Emmerdale have confirmed they will be airing three special standalone episodes featuring key storylines this autumn as we delve deeper into the biggest storylines in the Dales
Emmerdale will air three special standalone episodes featuring key storylines this autumn
Emmerdale will air three special standalone episodes featuring key storylines this autumn including a reflective look behind the bars of Robert Sugden’s incarceration and Bear’s recent disappearance.
Earlier this year, Emmerdale fans were left in shock when Ryan Hawley made his dramatic return to the soap, reprising his role as Robert Sugden, crashing the wedding of his brother John Sugden and Aaron Dingle. Robert was sent to prison in 2019 after being sentenced to life for the murder of Lee Posner.
Now, this autumn, fans will be able to see what really went down over those six years – and if it changed him forever. Fans are aware that Robert has a ‘secret husband’, Kev, whom he met in prison, who has recently been released and is living in the village.
Elsewhere, another episode will answer all the unanswered questions about Bear’s disappearance. The soap will explore the hundred missing days of Bear’s life, and viewers will learn that he is sadly trapped in an all too common situation for a forgotten generation…
When Paddy and Bear found life under the same roof difficult, Bear decided to leave for another life in Ireland. Paddy believed his estranged father was safe with friends in Ireland, but it becomes apparent that he wasn’t there at all – but where did he disappear to?
Lastly, another special episode set to air in Autumn will explore this fragile and possibly broken relationship between April Dingle and her father, Marlon, as she slips further away from his grasp.
It comes after April’s storyline in which the teen is at the mercy of the merciless drug dealers.
Emmerdale have not confirmed an exact date for these standalone episodes, but fans can expect them to air sometime this autumn.
Fans of the ITV soap can expect a lot more twists and turns over the final months of 2026 as stars including Bradley Riches, Shebz Miah, Lisa Riley, Ash Palmisciano, Beth Cordingly, Rosie Bentham and Bradley Johnson spilled the beans to the Mirror at the Inside Soap Awards.
After the special standalone episode, we’ll be getting ready for all the Christmas drama – and it’s set to be dramatic.
So much so, Lewis Barton actor Bradley said fans would be saying “what the f**k” when they see what goes down.
Vinny Dingle star Bradley Johnson and Mandy Dingle star Lisa also teased a devastating storyline for Bear, which will run through to Christmas and then past Christmas too. Bradley said: “We’ve got the Bear storyline coming up!” whilst Lisa added: “We don’t know where Bear is.
The drama on Emmerdale continues Friday at 7:30 PM on ITV1 and STV, or from 7:00 AM on ITVX and STV Player.
British vloggers Dan Howell and Phil Lester — known for their gaming and comedic slice-of-life style videos — are taking ownership of their long-rumored romance after more than a decade of incessant fan “shipping” online.
The longtime collaborators revealed Monday that they have been dating for more than a decade, pretty much since they gained popularity in the late aughts. The YouTubers confirmed they have been an item in a 46-minute video titled “Are Dan and Phil in a Relationship?”
“We fell into it hard and fast in 2009,” Howell, 34, said. “And here we are almost 16 years later.”
Before Howell and Lester, 38, spoke about the origins of their couple-dom, the YouTubers— who both came outas gay in 2019 — talked extensively about why they waited go public with their relationship. First, they tackled some fans’ obsessive behavior.
Howell and Lester began appearing in each other’s YouTube videos in the late aughts and eventually, in 2014, launched their shared gaming channel — that page currently boasts 2.95 million subscribers. The pair documented their lives together, opening the door for fans to speculate on their relationship and foster a parasocial connection, Howell explained in the video. Among the most prominent internet personalities at the time, Howell and Lester often became the subject of fan fiction and fan edits on Tumblr.
“Some think that shipping real-life people is problematic. I think that humans cannot stop this natural tendency,” Howell said, later adding that “a line gets crossed” when fan speculation turns into investigation.
The pair recalled fans combing through their old social media posts, reaching out to their loved ones and filming them out in the real world. “If all this digging, investigating was small it could’ve been ignored,” Lester said.
“The problem is this became so big we could not ignore it,” Howell continued.
Howell and Lester also recalled fans dissecting their on-camera interactions and spreading the romance rumors during live events. Ultimately, the rumors became “too loud to ignore,” Lester said.
Howell said he was wary about how going public with Lester would impact their professional dynamic and spoke candidly about how his struggles with his sexuality affected their relationship.
“I had an extremely homophobic childhood,” Howell said, adding that the constant fan pressure to address the rumors took a toll on his mental health. He said that when he and Lester gained popularity he felt he “had to hide the relationship because I was still hiding who I was to my friends, family, myself.”
Online chatter didn’t help and “hit a nerve,” he said. Howell said Lester was “like a literal ray of light in my life back then” and committed to protecting their relationship.
“So when other people tried to grab it and drag it into the light, I felt completely violated,” Howell continued. “Having all of these people trying to out us and being so hostile to me when I tried to hide it was so triggering. Honestly, it could’ve killed me.”
Lester added: “It’s sad because those should’ve been the happiest times of our life. It was so amazing and we were having so much fun personally.”
Invasive fan behavior hung over their success “like a curse” and that led to anxiety and panic attacks, Howell said. Lester also recalled a “breaking point” in their relationship where a personal video leaked on YouTube and spread online, with re-posters refusing to take it down.
As they acknowledged the negative impact of some fans’ invasive behavior, the YouTubers said they don’t hold a grudge. Howell said the skeptics “were just young people that had absolutely no idea what the effects of their actions were.”
“In the same way that we all want people in our lives to give us patience and grace and benefit of the doubt if we ever make a mistake, I have to extend that to the world in regards to this story,” he added. “So I understand and I forgive.”
Howell and Lester, whose work also includes BBC Radio programming and several live tours, ended their video announcing the launch of a new podcast.
Dragons’ Den star Sara Davies recently announced that she will be stepping away from the BBC show
Dragons’ Den favourite Sara Davies has dropped hints about an “exciting” twist that’s never been witnessed before as she prepares for her departure.
The businesswoman, 40, first entered the Den in 2019 and during her time she has helped a range of entrepreneurs with her expertise.
The TV personality has now revealed she’ll be ‘stepping back’ from the BBC programme to concentrate on her own enterprise.
Before her poignant farewell, Sara graced Tuesday’s (October 14) instalment of BBC The One Show with presenters Alex Jones and Roman Kemp.
Roman was eager to discover more about her final series as he hinted at a ‘remarkable’ scene that’s still to be broadcast, reports the Express.
The television host continued: “There is a very special moment this week as part of Dragons’ Den history. What can you tell us because I know you can’t say much.”
Sara began by revealing: “I don’t want to give too much away but there was a moment that happened in filming last year, which is what you will see this Thursday on Dragons’ Den between Steven (Bartlett) and I.”
The personality hinted: “We do something that has never ever happened in the Den before and as a result of that something pretty exciting happens and let me just tell you it’s a pretty good business. You’ll love it.”
Dragons’ Den viewers will witness the extraordinary moment unfold on Thursday’s (October 16) show and judging by Sara’s teaser, it’ll be utterly unforgettable. This follows Sara’s confirmation in an Instagram statement that she had “taken the decision to step away from the Den for now, to focus on my own business” – a crafting enterprise she established in 2005.
She will continue to feature in the latter half of the current series and judging by her statement’s phrasing, there remains potential for her comeback down the line.
The BBC is yet to reveal her replacement.
In her social media post, Sarah declared: “As this last run of Dragons’ comes to an end I have to say I’ve loved every minute of this series so far and I’m so proud of the businesses I’ve invested in this year!”.
“As a lot of you will know, I’ve taken up my position again as CEO of Crafter’s Companion and my business is my big priority this year. And when I commit to a business, I really commit, which is why I find Dragons’ Den such a rewarding role.
“As well as filming an incredible show, being a Dragon requires so much dedication and time behind the scenes as you join the life of each business you invest in.
“It means seeing through your investment and committing to your part in that organisation. It’s so much more than a TV show. That’s why taken the decision to step away from the Den for now, to focus on my own business, which was my first baby! So I won’t be filming with the team this year for the next series.”
The One Show airs weekdays from 7pm on BBC One and iPlayer and Dragons’ Den is available to watch on BBC iPlayer
Spotify video podcasts are coming to Netflix, further diversifying the types of content on the Los Gatos, Calif.-based streaming service beyond movies, TV shows and games.
The move reflects how many people are consuming their podcasts not just by listening, but by watching the podcasters conduct their discussions on video.
Roughly 70% of podcast listeners prefer their shows with video, according to a Cumulus Media study. Netflix and Spotify said the partnership will bring podcasts to Netflix that complement the streamer’s “existing programming and unlocks new audiences and wider distribution for the shows.”
There will be 16 Spotify video podcasts initially on Netflix in the U.S. in early 2026, with plans to include other markets, the companies said. Those video podcasts include sports programs like “The Bill Simmons Podcast” and “The Ringer Fantasy Football Show,” culture/lifestyle podcasts like “The Dave Chang Show” and “The Recipe Club” as well as true-crime programs like “Serial Killers.”
“At Netflix, we’re always looking for new ways to entertain our members, wherever and however they want to watch,” said Lauren Smith, the streamer’s vice president of content licensing and programming strategy.
Roman Wasenmüller, vice president and head of podcasts at Spotify, said this partnership helps creators reach new audiences and unlocks “a completely new distribution opportunity.”
Spotify began offering video podcasts on its platform about five years ago, offering an option to its podcasters who had previously been posting videos of their audio programs on YouTube.
Last year, the Swedish audio company unveiled new features that make it easier for creators to earn money from their video content and track their performance on the streaming service.
Netflix has also been diversifying the types of content it offers on its streaming service. Last week, Netflix unveiled a slate of games, such as versions of Boggle and Pictionary, that can be played on TV and are included with its streaming subscription.
The TV star is passionate about helping young men to get support in their roles as new dads, after losing his own father at a young age
Joe Swash as a baby with his dad Ricky, who died aged 39 (Image: Instagram/ @joeswash)
As a father of six kids aged between two and 17, Joe Swash knows a thing or two about parenting. But the TV star says that when he first became a dad, aged 25, he felt “vulnerable, under-prepared” and ignored by society.
And he fears that things might have got even worse since then, which inspired him to make a film to highlight the desperate situation that many young fathers trying to raise their children find themselves in.
Joe, 43, lost his own father when he was just 11 and had no role model to guide him through while he was raising baby Harry, now 17, with his former partner Emma Sophocleous.
“From what I’ve found, there’s not a lot of support out there for young dads, and if there is some, it’s very, very difficult to find,” says Joe, who now has a large blended family with his wife Stacey Solomon.
“I’ve got six kids that I look after. Being a dad is a really big part of my life. And I remember being so vulnerable, so under-prepared for my first child, not really knowing anything, not really having anywhere to go for some help. My dad wasn’t around. There were no charities geared towards young dads.When I’d go to,a child parent club, it was always going to the mother-child club. I never felt really included.”
Joe’s relationship with Emma broke down just a few months after Harry’s birth and Joe wonders whether the large number of single parent families in the UK could be partly down to the lack of support for young fathers.
“I feel like it’s an area that’s been overlooked,” he explains. “There are lots of absent dads out there and I just want to know whether all of them are absent because they want to be or because there wasn’t enough support for them. If that’s the case then I want to shine a light on that and let people know that there’s got to be something done to make the situation better.”
In his new documentary, Joe meets several young men who are learning on the job and trying to be good dads to their kids. He believes that having positive male role models is not only beneficial for the children – it’s a massive help for men too. Without his own dad to learn from, Joe admits he found the transition into fatherhood really difficult. “I do think it sort of really shaped who I am as a person. You know, not having a dad. I didn’t really know there’d be any issues with it until I’ve got older. I struggle with my identity,” he admits. “What sort of man am I? Am
I expected to be an alpha male? There’s lots of things I struggle with because I never had my dad there.”
One young man in the film is Wyatt, who is currently living separately from his partner and their child because of their circumstances, but is determined to make it work out. Joe says: “I always get this feeling, you now, we should be celebrating people like Wyatt and his partner, because not only are they young but they’re doing a fantastic job and we should be celebrating these positive role models.
“I can definitely feel Wyatt’s pain, you know, because all he wants to do is be with his partner and his child, be a family.”
Looking at the young men who features in the one-off show, he recognises himself in all of them. “I can see a lot of the vulnerabilities in the young men that we met in this documentary because I felt that way,” Joe says. “It’s a real big gulf in your life when you haven’t got a dad or a positive male role model. I remember being young and just craving someone to sort of put their arm around me and look after me, but I never had one.”
Without these types of influences, Joe is concerned that there are plenty of young men who will make the wrong choices or take the wrong path. “That’s the danger,” he reasons. “They’ll fall into places with people that are not positive because they crave just someone looking out for them.”
He’d like teen dads, or those their twenties, to have somewhere to turn for help and advice. “It would help if there was more set up for young dads where they could be around other young dads and they can start the conversation,” he says. “When you first get a baby in your hands, it’s so delicate. You’re so scared of it. The thought of changing a nappy is quite daunting. You know, if you’re not taught it and no one’s showed you it, how are you going to learn it? So I just feel like there’s got to be more places out there for dads wanting to be dads.”
And he points out that the biggest killer of young men is suicide. “We suffer in silence, we don’t open up or talk about our problems. But you put us in a room of other people that are going through the same sort of things, you don’t feel the pressure, you feel open, you want to express yourself. If we can get young dads in the room together, they would know that they’re not the only ones that are feeling these things, that are going through these emotions.
“I got to travel the length and breadth of the country meeting these young dads, listening to their stories, and the whole way along I just kept thinking to myself, ‘we’ve just got to get them talking, you know, open the conversation otherwise everyone’s just suffering in silence.”
Viewers who watch Joe’s film, Forgotten Young Dads, will see that while the group all have their individual struggles, they’re also pretty resilient. After meeting them, Joe feels both inspired and hopeful for the future. “From the time that I spent with them, I think that all of those kids are going to have great dads,” he smiles. “They were all completely hands-on. They’ve done everything from change nappies, feed them and put them to bed. And I just think that is the modern-day alpha male.”
Joe wants young men to realise that being a man isn’t about boozing and bust-ups – it’s about raising your family and getting properly involved in the next generation. “Anyone can go down to the pub and have a fight, or watch the football at the weekend. But not every man can change a nappy, get up in the middle of the night and do all the things that a real dad should do. I was very proud of them.”
– Joe Swash: Forgotten Young Dads, 8pm, Monday 20 October BBC3, Tuesday 21 October BBC1, and iPlayer
Madeleine McCann stalker Julia WandeltCredit: Dr Fia Johansson
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Wandelt has been accused of stalking Maddie’s parents Kate and GerryCredit: PA
Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cranwell told a court today that when Ms Wandelt’s DNA was compared with Maddie’s the results were clear.
When asked what they proved, Cranwell replied: “A comparison took place and it conclusively proved that Julia Wandelt is not Madeleine McCann.”
The trial over Ms Wandelt’s alleged stalking of the McCann’s is ongoing as a court heard this month she is said to have bombarded Kate and Gerry with calls, letters and messages over almost three years.
Leicester crown court was played clips she left after she got the family’s phone number from Portuguese police records.
In one, Polish national Wandelt, 24, tells Kate: “I know you probably think Madeleine is dead, but she is not. I am her.”
Pay TV providers have a new message for consumers: Your ex wants you back.
While the media industry watches the once massive number of subscribers to cable and satellite services diminish like a slow-melting iceberg as audiences move to streaming, the companies are aggressively developing ways to slow the trend and perhaps win some business back.
Spectrum and DirecTV have both recently held fancy press events in New York to tout their efforts to offer a more consumer-friendly experience and services that add value for the still substantial number of customers they serve. Giving consumers more choice and flexibility is their new mantra.
The latest evidence of this emerged last week when Spectrum introduced an app store, where customers can get subscriptions to the streaming platforms such as Disney+, Hulu, AMC+ and ESPN, and access them alongside the broadcast and cable channels that still carry the bulk of high-profile sports and live events.
The Stamford, Conn.-based company’s 31 million subscribers can now get ad-supported streaming apps as part of their TV packages, which would otherwise cost an additional $125 a month. Ad-free versions are also offered at a discounted price.
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Over the last year, El Segundo-based DirecTV rolled out smaller packages of channels aimed at consumers who no longer want a big monthly bill for the panoply of networks that have accumulated in the pay TV bundle over the years. The satellite TV service now offers smaller “genre packages” of channels and streaming apps that cater to a particular interest available at a lower price — designed for news junkies, sports fans, kids and Spanish-language speakers. There is one for entertainment channels as well.
There are early indications consumers are responding. In the second quarter of this year, Spectrum reported a loss of 80,000 cable customers due to cord-cutting, a significant decline from the same period in 2024, when 408,000 homes ditched cable.
DirecTV does not disclose its subscriber numbers, but Vincent Torres, the company’s chief marketing officer, said the smaller and more bespoke channel packages are drawing younger consumers who have bypassed pay TV subscriptions up to now.
For Spectrum, the deal to get the Disney apps came out of an ugly carriage dispute in August 2023 that for 12 days left customers without programming, including the U.S. Open tennis tournament and the start of the college football season. The standoff followed comments by Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Bob Iger that taking the company’s program services directly to the consumer and bypassing its traditional pay TV partners was inevitable.
Spectrum CEO Chris Winfrey suggested his company could get out of the video distribution business and stick to selling its far more profitable broadband internet services.
The dispute was a sharp example of the pressure on cable providers that have been asked to pay more to carry the channels from Disney and other media conglomerates as they feel the pressure of rising programming costs and sports rights fees. The costs are passed along to customers who are paying more for content that is available on streaming services. Spectrum insisted on a deal that made Disney’s streaming apps available to its customers at no additional cost.
The tensions subsided and, in June, Spectrum reopened and extended its contract with Disney before it was up — a rarity in the contentious arena of carriage negotiations that lead to channel blackouts.
DirecTV’s slimmer cable packages came after a similarly bruising dispute with Disney last September, with customers losing access to the channels for 13 days.
But there was a new spirit of unity on stage at Spectrum headquarters, where ESPN Chair Jimmy Pitaro, the architect of ESPN’s direct-to-consumer strategy, was among the guest speakers.
Although Pitaro has long hammered away at how ESPN needs to be accessible to sports fans wherever they are, he touted the value of the cable subscription and described the relationship with Spectrum as “the best it has ever been.”
Spectrum customers already get ESPN channels through their cable subscription, but adding the direct-to-consumer app allows them access to its features such as enhanced real-time stats during live games and a personalized “SportsCenter” that uses AI to create a custom highlight show for users.
Spectrum has enlisted the networks it carries to make promotional spots touting its new services. Speaking at the Spectrum event, Winfrey acknowledged it will take some time for consumers to get used to the idea of getting more from their cable provider at no additional cost.
“Our No. 1 issue is — and this may shock you — but customers don’t trust the cable company,” Winfrey said. “Maybe with good reason. For how many decades did the cable industry go out and say HBO is included for free? And it was for three months and then, $10 would show up on your bill. We’ve conditioned people to think it’s a free trial period.”
Torres notes that more consumers are experiencing what he calls “content rage” as the prices of individual streaming services such as Peacock and Disney+ continue to rise. As programming gets sliced and diced for the growing number of services, consumers are finding that more than one subscription is necessary, especially for fans of the NFL or NBA, which have spread their games over several services.
“You see a growing frustration that ‘I can never find what I want to find when I want to watch it,” Torres said. “The fragmentation of the content is creating customer dissatisfaction. They can’t always find what they’re looking for.”
Along with its slimmer channel packages, DirectTV recently introduced a new internet-connected device called Gemini that combines streaming apps with traditional TV channels.
Pay TV companies are also offering voice-controlled remotes to help consumers find what they want to watch, whether on streaming or a traditional channel.
Executives say more enhanced viewing experiences are coming to keep the pay TV customer connected.
Starting this season, Spectrum’s SportsNet channel will be offering its Los Angeles customers several Lakers games in an immersive video format that can be streamed through an Apple Vision Pro device. The technology will give users a courtside view of the game at Crypto.com Arena. All that’s missing is a seat next to Jack Nicholson, but as AI advances, who knows?
Stuff We Wrote
Film shoots
Number of the week
Disney’s sci-fi sequel “Tron: Ares” got off to a weak start, opening with just $33.5 million in North American theaters.
The results were well below 2010’s “Tron: Legacy,” which opened to $44 million. The production budget for “Tron: Ares” was reportedly $180 million.
Still, Disney does have two potential box office hits later this year with “Avatar: Fire and Ash” and animated sequel “Zootopia 2.”
Finally …
Stacy Perman’s deeply reported piece on fake collectible movie props is a must read. Bonus points for an appearance by notorious movie and TV executive Jim Aubrey, known as “The Smiling Cobra.”
The Great British Bake Off star Iain Ross has been a firm fan favourite on the Channel 4 baking show, but some viewers have only just noticed one thing about him
Samantha Bartlett Assistant Editor, Social News
15:06, 14 Oct 2025
Bake Off fans have ‘worked out who Iain’s lookalike is’(Image: ALL RIGHTS RESERVED)
The beloved Channel 4 programme The Great British Bake Off has returned to our television screens as hopeful contestants compete to claim the title of Britain’s finest amateur baker, with Iain Ross, from County Derry, Northern Ireland, already capturing the hearts of countless viewers. Yet some are only now cottoning on to exactly who the 29-year-old software engineer bears a striking resemblance to.
Iain, who harbours a passion for live music alongside his sourdough obsession, originally had zero intentions of gracing the show with his presence, but when his girlfriend Dervla refused to accept defeat, he eventually submitted his application. Channel 4 audiences are undoubtedly thrilled he did, with legions branding him ‘adorable’ across social media platforms.
However, others are now spotting another fascinating detail about him – his uncanny likeness to a particular children’s television character.
Which character might that be, you wonder? None other than Sir Gadabout from the beloved children’s tale Zog, which has since been transformed into an animated BBC production.
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A viewer named Katie recently took to X to highlight the remarkable similarity, penning: “For weeks I’ve struggled to think of who Iain reminds me of and it took my son wearing his Zog pyjamas for me to finally realise that it’s Sir Gadabout. #GBBO.”
Clearly, numerous others shared her observation, as the post accumulated over 66,000 views alongside thousands of likes.
One individual responded: “Thank you. I’ve been thinking exactly the same thing!”.
Meanwhile, another chimed in: “Oh my goodness! Absolutely nailed it!”
A third chimed in: “Thank you, I’ve been so confused why he looked so familiar,” while a fourth said: “You are not wrong!”
A further fan exclaimed: “It’s literally him,” while another simply concurred: “Yes!”
Speaking about securing his spot on the programme, Iain told Radio Times: “Every step of the way I kept it a secret from everyone apart from Dervla, I didn’t think I’d make it to the following stage and I didn’t want to let anyone down.
“Then when I got the call to confirm my place I was in sheer disbelief, I had no idea it would actually happen.”
He added: “I thought it was a prank at first, I got a call a few minutes after being told and I thought they were going to tell me they made a mistake and I wasn’t actually on the show!”.
“I was in the office at work and had to go out to the foyer to take the call and speak in code, everyone who was walking past heading to the toilet looked very concerned and confused.”
Iain, who lives in Belfast with Dervla and their cat Victor, disclosed on the programme that he was planning to pop the question to her, and has since announced on his social media pages that she said yes.
His heartfelt post featured Dervla flaunting a dazzling ring with Crawfordsburn waterfall in Northern Ireland as the stunning backdrop.
Captioning the snap, he penned: “Don’t suppose you know anyone who can make a decent wedding cake?”
He then added: “A picture at this waterfall every year for the past 8 years, and a special lil one to complete the frame.”
A FOOTBALLER has been arrested on suspicion of killing an opponent more than a year after the brutal brawl.
Luis Torres was killed following an alleged attack by Moisés Pulido on 9 September 2024.
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Teenage footballer Luis Torres was killed in a brawl during a seven-a-side football match in MexicoCredit: Jam Press
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His alleged attacker, Moises Pulido, was tracked down and arrested more than a year laterCredit: Jam Press
The incident happened during a seven-a-side amateur football match between Torres’ Viper 3.0 and Pulido’s Deportivo Esmeralda on a synthetic pitch in Guadalajara, north west of Mexico City, Mexico.
Torres, 16, is said to have been charging through the midfield in the second half when he laid the ball off before having a go at a rival for a mistimed tackle.
Pulido, 25, is then reported to have rushed over and punched the teen in the face multiple times during the Cannán League game.
After Torres fell to the ground, Pulido allegedly carried on striking him in the back of the head, which caused fatal trauma.
Emergency services were called to the scene but Torres had died by the time they arrived after he was seen convulsing.
Pulido is then said to have fled the scene.
He was arrested on Friday, October 10 after a court order was issued for him to be tracked down.
A court judge charged him with intentional homicide, and he remains in police custody as the investigation continues.
In a statement the Public Prosecutor’s Office said: “On the night of 9 September 2024, Moisés ‘N’ was taking part in a soccer game with the victim on opposing teams.
“At one point, the suspect allegedly hit the victim in the face and then continued to hit him on the back of his head.”
Thousands pay tribute as Ricky Hatton’s funeral cortege travels through Manchester
Madonna’s “MDNA.” Bruce Springsteen’s “The Rising.” Mariah Carey’s “Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel.”
According to the Recording Industry Assn. of America, none of these albums — each the 12th studio LP by its respective maker — has sold 4 million copies in the United States in the decade or more since it was released.
Yet that’s what Taylor Swift just did in a single week with her 12th album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” which Billboard reported Monday had moved 4.002 million copies in the seven days between Oct. 3 and 9.
That figure, which combines sales and streaming numbers, represents the biggest opening week for an album in modern history, breaking the record set by Adele 10 years ago when her “25” moved 3.482 million units in its first week.
Swift marked the achievement on Instagram on Monday with a note to her 281 million followers.
“I’ll never forget how excited I was in 2006 when my first album sold 40,000 copies in its first week,” she wrote. “I was 16 and couldn’t even fathom that that many people would care enough about my music to invest their time and energy into it. Since then I’ve tried to meet and thank as many people as I could who have given me the chance to chase this insane dream. Here we are all these years later and a hundred times that many people showed up for me this week.
“I have 4 million thank you’s I want to send to the fans,” she added, “and 4 million reasons to feel even more proud of this album than I already was.”
The speed with which Swift hit the 4-million mark is undeniably impressive. Morgan Wallen’s “I’m the Problem,” the biggest album of 2025 so far, has sold and streamed the equivalent of 4.2 million copies, according to the trade journal Hits. But “I’m the Problem” has been out since mid-May; “Showgirl” will almost certainly have surpassed Wallen’s LP by the end of this week (if it hasn’t already).
What’s more remarkable is where “Showgirl’s” blockbuster success comes in the arc of Swift’s career.
Madonna and Springsteen were both in their early 50s when they released their 12th LPs; Carey was 40 when “Imperfect Angel” came out. Swift, in contrast, is only 35 — one advantage of starting out professionally as a teenager.
Still, Swift has been a star for nearly two decades, a point at which many pop musicians have shifted the focus of their work to touring even as they continue to make new records generally ignored by all but their most devoted fans. In 2024, according to Pollstar, Madonna’s and Springsteen’s latest road shows — each drawn from a catalog packed with hit songs — were among the year’s 10 highest-grossing tours.
And indeed Swift has been amply rewarded on the road: At No. 1 on Pollstar’s list was her Eras tour, which sold more than $2 billion in tickets across 149 dates on five continents.
Yet unlike virtually every other veteran act in music, Swift’s recording business is growing along with her live business.
“Everything that’s happening here is historic and unprecedented,” said Hits’ editor in chief, Lenny Beer. “Maybe if the Beatles had stayed together, we’d have seen something like it.”
Also worth considering: Nobody seems to think “The Life of a Showgirl” is Swift’s best album. Reviews have been mixed, and even some fans have expressed disappointment with the record on social media — a once-unthinkable development among the fiercely loyal Swifties.
So how did the singer pull off such a feat?
First, a little math: Of “Showgirl’s” 4 million units, approximately 3.5 million were sales of either digital or physical versions of the album (including CDs, cassettes and vinyl LPs); the remaining half-million came from streams of the album’s songs on platforms like Spotify and Apple Music, which the data firm Luminate counts toward what it calls streaming equivalent albums.
“Showgirl’s” 12 songs racked up 681 million streams in all, Billboard said — the fourth-biggest streaming week of all time, behind Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department” and Drake’s “Scorpion” and “Certified Lover Boy.” But the album’s sales number is the largest ever recorded since Luminate started tracking sales electronically in 1991.
Among Swift’s strategies to get to that number was selling more than three dozen editions of the album, each with its own artwork and bonus material designed to lure collectors. On vinyl alone, “Showgirl” came out in eight so-called variants, which helped drive the album’s first-week vinyl sales to a modern record of 1.3 million copies.
Offering something for sale doesn’t necessarily mean anyone will buy it, of course. Yet Swift was positioning “The Life of a Showgirl” as a juggernaut from the moment she announced it. Appearing with her fiancé, the NFL player Travis Kelce, on his “New Heights” podcast in August, the singer described the album as a return to the hit-making ways of albums like “Red” and “1989” after the relatively experimental “Folklore” and “Tortured Poets Department.”
To make “Showgirl,” she reteamed with the Swedish producers Max Martin and Shellback, with whom she’d collaborated on some of her biggest singles, including “Blank Space,” “Bad Blood” and “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.” On “New Heights” she and Kelce talked about the new album as a “180” from the moody confessions of “Tortured Poets,” whetting appetites for the kind of crisply hooky Taylor Swift songs that blanketed Top 40 radio in the mid-2010s.
Promised the football star: “12 bangers.”
Fans visit an activation for Taylor Swift’s “The Life of a Showgirl” at the Westfield Century City mall on Oct. 4.
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
Once “Showgirl” was out, Swift jumped into the promotional fray with more gusto than she’d summoned in years, sitting for numerous radio interviews and putting in appearances on Graham Norton’s, Jimmy Fallon’s and Seth Meyers’ late-night shows; the weekend after the album’s release, a glorified sizzle reel called “The Official Release Party of a Showgirl” played in AMC movie theaters across the country.
On Monday, Swift kept the conversation going with the announcement that two Eras-related projects are headed to Disney+ in December: a six-part behind-the-scenes docuseries and a concert film of the tour’s finale in Vancouver.
“One of the hardest parts of ensuring you have a record-setting first week is making sure that everyone who could possibly be interested in your album knows about it,” said Bill Werde, director of the Bandier Program for Recording and Entertainment Industries at Syracuse University. “I’m not sure anyone has ever covered that need the way Taylor did with this album cycle.”
Yet “The Life of a Showgirl” has not been greeted as enthusiastically as some of Swift’s earlier work.
Pitchfork said “her music’s never been less compelling,” while The Guardian called the album “dull razzle-dazzle from a star who seems frazzled.” Fans on TikTok have complained that Swift’s lyrics — which take up her romance with Kelce, the burdens of fame and an apparent beef with Charli XCX — are unusually shallow; some have even formulated a kind of tradwife critique of “Showgirl” in which Swift is seen as upholding regressive ideas about marriage and domesticity.
The album has also attracted criticism from people who say Swift’s songs recycle familiar elements from other pop tunes without giving credit: the Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back” in “Wood,” for instance, and the Jonas Brothers’ “Cool” in the LP’s closing title track.
“When every song is a derivative of another song, that’s an issue,” said one hit songwriter who asked not to be named in order to speak freely. “That one song is the Jonas Brothers song — the exact same melody. And here’s how lazy that is: It’s the same key and the same tempo.”
In Werde’s view, Swift’s place atop the pop hierarchy makes such carping inevitable. “Anytime an artist gets this big, there’s going to be backlash,” he said — a take with which Swift would likely agree.
“I welcome the chaos,” she said in an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe. “The rule of show business is: If it’s the first week of my album release and you are saying either my name or my album title, you’re helping.”
Even so, the polarized reaction to “Showgirl” — Swift’s 15th album to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 — raises questions about the breadth of Swift’s popularity as compared to its depth. Should the album’s gargantuan numbers be taken as a sign that she appeals to a wide spectrum of pop music lovers or to a committed group of hardcore Swifties willing to spend untold amounts of money to demonstrate their loyalty?
“Showgirl’s” second-week stats should provide the beginnings of an answer, given that they won’t be shaped by one-time sales of all those limited-edition variants.
Then again, another unprecedented chart achievement from the album’s first week is already shedding some light on the matter: “The Fate of Ophelia,” the album’s lead single, is the first song ever to debut inside the top 10 of Billboard’s Pop Airplay chart — an indication of the heavy Top 40 radio play it’s getting along with the millions of daily streams that have kept it atop Spotify’s U.S. Top 50 tally since the song came out.
That’s one banger certified, with more perhaps to come.
A horror series that has been described as the “most terrifying” TV show ever made is streaming for free, and fans are being warned to prepare for a chilling experience
HMS Erebus and HMS Terror set off on their ill-fated journey in 1845(Image: Getty)
One of the most spine-chilling horror series ever made, which viewers insist ‘just gets scarier’ after each episode, is now available to stream for free in the UK.
The Terror, adapted from the acclaimed sci-fi and horror author Dan Simmons’ book of the same name, depicts the ill-fated Franklin Expedition of 1845, which aimed to discover the Northwest Passage, the sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans via the Arctic Ocean.
Simmons, also the author of the Hyperion Cantos, fictionalised the accounts of the expedition’s Captain Sir John Franklin as two British ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, became trapped in Arctic ice, eventually vanishing without a trace and leaving no survivors.
Across 20 episodes, featuring Jared Harris, Tobias Menzies, and Ciaran Hinds amongst others, historical fact is woven with supernatural horror as the crew aboard the Terror succumb to starvation and cannibalism whilst grappling with the mysterious creature that haunts them.
The series, which was recently revived in 2025 following its first two seasons in 2018 and 2019, has received rave reviews on both IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes film and TV review platforms, scoring 7.8 stars out of 10 and an approval rating of 87%, respectively, reports the Express.
Evidence of its bone-chilling nature can be found on Reddit’s Horror subreddit, which boasts over 3 million members who post reviews and pose questions to the site’s leading horror entertainment community.
Horror enthusiasts can watch the programme without charge in the UK via ITVX’s streaming service, following account registration and enduring several advertisements.
Reddit user gtr011191 put forward a query to the online forum: “So just finished The Haunting of Hill House again, just looking for something else now to watch. What, in your opinion, is the most terrifying TV series?”.
Numerous Reddit contributors were swift to suggest The Terror, alongside other programmes, with user Hookums garnering more than 40 upvotes for their comment, “The Terror, season 1. F***ing horrifying. Episode one has some really chilling moments, and it just gets scarier from there.”
On IMDB, a verified critic named mohahaa13 awarded the programme nine out of 10 stars, cautioning audiences: “Going into the series with no expectations or impressions from the novel, and barely reading about the series at all before binge watching it, I was expecting a high-paced master and commander type of series.
“And, while it’s set in roughly the same time period, it’s unlike anything I was expecting. It’s quite suspenseful and chilling.
“Much thanks to the great acting, casting and details. The ambient soundtrack (R.I.P. Marcus Fjellstrom) is fantastic and really helps with the eerie feeling.
“There were some moments that made me feel really at unease. Right up there with the top series for sure. Well worth a watch.”
A MARRIED At First Sight star warned fans “a smile hides a lot” as she broke down in tears in an emotional Instagram upload.
The E4 show contestant admitted “I have my struggles” and told how she “feels like a failure” amid a tricky patch in her personal life.
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A fan-favourite MAFS UK star has broken down in floods of tears as she posted an emotional message on InstagramCredit: Instagram
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Ella Morgan warned her followers ‘I might regret posting this’ as she opened up on her mental healthCredit: Instagram
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She found fame on MAFS’ 2023 seasonCredit: Channel 4
Ella Morgan‘s raw confession came after the Celebs Go Dating alum posted a series of cryptic messages to her Stories, including one which read: “Remember who checks on you when you get a little quiet.
“Those are your people.”
Now Ella, who saw sparks fly with JJ Slater on MAFS as the show’s first transgender contestant back in 2023, has pleaded for fans to “be kind”
The 31-year-old bravely posted an image which showed her in tears in her car.
In a far cry from her ordinarily glam look, Ella was seen donning a pink sports top and going make-up free, brushing her hair into an up-do.
In a lengthy text post uploaded underneath the sad snap she wrote: “Sometimes a smile hides a lot.
“I can be the loudest most outgoing person in the room but inside it’s a very different story.
“Maybe I’ll regret posting this story because I care what others think.
“But I never talk or post about my feelings or when I’m not in a good place.
MAFS star Ella Morgan slams well known celeb who ‘called her transphobic slur behind her back’ saying ‘she’s jealous of me’
“But I felt like I needed to post this.
“Maybe it’ll help me or make me feel better or maybe it’ll help somebody else who is struggling right now.
“The reality is, everyone is going through something.”
She continued: “I have my struggles and a lot of you have noticed me going quieter on socials and I have reasons why.
How to get help
EVERY 90 minutes in the UK a life is lost to suicide
It doesn’t discriminate, touching the lives of people in every corner of society – from the homeless and unemployed to builders and doctors, reality stars and footballers.
It’s the biggest killer of people under the age of 35, more deadly than cancer and car crashes.
And men are three times more likely to take their own life than women.
Yet it’s rarely spoken of, a taboo that threatens to continue its deadly rampage unless we all stop and take notice, now.
If you, or anyone you know, needs help dealing with mental health problems, the following organisations provide support:
“And social media a lot of the time gives off the impression that life is amazing but the truth is, it isn’t always.”
Ella then told how “constant trolling” and negativity around the trans community, as well as feeling run down and unwell, had also taken its toll.
She also confessed the “pressure of being a role model” felt like a “huge weight.”
In a heartbreaking conclusion Ella put: “Sometimes I feel like a failure and being sent horrible DMs doesn’t help when I’m having a bad day already.
“I took this picture this morning so I can look back when I’m in a better place and remind me how far I’ve come. Not for attention.
“Sometimes the feelings of failure and loneliness and negativity get the better of you and override the positive feelings.
“But I know tomorrow is a new day and hopefully it’ll be an easier one.
“Thank you for you continued support. Please be kind to one another.”
Ella then posted a snapshot of her dog, who she hailed her “best friend.”
When Diane Keaton was 11, her father told her she was growing into a pretty young woman and someday, a boy would make her happy. She was horrified. One boy? Keaton — then going by her birth name of Diane Hall — needed to be loved by everyone. It was an early sign that she was meant to be an actor.
“Intimacy meant only one person loved you, not thousands, not millions,” Keaton wrote decades later in her 2011 memoir “Then Again.” Like drinking and smoking, she added, intimacy should be handled with caution.
“I wanted to be Warren Beatty, not date him,” Keaton confessed, romancing fellow artists as long as their relationship was mutually stimulating and then after that, remaining friends. “I collect men,” she jokingly told me when I interviewed her a decade ago, referring to a photo wall in her Los Angeles home of fellows she admired, including Morgan Freeman, Abraham Lincoln, Gary Cooper and John Wayne. She wanted an excuse to add Ryan Gosling and Channing Tatum, so I suggested a love-triangle comedy as a twofer. “No! Not one movie!” Keaton exclaimed. “I want to keep my career going.”
Just as she hoped, millions of us did fall in love with Keaton, who died Saturday at age 79. She captivated us for over 50 years, from awards heavy-hitters to a late-career string of hangout comedies that weren’t about anything more than the joy of spending time with Diane Keaton, or in the case of her 2022 body swap movie “Mack & Rita,” the thrill of becoming Diane Keaton.
In her final films, including “Summer Camp” and the “Book Club” franchise, Keaton pretty much only played variations of herself, providing reason enough to watch. I looked forward to the moment her character fully embraced looking like Diane Keaton, writing in my otherwise middling review of “Mack & Rita” that the sequence in which she “picks up a kooky blazer and wide belt is presented with the anticipation of Bruce Wayne reaching for his cowl.”
I wanted to be Diane Keaton, even if she wanted to be Warren Beatty.
The contradiction of her career is that the things we in the audience loved about her — the breezy humor, the self-deprecating charm, the iconic threads — were Keaton’s attempts to mask her own insecurities. She struggled to love herself. Even after success, Keaton remained iffy about her looks, her talent and her achievements. In interviews, she openly admitted to feeling inadequate in her signature halting, circular stammers. That is, when she’d consent to be interviewed at all, which in the first decade of her career was so rare that Keaton, loping across Central Park in baggy pants to the white-on-white apartment where she lived alone, was essentially a movie star Sasquatch.
Journalists described her as a modern Garbo. “Her habit is to clutch privacy about her like a shawl,” Time Magazine wrote in 1977, the year that “Annie Hall” and “Looking for Mr. Goodbar” established Keaton as a kooky sweetheart with serious range. I love that simile because she did refer to her wardrobe as an “impenetrable fortress.” The more bizarre the ensemble — jackets over skirts over pants over boots — the less anyone would notice the person wearing it.
Odd ducks like myself adored the whole package, including her relatable candor. She showed us how to charge through the world with aplomb, even when you’re nervous as heck.
Once young Keaton decided she wanted to perform, she set about auditioning for everything from the church choir and the cheerleading squad to the class play. But her school had a traditionally beautiful ingenue who landed the leads. This was Orange County, after all. Keaton would go home, stare at the mirror and feel disappointed by her reflection. She dreamed of looking like perky, platinum blond Doris Day. Instead, she saw a miniature Amelia Earhart. (She’d eventually get a Golden Globe nomination for playing Earhart on television in 1994.)
Keaton stuck a clothespin on the tip of her nose to make it smaller, and acted the part of an extrovert: big laugh, big hair and, when she stopped liking her hair, big hats. By age 15, she was assembling the bold, black and white wardrobe she’d wear forever and her taste for monochrome clothes was already so entrenched that she wrote Judy Garland a fan letter wondering why Dorothy had to leave Kansas for garish Oz. She might have been the only person to ever ask that question.
Not too long after that, Keaton flew across the country to New York where several things happened in short succession that would have puffed up anyone else’s ego. The drama coach Sanford Meisner gave her his blessing. The Broadway hit “Hair” gave her the main part (and agreed she could stay fully clothed). And “The Godfather,” the No. 1 box office hit of 1972, plucked Keaton from stage obscurity to give the fledgling screen actor its crucial final shot, a close-up.
Keaton made $6,000 for “The Godfather,” less than a quarter of her salary for the national deodorant commercial she’d shot a year earlier. Her memories from the set of the first film were uncharacteristically terse. Her wig was heavy, her part was “background music” and the one time Marlon Brando spoke to her, he said, “Nice tits.”
Nevertheless, Keaton’s Kay is so soft, friendly and assured when she first meets the Corleone clan at a wedding, sweetly refusing to let her boyfriend Michael dodge how the family knows the pop singer Johnny Fontane, that it’s heartbreaking (and impressive) to watch her become smaller and harder across her few scenes. But Keaton says she never saw the finished movie. “I couldn’t stand looking at myself,” she wrote in “Then Again.”
Woody Allen put the Keaton he adored front and center when he wrote “Annie Hall.” He wanted audiences to fall in love with the singular daffiness of his former girlfriend and it worked like gangbusters. It’s my favorite of his movies and my favorite of hers, and there’s just no use in pretending otherwise, as obvious of a pick as it is. Even now that I know the Annie Hall I worship is a shy woman putting on a show of being herself, the “la-di-dah” confidence she projects makes her the most precious of screen presences: the icon who feels like friend.
But I wonder if Allen also made “Annie Hall” so that Diane Keaton could fall in love with Diane Keaton just as he had. Maybe if she saw herself through his eyes, it could convince her that she really was sexy, sparkling and hilarious. But Keaton only watched “Annie Hall” once, in an ordinary theater well after it opened, and she found the experience of staring at herself miserable. She never absorbed her lead actress Oscar win. “I knew I didn’t deserve it,” she said. “I’d won an Academy Award for playing an affable version of myself.”
Nearly herself, that is. The onscreen version of Keaton is stumped when Alvy Singer brings her a copy of the philosophical tome “Death and Western Thought.” But a decade later, Keaton directed “Heaven,” an entire documentary about the subject, in which she asked street preachers and Don King and her 94-year-old grandmother how they imagined the afterlife. (As in Allen’s movie, her grandmother actually was named Grammy Hall.)
“Heaven” is an experimental film that’s heavy on dramatic shadows and surreal old movie footage, the sort of thing that would play best on an art gallery wall. It flopped, as test screenings warned it would, cautioning Keaton that her directorial debut only appealed to female weirdos — people like her. Keaton isn’t a voice in the film. Yet, that she made it at all makes every frame feel personal, and you hear her affection for the cadence of her occasionally tongue-tied subjects. Her first interviewee stutters, “Uh, heaven, heaven is, uh, um, let me see.” Exactly how Annie Hall would have put it.
Today more than ever, I’m wishing Keaton had been comfortable turning her camera on herself. I’d have liked to watch her explain where she thinks she’s gone, however adorably flustered the answer. But in her four memoirs, she safely bared all in print, openly confronting her harsh inner critic, her battle with bulimia, and — yes, Alvy — her musings on death.
“I don’t know if I have the courage to stare into the spectacle of the great unknown,” Keaton wrote in 2014’s “Let’s Just Say It Wasn’t Pretty,” sounding as apprehensive as ever. “I don’t know if I will make bold mistakes, go out on a blaze of glory unbroken by my losses, defy complacency, and refuse to face the unknown like the coward I know myself to be.”
At last, a sliver of confidence peeks out. “But I hope so.”
Strictly Come Dancing judge Anton Du Beke has opened up about his wife Hannah Summers’ battle with endometriosis and the couple’s IVF journey to parenthood
Strictly Come Dancing star, Anton Du Beke with wife, Hannah
Strictly judge Anton Du Beke has opened up about his wife’s agonising battle with endometriosis and how it affected their journey to parenthood.
The BBC favourite married marketing executive Hannah Summers in 2017, having first met at Wentworth Golf Club in Surrey back in 2012. The pair welcomed twins George and Henrietta soon after tying the knot, following IVF treatment.
But Anton revealed on Giovanna Fletcher’s Happy mum Happy Baby podcast that Hannah had doubts about their ability to conceive because of her crippling condition.
The professional dancer admitted he “couldn’t understand the universe” after witnessing Hannah’s bond with her nephews, before opening up about their IVF experience.
He said: “I knew I wanted to be with her, I saw her with her nephews. She’s so kind and so caring, I just couldn’t understand the universe.”, reports Lancs Live, reports Wales Online.
“And whoever is upstairs, if anyone’s upstairs, looking down and going ‘you are the most perfect person to have children, but I’m not going to let you have any children because I’m going to give you this’.
“And I’m going to say ‘you’re going to have this endometriosis, and you’re going to suffer with this all of your life, chronically, and I’m not going to let you have any children.
“I thought that was peculiar, cruel, and inexplicable and unforgivable. And if ever I go up to somewhere and meet this person I would say ‘I think you’re not OK with decisions like this, this doesn’t make any sense to me.”
Anton has candidly spoken about the hurdles he and wife Hannah encountered during their fertility treatment, which ultimately brought them closer together.
The couple were blessed when the treatment worked first time, resulting in the birth of twins George and Henrietta in 2017, with their nuptials taking place later that same year.
In an emotional chat with Giovanna, Anton admitted his previous lack of understanding about endometriosis and highlighted the urgent need for increased government funding in women’s health.
Reflecting on their journey, he shared: “Then we went through the process of IVF, well crying out loud. You girls are extraordinary. As much as I want to get involved, all I can do is hold your hand. It makes me emotional every time I talk about it. The injections, the stress, the anxiety. I have anxiety and stress but it’s not my body.
“She has these injections and the bruises in the bum, in the thigh, in the stomach. And you’re trying to help but what can you do? Whatever you want, tell me and I’ll do it but that’s all you have and it’s horrendous as a man to watch it.
“You feel so inadequate and you want to do so much more but I can’t do anything. And that’s why you girls are so extraordinary, you’re extraordinary that you do all this stuff.”
GERRY Adams will be blocked from claiming taxpayer-funded compensation under changes to the law today.
The former Sinn Féin leader was on track to receive a government payout for his detention in the 1970s.
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Former Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams will be blocked from claiming taxpayer-funded compensation under changes to the law todayCredit: PA
But a new Troubles Bill will now ban him and around 400 other largely republican former-detainees from receiving public cash.
It comes after an unexpected Supreme Court ruling in 2020 on historical detentions in Northern Ireland risked forcing ministers to splurge vast sums of money on individuals who claimed they were wrongfully detained during the Troubles.
The landmark case, brought by Adams, found his initial detention under an Interim Custody Order (ICO) was unlawful because a junior minister signed the order, not the Secretary of State.
This pivotal decision opened the floodgates for thousands of compensation claims for imprisonment and quashed convictions. Later, Mr. Adams won a court battle in 2023 that ruled he was wrongly denied compensation after his convictions for trying to escape jail in the 1970s were quashed.
Today, Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn will introduce new legislation to Parliament to clarify that the relevant law always permitted junior ministers to sign the ICOs and, therefore, ensure no compensation will be paid.
A government source told The Sun: “The last government completely failed to successfully address this issue.
“Today we are making it clear in the law that detentions were legitimate and lawful.
“A result of this will be that those previously eligible will not get a single penny of taxpayers’ hard-earned cash.”
Dearest gentle reader, Lady Whistledown — voiced by Julie Andrews — is back.
Netflix released a trailer for the fourth season of “Bridgerton” on Monday, and the Ton’s resident gossip columnist promised to have all the delightful details. The teaser also revealed that the next chapter of the Regency-era romance will be released in two parts on Jan. 29 and Feb. 26.
The eight-episode season will follow Benedict Bridgerton’s (Luke Thompson) fairy tale-inspired romance. The beloved second-eldest sibling of the Bridgerton brood is is known for being commitment averse and uninterested in marriage, but, if the trailer is to be trusted, it seems a masked mystery woman he brushes past on a staircase might change that.
“With each passing season, one is known to experience plenty of ups and downs,” Whistledown says in the teaser footage. “So then we must ask ourselves, do we rise to the occasion? As always, time — and this author — will tell.”
Unbeknownst to Benedict, the mystery woman, also known as the Lady in Silver, is Sophie Baek (Yerin Ha). According to Netflix’s in-house blog Tudum, the staircase encounter featured in the trailer is the first time the pair cross paths during Lady Bridgerton’s masquerade ball.
Benedict and Sophie’s romance is based on the events in “An Offer From a Gentleman,” the third book in Julia Quinn’s “Bridgerton” book series. Much like the wicked matriarch in “Cinderella,” Sophie’s stepmother (Katie Leung) is more concerned about her two daughters’ (Michelle Mao, Isabella Wei) societal debut and marriage prospects than whatever her stepdaughter is getting up to.
“Bridgerton” showrunner Jess Brownell previously told The Times that Benedict’s character arc “has a lot to do with being someone who is learning how to exist between society and and being unconventional.”
“Benedict [is] trying to figure out what his place is in the world and how to circumvent certain rules, which is something Tilley Arnold (Hannah New) [taught] him [in Season 3],” she said last year. “I think we will continue telling the story of his [sexual] fluidity going forward.”
The brief “Bridgerton” Season 4 teaser focuses solely on Benedict and Sophie. Those interested in updates about the state of Penelope’s writing career or what Francesca, John and Michaela Stirling have been up to since the end of the third season will have to keep waiting.
United States Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) has sent a powerful message to trans youth.
Over the last year, the Trump administration has been relentless in its efforts to roll back protections for trans people.
This includes attempts to limit access to gender-affirming healthcare, restrict participation in sports and define gender narrowly in legal terms.
While the 47th president and his Republican allies are showing no signs of slowing down their tirade, various Democratic lawmakers have come out swinging in support of the trans community, including AOC.
On 3 October, the representative for New York’s 14th congressional district held a Q&A session on her Instagram, during which she discussed several topics.
When a user asked if she had anything to say to trans youth amid the rise of anti-trans rhetoric, AOC delivered a powerful message assuring them that she stands by the community.
“I want to say that I know this time is completely terrifying for so many people. And it feels hard to know where your place is, especially in politics, where it feels like people of both parties are blaming you for everything that’s happening,” she said.
“I just want you to know that they couldn’t be more wrong and you are fine just the way you are, and in a time when it’s hard to know who stands with you, I want you to know that I stand with you, and everyone who wants to be mean shouldn’t be mean around me.”
AOC’s message was immediately embraced by many of her LGBTQIA+ followers, with one person commenting: “Thank you! As a peer support/peer ambassador in the mental health field, I truly appreciate your words #achildislistening”
Another user echoed similar sentiments, writing: “As a trans girl, thank you for standing up for us.”
A third follower added: “Thank you for taking the time to address our trans babies!! They deserve so much more love & respect than they’re receiving rn.”
Since entering the political sphere, AOC has been a staunch advocate for the trans community, often using her platform and public appearances to push back against hateful rhetoric.
In 2021, she effortlessly shut down transphobic critics mocking her for using the inclusive terminology, “menstruating person,” while discussing Texas’ anti-abortion law.
The politician took to Twitter to clarify her comments when news outlets generalised her wording to mean just “women”.
“Not just women,” AOC wrote. “Trans men & non-binary people can also menstruate.”
Not just women! Trans men & non-binary people can also menstruate.
Some women also *don’t* menstruate for many reasons, including surviving cancer that required a hysterectomy.
GOP mad at this are protecting the patriarchal idea that women are most valuable as uterus holders. pic.twitter.com/BJovcw1qPa
“Some women also *don’t* menstruate for many reasons, including surviving cancer that required a hysterectomy. GOP mad at this are protecting the patriarchal idea that women are most valuable as uterus holders.”
In November 2024, she came out in support of her colleague Sarah McBride –the first openly trans person to be elected to the House of Representatives – after Republican lawmakers attempted to pass a bill banning trans people from using the bathrooms on Capitol Hill that match their gender identity.
“If you ask them what is your plan to enforce this is, they won’t come up with an answer. What it inevitably results in are women and girls who are primed for assault because people are going to check their private parts in suspecting who is trans and who is cis and who is doing what,” she told reporters.
“And so the idea that Nancy Mace wants little girls and women to drop trou[sers] in front of who? An investigator? Who would that be? Because she wants to suspect and point fingers at who she thinks is trans? It is disgusting.”
@nbcnews Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez calls out #Republican Rep. Nancy Mace’s proposal to ban transgender women from female bathrooms in the Capitol. Mace and Speaker Johnson have separately introduced restrictions after #Democrat Sarah McBride became the first openly transgender person elected to #Congress♬ original sound – nbcnews
Charlie Cosser heartbroken dad makes a solemn promise to his tragic son Charlie, while sister Eloise reveals the devastating moment she heard her brother’s heart stop
Charlie Cosser was stabbed three times(Image: ITV)
After his 17-year-old son Charlie was fatally stabbed, dad Martin Cosser made a solemn double promise – he would get justice and he would dedicate the rest of his life to preventing knife crime.
Charlie was murdered by 16-year-old Yura Varybus at an end-of-term party on 23rd June 2023 in a farmhouse in West Sussex. Medics worked tirelessly to try to save his life but tragically, Charlie died two-and-a-half days later in hospital.
His father Martin broadcast his grief on TikTok, and now the story of how the murder case went viral is being told in the second series of ITV1’s TikTok: Murder Gone Viral.
In heartbreaking scenes viewers will see Charlie’s younger sister Eloise recall how police came to the family home in the night. She recalled: “I woke up to the sound of the door being banged on really hard. The police officer tells us she’ll be driving us to the hospital where they’ve taken Charlie. I didn’t have time to put my shoes on. I just ran out in the darkness into the police car.”
One of the three stab wounds had damaged Charlie’s aorta and he had a cardiac arrest in the ambulance. However, medics operated in the ambulance then managed to stabilise him before his family gathered at his bedside. Tragically, Charlie died when his heart broken family agreed to turn off his life support on the advice of doctors, whose tests showed Charlie had suffered irreversible brain damage.
Eloise revealed how she watched the life drain out of her beloved big brother, who was nicknamed Cheeks, as his heart stopped beating. She said: “I can’t even describe how it feels like to watch your brother die. I put my head on his chest and I was listening to his heart beat for the last time. I looked at his face and I could see the colour draining from his face and he became even more pale than he was before. I was told I needed to step back because I was in such a state but I’m refusing because I don’t want to leave his side in his last moments and that’s when I put my head back on his chest and realised his heart was no longer beating.”
Losing his son galvanised dad Martin to do everything he could to stop knife crime. “I just held Charlie’s hand and I made him a promise. I promised him justice but the main promise was that I would spend the rest of my life educating people about the dangers and immeasurable impacts of knife crime. I felt so isolated and alone in the immediate aftermath and I just recorded into the phone.”
Martin posts under his son’s name @CharlieCosser17. His most watched video sees Martin reacting tearfully to Varybus’ conviction and has been viewed 4.7 million times.
ITV reporter James Dunham, who covered the case, revealed how the posts made the murder go viral. He said: “Once Martin started posting his videos on Tiktok he soon gained a lot of attention but because police had arrested their prime suspect quite quickly, there wasn’t the usual Tiktok speculation about who the killer might be or where they might be hiding. Instead we got raw, unfolding agony.”
The documentary reveals how the violence unfolded. Charlie was stabbed three times after an altercation at the party. When he was arrested he initially pleaded guilty, but was later given permission to change his guilty plea to not guilty, forcing the family through a lengthy murder trial.
“An application had gone in for him to vacate his guilty plea,” Martin tells the documentary. “As far as we were concerned he’d already been found guilty, he was guilty. That was torture, absolute torture.”
However, the evidence against Varybrus was overwhelming. While the murder weapon was never recovered, there were eye witness accounts that reported Varybus being “drenched in blood”, and one witness said they heard him say “I’ve stabbed someone”. He later burned the clothes he was wearing and was also seen changing the settings on his mobile phone which detectives believe was intended to tamper with the evidence of his location. Varybrus was convicted of murder and possession of a bladed article and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of sixteen years. Because Varybrus was under eighteen at the time of the killing, reporting restrictions initially protected his identity, but the judge lifted these after conviction, allowing the press to publish his name.
On the show Charlie’s dad Martin holds up the grey t-shirt Charlie was wearing on the night he was murdered. “You can see three stab wounds clearly on there,” says Martin. “Actually they are really small knife wounds and yet they caused catastrophic damage.”
Martin’s campaigning helped make the story a national talking point and start his work to educate people about the horrendous ramifications of knife crime. Now Martin and his wife Tara have set up a charity called Charlie’s Promise which raises awareness of the dangers of carrying and using a knife.
Martin said: “I set about putting the wheels in motion and setting up a charity called Charlie’s Promise and the talks I go out and give are to prevent and make a difference to knife crime in this country. And while there is air in my lungs I will continue to tell the story of my little boy and how incredible he was and make a difference in this country to prevent other families like ours going through this misery.”
