Unreality Primetime

Geoffrey Hughes, who played Twiggy in The Royle Family, has landed a new role with the real royal family.

65 year old Geoffrey has been appointed Deputy Lord Lieutenant for the Isle of Wight, which according to the Press Association makes him “the official link between the island and royalty at formal engagements.”

An Isle of Wight Council spokesman told the PA, “Mr Hughes, who lives near Newport, was a regular visitor to the island before moving here with his wife Susan in 2003… Read more & comment »

Michael Emerson, who plays Benjamin Linus in ‘Lost’, has told Entertainment Weekly that he reckons the season and series finale of Lost will be far from a happy ending.

“I don’t think Lost will have a happy ending. It’s the end and I think we’re going to start seeing more casualties. I would put money on major characters being killed.

“I believe it will be a sad ending to the show, or at least bittersweet. I think it will definitely be a series finale for grownups.”

And on the subject of last season’s finale, Emerson revealed that he’s as confused as we are;

“I killed Jacob. Maybe. Probably… Read more & comment »

Now magazine is reporting that Coronation Street star Kym Marsh broke down and was inconsolable at a friend’s wedding recently.

Kym and her fiancé Jamie Lomas were attending the wedding in Majorca which was around the same time that her son Archie should’ve been born. He was of course born prematurely and died just days afterwards.

A source from the wedding told Now, “Kym just crumpled when she saw all the pregnant women there. It reminded her of losing Archie”

It’s being speculated that perhaps Kym returned to work and tried to get life back to normal too soon after her son’s death. Another source who’s said to be close to Kym is quoted as saying, “She thought it’d be best to come back to the Street and get back into a normal routine.” Read more & comment »

Torchwood star Eve Myles has told the Press Association that her character Gwen “has no time to stop and think” in the upcoming new five-part series of the hit show.

Eve, who co-stars alongside John Barrowman, said Gwen will have to cope with “life and death every minute of the day”. She continued, “She’s constantly evolving in this and there is no time to have second thoughts, it moves so quickly.

“She’s a massive decision maker this year and the first decision is the one she always goes with because there’s no time for a plan b, c or d, it’s plan a and she goes for it…” Read more & comment »

According to The Sun today, Coronation Street newbie Ramsay Clegg – Norris Cole’s estranged brother – is to be killed off when boarding a plane back to Australia.

Andrew Sachs joined the Corrie cast three months ago to play Ramsay who was in Weatherfield on a mission to win over his brother Norris. The two had been estranged for many years, but instead, he won the heart of long-term widow Emily Bishop.

In Sachs’ final scenes, we’ll see Emily taking Ramsay to the graveside of her husband Ernest who was shot and killed in an armed robbery at the site of what is now Underworld. She’ll be seen imploring him not to return to Australia but he turns her down and in a dramatic twist, he then has a heart attack and dies while boarding the plane back to Oz. Read more & comment »

Veteran actress Mollie Sugden has died at the age of 86. Her agent Joan Reddin confirmed the sad news yesterday and said that Mollie had passed away at the Royal Surrey Hospital “following a long illness.”

She added that her sons, Robert and Simon Moore, were with their mother when she died.

Tributes from those who’d worked with Mollie poured in yesterday and added to Joan Reddin’s own tribute in which she said Mollie had been a “very close friend”.

She added, “She had had a long illness and various problems but it was very quick in the end… Read more & comment »

Across Britain, the economic crisis is causing businesses to go bust. In this new series, Sir Gerry Robinson, one of the UK’s most respected entrepreneurs, is prepared to risk millions of pounds of his own money to rescue those that he believes deserve another chance. Each week, two British businesses whose futures hang in the balance must persuade Gerry that they’re potentially profitable, before he makes his big decision: which, if any, of the businesses to invest in. In the first episode Gerry’s quest takes him into the lives of two couples who have built award-winning breweries.

Thursday 2 July 2009
9:00pm, Channel 4

It’s the job that dreams are made of: sandy beaches, year-round sunshine, free luxury accommodation and a £70,000 salary for six months’ work as the caretaker for a beautiful Barrier Reef island. In January 2009, Queensland Tourist Board set up a marketing campaign amidst a blaze of publicity. The search for the right candidate began via their website, with a competitive three-month selection process for the once-in-a-lifetime job.

Read more & comment »

Evil Archie is due to make a comeback on EastEnders next week, but Larry Lamb who plays him has told Inside Soap magazine that even he doesn’t know what EastEnders’ bosses have in store for his character.

“The producers are being very cagey with me” he said, adding, “I’m not sure if they’re certain themselves yet.

“They’re in the process of creating what’s going to happen next, so the truth is, I don’t know.” Read more & comment »

The Daily Mail has revealed that ITV are to air Martin Bashir’s infamous film, ‘Living With Michael Jackson’ again in the wake of the star’s death, and apparently, previously unseen footage will be included in the new run of the documentary.

The original film drew 15 million viewers when it first aired and stirred up a storm of controversy as Jackson talked openly about sharing his bed with children, his cosmetic surgery and how his father bullied him and his siblings when they were children.

An ITV source told the paper, “It feels like now would be a good time to revisit the documentary in some form… Read more & comment »

It’s going to be a hot few weeks on the Square with Phil and Dawn about to embark on a steamy affair, but they’re nearly caught when Garry goes upstairs at the Vic to ask Phil for some relationship advice.

He’s got no idea as he wanders in that his lover Dawn is hiding half naked behind Phil’s bedroom door… Read more & comment »

EastEnders star Steve McFadden and his girlfriend Rachel Sidwell are celebrating the birth of their baby daughter who made her entrance into the world yesterday.

They haven’t named the new arrival yet but a spokesman for the couple has said that mother and baby are doing well and that “Steve is delighted” with her.

The baby weighed in at 6lbs 3ozs and was born by caesarean section in a London hospital. Read more & comment »

It seems that chat show host and comedian Paul O’Grady is going to be moving back to a tea-time slot on ITV, despite the fact that three years ago, he said he’d “rather sweep the streets” than work for ITV again.

However it seems that Channel 4 – who currently host his popular chat show – are planning to make massive budget cuts which Paul believes will damage the format of the show.

ITV have apparently told Paul that while they will cut his own pay, they will not reduce the budget for the actual show, which is around £2 million per year. A source close to Paul told The Sun that he’s happy with that arrangement, saying, “Paul is happy to take a smaller fee for presenting the show… Read more & comment »

TV channel Watch has announced that it “will let the kids take control in its new tea-time commission” for a show to be entitled, ‘Tarrant Lets the Kids Loose’.

Presented by Tiswas entertainer and Who Wants to be Millionaire host Chris Tarrant, the eight-part series will give three- to six-year-olds the green light to fulfil their greatest ambitions in the adult world; whether that’s running a photographic studio, a radio station or an ice-cream van!

Chris Tarrant said of the new series, “They say never work with kids or animals. But you know what? They’re wrong! Kids are funny, magical and always surprising. Read more & comment »

I have to start this piece by admitting that I don’t like Madonna; I never have. She’s always struck me as being supremely arrogant and the acquisition of vast amounts of money has, in my opinion, effectively reinforced her narcissism. Nobody says no to someone who can buy Africa in its entirety if she wants to. And sure enough, nobody did say no to her – ultimately – over the adoption of Mercy James.

Jacques Peretti’s documentary last night added more weight to that theory for me, and despite his protestations at points in the film that he didn’t know “what to think” regarding the controversy, I would argue that he had very clear views on it. I suspect that he, like me, believes that Madonna’s involvement in the country is tantamount to colonialism stemming from egocentricity and her adoption of African children is analogous to a form of exotic pet collecting, which in turn is no different in motivation than a philatelist’s desire to acquire stamps. Read more & comment »