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KIRSTEN O’Brien hung up her headphones at BBC Berkshire after revealing a new gig.

The kids’ TV presenter will be joining the BBC Radio 2 team for a very different role.

On her last day at the station, she was surprised by fellow 90s stars Dick and Dom.

She shared BBC Berkshire’s tweet, with a selfie of her and the boys and wrote: “Bit of news! Love that the lads surprised me today, I’m sad to be leaving BBC Berkshire as I’ve had a ball, but I can’t wait to get stuck in doing the traffic reports on BBC Radio 2 from Monday!”

Kirsten hosted the 10am-2pm slot on the Berkshire-based station and on her final show, she told listeners: “It’s eight years I’ve been here.

“I started at the old place at Caversham Park, doing a bit of covering, did the news, of course, some breakfast, and then the last two years doing brilliant things on this mid-morning show.

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“I’ve really, really enjoyed it. I’ve done all sorts while I’ve been here. I’ve visited everywhere from Reading Uni to the tip.

“I was thinking back about where I’ve been. My kids have grown up since when I first started, they weren’t sleeping.

“We were talking to sleep experts about helping me out. And now, of course, I just get them for stories.

“They provide endless content for me. Mark as well, whose life plays out on the radio, poor fella.

“So, I’ve always said I’ve come in here for a bit of a rest, a chat, to hear your stories as well and a bit of a laugh, and it’s been absolutely brilliant.”

Brigitte Tetta will be taking over Kirsten’s slot.

Kirsten was met with messages of support from listeners, with one writing: “Will be great to hear your voice on BBCRadio2. Always brings a bit of nostalgia from the CBBC and SMart days!”

A second added: “Heard you with Sara Cox a couple of weeks ago and you were great!”

“Congratulations Kirsten best wishes for the new adventures ahead,” echoed another.

“Wooooaahhhh, what?! I did not have this on my Bingo card for 2026! Fantastic, Kirst!! Huge congrats,” wrote a forth.

One said how they’d been impressed with her joining Trevor Nelson last week.

Another suggested there needed to be a SMart reboot.

Kirsten O’Brien became a familiar face of children’s television in the late 1990s and 2000s, where she started her career as a CBBC presenter.

She became known for her on-screen partnership with Otis the Aardvark.

In 1999, she landed the SMart gig, which saw her also take on SMarteenies and Smile.

Whilst she didn’t work with Dick and Dom (Richard McCourt and Dominic Wood), they were all part of the CBBC presenting gang and were close pals.

A ROCK band member has quit his group after 10 years, six albums and huge sold out arena tours.

Red Rum Club, who formed after sharing a rehearsal space, have confirmed their trumpet player has gone his separate ways.

Joe Corby, who is known for his soaring trumpet solos, has quit the band just weeks before they are set to head off on their big US tour.

Red Rum Club, who now have five members including Fran Doran, Simon Hepworth, Neil Lawson, Michael McDermott and Tom Williams, have confirmed future concerts are going ahead as planned.

The band, who formed in Merseyside, confirmed Joe’s shock exit from the group yesterday, in a sad statement on X.

They said: “It is with great sadness that we are announcing Joe’s departure from Red Rum Club.

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“We want to thank him for the music and the memories we have made over the last 10 years and we wish him all the best for the future.

“All future shows will be going ahead as scheduled.

“Love, Fran, Tom, Mike, Neil and Simon.”

Fans flooded the comments of the post, sharing their thoughts on the sad news.

One fan wrote: “Gutted, for me Joe is Red Rum Club, I have now followed you for the past nine years.”

Another fan penned: “Ahh, so sad to hear this! I hope it’s for a positive reason and no health issues or fall outs. Joe will be such a HUGE miss. As others have said, he’s been such an integral part of your USP.”

Elsewhere under the post, fans were speculating Joe had quit the band to pursue his own solo career.

Red Rum Club burst onto the music scene in January 2019 after releasing their debut album Matador, which reached Top 50 in the UK Album Sales Charts.

The album featured their hit single Would You Rather Be Lonely.

Claudia Winkleman explains it was a very emotional moment when she left Strictly Come Dancing with Tess Daly last year

They will be watching the new series of Strictly Come Dancing together. But Claudia Winkleman says she and Tess Daly decided to bow out from the BBC show because they worried about becoming complacent in their roles.

No one ever doubted the pair loved BBC’s ballroom series. But speaking in-depth about their decision to leave, Claudia says she started to see signs that they needed to go ahead with their pact to quit at the same time.

“You want to leave on a high,” says Claudia. “And you want to leave when you are loving it. We were tiny cogs in this huge sparkly, glittery thing. We were tiny as we had props guys holding Eiffel Towers, the amazing band, the dancers, the costume and hair and make-up and everything else and the lighting.

“We thought it was time to leave. Years earlier they said Gloria Estefan was playing in Blackpool and we were like ‘I cant believe it’. I phoned my husband and said ‘I have to practice the Conga’.”

By then end of their run though, even big names and learning new dances were commonplace. She explains: “We thought it was time to leave. You know, not that I was not excited at the end, but both of us were a bit like ‘Oh yeah…cool. Alright, so then I do that…(routine)’.

“It deserves ‘new’ (change). But what shocked me was, we did the last live show. All week was like ‘We are fine’ but I could not stop crying as it has been my entire life. You know sometimes when you decide something like ‘Let’s move house’. Then you pick up the final box. Not that you have done something wrong but it just feels big.”

For Strictly’s launch in 2026, it will be all change in terms of hosts but also with some things still be the same. Claudia and Tess will be together, but snuggled up away from the cameras.

“Tess and I have already planned. We are having jacket potatoes and I am having the salmon. She is coming to ours, her and Vern(husband Vernon Kay). I am not joking. I am going to set her up with a nightie and we are going to watch and support and love it.”

For many years now, pretty much every TV show Claudia Winkleman has touched turned to gold.

Her Strictly Come Dancing stint on the main show for 15 years, hosting The Traitors and now huge spin off hit Celebrity Traitors too, as well as smaller shows like The Piano which won critical acclaim for Channel 4.

For her other major project The Traitors, Claudia says it requires very different skills compared to fronting Strictly, where she says a lot of the credit should go to Tess.

“Tess did all the heavy lifting on Strictly and I am grateful for it. But on Traitors I had to be strict. I was worried about that. I am in life a cheerleader like if my kids fill the dishwasher I am like ‘Lets film it’. So I am a cheerleader and I am able do that on Traitors when they do the missions. I want to feed them chocolate as I am on their side.

“But I have to get a bit strict like when my kids have not done their homework. I love the game so much so that is how I have to be. The producers did tell me to push it.”

Whilst she will continue to front the series, she admits it has made her more thoughtful about lying and deceit in real life.

“Traitors makes me cry. I am not that harsh. I want the traitors to win and the faithful to get them in equal measure. Also it is a lot of money if it is for charity or for them individually.

I have learned a lot of things that I wish I had not. It has made me realise there is no such thing as gut instinct. It is all about what you tell yourself afterwards. And I have learnt you can know the truth but you can persuade people to follow you and that makes me heartbroken. Will I do a children’s version? No.”

After referencing her kids, Claudia, at a charity Q&A event, is asked more about her own family.

She has been married to film producer Kris Thykier since 2000, and they have three children: Jake, Matilda, and Arthur. But there appears to be no risk of nepo babies in the Winkleman household.

With a grin Claudia says: “I told them to nepo up. One wants to work in hospitality, one wants to be a doctor and one wants to be a chemist. I said ‘I can navigate you work experience’ and they were like ‘No thanks mum.’ They are not interested in film (husband’s work) like they say ‘Not unless it comes in a test tube’. So no. That is not what they have asked for.”

Claudia was giving a rare interview to TV director Ben Winston at St John’s Wood Synagogue in London in aid of Lira Winston Fellowships, which focus on identifying and nurturing Jewish school educators

Asked about her thoughts on rising anti semitism, she said: “How do I navigate the industry? The industry itself does not feel anti-Semitic to me. That is my experience. But the growing anti-Semitism and the growing Islamophobia and racism that we see everywhere is really, really terrifying I suppose.

“I don’t want to say terrifying in front of my kids, but it is worrying. And that is why it is so important that we have got to look after each other and people from other communities.”

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EastEnders spoilers have teased some big moments ahead as the path is paved for Grant Mitchell’s return after some sad news about Nigel Bates, while there’s also a car crash

There’s big scenes ahead on EastEnders next week, including a stunt, a sad twist and big news about a returning legend.

Grant Mitchell’s return to the BBC soap is finally about to happen, and the path is set next week. It comes off the back of a sad update about his long-time friend Nigel Bates, whose health is continuing to deteriorate amid his dementia battle.

There’s also stunt drama as two separate families are caught up in a car accident – but will everyone be okay? People are confronted over bad behaviour, feud are put to bed and there’s some worrying scenes on the cards.

According to new spoilers, Ravi Gulati continues to struggle amid his mental health battle, feeling powerless that he is unable to protect his family. His actions to keep them safe soon spark concern, and soon there’s a revelation that rocks everyone.

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Priya Nandra-Hart’s attempt to help partner Ravi leads to an accident on the road, as their car collides with another vehicle driven by Max Branning and Cindy Beale, with baby Jimmy also in the car. Both families are shaken, but Ravi returns home before fleeing.

Max is able to help Cindy and Jimmy, and they head to the hospital to get checked over – while there’s also a moment between secret lovers Max and Cindy. Back in Walford, Priya is trying to track down missing Ravi.

It’s not long before she finds him on the bridge, with him having climbed up after fleeing his family. As Priya talks to Ravi, she makes him realise that he needs help, and he agrees to get down to safety.

Will she be able to get him the help he desperately needs? Their son Nugget is also facing trouble, as he realises Will has recorded and shared a video of him having a seizure online.

Nugget confronts Will and his friends about their video, but will he get the reaction he’s hoping for? Warring business rivals Elaine Peacock and Ian Beale finally put their feud to rest next week.

Sadly, Nigel’s condition deteriorates and the news soon reaches a devastated Sam Mitchell and Mark Fowler Jr. The news sees Sam and Mark make contact with Grant, asking him to return to be there for Phil and Nigel.

Mark actually suggests it believing he should know what is happening with Nigel, but also he and Sam are worried about how Phil will cope. We do know that Grant is coming back to the BBC soap very soon, so how will Mark feel about seeing his dad?

EastEnders airs Mondays to Thursdays at 7:30pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. * Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .

THERE was a time a while back when, whenever the gossip mags wrote about Jennifer Aniston, they’d always preface her name with ‘Sad’.

Sad Jen Aniston – it was like one of those three-part names like Sarah Jessica Parker or Sarah Michelle Gellar, and call me a cynic, but I’m convinced we haven’t seen the last of her.

For someone who was allegedly one of the most desirable women on earth, this must have been extremely annoying, especially when a quick roll-call inevitably followed, ticking off the regiment of men it took to award Aniston, 57, her nickname; Brad Pitt, John Mayer and Justin Theroux, for starters.

But now she is apparently planning to marry someone called Jim Curtis who she has been dating since 2025; celeb-years are like dog-years when it comes to relationships, so this is like a decade for the rest of us.

He looks like one of those men who habitually whispers ‘Rock Star’ at his reflection every morning.

He appears to have the aw-shucks charm of Pitt, the narcissism of Mayer and the pretentiousness of Theroux – without apparently having the independently successful careers of all of these, having only come to public notice when Aniston fell for his charms.

To be fair, she has rarely looked lovelier, and Curtis, 50, is wolfishly handsome.

But ‘wellness coach’ Mr Curtis – who has reportedly encouraged Aniston to ‘look inward (unfortunate suggestions of a colonoscopy there) – has a distinct whiff of snake oil about him, or rather, of woo-woo.

As a friend says: “They’ve done intensive regression therapy together, and Jen and Jim believe they met in a past life.

“They feel their souls were destined to find each other again in this timeline to complete their journey. It’s all very woo-woo and spiritual, but it absolutely works for them.”

What is woo-woo? Boiled down to its sticky residue, it’s extreme silliness masquerading as spirituality.

Woo-woo is especially attractive to disappointed women of a certain age; crystals, Goddess workshops and having a shaman on Skype speed-dial.

Gong baths, forest baths, any bath that doesn’t feature water; meditation, mindfulness, manifestation, and ‘cacao ceremonies’ where menopausal women pay other menopausal women to make them a hot chocolate in a flask while they watch the sun rise; call it a cacao ceremony and pay a hundred quid for the privilege.

Past-life regression: a couple I knew told everyone they met that in a past life, and that the woman was apparently the husband’s mother in Ancient Rome.

Their ageing whippet was also with them in Rome, which explained why, at 8,000 years old, he sometimes struggled on his daily walk.

Curtis himself was ‘regressed’ on a television talk show as a youngster and discovered that he was a Native American who was murdered.

The Wonder Of You

It’s funny how regressions bring up such dramatic results – no one’s ever just a bank clerk bored with their daily commute.

Until she saw sense and started showing off what her mama gave her again on Traitors, the most flagrantly silly face of homeland woo-woo was probably Charlotte Church, who in 2022 turned her very big house in the country into a ‘wellness retreat’ complete with a shower which the singer described as akin to a ‘very large and unusual-shaped vagina’, and a ‘womb room’.

According to planning documents, Church aimed to create ‘a system of non-hierarchical participatory democracy’ inside the property.

‘The Dreaming’ was due to open in 2022 – but was postponed due to a problem with too much sewage, which unkind souls might say is the overriding impression that one got from the whole daft enterprise.

But one can see why high-maintenance women might go for men like Mr Curtis.

After the parade of go-getting career-driven arch-narcissists Aniston has been left high and dry by, it might be refreshing to look into the limpid eyes of some smooth-talking guru who only wants to talk about The Wonder Of You.

The only Woo Woo I’ve got time for is this one: ‘Mix vodka, peach schnapps and cranberry juice, and garnish with a lime wedge’

On the other hand, knowing how prevalent stealth-narcissists are on the dodgy borderline where self-care meets self-advancement, there’s an equal chance that Dr Love is simply staring into your eyes in order to see his own reflection.

Falling for a snake-oil smoothie is the modern equivalent of those women who used to fall for vicars, and hang around making themselves useful in church in the hope that earthly love might eventually get a look-in.

Perhaps in a decade’s time, all this meditation, mindfulness and manifestation will be seen for what it is – old-fashioned eccentricity with a self-improving spin.

Personally, the only Woo Woo I’ve got time for is this one: ‘Mix vodka, peach schnapps and cranberry juice, and garnish with a lime wedge’.