BBC fans saw a new face join The Great British Sewing Bee as Sophie Willan became the host of the competition alongside judges Patrick Grant and Esme Young.
11:56, 09 Sep 2026Updated 11:57, 09 Sep 2026
Sophie joined the BBC show this year as the new presenter
Great British Sewing Bee fans have been thrilled with the latest addition to the BBC show.
The competition is nearing its end, as BBC viewers will see one contestant crowned Britain’s Best Amateur Sewer, along with a golden mannequin trophy. After weeks of challenges, tasks, and plenty of tears, Anna, Emma, or Beth will win this year’s Great British Sewing Bee.
Ahead of the highly anticipated final, judge Patrick Young appeared on Morning Live to speak about what viewers can expect to see. However, the conversation soon turned to the latest host to front the show, comedian and actress Sophie Willan.
Highlighting that the show is kept ‘fresh’ by bringing in new presenters, the Morning Live star asked what it’s been like with Sophie as part of the cast. Patrick replied: “We’ve had some alright presenters over the years.
“Sophie is amazing. I was a massive Alma’s Not Normal fan. Quite often, we get told who is going to be coming on, and I had to pinch myself. I was like, ‘Oh my god, I loved Alma’s Not Normal’. She’s brilliant, she’s so fun.
“Esme loves her. She just helps create the most amazing atmosphere on set. We’ve been making the show for a long time. A lot of the crew and everybody behind the scenes are the same, but it’s lovely having somebody come in and give it a little zhuzh.”
Despite the show often shaking up who fronts the programme, Patrick confirmed Sophie’s future, and it’s good news for fans. He continued: “She’s amazing, we’re filming next year already, and I love going into work with her every day.”
Elsewhere in their conversation, he spoke about the upcoming final and the pressure he feels comes with it as a judge. He told the BBC presenters it’s mainly because he wants the contestants to excel.
Patrick commented: “We’ve seen it so many times when brilliant people have got to the final, and things just haven’t quite clicked for them. You do feel a certain amount of disappointment, but luckily, this year we didn’t have that.
“We got three brilliant people, and they all brought something really special to it. So actually there is a relief when it’s done, and you’re like, ‘They really have nailed this’.”
Sadly, BBC viewers bid farewell to Heather this week as the contestant narrowly missed out on a place in the final. Although she was teary-eyed over the exit, she was proud of all she achieved.
She commented, “All the stress and sleepless nights have been beyond worth it.” Meanwhile, Beth was awarded garment of the week for her little black dress.
During the show, Patrick told her, “We absolutely loved it. It was so elevated, such beautiful use of the fabrics, and such a lovely story of you know, personalising the LBD. Well done.”
Morning Live is available to watch weekdays on BBC One from 9:30am. The Great British Sewing Bee final airs Tuesday, September 15, on BBC One at 8pm.
In the opening moments of the first episode, the trio were seen paying a visit to a familiar farm.
The new Grand Tour hosts met their predecessors at the premiere event (Image: PRIME VIDEO)
The new Grand Tour hosts witnessed Jeremy Clarkson in action behind the meat counter at Diddly Squat Farm.
The Grand Tour is back on Prime Video with three new hosts taking the wheel – train enthusiast and social media star Francis Bourgeois, and YouTube hosts James Engelsman and Thomas Holland. The streamer announced the new series would feature cameos from the original trio, but the extent of Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond’s involvement was kept under wraps.
Now, it has been revealed that the new hosts visited Clarkson’s Diddly Squat Farm, featured on the hit Clarkson’s Farm, to get Clarkson’s seal of approval. Speaking exclusively to The Mirror, host Holland said it was a “weird experience”. He shared: “About two years earlier, I went to the farm as a tourist, just for fun, I just happened to be here.
“I went into the tent and had a beer and did whatever you do when you are there, and the next time I was back there it was to talk to Jeremy Clarkson, so that was a bit weird.” Engelsman enlightened viewers by revealing “Jeremy does 9-5 shifts behind that [meat] counter”. While many fans already know Clarkson had warned the new trio “don’t f*** it up”, it was actually another part of his testimony that resonated most with the new hosts.
Engelsman explained: “It was strange, we have seen the footage now and after we left, he delivered that message to camera. That slightly longer, more sincere message, I think, for me at least, it resonated a lot harder than just the brief piece of advice.” What Clarkson had told viewers once the trio had walked away was: “I have got to be honest with you, I have actually been watching what they have been up to for the last year and a half, and they are very, very good, I think you are going to love it.”
Holland expressed to The Mirror: “We didn’t see that in the moment, we didn’t know that happened until much later on, so seeing that played back was like ‘Oh, that’s nice’.” Bourgeois agreed, adding: “It means a huge amount to us and also gives us quite the superpower, to have his blessing is just a phenomenal start for us.”
In the opening moments of the first episode, the trio were seen driving through the English countryside when they pulled into Diddly Squat Farm. They paid a visit to The Farmer’s Dog, which featured the original Grant Tour sign hanging from the tent ceiling.
Nervously, they approached Clarkson, who was behind the butcher’s counter. “Hey, how’s things?” he said with a smile. “So, how can I help?” Francis joked: “We have come to ask, please may we use the tent for our studio?”
Clarkson looked at the three blankly before saying: “Not really. I mean, you could, but it’s got a butcher’s in it now, and a bar, and a shop, and an off-licence. It’s usually quite busy as well, so it wouldn’t be an audience so much as customers. I want to help, but look, it’s been repurposed.”
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The joke referred to a Clarkson’s Farm moment when Jeremy called on the help of his old Grand Tour boss to supply a tent to house various projects like the farm shop and butcher’s counter. Following the skit, Clarkson got serious, saying: “Listen guys, seriously, have fun with this. I mean it, good luck, and don’t f*** it up.”
Speaking directly to viewers, it was then that Clarkson gave his heartfelt speech that resonated with the new hosts, who had been totally unaware of his kind words.
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan – It was a round table of some of the most influential men in the world. Representing Russia, China, India, Iran, Pakistan – and when they extended to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Plus – Turkiye, as well as the United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres. Gathered here in Kyrgyzstan were countries at the centre of some of the world’s biggest geopolitical tensions.
What brings them together is not necessarily agreement on everything. It is the space to pursue their interests outside a Western-led framework. Moscow sees that space as evidence of a changing world.
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“Over the 25 years since its inception, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation has evolved into one of the independent and influential centres of the emerging multipolar world,” Russian President Vladimir Putin told the summit.
The organisation, he said, had grown from six founding members in 2001 into what he described as the world’s largest regional association.
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation leaders at their summit in Bishkek, September 1, 2026. [Vyacheslav Prokofyev/AFP] (AFP)
Kyrgyzstan is a small, mountainous, landlocked country with Russia to the north and China next door. The calculation is more immediate: how do you balance between giants?
As Europe and the United States are increasingly looking towards Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan needs to balance relations with all of them.
Shairbek Dzhuraev, president of the Crossroads Central Asia think tank, said the timing of the summit is particularly important.
“The members in the room are precisely heavyweights that are directly involved in key geopolitical conflicts of the day,” he said.
That balancing act is not new. Since independence in 1991, Central Asian states have largely operated through what is known as a multi-vector foreign policy.
Bishkek – like other Central Asian nations – operates by keeping Russia close and building ties with China, while keeping open doors to Europe and maintaining healthy relations with Washington.
For Kyrgyzstan, it is less about choosing sides than keeping options open, underscored by its geography. Being landlocked means dependence on transport corridors and being mountainous makes infrastructure more difficult. Dependence on imported energy and external markets leaves the economy exposed to shocks beyond its borders.
“The biggest weakness of Kyrgyzstan, geopolitically and geographically, is the dependence in terms of transport routes, in terms of energy, in terms of economic relationships”, Dzhuraev puts it bluntly.
So diversification becomes more than an economic ambition. Kyrgyzstan, being one of the smaller members, cannot dictate the SCO’s agenda. But it helped to shape the language.
For decades, Central Asia was viewed largely through the prism of the powers surrounding it. But the wars in the region and beyond have changed that – Russia is under sanctions, so is Iran, China is looking west, Europe is looking east. Suddenly the geography has acquired new value with highways, railways, pipelines, trade corridors, power networks and the periphery is becoming a strategically important passageway. Dzhuraev said: “Kyrgyzstan wanted the summit declaration to recognise that transformation, Central Asia’s movement into the centre stage of international politics”.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is increasingly seen as a counterweight to US influence — a grouping through which China and Russia can advance a different vision of the global order. But the SCO is too diverse for a simple East-versus-West confrontation. That description comes with a qualification that the SCO is not a unified anti-American bloc.
Its members have competing interests, different relationships with Washington and, in some cases, deep disagreements with one another. The question is not whether the SCO rejects the West, it is whether it can resist being defined entirely in opposition to it.
Iran brings that to the centre stage – where geopolitical theory meets a much more immediate crisis. Tehran and Washington have returned to confrontation after more than a month of relative calm. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian used the SCO summit to put the diplomatic question directly on the table.
“I state explicitly that if the United States returns to its commitments under the aforementioned memorandum of understanding, the Islamic Republic of Iran will immediately take reciprocal action,” he said.
The Islamabad MoU signed in June collapsed, with Tehran and Washington blaming each other for violating its terms. Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, also called on Washington to return to what its president signed under the MoU. “In that case, everything can be put back on the right track,” he said.
For the SCO, however, Iran is not simply a diplomatic issue – it is an economic one. Washington has renewed sanctions on Tehran and expanded the threat of penalties for those doing business with Iran. For Central Asia, that matters, particularly for countries whose economies are deeply intertwined with Russia and increasingly connected to Chinese trade networks. Dzhuraev is sceptical whether countries such as Kyrgyzstan comply fully with sanctions, “The declaration will most likely not match the reality,” he said. “China and other countries have already rejected what they describe as unilateral sanctions.”
The reality is that sanctions can hurt, as they have hurt Iran and Russia. Not as intended for economic collapse, but they brought pain for the masses and put a spanner in their economies. But enforcement across a region built around cross-border trade is another matter. For Central Asian economies, complete compliance is difficult because the economic relationships are too dense, which is quite different from Western compliance. Both with Iran and Russia, transport and trade links have been growing steadily, so countries are unlikely to simply switch them off overnight.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian during their meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Kyrgyzstan, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Sputnik/Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
That makes the SCO summit an important political moment.
Not necessarily because its members can defeat the sanctions regime, but because they can collectively signal where they stand on unilateral pressure.
When you speak to delegates from the global south, there is also a broader message: that the SCO is becoming a forum where countries that do not necessarily agree on everything can nevertheless agree on one principle: they want room to manoeuvre.
Putin calls that the emergence of a multipolar world, Pezeshkian is using the forum to keep diplomacy with Washington alive on Iran’s terms, China is defending its economic relationships, India is pursuing its own strategic interests, and Kyrgyzstan is trying to make sure none of these relationships closes the door to another.
But there is a second question confronting Kyrgyzstan — and it is not sitting around the summit table. How much of its rise belongs to Kyrgyzstan itself?
As transit trade has risen, the economy has been growing rapidly, wages have increased, construction has accelerated and exports have increased.
There is visible momentum in Bishkek, with new roads and buildings appearing to fill the empty spaces. Extraordinary circumstances have generated a lot, such as the war in Ukraine, which has altered regional trade and expanded Chinese investment. When trade routes shifted, money and demand moved across borders. The government is proud that much of the recent development has been undertaken without the external borrowing that characterised earlier periods. But buildings alone do not create a productive economy. External momentum can be a dangerous foundation for long-term growth, as Dzhuraev points out. “Productivity is growing. Exports are rising. More goods are being produced domestically. But much of the momentum remains connected to external factors — particularly the Russia-Ukraine war and Chinese investment. One of the biggest drivers of poverty reduction has been rising salaries.”
The harder question is what comes next? Where are the productive sectors that will sustain those incomes? Agriculture could be an obvious answer as Kyrgyzstan is an agricultural country. But glaciers are melting and climate change is having an impact. Plus, its long-term capacity to generate higher-value growth remains uncertain. That may ultimately be the more important story behind this summit. Not the speeches, the flags, nor the declaration.
Kyrgyzstan wants to convert geography into leverage and its vulnerabilities into options. But the wider questions remain, whether Central Asia can move from being the space between Russia, China, Iran and Europe to becoming a centre of its own? As well as whether today’s economic growth can survive when the external forces driving it inevitably change?
Kyrgyzstan finds itself at the centre of a changing region that brings opportunity but also pressure. Between the giants, keeping every door open may be the most important strategy of all.
Jeremy Clarkson has reunited with Richard Hammond and James May at the premiere of the latest series of The Grand Tour after qutting the long-running programme two years ago
Jeremy Clarkson has reunited with Richard Hammond and James May at the premiere of the latest series of The Grand Tour(Image: James Manning/PA Wire)
Jeremy Clarkson has reunited with Richard Hammond and James May at the premiere of the latest series of The Grand Tour. The TV star, 66, famously fronted the motoring series with Richard and James in the years after they found fame fronting Top Gear.
But Jeremy, James and Richard were still out in full force at the launch of the world premiere of the new series of The Grand Tour as it all took place in London on Wednesday night. The guys all looked in good spirits as they walked the red carpet and greeted their successors.
In the first series, the team will tackle some big motoring questions, such as what’s the most unbreakable car in history and can you travel across Colorado undetected in a trio of Japanese microcars.
F1 World Champion Jenson Button also makes a special appearance in the trailer, whilst it also shows the trio head to Malaysia to see all about the country’s rich car culture as well as how little someone can spend on a sports car without it immediately blowing up.
In the new series, they travel through Angola in track-cars, which are quite unsuited for the job. They even test out the greatest American cars including the the Ford Mustang GTD, Chevrolet Corvette ZR1, and $2.75m, 2000-horsepower Hennessey Venom F5 Revolution Evolution against a bunch of fighter jets.
Francis Bourgeois said of joining the show: “Since completing the filming of the series, I haven’t stopped replaying every moment in my head. It has made me laugh, made my heart race and my stomach turn…remembering the tent
“I shared with Thomas and James filled with sulphuric farts whilst Angolan jackals snooped around outside. It feels as though it was a dream but knowing we will get to share our adventures soon makes me so incredibly excited!”
James Engelsman added: “We took on the West African Desert. We contended with fighter pilots. We even decided to challenge an entire nation’s legal system by protesting from the mountain tops. In doing so, the three of us learned our true strength: How to accept defeat gracefully.”
Thomas Holland shared: “I figured someone would be there to hold our hand the whole time. Nope. We were on our own in some absolutely wild environments in very, VERY questionable cars. What did we learn from this experience? Only that we have very poor decision-making skills. When you watch in September, expect a good laugh. And maybe a few butt clenches…”
The Grand Tour will launch all six episodes exclusively on Prime Video on Friday 4th September.
Wigan Warriors boss Matt Peet told BBC Radio Manchester:
“It was a fitting occasion for Billy with everything the club did and the atmosphere in the ground.
“I thought the performance was befitting.
“The fans and the people in the crowd who’ve had a sad week, we have a responsibility.”
Hull KR head coach Willie Peters told BBC Radio Humberside:
“I’m really proud of the performance. We had a young side tonight and we didn’t stop fighting until the end. We played against a good team, who were extremely disciplined and give you nothing.
“The inexperience we had in this team tonight, the main thing is that we said we need to fight for everything. We gave them a few things but they did the badge proud.
“I’ve always said players have to earn the jersey, it’s not given to them. It was different circumstances tonight and there were probably three players who could have played but they’ve played a lot of rugby league.”
How the table looks could change drastically by the end of the weekend, with Leeds able to reclaim top spot if they beat York Knights on Sunday, while a third successive Trinity loss has them in danger of dropping to fifth on Saturday if defending champions Hull KR beat Toulouse Olympique.
Both sides had early chances to take the lead, but French was the reason that neither of them managed to open the scoring in the first 10 minutes.
First the Australian wasted a golden opportunity to send Zach Eckersley over with a forward pass, but within two minutes he came up with a stunning try-saving intervention at the other end by holding Max Jowitt up over the line before the full-back was controversially judged to lose the ball in his attempt to touchdown.
Eventually, it was French himself who broke the deadlock, pouncing on a stray Wakefield pass inside his own half before sprinting 65 metres untouched to go in near to the posts.
Two tries in five minutes from Marshall out wide put Warriors in a commanding position before the half-hour mark.
Wakefield head coach Daryl Powell called on Emre Guler for the first time soon after that, with the prop coming off the bench just two days after his move from NRL side St George Illawarra Dragons was brought forward by Trinity.
It was only five days ago that Guler, who had been due to make his Super League move next season, had started for the Dragons in their win against Wests Tigers.
Wakefield threatened to respond a number of times before Hall plucked a searching high ball from Jake Trueman from the sky to dot down for the visitors in the 53rd minute.
Hall very nearly linked up with Jowitt for another Wakefield four-pointer soon after, but the centre was forced into touch by Eckersley as he dished the ball off for the finish.
The game’s definitive moment came in the 65th minute when Field swooped on a knock-on from Mike McMeeken, who was within barging distance of the tryline, allowing the full-back to race away in the other direction to score his 15th Super League try of the season.
The Grand Tour is back for a new series, the first since former Top Gear hosts Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May stepped down
16:42, 19 Aug 2026Updated 16:42, 19 Aug 2026
The Grand Tour official Amazon Prime trailer
The Grand Tour is back in a matter of days – and there’s the perfect mix of drama and fast cars for fans of the hit Prime Video show.
The show – previously fronted by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May – has had a complete refresh, with trainspotter and secret petrolhead Francis Bourgeois replacing the iconic trio alongside James Engelsman and Thomas Holland, who are behind the popular YouTube show Throttle House.
In the first series, the team will tackle some big motoring questions, such as what’s the most unbreakable car in history and can you travel across Colorado undetected in a trio of Japanese microcars.
F1 World Champion Jenson Button also makes a special appearance in the trailer, whilst it also shows the trio head to Malaysia to see all about the country’s rich car culture as well as how little someone can spend on a sports car without it immediately blowing up.
In the new series, they travel through Angola in track-cars, which are quite unsuited for the job. They even test out the greatest American cars including the the Ford Mustang GTD, Chevrolet Corvette ZR1, and $2.75m, 2000-horsepower Hennessey Venom F5 Revolution Evolution against a bunch of fighter jets.
Francis Bourgeois said of joining the show: “Since completing the filming of the series, I haven’t stopped replaying every moment in my head. It has made me laugh, made my heart race and my stomach turn…remembering the tent I shared with Thomas and James filled with sulphuric farts whilst Angolan jackals snooped around outside. It feels as though it was a dream but knowing we will get to share our adventures soon makes me so incredibly excited!”
James Engelsman added: “We took on the West African Desert. We contended with fighter pilots. We even decided to challenge an entire nation’s legal system by protesting from the mountain tops. In doing so, the three of us learned our true strength: How to accept defeat gracefully.”
Thomas Holland shared: “I figured someone would be there to hold our hand the whole time. Nope. We were on our own in some absolutely wild environments in very, VERY questionable cars. What did we learn from this experience? Only that we have very poor decision-making skills. When you watch in September, expect a good laugh. And maybe a few butt clenches…”
The Grand Tour will launch all six episodes exclusively on Prime Video on Friday 4th September.
Cohen helped arrange the deployment of an Israeli diplomatic and military mission after the June 24 earthquakes. (Cancillería VE)
Caracas, August 10, 2026 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuelan Foreign Minister Félix Plasencia held a meeting with Orthodox Rabbi Isaac Cohen on Sunday in which the latter formally requested that Caracas reestablish diplomatic ties with Israel.
According to a Foreign Ministry statement, Cohen delivered a letter addressed to Acting President Delcy Rodríguez, arguing that normalizing relations with Tel Aviv is necessary to “tend to the needs of the Jewish community” in Venezuela.
“Venezuela has historically welcomed with open arms an important Jewish community, which has contributed to the development and well-being of our nation,” Plasencia wrote on social media.
Venezuela’s top diplomat thanked Cohen, on behalf of the Rodríguez administration and the Venezuelan people, for Israeli “assistance” following the June 24 double earthquake.
Cohen, a rabbi from the Venezuelan Jewish Association (AIV), was reportedly one of the intermediaries for the arrival of an Israeli diplomatic and military mission one week after the earthquake. The delegation included IDF officers and weapons contractors, while several Tel Aviv-aligned organizations likewise deployed on-the-ground teams.
Rodríguez held multiple meetings with the Israeli team, praising its members as “highly trained and professional” and thanking them for their work. IDF spokesman Roni Kaplan stated that the Israeli team had created a “dashboard” for Venezuelan authorities to evaluate damaged buildings, while Brigadier General Elad Edri was pictured presenting a “Project for Future Reconstruction” slideshow.
The Israeli mission has sparked growing protests, with Venezuelan popular movements reaffirming support for Palestine, condemning the genocide in Gaza and Lebanon, and burning Israeli flags.
Former President Hugo Chávez severed ties with Israel in 2009, fiercely denouncing the US ally for genocide and demonstrating unwavering support for the Palestinian cause. His stance was maintained by Maduro, who endorsed South Africa’s activation of the Genocide Convention against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2024.
Following the January 3 US military strikes and kidnapping of Maduro, Rodríguez fast-tracked a diplomatic rapprochement with Washington alongside a broader radical shift in Caracas’ geopolitical alignment.
Apart from re-engagement with Israel, the Venezuelan government is also reestablishing ties with far-right US allies in Latin America, including Chile, Peru, and the Dominican Republic, while distancing itself from historic partners in Havana and Tehran. During the recent US-Israel war against Iran, Caracas offered no backing for Tehran, instead voicing “solidarity” with US Gulf allies such as Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
