OLIVIA Attwood appears to have sent a stark warning to fellow Loose Women panelist GK Barry after she hit out at “fake friends.”
The Love Island alum, 34, didn’t hold back as she went on a comment ‘liking’ spree on Instagram.
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Olivia Attwood appears to have sent a stark warning to fellow Loose Women panelist GK Barry over ‘fake friends’Credit: InstagramIt came after podcast anchor GK Barry was styled by Ryan Kay for her appearance on the ITV daytime seriesCredit: InstagramIt came after Olivia opened up on her fallout with former buddy Ryan Kay last monthCredit: Shutterstock Editorial
It came just hours after Olivia took a swipe at an “attention seeking” pal and admitted it had been “awful.”
While the TV star didn’t specify who she was talking about in a new clip uploaded toTikTok, but referred to them as a “tick.“
And she dropped another huge hint when she began to like fan comments warning podcast host and Loose Women panelist Grace about him, after he styled her for the ITV daytime series.
Olivia liked comments about him moving on to Grace and how he needs to be warned, as well as how Grace should be worried.
One said: “Ryan … Grace should be worried.”
Another wrote: “He’s moved onto Grace now she needs to be warned.”
The Bad Boyfriends anchor also liked a message which read: “Never liked the guy, he did the same with Ester from Cheshire housewives. Used her for personal gain then moved on to the next.”
She then commented: “So small. Literally they lived in my house, I paid for holidays, dinners, nights out, more gifts than I can even count.”
We previously told how reality TV star Oliviahad fallen outwith her former assistant and stylist Ryan – who both share matchingtattoosand were once inseparable.
LIV’S RANT
Over the weekend, Liv’s fans told how she looked “proper hurt” in her video rant.
She captioned her clip: “I feel like so many people will have gone through this experience.”
Olivia then said: “We all know this person who can’t keep a job, they can’t keep a friend, they have no long-term friends that they can keep for more than a year.
“But it’s never their fault. They’re always the victim. This is a professional victim. You watch the cycle play out and you can now see the people who were before you and see your part in the cycle.
“And then you can see who they’ve now moved onto next.”
The star went on: “I always think that with these kinds of people, they don’t move on to new friends, but instead they move on to new hosts.
“They’re like a tick – a tick has to be attached to you and drink your blood – and it has to have a host body. So, once it leaves your body it’s going to go and host on another body.”
In a TikTok video posted over the weekend, she classed a former pal as a ‘tick’Credit: tiktokOlivia wrote about her painful friendship break-up on InstagramCredit: Instagram / @olivia_attwoodNow GK’s fans have said she should be ‘warned’ about her new professional connectionsCredit: YouTube
The site of one of L.A.’s most notorious murder-suicides, Greystone has been supposedly haunted ever since. In February 1929, owner Ned Doheny, son of oil tycoon Edward Doheny, was shot and killed by his personal secretary and childhood friend Hugh Plunkett who, minutes later, shot himself. The motive for the crime was never discovered, though rumors posited a sexual relationship, a dispute over Plunkett’s salary and, most plausibly, the pair’s involvement in the Teapot Dome scandal. Doheny’s widow lived in the mansion until 1955, after which a series of sales almost led to its demolition, prevented by an 11th-hour purchase by the city of Beverly Hills, which converted the house into an event venue and the grounds into a park. Since then, there have been many reports by workers of mysterious sounds, the smell of rotting flesh and shadowy, spectral figures. That has not stopped it from becoming a favored filming spot for film and television, from “The Amazing Race” to “There Will Be Blood,” and a popular wedding venue.
Royal historian Andrew Lownie has predicted that Prince Andrew could face legal repercussions following the publication of Virginia Giuffre’s allegations against him
KRISTEN Bell fans have been left horrified after she shared a “weird” wedding anniversary post to husband Dax Shephard.
The Nobody Wants This actress, 45, was celebrating being wed to Dax, 50, for 12 years.
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Kristen Bell shocked fans with her Instagram post to celebrate her wedding anniversary with husband Dax ShephardCredit: GettyIt came after she shared this sweet picture of them together – but the caption caused a stirCredit: InstagramDax Shepard and Kristen Bell have been married since 2013Credit: Getty
In the Instagram post Kristen can be seen with her legs wrapped around the Parenthood star, as he pulls her close to him.
However, it wasn’t the picture that caused a stir with fans – it was the caption.
Writing next to the post Kristen wrote: “Happy 12th wedding anniversary to the man who once said to me: ‘I would never kill you. A lot of men have killed their wives at a certain point. Even though I’m heavily incentivized to kill you, I never would.’❤️”
But some fans thought this was an “odd” thing to write to commerate such a milestone in their relationship.
In the caption, he penned, “People might not know everything that happens behind the scenes in order to create an Emmy nominated performance like Kristen’s.
“This may or may not have been a part of her training, but it felt right.
“CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!”
Dax recently shared a nude snap of his wife Kristen on InstagramCredit: daxshepard/Instagram
Fans in the comments were divided by the post, with some finding it hilarious, others in awe of Kristen’s toned body, and some other saying how Kristen would be mad.
“Hahaha she’s gonna kick your a**,” joked one person.
“She’s gonna kill you,” echoed another.
“Why the f**k would you post this?” said this fan.
However, this fan said: “I wouldn’t be mad at Dax for posting if I also looked this good! Go girl.”
Another echoed: “I’d love the confidence to cartwheel naked lmao.
The couple then delayed their marriage until the state of California passed legislation on legalising same-sex marriage, and when this happened in 2013, Kristen then asked Dax to marry her on social media.
Ajike “AJ” Owens was a dedicated 35-year-old mother of four when she was shot and killed by her 58-year-old neighbor, Susan Lorincz, in June 2023. The tragedy, which rocked the otherwise peaceful, tight-knit community of Ocala, Fla., followed years of Lorincz making habitual calls to the police to report neighborhood kids, including Owens’, for playing in a vacant lot next to her home. Lorincz, who is white, claimed that the children — most of whom are Black and were under 12 — were a threat, citing one of the nation’s many “stand your ground” laws, which allow individuals to use deadly force to protect themselves if they feel their life is in danger.
Now award-winning filmmaker Geeta Gandbhir, with the support of producer-husband Nikon Kwantu and such nonfiction luminaries as Sam Pollard and Soledad O’Brien, has chronicled the two years leading up to Owens’ death in “The Perfect Neighbor,” premiering Friday on Netflix after an Oscar-qualifying theatrical run. Composed almost entirely of police body camera footage, the moving and powerful verité documentary uses the case to depict the perils of such laws, which are all too easily misused or abused in a society where not every claim of self-defense is treated equally.
A jury convicted Lorincz of manslaughter in August 2024, but the repercussions of her erratic and violent behavior continue to impact the Owens family and their neighbors. Gandbhir, whose sister-in-law was a close friend of Owens, hopes “The Perfect Neighbor” will honor Owens’ memory while showing how our nation’s growing fear of “the other” and the proliferation of “stand your ground” laws are a deadly combination.
Initially, you weren’t planning on making a film about this tragic killing, but you were documenting the aftermath of the crime. Why?
We got a call the night Ajike was killed, and we immediately jumped into action to try to help the family. We stepped in to be the media liaisons. They looked to us to try to keep the story alive in the media, just because they were worried [it would be overlooked]. This is Ocala, Fla., the heart of where “stand your ground” was born. Susan wasn’t arrested for four days because they were doing a “stand your ground” investigation. We were not thinking about making a doc, really. We were just terrified that there would be no justice.
But in Ajike’s case, there’s reams of footage and audio recordings that captured what happened. How were you able to obtain so much of that material from the police department?
Anthony Thomas, who works with [civil rights attorney] Benjamin Crump, had sued the police department through the Freedom of Information Act and got them to release all of the material that they had pertaining to the case. That’s how we got the footage. What came to us was the police body camera footage, detective interviews, Ring camera footage and cellphone footage. There was also all the audio calls that Susan had made to the police, and then after the night of the [killing], the calls the community had made. There was basically a plethora of stuff that we were handed, in a jumble, and Anthony was like, “Sort this out. See if you can find anything that makes sense for the news, like snippets we can share.”
I was surprised at how much material there was, and I’m just talking about what made it into the film.
It speaks to how much Susan called the police. Basically, the body cam footage [was a result of those calls]. What’s interesting is the reaction when we screened the film for the community. They agreed to be part of this so we wanted to show them before it came out. We’re very concerned with participant care and the ethics of this. They said that they didn’t think that we had everything, because Susan [allegedly] called the police sometimes, like, 10 times a day. They [said they] think the police gave us maybe what they could organize, where they don’t look terrible. But they don’t think that that’s everything.
Ajike “AJ” Owens, pictured on the poster, was shot and killed by her neighbor in 2023. The crime is at the center of Geeta Gandbhir’s new documentary “The Perfect Neighbor.”
Ajike’s mother, Pamela Dias, has been a major force in keeping her daughter’s memory alive — and seeking justice. How did she feel about you making this film?
I went to Pamela and said I could make a movie and maybe we could make a change. It’s quite an endeavor to try to change gun laws or the “stand your ground” law, but maybe we can reach people. She said yes. This is a woman who by her own admission was blinded by grief [when Ajike was killed], who said she couldn’t see two feet in front of her. But she knew even then that her daughter’s story had to be told. She said her daughter died standing up for her kids, and she felt it was her turn to stand up.
I told her the material was graphic. But Pam was inspired by Emmett Till and how his mother had an open-casket funeral and told the photographers to take pictures because she wanted the world to know what had happened to her baby. Plus, we thought about George Floyd and [how footage of his killing] sparked a movement. It is a terrible thing to bear witness, but if we let these things continue to happen in the shadows, then they will happen forever. It’s only by bearing witness that things might change.
What about your own emotional well-being while making this film?
See all my gray hair? [Laughs.] I realized later it was grief work for me, because I needed to know what happened. I had to know what happened. I couldn’t understand how someone could pick up a gun and kill their neighbor over children playing nearby. How did we get here? So many questions were just eating me, so the work was in some ways cathartic. Then once we had it all strung out and I thought it was a film, I brought on Viridiana Lieberman, who’s our editor. We had a similar sensibility about what we wanted this to be and we really committed to living in the body camera footage.
“Body camera footage is a violent tool of the state,” Gandbhir says. “It’s often used to criminalize us, particularly people of color. It’s used to dehumanize us, to surveil us, to protect the police. What I wanted to do with this material was flip that narrative and use it to humanize this community.”
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
Why not use narration?
I worked for 12 years in narratives and scripted before I segued into documentary. I learned that the best vérité documentaries are show and not tell. If you tell people what they’re seeing, there’s some room for doubt or for your bias or some questioning around it. But to me, this footage plays like vérité. There’s no reporter on the ground. There’s no one influencing what’s happening in the neighborhood, other than the police who are coming in and asking questions. I felt that made the footage and the story undeniable. No one could say that we were down there asking provocative questions. And the body camera footage is so incredibly immersive, I wanted people to have the experience of what the community experienced.
How would you describe what they went through?
Their experience felt a bit like a horror film. You have this beautiful, diverse community living together with a strong social network, taking care of each other and each other’s kids. What was so powerful to me in the body camera footage is you really got to see this community as they were before [the tragedy], and you never get that. There’s horrible shootings all the time, and we see the aftermath, right? We see the grieving family, we see the funeral. We have to re-create what their lives were like before. And in this, you see this beautiful community thriving and living together, and that was so profound. I wanted to rebuild their world so everyone could see the damage done by one outlier with a gun. How she was the only one who was repeatedly calling the police and seeing threats where there were none.
We’re used to seeing police body cam footage used as evidence following a police brutality incident, or as entertainment in true crime shows. It’s used to tell a very different story in your film.
I wanted to subvert the use of body cam footage. Body camera footage is a violent tool of the state. It’s often used to criminalize us, particularly people of color. It’s used to dehumanize us, to surveil us, to protect the police. What I wanted to do with this material was flip that narrative and use it to humanize this community.
Why do you think that Susan was not seen as a threat by the police?
She’s a middle-aged white lady. She weaponized her race, her status, and she kept trying to weaponize the police against the community. The fact that she was using hate speech against children [she allegedly called them the N-word]. She was filming them. She was throwing things at them. She was cursing at them. But the police didn’t flag her as more than just a nuisance…. After the third time she called and it was unfounded and not about an actual crime, there should have been some measure taken to reprimand her. They didn’t tell the community that they could file charges against her: “She’s harassing you all. She’s harassing your children.” It was systemic neglect. And honestly, should the police be a catch-all for everything? Probably not. But they were not equipped. They didn’t take the necessary steps and the worst outcomes happened, which is that we lost Ajike, and Susan is in prison for the rest of her life. I’m sure that’s not the outcome she wanted.
There’s a moment in the film where a policeman knocks on Susan’s sliding glass door. She doesn’t know it’s a cop. She opens the curtain and screams at him in a terrifying, almost demonic voice. It’s quite a switch from her nervous, genial 911 calls.
Yeah, the jump scare. That was one of the moments where I was like, “Oh, there she is.” And the 911 call, after she shot Ajike. She was hysterical. Then her voice changes when she says, “They keep bothering me and bothering me, and they won’t f— stop.” I felt my heart clench, because it’s like, “Oh, there she really is.” She has this way of going between victim and aggressor. A little Jekyll and Hyde. It’s frightening.
The victim/aggressor dynamic is part of what makes “stand your ground” laws so dangerous. They can be weaponized.
“Stand your ground” policy was born in Ocala and now it’s in around 38 states, in different forms. It’s a law that emboldens people to pick up a gun to solve a dispute. If you can other-ize your neighbor to the extent of [killing] them, the question is, what else will you do? What else will we tolerate? As human beings, how we show up in our communities is a reflection of how we show up in the world. This film takes place on this tiny street, but it is a microcosm of what is happening today. Susan represented the dangers, and that little community represented the best of what’s under threat.
The cult comedy, which stars Kristen Wiig, Laura Dern and Carol Burnett, is returning for a second season next month
Yellowstone star Josh Lucas appears completely different in the forthcoming second series of Palm Royale, arriving on Apple TV+ next month.
The quirky comedy features Kristen Wiig as an ambitious social climber attempting to break into an elite society circle in 1960s Florida.
Despite garnering merely 56 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, the debut series has slowly cultivated a devoted fanbase who insist it’s been “underrated” by reviewers.
Fortunately, it also proved sufficiently popular to secure a second series, which will see Wiig’s Maxine Dellacorte-Simmons reunited with Lucas, who plays her on-screen spouse Douglas Darby Dellacorte-Simmons.
Lucas, who has also appeared in films Sweet Home Alabama and Ford v Ferrari, is familiar to Yellowstone viewers for his portrayal of a younger Kevin Costner’s central character John Dutton in flashback sequences, reports the Mirror US.
Nevertheless, he appears utterly different in the sneak peek at Palm Royale series two, trading his cowboy hat and denim for a leather jacket, shades and aviator’s cap.
Viewers who have already watched the first series will have witnessed Lucas sporting a 60s-style haircut, complete with sideburns, and a freshly-shaved appearance.
The upcoming series will continue with Maxine grappling with Douglas’ infidelity as well as the impending arrival of his child with another woman.
If you haven’t already caught up with Palm Royale’s inaugural series, now’s the ideal moment as newcomers still have until 12th November before series two begins.
Viewers have been singing praises for the first series, with one Redditor posting: “Okay, what is up with the rating? This show is fabulous.”
“A lot of people don’t understand the tone of the show,” another viewer concurred.
“It’s camp, it’s fun, it’s a technicolor spectacular I wish everyone could just enjoy it and let it grow for a few more seasons.”
A third fan chimed in: “This is my favourite new show in the past few years! What talent! What writing!
“So incredibly funny and fabulous. Love the fashion and the cinematography. Every week keeps me wanting more! Love is an understatement!”
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The series also boasts several five-star Google reviews, with one viewer penning: “Love Kristen Wiig. Hilarious, comedic genius.
“Then I searched out the cast and I knew I couldn’t pass it up. Carol Burnett… The Queen of everything, Laura Dern. The leading cast is exquisite, all the parts are moving. This show is so much fun and quite entertaining with absurd scenarios.”
Will you be giving Palm Royale a chance now it’s returning for another round of misadventures in Florida?
Palm Royale season 2 premieres Wednesday, 12th November on Apple TV+. Yellowstone is available to stream on Paramount+.
JENNY Powell showcased her age-defying body following ‘game-changing’ treatment.
The radio and TV presenter, 57, took to Instagram and posted videos highlighting her incredible features.
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Jenny Powell revealed the results following “game changing” treatmentCredit: Refer to sourceThe former Wheel of Fortune star showcased her age defying-looks to her followersCredit: Refer to sourceJenny is no stranger to wowing fans with her stunning looksCredit: Splash
Addressing her followers, Jenny revealed the results of lymphatic drainage treatment.
It is intended to help move lymphatic fluid in the body, which can boost immune function, as well as reduce swelling and inflammation.
She captioned the post: “Ever tried lymphatic drainage?”
Jenny revealed to the camera: “I just had the best lymphatic drainage treatment. It’s so nurturing.”
Her updates also included before and after photos highlighting the treatment.
She told her followers: “I feel lighter, less sluggish and more in tune with my body.
“This lymphatic drainage treatment @thelymphclinic_ has changed the game for me.
“You know me , I like to find holistic alternatives to help me in my wellbeing journey
“A little lymphatic drainage around the tummy goes a long way!
“It helps shift that stubborn bloating, boosts digestion, and gets everything flowing again — think flatter, lighter and less puffy.
“It’s like a gentle wake-up call for your gut, your glow and your energy!”
Last month, Jenny sent her followers wild with stunning snaps from an Ibiza holiday.
The formerWheel of Fortunestar looked incredible in a patterned bikini as she unwoundafter watching her friends tie the knot.
She wrote on Instagram: “We chilled, did nothing, did everything and celebrated the marriage of two beautiful souls @positivepsychotherapyandyoga and all amongst the natural beauty and cosmic energy of @atzaro_hotel what a magical energy we all created.
“Thank you Steve and Lyndsey, thank you @leanelacase .. more magical moments incoming!!”
Jenny reclined on a large outdoor bed surrounded by plants and foliage and basked in the golden sun.
The hotel she stayed at calls itself the “best luxury hotel Ibiza” and it has plenty of five star reviews from happy customers.
Rooms at the ‘nature-connected’ accommodation start from £225 for a standard double room for a night, while suites can cost £774-a-night.
Jenny’s fans complimented her snaps with one writing: “A bronze goddess looking beautiful as always.”
Brad Ingelsby knew after the breakout success of HBO’s “Mare of Easttown” — a crime drama about a police detective (Kate Winslet) investigating the murder of a teenage girl in a fictional working-class town — he didn’t want his next series to be another whodunit.
“That’s Mare’s thing,” he says on a recent late afternoon. “So, you start to go, if you’re going to write another story in the crime genre, what would get the audience to keep clicking to the next episode? I just thought, ‘Well, maybe a collision course show, where [in] every episode, we get a little closer, a little closer, a little closer, until things collide.’ ”
In “Task,” which concluded Sunday on HBO, Mark Ruffalo stars as Tom Brandis, a priest-turned-FBI agent leading a task force investigating a series of robberies in Delaware County, Pa., an area commonly referred to as Delco that was also the setting for “Mare of Easttown.” (And with references to Wawa and Scrapple, along with visits to Rita’s Water Ice, it slips into its role of expanding the universe.) It leads Tom to Robbie Prendergast (Tom Pelphrey), a sanitation worker who robs drug houses at night to provide for his family. Both men are emotionally tortured by life events — Tom’s wife was murdered by their adopted son, who is incarcerated; Robbie’s brother was killed by a member of a motorcycle gang — that have set them each on different, but destructive paths.
In “Task,” Mark Ruffalo, left, Alison Oliver, Thuso Mbedu and Fabein Frankel portray law enforcement officers who are part of an FBI task force investigating a string of robberies.
(Peter Kramer / HBO)
“ ‘Mare’ was about the moms — the damage that all the guys have caused and the women are kind of having to pick up the pieces of that,” Ingelsby says. “This [show] is all about the fathers and being left behind, seeing the damage they’ve done to their kids, how they’re going to fix that in their lives — or not be able to fix it. The guys who are actually doing the damage without knowing.”
Ingelsby says his uncle, who was an Augustinian priest, helped inspire the throughline of the series.
“I’ve always been very intrigued by his idea of faith in God over the years, and how it’s changed over time, and what he believed once and what he believes now,” he says. “I was intrigued by the idea of a guy who, everything he held as truth, all the pillars of his life, have come crumbling down. And Robbie has a much different faith. And it’s through the gauntlet of the story, how their lives intersect, that they both get to navigate their own journeys of faith.”
Over dinner at a West Hollywood hotel, The Times sat down with Ingelsby, Ruffalo and Pelphrey to discuss their faith journeys, economic inequality, fatherhood — and Wawa, too. Here are edited excerpts from the conversation, which contains spoilers about the finale.
After the success of “Mare of Easttown,” creator Brad Ingelsby wanted his follow-up, “Task,” to feel connected, but not repetitive: “ ‘Mare’ was about the moms,” he says. “This [show] is all about the fathers and being left behind, seeing the damage they’ve done to their kids, how they’re going to fix that in their lives — or not be able to fix it.”
(Bexx Francois/For The Times)
The themes of the show involve forgiveness and faith. Every person has experienced something in life that has tested those ideas. How has your own relationship to faith and forgiveness evolved as you’ve lived more life or taken on roles that ask you to live different experiences?
Pelphrey: My faith, to me, is when I got sober. God willing, Oct. 1, which is three days from now, it’ll be 12 years. That’s truly by the grace of God — you hear that phrase, but I genuinely, I mean that. That’s how I’ve experienced faith, through my sobriety. I was raised Catholic, but the experience I had at 31 was like in a different dimension to what I thought of religion or ideas. It’s one thing to have an idea, it’s another thing to have your heart opened. It’s definitely an important part of my life. And I think Brad did such a beautiful job conveying that. My grandma used to have one of these things when I was a kid — not a real gem, but like a glass cut thing so if you put it in the window, the sun shines through a million different ways, and the color goes everywhere. I feel like you [Brad] did that with some themes in the show where you’re like, “Let me just hold it up, and we’ll just look at it a few different ways.”
Ruffalo: My journey with faith is probably very similar to Tom’s. When you get a job or something, it can take you on a journey that you’re ripe to take. It touches your life at a very moment where you need it. I’d say, after my brother died, the whole notion of faith just went out the window for me. But oddly enough, I have a lot of addiction, alcoholism in my family. I say, either you are one or you love one. When you love somebody who’s struggling with that, it takes a lot of faith to let them go and to trust it will be OK. My friend says to me, “They got a God and you ain’t it.”
My faith has been renewed, actually, through Tom [the character] — he is an alcoholic. It’s touched my life in so many ways, even with my brother, that it’s like where I lost my faith and where I gained my faith again has been through this journey with alcoholism and drug addiction. And I waver. You look at the world and you’re like, “Where is God in this? Please show yourself. ” But the thing about faith is it requires you to believe without any evidence of its existence. I’d rather believe in that than nothing. Although, I fought him [Brad] all the time. I was like, “He’s [Tom] not really praying here. He’s trying to pray. He’s going through the actions of praying, but he can’t quite get to the opening sentence, which is “ … God …” He does pray, eventually, but it’s a journey.
There’s the powerful moment in that car when Tom and Robbie finally meet in Episode 5. Robbie says, “I don’t think I’ve ever experienced God in my life.” This is a man that hasn’t felt hope, and he has this glimmer of it with this goal of escaping to Canada. Tom, how was it getting into the mindset of this guy just trying to get out of this life?
Pelphrey: It’s heartbreaking. We’re articulating an American dream that far too many people don’t get to experience, and maybe are starting to lose the hope of ever experiencing it. That’s a very real thing — unfortunately, way too real and increasingly way too common. It was just constantly reminding myself: What does this character want? And at the end of the day, regardless of how extreme some of the things Robbie’s doing, he just wants a decent life for his kids. And the fact that he’s having a hard time getting it is heartbreaking.
That scene and in the car, the first time I read it, I was like, “Oh, he’s [Brad] got some balls.” You have so much s— boiling over — the plot lines, the violence, the stakes are through the roof for everyone now in the show, and we are going to sit in a car for half an episode? And two dudes are gonna talk?
In Episode 5, Robbie Prendergast (Tom Pelphrey), left, and Tom Brandis (Mark Ruffalo) finally meet.
(HBO)
Ruffalo: There’s no chase! And when they finally face each other, they’re not even [actually] facing each other! They’re both pushed to the edge and you don’t know where it could go. Tom certainly doesn’t know where it will go. Tom’s kind of at that point, like, “F— it. Go ahead.” We talked about it a lot, I was like, “I think Tom should die.”
[They break into laughter]
Ingelsby: Every single day he was pitching it.
Ruffalo: I was pitching Tom should have a heart attack at the end and he literally sees God and he says to God, “I’m ready.” He finally finds his faith. It’s finally paid off and he says [gasping], “I’m … reaaady.”
Ingelsby: Enough people die here. But that particular episode has always been very special to me. That’s when the show is operating at the peak of its powers. It just felt like, how do we subvert the expectations of the audience and do that in a way that still feels true to who these characters are? I remember talking to you [Tom] about this. You were like, “As soon as I know Cliff’s done, I’m on a one-way street. I have a plan.” But with you [Mark], once they get out of the car and you feel like you’re going to die, you’re like, “I want to call my family.” That’s when you get activated in a way. You’ve been going through the motions in life, but that’s when it gets very real.
Ruffalo: It’s like being reborn. It opens his heart. He sees how life can be taken away.
We’re in a political and cultural moment where the mood of the country is simmering — there’s anger and rage on all sides, and a lot of it stems from class and systemic issues that are in place that put people in certain positions. There’s that layer, but there’s also the grief element both these men are facing.
Ingelsby: With Robbie in particular, I was interested in a guy that felt really stuck. What I liked about Robbie was, if he didn’t take action, what would happen to Robbie? He’d be a trash man in too deep his whole life. Who cares about Robbie and his family? Nobody. He was left behind. In early versions of the script, I very explicitly said, “He wants his bite of the apple.” There are lots of people like that now. I loved writing Robbie because it felt like he was raging against being left behind and and I felt, in many cases, in the script, why wouldn’t you do something? Whether you agree with the actions or not —
Pelphrey: He had his f— life stolen from him. What he’s going after is a very specific thing. He’s not lashing out blindly against anybody to get any money at any cost. He’s like: “I’m gonna take it from these mother f—, who are bad dudes.” Even within that, he has principles. No one’s gonna die — obviously, the rules all go out the window Episode 2, but we’re not going to take the drugs, we’re not going to sell the drug. We’re going to destroy the drugs. We’re going to take the cash. Even within his brand of lashing out, he actually has a set of principles that he’s operating by.
Mark Ruffalo, left, and Tom Pelphrey star as two troubled men on a collision course in “Task.” Ruffalo portrays an FBI agent recovering from a family tragedy, while Pelphrey plays a garbage collector and criminal involved in a series of robberies. (Bexx Francois/For The Times)
Mark and Tom, as sons and fathers, how did you think about the father-child relationships of these two men and the collateral damage of their choices?
Ruffalo: It’s so hard to be a father, especially now because this generation is like, “We’re not going to do it the way our parents, our fathers did. We see that there’s another way to do it. We’re actually talking about it.” At the same time, we don’t exactly know what it is that we should do differently, plus we have the responsibility of, financially, keeping it together. It’s obviously hard to be a mom too. These guys are doing the best they can.
Pelphrey: Becoming a dad two and a half years ago now, it’s just the most f— awesome, wild, intense, crazy s— I’ve ever experienced in my life. It’s like getting struck by lightning. I’m so in love and I feel so vulnerable and I feel so happy — it’s all the feelings. Then suddenly, when you’re thinking about how you feel, you go, “How do I balance this? How do I protect her, but make sure that she’s brave and experiencing things? And you quickly realize there is so much to this that I will have no power over and the realization of that, in the deepest sense — and I’ve already had moments of that and we’re just getting started here. You imagine what it’s like, when you don’t have kids, but you have no f— clue. One of the things I could say without blinking, ever, is, “I totally understand why he’s doing what he’s doing.”
Was there a version where Robbie lived?
Ingelsby: No, I felt like structurally what needed to happen was Tom had to witness Robbie’s kindness, then his sacrifice. It felt very necessary to be like, “Oh, wait. Robbie — he went up to the woods…” Because he’s always like, “What’s the plan?” Tom realizes, “Oh, I know what the plan was. He went there to die.” Part of Tom’s journey to getting rid of the anger and to believing in something at the end, was to have witnessed the goodness in Robbie. He [Robbie] also gets in so deep eventually, he has pushed himself into such a corner and there’s no good way out of this. What’s an audience gonna think if he gets out of this unscathed? Even if he were to survive, he’s gonna be in jail for the rest of his life. The idea of sacrifice would speak to Tom as a character and get him to his ultimate decision to give the boy [Sam] up, but also forgive his own son and, quite literally, get the house ready for him.
Mark, how did you feel about the statement that Tom winds up giving at the hearing in the finale?
Ruffalo: He had to sit down and write that. I don’t think he really knew what he was going to be writing. He’s taking stock of his life and his son’s life and the story of the life. It’s connecting him to the whole story. It’s not just the loss of my wife, but also we raised that boy. We made this life together and, even in the hard part of it all, that’s where we learned what love is. Then when he gets in there, he doesn’t even know that he’s gonna say it. He doesn’t know he’s going to confront him with it and say [to his son], “Look at me.” But the whole journey, leads us there.
There’s something, too, about his composure in that moment.
Ingelsby: That’s the genius of Mark. That was the first or second take, what we used.
How many versions of it did you write? Was there an overly emotional or dramatic version?
Ingelsby: There was a longer version. But I think what was important about it was — and Mark does such a beautiful job — was that he had to be honest about how hard it was. I was always worried it would be a bit maudlin, if he just went in and said straight away, “I love you.” It was almost like he had to be really honest with everybody, like, “Hey, this was f— horrible.” And the shame of changing your name —
Ruffalo: Yes. To be that honest and to say that I pretended like I wasn’t his father. It’s so shameful. It’s so honest.
Ingelsby: I think because he’s so honest, it makes the forgiveness even more impactful. When he says, “I forgive you,” you believe because he’s earned the trust in the speech by admitting the things that were so shameful .
Ruffalo: It doesn’t just go one way — forgiveness. There’s a lot of shame on it on the other side, that’s where the anger comes from. There’s always this question: What could I have done? The backstory was I left, knowing that he was in an episode, but I had to go. I left her with him, thinking it would blow over. And it didn’t. He has to also be honest about his part in it. What dad says, “That’s not my kid. You’re in retreat already.”
Ingelsby: That’s what we want the ending to be. It’s not that everything’s going to be easy. I think the same for Mare — it wasn’t like Mare’s life was so great at the end of the show. There was a lot of going on.
Ruffalo: She’s going to an AA meeting. Tom and Mare can meet at an AA meeting.
Tom Pelphrey as Robbie Prendergrast, a garbage collector trying to avenge his brother’s death by hitting trap houses belonging to a local gang before getting caught in a deadly standoff. (HBO)
Mark Ruffalo, Silvia Dionicio and Phoebe Fox in “Task.” Ruffalo plays a priest-turned-FBI agent who hasn’t confronted his feelings about the murder of his wife at the hands of their adopted son. (HBO)
To that point, was there thought about whether to incorporate “Mare” characters in this show, if they’re in the same universe?
Ingelsby: It’s funny you say that. [In] one of the early scripts, we had a scene where Emily (Silvia Dionicio), at the end of the show, went to a concert with her boyfriend, Leo, the guy that’s a magician. And Mare’s daughter, Siobhan (Angourie Rice), was playing. And there was another connective piece I’m missing. I think Leo’s brother was in the band. And they had a moment together, because I felt like Emily and Siobhan were very, very similar. That they had the weight of the world on their shoulders in some way, Emily especially —
Ruffalo: They’re well suited for each other. They could just sink to the bottom of the lake together.
He’s got a crossover season mapped out for you.
Pelphrey: If we hold hands, we can sink faster.
Ingelsby: But we did have something connecting them. But I’m glad HBO read it and were like, “Is it a bit much?” It felt like maybe we were reaching to do something that the story didn’t require. And when we took it out, I felt like this story exists on its own, and we didn’t need that. If we had threaded it through the story in a more interesting way, maybe it would have worked, but it would have felt really tacked on and kind of just fan service for the sake of fan service, which I didn’t want.
Can we talk about the Phillies cup? It’s seems like such an obscure detail, but that cup triggered me. I know it well. A father trying to hide his vice.
Ingelsby: That’s another detail of my own life that I can repurpose, steal. That’s my dad. He drinks out of that. He watches every Phillies game. There’s 162 games. And if he can’t watch, he’s listening to it in a radio in the car. I feel like we always talk about in the specific, is the universal. And Mark did the swirly thing.
Ruffalo: That’s what made me want to do the show. That he was drinking out of that. And then he swirled his hand. I said, “This guy is writing character like nobody is doing that I’ve seen in television.” I only read the first episode and I was like, “I want to go. I trust this journey with him.” And it was from that nuance thing. I know that guy. He’s a priest who swirls his vodka and tonic with his finger. In a Phillies cup. And he thinks he’s pulling it over. That’s my family. It’s so honest.
The accent was such a feature of “Mare of Easttown.” I imagine that had its own expectations or pressure for this show.
Ingelsby: “Mare” was more a community — very, very specific community. I felt like, in that show, we had to go all in and Kate did. A lot of Mark’s character was driven by my uncle, who has no accent at all. Because he went to the seminary, then he went to Merrimack College, he was a teacher — he bounced around. And even me, there’s a couple words I’ll say that you can’t pick up a heavy accent. There’s a couple words, where maybe you could pick it up.
Ruffalo: We tried. I tried it. I kept kicking it out, it just didn’t feel right. He does hit some of those words. He does say wooder — cheery wooder ice. We kept some of it in, but we didn’t go as hard at it because he goes another way. I feel like he might have ended up in South America at some point. I was thinking he traveled the world.
Did you pay many visits to Wawa? I remember Kate telling me about her Wawa experiences.
Pelphrey: I grew up going to Wawa. I was Wawa all the time because I was living out in the suburbs.
Ingelsby: I think Kate ate hoagies or something.
Pelphrey: They make a good sandwich.
Ruffalo: Oh, bro. I started with a fat suit and then I had to take it off. I just kept getting fatter. My wife saw me and she’s like [to the kids], “huh, your father’s eating his way through Philly.” But, man, I’d be like, “How about a sandwich for the scene?” [Mimics scarfing down a sandwich.] Like a troll.
Ingelsby: He is an amazing sandwich eater. We were talking about it.
Pelphrey: We were.
Ruffalo: Oh, I knew I was going to be eating a sandwich that day [in a scene], so I starved myself so I could just plow that thing.
Are you interested in a Season 2, Brad?
Ruffalo: No one wants a Season 2. [the trio laughs] No, I’m kidding. That would be amazing.
Ingelsby: It would be amazing. If people respond and we get a chance to do it.
Could we get that “Task”-”Mare” crossover?
Ingelsby: A lot could happen.
Ruffalo: Some “Mare” people could show up. There could be a love affair.
Two iconic stars of the ITV soap Coronation Street have shared what their future with the soap is looking like after fans feared they would be leaving the show
22:49, 19 Oct 2025Updated 22:49, 19 Oct 2025
Legendary Coronation Street stars’ soap future unveiled after exit fears
Coronation Street legends William Roache and Barbara Knox have opened up about their future on the show, after accepting an award for their long service to television and amid fans’ fears that they are due to leave the show.
William, 93, and Barbara, 92, were awarded with the Outstanding Contribution to Television Award at the Variety Awards on Sunday (19 October).
Following the award, the pair both insisted they would not be leaving the show anytime soon, despite their combined 118 years on the show.
Coronation Street aired it’s first episode, starring William, in 1960. Four years later, Barbara appeared in an episode, and by 1972, she was back in a continuous role. When asked if they had plans to retire, both said they weren’t thinking about that as an option.
In fact, it was the work that kept them feeling young. The nonagenarians were asked what they do to feel young and Barbara responded: “Well honestly, I think we’ve had the opportunity to work, that’s the greatest thing.
“I don’t want to and I know Bill doesn’t want to retire, because stimulus from your brain gets you up. So we’re fortunate to have been able to do that.”
They were also asked what their advice would be for actors starting their careers and William joked that “the first 65 years” were the hard part. “When young actors come to me, I say the first 65 years is the tough bit, the rest is easy.”
Before he acted, William was a captain in the British Army. He started acting on a stage in Nottingham and went on to appear in various films and TV shows before landing Ken Barlow in Corrie. As he was in the first episode, he is the longest-serving castmate on the show. In fact, he is the longest-serving actor to play a continuous role on a show ever and, as such, has a Guinness World Record.
Meanwhile, Barbara is best known for playing Rita Tanner on the show. She is the second longest-serving Corrie member, after William.
Ant and Dec also picked up an award for Outstanding Contribution to Television, while Vernon Kay was given a prize for the Outstanding Contribution to Radio. Jamie Wilson got the same for Musical Theatre, and Olly Murs was recognised for his contribution to music.
ITV, who air Corrie, were celebrated as well. They were given the award for Outstanding Contribution to British Broadcasting. The network celebrated 70 years in the business this year.
Over 70 years, ITV has become a core part of British television. They are one of the leading networks in the country, with iconic shows such as Corrie, Emmerdale, Love Island and Britain’s Got Talent under their belt.
THEY’VE been together for seven months now and it appears that Demi Sims and Jazz Saunders’ relationship is going from strength to strength.
The former TOWIE star took to Instagram on Saturday to share various pictures of the pair together, and in one snap, the two look very cosy as she grabs her girlfriend’s bum.
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Demi Sims grabs girlfriend Jazz Saunders bum in a red lace dressCredit: Instagram / demsimsThe couple’s relationship is going from strength to strengthCredit: Instagram / demsims
The cheeky photo shows Demi, 29, hold onto Jazz’s derriere as they embrace, with Demi’s face being hidden behind her ladylove’s face.
Jazz is wearing a sexy red lace dress as the two look as loved up as ever.
She also uploaded pictures of herself as a bridesmaid at a wedding and spending quality time with her family, including sister Frankie Sims.
Made in Chelsea star Jazz was quick to comment on the pictures as she said: “I am going to frame 3rd pic x.”
She also told her girlfriend: “You are perfect,” as she responded: “You are.”
Fans also commented on the snaps as one gushed: “Genuinely my favourite couple, both glowing with happiness.”
Another commented: “You two are literally perfect aren’t you.”
During the latest instalment of Made in Chelsea, the lovebirds appeared to have a small blip when Jazz asked her best friend Julia Pollard if she thinks Demi and her are compatible.
Julia told her she didn’t, which got back to a frustrated Demi, who asked to speak to Julia.
Jazz’s worst fears came true as she was stuck between her best friend and her girlfriend.
However, Jazz and Demi managed to get back on track and put on a united front, despite her best friend not championing her relationship.
Demi told The Sun earlier this year: “Romance is going really good, Jazz is a lovely girl and we really get along and it’s just really healthy.
“We actually met through Jazz’s friend Yasmine [Zweegers], she saw me on a night out and said to Jazz, ‘You’d really fancy Demi, she’s a bit of you’. That’s how it all started.
“I’m really enjoying, we really get along and I’m so happy to have met her.”
The pair – who first started dating in March – were spotted sharing a steamy snog in the loos of a posh celeb spot in London.
They later made things more official between them, with a sweet ‘girlfriend proposal’.
Jazz took to social media to share a glimpse with her fans, while captioning the post: “A weekend for the books.”
She then shared photos from the beautiful moment that Demi asked her to be her girlfriend.
There were blooms and picnic bits, as well as an iPad with a photo of them in the middle.
The couple’s moment was filmed by someone nearby, and they captured Jazz running up the hill and greeting Demi, before nodding as she realised the question she was being asked.
Demi replied in the comments of the post: “She said yessss.”
Pop star Sabrina Carpenter hosted “Saturday Night Live” for the first time ever, but it sure didn’t feel like it.
Carpenter was the musical guest last year when Jake Gyllenhaal hosted, and at the 50th anniversary special, she performed with Paul Simon and appeared in a sketch. Whether it’s because she’s done the show both as a musician and a comedic performer (her song performances are often a mix of both) or not, Carpenter seems perfectly at ease in Studio 8H, like she’s always been there.
That served her well on an episode that started badly with a retread of a sketch that’s been done a few too many times (keyword: Domingo), and a monologue that, despite Carpenter’s charm, didn’t seem to connect with the audience.
But after that, Carpenter’s quicksilver timing and ease, plus a diverse set of sketches, put the episode over the top. She sounded just like a 12-year-old boy in a sketch about preteens hosting a podcast called “Snack Homies” with President Trump (James Austin Johnson) as a guest, sold a provocative neck pillow in a funny Shop TV sketch, performed a pretaped “Grind Song” with Bowen Yang, and was thrown out of a window as the host of a girlboss seminar. She scared a co-worker (Ashley Padilla, quickly becoming a critical “SNL” utility player) on her birthday and played a singing and dancing washing machine alongside new cast member Veronika Slowikowska.
It also didn’t hurt that Carpenter’s two playful and well-sung musical performances, for “Manchild” and “Nobody’s Son,” were showstoppers. Her love of the show was evident: she performed the former wearing a “Live from New York” T-shirt and panties with “It’s Saturday Night!” written on the back.
The best argument for inviting Sabrina Carpenter back sometime might be that she held the show together with no outside guests or surprise cameos, which hasn’t happened on “SNL” in a long time. The only exception was a short film from “Please Don’t Destroy” writer Martin Herlihy at the end of the show that may have been about racism and Frankenstein’s Monsters (yes, plural).
We’ll keep this short because the less said about this week’s cold open the better. Chloe Fineman and Andrew Dismukes returned as Matthew and Kelsey, a couple that has struggled in the past with trust issues from Kelsey’s frequent trips with her friends that usually end with a passionate affair with a guy named Domingo (Marcello Hernández). This time, they’re celebrating Matthew’s 30th birthday, but for some reason, Kelsey has flown in her girlfriends (including Carpenter) to sing some pop songs in bad karaoke style about a recent weekend they spent in Nashville. This time the songs are modeled after Taylor Swift’s “Fate of Ophelia,” Lady Gaga’s “Abracadabra” and Alex Warren’s “Ordinary Song.” The ladies went to Nashville and of course Domingo is still around. “This is strike six,” Matthew cries haplessly. “Babe, it won’t happen again,” Kelsey promises. Let’s hope so. The Domingo sketches need to be put to rest.
Carpenter’s monologue was largely about dispelling (but not really) the notion that the singer is overly sexualized, or as she described it, a “Horndog popster.” “There’s so much more to me,” she said, “I’m not just horny. I’m also turned on.” She made hay of the controversy over her “Man’s Best Friend” album cover by joking that it was cropped and revealing that Bowen Yang and Martin Short both originally appeared on it, with Yang pulling her up by her hair and Short pushing her away from a buffet line. The monologue started to fizzle when Carpenter went to the audience for some interaction to prove she can have chemistry with anyone or anything, only to come back to the stage for an awkward bit with Kenan Thompson, who said he wanted a Cameo video for his niece. Carpenter has charisma to spare, but the monologue was too disjointed to go anywhere.
Best sketch of the night: Does making plans to see “Plans” also scare you?
Mock horror movie trailers have done well on “SNL” lately and the streak continues with “Plans,” a Blumhouse horror film featuring Ben Marshall and Carpenter as a couple horrified to realize that plans they made back on Fourth of July have suddenly come to fruition with a cousin and her husband. As their terror grows, they remember that the cousin (Sarah Sherman) talks about marathons (“The way I see it, losing toenails is a badge of honor”) and the husband (Dismukes) likes to show off 11-minute YouTube videos. They’re going to end up at a crowded ramen restaurant and then a bad interactive play. For anyone who’s ever regretted saying yes to socializing, this might be your worst nightmare.
Also good: The neck pillow monologues
The Shop TV sketches wouldn’t work so well if Padilla and Mikey Day didn’t do such a good job infusing their characters Bev and Rhett with such practiced professional panic when things go awry, as they’ve done before. Carpenter appears as Virginia Duffy, a crafter who’s designed an ergonomic pillow that looks just like a giant vagina, which comes in different colors. “Why would you bring the pink one?” asks an exasperated Rhett. By the time the faux fur lining is added and Rhett tries on the neck pillow, culminating in an unwanted baby sound effect, Shop TV has done it again. Bonus points for Johnson as Tim Tucker, who appears at the beginning of the sketch with a trick-or-treat pail in the shape of Jesus Christ’s head. “Trick or treat, smell my feet, walk with Christ down the Halloween street,” he chants.
‘Weekend Update’ winner: Did you see ‘Saw’? He did not
New cast member Tommy Brennan discussed moving to New York and growing up in Minnesota, but it was the return of Hernandez’s Movie Guy character, who wants to talk about scary movies but has seen absolutely none of them. “Everybody saw ‘Weapons!’ I have to tell you, I was not one of those people,” he says. Movie Guy expresses that horror movies often tell you what they’re about: with “Scream,” “everbody scream!” With “Smile,” “everybody smile!” How about “Saw?” “Everybody saw! But not me, I did not see.” He goes on to touch on why Stewie from “Family Guy,” “Shrek” and others are also scary (even if he hasn’t seen them). “‘One Missed Call’ … is this a movie about my mother?”
Dame Penelope Keith has spilled the secrets of The Good Life as she claimed a sequel would be ‘tedious’ and would not work
Penelope Keith spills the secrets of The Good Life
Dame Penelope Keith has revealed how she turned down the chance to star in a spin-off of The Good Life as she claimed it would be ‘tedious’ and would not work. The actress, who is now 85, became a household name in the 1970s BBC sitcom which drew audiences of up to 20 million viewers.
She starred as the snobbish social climber Margo Leadbetter who was married to the poor hen-pecked husband Jerry (played by the late Paul Eddington).
Every week fans tuned in to see her disapproving sneers as she struggled to deal with her suburban neighbours Tom and Barbara Good (portrayed by the late Richard Briers along with Felicity Kendall) who had swapped the rat race for ‘the good life’ of make-do-and-mend sustainability – trying to grow their own food and keep chickens, pigs and a goat in their garden.
The show – which ran from 1975 until 1978 – ended after four series and a TV special filmed in front of the royal family. However, soon after, the idea was raised about writing a spin-off series for her and Paul featuring just The Leadbetters.
But she explained: “People mentioned ‘Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a Leadbetter spin-off and I said ‘No. It’s a situation comedy and the situation is strong because of the two couples’.
“Can you imagine how tedious it would have been having Margo and Jerry having their own series?”
A year after The Good Life ended, instead Penelope landed another huge BBC hit playing posh Audrey fforbes-Hamilton in To The Manor Born from 1979 to 1981. Later she appeared in sitcoms Executive Stress and Next of Kin and No Job For A Lady before embarking on a highly successful theatre career.
The Good Life ran for 30 episodes in total and its 50 th anniversary this year is being marked by a forthcoming TV special called The Good Life: Inside Out fronted by Penelope.
It reveals how, when the show first launched, the TV critics and audience were lukewarm and did not find it that funny.
Penelope even admits that the ‘green theme’ was a brave choice of plot line adding: “It was a sort of fantasy. People weren’t packing up and thinking ‘Oh there must be more to life than this daily grind.’”
One reviewer even risked causing a tense atmosphere on-set by claiming that The Leadbetters ‘stole the show’. Briers, apparently, saw the review but brushed it aside joking that he was the one with the top billing and getting all the money.
But soon viewers fell in love with both couples as The Goods struggled to deal with surviving on growing their own dinners and milking Geraldine the goat for milk in their tea.
Meanwhile posh middle class Margo would look on disdainfully at their antics which she felt brought down the neighbourhood. The plots included a touch of sauce too.
In one episode, both couples get drunk and Jerry admits to fancying Barbara and Tom tells Margo she is a good looking woman.
Penelope says about this: “There was flirting and all those sorts of things but you never felt that there was any wife swapping or anything like that. It was a very strong bond between them and I think that was again in the writing that was so clever.”
In another episode, Margo decides to add some spice to an afternoon by playing the seductress to Jerry – but he is distracted and completely blanks her, leading her to utter the immortal line ‘That’s the last time I play the tart for you, Jerry’.
Penelope loved the script and admits she is shocked that fans come up to her wanting her to say the line.
She said: “When I saw the line ‘That’s the last time I play the tart for you Jerry’ I thought ‘Wow that is a humdinger’.
“I had people coming up to me and saying ‘Will you say that line for me please?’ which I thought was most peculiar – but I said it!”
Penelope salutes the writers of the sitcom John Esmonde and Bob Larbey for creating such wonderful characters – with all their flaws – for the viewers to take to their hearts.
She points out that Tom could be quite beastly and selfish to wife Barbara but he got away with it (‘You love Richard. You adore him. You laugh at him even when he is being an absolute horror because he does with a sense of humour’.)
Barbara was cute and long-suffering but adored Tom and everyone felt nothing but sympathy for poor Jerry. However it was Margo – a Conservative-supporting, Telegraph-reading domineering social climbing wife – who got the most attention and some of the funniest lines.
Penelope explains: “Margo was the prime lady of the avenue with all the dinner parties and whatever she took part in, she had to do it perfectly and had to be top dog and sometimes she was terribly disapproving. She had no sense of humour but she was terribly kind and didn’t want to offend but she engaged mouth before brain so often.
“She had enormous warmth and adored the goods and likewise jerry but he infuriated her. There is a line where she says ‘I am the silent majority’ and she said it dead pan and that is what she felt and that is what half the country felt at the time as well.”
As its popularity grew, so did the laughs especially at the expense of Margo. Fans loved the scene where she tried to help The Goods with planting in the garden and decked in yellow oil skins and boots she slipped over and fell knee deep in mud.
Penelope recalls: “Someone actually asked me the other day – ‘Was it a mistake?’ and I said ‘No. I did five times’. I couldn’t walk for about three days afterwards because of my back and of course every time I fell over I was covered in mud and so I had to be hosed down afterwards.”
And another of her favourite scenes was when one of The Good’s pigs was in labour and Tom asked Margo to go and fetch some brandy as ‘a stimulant’.
The actress recalls: “I walked out of shot and then back into shot and asked Tom ‘Remy Martin or VSOP?’ I mean what a wonderful line. It was so witty and so funny. It is one of my favourites.”
It seems Margo also got the most attention when it came to wardrobe. Since The Goods always wore the same clothes and Jerry was always in a suit, it did not take a genius to work out where the majority of the clothes budget went.
Fans loved seeing what dress or gown Margo would be sporting during each episode. They usually came from Harrods and some were even the high end fashion label Frank Usher.
Penelope said: “There was a budget I remember and the person who got the most spent on them as far as clothes were concerned was me. I don’t think I would have worn any of those dresses but Margo loved them.
“Everybody wanted to see what Margo was going to wear next. Monday used to be my one day off but I used to spend it in Harrods occasionally Harvey Nicks looking for beautiful clothes. Silk gowns in such lovely vibrant colours.”
In the TV special, Penelope visits a replica of Margo and Jerry’s drawing room which has been painstakingly recreated by designers.
She laughs: “I remember the sofa being so low. That was alright 50 years ago but I don’t know if I can get up today.”
And she revisits the garden in Northwood in west London which was used for all of the outside filming shots for Tom and Barbara’s farm and allotment.
She comments: “What a garden! It’s all trees now but back then it was all dug up. It looks a totally different place now. Must be good soil here – all that animal excrement because we had pigs and chickens and Geraldine the goat! But we loved it here – being released into the open air was freedom after working in the studio.”
One little known secret which Penelope does uncover delving back into the archives is that when the BBC planned a special to be filmed in front of the royals called When I’m Sixty Five, they asked playwright Alan Bennett to have a cameo role in the episode as a bank manager.
However he turned them down. He told them he was too ‘worn out’ and needed a holiday having committed to making a series of plays for ITV.
Instead an actor called George Cole got the role – just weeks before he was cast as Arthur Daley in Minder. The Good Life ended in 1978 and all the main stars thought it was the right time to bow out.
Penelope confessed: “I remember saying to Paul ‘I don’t think we can do any more. I think we have squeezed this orange to the pips really’ and I know Richard felt like that and Felicity too.”
But fans expecting a finale which ended on a high with a load of laughs were in for a shock. The episode ended with burglars ransacking The Goods’ home and turning it upside down and leaving everything in tatters.
Jerry tells Tom he must now give up ‘the good life’ and go back to work – but it is Barbara who says they must carry on and not be beaten. Penelope called the episode a stroke of genius.
She added: “When we got the script for the last episode we were all amazed, but in wonder, what a brilliant way to finish. When we came to the studio we did the beginning and then they had curtains which they drew across the set and then they sprayed (paint) all over the set and then the floor manager talked to the audience but said nothing about what was going on behind the curtains.
“Then the curtain went up and the audience gasped, absolutely gasped. It was extraordinary. People were in tears at the end.”
Asked about her time on the show, she now says: “I look back on it as one of the happiest times. It was of its time at the right time.
“It was as good as it was because of everything else behind it. Everybody cared. The laughter, the joy it brought and the fact that people liked it so much and believed in it so much is reward.”
After starring in the BBC sitcom for four years, Richard Briers continued his TV career, landing a lead part in another BBC sitcom a few years later. He played the unsympathetic Martin Bryce on Ever Decreasing Circles from 1984 to 1989. His character Martin was the polar opposite of Tom from The Good Life. He died in 2013.
Felicity Kendal has enjoyed a varied career on stage and screen including on TV a starring role in the thriller Rosemary and Thyme from 2003 to 2006, to guest appearances in Doctor Who in 2008 and Pennyworth in 2019. Paul Eddington played Jerry, who worked with Tom until he and his wife decided to make this life change.
Just two years after The Good Life he took on the title role of Jim Hacker in the comedy series Yes, Minister. He starred in the series until 1984, before taking on a main role in its spin-off Yes, Prime Minister.
Paul later reunited with his co-stars from The Good Life, starring opposite Felicity in The Camomile Lawn in 1992, and then alongside Richard in the play Home in 1994. The actor sadly passed away at the age of 68 in 1995 after a cancer battle.
* The Good Life: Inside Out airs on U&Gold on Tuesday October 28 at 9pm.
POP star Sabrina Carpenter is a white for sore eyes in a revealing outfit.
The Espresso singer, 26, was seen leaving TV show Saturday Night Live’s after-party in New York.
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Sabrina Carpenter is a white for sore eyes in a revealing outfitCredit: Getty
She had appeared in a sketch as a young boy interviewing “President Donald Trump” for a podcast.
Sabrina also addressed the controversy over the cover for her latest album Man’s Best Friend, which showed her on all fours being grabbed by the hair.
She said the pic was cropped and joked that the original showed SNL’s Bowen Yang lifting her up by the hair after she had been pushed over by actor Martin Short.
Fans have rushed to her defence and accused SNL of “trying to sabotage” her following a tech issue during one of her skits.
The singer returned to the late-night live sketch comedy show to host and perform on Saturday night but her mic briefly went off mid-skit.
This meant viewers were unable to decipher what the Espresso singer was saying.
She continued to say her lines with the other SNL stars before the mic was switched back on after a few songs.
However, her loyal fans were left unhappy and flocked to social media to share their frustration.
One person wrote: “Brief mic problem. Can’t recall ever seeing that before.”
Another fan of the Grammy award-winner fumed: “Who cut off Sabrina’s mic in the middle of the skit? They tryna sabotage my girl.”
Sabrina appeared in a sketch as a young boy interviewing ‘President Donald Trump’ for a podcastCredit: TNI PressSabrina also addressed the controversy over the cover for her latest album Man’s Best FriendCredit: BackGrid
A first taste of L.A.’s new Maydan Market. Plus, eating in this town for $50 or less, a cookbook of gravestone recipes, allegations of racial discrimination at a popular L.A. cafe … and how Diane Keaton liked to drink her favorite wine. I’m Laurie Ochoa, general manager of L.A. Times Food, with this week’s Tasting Notes.
Market of dreams
Chefs Rosio Sanchez, left, and Laura Flores Correa of Copenhagen’s Sanchez and Hija de Sanchez, sample mole-sauced turkey legs from Lugya’h at Maydan Market.
(Laurie Ochoa / Los Angeles Times)
Many of us have favorite places to take out-of-town guests — restaurants, hiking trails and idiosyncratic spots like the recently reopened Museum of Jurassic Technology that show our friends and family why we love L.A.
For years, I’ve brought friends to Mercado la Paloma, the food hall and cultural center that is home to Gilberto Cetina‘s Holbox, the seafood counter that was our L.A. Times Restaurant of the Year in 2023 and last year was awarded a Michelin star. These days, there’s always a line for Cetina’s exquisite seafood plates, including his octopus taco with squid-ink-stained sofrito. While one person in your group waits to order at Holbox, you can find many other things to bring to your table at the mercado — unbeatable cochinita pibil and more Yucatecan dishes (try the papadzules or a refreshing agua de chaya) from Chichén Itzá, founded by Cetina’s father Gilberto Sr.; Oaxacan nieves or ice cream flavored with mamey, tuna (cactus fruit) or especially leche quemada (burnt milk) from OaxaCalifornia; and Fátima Juárez‘s gorgeous quesadilla de flor, with orange squash blossom petals spilling out of the blue corn tortilla like sunshine at her masa-focused restaurant Komal (one of Bill Addison’s picks on his 101 Best California Restaurants list).
This week, however, I tried a new place when Rosio Sanchez, the Copenhagen-based chef I wrote about in this newsletter a few months ago, said she was coming to L.A. for the Chef Assembly conference and two collaborations, one that took place Wednesday with Jordan Kahn at Meteora and another that is happening all day Sunday at Enrique Olvera and chef Chuy Cervantes’downtown taco spot Ditroit with Yia Vang of Minneapolis’ Hmong restaurant Vinai. Sanchez wanted to meet someplace for lunch, but had just tried Komal at the Mercado la Paloma and had even been to Thai Taco Tuesday at Anajak Thai, one of my other dependable suggestions for wowing visitors. I had to change my usual game plan.
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Chef-founder Rose Previte details the bevy of vendors and dishes at West Adams’ cross-cultural new food hall.
Fortunately, our intrepid woman about town Stephanie Breijo had been telling me all about Maydan Market in anticipation of its recent opening in L.A.’s West Adams neighborhood, across the street from a branch of chef Kat Turner‘s Highly Likely. In addition, Breijo made a hunger-inducing video showing off the live-fire-based restaurants at the heart of the market founded by Rose Previte, whose Maydan in Washington, D.C., is devoted to the cuisines of the Middle East and was among the Top 40 restaurants chosen in 2024 by the Washington Post’s recently unmasked criticTom Sietsema.
Here in Los Angeles, Previte wanted to open a food hall centered on hearth cooking from different cultures. That not only means new branches of her Maydan restaurant and Compass Rose cafe, but Afro-Mexican Guerrerense cooking at Maléna from Tamales Elena founder Maria Elena Lorenzo; Yhing Yhang BBQ from Holy Basil chef Wedchayan “Deau” Arpapornnopparat, serving charcoal-grilled Thai chicken, seafood and duck, and a space for emerging chefs that is currently featuring Melnificent Wingz from Melissa “Chef Mel” Cottingham.
Most of the places so far don’t open until 5 p.m. — I spotted Arpapornnopparat prepping some fantastic-looking chile sauces for his dinnertime barbecue that I am eager to try. But lunch operations are slowly getting underway and on Thursday afternoon we were lucky to find Alfonso Martinez of Poncho’s Tlayudas fame at Lugya’h, his new post in the market. In addition to tlyaudas — which Addison, in his 2022 review of Poncho’s called one of his “this is the Los Angeles I love” dishes — Martinez is serving dishes from Oaxaca’s Sierra Norte at Lugya’h.
Mole-covered turkey leg with a black bean tamal from Alfonso Martinez’s Lugya’h at Maydan Market.
(Laurie Ochoa / Los Angeles Times)
With Sanchez and her chef Laura Flores Correa, best known as Laurita, I was able to try a turkey leg sauced in a dark, rich “mole de bejed” with a black bean tamal on the side. The meat was incredibly moist, perfect with the tamal. We also got bowls of foamy Mexican cacao-flavored atole, which came with brioche-like Oaxacan pan de yema.
A slice of tlayuda with chorizo, grilled tasajo and the blood sausage moronga from Lugya’h at L.A.’s Maydan Market.
(Laurie Ochoa / Los Angeles Times)
And even though the current plan is to serve tlyaudas only during dinner, we were able to try one with three meats: chorizo, beautifully charred on the edges from the fire; a slice of grilled tasajo, and a link of moronga, one of the best blood sausages I’ve ever eaten, from a recipe, as Addison writes, handed down as a wedding gift from the father of Martinez’s wife Odilia Romero. She was helping out at the market this week, though is anxious to get back to her work advocating for Indigenous migrants in L.A. That might not be easy once word spreads about the deliciousness of Lugya’h’s food.
Alfonso Martinez, right, and Odilia Romero, who have expanded their Poncho’s Tlayudas operation to Maydan Market under the name Lugya’h.
(Laurie Ochoa / Los Angeles Times)
Indeed, each of the places Previte has curated is certain to draw a crowd. I’m looking forward to bringing more friends and trying them all.
If you think $50 a person sounds like a lot for dinner …
(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)
“It’s crazy that $50 per person is now considered a cheap sit-down meal.”
“The fact that LAT is suggesting $50 a person is somehow a ‘win’ is pretty crazy.”
Those are two reader comments on our 50 under $50 guide to restaurants where it’s possible to eat for $50 or less a person — including tax and tip. Which actually means finding items on the menu that cost $38 a person to account for an approximate 10% sales tax and 20% tip. We thought it was important for you to not get hit with charges that traditionally are not reflected on most restaurant menus.
To those readers who say $50 a person is too much to spend for a nice sit-down dinner, we agree. But all over the city — and in so many parts of the country — it’s increasingly difficult to get dinner at a non-fast-food or fast-casual restaurant for less than $50. Indeed, some of our finest restaurants charge $500 and even more than $1000 a person once you figure in wine or sake pairings.
This kind of pricing, which accounts for luxury ingredients and livable salaries for members of the kitchen and dining room staff that provide world-class service, puts many of our most acclaimed restaurants out of reach for the majority of Angelenos. That’s why we thought it was important in these tough economic times to come up with a guide to more affordable restaurant choices. We weren’t only going for “cheap eats.” Our entire Food team searched the city for a range of places that, as senior Food editor Danielle Dorsey wrote, “must be open until 9 p.m.” (so a true dinner spot), “doesn’t have to offer table service, but must [have] seating available to enjoy your food on-site” and where “you must be able to order at least two menu items, whether that’s a starter and a main, an entree and a dessert, or a large plate and a cocktail.”
The restaurants we chose ranged from the casual but highly acclaimed Sonoratown, which has what our critic Bill Addison says is “the Los Angeles food item I have consumed more than any other” (the $12.50 Burrito 2.0) to strategic ordering suggestions at star chef spots such as Dave Beran‘s Pasjoli and Bestia from husband-and-wife chefs Ori Menashe and Genevieve Gergis. In between are affordable date-night places, including Cody Ma and Misha Sesar‘s Persian spot Azizam, the buzzy Cal-Italian Beethoven Market and Propaganda Wine Bar in the Arts District. We’re always looking for more suggestions. If you have a favorite affordable place, tell us about it in the story’s comment section.
Also …
Stephanie Breijo spoke with archivist and social media personality Rosie Grant about her new cookbook “To Die For: A Cookbook of Gravestone Recipes,” which as the title implies, is a collection of recipes that decedents or their loved ones treasured so much they had them etched on their tombstones.
Breijo also broke down the allegations of racial discrimination at the L.A. restaurant Great White and Gran Blanco “after intensifying social media videos claim that Great White segregates customers based on ethnicity and race, which its owners and some employees deny.”
And finally … ‘slug it down’
Diane Keaton in 2023.
(Raymond Hall/GC Images via Getty Images)
In memory of the great Diane Keaton, let’s raise a toast to her unforgettable movie roles and personal style with what she called “the only wine that I love.”
“It’s called Lillet,” she said in an Instagram video she made back in 2022 with a similar unconventional approach to ice that Stanley Tucci demonstrated his viral negroni video from 2020. After adding many ice cubes to a large yet elegant tumbler, she fills the glass with Lillet and adds a wedge of lemon, instructing her followers to “slug it down” without the addition of the usual tonic or sparkling water. Apparently, Keaton was not a spritz kind of gal. “And if you don’t like it,” she said to her viewers, “that’s fine with me. I’ll just drink all this myself.” Sounds like she knew how to live.
Catherine Tyldesley says her returning Coronation Street character Eva Price is set to lock horns once more with nemesis Maria Connor, while a ‘scary’ new arrival will also see a clash
21:00, 19 Oct 2025Updated 21:11, 19 Oct 2025
There’s set to be plenty of drama on Coronation Street as Eva Price makes her big return(Image: ITV)
There’s set to be plenty of drama on Coronation Street as Eva Price makes her big return.
Catherine Tyldesley reprises her role very soon, and it seems there’s more than one character she will clash with. Viewers will recall Eva’s feud with Maria Connor over Aidan Connor, with catfights and even a fight in a water fountain on Eva’s wedding day.
Well, we can confirm that conflict between the characters is still very much there, and it will be reignited when Eva makes her comeback. But it isn’t just Maria that Eva is set to clash with, as a “scary” new character features in dramatic scenes with the new Rovers Return landlady.
Catherine told The Mirror: “I was so thrilled when Kate Brooks said we’d be playing that out [between Eva and Maria]. Kate referenced Gail Platt and Eileen Grimshaw, which I just absolutely loved.
“She is a dog with a bone, she will lock onto things in the same way that Maria does. And Eva really loved Aidan, she really loved him. Although she’s moved on and she loves Ben, she finds that very hard to let go of and she loves a grudge, so I think that’s going to be a long-term thing. Don’t let them near any water features, I think.”
Then there’s Eva’s “mother-in-law from hell” Maggie Driscoll, and the pair do not get on. Catherine spilled: “I’ve watched a lot of what Pauline McLynn’s done and when I’m watching what she’s doing on set, sometimes I’ll just watch the monitor and I know I am seeing a Corrie icon.
“The writers have structured things for our characters, it’s hilarious, it’s constant jibes. But I think deep down, there’s a moment that we did not so long ago where Eva, in a roundabout way, says ‘If I wasn’t with Ben and I’d just met Maggie, I think we’d be mates.’ There’s a lot of similarities.
“They both love the family, they’re both striving for the same thing, it’s just that now and again they come to blows. But that’s great fun to play.” Things will get heated between them, with Catherine hinting that scenes will reveal just how “scary” Maggie can be.
She explained: “It’s an interesting one, because early doors, I wouldn’t say she’s scared of her, she’s more irritated by her. But as time goes on, Eva does start to see this side to her that’s like ‘Wow, okay, I’ve got your number’ and I think that element develops where she goes ‘Yeah, I am a little bit scared of her now and intimidated’, yes.”
There’s more nostalgia too when Eva bumps into her ex Adam Barlow, but Catherine says Eva’s new partner Ben has nothing to worry about. She told us: “The day that Eva left Weatherfield, Adam was slightly heartbroken but said ‘I really care about you.’
“They’ve maintained that and they’ve stayed in touch. You know when you can be friends with an ex – it’s rare, but it happens – and they’ve kept that. Ben doesn’t have anything to worry about there.”
Catherine also offered a glimpse of what we can expect with Eva being the new landlady. She shared: “I think it’s easy to underestimate Eva as a dizzy blonde. She does have that side to her and she’s great fun and can be dizzy and spontaneous but she is a very strong woman and we start to see even more reasons why, as time goes on, why she has got this inner strength.
“And also, she’s her mother’s daughter, Stella was a really strong woman, and that is probably part of the reason why her and Maggie clash so much, they’re such strong personalities. But again, to bring that fun dynamic into The Rovers, especially with Sean and Glenda, has just been an absolute scream.”
Catherine’s also thrilled to be reunited with co-stars Jane Danson and Georgia Taylor, who play Eva’s sisters Leanne and Toyah Battersby. She teased: “I’ve pretty much stayed in touch with everybody, so it’s extra lovely to come back to. That dynamic, the three witches reunited, it’s great.
“It’s strong women, again, and when they’re together, they’re even stronger, they’re a real force to be reckoned with. They’ve got each other’s backs, it’s that solidarity, it’s such a joy to play as an actress. The three concubines of Nick Tilsley, and the girls are just a dream and we’ve stayed in touch. I felt really welcomed by everyone, especially my sisters, so it’s great that we’ve got lots of stuff coming up together.”
JENNIFER Lopez’s first husband has accused her of cheating on him after she claimed she had never been loved by any of her exes.
Personal trainer Ojani Noa, 51, hit out after US broadcaster Howard Stern asked four-times wed J-Lo if she had ever “truly been loved” and she said “no”.
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Jennifer Lopez’s first husband has accused her of cheating on himCredit: InstagramJennifer with former hubby Ojani Noa in 1997Credit: GettyJ-Lo claims she has never been in loveCredit: Instagram
She added: “What I learned, it’s not that I’m not lovable. It’s that they’re not capable. They don’t have it in them.”
But Ojani, who was married to J-Lo from 1997 to 1998, hit back on social media, saying: “Stop putting us down.
“Stop putting me down with your victim card. The problem is not us. Not me.
“The problem is you. You’re the one who couldn’t keep it in your pants.
PARIS — In a minutes-long strike Sunday inside the world’s most-visited museum, thieves rode a basket lift to the Louvre, forced a window into the Galerie d’Apollon — while tourists pressed shoulder-to-shoulder in the corridors — smashed display cases and fled with priceless Napoleonic jewels, officials said.
It was among the highest-profile museum thefts in recent memory and comes as Louvre employees have complained of worker and security understaffing.
One object was later found outside the museum, according to Culture Minister Rachida Dati. French daily Le Parisien reported it was the emerald-studded crown of Napoleon III’s wife Empress Eugénie — gold, diamonds and sculpted eagles — recovered just beyond the walls, broken.
The theft unfolded just 270 yards from the “Mona Lisa,” in what Dati described as “a four-minute operation.” No one was hurt.
Images from the scene showed confused tourists being steered out of the glass pyramid and adjoining courtyards as officers closed nearby streets along the Seine.
Also visible was a lift braced to the Seine-facing facade near a construction zone — an extraordinary vulnerability at a palace-museum.
A museum already under strain
Around 9:30 a.m., several intruders forced a window, cut panes with a disc cutter and went straight for the vitrines, officials said. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said the crew entered from outside using a basket lift.
The choice of target compounded the shock. The vaulted Galerie d’Apollon in the Denon wing, capped by a ceiling painted for Louis XIV, displays a selection of the French Crown Jewels. The thieves are believed to have approached via the riverfront facade, where construction is underway, used a freight elevator to reach the hall, took nine pieces from a 23-item collection linked to Napoleon and the Empress, and made off on motorbikes, according to Le Parisien.
Daylight robberies during public hours are rare. Pulling one off inside the Louvre — with visitors present — ranks among Europe’s most audacious since Dresden’s Green Vault museum in 2019, and the most serious in France in more than a decade.
It also collides with a deeper tension the Louvre has struggled to resolve: swelling crowds and stretched staff. The museum delayed opening during a June staff walkout over overcrowding and chronic understaffing. Unions say mass tourism leaves too few eyes on too many rooms and creates pressure points where construction zones, freight routes and visitor flows meet.
Security around marquee works remains tight — the Mona Lisa is behind bulletproof glass in a bespoke, climate-controlled case.
It’s unclear whether staffing levels played any role in Sunday’s breach.
The Louvre has a long history of thefts and attempted robberies. The most famous came in 1911, when the Mona Lisa vanished from its frame, stolen by Vincenzo Peruggia and recovered two years later in Florence.
Today the former royal palace holds a roll call of civilization: Leonardo’s “Mona Lisa”; the armless serenity of the “Venus de Milo”; the “Winged Victory” of Samothrace, wind-lashed on the Daru staircase; the Code of Hammurabi’s carved laws; Delacroix’s “Liberty Leading the People”; Géricault’s “The Raft of the Medusa.” More than 33,000 works — from Mesopotamia, Egypt and the classical world to Europe’s masters — draw a daily tide of up to 30,000 visitors even as investigators now begin to sweep those gilded corridors for clues.
Politics at the door
The heist spilled instantly into politics. Far-right leader Jordan Bardella used it to attack President Emmanuel Macron, weakened at home and facing a fractured Parliament.
“The Louvre is a global symbol of our culture,” Bardella wrote on X. “This robbery, which allowed thieves to steal jewels from the French Crown, is an unbearable humiliation for our country. How far will the decay of the state go?”
The criticism lands as Macron touts a decade-long “Louvre New Renaissance” plan — about $800 million to modernize infrastructure, ease crowding and give the “Mona Lisa” a dedicated gallery by 2031. For workers on the floor, the relief has felt slower than the pressure.
What we know — and don’t
Forensic teams are examining the site of the crime and adjoining access points while a full inventory is taken, authorities said. Officials have described the haul as being of “inestimable” historical value.
Recovery may prove difficult. “It’s unlikely these jewels will ever be seen again,” said Tobias Kormind, managing director of 77 Diamonds. “Professional crews often break down and re-cut large, recognizable stones to evade detection, effectively erasing their provenance.”
The Louvre closed for the rest of Sunday as police sealed gates, cleared courtyards and shut nearby streets along the Seine.
Key questions still unanswered are how many people took part in the theft and whether they had inside assistance, authorities said. According to French media, there were four perpetrators: two dressed as construction workers in yellow safety vests on the lift, and two each on a scooter.
Investigators are reviewing closed-circuit TV from the Denon wing and the riverfront, inspecting the basket lift used to reach the gallery and interviewing staffers who were on site when the museum opened, authorities said.
Adamson writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.
The Woman in Cabin 10, the new Netflix thriller fronted by Keira Knightley, has left viewers unnerved with one ‘scary’ crime detail feeling like an all too plausible reality
Jess Flaherty Senior News Reporter
19:08, 19 Oct 2025
Keira Knightley pictured attending the premiere of The Woman In Cabin 10 at BAFTA Piccadilly on September 25, 2025 in London, England(Image: Aimee Rose McGhee/Dave Benett/Getty Images for Netflix)
The film begins with Lo’s return to the newsroom after a traumatic incident where she witnessed a source being murdered for agreeing to talk to her for a story. Her editor encourages her to take some time off, but Lo is adamant about getting back to work.
At first, everything seems fine; Lo is warmly welcomed by philanthropist Richard Bullmer (Guy Pearce), who has organised the trip to celebrate his wealthy wife, Anne (Lisa Loven Kongsli), who is terminally ill with cancer.
It transpires that it was Anne who insisted on Lo joining the group as she admires her work. Anne wants Lo to assist her in refining her speech for the gala, where she plans to announce her intention to donate her vast wealth to those less fortunate upon her death.
Later, Lo hears a commotion in the neighbouring cabin and steps out onto her balcony to investigate. She hears a splash and sees a woman floating in the water below.
A bloody handprint on the glass partition separating their balconies leaves her unnerved. When she seeks answers and clarity, all her fellow passengers and the crew are present and accounted for.
With no one apparently missing, her recent trauma is used to dismiss her claims as a PTSD-induced hallucination, causing growing impatience among the other guests. Despite nobody believing what she knows she saw, Lo embarks on a perilous search for the truth.
Anne begins to act out of character – she forgets a meeting she had previously arranged with Lo, and despite claiming she’s stopped taking her medication, she attributes her confusion to those pills.
In a shocking revelation, it turns out Richard used his friend’s facial recognition software to find a woman who could realistically impersonate Anne and alter her will, transferring her billions to him instead of donating them to charity.
The woman Lo saw being thrown overboard was the real Anne, with the imposter – now sporting a freshly shaven head and dressed in Anne’s clothes – assuming her identity.
This aspect of the film’s twist ending left some viewers feeling uneasy – the unsettling idea that as technology and AI advance, finding doppelgängers to serve as substitutes could become a feasible reality.
One Reddit user commented: “It was good. It’s refreshing to watch a film that doesn’t waste any time. What’s scary is it’s probably possible for someone to use facial recognition to find a doppelgänger.
“My only minor quibble with it was I would’ve expected her to read the room more quickly and keep her suspicions to herself. Because we all know there are no good billionaires.”
One viewer shared: “I rewound the movie to make sure they didn’t cheat by using imposter Anne the whole time, to trick us, and only using two separate actors when they’re depicted in the same room together.
“They didn’t cheat! That’s what was so neat, I didn’t notice the swap either. Never crossed my mind.”
Others simply shared their thoughts on the film overall.
One person commented: “People will nitpick things to death but I rather liked it. Not too long and to the point. 7/10.
“Good Saturday night movie that isn’t complete trash and gives you a decent enough murder mystery with an ending that pays out.”
Author Ruth Ware shared with Netflix’s Tudum that despite her book being published nearly ten years ago, its relevance persists because “the fear of not being believed is perennial, unfortunately”.
The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures held its fifth annual star-studded fundraising gala Saturday at its Wilshire Boulevard campus.
An unrecognizable Kim Kardashian, Selena Gomez, Demi Moore and Elle and Dakota Fanning were among the celebrity guests at the event, which debuted in 2021 upon the film museum’s long-awaited opening. The gala raises funds for museum exhibitions, education initiatives and public programming.
The Academy Museum collected more than $11 million in donations at last year’s gala, which honored Quentin Tarantino, Paul Mescal and Rita Moreno.
This year’s gala honorees included actor Penélope Cruz, director Walter Salles, comedian Bowen Yang and musician Bruce Springsteen, who was presented with the inaugural Legacy Award and performed live at the ceremony. A biopic about the rock legend, starring “The Bear’s” Jeremy Allen White, hits theaters Oct. 24.
Springsteen and Cruz, the recipient of this year’s Icon Award, are both Academy Award winners, the former for his original song “Streets of Philadelphia” — which he wrote for Tom Hanks’ 1993 legal drama “Philadelphia” — and the latter for her role in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” (2008).
Salles, presented with the Luminary Award for innovative filmmaking, last year gave Brazil its first Academy Award for international film with his moving family drama “I’m Still Here.” Fernanda Torres was also nominated for her role as the Paiva family matriarch in the 2024 movie.
Yang received the Vantage Award, “honoring an artist or scholar who has helped to contextualize and challenge dominant narratives around cinema.” The “SNL” darling and “Las Culturistas” podcast host will return as Glinda’s sidekick Pfannee in “Wicked: For Good,” hitting theaters Nov. 21.
Gala attendees spared no expense with their donations or their ensembles, with Jenna Ortega wearing a futuristic Grace Ling halter top, Rachel Zegler channeling Old Hollywood in Tamara Ralph Couture, Olivia Rodrigo sporting vintage Giorgio Armani Privé and Eva Longoria rocking Elie Saab.
Here are the best looks, captured by Times photographer Eric Thayer.
