Shock

THE Muppet Show is making a 50th birthday comeback — with pop superstar Sabrina Carpenter joining as a special guest. 

Disney has revealed Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy and the gang are back for a one-off special, more than four decades after the curtain came down on the beloved original series.

The show will stream on Disney+ from February 4, promising fans “music, comedy and a whole lot of chaos” from the original Muppet Theatre.

In a teaser clip, Kermit’s green arm can be seen turning on the lights of an old studio, before placing down a mug with his name on it.

The show originally ran from 1976 to 1981, with a generation of kids singing along to the theme tune: “It’s time to play the music. It’s time to light the lights.”

The series became so popular that big name stars clamoured to be guests, including Sir Elton John, Johnny Cash, Diana Ross, John Cleese and Debbie Harry.

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It was broadcast in more than 100 countries and in 1978 Time magazine called the show “the most popular television entertainment now being produced on Earth”.

The series won a host of awards, including Emmy, Grammy and Bafta gongs.

Despite the lights going out on the main series, the Muppets Tonight talk show ran from 1996 to 1998.

Other short-lived TV projects followed, including a mockumentary series in 2015, the Muppets Now short form series in 2020 and The Muppets Mayhem musical comedy series in 2023.

A host of movies included The Great Muppet Caper in 1981 and The Muppet Christmas Carol in 1992.

The last film, Muppets Most Wanted, in 2014, starred British comedian Ricky Gervais.

Muppets creator Jim Henson died in 1990 and Disney bought the rights in 2004.

Sabrina, who has had four UK No1 singles and two UK No1 albums, is an executive producer for the new show, as is Canadian comedian and actor Seth Rogen, who was in the 2020 series.

US President Donald Trump said he was standing by his White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles, after Vanity Fair magazine published interviews in which Wiles revealed internal tensions in Trump’s administration and painted an unflattering picture of the roles played by some of the president’s inner circle.

Trump, who regularly describes Wiles as the “most powerful woman in the world”, told the New York Post on Tuesday that he has full confidence in his chief of staff and that she had “done a fantastic job”.

Vanity Fair published two articles based on the interviews, giving insights into what Wiles thinks about other key figures in Trump’s second presidency.

Speaking about Trump, Wiles described the teetotaling president as having “an alcoholic’s personality” and an eye for vengeance against perceived enemies.

“He has an alcoholic’s personality,” Wiles said of Trump, explaining that her upbringing with an alcoholic father prepared her for managing “big personalities”.

Trump does not drink, she noted, but operates with “a view that there’s nothing he can’t do. Nothing, zero, nothing”.

In his defence of Wiles, Trump said she was right to describe him personally as having an “alcoholic’s personality”, even though he does not drink alcohol.

“I’ve often said that if I did, I’d have a very good chance of being an alcoholic,” Trump said. “I have said that many times about myself, I do. It’s a very possessive personality,” he said.

Speaking on the Trump administration’s failure to quickly deliver its promise to share information related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Wiles suggested that Trump’s attorney general, Pam Bondi, had failed to clearly read the situation with the public.

“First, she gave them binders full of nothingness,” Wiles said of Bondi, noting that Vice President JD Vance had more fully grasped how important the issue was to some people, since he is himself “a conspiracy theorist”.

Of Trump’s inclusion in the Epstein files, Wiles said, “We know he’s in the file”, but claimed the file did not show him doing “anything awful”.

Referring to other members of the Trump administration, Wiles called Russ Vought, the chief of the White House Office of Management and Budget, a “right-wing absolute zealot” and branded tech tycoon Elon Musk an “odd, odd duck”, Vanity Fair said.

On Ukraine, Wiles said that Trump believes Russian President Vladimir Putin “wants the whole country”, despite Washington’s push for a peace deal.

Wiles also affirmed that Trump wants to keep bombing alleged drug boats in the waters off the coast of Venezuela until that country’s leader, Nicolas Maduro, “cries uncle”.

In a post on X, Wiles called the Vanity Fair story “a disingenuously framed hit piece on me and the finest President, White House staff, and Cabinet in history”, saying it omitted important context and selectively quoted her to create a negative narrative.

Other members of Trump’s inner circle also defended Wiles after the articles were published.

Vance said in a speech in Pennsylvania that he and Wiles had “joked in private and in public” about him believing conspiracy theories.

“We have our disagreements, we agree on much more than we disagree, but I’ve never seen her be disloyal to the president of the United States,” Vance said.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters outside the West Wing that Wiles was “incredible” and accused Vanity Fair of the “bias of omission”, while Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on X that there was “absolutely nobody better!” than Wiles.

ZOE Ball celebrated her daughter Nelly’s 16th birthday with a big bash this weekend, reuniting with her ex husband Norman Cook for the milestone.

The party coincided with the shock news that Zoe has quit her Radio 2 show after just seven months at the helm.

Zoe shares Nelly and son Woody, 24, with Norman, who she split from in 2016 after 18 years together.

But the former couple remain on good terms, and reunited for their daughters big birthday this weekend.

Sharing an insight into the bash, Zoe posted a reel on Instagram and wrote: “Baby Girls Early 16th Birthday Party…oldies snuck in before it kicks off

“We love you beautiful noodle, can’t wait for the gossip.”

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The bash featured giant balloons spelling out Nelly’s name, along with a banner which read “Holy s**t you’re 16”.

Nelly’s older brother Woody was there to celebrate his sibling, as Zoe shared a snap of her two kids together.

Their dad, Norman, also appeared in high spirits as he donned a shirt with Nelly’s face printed across it.

It seems that Norman, also known as Fatboy Slim, was fittingly behind the DJ decks for the night, too.

The bash came just hours after it was revealed that Zoe has quit her BBC Radio 2 lunchtime show.

Zoe took on the show just seven months ago, after she stepped down from the station’s breakfast show.

She is set to be replaced by Emma Willis, who says she is a “huge fan” of the show.

Speaking on air on Saturday, Zoe told listeners: “I have loved being betwixt my dear friends Romesh (Ranganathan) and Rylan (Clark), and you know, I love you all to bits, but I’m not disappearing completely.

“Obviously, it’ll be Christmas Crooners and I’m doing an eras show in the new year, more on that later.”

“I am thrilled to tell you that you will be in the safest of hands, because there is a super woman who is no stranger to you all, but this does mean that she will officially become a member of the Radio 2 family.”

Emma said she is excited to be taking on the role: “I’m a huge fan of Radio 2, so I’m absolutely chuffed to be joining the family – and it’s a real honour to follow in the huge footsteps Zoe leaves behind, who’s someone I admire and adore.”

The new host signed off: “I’m very much looking forward to spending my Saturday lunchtimes with the Radio 2 audience and I’ll happily be the filling to a Romesh and Rylan sandwich!”

The news comes as Zoe is one of the “Golden Ten” shortlist of presenters that BBC bosses have lined up to step into the shoes of Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly.

The Sun revealed that Zoe was one of the ten stars put through their paces in order to find the perfect on screen partnership in a top-secret chemistry test.

WICKED: For Good has had less-than-favourable reviews compared to the first Wicked film, but there were still horrified gasps after it was snubbed from the biggest category in the Golden Globe nominations last night.

While Cynthia Erivo landed a Best Female Actor nod and Ariana Grande was nominated in the Best Supporting Female Actor shortlist, Jon M Chu’s film missed out for Best Film in the Musical/Comedy category.

Sydney Sweeney will also have her head in her hands as her new boxing biopic Christy failed to get a single nomination for the ceremony, which will take place next year in Los Angeles on January 11.

Leonardo DiCaprio will be ordering in the tequila though as his new film, One Battle After Another, is leading the nods in the film categories and is up for a total of nine Golden Globes, including Best Picture, Best Director and Screen Writer.

Sentimental Value is just behind with eight, while Michael B. Jordan’s Sinners has seven nods.

In the telly categories, The White Lotus leads the pack with six nominations, while Netflix’s brilliant Adolescence is just behind with five nods.

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Its teenage acting sensation Owen Cooper is nominated in the Best Supporting Male Actor category.

His co-stars Erin Doherty, Ashley Walters and Stephen Graham — who lives just a stone’s throw from my mum — are also in the running for awards.

Plenty of other Brits feature in the TV categories, including Helen Mirren, Bella Ramsey, Adam Scott and Gary Oldman.

In films it’s not a stellar year for homegrown talent, with only Cynthia and Emily Blunt — up for her role in The Smashing Machine — representing us in the acting categories.

Irish stars Jessie Buckley and our favourite Glastonbury raver Paul Mescal both have nominations for Hamnet.

With luck, us Brits will bring it home with Adolescence, and my fingers are crossed for Aimee Lou Wood and Jason Isaacs in The White Lotus.

JESSIE J-JINGLES ALL THE WAY

JESSIE J was in a reflective mood as she closed the final night of Capital’s Jingle Bell Ball with Barclaycard.

She opened up about her tough year after she was diagnosed with breast cancer as she bounced through hits including Bang Bang, H.A.P.P.Y and Price Tag.

Jessie told the packed London’s O2 Arena: “A lot of this stuff is smoke and mirrors. What really matters is who we are behind the camera and what we do in our lives when we wake up in the day.

“I’ve learnt a lot this year. I’ve learnt to slow down and be more present. I’ve learnt to live more in the moment, and I’ve learnt to know that life is not promised in the way we might want it to be.”

Louis Tomlinson, Celebrity Traitor Cat Burns and Kylie Minogue also took to the stage for the show – which also saw Five pulling up in a massive hummer for their Barclaycard Out Of The Blue surprise performance.

JUNGLE WAS NO EASY RYDER

SHAUN RYDER was glued to I’m A Celebrity so he could cheer on fellow Mancunians Aitch and Angry Ginge – who was crowned King Of The Jungle on Sunday night.

But in an exclusive chat to celebrate the 35th anniversary of Happy Mondays’ landmark album Pills ‘N’ Thrills And Bellyaches, Shaun, admits his time in the jungle in 2010 wasn’t such smooth sailing.

Shaun, who finished runner-up to Stacey Solomon, recalls: “I got really bad mosquito bites when I was in the jungle.

“My face swelled so much that medics had to come to my rescue. I also got badly bitten by a snake. But I survived.”

It didn’t get much better when he signed up to the All Stars series of the show back in 2023 either.

“My hip came out,” Shaun explains. “I was down on one of the low beds.

“And I dived out, forgetting where I was, and my hip just went boom.

“I screamed and woke the whole camp up.

“And I had to stick it back in straight away. It’s a titanium hip. But it just comes out.

“A couple of my implanted teeth were sticking into the side of my mouth, too.

“So I had blisters every time I opened my mouth. They really did cause me a lot of hassle.

“I think my teeth went from the crystal meth and crack cocaine.”

That’s rock ‘n’ roll for you.

MILEY GOT TRUMP’S BACKING

WE’VE seen a lot of unlikely celebrity friendships over the years, but Miley Cyrus and Donald Trump was not a pairing we saw coming.

Miley has revealed that the US President comforted her after her infamous 2013 MTV VMAs performance which saw her grinding up against Robin Thicke while belting out her hit We Can’t Stop.

The performance led to the former Hannah Montana star being slammed by prudish bores who branded it inappropriate.

On a recent episode of the Awards Chatter podcast Miley said: “It’s never been about that expectation of reaction for me.

“My mum is often the brains behind the crazy things.

“But it was all my idea and mum really supported it.

“I didn’t know what the big deal was and never thought it was a big deal until I woke up the next day.

“I was staying at the Trump hotel and Trump sent me a message saying, ‘Don’t let them get you down.’”

KYLIE MINOGUE is on course to land her 11th No1 album with her new festive record. Kylie Christmas (Fully Wrapped) is currently holding Sam Fender‘s deluxe version of People Watching off the top of the charts.

Depeche Mode’s Memento Mori: Mexico City is also sitting at No6 but could climb higher ahead of Friday.

MILLIE SUCH A SWIFTY

MILLIE BOBBY BROWN is a self-confessed Swiftie and she used her encyclopaedic knowledge of Taylor Swift‘s albums to craft her monologue on Jimmy Fallon‘s The Tonight Show.

Referencing her Stranger Things character, Millie said: “Eleven has always been totally Fearless and that taught me to Speak Now. I wore a Red dress when we won our first SAG Award. And Eleven needs to save the world before 1989. Eleven gave me a Reputation.”

Finishing up, Millie added: “I had my first kiss on the show, married my Lover and had a baby girl. Like, isn’t that the best Folklore you’ve ever heard?

“I’m so lucky to have played Eleven and will be for Evermore in debt to the Duffers and Netflix for giving me this opportunity. I could keep thanking everyone, but I’d be here long past Midnight.”

Millie also took part in Pup Quiz – where for every question she got right she was given a dog to cuddle.