A former Strictly Come Dancing contestant has said they want to return to the BBC show
Anita Rani says she was “robbed” on Strictly(Image:
BBC
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Anita Rani, the Countryfile star and former Strictly Come Dancing contestant, has confessed she’ll “never get over” her time on the dance show. The 48 year old telly favourite took part in the BBC competition a decade ago, narrowly missing out on the final by just two weeks.
She was partnered with professional dancer Gleb Savchenko during her stint on the show, which saw The Wanted’s Jay McGuiness and his partner Aliona Vilani take home the coveted Glitterball Trophy.
Soap stars Georgia May Foote of Coronation Street and EastEnders‘ Kellie Bright were the runners-up that year. However, Anita is still convinced she was “robbed” of a place in the final alongside Aliona.
In a chat with The Sun’s TV Magazine, she revealed: “I wish I could do it again – I think they should bring back ‘the robbed’! I’ll never get over it, I should have got to the final.”
During the semi-final, Anita found herself in the dreaded dance-off against BBC presenter Katie Derham. Despite giving it her all, it was Katie and her partner Anton Du Beke who progressed to the grand finale, reports Wales Online.
Anita confessed that she used to turn down reality shows like Strictly, but has recently decided to say “yes” if the “offer arise”. Since then, she’s appeared on popular programmes such as Celebrity Gogglebox, The Chase, and Blankety Blank.
She even hinted that she’d consider joining the cast of Celebrity Traitors if the BBC decides to commission a second series. Meanwhile, Anita and her dad Bal are gearing up for their appearance on Celebrity Race Across the World.
She added: “I used to say no to other reality shows, but now I’m like: ‘If an offer arises, why not?’ The Traitors, I’m A Celeb… But I’ll tell you what me and Dad want to do next – Antiques Road Trip. Let’s put that out there!”.
Before taking part in the travel programme, Anita confessed she wanted her father to enjoy “an adventure”.
She told the BBC: “We get on, he makes me laugh and if I ever want help in making a decision, dad’s the person I call.
“Also, I want dad to have the experience. It’s about my dad having an adventure – he’s never had one before. I think we’re competitive, but I think we’re just really keen to have an amazing experience and give it our best shot.”
The Woman’s Hour presenter reveals she’s currently in a “new era” following the “confirmation” of her fresh romance with partner Alex Lavery.
This comes two years following her separation from spouse Bhupi Rehal. The former pair had been wed for 14 years before they ended their marriage.
Following their break-up, she revealed to Love Sunday Magazine: “‘Life is good, I’m in a good place. I’m focusing on myself and my own wants.
“It’s nice to be able to think about the second phase of my life. I’ve been calling it Chapter Two.”
Soap star Kellie Bright highlights the struggles parents face securing school support for autistic children in a poignant new BBC Panorama documentary
Kellie Bright exposes heartbreaking fight to secure support for autistic son(Image: Getty Images for BAFTA)
As EastEnders’ Linda Carter, actor Kellie Bright has faced heartbreak, grief and despair. However, no soap storyline could prepare her for the frustration, anxiety and heartache of trying to fight for her Autistic son’s education.
Kellie’s little boy has been diagnosed with Autism, ADHD and Dyslexia but despite this, she has struggled to secure an Education Health Care Plan (EHCP) for him, which would entitle him to extra support.
Now Kellie, 49, has filmed a documentary for Panorama examining the exhausting and expensive fight parents face just to get their children the right help at school.
Kellie tells cameras: “I’ve wanted to make a documentary about special needs for a really long time. I have a son, he is autistic, he has ADHD and he’s dyslexic. To try and get the support you need you have to fight every step of the way.
“I hear from lots and lots of families how the system is broken, how things need to change so I want to shine a light on it, I want to speak to families who are suffering. I am very fortunate to be in a position because of my job that I do have a voice, I do have a platform and I want to use it.”
The government is in the process of reforming the Special Educational Needs system, which parents say is failing their children, despite it costing £12 billion every year. On Friday (3 Oct 25) The Institute for Fiscal Studies said the figure would rise by £3bn a year by 2029.
One in five pupils (1.7 million) in England get some kind of support for special educational needs in school at the moment, and councils are footing the cost. Many councils blame the rising costs of SEND support for debts that run into hundreds of millions of pounds.
The IFS is predicting that the proportion of pupils with EHCPs will rise even further in the next four years, to 8 per cent of all pupils aged four to 16. However, for many parents, like Kellie, getting an EHCP is a difficult and frustrating task.
Kellie says on the show: “When we tried for an EHCP for my son, we also ended up heading for a tribunal because the council refused to assess him. I have to say that left me feeling really angry. Then I felt frustrate,d and then I felt like I was letting my son down.”
After Kellie and her husband, Paul Stocker, started proceedings to take the local authority to a tribunal, they suddenly agreed to assess her son.
She was so emotional that she recorded her reaction on her Instagram account, telling followers, “I have just received an email to say they have agreed to assess my son. It has been 8 months of such hard work and perseverance and fighting to get to this point.”
Reflecting on the fight to get her son the help he needs in school, Kellie tells the documentary: “One of the main things is that as a parent you feel completely and utterly powerless. Powerless to move things forward, powerless to help your child, and because of that, it’s an extremely frustrating system to have to work with.”
Kellie meets lots of parents in a similar position. Many educate their children at home because local authorities are unable or unwilling to offer them a place that is appropriate for their needs. Parents with children out of school are often forced out of the workplace.
Kellie says: “More than half of parents of autistic children have had to take time off work to support their child.”
From the families Kellie meets, all are exhausted, tearful and feeling hopeless about their situations. Councils often force families to take them to tribunal to get EHCPs – even though 99 per cent of cases that reach tribunal are won by families.
One father, called Lee, tells Kellie he suspects his local council is trying to wear them out to avoid paying for help for their daughter, who is, at the time of the film, not in education.
Lee, whose daughter Charis is autistic, says, “I think there is a deliberate policy of fatigue because they know that not every parent will come back for appeal so they lose some. So now we are fighting against the local authority because we’re fighting for our daughter.
“But in battles people get hurt. So that deliberate and I think it is a deliberate policy of fatigue is hurting families and parents and it’s got to be better than that.”
Kellie goes to meet Georgia Gould who is the Minister of State at the Department of Education, as of last month. She tells Kellie: “I can’t give you all the details of all the different reforms we’re doing because we’ve got a process we’re working on with families.
“We want to honour that what I can tell you is we’re really dedicated to supporting children early to make sure there is accountability in the system.
“Within the reforms we’re not taking support away from families, we’re wanting to put more support in earlier where people have fought for support and that support is in place we want to make sure it continues,” she adds.
When Kellie tells her that parents have “high anxiety” about the reforms, Georgia insists the new system will still have a legal basis for support.
She promises Kellie: “There has to be a legal basis for parents to get support, but what we really want to work with parents on to get right is, where does that accountability happen? How can we get support in at the earliest possible point rather than having the battle?”
Kellie says only time will tell if the reforms, which are intended to save money while delivering the right support, will make things better or worse.
Kellie says, “All eyes are now on the government to see if its reforms can relieve the pressure on so many families.”
Panorama: Kellie Bright – Autism, School and Families on the Edge, Monday 6th October BBC1 at 8pm ( iPlayer from 6am)
EastEnders icon Diane Parish took to social media over the weekend to share a fun-fuelled video of highlights from the 2025 British Soap Awards – which did not give away any of the winners
Diane Parish shared behind-the-scenes content from the British Soap Awards 2025(Image: @officialdianeparish/Instagram)
Diane Parish was in a celebratory mood on Saturday night as she joined her EastEnders castmates and headed to Hackney for the British Soap Awards 2025. The 55-year-old soap icon, famous for playing Denise Fox on the BBC show since 2006, had been on the long list for one of the show categories.
The star had been initially nominated for the Best Leading Performer gong, but did not advance to the second round of nominations for the prestigious award. Instead, EastEnders co-stars Lacey Turner and Kellie Bright were nominated for the gong alongside Emmerdale stars Beth Cordingly and Eden Taylor-Draper.
Diane gave fans a glimpse behind the scenes(Image: @officialdianeparish/Instagram)
With this in mind, Diane took to social media on Sunday to share her own highlights from the night, which did not give anything away. She shared a two-and-a-half-minute-long video from the celebrations, which included footage of her partying with fellow soap stars before, during and after the event.
Uploading the footage to her main grid, Diane wrote: “NO SPOILERS for those who don’t wanna know. But I am sooooo PROUD of everyone who works on @bbceastenders What a night!”
Diane, who plays Denise looked sensational(Image: @officialdianeparish/Instagram)
Clips showed her laughing and chatting with co-stars, encouraging members of the public in the live audience to cheer, spotlighting Anita Dobson in the crowd, and partying at the after party. Soap stars were thrown into a panic at the party, however, as the after-show venue was hit by a bomb hoax.
The event was held at London’s Hackney Town Hall after the main awards. But attendees were suddenly asked to leave the venue shortly before 1am after the event had reportedly received a bomb threat.
“We all got evacuated just before 1am. No reason was given at first and security came round and told us we had to leave immediately,” a source told The Mirror – recounting the nerves shredding experience.
She was seen posing with her co-stars(Image: @officialdianeparish/Instagram)
“As we all waited in the street outside, security told us there had been a bomb threat. We weren’t allowed back in the building so people started making their way home.”
In a video shared with The Mirror, some of TV’s biggest soap stars can be seen waiting outside the venue as more evacuate – with the likes of EastEnders’ Tameka Empson and former Hollyoaks star Emmett J Scanlan among them.
A show source also told The Mirror: “Owing to a security alert after the recording of the awards, it was necessary to evacuate the after party venue. Everyone was cleared from the building safely.”
Meanwhile, fans of soaps took to social media to slam ITV for failing to broadcast the event live – with many annoyed that they would have to wait until Thursday before being able to see who would take to the stage.
Taking to X to slam the delay in broadcast, one fan raged: “It’s ridiculous that the British Soap Awards isn’t live… there’s more hype for the soap stars arriving outside for something not even airing on tv for another week than there is the Britain’s Got Talent final… sort it out for next year please @itv.”
The British Soap Awards 2025 will be broadcast via ITV1 and ITVX on Thursday 5 June 2025 at 8pm.
