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Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman are leaving Strictly Come Dancing the 2025 series draws to a close

Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman’s “true feelings: about leaving Strictly Come Dancing might have been uncovered.

The beloved hosting duo shocked fans back in October when they announced that they would be stepping down from the programme at the end of the current series.

They have fronted the BBC programme together since 2014, with Claudia replacing Sir Bruce Forsyth, who presented the original series with Tess from 2004.

Tess previously took to Instagram to share a statement, and was showered in support from fans and friends alike. She wrote: “After 21 unforgettable years, the time has come to say goodbye to Strictly Come Dancing.”

The star added: “This isn’t a goodbye to glitter, sequins, or Saturday night sparkle (I could never say goodbye to those!). Strictly will forever hold a special place in my heart – but it does feel like the right time to hand over the reins.”

Tess and Claudia will present their last live show tonight (Saturday, December 20), as Strictly returns to screens for this year’s grand final. The pair will then appear on the show’s festive special on Christmas Day, where they will take part in a memorable performance.

Now, a body language expert has examined Tess and Claudia’s recent TV appearances and pointed to subtle gestures that hint at unease behind the scenes.

Speaking on behalf of Betfair Casino, Darren Stanton explained that the pair’s body language suggests that they are nervous ahead of their Strictly exit.

“What stands out for me when I watch Tess and Claudia discuss their departure in interviews is how their posture, voices, and micro-expressions always soften more than usual. It’s clear they are masking a good deal of emotion beneath a very controlled surface. From a body-language perspective, it doesn’t read like a light or casual decision,” he said.

“There are clear signs of nerves from both of them about the future, visible in subtle cues such as lip biting, the way they look at each other, and how they turn toward one another when discussing their departure, almost as if they are operating as a single unit.

“It doesn’t seem to be apprehension about the future itself, but about the difficulty of leaving something familiar.

“Tess, who has been part of the show for a long time, shows small gestures and micro expressions of nerves, like wringing her hands. Claudia shows similar gestures, proving that they both feel the impact of leaving the show.”

Since the announcement of Tess and Claudia’s exits, speculation has been swirling over who could step into their shoes, with Zoe Ball, Janette Manrara, Fleur East and Rylan Clark all in the running.

Tonight, Karen Carney, Amber Davies and George Clarke will battle it out for the chance to lift this year’s Glitterball Trophy. They will each perform three dances in the hopes of impressing the judges and voting public. These include a Showdance, Judges’ Choice, and their favourite routine from the series.

Strictly Come Dancing is available to stream on BBC iPlayer

After two turbulent years with Eamonn Holmes at GMTV, Anthea Turner walked away from the show on Christmas Eve 1996 – she still believes his envy of her National Lottery show was the problem

A popular television presenter who worked with Eamonn Holmes says there was almost instant friction when she joined him on an iconic daytime TV show.

Eamonn has been one of the most recognisable stars on British television for decades and has worked with a long line of famous faces, including his ex-wife, Ruth Langsford.

But he hasn’t jelled with every colleague he has ever worked with. According to Anthea Turner, Eamonn took exception to her background when she joined him on the GMTV sofa in 1994.

“Eamonn is a trained journalist and I’m not,” she told The Times. “That caused tension from the start… The other thing was I didn’t have my ass on that sofa for very long before I was asked to present the National Lottery too, and I think that also annoyed him.”

Anthea’s first lottery show appearance attracted a huge TV audience of around 22million. Eamonn reportedly lobbied GMTV bosses to get her sacked, accusing her of being “too ambitious” and giving her the disparaging nickname ‘Princess Tippy Toes.’

She told The Sun: “I was always asked if I was ambitious and, if I said yes, I was made out to be a ruthless person who would walk over anybody to get where I wanted. It would be said that I was hormonal, or I was stamping my feet.’

She added: “And yet ask that question to a man, and if he’s ambitious, we think: ‘What a guy’. You’d never hear anyone say that about Eamonn or Phillip Schofield. No, they’re just doing their job.”

Anthea walked away from the “toxic” situation at GMTV on Christmas Eve 1996. Over a decade later, the former Blue Peter presenter said she was still “hurt” by the way she was perceived.

Speaking on the Miranda Holder Weekly Fashion Podcast, she said: “I haven’t weighed myself down with anything from the past, or any of that negativity.

“Nobody likes injustice, nobody wants to be misrepresented. It hurts, it really hurts.”

In a televised reunion in 2018, Anthea said that she had mixed feelings about Eamonn, saying: “There is a fine line between hate and love isn’t there? We were chatting in the break, Eamonn and I are a bit lazy and it’s easier to stay friends.”

Her remarks sparked a somewhat tense atmosphere in the This Morning studio, with Eamonn’s then-wife Ruth Langsford visibly taking exception to Anthea calling him her “ex.”

Ruth stressed that she and Eamonn were “properly married,” before Anthea interrupted her, saying: “Ah but we were telly husband and wife.”

While Anthea and Eamonn were said to have put an end to their bitter feud with her This Morning appearance, she later said that any talk of a friendship was exaggerated, telling the Express:”I don’t think Eamonn and I speak lots. “Those are just headlines saying that we reunited.”

She added: “Obviously, there was the hullabaloo. In fact, I went to Belfast where he was doing a show, and I remember going up there, it must have been about 15 years ago, and we signed a Good Friday Agreement.”

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The new short documentary has proven a tough watch for Netflix viewers

Netflix fans have been left in tears over the “saddest” true crime documentary that they are forced to “take a break” from.

Just this month, the streaming giant quietly added a short, but “poignant”, true crime documentary which aims to highlight the need for action against the “rising epidemic of gun violence” in America.

All The Empty Rooms on Netflix is around 35 minutes long but is a powerful story following reporter Steve Hartman and photographer Lou Bopp who embark on a journey to memorialise the bedrooms of children who were killed in school shootings.

Netflix states about the documentary: “The untouched bedrooms of American children killed in school shootings tell a story of memory, loss and enduring love in this poignant short documentary.”

The documentary was released on December 1 with true crime fans urged to give it a watch. But for some, it is a struggle to watch in one go as they are left “sobbing”.

Taking to X, formerly Twitter, one Netflix fan said: “I just watched All the Empty Rooms documentary on Netflix and wow 30 minutes of sadness. Everyone should watch it.”

Another wrote: “All the Empty Rooms documentary on Netflix … the saddest 30 min documentary I’ve ever seen. Cried my eyes out!”

Over on TikTok, may videos have been made as one user warned: “When I tel lyou this one is going to have you stopping to catch your breath, I’m not being dramatic, please heed this warning.”

One fan replied: “Every gun owner should be made to watch this before getting a gun. I’m sobbing.”

Another penned: “I just started this in the UK. It’s crazy. I can’t believe it’s normalised. The dirty clothes in the laundry basket [crying emoji] poor souls [broken heart].”

A third echoed: “Ohhhh!!! I started it tonight and I had to stop… had to take a break. I may try later tonight but may have to wait until tomorrow. I feel guilty for stopping it but I just can’t make it in one sitting.”

In another video, one true crime fanatic said: “This is the most powerful and heartbreaking 33 minutes of anything I’ve ever watched.”

As one person replied: “I bawled so hard I actually couldn’t finish it, it’s just… haunting…”

The short film, by Oscar-nominated Joshua Seftel, follows the after effects of school shootings and the heartbreak families are continuing to endure several years after the tragedies. Reporter Steve speaks to families involved as they share of their heartache and what the rooms now mean to them.

In an emotional trailer, the clip starts with a video of a young girl speaking to the camera as she says “Hi”. This is then followed by an emotional Steve who can be heard saying: “I’ve been typecast as, you know, the feel good happy news kind of guy… What I’ve been doing is just whitewashing the whole thing.”

Writing in another clip, it reads: “For seven years, journalist Steve Hartman has documented the empty bedrooms of children lost to school shootings.”

Heartbreaking clips are then shows of some of the children who were killed as fans were quick to comment on the heartbreaking watch. One person posted on the YouTube trailer: “The feeling this trailer gave me was just a visceral punch to the stomach that I think is really needed right now. The empty rooms become memorials in place of their child and I can’t even fathom the weight of that.”

All The Empty Rooms can be streamed on Netflix now

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has announced that his country has begun using homegrown Sapsan (which means peregrine falcon) ballistic missiles in combat against Russia. While the claim may be disinformation, such a weapon would give Ukraine a highly valuable new standoff strike option, unlike any other in its inventory. It would also not be subject to any foreign restrictions on its use, as it continues to be the case with many longer-ranged weapons supplied by the United States and other Western partners.

“Ukraine is already using the Neptune, the long-range Neptune, the Palyanytsya, the Flamingo. And also, the Sapsan, I’ll be honest — we’ve begun using it,” Zelensky told journalists. The Ukrainian president added that he would not disclose how many of these weapons have been deployed, or what they targeted.

“Because for now we don’t want the enemy to know all the precedents and all the details,” Zelensky added.

As well as the Sapsan, Zelensky referred to four domestically produced weapons that we already knew had been used operationally. These are the land-attack version of the Neptune anti-ship cruise missile, the extended-range version of the same weapon, known as the Long Neptune, the Palyanytsya jet-powered missile/drone hybrid, and the very long-range Flamingo cruise missile.

It’s clear, too, that Zelensky wants to promote confusion among Russian authorities as to which of these weapons are being used in any given strike.

“There are many cases when our enemy believes a strike was carried out with a Neptune… And let them continue thinking that,” he added.

With that in mind, we should also consider the possibility that the Sapsan has not actually been used in combat. So far, there doesn’t seem to be any confirmed evidence of wreckage from impact sites in Russia, although the Russian Ministry of Defense has previously claimed that it successfully shot down examples of Ukrainian ballistic missiles over Crimea.

On the other hand, using the Sapsan in combat would certainly make sense, given Ukraine’s extensive efforts to ramp up domestic arms production, with a particular focus on the ability to hit targets deeper inside Russia.

As well as the aforementioned long-range missiles, Ukraine has also made use of an extensive array of domestically produced long-range kamikaze drones, as well as other munitions that blur the line between those weapons and traditional cruise missiles, like the Peklo ‘missile drone’.

As for Ukraine’s domestic ballistic missile program, the results remain much less clear, but we have been waiting to see a weapon of this kind deployed for a long time now. Perhaps, its development has also been accelerated by help from Western partners.

In August of 2024, Zelensky announced the first successful test of a new domestically developed ballistic missile, now understood to be the Sapsan.

Ukraine conducted the first sucessful test of a domestic-produced ballistic missile, Ukrainian President Zelensky announced on Tuesday. pic.twitter.com/Z4t675mQ27

— Status-6 (Military & Conflict News) (@Archer83Able) August 27, 2024

While details of the Sapsan remain scarce, the missile is closely related to the Hrim-2 (also written Grim-2 and which translates as Thunder-2 in English).

In fact, the Hrim-2 was developed as an export version of the original Sapsan, which had been intended for Ukrainian use.

The origins of the Hrim-2 and its immediate predecessors date back to the late 2000s, with development apparently accelerated after Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014. A rocket motor test associated with the design occurred in 2018, and the two-round, 10-wheeled transporter-erector-launcher (TEL) for the missile, or at least a mockup, appeared at a parade that same year.

You can read more about what is known about the Hrim-2 and its development in this past War Zone piece, which followed speculation that Ukraine might have employed some of those missiles in an attack on Russia’s Saki Air Base in 2022.

While we don’t know what the Sapsan missile looks like, it is likely broadly similar to what we’ve seen of the Hrim-2 and preceding related designs, which, in turn, bear a superficial resemblance to Russia’s Iskander-M.

In terms of performance, the Hrim-2 reportedly has a range of at least 174 miles (280 kilometers) and possibly up to 310 miles (500 kilometers), and the same could well hold true for the Sapsan.

On the other hand, in 2023, Ukraine’s then-Minister of Defense Oleksii Reznikov also said that the country had a new long-range missile in development that could have a range of up to 620 miles (1,000 kilometers). This could also have been a direct reference to the Sapsan.

Regardless, it would seem highly likely that the Sapsan is in the category of short-range ballistic missiles (SRBM), which are traditionally defined as having maximum ranges of no more than 620 miles (1,000 kilometers).

Since the full-scale invasion, Ukraine has had only limited access to ballistic missiles, and none of these have come from domestic production.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces have been employing Soviet-era Tochka-U SRBMs, as well as even older Tochka types, both of which have the NATO reporting name SS-21 Scarab. These only have maximum ranges of 43 miles (70 kilometers) and 75 miles (120 kilometers), respectively, a fact that spurred the original development of the Sapsan/Hrim-2.

Точка-У: как ракетные удары ВСУ останавливают армию России в Украине | Донбасс Реалии

Furthermore, Ukraine has been receiving small numbers of ATACMS from the United States, which it has used to good effect.

Details from missile debris shown by Russia confirm Ukraine launched ATACMS at Voronezh region on November 18, marking the first use of U.S.-made missiles on Russian territory during Trump’s presidency. According to the Russian MoD, S-400 and Pantsir-S1 systems helped repel the… pic.twitter.com/8SeQCo9OEO

— NOELREPORTS 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 (@NOELreports) November 19, 2025

However, in common with additional types of ground and air-launched standoff munitions supplied to Ukraine by the U.S. government and other foreign partners, there are strict limitations imposed on the use of those weapons on targets deeper inside Russia.

Putting all this together, the utility of a ballistic missile of domestic production becomes very clear, as part of a multi-pronged effort to strike key targets outside of Ukraine’s borders (as well as further beyond the front lines, in Russian-controlled territory).

As we have noted in the past, a new source of ballistic missiles that are more capable and longer ranged than the Tochka family, and that are not subject to any Western restrictions like ATACMS, would be a key breakthrough for Ukraine.

A battery of three Ukrainian Tochka-U SRBMs fly off towards their Russian targets, as a Ukrainian soldier with a Stinger MANPADS keeps watch for enemy drones…🔥🇺🇦 https://t.co/68LnGr0W06

— Jimmy Rushton (@JimmySecUK) June 23, 2022

While long-range drones, cruise missiles, and drone/missile hybrids are valuable, ballistic missiles offer the advantage of very high speeds in the terminal phase of flight. This makes them much harder for enemy air and missile defenses to defeat. Ballistic missiles with unitary high-explosive warheads can also burrow down deeper into hardened targets or impart greater force on reinforced structures above ground, like bridges, thanks to that speed.

While we don’t know how Ukraine has employed Sapsan so far, provided that it has, a likely scenario would see the ballistic missiles combined with other types of missiles and drones in complex attacks to make it even harder for enemy forces to deal with. This would follow the same pattern that Russia routinely uses in large-scale attacks on Ukrainian targets.

If Ukraine is able to produce the Sapsan in meaningful numbers, and provided that it works to its full potential, the results could be significant, if it’s anything like the precedent set by Ukraine’s employment of American ATACMS.

Seems like 🇺🇦did another ATACMS strike near Kuban, Luhansk.

Action starts at 03:50. A dud and 3 hits within a minute. pic.twitter.com/aGP4cWKY07

— JB Schneider (@JohnB_Schneider) May 1, 2024

Even with the restrictions imposed by the U.S. government, Ukrainian ATACMS strikes have led to major changes in Russian operating procedures, especially at airbases within range of those missiles. It has also forced Russia to move additional air and missile defenses to the theater, including the S-500, the most advanced surface-to-air missile system in the country’s inventory today.

At this point, we still need to await independent verification of the Sapsan ballistic missile being used in combat. However, the value of such a weapon for the Ukrainian military is unquestionable, providing a powerful new vector for launching standoff strikes into Russia without any foreign restrictions. Provided it is being used operationally, we likely won’t have to wait too much longer for positive confirmation of this.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

Some of the films will jump out faster than a Marvel reboot, but others will be much trickier to spot We’re confident we’ve cracked the lot – think you can beat us? Scroll down for the answers…

Think you’re a true movie buff? Time to put your bragging rights on the line – because this baffling brainteaser is about to weed out the pretenders from the real cinema geeks.

Hidden in the below picture – which we’ve teased above – are little nods to 27 iconic films. Some will jump out faster than a Marvel reboot, but others will be much trickier to spot.

The puzzle first popped up on the Latest Deals, Extreme Couponing & Bargains Facebook group, and has put even the most confident film fans through their paces. One admitted: “Apparently there are 27 films in this picture! I’ve not found all of them… can you?”

The 27 movies have been squeezed into one picture, each represented by a small detail, visual hint, or clever little signal. We’re confident we’ve cracked the lot. Think you can beat us? Scroll down for the answers — complete with pictures to prove it.

Full image and answers

1. Jumanji. This one’s painfully obvious and sits front and centre of the image.

2. Forrest Gump. Anyone who’s ever set foot in a cinema will recognise Tom Hanks from his starring role in the 1990s drama classic.

3. Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Arnie fans should remember his cyborg eye from the 1991 sci-fi sequel.

4. Gremlins. Tucked away under the bench sits one of the creatures from Joe Dante’s 1984 horror-comedy.

5. Edward Scissorhands. Another stark inclusion behind Tom Hanks is Johnny Depp’s character from Tim Burton’s 1990 movie.

6. E.T. This one is a bit trickier to spot and lingers in the background – the unforgettable bike scene from the Steven Spielberg classic.

7. Ghostbusters. Slimer from Ivan Reitman’s 1984 film Ghostbusters can be seen sneaking up on Tom Hanks behind the bench.

8. Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. The 1989 family adventure pops up with tiny characters sitting on the bottom right of the bench.

9. Space Jam. The sticker on the bench is a reference to the 1996 classic.

10. Pulp Fiction .The 1994 Tarantino classic is nodded to by John Travolta and Samuel L Jackson faintly positioned behind the Jumanji board.

11. Back to the Future .The hoverboard on the bottom left is taken from the sci-fi comedy classic.

12. Jurassic Park .Spielberg’s 1993 dinosaur blockbuster is referenced through the Barbasol shaving cream can on the right.

13. Wayne’s World .The 1992 comedy favourite is included via a sticker placed on the bench slat.

14. Hook .The 1991 family fantasy is hinted at by Captain Hook’s metal hook on the right-hand edge of the image.

15. Harry and the Hendersons .The 1987 creature-comedy appears as a Bigfoot figure lurking near the tree.

16. Home Alone. The 1990 Christmas classic is referenced with “Wet Bandits” carved onto the bench.

17. Predator .The 1987 action sci-fi film is signalled by writing on the bench nodding to its famous catchphrase.

18. Indiana Jones .The 1981 adventure classic is represented by the small golden idol near the bench leg.

19. Batman .The iconic franchise is referenced through the Wayne Enterprises logo on the chocolate box.

20. Short Circuit .The 1986 robot comedy shows up via Johnny 5 perched on the right edge of the image.

21. The NeverEnding Story .The 1984 fantasy adventure appears through the Auryn necklace hanging around his neck.

22. The Goonies .The 1985 cult adventure is referenced with a bronze medallion peeking from his jacket pocket.

23. The Last Action Hero .The 1993 action-comedy is hinted at by the “Admit One” golden ticket resting on the bench.

24. Titanic. Movie buffs should have spotted the heart-shaped necklace around Edward Scissorhands.

25. Dumb and Dumber .The 1994 comedy classic is visible through the two men riding the mini-motorbike on the right.

26. Mars Attacks! Tim Burton’s 1996 sci-fi parody appears with a Martian head visible in the top right.

27. The Big Lebowski. The cult comedy is referenced by a bowling-themed item tucked into the jacket pocket.