Davies

“Doctor Who” is going through another major regeneration.

The BBC announced Wednesday that it is not moving forward with a previously announced “Doctor Who” Christmas special. Last year, the broadcaster teased a “spectacular” special episode written by showrunner Russell T Davies for the 2026 holiday.

“After careful consideration, the BBC, Russell T Davies and Bad Wolf have collectively decided not to go ahead with the previously announced Doctor Who Christmas episode,” the BBC wrote in its latest update. “This decision was not taken lightly, and we know it will be disappointing for fans, but in order to set the show up for future series, it was decided that rather than bridge the gap with a one off special, we are choosing to push forward to invest in the long-term future of the show which ensures that when the TARDIS lands once more, it does so in all its glory.”

Whovians know that the Christmas Day specials are a longstanding tradition for the sci-fi series. Previous holiday episodes have marked the first full appearance of David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor in 2005 as well as Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor in 2023.

BBC’s plan now is to “put Doctor Who out to competitive tender” in order to “[secure] the next phase of the show for future generations” — meaning they are inviting potential producers to pitch their ideas for the next era of the long-running series. This also means Davies and producer Bad Wolf are parting ways with the franchise.

“And so GOODBYE from me to Doctor Who but HELLO to a big new future for the show,” Davies wrote in a Wednesday Instagram post, confirming his exit. “You’ll have to wait a bit longer for new Doctor Who… but you’ll be waiting for MORE Doctor Who than a one-off. So it’s worth it!”

Davies, who led the “Doctor Who” revival from its 2005 launch to 2010 before returning for his second stint in 2023, also said that he had not written a script for the previously planned Christmas special and “no actor was ever approached to play the next Doctor.”

“I’m as excited as anyone to see what comes next!” Davies added. “Will they keep the theme tune? Will they lose the blue box? Will they bring back the Drahvin?! It’s all up for grabs, which is so Doctor Who, exciting and unpredictable and new!”

Bad Wolf, which worked on the two seasons starring Gatwa as the Time Lord, also on Wednesday confirmed its exit on Instagram in a post thanking fans and those that joined them on this “incredible journey through Space and Time.”

“It has been a joy and a privilege to have been at the helm of the TARDIS alongside the brilliant Russell T Davies,” read the production company’s statement. “Doctor Who is – and always will be – a show that shines light into the darkness and it has been an absolute honour to have been its torch bearer for 26 episodes with the BBC and Disney+.”

The BBC in its announcement reiterated its commitment to “Doctor Who” and its future. It also shared that a previously announced animated “Doctor Who” series for CBeebies is currently in production.

This latest “Doctor Who” update comes during a tenuous time for the franchise. The series has faced low viewership, Disney+ exiting as the show’s co-producers and Gatwa ending his run as the Doctor. The most recent season concluded with a cliffhanger, with the Fifteenth Doctor regenerating into a form resembling Rose Tyler, the companion portrayed by Billie Piper.

TWIN Peaks star Owain Rhys Davies has died aged 44.

Owain’s heartbroken family confirmed the news of his sudden death on social media, hailing him as “a brother to many” in a touching tribute.

The Welsh actor was best known for his role as Agent Wilson on Twin Peaks: The Return.

He also starred in Disney’s Alice Through The Looking Glass and A Serial Killer’s Guide To Life.

And his talents took him to the West End too, with appearances in London productions such as The Wizard of Oz and Mamma Mia!.

Owain’s brother Rhodri wrote: “It is with profound sadness that my father and I share the news that my brother, Owain, has passed away.

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“This news will come as a great shock to many. The reach of Owain’s love, friendship, and generosity was vast.

“While there are still questions that remain unanswered regarding the circumstances of his death, our understanding at this stage is that Owain passed suddenly, naturally, and peacefully.

“The outpouring of messages we have received over the past few days has been deeply moving and a testament to the impact he had on so many lives.

“Owain was fortunate enough to have more than one family.

“Alongside his biological one, he built extraordinary, family-like bonds with many of his closest friends, colleagues, and loved ones.

“I am incredibly proud that, while he was my brother, he was also a brother to so many others.

“We know that this loss will be felt by a great many people, and we take comfort in knowing how loved he was.”

Tributes have flooded in from celebs across the acting world, including Coronation Star Hayley Tamaddon.

The devastated actress, 49, described Owain as a “beautiful friend” in a heartbreaking tribute.

It read: “Heartbreaking to hear that my beautiful friend has passed away. Owain was loved by so many. He lit up Every room he went into.

“I have some wonderful memories of us together, we go back so many years.. but our time together in LA will always make me smile.

“Sleep well my love. My heart goes out to his friends, and family Rhodri and Conway.”

Downton Abbey star Joanne Froggatt said: “No words seem to convey my emotions. I am so sorry for your loss and the grief you must be feeling.

“I am devastated to lose our beautiful friend, he was more than a friend, he was joy and life and talent and kindness and fun and intelligence.

“He was everything and my brain can’t compute that we don’t get to hug him again.

“What I would give for one more hug. You’re forever in our hearts cariad.”

More to follow… For the latest news on this story keep checking back at The Sun Online

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Goalkeepers: Dayne St Clair (Inter Miami), Maxime Crepeau (Orlando City), Owen Goodman (Crystal Palace).

Defenders: Alistair Johnston (Celtic), Derek Cornelius (Marseille), Richie Laryea (Toronto), Niko Sigur (Hajduk Split), Joel Waterman (Chicago Fire), Luc de Fougerolles (Fulham), Moise Bombito (Nice), Alphonso Davies (Bayern Munich), Alfie Jones (Middlesbrough).

Midfielders: Stephen Eustaquio (Porto), Ismael Kone (Sassuolo), Tajon Buchanan (Villarreal), Mathieu Choiniere (Los Angeles FC), Ali Ahmed (Norwich City), Nathan Saliba (Anderlecht), Liam Millar (Hull City), Marcelo Flores (Tigres UANL), Jacob Shaffelburg (Toronto), Jonathan Osorio (Toronto).

Forwards: Jonathan David (Juventus), Cyle Larin (Southampton), Tani Oluwaseyi (Villarreal), Promise David (Union SG).

Strictly Come Dancing finalist Amber Davies, who shot to fame when she won Love Island, has hit back at claims that she only went on the ITV2 dating show to try to make it to the West End stage

Amber Davies insisted that she didn’t go on Love Island just to further her stage career. The actress, 29, competed on the ITV2 reality dating show in 2017 and went on to win it alongside then-boyfriend Kem Cetinay.

Before her rise to fame, Amber trained in musical theatre at the Urdang Academy in London and openly spoke of her desire to make it to the West End whilst she was on the show. Following her victory on the programme, she was cast alongside Louise Redknapp in the London production of Dolly Parton musical 9 to 5, and then appeared in a UK tour of Bring It On: The Musical before returning to the West End to star in Back to the Future.

She followed this up with starring roles in Pretty Woman: The Musical and The Great Gatsby before enjoying a star turn on last year’s edition of Strictly Come Dancing, where she made it to the final alongside professional partner Nikita Kuzmin after being roped in at the last minute as a replacement for Dani Dyer.

However, Amber has now insisted she only went on Love Island because she couldn’t find employment elsewhere as she spoke with fellow West End star Jacob Fowler, who got his big break when he won Little Mix: The Search on the BBC in 2019.

Speaking on her Call To Stage podcast, she said: “A lot of people ask me, ‘Oh, did you do that just to get on the West End?’ No, I did it because I couldn’t get a bloody job! I didn’t want to work at a bar and Love Island were giving me a free holiday for six weeks. Luckily [it worked out]!”

Amber can currently be seen starring as Elle Woods in a UK tour of Legally Blonde: The Musical, but the production got off to something of a bumpy start amid various cast illnesses, and the TV star herself was forced to take time away from the part earlier this year.

While she was away, TikTok star Hannah Lowther took over the part but rumours of a “feud” between the two began to emerge, which both actresses quickly quashed, although comparisons of how each of them portrayed Reese Witherspoon’s signature role of a sorority-girl-turned-lawyer role continued to dominate social media.

Following her return to the show after fighting off a chest infection, Amber admitted that while she did sign up to be “in the spotlight” with her TV career, she never expected to receive the amount of online hate she has done over her stage work.

She said: “I know that going on Love Island put me in the spotlight. I didn’t know how much it was going to and I feel so grateful that 10 years on, I was on Strictly, and there’s so many amazing things that have happened to me. I definitely am used to it but I do have to prepare myself.”

“The last thing I do want to speak out about – this has broke my heart in ways that I can’t even possibly imagine. When I was doing Strictly I’d had a meeting with my team and they prepared me for the trolling and the opinions.

“Sometimes the opinions aren’t trolling but the opinions are mean, so it counts as trolling. I think sometimes when people leave mean comments, they forget that they are talking about an actual human being who is just working hard.

“What I wasn’t prepared for was the trolling that was going to come with Elle. I have worked…I am trying to find the words to explain this…I’ve been in this industry, I’ve done lots of jobs and I’ve never experienced trolling within the musical theatre industry as much as I have during this time.”

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Like Wales, Romania missed out on World Cup qualification after losing their play-off semi-final in March.

The match in Bucharest will be the first meeting between the teams since 1993 when Wales lost at home to Romania to agonisingly miss out on the 1994 World Cup.

This will also be a first home match in charge for the great Gheorghe Hagi, the former Barcelona and Real Madrid playmaker who scored in Cardiff 33 years ago.

Hagi was appointed Romania’s manager for the second time in April, taking over from Mircea Lucescu, who died at the age of 80 following a heart attack.

Ghana, meanwhile, will be facing Wales for the first time and include Manchester City’s Antoine Semenyo in their squad.

Former Manchester United assistant manager Carlos Queiroz was appointed as Ghana’s head coach last month.

The 73-year-old Portuguese has replaced Otto Addo, who was sacked in March after friendly defeats by Germany and Austria.

The Black Stars, who are in the same World Cup group as England, Croatia and Panama, also failed to qualify for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations under Addo.

The matches against Ghana and Romania will serve as preparation for Wales’ return to the top flight of the Nations League in September, where they have been drawn with Portugal, Norway and Denmark.

Injured captain Alphonso Davies is expected to miss co-hosts Canada’s opening World Cup game, but head coach Jesse Marsch believes the full-back will still play a part in the tournament.

Davies, 25, suffered a hamstring injury in Bayern Munich’s Champions League semi-final second leg against Paris St-Germain on 6 May, with the German club saying at the time he was expected to be out of action “for several weeks”.

He only made 13 Bundesliga appearances for Bayern during a campaign heavily disrupted by injuries.

Canada will open their home World Cup campaign against Bosnia-Herzegovina in Toronto on 12 June before meeting Qatar and Switzerland on 18 and 24 June in Vancouver.

“I think Alphonso will play in the World Cup,” Marsch told reporters in Charlotte, North Carolina, where Canada will train this week before their 26-man World Cup squad is announced on Friday.

“I don’t think he’ll be ready quite on June 12… but we’ll see.”

Davies was among 32 players invited to the camp, but Marsch said the Canada skipper would only join the team on the eve of their friendly against Uzbekistan in Edmonton on 1 June.

They will also face the Republic of Ireland in Montreal on 5 June in another World Cup preparation game.

Davies last played for Canada against the United States in March last year, when he suffered an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury.

He missed the March 2026 friendlies against Iceland and Tunisia because of a hamstring strain.

The former Vancouver Whitecaps left-back was part of Canada’s World Cup squad in 2022 and scored in a 4-1 defeat by eventual semi-finalists Croatia in the group stage.

Former captain Gary Mabbutt hopes Ben Davies will have a future at Tottenham Hotspur after the club avoided relegation to the Championship.

Wales skipper Davies, who turned 33 last month, sees his Tottenham contract expire next month.

The defender has not played since suffering a serious ankle injury in January, but Mabbutt believes he should be offered the chance to stay at a club he has represented for 12 years.

“Ben’s a great lad,” said Spurs great Mabbutt.

“What he has given to the club so far… it was just so unfortunate the injury he received. It was devastating for him and or us because Ben’s a player you can always rely on.

“Certainly I hope something will be done with his contract, whether it be still on the playing side or maybe looking a bit more to the future, but hopefully still with Tottenham Hotspur.”

Greg Davies has been called up to host the BAFTA TV Awards for the first time1

Greg Davies is back on our screens tonight as he hosts the BAFTA TV Awards for the very first time.

The 57-year old, known for co-hosting the hit comedy gameshow Taskmaster, follows in the footsteps of Graham Norton, Lenny Henry and Michael Parkinson in his MC role and said it was an opportunity he could not turn down.

“I used to watch Stephen Fry at the Baftas and marvel at his cool, intellectual charm. I won’t be bringing that,” laughed Greg ahead of the show.

The 6ft 8in funnyman shot to fame after starring as headteacher Mr Gilbert in The Inbetweeners and has since become a regular fixture on our screens, thanks to his TV roles in The Cleaner, Brassic, Cuckoo and Man Down.

Speaking as a guest at the BAFTAs last year, Greg gave a rare update on his personal life as he said he was ‘ready for a wife’.

The Taskmaster star and his co-host Alex Horne were nominated in the Entertainment category for their Channel 4 programme alongside The 1% Club, Michael McIntyre’s Big Show and Would I Lie to You?

Speaking on the red carpet, Alex said: “We’re an unlikely couple,” with Greg piping up: “That’s why we’re a good team.”

Alex then added: “And I would like to thank my wife for getting us here tonight,” before Greg joked: “I don’t have a wife so maybe I can thank Alex’s wife.”

Tom insisted he could meet his wife at the star-studded event, with Greg responding: “Maybe I will, I’m open to it. It would be so lovely, it’s been too long and I’m ready now.”

Alex simply quipped: “Lonely”,” as Greg added: “Oh god, the horrible hot lonely tears.”

The Cleaner star was in a relationship with Labour Party politician Liz Kendall between 2007 and 2015, but usually keeps his love life under wraps.

Liz told previously The Mirror about their romance: “I am not going to be the sort of politician who does all that stuff about their private life because it’s very precious to me and really important to me that I have that space that’s personal and just to me. We are not together any more but we remain really good friends.”

In the past Greg has made jokes about his disastrous single life and previously said he ‘gave up’ on romance while on The Graham Norton Show.

Greg said his grandfather once caught him in an embrace with his first girlfriend and the experience left him mortified. “It’s not for me, romance… that was the day I gave up on romance,” he explained. However, Greg counts one ex-girlfriend of changing the course of his life. His former partner, who he has not named, convinced him to switch from his teaching career to one in comedy. Speaking to The Times, he said: “I’ve been doing comedy for about 15 years now. I always wanted to do it, I just never had thick enough skin.

“A girlfriend I had while teaching was a pragmatist and always told me that if you want to do something, then go for it. So eventually I made the switch. Comedy is definitely where I’m happiest.”

During an interview with OK! magazine, Greg admitted that he had quite the crush on former Blue Peter star Janet Ellis, who also happens to be the mother of popstar Sophie Ellie Bextor.

Mortified Greg recalled: “I met Janet Ellis once in a fish and chip shop. I used to have a terrible crush on her, all throughout my childhood. Then I finally met her and said something humiliating, I think chips-based, that guaranteed I would never end up in the relationship I craved.” He added: “I met her daughter Sophie on a show once and told her I fancied her mum and she rolled her eyes and said ‘everyone does’.”

While he was known for playing doting dad Ken in the sitcom Cuckoo, the actor himself does not have any children. He does, however, have lots of experience looking after kids as he was a secondary school drama and English teacher for 13 years before moving into comedy.

That’s not Greg’s only transformation. In recent years the funnyman has admitted to using Ozempic to lose weight after receiving concerning health news from his doctor.

The host claimed to have lost three stone – and named the diabetic medication in an interview. Ozempic is not designed as a weight loss drug and is used instead as a treatment for type 2 diabetes in adults – however, many patients have experienced weight loss as a side effect.

He told The Times: “[I] lost three stone on the old Ozempic, in about four months, before putting most of it back on.” The interview also notes that his doctor warned him that if he was shorter, he would “look obese” – and that he is now considering turning to fasting in an attempt to maintain his weight.

Noting that he is not concerned about ageing, he added: “I think that’s probably good in my game, isn’t it?”