Here’s hoping that 2026 holds even more for Oasis.
MOMENT OF THE YEAR
POP star Katy Perry proved she was out of this world when she soared 62 miles above Earth in April.
The American singer went into space on Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket with an all-female crew, and promised that a song inspired by the trip was on its way.
Katy Perry proved she was out of this world when she soared 62 miles above Earth in AprilCredit: AFP
But critics branded her part in the mission “tone deaf” in light of the world’s economic struggles.
After both appeared in ITV’s I’m A Celebrity . . . Get Me Out Of Here! in 2024, they were spotted together at a Brit Awards after-party in March – and married guitarist Danny was filmed kissing single Maura.
McFly singer Danny Jones and Love Island beauty Maura Higgins certainly had a rocky start to 2025Credit: The SunLuckily for Danny, his loyal wife, model Georgia, later forgave himCredit: Getty
Luckily for Danny, his loyal wife, model Georgia, later forgave him.
Hopefully he will be on his very best behaviour next year.
QUOTES OF THE YEAR
“I don’t know what a jacket potato is” – Kim Kardashian
“I last unloaded the dishwasher in 1997” – Robbie Williams
“I forgot how funny he was” – Noel Gallagher on brother Liam
“I didn’t have an absolute clue with these young people” – Denise Welch on stars at Charli XCX wedding
“You should think of your energy as if it’s expensive – not everyone can afford it” – Taylor Swift
“Who the f*** is Madeline?” – Lily Allen
SPLIT OF THE YEAR
LILY ALLEN proved that revenge is a dish best served cold – following her split from Stranger Things star David Harbour.
The British pop star laid bare her marriage breakdown through 14 tracks on her album West End Girl, which was released in October.
Lily Allen proved that revenge is a dish best served cold – following her split from Stranger Things star David HarbourCredit: GettyLily’s tell-all lyrics came after months of hints about her toxic split with American David last December, amid rumours she caught him cheatingCredit: Getty
Lily’s tell-all lyrics came after months of hints about her toxic split with American David last December, amid rumours she caught him cheating.
If the album is anything to go by, her West End Girl tour will be one to remember.
TOP 5 FILMS
Wicked: For Good Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy The Brutalist Sinners Snow White
TV TWIST OF THE YEAR
THE Celebrity Traitors was the year’s biggest TV show – with 12million viewers tuning in to watch Alan Carr win.
The comedian became the standout star of the series after “murdering” his best mate Paloma Faith – and having the worst poker face at the round tables.
The Celebrity Traitors was the year’s biggest TV show – with 12million viewers tuning in to watch Alan Carr winCredit: PA
Alan will be forever remembered as the best and worst Traitor in BBC history.
TOP 5 SINGLES
Man I Need, Olivia Dean XMAS, Kylie Minogue Ordinary, Alex Warren Midnight Sun, Zara Larsson IT Girl, Jade
COUPLE OF THE YEAR
TAYLOR SWIFT and Travis Kelce broke the internet in August when the announcement of their engagement scored 37million likes on Instagram.
In a joint post, US hitmaker Taylor was pictured surrounded by flowers, with her American football star boyfriend on one knee, and a cryptic caption quipped: “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married.”
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce broke the internet in August when the announcement of their engagement scored 37million likes on InstagramCredit: Shutterstock Editorial
The couple, below, first sparked rumour of a romance when Taylor was spotted watching a Kansas City Chiefs game in 2023.
If the engagement is anything to go by, this is going to be the wedding of the century.
TOP 5 ALBUMS
The Life Of A Showgirl, Taylor Swift
West End Girl, Lily Allen
Euro-Country, CMAT
Man’s Best Friend, Sabrina Carpenter
Mayhem, Lady Gaga
UNLIKELY NEW ROMANCE
HE is Britain’s most eligible pop star – so when Harry Styles stepped out with Catwoman Zoe Kravitz in Rome in August, fans went wild.
The As It Was singer was seen walking arm-in-arm with US actress Zoe through the streets of the Italian capital.
Harry Styles stepped out with Catwoman Zoe Kravitz in Rome in AugustCredit: InstagramHarry is Britain’s most eligible pop starCredit: GettyUS actress Zoe KravitzCredit: Getty
Could we see a diamond ring in the new year?
TOP 5 TV SERIES
Taylor Swift: The End Of An Era, Disney+
The White Lotus, Series 3, Sky Atlantic
The Death Of Bunny Munro, Sky Atlantic
The Summer I Turned Pretty, Series 3, Prime Video
Adolescence, Netflix
ARIANA GETS A GRANDE HOTEL
ARIANA GRANDE seems to be planning a Wicked time during her rumoured West End stint — including a £1million hotel stay.
I hear the US singer and actress, who is tipped to star in a revival of hit musical Sunday In The Park With George, has included accommodation at the 5H Mandarin Oriental among conditions for her potentially taking the role.
Ariana Grande seems to be planning a Wicked time during her rumoured West End stint — including a £1million hotel stayCredit: GettyA source said: ‘Ariana loves London and believes that the Mandarin Oriental has the city’s best views’Credit: Handout
Penthouses at the Hyde Park hotel start from £40,000 a night.
The three-bedroom suite is almost 5,000sq ft, with a walk-in wardrobe and grandstand private terrace.
If the play runs for six weeks, Ariana’s hotel bill would run to more than £1million.
Fans believe she is set to star in a revival of Stephen Sondheim’s 1984 musical Sunday In The Park With George at London’s Barbican Centre in 2027.
If so, she would line up alongside Jonathan Bailey, who played her Wicked character Glinda’s love interest.
A source said: “Ariana wants to stay at the Mandarin when she stars in the play.
“She really appreciates her downtime when she is working on productions and is a huge fan of the hotel.
“Ariana loves London and believes that the Mandarin Oriental has the city’s best views.”
Meanwhile she is nominated for Best Supporting Actress in Wicked: For Good at the Golden Globes in January.
She will then start her The Eternal Sunshine Tour in June, in Oakland, California, to support her album of the same name.
Sounds like she deserves some five-star R&R.
GET READY FOR A HARRY NEW YEAR
HARRY STYLES has given his most telling clue yet that he is preparing for a comeback.
He put on his YouTube channel a clip from his final Love On Tour gig, in 2023 in Italy – and the post was cryptically titled, “Forever, forever”, with text declaring: “We belong together.” He is at the piano, sparkling in gold.
Harry Styles has given his most telling clue yet that he is preparing for a comebackCredit: YouTube
It comes amid rumours of a fourth solo album – and a stage return.
The former One Direction star released his last album, Harry’s House, in 2022.
The radio host and her producer boyfriend kept their relationship on the down low but are now celebrating their happy news.
Eve Wagstaff Social Newsdesk Reporter
14:39, 21 Dec 2025
Congratulations., Kemi! The star is engaged to her boyfriend Thomas(Image: @kemirodgers/Instagram)
Congratulations are in order as Kemi Rodgers, host of I’m A Celebrity: Unpacked, has announced she is engaged after her boyfriend Thomas Hannett proposed during a trip to Australia.
The radio presenter, 30, shared the happy news with fans over the weekend, posting a series of photos to Instagram showing off her engagement ring. In one snap, Kemi beamed as she held up her hand, while another captured the couple enjoying their time abroad.
Kemi, who hosts Unpacked alongside Joel Dommett, was in Australia for the duration of the series, which started on 19 November and ended on 7 December with YouTube star Angryginge taking the crowd.
She captioned the post: “I said yes.” Friends and celebrity colleagues were quick to flood the comments with congratulatory messages. Coronation Street actor Colson Smith wrote: “Congratulations Kemi!”
Capital FM star and This Morning host Sian Welby reacted with excitement, posting: “OMGGGG INCREDIBLE.” Former X Factor contestant Sam Lavery added: “OMG YESSSSS.” While Capital FM presenter Jordan North also shared his delight, commenting: “OMG! Congratulations guys.”
Thomas, who is a senior producer at Capital, and Kemi’s engagement comes just weeks after she revealed that they had actually been dating for over a year. The couple only went public with their relationship in September, when they shared photos from a romantic trip to Paris.
At the time, Kemi explained they had chosen to keep things private before stepping into the spotlight together.
In a short video shared on her Instagram page, Kemi and Thomas could be seen in Paris having a drink at a low-key restaurant as they enjoyed the weather.
They used the famous TikTok audio featuring a person’s voice saying: “Are you happy to be in Paris?”, which Thomas lip-synced before Kemi, 30, said: “Oui.” In the caption, she wrote: “Wine drunk in paris and thought the best way to hard launch my boyfriend on the grid was with the iconic nicki minaj ‘oui’ video loooooool.”
She added: “Full bottle of sancerre in the sun truly is the key to my heart.”
Friends and fans were delighted by the launch and took to the comment section to congratulate the pair. One pal wrote: “The hard launch we’ve all been waiting for,” and another said: “Finally.”
Last year, Kemi joined Sam Thompson and Joel Dommett in hosting a I’m A Celebrity spin-off show called Unpacked, four years after companion show Extra Camp was axed.
Rita Simons has admitted she would happily sit down with EastEnders bosses to discuss a return even though her soap character was killed off almost a decade ago
Rita Simons has admitted that she would consider a return to EastEnders(Image: Getty Images)
Rita Simons has admitted that she would consider a return to EastEnders. The actress, 48, became an instant fan-favourite on the BBC soap when she arrived to play Roxy Mitchell in 2007, turning up alongside Samatha Womack as her on-screen sister Ronnie.
The pair were involved in multiple dramas over their decade-long stay in Albert Square, but it all came to a fatal head on New Year’s Day 2007 when Roxy drunkenly jumped into a swimming pool, and Ronnie jumped in to save her, only to be weighed down by her wedding dress as they both drowned.
Despite being killed off, there have been rumours of a return in one way or another, and Rita initially made a brief reappearance as Roxy in the form of a hallucination in 2023, where she comforted her on-screen daughter Amy. But almost a decade since being axed, Rita, who recently enjoyed a stint in Hollyoaks as Marie Fielding, has admitted she is always asked about a comeback and would happily discuss the idea with soap bosses.
She said: “It just doesn’t, it doesn’t stop! Someone, I won’t name them, said to me the other day ‘the resilience of your fans is impressive. And it is. Listen, if it was a meeting, we’d be there. But no, I’ve been having lots of very sort of, I’m looking at the gritty dramas, the comedies, the gangster stuff.
“Of course, if EastEnders came knocking, we’d definitely have a conversation.” After leaving EastEnders, Rita starred in a UK tour of the musical Legally Blonde and then competed in the I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! jungle.
Speaking to The Sun, she added: “I think that’s kind of another reason I knew it was time to leave Hollyoaks because I knew that I always wanted to do more drama. And I think it’s easier to transcend when you don’t hang around too long,” before noting that she’d “hung around long enough” in the BBC soap that a comeback might be possible.
Rita’s on-screen sibling Samantha has also enjoyed a successful career on screen and stage since leaving EastEnders, and recently admitted during an appearance on Loose Women that she had been through “all sorts” personally amid her time on the soap and was “terrified” at the thought off leaving, but it altered her outlook on life, especially after facing a battle with cancer.
She said: “When you’re in a place for nine years and you’re playing that character every day, and you’re embedded in that family structure, so you believe that the people who are your sisters, brothers, uncles, cousins, whatever, then you believe that they really are because you see them every day.
“You go through all sorts of emotional things together, the birth of your children, funerals, and this is with the crew as well. You get to know such this wonderful group of people for such a long time and then Ronnie drowned in a pool.
“I thought it was shot beautifully. In retrospect, it’s very easy to hold onto safety, isn’t it? Particularly in our game, being self-employed is terrifying. I don’t know if it was a favour [killing me off], but my whole outlook on life has changed.”
“I got diagnosed with breast cancer and survived it for no,w but the beauty of everything that happens to you, the ups, the downs, is the beautiful chaos of it all and what you’d miss if you weren’t here.”
Earlier this year, the former Mount Pleasant star admitted that she started saying no to a lot of opportunities after her treatment, but knew she needed to do something to get back to earning a sustainable income. She told The Mirror: “After my year-and-a-half of treatment, I started turning down a lot of stuff – and I didn’t have the bank balance to match that confidence, trust me.
“It was me saying the word ‘no’ and my bank account creaking. But there was empowerment in that because I thought, ‘OK, I need to go through this, spend time with myself and figure out stuff that I’ve never figured out – maybe stuff I’ve buried under a rug.’”