Will Ferrell has done the Will Ferrell thing for so long — playing embarrassingly self-absorbed doofuses, both fictional and based on real people — that it’s easy to forget that when it counts, he can still serve as the glue on “Saturday Night Live.”
For his sixth time hosting the show since leaving the cast in 2002, Ferrell had plenty of those doofuses to portray, including a “Nudeman” dad whose underwear are exposed in the rear when he meets his daughter’s boyfriend. But in sketch after sketch on the show, he showed his usual 100% commitment to every character, even when he was playing himself in the monologue doing a bit about an identity mix-up with Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith. (Smith stuck around for the whole show, sitting in with the “SNL” band and playing drums for Paul McCartney.)
Ferrell was an ideal closer for Season 51, which has largely been about developing relatively new talent in the cast, including rising stars Ashley Padilla, Jeremy Culhane and Marcello Hernández. Ferrell gelled with each of them and everybody else, doing the Will Ferrell thing, which still works tremendously well after all these years.
Musical guest Paul McCartney appeared in Ferrell’s monologue and in the mechanic sketch, and performed a new song, “Days We Left Behind,” as well as “Band on the Run” and “Coming Up” at the end of the show while the credits were shown.
After an absence of a few weeks, President Trump (James Austin Johnson) returned, sleepy from his trip to China. After a non-apology for not bringing Vice President J.D. Vance (Culhane) with him, Trump fell asleep on a gold bar from Switzerland before being visited by Epstein (Ferrell), who makes a series of jokes and insinuations about his association with Trump. When Trump bemoans his low approval rating in the 30s, Epstein responds, “The 30s? Gross, call me when it hits 17.” But Epstein, who claims Hell is “really, really hot” and includes Joseph Stalin and John Wayne Gacy, is there to show Trump the future, one in which former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem (Padilla) is selling vacuum cleaners on the Home Shopping Network and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (Colin Jost) and FBI Director Kash Patel (a returning Aziz Ansari) are co-hosting a bro podcast while sharing a giant beer bong. Trump believes the podcast is a signal that by then, the war in Iran will be over. “We came in second,” Epstein assures him. The two then launched into a version of “Just the Two of Us” before almost kissing ahead of launching into “Live from New York… It’s ‘Saturday Night!’”
Even eagle-eyed viewers might have needed a full minute or so to realize that the person on stage delivering the monologue was not actually Will Ferrell but Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, who has been doing an extended gag for more than a decade about their uncanny resemblance. Ferrell followed, wearing the same gray suit, claiming, “He pushed me down backstage. And I fell hard. Lorne (Michaels) had to give me mouth to mouth.” Ferrell tried to do a hard reset of the monologue but couldn’t get the vibe back. He turned to the audience for questions, but only found McCartney there, who still couldn’t tell the difference between the host and the drummer. Ferrell listed many of the songs that McCartney has written (which weren’t performed on the show this time out), but pointed out that there are a few great songs he didn’t write, including “Timber” featuring Pitbull.
Best sketch of the night: Did you at least check the sprog box on your Rav4?
In a piece that calls itself, “What It Feels Like Talking to a Mechanic,” Ferrell plays an auto expert telling a clueless couple (Day and Padilla) that their vehicle needs a lot of work. But he uses completely foreign terms including “dong rod gasket” and a “camber” that’s out of whack and rotting to describe what’s wrong. Another specialist (Hernández) arrives, who describes the car’s ailments in funny noises and partly in Spanish. “You need a new trans person,” he declares. He also expects them to return every six days and come to his private party. A third mechanic (McCartney) found the steering wheel is on the wrong side and that their “tipsy wispy” is all “dangly goodly.” The absurdity level keeps rising, but it will feel familiar to anyone who’s ever felt like their mechanic is speaking in an entirely different language. The only false step in the sketch is the ending, which goes on on a cheap joke.
Also good: That white flag he was carrying around should have been a tip-off
It’s been a bit shocking how good some of the pre-filmed pieces this season have looked, including this one, a “Lord of the Rings” Midnight Matinee sketch called “Bobbin’s Sacrifice.” It features, with quite good special effects and costumes, a full cast of orcs, elves and dwarves during a castle siege, as well as Ferrell as a little Hobbit-looking halfling named Bobbin who bravely volunteers to destroy a bridge that separates the heroes from the monsters. However, once outside the castle gates, Bobbin proudly declares in song that he’s switching sides. And not just switching, but offering the orcs blueprints of the castle and giving them magic items he stole from his friends. Things don’t end so well for Bobbin, but at least he goes out memorably and with a song in his heart.
‘Weekend Update’ winner: How does one apply to be a Blast Boy?
“Update” traditionally does a joke-off between co-hosts Jost and Michael Che in which each writes jokes the other has to read. This edition wasn’t too surprising: Jost was made to spew racist jokes about black vampires (in reference to “Sinners”) and using his Staten Island Ferry to ship Black people “back to the motherland.” Che was made to make light of molestation claims against Michael Jackson. The segment ended up being one of the weaker joke-offs, ending with the threat of Jost getting his hair cut off by a barber on live television (it didn’t happen). Surprisingly, the joke-off was not as funny as Culhane’s return as Mr. On Blast, a guy with takes that are far from hot. Example: “AI? More like P.U.” “Metaverse? Why don’t you go read a Bible verse?” Mr. On Blast punctuates his weak jokes with very entertaining dance moves punctuated with sound effects. This time out, the character deployed a new catch phrase, “Devout!” in reference to being both Christian and Jewish, and he brought out bearded backup dancers called Blast Boys. Culhane was on point and is a lock to return next season for more fun like this.
Frances Tophill, one of the leading presenters on Gardeners’ World, has been heavily tipped to replace Monty Don at the head of the BBC series when he steps down
The Gardeners’ World presenting team(Image: BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine/Ja)
One of the stars of Gardeners’ World has spoken about whether she would like to replace Monty Don when he eventually decides to leave the show.
Monty, still very much a feature of the BBC programme, has been a key part of it for decades. However, following his milestone 70th birthday, questions have recently turned to who might replace him should he decided to put down his televisual trowel.
One of the people often highlighted as a potential successor is Frances Tophill, currently designing a garden for the Chelsea Flower Show alongside Alan Titchmarsh, Sir David Beckham, and King Charles III.
Frances, 36, has been on Gardeners’ World for over a decade, but has now made clear she doesn’t see herself replacing Monty.
She told The Sunday Times: “I have a huge respect for Monty – it is such a generous thing to give your garden space to the nation and he does it so well. I hope he never leaves….Broadcasting is not my day job, my day job is being a gardener.”
This isn’t the first time Frances has pushed back against the suggestion she could replace Monty. In a previous interview with the Telegraph, she said that after covering for Monty in a 2023 episode of the show, she got a glimpse of what fame might be like for him.
After she covered for him, she went to help a friend sell plants, but was shocked to see people flood towards them, not because of the plants, but because they recognised her from the show. She said: “That’s when I got a glimpse of what being Monty must be like… I don’t want that.”
Frances’ comments on the future of Gardeners’ World come as the RHS Chelsea Flower Show gets underway.
Frances has been busy working with the King, Sir David Beckham, and Alan Titchmarsh. Given the high profile nature of her royal clientele, Frances was asked, also by the Telegraph, whether she had been told anything about the monarch before she started work.
She said: “Everyone keeps saying that he’s so detail focused that he’ll notice all the tiny things.” Frances added that she had been searching the internet for the right gnome, as she was adding it in tribute to the King’s Highgrove garden. She said: “He hides it in the stumpery for the gardeners to find.”
Meanwhile, in an official statement on the King’s Foundation website about the garden, Frances went into more detail about what the experience had been like.
She said: “I’m so excited to share my first garden for RHS Chelsea Flower Show. With input from His Majesty The King, Alan Titchmarsh and Sir David Beckham, I’ve had a lot of fun incorporating elements both celebrating their involvement and ideas they have contributed.
“With sustainability front and central for His Majesty, there are no man-made materials being used in the garden, and it will be a concrete free construction.”
For Ross Stripling, baseball was something of an accidental career.
He walked onto the team at Texas A&M, majoring in business finance, planning to stick around campus long enough to earn a master’s degree. After his junior year, he turned down a six-figure bonus offered by the Colorado Rockies. After his senior year, he accepted a six-figure bonus to sign with the Dodgers, only to blow out his elbow after one season in the minor leagues.
He was 24. He was at peace. He called home.
“I think the right thing to do is to say I did this baseball thing and go start my life,” he told his father.
If you’re a Dodgers fan, you know the rest of his baseball story: In his major league debut, Stripling was five outs from a no-hitter when Dodgers manager Dave Roberts yanked him. In his nine years in the major leagues, including five with the Dodgers, he pitched in the All-Star Game and the World Series, and he once pitched with his “Chicken Strip” nickname on the back of his game jersey.
His father knew best. Instead of giving up on baseball when he needed Tommy John surgery, his father encouraged Stripling to use the yearlong rehabilitation process as a way to explore what a future without baseball might look like. His grandfather set him up with an internship at an investment firm.
Five years ago, Stripling and his mentor from that firm founded their own financial services company, called Skyward Financial. Now, 21 months after Stripling threw his last pitch in the major leagues, he is throwing a new one: Hey, young athletes coming into a lot of money, I’ve lived in that world, and I’ll show you how to protect your money and build toward generational wealth.
“It’s not me trying to become the next Wolf of Wall Street,” Stripling said. “This is genuine. I want to help kids and their families out in a space that has gotten out of hand in a hurry.”
Matthew Houston, the mentor, said Stripling blew away the brokers when he interviewed for that internship.
“He brings with him, like, a two-inch folder stuffed with handwritten stock reports he had written on minor league bus trips,” Houston said. “He handed us a couple of them, and they were legit Wall Street reports, him doing analysis of stocks. We were falling out of our chair.”
Stripling soon earned his broker’s license. Over the past decade, Houston estimated, he and Stripling might have traded messages about markets and clients “25 to 50 times a day.” One night, Houston watched Stripling pitch on television. Not long after the game ended, he heard the ping of a text message.
“I had just seen him on TV, and it’s like, ‘What do you think about Celgene and Gilead in the biotech sector?’” Houston said. “My mind was blown.”
You don’t need to have played in the major leagues to realize how much money athletes make. Major brokerages want a piece of that money. Some even use former athletes to recruit current ones.
Marc Isenberg, the former director of financial education for Morgan Stanley’s sports and entertainment group and author of the “Money Players” guide for young athletes, wished Stripling well but said he would face significant competition from firms with bigger names and greater resources.
“It’s oversaturated,” Isenberg said. “Almost every single Wall Street firm, to compete for athletes and entertainers, has a sports and entertainment group.”
And it’s not just the behemoths. Stripling checked with a basketball agent, who said he represents 24 college players that each have a different money manager.
There is nothing revolutionary about Stripling’s message: limit the flashy spending now in favor of prudent savings and investment, so you can grow your money through and beyond your career.
Stripling believes he can win by concentrating on young athletes, the ones suddenly showered in six- or seven-figure payments from draft bonuses, college revenue sharing payments, and name, image and likeness deals.
“I’ve seen the first-rounders come in and blow money on cars and houses and gambling,” Stripling said, “and I’ve seen the first-rounders like (former Dodgers shortstop Corey) Seager, who probably hasn’t spent a dime of his signing bonus.”
In a presentation for young athletes — and for the pro teams and college athletic departments that might invite him to speak — Stripling’s firm uses his story of a baseball prospect that got a $900,000 up-front payment and spent the $500,000 after taxes on a red Lamborghini. If the prospect had invested that $500,000 over 30 years into a fund that tracked the S&P 500, he would have made $8.6 million.
“That was the dumbest decision I’ve ever seen anyone make,” Stripling said.
“I have these stories from being in the locker room. I hope that, as a player, my story resonates more than a guy from Goldman Sachs saying, ‘Yeah, we’ve got a couple good ETFs.’”
Stripling would love the chance to speak at one of the Dodgers’ morning meetings in spring training, where players hear briefings about everything from safety and security to social media.
“I’d like to learn more about it, but I’d be open to putting him in front of the guys,” Roberts said. “I definitely trust him.”
In the meantime, Stripling has a federal record. All brokers do. One form requires brokers to list their employers and job descriptions over the last 10 years. Among all the wealth strategists and financial advisors and registered representatives, Stripling’s form is the one with the job history that starts with this line: “LA Dodgers, Pitcher.”
Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman, who serves the 4th District, makes her way across an empty, unnamed backlot, presenting her case to be the city’s next mayor.
“Studio lots like this one used to be filled with people, costumers, electricians, set medics, caterers, thousands of Angelenos making a living,” she says in the video posted on social media. “Now these lots are quiet. Since 2018, shooting days in the city have fallen by half.”
After telling voters this issue is “personal” (her husband is a TV writer and producer), criticizing Mayor Karen Bass’ leadership on the matter and outlining her own plans, Raman proclaims, “I’m running for mayor to make sure Los Angeles stays the film and TV capital of the world.”
Placing the concerns of the entertainment industry at the center of the city’s mayoral race would have been unthinkable even in the last election cycle. But the production crisis, which has rocked Hollywood and pummeled its workforce, has reached a critical juncture. The state of L.A.’s signature industry is now a political flashpoint alongside affordability, crime and homelessness in the upcoming election.
A person films an interaction between mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt and another person on his cellphone during a “Community Meet and Greet” event out of a house for sale on Long Ridge Avenue in a residential neighborhood of Sherman Oaks on Saturday.
(Etienne Laurent/For The Times)
In campaign ads, interviews and the recent televised debate, the top three contenders: incumbent Mayor Bass, former reality TV villain Spencer Pratt and Raman, have made the ongoing production slump a pivotal topic, highlighting their plans to revitalize the industry while deploying the issue to undercut one another.
For decades, elected officials have not had to focus on the film and TV business, let alone turn it into a campaign issue. It was simply a given that local production would continue to play a dominant role in the city’s economy as it has for more than a century.
But the cumulative effects of consolidation, runaway production to tax-friendly states and countries and the end of the streaming boom has caused Los Angeles to lose billions in economic activity, shed some 57,000 jobs over the last four years and led to the closing of more than 80 film and television production service businesses across the city since 2022.
“For us, ‘save Hollywood’ is more than a slogan and more than headline. It is what needs to be done,” said Pamala Buzick Kim, one of the co-founders of Stay in LA, a grassroots campaign aimed at increasing film and television production in Los Angeles.
To be sure, the biggest driver of where studios and producers film are state and federal tax credits, over which the city has no control.
But Buzick Kim and others argue that “there is lots the mayor can do, hand-in-hand with the City Council.”
Mayor Karen Bass, center, walks with Avance Democratic Club President Nilza Serrano, to the right of Bass, during Avance’s politics and tacos event at Ernest E. Debs Regional Park in Los Angeles on Saturday.
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
For starters, say filmmakers and advocates, much can be done to tackle the city’s sclerotic bureaucracy, onerous regulations and a slow and costly permitting process that has pushed filmmakers to flee to friendlier and cheaper locales.
While steps have been put in place recently, including a pilot program offering reduced-cost filming permits for shoots that demonstrate a “low impact” to the surrounding community, many complain such steps have come too little and too late.
Scott Niner, president and owner of Dangling Carrot Creative, checks on woodwork being produced at his shop in North Hollywood.
(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)
“The industry is in collapse and people have been talking about fixing things for years, but all we get are incremental little changes,” said Ed Lippman, a location manager of 34 years who lives in Sherman Oaks and has worked on such shows as “ER” and “The X-Files” and movies including “Galaxy Quest.” “And if the city is not being business-friendly, the business will go elsewhere.”
Compounding the problem, the Los Angeles area has more than 100 jurisdictions, many of which have their own set of rules and regulations regarding filming.
“There needs to be universal standards,” said Travis Beck, a location manager for commercials, small films and music videos. “Burbank is different from Glendale, which is different from Pasadena.”
The recent kerfuffle over filming “Baywatch,” the lifeguard reboot at Venice Beach, underscored both the efforts to bring production back to L.A. — enticed by a $21-million tax credit — and the complex, baffling red tape required to film here.
When shooting began in March, the production encountered a number of hiccups, including that it needed nearly double the parking space it had received a permit for, which was not part of the original approvals.
An anonymous crew member claimed on Facebook that government restrictions had forced production to relocate from Venice Beach. Production staff denied they had relocated. However, the incident prompted a backlash, becoming a rallying cry over L.A.’s burdensome filming bureaucracy.
The “Baywatch” team quickly met with city and county officials and resolved the issue, securing an agreement for a 20% parking discount from the city, and the mayoral candidates used it as an opportunity to score political points.
Pratt slammed the city’s permitting problems.
“LA turned its back on Hollywood — now the golden goose needs CPR,” he wrote on his Substack.
“The City of Los Angeles will always clear bureaucratic barriers, making it easier and more affordable to film in the entertainment capital of the world,” she wrote on X last month.
On April 21, the mayor unveiled programs to offer productions 20% discounts on city-owned parking lots and other equipment, reduced filming fees at places like the Griffith Observatory and reopened the Central Library for filming. Last August, she appointed Steve Kang, president of the Los Angeles Board of Public Works, as the city’s film liaison.
Raman has pledged her support for expanding the state’s $750-million tax incentive program, streamlining permitting and lowering fees and eliminating those for small productions. She has also said she will establish a dedicated city film office with a liaison who understands production.
Councilmember and mayoral candidate Nithya Raman speaks to a crowd at the “Families for Nithya” event at Vineyard Recreation Center in Los Angeles on Saturday.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
“Los Angeles is losing Hollywood,” Raman said in a statement. “Not because productions want to leave, but because we’ve made it too hard for them to stay.”
On his Substack and various podcast interviews, Pratt has promised to slash location fees in half, speed up permit approvals, reduce on-set city staff for the majority of productions and waive all fees for shoots with budgets under $2 million.
All three candidates have attacked one another over their approach to Hollywood.
Pratt and Raman have said Bass moved too slowly to address spiraling production and retain film jobs, saying she enacted measures only recently as the mayoral race was heating up.
Speaking on the Monks & Merrill podcast, Pratt criticized Bass’ moves to cut costs to film at the Griffith Observatory, saying, “Who needs that shot right now with the homeless poop all around it?”
The incumbent mayor has defended her administration’s record with the entertainment industry.
Bass and Pratt have taken Raman to task, calling her out for what they say is her lack of advocacy during her time on the City Council.
“She feels very strongly about it. But never offered one motion on the industry, and when motions came up on the industry she either recused herself, or got up and walked out,” said Bass during a debate this month.
Citing a potential conflict of interest over her husband’s work in television, Raman refrained from voting on several motions related to Hollywood.
Many working in the industry would like to see full-throttled support coming from the mayor’s office that will get results. They note how New York City has successfully promoted itself as a leading film destination over the years. (Kang, the city’s chief film liaison, said the city is working on a similar marketing campaign to promote filming that will launch by early fall.)
“For all the talk about, ‘We need to support and bring back filming,’ if they just did basics like lowering the fees and simplifying the process … that would actually help people and get things produced,” said Chris Fuentes, 66, who worked for 30 years as a location manager until he retired last year.
“We’ve heard a lot of great things, but not all things are possible in the mayor’s remit,” said Buzick Kim, noting that tax incentives are a state and federal issue.
Still, she said, “the mayor must understand that Hollywood needs to be made a priority and to find and create inspired thinking to make things easier and cheaper.”
Kang agrees, but says there are limits to what the mayor can achieve.
“We definitely can do a lot to really open up the entertainment industry, but at the same time, we recognize the larger impact needs to come from Sacramento and Washington, D.C., because L.A. just does not have the resources to compete with other jurisdictions in providing millions of dollars in tax incentives,” he said.
For most working in the industry, they just want city leadership that will execute on more than just talking points.
“This is the birthplace of cinema,” Beck said. “It shouldn’t be so hard to film here.”
A NINETIES chart topper, 55 has barely aged a day as she performed in hotpants and a corset, 25 years after her smash hit – but can you guess who she is?
The singer appeared in a TikTok video where she was filmed dancing and singing on stage by her daughter.
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A nineties chart topper, 55 has barely aged a day as she performed in hotpants and a corset, 25 years after her smash hit – but can you guess who she is?Credit: Tiktok/@imaniimusicThe singer appeared in a TikTok video where she was filmed dancing and singing on stage by her daughterCredit: Tiktok/@imaniimusic
The R&B star looked incredible on stage in thigh boots, corset and matching hot pants as she belted out her famous tune.
Previously, she appeared in a television commercial with legendary jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald for KFC when she was just nine years old.
She’s best known for the hit song, I Love Your Smile which went to the top five in 12 territories worldwideCredit: Tiktok/@imaniimusicHer proud daughter posted the video clip as she said enjoyed the performanceCredit: Tiktok/@imaniimusic
She later signed with the famous Motown records in 1991, where she achieved mainstream success.
She’s best known for the hit song, I Love Your Smile which went to the top five in 12 territories worldwide and made the top 10 in 22 countries.
If you haven’t guessed already – it is pop legend Shanice – and her daughter Imani lovingly posted the video clip.
She captioned the video: “Watching my mom perform never gets old.”
Singer Shanice signed with the famous Motown records in 1991, where she achieved mainstream successCredit: GettyThe singer released her first album, Discovery in 1987 and it gave her two top 10 R&B hits.Credit: GettyShanice’s 1993 song Saving Forever for You reached number four on the US Billboard Hot 100 ChartCredit: GettyImani said that watching her mom perform never gets oldCredit: Getty
Fans flocked to comment and one wrote: “My favourite song ever!”
Another said: “Shanice I love Your smile hits harder because I do Love Her Smile.”
A third added: “Soundtrack to my childhood.”
While a fourth said: “I freaking love your mom!!! I’m 52 and she’s been on my Playlist for 32 of those years!!! She’s amazing!!! So cool she’s your mom!!”
The singer was also known for her wide beaming smileCredit: GettyHer voice has also been heard on several iconic film soundtracks including Eddie Murphy‘s BoomeranCredit: Getty
Shanice’s 1993 song Saving Forever for You reached number four on the US Billboard Hot 100 Chart.
In 1999 she went onto release When I Close My Eyes which peaked at number 12 on the Billboard hot 100.
KATIE Price has revealed the real reason she is refusing to go back to Dubai – and it has nothing to do with her marriage to Lee Andrews.
The mum-of-five landed back in the UK last week after spending some more time with the self-proclaimed billionaire businessman at his home in the UAE.
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Katie Price has revealed the real reason she won’t go back to Dubai – and it has nothing to do with her marriageCredit: ITVShe has suggested Lee is currently missing in Dubai amid concerns for his whereaboutsCredit: wesleeeandrews/instagram
But now she has revealed she has no plans to return to Dubai – especially after hubby Lee confirmed he would be coming to the UK but failed to show up.
Now, amid a mystery relating to his current whereabouts, with Katie yesterday confirming she had not heard from him in three days and suggested he’d been kidnapped after he claimed to be in the back of a van with his hands tied up, she has revealed the real reason she would not return to Dubai.
And despite her looming marital woes, the answer is all connection to Katie’s work.
She revealed she wants to remain in the UK in order to produce content for her OnlyFans page and safely distribute it and engage with her followers on the platform.
Katie wants to continue to work on OnlyFans – something banned in the strict nation of the UAECredit: GettyShe has only spent time with Lee in the Middle EastCredit: wesleeeandrews/instagram
Posting on the adults-only site is believed to be Katie’s primary source of income – after years of being belaguered with money problems.
Speaking in a YouTube video, Katie said: “I am glad to be back [in the UK].
“When I am out there, I cannot do my OnlyFans.
“I can’t do it when I am in the country there, so I can only do it here.”
She also further revealed how she was also able to produce better quality YouTube content in the UK with her cameraman Ben who does not accompany her to Dubai.
Her YouTube channel is also understood to net Katie a decent sum.
As a result of laws in the United Arab Emeriates, Katie is banned from using OnlyFans.
Whilst the website itself isn’t explicitly banned per se, it can likely only be accessed via a VPN,
Furthermore, in the UAE, the creation, distribution, and promotion of adult content is forbidden by law as a result of the country’s strict policies.
Anyone found to be creating adult content in the country and distributing it can face punishments of lengthy prison stints or a whopping fine of around £102,000.
Despite this, Lee set up his own OnlyFans content and teased raunchy content on the site – despite already claiming to have billions in the back and the laws regarding the matter in the Middle East country.
Katie has had a turbulent weekend after she admitted she had failed to be in touch with Lee for a number of days.
The star insisted he is a “missing person” now and revealed the last time she spoke to him, he had “ties around his hand and was in a van” with a “hood over his head”.
Katie said: “I don’t know where to really begin, but I know there is all this speculation about Lee when I met him but something really serious has happened.
BBC Gardeners’ World presenter Alan Titchmarsh has opened up about the “drastic change” of swapping his Hampshire home for a new property in Surrey with wife Alison
08:23, 17 May 2026Updated 08:30, 17 May 2026
Alan Titchmarsh has opened up about a ‘dramatic change’ with his wife Alison(Image: Getty)
For Alan, this marks just the fourth house move in half a century of married life. The decision to “downsize” came naturally as their daughters have now flown the nest.
The gardening legend has also been mulling over the “planting scheme” for his new outdoor space, which currently boasts a Mediterranean vibe. Alan acknowledges that when tackling a new garden, it’s tempting to opt for minor “tweaks” rather than bold transformations.
Yet the horticultural expert concedes that occasionally it’s “good for us all” to recognise when your plot demands more substantial intervention.
He elaborated: “It’s all too easy, as a gardener schooled in the vital attributes of patience, to value the slowly developing scene in front of one and to resist dramatic changes preferring, instead to do a little tweak here, and adjustment to the planting scheme there. But every now and then it does us good to make a more dramatic change.”
Alan quipped that he wasn’t telling readers to up sticks and relocate, but rather to tackle those neglected corners of their gardens that, “in their heart of hearts” they know they “turn a blind eye to”.
While these spots may no longer “give you joy,” Alan acknowledges it’s tempting to “turn a blind eye” and put things off, reports the Express.
The former Gardeners’ World host has previously likened his plot to a “classic English cottage garden” brimming with “nooks and crannies and beds and borders”. Though he described the woodland encircling the property as being “like a jungle”.
In a past issue of BBC Gardeners’ World magazine, Alan wrote: “Having just taken on an acre of woodland on acid soil, I have the daunting task of rejuvenating a plantation that was established some 50 years ago and which, for perhaps the last 10 years, has ‘got away’.
“Lovely express that: the implication that the plants have yielded to no one in their ability to romp ever upwards to the light, elbowing weaker specimens out of the way. The result? An impenetrable thicket.”
Alan nevertheless confessed he was “excited” to tackle the “once-attractive woodland garden”. Beyond the trees, it boasts an artificial stream bed and a pond “half-filled with water, leaves and that rampant coloniser of damp earth”.
The beloved TV presenter is back on our screens from 9.30am today on ITV One with Alan Titchmarsh’s Love Your Weekend. Joining him will be actor Neil Stuke and actress-singer Marisha Wallace, while florist Jonathan Moseley will be celebrating the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
Maura Higgins has asked a former Strictly Come Dancing pro for help trainingCredit: GettyShe asked former Strictly pro Karen Hauer to help her train for the US version of the showCredit: BBC
Maura is walking away from Love Island USACredit: GettyKaren was axed from Strictly this yearCredit: BBC
Earlier this year Maura, 35, lost out in the final of the US version of The Traitors.
We revealed this week how Maura is walking away from Love IslandUSA.
She revealed that she’s ready for a fresh start after three years.
Speaking to Vulture about whether fans would see her back on screens this summer, she said: “You won’t. I’ve done it for three years, and they’ll always be family to me, but I think it’s time to try something different.
“I’ve got amazing opportunities coming in the door.
“I think it’s time to say good-bye. But you know what? I won’t say forever.”
LOVE Island stars Whitney Adebayo and Yamen Sanders have split after five months.
The pair found love in the ITV All Stars villa in South Africa in January – finishing in fifth place.
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Whitney Adebayo and Yamen Sanders have split after five monthsCredit: InstagramThe pair found love in the ITV All Stars villa in South AfricaCredit: Shutterstock Editorial
However, rumours have swirled of their break-up after the couple were navigating a long-distance relationship.
The singer, whose real name is Darina Yotova, said at a press conference after her win: “I want to thank my husband, because he was the one to push me to come to Eurovision.
Because in the beginning I was not sure if I want to come or not, because I had anxiety and doubt with myself, and he was the one that he just pushed me, and he was like, ‘you need to go right now to Eurovision, right now, pick up your phone tell them you’re going’.”
The UK has received no points from the public vote for the fourth year in a row with the song Eins, Zwei, Drei.
23:58, 16 May 2026Updated 01:05, 17 May 2026
Bulgaria topped the Eurovision leaderboard but the UK was last
The UK was humiliated at the Eurovision Song Contest coming dead last with just one point. The UK has received no points from the public vote for the fourth year in a row at the 2026 final of the Eurovision Song Contest, leaving it in last place.
Look Mum No Computer, whose real name Sam Battle, picked up one point from the jury votes and zero from the public tonight with the song Eins, Zwei, Drei. Three previous UK acts – Remember Monday, Olly Alexander and Mae Muller – also received zero points from the public vote.
Some viewers were fuming with one saying: “SURELY it’s time for the BBC Eurovision team to be overhauled. Enough is enough. Why do we partake just to get 0 televotes every year. Viewers expect UK to be last or thereabouts every time because of the poor reputation the BBC has built up over the years.”
Another wrote: “The UK is home to some of history’s greatest songwriters… Queen, The Beatles, Adele, David Bowie, Elton John, Amy Winehouse, Phil Collins, George Michael, countless others. So why can we never do that heritage proud at Eurovision?”
The UK gave its 12 points to France in the jury vote of the Eurovision 2026 grand final. The result, presented by Strictly Come Dancing star La Voix, also saw Bulgaria awarded 10 points, Czechia awarded eight and Ukraine given seven.
Bulgaria’s Dara won the Eurovision Song Contest with the song Bangaranga, finishing with 516 points, ahead of Israel’s Noam Bettan, with the song Michelle, on 343 points. Romania’s Alexandra Capitanescu, with the song Choke Me, finished third.
Dara said after winning: “I still don’t know what is going on, I want to thank all of the juries who gave us those points, we tried to give our best and I know every artist in this room is special and I got inspired by everybody… y’all amazing.”
UK act Look Mum No Computer appeared to have been ready for a low score, insisting before the competition that he was not worried. The YouTuber, 37, whose real name is Sam Battle, performed the song Eins, Zwei, Drei.
Asked if he has a fear of scoring nothing, he said: “No, in fact, there’s a T-shirt that I’m dreaming of saying, ‘Look Mum, No Points’ There’s an outcome where there’s still fun to be had, even if there is nul points.”
THE UK suffered yet another crushing Eurovision Song Contest defeat in tonight’s grand final.
Look Mum No Computer’s Sam Battle took to the stage to perform his bonkers entry titled Eins, Zwei, Drei.
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Look Mum No Computer’s Sam Battle finished at the bottom of the leaderboardCredit: AFPBulgaria secured the big win with pop singer’s Dara landing in top spotCredit: Getty
But it sadly wasn’t enough to win over the voters – landing just one point from the jury and zero points from the public, placing him in bottom spot.
The competition was won by Bulgaria after 25 acts battled it out on stage in Vienna, Austria at the Wiener Stadthalle.
Sam performed his upbeat hit, which was one of our most unconventional songs ever.
Last year’s UK entry – Remember Monday – finished in 19th place after performing What The Hell Just Happened? – landing zero points from the public.
Dara pipped Israel to take home the trophy for the 70th EurovisionCredit: ReutersSam divided fans with his performance tonightCredit: AFPDelta Goodrem blew fans away with her performance of EclipseCredit: ReutersIsrael’s Noam Bettan finished in second spotCredit: Getty
Pop star Dara’s high-energy song Bangaranga secured her the win.
Singer Dara came just ahead of Israel in the world’s biggest music competition, with an estimated audience of 160million.
Bulgaria’s best result is a second-place finish with Beautiful Mess performed by Kristian Kostov at the 2017 contest in Kyiv.
Dara performed a high pace dance routine while belting out her catchy tune in sync with her back-up dancers.
Strictly star La Voix was the United Kingdom’s very first Eurovision ‘spokesqueen’, and delivered the results of the UK’s National Jury live from Salford.
In an exclusive interview before tonight’s final, Sam said: “There are gonna be people that don’t like the UK for the sake of it being the UK, but that’s the way it is. We can’t change that.
“So we’ve just got to crack on. Keep calm and carry on.”
Due to its German title and lyrics about being “sick of munching roly-poly with custard” — and about how pounds “feel counterfeit” and needing “some euros to counter it” — some have interpreted it as an apology for Brexit.
He is also known for his madcap inventions — such as an organ made from Furbies and a synthesiser-equipped bike — which he shares with 721,000 YouTube subscribers.
Sam, 37, was picked for Eurovision by the BBC at the start of the year having made a name for himself by touring across Europe.
Sam recently admitted to The Sun that his song is like “marmite” and Eurovision fans couldn’t have agreed more.
One viewer wrote: “I can confidently say that the UK won’t be winning this year.”
A second posted: “What the hell was that UK Eurovision entry, looked like they picked the act out a pub raffle.”
A third echoed: “UK every year I think you can get any lower but this time I think you managed to do it.”
During tonight’s competition Israeli singer Noam Bettan performed their song Michelle.
At the start of tonight’s show, Graham Norton mentioned the five countries that had withdrawn from the competition.
He also noted that there was a “mixed response” in the hall, adding: “I’m not quite sure what we’re hearing”.
The crowd then booed when Israel’s entry was awarded a huge public vote – landing then in second spot.
Israel’s participation in the singing competition had sparked controversy.
The Eurovision walkouts followed the European Broadcasting Union’s (EBU) general assembly in Geneva on December 4, 2025.
EBU members voted on new rules to tighten voting and promotion guidelines, but did not put Israel’s participation itself to a separate vote – meaning Israeli broadcaster KAN was cleared to compete.
The boycotters have cited the war in Gaza and concerns over the integrity of recent contests.
Spain was the first of the contest’s Big Five broadcasters – the five biggest financial contributors – to officially confirm it was boycotting Eurovision.
THE glitter has settled, the nerve-shredding votes are in, and Europe has crowned its brand-new pop royalty for 2026.
In a night packed with spectacular high notes, outrageous outfits, and the usual dose of nail-biting voting drama, one country managed to come out on top.
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The Grand Final of the 70th Eurovision Song Contest has come to an endCredit: AP
Whether your favourite act walked away with the grand prize or suffered the absolute dread of the infamous ‘nul points’ the night has not been short of entertainment.
Here is everything you need to know about who won Eurovision, how they managed to pull off the ultimate musical heist, and where the world’s biggest party is heading next year!
Who won Eurovision 2026?
Lifting the iconic glass microphone trophy for 2026 was Bulgaria.
The country came through at the last moment to smash its competitors out of the water on 516 points.
After hearing the result, Dara performed her song Bangaranga for a second time before lifting the iconic glass trophy.
It’s also the first time Bulgaria has ever won the contest.
DARA representing Bulgaria with the song Bangaranga was the winner of the 2026 Eurovision Song ContestCredit: Getty
The UK suffered yet another crushing defeat in tonight’s grand final as Look Mum No Computer’s Sam Battle sadly didn’t do enough to win over the voters.
He ended up with just one point from the jury and zero points from the public, placing him in the bottom spot.
Here is the breakdown of tonight’s votes in full:
JURY VOTES
Bulgaria: 204
Australia: 165
Denmark: 165
France: 144
Finland: 141
Italy: 134
Poland: 133
Israel: 123
Norway: 115
Czechia: 104
Malta: 81
Greece: 73
Romania: 64
Albania: 60
Ukraine: 54
Croatia: 53
Moldova: 43
Cyprus: 41
Serbia: 38
Belgium: 36
Sweden: 35
Germany: 12
Lithuania: 10
United Kingdom: 1
Austria: 1
AUDIENCE VOTES
Bulgaria: 312
Romania: 232
Israel: 220
Moldova: 183
Ukraine: 167
Greece: 147
Italy: 147
Finland: 138
Australia: 122
Albania: 85
Denmark: 78
Croatia: 71
Serbia: 52
Cyprus: 34
Norway: 19
Poland: 17
Sweden: 16
France: 14
Lithuania: 12
Czechia: 9
Malta: 8
Austria: 5
United Kingdom: 0
Germany: 0
Belgium: 0
FINAL RESULTS IN FULL
Bulgaria: 516
Israel: 343
Romania: 296
Australia: 287
Italy: 281
Finland: 279
Denmark: 243
Moldova: 226
Ukraine: 221
Greece: 220
France: 158
Poland: 150
Albania: 145
Norway: 134
Croatia: 124
Czechia: 113
Serbia: 90
Malta: 89
Cyprus: 75
Sweden: 51
Belgium: 36
Lithuania: 22
Germany: 12
Austria: 6
United Kingdom: 1
How was the winner decided?
Countries are unable to vote for themselves, but may vote for countries they consider friends.
This may be because the countries are close geographically, or if the nations have historical links, which could be culturally or in political terms.
The contest has been eager to avoid links to politics, with a view to avoiding bias.
The votes are split between public votes and national juries, often with celebrities from the various countries appearing to confirm where the juries have given their points.
RuPaul’s Drag Race UK and Strictly star, La Voix, announced the UK’s results.
Who will host Eurovision in 2027?
The victorious nation is handed the honour of hosting the following year’s competition.
That means, thanks to Dara’s success this year, Bulgaria will have the chance to welcome all the other competing countries in 2027.
PARIS Fury has revealed why Tommy Fury wasn’t at Venezuela’s wedding after his pregnant fiancée Molly-Mae Hague flew to the venue by private jet.
The proud mother-of-the-bride showered Molly, 26, with praise for going above and beyond to make it to Venezuela’s big day, while Tommy was nowhere to be seen.
Paris Fury said she was very impressed by Molly, who travelled by private jet to the weddingCredit: SplashBambi was one of Venezuela’s bridesmaids for the big dayCredit: Splash
Molly, who is heavily pregnant with her second child, was seen stepping onto the runway with her daughter Bambi, 3, and sister Zoe Rae.
The extravagant soiree is taking place at The Comis Hotel and Resort on the outskirts of Douglas, Isle of Man.
In awe of Molly, Paris told The Sun: “She is incredible. She is being fully supportive, and she is bringing Bambi over, so that Bambi could be a bridesmaid with the kids.
“But I have got to throw her props. She is making that journey while heavily pregnant and I wouldn’t have been able to face that while I was at her term of pregnancy.
Venezuela said ‘I do’ to her husband Noah Price, on the Isle of ManCredit: PP.Molly-Mae’s fiancé, Tommy Fury wasn’t able to join the wedding celebrationsCredit: Splash
“It’s very good,” Paris added.
Molly’s fiancé, Tommy, 27, Tyson’s younger brother, wasn’t able to join in the festivities.
Tommy, who Molly met on the reality TV hit in 2019, had to stay in Manchester for his boxing training camp.
She says: “I’m very glad that they are coming. It means a lot. It’s a big journey for anyone to come from home to here.
Venezuela with husband Noah Price, in a custom-made bridal gownCredit: PP.Molly-Mae and Tommy are expecting their second babyCredit: mollymae/Instagram
“It’s lovely that they are making the effort. It’s lovely that Bambi and the other little girls all get to be bridesmaids. They are all cousins and it’s sweet that they‘ll make memories together.”
Bambi is one of 13 of the child bridesmaids, including Venezuela’s little sisters Valencia, eight, and Athena, including four of Noah’s cousins, and family members, as well as five grown up bridesmaids.
Venezuela revealed: “I chose powder blue cupcake dresses for the little ones, they’re really cute, and fitted gowns for my friends.”
Paris said: “Evangeline Designs in Liverpool made the bridesmaid dresses and every day there it was like, ‘There’s a new little dress, there’s a new dress there’s a new dress, because we ended up having a few extra little bridesmaids’.
“They’re wearing flowers in their hair.”
Paris revealed: “We found £120 shoes for the little ones, and the only shoes we found in the right shade of blue for the women were stunning shoes that were £13 from Shein.”
Paris stored all the wedding party outfits in a specially allocated wedding room in the basement of their home.
Paris and Venezuela thoughtfully put together goodie bags, which included diamante Primark flip flops, matching pyjamas, a hairbrush, sweets, Doll beauty make up and a “little dolly” for each of the younger bridesmaids.
And it wasn’t just the women who dazzled on Venezuela’s big day. The men were looking just as dapper.
“The men are in black tuxedos, Tyson too and Noah is in an ivory tuxedo. Noah picked it,” Paris said.
“Collecting everything wasn’t easy. I felt like I was doing circles on ferries with carloads.”
The Eurovision Song Consest has closed out its milestone seventieth year as another winner of the international competition has been confirmed after a close call
00:04, 17 May 2026Updated 00:17, 17 May 2026
Bulgaria has won the Eurovision Song Contest(Image: Jessica Gow/TT/Shutterstock)
Bulgaria has won the Eurovision Song Contest. Singer DARA, 27, had been representing the country with Bangaranga and managed to reign supreme in the international competition by accumulating 516 points in total.
To cheers from around the stadium in Vienna, she then performed the track once again to close out the contest, and, in the process, confirming that it will all take place in Bulgaria next year. Just moments before her big win, DARA admitted: “Honey, I still do not know what’s going on.
“I want to thank everyone who gave us those points, we really tried to give our best. Thank you so much for the whole show.”
Last year’s winner, JJ, then presented the trophy as he screamed: “Oh my god, I love you, congratulations girl!” It all got tense in the last few moments as it was either going to be Israel or Bulgaria but, in the end, Bulgaria stormed ahead with having been awarded an incredible amount of points.
Things didn’t end so well for the United Kingdom as Look Mum No Computer crashed out of the competition with just one point.
The YouTuber, whose real name Sam Battle, picked up one point from the jury votes and zero from the public tonight. Three previous acts – Remember Monday, Olly Alexander and Mae Muller – also received zero points from the public vote.
The UK gave its 12 points to France in the jury vote of the Eurovision 2026 grand final. The result, presented by Strictly Come Dancing star La Voix, also saw Bulgaria awarded 10 points, Czechia awarded eight and Ukraine given seven.
The social media star was fairly optimistic just hours beforehand, but it just wasn’t to be. Asked if he has a fear of scoring nothing, he said: “No, in fact, there’s a T-shirt that I’m dreaming of saying, ‘Look Mum, No Points’ There’s an outcome where there’s still fun to be had, even if there is nul points.”
Sam admitted that while it was a “very risky” track to put forward to represent the nation, he is confident that he has put a lot of effort into making it right for the big night.
Speaking to The Sun, he added: “It’s got a good ring to it, even though I have a feeling in my crystal ball, I might be wrong — and don’t hold me to this — I do think we’re gonna get points.
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It’s not merely trendy psychologizing to salute the qualities of a sturdy tree: a humbling reminder of time’s immensity, but also a living embodiment of shelter, change and growth. Leave it, then, to a massive gingko on the grounds of a medieval German town’s college to cosmically center the three-pronged, multi-generational character study “Silent Friend” from Hungarian filmmaker Ildikó Enyedi.
Enyedi, from her mesmeric, calling-card period lark “My Twentieth Century” to the eccentric love story “On Body and Soul,” has always been preoccupied with that realm in which the everyday meets the all-seeing and possibility is awakened. So it shouldn’t surprise anyone that she’d give a starring role to a 200-year-old tree, which just may inspire the needed answers. And why not? Our living, “breathing,” sky-reaching neighbors have considerable communication skills with each other.
Our entryway is a modern day neuroscientist played by Tony Leung Chiu-wai (and called Tony), who arrives at the University of Marburg as a visiting professor ready to further his groundbreaking research into the mysteries of infant brain development. The gig becomes a lonely endeavor, however, when the pandemic hits and he’s confined to a depopulated campus, sent unwillingly into a kind of monkhood.
It’s as if the nearby natural world, photographed by Gergely Pálos and edited by Károly Szalai, was just waiting for such a solitary moment to draw Tony’s undivided attention into the prospect of green intelligence.
In tandem, Enyedi transports us to 1908 to meet aspiring botanist Grete (Luna Wedler), the university’s first female student, subjected to cruelly patronizing treatment by smug male elders, yet driven to see plants anew when introduced to the light-capturing rigor of photography. The movie’s third woven-in protagonist is a wide-eyed, resourceful farm boy, Hannes (Enzo Brumm), in 1972. While his fellow students spark to the winds of political change and sexual freedom, he becomes fixated on what a lone geranium, imaginatively monitored on its windowsill, might have to convey if given the chance.
The fluid, idiosyncratic charm of “Silent Friend” — which never feels like two and a half hours — is in Enyedi’s heartfelt belief that curiosity is simply a garden that grows progress. It doesn’t hurt, of course, that this veteran dreamweaver’s key cast are entrancing, inviting specimens themselves, led by an inner glow of compassion in Leung that feels like its own natural energy source. When his character contacts Léa Seydoux’s French plant expert, it becomes almost too much rapturously intelligent star wattage for one quietly poetic movie, even if these god-tier actors are just zooming and talking shop.
Hardly anything is overdone here and, in one essential way, Enyedi is also making the case for movies themselves as phenomena to protect and treasure: ecosystems of light, texture, wonder and nourishment. Visually, the film toggles between intimate 35mm black-and-white, grainy 16mm color and multi-purpose digital cameras that visually represent distinct eras. Needless to say, that gingko tree is sublime and majestic in all of them.
‘Silent Friend’
In German and English, with subtitles
Not rated
Running time: 2 hours, 27 minutes
Playing: Opens Friday, May 15 at Laemmle Royal and AMC Burbank Town Center 8
Brian Lindstrom, a filmmaker whose documentaries shined a light on society’s underdogs and inspired social change, has died. He was 65.
Lindstrom’s wife, author Cheryl Strayed, confirmed the news on Instagram Friday.
“Brian Lindstrom died this morning the way he lived — with gentleness and courage, grace and gratitude for his beautiful life,” she wrote. “Our children, Carver and Bobbi, and I held him as he took his last breath and we will hold him forever in our hearts. The only thing more immense than our sorrow that Progressive Supranuclear Palsy took our beloved Brian from us is the endless love we have for him.”
According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, PSP is caused by damage to nerve cells in areas of the brain that control thinking and body movements. The rare neurological disease progresses rapidly.
Strayed, who penned the bestselling memoir “Wild,” which was later adapted for the big screen and starred Reese Witherspoon, announced just weeks ago that Lindstrom had been diagnosed “with a serious, fatal illness.”
Lindstrom was born Feb. 12, 1961. The son of a bartender and a liquor salesman, he was raised in Portland, Ore. — which he and his family still called home.
He was the first member of his family to attend college, which he paid for by taking out student loans, landing work-study jobs and working summers in a salmon cannery in Cordova, Alaska. During a 2013 TEDx Talk, Lindstrom said that after he’d exhausted all the video production classes at Portland’s Lewis & Clark College, his professor Stuart Kaplan gave him a gift certificate to a class at the Northwest Film Center. There, Lindstrom made a short film about his grandpa that landed him a spot in the MFA program at Columbia University.
It was a train trip with his grandpa that inspired Lindstrom to tackle challenging topics with a lens that restored dignity to his subjects. His grandpa was a binge-drinker, and on day three of the trip, he woke up with a hangover and was missing his dentures. Lindstrom, only 5 at the time, noticed the way other passengers treated him and his grandpa differently.
“I think what my films are about is that search for my grandfather’s dentures, the humanizing narrative that bridges the gap between us and them and arrives at we,” he said.
Lindstrom said he returned to Portland after film school and “did several projects with the Northwest Film Center that had me putting a camera in the hands of kids on probation, homeless teens, newly recovering addicts, hard-hit people who had hard-hitting stories to share.”
“Those projects taught me so much about the transformative power of art, and they gave me permission I felt in my personal films to ask people if I might follow them, so that an audience could better understand what they were going through, and by extension, better understand themselves,” he said.
Lindstrom’s 2007 award-winning cinéma-vérité-style film, “Finding Normal,” followed long-term drug addicts as they left prison or detox and tried to rebuild their lives with the help of a recovery mentor.
“What I’m most proud about is that ‘Finding Normal’ is the only film to ever be shown to inmates in solitary confinement at Oregon State Penitentiary, and not, I might add, as a punishment,” Lindstrom said.
In 2013, he released “Alien Boy: The Life and Death of James Chasse,” a documentary that illuminated the life of a man who grappled with schizophrenia and examined his death, which happened in police custody. Discussing the film with LA Progressive in 2018, Lindstrom said that he doesn’t make films for audiences.
“I make them for the people in the film. It is my small way of honoring them,” he told the outlet. “That doesn’t mean I don’t delve into dark areas or that I ignore that person’s struggles. I’m much more concerned with trying to achieve an honest depiction of that person’s life than I am with any potential audience reaction.”
Lindstrom’s work aimed to inspire empathy and humanize those suffering in the margins of society, but it also catalyzed policy change. His acclaimed 2015 documentary, “Mothering Inside,” followed participants in the Family Preservation Project (FPP), an initiative helping incarnated moms establish and maintain bonds with their children.
Midway through filming the documentary, the Oregon Department of Corrections announced it planned to nix funding for the FPP. Lindstrom hosted early screenings of the film, which inspired grassroots advocacy that reached then-Gov. Kate Brown, who subsequently signed legislation that restored funding. The film’s release also helped make Oregon the first state in the U.S. to pass a bill of rights for children of incarcerated parents.
Partnering with Strayed, Lindstrom made the documentary short, “I Am Not Untouchable. I Just Have My Period,” for the New York Times in 2019. The film highlighted the experience of teen girls in Surkhet, Nepal, and the menstrual stigma they faced. Most recently, the filmmaker released, “Lost Angel: The Genius of Judee Sill,” which examined the folk-rock singer’s life from her traumatic childhood and drug-addled adolescence through her rise in the Laurel Canyon music scene and untimely death.
Lindstrom, discussing “Judee Sill” and his style as a filmmaker, told Oregon ArtsWatch, “It’s the chance to kind of focus on the question: What does it mean to be human? The person that the film is about, what can they teach us, what can we learn from them? What can they learn from themselves?”
In 2017, Lindstrom received the Civil Liberties Award from the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon for his work advancing civil rights and liberties. That same year, he received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Lewis & Clark College.
In Strayed’s post announcing Lindstrom’s death, she described their more than 30-year partnership as a stroke of “tremendous luck.”
“We loved each other and our kids with deep devotion and true delight. He was a stellar husband. He was the most magnificent dad. He was a man whose every word and deed was driven by kindness, compassion, and generosity,” she wrote. “He saw the goodness in everyone. He believed that we are all sacred and redeemable.
“His work as a documentary filmmaker was dedicated to telling stories of people who, as he put it, ‘society puts an X through.’ He erased that X with his camera and his astonishing heart.”
Strayed’s memoir — which followed her as she hiked 1,100 miles along the Pacific Crest Trail in the wake of her mother’s death, a battle with drug addiction and divorce from her first husband — concludes with a happy ending. She finished the months-long hike and sat on a white bench near the Bridge of the Gods, a stone’s throw from the spot where, she writes, she’d marry Lindstrom four years later.
“His greatest legacy is Carver and Bobbi, who embody everything good and true about their father. Their extraordinary grace, courage, and fortitude during this harrowing time was unfaltering and grounded in the undying love Brian poured into them every day of their lives,” she wrote. “We do not know how we will live without him. We’re utterly bereft. We can only walk this dark path and search for the beauty Brian knew was there. It will be his eternal light that guides us.”
The television industry has changed dramatically over the last decade, but one tradition that won’t die is the annual gathering of ad-buying execs in Manhattan to hear the pitches of networks and streamers looking to sell their commercial time.
This past week’s lavish presentations, known as the upfronts, included the usual array of big-name actors (Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jennifer Lopez), NFL legends (Tom Brady and Mike Tomlin) and “Real Housewives,” past and present.
Jennifer Lopez and Brett Goldstein speak onstage during the 2026 Netflix Upfront at Sunset Pier 94 Studios on May 13.
(Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Netflix)
The selling buzzwords are far different from the days when the presentations were a vehicle for networks to boast about their ratings and present new program line-ups. The 2026 upfronts talked a lot about “connections” and “community” as the personalized nature of TV viewing brought on by streaming video-on-demand has been fully integrated into the buying and selling of commercials.
“Three of us could be watching the same show, maybe at a different time, maybe at the same time, but receive very different advertising based on what ad technologies, know about us as an audience segment,” said Josh Mattison, executive vice president of digital revenue pricing, planning and operations for Walt Disney Co. “The old model would be, hey, did 10 million people watch this ad? I think the new model is, which 10 million people watch this ad.”
Here’s a sampling of what ad executives were seeing and hearing this week:
Using new ad tools that target viewers
Every company presentation touted advancements in the ability to target consumers now that advertising has become the main source of revenue growth in the streaming business. They also played up new services — such as NBC’s Performance Insights Hub — providing advertisers with up to date information on the effectiveness of their advertising so they can adjust accordingly.
Streamers can take the consumer research collected by advertisers and align them with the viewing habits of their subscribers. The data are analyzed in a secure room to protect consumer privacy.
Netflix doesn’t ask subscribers for personal information in the sign-up process, as it can discourage people from buying the service. But the company does use the viewer habits on the platform to help advertisers reach the customers they seek.
“We are seeing where there is overlap and use that to help our advertisers target better,” Amy Reinhard, president of advertising for Netflix, told The Times. “It’s all based on viewer preferences.”
Every company is turning to AI to respond to the needs of advertisers. NBC now offers them the chance to insert commercials that relate to the action seen on the screen during live sports events.
Creators are going mainstream
YouTube’s annual upfront gatherings used to have the feel of an alternative show business universe, with personalities who built their rabid followings on the streaming platform far away from the audiences for traditional TV.
Now creators such as the sports stunt group Dude Perfect have their own studios. Beast Industries, the corporate home of MrBeast, held its own invitation-only breakfast for marketing executives at a high-end New York venue . YouTube stars, such as Jesser, are landing shows on other platforms.
At YouTube’s presentation at Lincoln Center, longtime favorites such as “Call Her Daddy” podcast mogul Alex Cooper and “SubwayTakes” host Kareem Rhama appeared on stage to announce new projects on the platform, looking more like established show producers rather than social media renegades.
Ten years ago, YouTube advertisers had to worry about their spots running next to Islamic State videos. Now it’s become common for marketers to embrace YouTube stars and fully integrate products and messages into their programs.
“When creators talk about your products on YouTube, viewers are 13 times more likely to search for your brands and five times more likely to buy,” said Paul Downey, president of Americas & Global Partners for YouTube.
Mary Ellen Coe, chief business officer for YouTube, told The Times that advertisers can determine if a creator is right for their brand by looking at audience numbers, subscriber data and comments from their communities of fans. But many have their own personal focus groups at home that introduce the hottest YouTube personalities.
“Most of these advertisers have children and teenagers and they go nuts for them,” Coe said.
“My kids don’t watch TV — they watch YouTube,” said Anthony Pedalino, vice president and head of media investment at the ad buying firm Giant Spoon. “So I think this is a bit of future proofing.”
Other companies are seeking creators for their platform.
Amazon Prime Video introduced an alternative feed of some of its NBA games on its streaming platform Twitch, which will turn them into a “CreatorCast.” The streamers who are regulars on the site call the action live in an effort to bring in younger fans. The format will be used in WNBA games in the league’s new season.
Fox touted its creator initiative that develops programs for Tubi, the company’s fast-growing ad-supported streaming platform that now has 100 million active users. The company also has a partnership with TikTok to support creators who want to turn their short-form clips into full-length programs.
There’s always room for comfort food
Amid all the innovations in ad buying and audience measurement presented during the week, many of the programs and personalities offered up by the major networks and streamers were extremely familiar.
“They may be resigned to the fact that people are going to go to emerging platforms for more niche and esoteric programs,” Pedalino said.
Oprah Winfrey made an entrance on the Beacon Theatre stage to promote the move of her podcasts to Amazon Prime Video.
Disney rolled out the cast of “Scrubs” to announce another 10-episode order of the early 2000s sitcom for Hulu. The series had a successful reboot as Gen Z viewers continue to devour vintage programs. Amazon Prime announced “The Greatest,” a Michael B. Jordan-produced mini-series on legendary heavyweight fighter Muhammad Ali, not exactly uncharted territory.
Fox introduced a reboot of “Baywatch,” which was canceled after a single season on NBC in 1990, but went on to become a worldwide hit in syndication over the decade that followed. The slow-motion shots of toned lifeguard bodies running into Venice beach waters are coming back without a hint of irony.
Netflix brought out the set of “Pop Culture Jeopardy” at its presentation at Sunset Pier 94 Studios, NBC previewed comedies with proven prime time stars and touted its 100th anniversary which will be celebrated with an old-fashioned variety special later this year.
For more than 40 years, Barry Walters has been closely watching the dance floors of New York and San Francisco, chronicling the ways in which LGBTQ+ culture has influenced mainstream culture. As a writer for the Village Voice, the Advocate and Spin, among others, Walters became one of music journalism’s most eloquent and crucial voices, championing artists like the Pet Shop Boys and Madonna during their formative years.
Walters’ new book, “Mighty Real,” draws on his deep firsthand knowledge, offering a comprehensive history of LGBTQ+ music from 1969 to 2000. I recently spoke with Walters about Babs, Madge and Bowie.
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✍️ Author Chat
In the book, you make a distinction between pre-Stonewall LGBTQ music and post-Stonewall LGBTQ music.
Gay culture before Stonewall really had to be hidden, or at least secretive. I think of Barbra Streisand as a quintessential pre-Stonewall figure. Judy Garland, as well. These women are tough, and even though they sing songs written by men, it’s not in a submissive way. They are singing like they are the champions, even when they are suffering through what men do to women through the torch songs they perform.
What can you say about the encoded nature of certain songs that spoke to gay culture in a way that flew under the radar of hetero listeners in the pre-Stonewall era?
The music that spoke to gay culture, by necessity, had to be encoded. “Secret Love” by Doris Day is a good example. It’s about struggling to have something that’s otherwise forbidden. Sinead O’Connor covered that song. There was a song I loved as a young child called “Have I The Right?” by the Honeycombs, which was written by two British gay men at a time when homosexuality was illegal in England. You know, have I the right to be with whomever I want to be with?
What, in your view, was the big bang of post-Stonewall LGBTQ music?
David Bowie to a large degree. Right around the time that “Hunky Dory” was being released in 1971, he told the Evening Standard newspaper that he was gay, flat out just said it. And it was such a strange thing to say that many people doubted his sincerity.
Barry Walters, a writer for the Village Voice, the Advocate and Spin, among others, wrote a new book about the history of LGBTQ+ music.
(Kelly Lawrence for Walters)
I remember seeing Bowie wearing that dress on the cover of “The Man Who Sold The World,” thinking that was the most transgressive act any rock star had ever committed.
And then he performed “Starman” on Top of the Pops in 1972 and he put his arm around his guitarist Mick Ronson, who also looked gorgeous. They were displaying a familiarity men aren’t supposed to have.
I thought I knew everything about pop music, but you have uncovered so many fascinating stories. Tell me about Olivia Records.
Olivia Records was an independent record label in the Bay Area owned and controlled by lesbians for female artists. This is years before punk or indie rock, when so many small labels cropped up. They pioneered so much. They would recruit fans in different cities to man the merchandise and to help get their records in stores. The idea of a merch table was something new at the time. They also created the forerunner of Burning Man. They would go find a farm somewhere and create an impromptu village, with food, sanitation and the rest.
You have given the most space in your book to Madonna, whom you have written about extensively over the years. Why is Madonna such a huge figure in the history of LGBTQ music?
Her art is so queer. I feel like she is one of us. She’s very much like Grace Jones, in that her sensibility is so aligned with gay culture. I related to Madonna on multiple levels. In the early ‘80s, I would see her around town, dancing at the same New York clubs I was frequenting, like Danceteria. She was steeped in gay culture, and then she brought all of this into the mainstream, and that was profound. I also feel like she was misunderstood in many ways. When straight men called her a slut, things like that. That is so far from the truth. She is such a complex artist. If you are making that claim, you don’t know anything about her.
(This Q&A was edited for length and clarity.)
📰 The Week(s) in Books
(Javier Pérez / For The Times)
Pulitzer prize winner Elizabeth Strout has a new novel called “The Things We Never Say,” and Julia M. Klein approves. “[Strout] reprises her familiar themes: the mysteries of human personality, the perils of solitude, the occasional possibility of grace … in deceptively simple, occasionally mannered prose that draws readers in and immerses them in her fictional worlds,” Klein writes.
They’re on a boat! Paula L. Woods climbed aboard a 130-foot yacht in Marina del Rey to soak in the vibes of the Yacht Girls Book Club. “I wanted conversations with like-minded women that were intellectual but fun,” club founder Aloni Ford told Woods. “And talking about books seemed to be the ideal way to achieve that.”
“PEN15” co-creator Anna Konkle has written a memoir called “The Sane One,” and Rachel Brodsky talked to her about it. “In some ways, ‘PEN15’ was a reaction to loving memoirs,” she tells Brodsky. “Raw memory has always been very exciting to me.”
Finally, our Times critics take the measure of this summer’s hottest beach reads.
📖 Bookstore Faves
Kinokuniya bookstores sell Japanese manga, stationery and literature.
(Courtesy of Kinokuniya)
When Kinokuniya opened its first L.A. shop in 1977, it was primarily to provide Japanese expats with imported books and magazines to read in their native tongue. Forty years later, the store has become a locus of Japanese printed matter for Angelenos eager to scoop up Japanese literature and manga in Japanese and English, as well an expansive selection of imported stationery products that, in L.A., can only be found in Kinokuniya’s three stores. I spoke with Sakura Yamaguchi, who manages two of Kinokuniya’s stores downtown (the third is in Mar Vista) about its many-splendored pleasures.
How did the store travel from Japan to Los Angeles?
Books Kinokuniya was founded by Moichi Tanabe in 1927. Located in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo in a two-story wooden building, the first Kinokuniya started with five employees, including Mr. Tanabe himself. In 1969, Kinokuniya opened its first overseas bookstore in San Francisco. The first Los Angeles store opened in 1977.
Who are your customers?
We first started as a store for Japanese customers, so we imported Japanese books and magazines and sold them, mainly. But in the past 10 years, Japanese manga/anime, stationery and literature has been quite popular in the U.S. Therefore our customers are a mix of Japanese-speaking customers and non-Japanese speakers who are interested in Japanese culture.
What percentage of your clientele buys Japanese–language products?
Forty percent Japanese-language products versus 60% English books.
What specific titles are selling for you right now?
Are you seeing more young people turning to printed matter? It seems like there is an analog revival at the moment.
We have been trying to make exclusive editions that come with freebies to make the printed manga more attractive, but without that our English manga sales have been increasing and our main target for the manga is young people. There are many titles that are published exclusively in e-book format, but we frequently hear from customers asking when they will be released in print form. Also, recently there has been a growing number of cases where titles that were originally available only in digital format have later been published as physical books.
Kinokuniya at the Bloc in Los Angeles is located at 700 W 7th St.
(Please note: The Times may earn a commission through links to Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores.)
Sam Battle married his wife Melanie in 2012Credit: Instagram
But the competition gets real this evening for Sam Battle, who is representing the UK with his single Eins, Zwei, Drei, because there can only be one winner.
Speaking about Eurovision in a press conference ahead of the final, the artist said: “It has been a lot of work, especially as I have just become a new dad at the same time as prepping for Eurovision.”
On his YouTube channel with more than 700k subscribers, he posts videos about making pro audio gear and synthesizers, as well as original music tracks.
The YouTuber also runs This Museum Is Not Obsolete, a museum in Ramsgate, Kent, showcasing vintage devices repurposed for comic uses.
Sam has been curious about mechanics since early childhood, when he spent much of his time building rockets and robots.
After starting a university course in chemistry, he realised that he “was really not cut out for that” and switched to a music tech course instead.
However, he still quit his studies halfway through to join a music band in London for three years.
Stuck with an album that wasn’t being released and no gigs, Sam used this time to learn electronics.
He worked in numerous jobs, from fixing bicycles at Halfords to cooking in a restaurant, before before setting up indie-rock group ZIBRA with his three friends.
They performed at the Glastonbury Festival in 2015 as the final act on the BBC Introducing stage.
The musician launched his YouTube channel in 2013, primarily posting content for the the band — until its end in 2016 when he switched to his solo music project.
His younger sister Jodie Bartle, who appears in the music clip for Eins, Zwei, Drei by Look Mum No Computer, plays football for Wrexham.
In 2025, Sam developed a video game in collaboration with German indie studio The Bitfather and publisher Headup Games.
The game, called Look Mum No Computer, was nominated for the German Developer Award for Best Audio Design.
Who is Look Mum No Computer’s wife Melanie?
Sam Battle has been married to his wife Melanie for more than a decade.
On her Instagram, Melanie shared that she met Sam after “nicking a piece of plastic from outside of [his] house”.
The couple tied the knot in 2012 and have three children together.
Originally from Manchester, Melania King now lives in Ramsgate, KentCredit: Facebook
Dr Melanie King is an awarded artist and curator based in Ramsgate who specialises in astronomy, alternative and analogue photography.
She works as a co-director of Lumen Studios, an art collective exploring the themes of astronomy and light, and super/collider, an independent agency that “celebrates and champions the connections between science, creativity and culture”.
In 2013, Melanie founded the London Alternative Photography Collective, which has grown from a small group of analogue and alternative photography practitioners to a collective producing large-scale symposiums, exhibitions and workshops.
Recently completing her PhD in Fine Art at the Royal College of Art, the mum-of-three also teaches Photography at Canterbury Christ Church University.
The couple welcomed their baby boy Max in April 2026, as Sam had been working hard on his performance in the iconic song contest.
On his Instagram page, the musician has recently posted more photos of the baby, adding: “Not long till he (Max) will be holding a soldering iron and helping!”
After Connor Cooper, 33, appeared on ITV’s Deal or No Deal, he said feeling like a ‘TV star’ lead him to become addicted to cocaine, with the contestant spending up to £600 a week on the substance
18:09, 16 May 2026Updated 18:09, 16 May 2026
Stephen Mulhern hosts the game show(Image: ITV)
A former Deal or No Deal contestant has blamed becoming a “TV star” for him developing a £600-a-week cocaine habit. Connor Cooper, 33, claims to have come across a “huge pile” of the drug while partying near to the hotel he and the rest of the contestants of the ITV game show were staying in.
Connor explained that one night, he had been out drinking with the rest of the contestants, and after drinking shots and cocktails all night, decided to give the drug a go. But after taking it, he couldn’t sleep – having got back to his hotel room at 7am, he was picked up at 8am to film the show.
He and some of the other contestants were exhausted, with Connor admitting he was “completely wired” during filming. But it didn’t put the dad-of-one off, with Connor saying he went on to become hooked, saying he was “living in the moment” and had a taste of “the showbiz life”.
Speaking to the Sun, Connor explained: “I was dreading that show going out. I was still completely wired when we filmed and we recorded three games that day.”
Contestants on Deal or No Deal can be living with each other for up to a month, as they return in their bid to win big on the game show. Connor said that this lead to him and the others drinking together, with the “party culture” sucking him in.
He said he would order it secretly to keep himself going, but then he wouldn’t sleep again and have to return to the studios to film the day after. Then they would drink again that evening and he would “do it all over again”, with each contestant allowed two free drinks per day.
But then when he started drinking he would continue out of his own money, adding: “I just thought I was a TV star and dived in with both feet. It was really stupid.”
Connor went on to win £13,500 on Deal or No Deal, and returned to Portsmouth where he worked as a tarmac layer. A month after returning, when Connor was still buying and using cocaine, he found out his long-term partner was pregnant with twins, something he describes as a “wake-up call”
He told her everything and with her support he managed to seek professional help to kick his dangerous and expensive habit. Connor said he didn’t seek help with ITV’s mental health services. The Mirror has contacted Banijay for comment.
In response to the paper, a Deal Or No Deal spokesperson said: “We have a zero-tolerance policy on drug use on all our productions. Contestants stay at the hotel for short periods of time whilst filming and are closely monitored by a specialist welfare team throughout. Having reviewed logs of activity and welfare assessments, we can find no record of any behaviour that would cause concern.”
A TikTok star has shared her experience of auditioning for Britain’s Got Talent as a child
BGT has been a hit with fans for almost two decades (Image: ITV)
A former Britain’s Got Talent hopeful has revealed the surprising reality she encountered behind the scenes.
The ITV talent show has captivated audiences since launching nearly 20 years ago. Throughout its run, countless aspiring performers have tried their luck, including TikTok personality Emily Jade.
The food and lifestyle content creator took her shot at stardom aged just eight, though her dreams were dashed when she realised she wouldn’t be performing before Simon and the celebrity judging panel.
In a candid TikTok video, Emily recalled: “When I was eight, I randomly decided one day that I was an amazing singer and I was gonna be a pop star. So I decided to audition for Britain’s Got Talent. This was actually really unexpected for me because I was a really shy child, I never put my hand up at school – I was really shy.”
Detailing how she secured her audition slot, she added: “My mum was obviously like, ‘yeah Emily, go for it’, like, encouraging me, because this was out of my character. So, I applied for Britain’s Got Talent online, and then they actually accepted me. I got a letter saying, ‘You’re going to be on Britain’s Got Talent’.”
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Emily continued: “I remember the months leading up to this audition, I was singing in front of all my family members, in front of everyone in my class. This was out of character. Everyone was probably laughing at me because I was horrendously bad at singing.
“And the song I decided to sing was ‘This is Me’ from Camp Rock. So, the day finally comes, and we travel to London, and I remember waiting for hours, and then I was going into these, like, private rooms and, like, practising singing.”
Yet, mere moments before stepping up for her audition, she was crushed to learn the famous panel wouldn’t be watching her performance.
She explained: “Finally, my time comes, and they call me into this room, and I was expecting, guys, this is where you’re gonna be disappointed. I was expecting Simon Cowell- all the judges, I was expecting that.
“I got there, and there were just four random people sitting on a judge’s desk. I don’t remember who they were, I have no idea. I remember they were also filming me; they had a camera as well, and my dad was allowed to come into the room with me when I auditioned.
“And then I just stood there with no music and sang, This is me from Camp Rock. When I auditioned and left that room 100%, they definitely laughed at me. They looked at each other, and they probably went ‘bless her. What is she doing here?'”
Sadly, Emily’s performance didn’t win over the show’s producers, and she missed out on progressing to the televised stages.
“My audition was over, and I think I was only in there for like a minute. Long story short, I waited two months and got a letter saying I didn’t get through to the next round, of course, because I was so bad.”
She added: I’m sorry if you’re expecting some amazing story, and I got through, like, 10 rounds. I didn’t even make it through the 1st round. So the singing career stopped there, and I never sang again.”
Britain’s Got Talent airs Saturdays at 7pm on ITV and ITVX.
