably sometime next week.”

On Friday, the BBC said the edit of the 6 January 2021 speech had given “the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action”.

The BBC apologised but said it would not pay financial compensation.

Trump said he would discuss it with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer over the weekend.

Earlier this week Trump’s lawyers threatened to sue the BBC for $1bn in damages unless the corporation issued a retraction, apologised and compensated him.

Trump’s lawyers had given the BBC a deadline of 22:00 GMT (17:00 EST) on Friday 14 November to respond, which it did.

The controversy led to the resignations of BBC director general Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness on Sunday.

Searches of public court record databases earlier showed no legal action had been filed so far.

Federal and state courts in Florida, where a case would likely be filed, are now closed for the weekend.

Based on Pacer searches for federal cases related to the BBC, no case filed by the Trump administration has been filed.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated shortly.

Vicky Pattison has admitted she spent last weekend ‘bursting into tears’ after competing in the latest round of the BBC show after she topped the leaderboard

Strictly Come Dancing star Vicky Pattison has admitted she spent last weekend ‘bursting into tears’ after competing in the latest round of the BBC show. The Geordie Shore legend , 37, had been awarded a near-perfect score of 39 following her Tango to Taylor Swift hit The Fate Of Ophelia, and found herself at the top of the leaderboard.

The former Loose Women star, who won I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! in the years following her rise to fame, made an appearance alongside professional partner Kai Widdrington on Friday’s edition of Strictly spin-off It Takes Two, where she explained to host Fleur East just how much the successful result had meant to her.

She said: “On social media, someone said ‘I fear Vicky Pattison might chuck herself off that balcony if she ever gets a 40!’ and I fear they are right. For someone like me who had never danced before and was so scared at the start of the process, even now who still has wobbles, that’s a moment I never thought would be mine. I’m still feeling very overwhelmed and I spent Sunday just bursting into tears.”

As a congratulatory gift, Vicky was then presented with a framed picture of the leaderboard and a cushion with judge Anton DuBeke holding up his 10 paddle up on it. Vicky joked: “I am going straight home to bed with this!” Meanwhile, Vicky is hopeful that she and her co-stars will remain friends in the longterm and is confident that it will happen because she is still friends with her fellow showbiz stars from other reality shows.

She said: “For me, all the celebs are absolutely gorgeous. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to be doing Strictly this year because everyone is so lovely. When we lost Dani Dyer originally, it was so devastating and heart-breaking. But then we got the gorgeous Amber, and we’ve got by Bal, La Voix, Caz Carney. I just feel so lucky and I hope we’re gonna be friends forever.

“That sounds a bit soppy, but maybe I am a bit soppy! I’m still friends with Ferne [McCann] and I was in the jungle 10 years ago with her. So I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we’re gonna be friends forever!”

Following the performance, Craig Revel Horwood was full of praise, describing the performance as “perfect”, while Anton admitted he was “a bit stunned” because it was “that good”.

He enthused: “I thought it was absolutely marvellous. I loved it. Your line is the best line I’ve ever seen. It was immaculate.” Meanwhile, Motsi Mabuse and head judge Shirley Ballas declared it their “dance of the night”, reports the Manchester Evening News.

Motsi gushed: “Last week I said you were a contender for the final, and this dance just proved what I meant. You confirmed my intuition. Without a doubt, you are on fire. Whatever is giving you that fire – keep it up. This was for me, till now, the dance of the night.”

After the show, Vicky took to Instagram to share her disbelief, posting a snapshot of the leaderboard with the caption: “This can not be real”. Saturday’s episode marked the halfway point of the series, with nine couples taking to the dance floor.

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Nov. 14 (UPI) — The BBC issued a retraction and a formal apology to U.S. President Donald Trump for edits to a speech he gave ahead of the Jan. 6 riots on Capitol Hill that made it appear as if he was inciting his supporters to violence.

The British public service broadcaster apologized Thursday night via the corrections page on its website, with the apology the lead story across all of its news platforms on television, radio and online during the evening and first thing Friday morning.

BBC Chairman Samir Shah also penned a personal written apology to the White House, however, the BBC indicated it would not be paying compensation, as demanded by Trump.

The retraction said an edition of Panorama titled Trump: A Second Chance, broadcast on Oct. 28, 2024, used excerpts lifted from different parts of Trump’s speech in a way that inadvertently made it appear they were contiguous.

The BBC’s version had Trump saying, “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol and I’ll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell,” when his actual words were, “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women.”

The BBC said it accepted that this “gave the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action.”

“The BBC would like to apologize to President Trump for that error of judgment.”

However, the notice made no mention of compensation, one of President Trump’s key demands in his letter threatening the BBC with a $1 billion lawsuit alleging the program had defamed him and giving it until 5 p.m. EST on Friday to respond.

A BBC spokesman said the corporation strongly disagreed “there is a basis for a defamation claim.”

There was no immediate response from either the White House or Trump’s legal counsel.

The Panorama program was not an isolated incident, according to The Telegraph, which said the BBC’s Newsnight program did something very similar with the same speech in a broadcast in 2022.

A spokesman for Trump’s legal team said that from the latest revelation it was “now clear that the BBC engaged in a pattern of defamation against President Trump” and accused it of attempting to try to influence the outcome of the 2024 election.

The debacle has sparked a furious debate about editorial impartiality at the BBC, which is funded by a $229 annual license that every household with a TV must pay, prompting calls for an overhaul of internal processes and procedures.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy acknowledged the BBC’s editorial rules were “in some cases not robust enough and in other cases not consistently applied,” and appeared to suggest the replacement for director-general Tim Davie, who quit Sunday, must be from a journalism background.

Davie spent the first half of his career as a senior marketing executive at PepsiCo before joining the BBC’s marketing division.

The opposition Conservative’s Shadow Culture Secretary, Nigel Huddleston, said he was waiting to see if Trump accepted the BBC’s response to be the “fulsome apology” he was entitled to receive.

“I do not want the British license fee payer or the rest of the BBC to pay the price for poor editorial decisions made by BBC journalists, he said in a post on X.

“However, we would all be in a better position if the BBC had never made these errors in the first place. The BBC needs a fundamental review of processes and procedures to ensure that such failures in impartiality never happen again.”

Vicky Pattison has confessed hilariously in her podcast with Angela Scanlon that there’s one element of their relationship that husband Ercan Ramadan finds a total turn off…

Strictly Come Dancing star Vicky Pattison has admitted there’s one part of her that husband Ercan Ramadan finds a major turn-off: her nostril hair. Speaking on an episode of Get a Grip, her podcast with former Strictly star Angela Scanlon, Vicky, 37, said, “Do you know what really p**ses off Erc? My nostril hair.”

Despite saying Ercan, 32, was “a hairy man” with “strong Cypriot roots,” Vicky said he was adamant that she took action from the moment they began dating more than six years ago. “He’s really anal about hair – when we first got started going out he was like, ‘I need to do your nostril hair,’ and I was like, ‘No, because they’re fair babe, so just leave it.’”

READ MORE: Victoria Beckham Beauty launches early Black Friday sale with 20% off everything

Undeterred, Vicky revealed that Ercan took an electric trimmer to her nose, saying he “got up there with his weed-whacker thing” to remove the offending hairs. However, his solution failed to solve the problem. “Now they have grown back thicker and more determined,” she confessed.

Vicky, who’s dancing with pro Kai Widdrington on the hit BBC series, also told of her joy at coming top of the Leaderboard for the first time last weekend. She and Kai bagged the highest score with 39 points for their Tango to Taylor Swift’s The Fate of Ophelia, overtaking Amber Davies’ and Nikita Kuzmin’s Samba. “It just felt like it all came together,” Vicky told Angela, 41. “Even if that is the first and only time I get to be top of the Leaderboard I’m just so happy I got to do it once.”

She added, “It’s such a nice feeling – and it’s one I never thought I’d experience. I was in absolute shock, and I still am. I am dead proud of myself. I’m dead happy, I’m a bit emotional about it all, because I didn’t expect it.”

But Vicky also used this week’s podcast to again deny persistent rumours that she has slapped Ercan with a so-called ‘sex ban’ at home. “I’m not doing a sex ban,” she insisted, “but after doing the Samba all day, I’ve not got energy for the mattress mambo at home. I’m absolutely done in.”

Although the outspoken former Geordie Shore star loved being top of the Strictly pile last weekend, she still finds the elimination process nerve-shredding. “I have been unlucky enough to be in that final four and honestly it’s just the most awful feeling,” she said. “I know at some point I’ll have to be in the dance off, and it’ll be terrifying. It will just be awful.

“As we all know, I don’t deal with nerves very well or pressure, so I’m not looking forward to it. The relief when the light goes off you, and you’re squeezing hands – it’s very intense.”

She also told how she and Kai, 30, have been speaking about their plan to stay in touch after the show – although Vicky warned him, “Don’t think I’m going to be ringing you for a dance. When I’m f***ing done, I’m done. Everything’s going in the bin.”

But when their number is finally up, she’s looking forward to putting her feet up for a well-earned rest. “It’s obviously the most incredible experience ever, but it’s exhausting,” she told Angela. “I’m looking forward to having a nice Christmas.”

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LONDON — The BBC apologized Thursday to President Trump over a misleading edit of his speech on Jan. 6, 2021 but said it had not defamed him, rejecting the basis for his $1 billion lawsuit threat.

The BBC said Chair Samir Shah sent a personal letter to the White House saying that he and the corporation were sorry for the edit of the speech Trump gave before some of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol as Congress was poised to certify the results of President-elect Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.

The BBC said there are no plans to rebroadcast the documentary, which had spliced together parts of his speech that came almost an hour apart.

“We accept that our edit unintentionally created the impression that we were showing a single continuous section of the speech, rather than excerpts from different points in the speech, and that this gave the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action,” the BBC wrote in a retraction.

Trump’s lawyer had sent the BBC a letter demanding an apology and threatened to file a $1 billion lawsuit for the harm the documentary caused him. It had set a Friday deadline for the BBC to respond.

The dispute was sparked by an edition of the BBC’s flagship current affairs series “Panorama,” titled “Trump: A Second Chance?” broadcast days before the 2024 U.S. presidential election.

The third-party production company that made the film spliced together three quotes from two sections of the 2021 speech, delivered almost an hour apart, into what appeared to be one quote in which Trump urged supporters to march with him and “fight like hell.”

Among the parts cut out was a section where Trump said he wanted supporters to demonstrate peacefully.

Director-General Tim Davie, along with news chief Deborah Turness, quit Sunday, saying the scandal was damaging the BBC and “as the CEO of BBC News and Current Affairs, the buck stops with me.”

The apology and retraction came as BBC acknowledged that its Newsnight program in 2022 had also misleadingly spliced together parts of Trump’s speech.

Melley writes for the Associated Press.

One EastEnders star departed Walford tonight in sad scenes – with more exits set to come on the BBC soap

An EastEnders star has bid farewell to the Square. Micah Balfour departed the BBC soap this evening, just eighteen months after joining as George Knight’s estranged son Junior.

In sad scenes this evening, Junior said goodbye to his ex Cindy and his sisters Anna and Gina. He shared his prized car with his uncle Kojo and warned his dad to stay away from Nicola Mitchell.

As he bid farewell to the Square, he headed off to start a new life in Dubai. A BBC spokesperson previously confirmed the departure to The Mirror, explaining: “We can confirm Micah will be leaving EastEnders later this year, we wish him all the best for the future.”

When Junior arrived on the Square less than two years ago, bosses teased “there is more to Junior than meets the eye”.

Upon his casting on EastEnders, then-executive producer Chris Clenshaw said in a statement: “I’m delighted to welcome Micah Balfour to the cast of EastEnders as he takes on the role of Junior Knight.

“Although Junior has been referenced since the Knights arrived in the Square, the audience knows very little about George’s son and the circumstances behind their estrangement.

“Junior arrives in Walford following an unlikely meeting with his dad, and is quickly thrust into the heart of the drama. However, it will soon become apparent to viewers that there is more to Junior than meets the eye.”

Micah’s exit from the BBC soap comes just before the departure of Anna Knight, played by Molly Rainford.

“New boss Ben Wadey is making sweeping changes on the show and his decision coincided with Molly deciding she wanted to pursue other challenges,” a source added, “She’s hugely talented and wants to spread her wings and see what else is out there for her.”

“Molly came into the show two years ago, and in that time has been trusted with some great storylines. It’s just so happened that when Molly was considering other options in her career, a meeting was held to discuss the future of the character, and both parties were in mutual agreement that it was the right time for Anna Knight to wave goodbye to Walford.”

Of Micah’s departure, a source said: “Bosses decided not to renew Micah’s contract and he filmed his final scenes last month. Obviously Micah was gutted but he understands how it all works. His final scenes will air before Chris­t­mas. The door is being left open.”

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I USED to fancy the pants off of Charlie Hunnam.

But after seeing him turn into creepy serial killer Ed Gein in the latest instalment of Ryan Murphy’s Monster series on Netflix, I have cooled a little.

Luckily for Charlie, his girlfriend Morgana McNelis was spotted with a huge diamond on her ring finger, so it looks like she said yes top being his wife.

She was seen wearing the enormous rock during a day out this week.

A photographer friend of mine in the US said: “Charlie and Morgana have been together for almost 20 years so it’s about time he popped the question.

“She had this huge diamond on her ring finger, so it seems like Charlie has asked her to be his wife.

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“This is the first time she’s ever been seen wearing it too, so maybe that Netflix pay cheque came in handy.”

Charlie previously admitted Morgana had been pushing him towards the aisle, despite the actor feeling “indifferent” about getting married.

He said: “She does not feel the same. She’s very eager.

“I’ll do it because it’s important to her but I don’t have any great romantic feelings towards it.”

After feeling the heat from social media, Charlie later clarified his comments and said: “That really hurt my girlfriend’s feelings and I really regretted saying that.

“I actually didn’t mean it at all, it was, frankly, just stupid s**t I said in the heat of the moment.

“I’m, like, so romantic, and the reality is I sort of consider myself married. I’ve been with my girlfriend for 14 years.

“I suppose what I was trying to articulate is the official government sanction of it doesn’t mean anything to me, but the romance of it means an enormous amount.”

After that hoohaa, I wouldn’t be surprised if Charlie went all out with his proposal.

Ellie’s beau strips for vid

ELLIE GOULDING has roped in a favour close to home for her new video – by enlisting her real-life boyfriend to play the love interest.

She will drop the visuals to Destiny at 3pm today and my exclusive first look shows her with muscly actor Beau Minniear, who I told you she was dating in July.

It features a series of steamy scenes, including Ellie hugging the topless hunk, straddling him with a camera in hand, and, in one of the quirkiest parts, snogging with veils over their faces.

Now I’m excited for the next album.

Gaga lithium breakdown

LADY GAGA had a psychotic episode after shooting A Star Is Born, which is why she cancelled much of the European leg of her 2018 Joanne tour.

She told Rolling Stone magazine: “I did A Star Is Born on lithium.”

On breaking down afterwards, she said: “There was one day that my sister said to me, ‘I don’t see my sister any more’.

“And I cancelled the tour. There was one day I went to the hospital for psychiatric care.

“I needed to take a break. I couldn’t do anything. I completely crashed, it was really scary.

“There was a time where I didn’t think I could get better . . .  I feel really lucky to be alive. I know that might sound dramatic, but we know how this can go.”

Thankfully Gaga, who said she is on “some, but not as many” antipsychotics now, is in a much better place.

And she’s got a surprise career away from music, having co-founded a skin-health research firm in the US alongside her fiancé Michael Polansky.

It’s called Outer Biosciences and 20 employees.

Meanwhile, the couple are more eager than ever to tie the knot.

Michael said: “We’re talking about it all the time. We have these breaks, and they’re tempting.

“It’s like, ‘OK, can we get married that weekend?’ We don’t want a really big wedding, but we want to enjoy it.”

Sara sis surprise

IT’S the final day of Sara Cox’s epic Radio 2 Great Northern Marathon for Children In Need – and she has absolutely smashed it.

Through tears and triumph, the teatime presenter proved that with great support, physical resilience and pure grit you can achieve so much.

She will today complete the 135 miles, heading past my old University digs in Headingley, Leeds, for the final mission of getting Pudsey Bear to the Yorkshire town of Pudsey.

Sara was yesterday given an extra boost as her sister Dot turned up to give her a cuddle, with Sara telling me: “That was a lovely surprise.”

And she got another when her mum Jackie rang her, saying: “We’re tracking you from India.”

Sara said: “It’s been amazing and painful. My shins are so sore.”

Speaking to me ahead of the final day, Sara paid tribute to the thousands of people who have turned out for her along the route.

Some have driven miles to catch a glimpse of her.

Sara told me: “The people coming out in the villages made me skip along a little bit faster. It’s been tough finishing in the dark because miles in the dark just seem to go so slowly.

“It has been brutal and tough but I’ve been given such a boost from people. It’s been amazing.”

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Sara was this morning starting to push her fundraising to over £3million. I expect donations to go through the roof as she appears live on BBC One’s Children In Need tonight.

If you can, join me in donating at donate.bbcchildreninneed.co.uk/sara.

LONDON — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer refused to say Wednesday whether he would urge President Trump to drop his threat to sue the BBC for a billion dollars over the broadcaster’s edit of a speech he made after losing the 2020 presidential election.

During his weekly questioning in the House of Commons, Starmer was asked by Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, whether he would intervene in the row between Trump and the British public broadcaster, and to rule out the idea that the British people would hand over money to the U.S. president.

Instead of responding directly, Starmer reiterated the government’s line since the BBC’s director-general, Tim Davie, announced his resignation on Sunday because of the scandal.

“I believe in a strong and independent BBC,” he said. “Some would rather BBC didn’t exist, I’m not one of them.”

However, he added that “where mistakes are made, they do need to get their house in order.”

In an interview that aired Tuesday on Fox News, Trump said he intended to go through with his threat to sue the BBC, a century-old institution under growing pressure in an era of polarized politics and changing media viewing habits.

“I guess I have to,” he said. “Because I think they defrauded the public and they’ve admitted it.”

The president’s lawyer, Alejandro Brito, sent the threat to the BBC over the way a documentary edited his Jan. 6, 2021, speech before a mob of his followers stormed the U.S. Capitol. The letter demanded an apology to the president and a “full and fair” retraction of the documentary along with other “false, defamatory, disparaging, misleading or inflammatory statements” about Trump.

If the BBC does not comply with the demands by 5 p.m. EST Friday, then Trump will enforce his legal rights, the letter said.

The row centers on an edition of the BBC’s flagship current affairs series “Panorama,” titled “Trump: A Second Chance?” days before the 2024 U.S. presidential election.

The third-party production company that made the film spliced together three quotes from two sections of the 2021 speech, delivered almost an hour apart, into what appeared to be one quote in which Trump urged supporters to march with him and “fight like hell.”

Among the parts cut out was a section where Trump said he wanted supporters to demonstrate peacefully.

BBC Chairman Samir Shah apologized Monday for the misleading edit that he said gave “the impression of a direct call for violent action.”

In addition to Davie’s resignation, the news chief Deborah Turness quit Sunday over accusations of bias and misleading editing.

Pylas writes for the Associated Press.

Nov. 12 (UPI) — U.S. President Donald Trump signaled his intention to push ahead with a $1 billion lawsuit against the BBC, saying he had an obligation due to the “fraudulent” way it had edited a speech he made right before the Capitol Hill riots in 2021.

Speaking to Fox News on Tuesday night, Trump said he had to take legal action because the public service broadcaster “butchered up” the speech he gave to supporters outside the White House on Jan. 6 and had deceived viewers.

The speech formed part of a documentary, Trump: A Second Chance, that went out on the BBC network just before the Nov. 4 U.S. elections, although the BBC maintains that it was not available to view outside of the United Kingdom.

“They defrauded the public and they’ve admitted it. They actually changed my Jan. 6 speech which was a beautiful speech, which was a very calming speech, and made it sound radical. It was very dishonest,” Trump said.

Trump said he had a duty to go ahead and file a defamation lawsuit against the BBC because he “can’t allow people to do that,” in the same way he had been forced to pursue CBS over an interview with Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris that aired four weeks before the election on Nov. 4.

CBS settled Trump’s $20 billion claim out of court for $16 million in July.

The BBC has acknowledged receipt of a letter from Trump’s legal team demanding a “full and fair retraction” of the documentary, an immediate apology, and that the BBC “appropriately compensate President Trump for the harm caused.”

It said the BBC must comply by 5 p.m. EST on Friday, to which the corporation has said it would respond “directly in due course.”

The director-general and the head of news both resigned Sunday after it was revealed the corporation’s Panorama program spliced together two sections of Trump’s speech 53 minutes apart without telling viewers it had done so.

The edited version made it sound as if Trump was inciting his supporters to march on the Capitol and “fight” when what he actually said was that they should all walk down to the Capitol “peacefully and patriotically” and “we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women.”

No complaint was raised at the time the documentary aired but the incident has reignited a furious domestic debate about the BBC’s editorial impartiality and the internal culture of the institution which is funded by a $229 annual license that households with a TV must pay.

If the BBC chose to fight the case, which Trump’s lawyer intends to file in the state of Florida, significant obstacles mean long odds on Trump’s chances of prevailing.

For his lawsuit to succeed, his team would have to convince a court that Trump had “suffered overwhelming financial and reputational harm” as a result of the program, as stated in the letter to the BBC.

BBC Chairman Samir Shah has already apologized for what he said was an “error of judgment.”

“We accept that the way the speech was edited did give the impression of a direct call for violent action. The BBC would like to apologize for that error of judgment,” Shah told a parliamentary committee Monday.

However, while that could go against the corporation, as an apparent admission of liability, the case would still have to overcome major challenges.

Legal expert Joshua Rozenberg KC called for the BBC to go further and “draft a retraction and apology in terms that the president’s lawyer finds acceptable” and for the retraction to feature as prominently as the original broadcast.

Writing on his blog post Tuesday, Rozenburg said the BBC would have to pay compensation but suggested that, based on previous legal claims brought by Trump, it would be an out-of-court settlement.

“It won’t be cheap. But it will be cheaper than a billion dollars,” he said.

Waitrose may be one of the last retailers to unveil its Christmas adverts but it has produced a cracker, with Actress Keira Knightley and comedian Joe Wilkinson making an unlikely match

Actress Keira Knightley and comedian Joe Wilkinson star as the unlikely pairing in a romantic Christmas advert for Waitrose.

The festive offering, directed by Bafta-award winning director Molly Manners, follows Knightley and Wilkinson as their relationship blossoms over a shared love of food.

It begins with Wilkinson’s character, forlorn ‘Phil’, sitting in a pub with mates who are urging him to move on in love. He says of his lost love that “the only person I could move on with was Keira Knightley”, to which his friend replies “good luck with that mate.”

As luck would have it, a downcast Phil pops into a branch of Waitrose and standing at the cheese counter when he asks – at the same moment – for the identical ‘Sussex Charmer’ variety as Knightley. Phil plucks up his courage and asks her out, to which Knightley agrees. From there love slowly blooms. But it all appears to go wrong when Phil finds a present to what he assumes is a love rival. Using his culinary skills, Phil vows to win her heart by recreating Keira’s Nan’s turkey pie recipe.

Knightley, whose big screen hits include Bend It Like Beckham through to Pirates of the Caribbean alongside Johnny Depp, said: “I love food, and so when I received this script where I get to fall head over heels in love over a shared love of cheese, I couldn’t turn it down. I adored working on this silly, fun and delicious film with Joe, and I hope those watching it fall in love too.”

Wilkinson, fresh from starring in hit BBC show The Celebrity Traitors, said: “As you can imagine, it was tough having to eat the delicious Waitrose food and falling in love with Keira, but I just got on with it, like the trooper I am.”

Wilkinson reprises his role as Phil from the grocer’s 2024 ‘whodunnit’ festive advert. The soundtrack features the song She’s A Star by British band James.

Waitrose chief customer officer Nathan Ansell said: “Our four-minute Christmas film – an industry first – pays homage to the seasonal romantic comedy tradition, celebrates the exciting and elevated Waitrose festive food offering, and adds a little more of that warm, fuzzy feeling to the holiday season.”

Ms Manners said: “We had such a great time making the perfect miniature romcom with food as a love language deep at its heart. The combination of Keira Knightley and Joe Wilkinson is magical in such an unexpected way. I hope they knock your socks clean off, as they did mine.”