Tag Archives: Entertainment

Drag Race UK’s A’Whora Reveals Her Nan Forced BBC To Censor Filthy Joke About Her

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Drag Race UK queen A’Whora has revealed the real reason why part of her stand-up comedy routine on the latest episode of the BBC Three show was bleeped out.

The quarter-final of the drag competition saw the five remaining queens competing in a stand-up challenge, in which they had to impress RuPaul, Michelle Visage, Alan Carr and guest panellist Dawn French with their comedy chops. 

However, A’Whora’s off-colour material left the judges stunned, with BBC bosses bleeping out one joke about her nan, leaving many fans wondering what on earth it was she’d said (you can find exactly what here).

During an interview on Attitude’s Tea Time, the 24-year-old revealed it was actually her nan who insisted the joke was bleeped out and not the BBC.

Asked whether her raunchy comedy routine had received the seal of approval from her grandmother, A’Whora admitted: “That’s the reason they beeped it!

“My nan called them up and said ‘I don’t want those jokes going out on air’.

“Obviously production have to authorise things with people, just if you’re mentioning their name and stuff, so she said ’Look, these things didn’t happen so I don’t want them on there!”

She added: “She said ‘I will sue!’”

BBC

A’Whora

Ultimately, A’Whora’s routine wasn’t enough to save her from being sent home after she wound up in the bottom two, lip syncing against close friend Tayce. 

Following her elimination, A’Whora also insisted she did not harbour ill feeling towards fellow contestant Ellie Diamond, following a row between them in this week’s episode. 

BBC

A’Whora cracked an X-rated joke during her Drag Race UK comedy routine

She tweeted: “Oh and just to confirm, me and @elliediamond101 held hands in untucked as she cried and we talked it though, we FaceTime nearly every single day! There’s no beef, we are weirdly now best-friends and take shits on camera together lol.”

RuPaul’s Drag Race continues next Thursday, with the new episode available to stream on BBC Three from 7pm.

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Meghan Markle Claims She Had To Turn Down Previous Oprah Interview: ‘It Wasn’t My Choice To Make’

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Meghan Markle had to turn down a previous chance of an interview with Oprah Winfrey, claiming that was “not her choice to make”. 

US television network CBS has released a full excerpt from Oprah’s upcoming interview with Meghan and Prince Harry, which is set to air in the US on Sunday.

In the clip, Oprah reveals she called Meghan prior to the couple’s wedding in 2018 to ask her for an interview, to which the Duchess Of Sussex claimed she couldn’t even speak about the possibility of it without royal interference. 

Meghan says: “I remember that conversation very well, I wasn’t even allowed to have that conversation with you personally, right? There had to be someone – people from the comms – sitting there. Everything was…”

Oprah says: “Yeah, there were other people in the room when I was having that conversation. You turned me down nicely and said, ’Perhaps there will be another time, when there is the right time.’” 

Asked what made now the right time, Meghan takes a long pause, before saying: “Well, so many things, that were on the other side of life experience that’s happened, and that we have the ability to make our own choices in a way that I couldn’t have said yes to you then. That wasn’t my choice to make.”

Explaining the difficulties she faced living with the restrictions of royal life, Meghan continues: ″As an adult who lived a really independent life, to then go into this construct that is… different than what I think people imagine it to be, it’s really liberating to be able to have the right and the privilege, in some ways, to be able to say yes and that I’m ready to talk.

“To just be able to make a choice on your own and be able to speak for yourself.”

CBS/PA

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will open up to Oprah Winfrey

In one of two clips released earlier this week, Harry said he feared “history repeating itself” in a reference to his mother’s death as he recounted his royal life with Meghan. 

In the second video, Harry said he is grateful to have had Meghan’s support throughout his exit from royal life, while also expressing admiration for what his mother Diana, Princess of Wales, had to endure under similar circumstances.

He told Oprah: “I’m just really relieved and happy to be sitting here, talking to you, with my wife by my side, because I can’t begin to imagine what it must have been like for her, going through this process by herself, all those years ago.

“Because it has been unbelievably tough for the two of us, but at least we had each other.”

Another trailer was then released on Wednesday, in which Meghan claimed the palace is “perpetuating falsehoods about us”. 

Asked how she felt about the “palace hearing you speak your truth”, she replied: “I don’t know how they could expect that after all of this time we would still just be silent if there is an active role that The Firm is playing in perpetuating falsehoods about us. 

“And if that comes with risk of losing things, I mean ― there’s a lot that has been lost already,” the Duchess added. 

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BBC Three To Return To TV Screens After String Of Recent Hit Shows

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BBC Three is to return to TV screens after a five-year absence, it has been announced.

Following the success of original shows like Fleabag, Killing Eve, Normal People and RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, the corporation has laid out plans for BBC Three to begin airing on regular television once again, having been online-only since February 2016.

“BBC Three is a BBC success story, backing creativity, new talent and brave ideas has resulted in hit after hit, from Fleabag and Man Like Mobeen, RuPaul’s Drag Race UK and Jesy Nelson’s Odd One Out, to Normal People and This Country,” said Charlotte Moore, the BBC’s chief content officer.

“The BBC needs to back success and make sure its programmes reach as many young people as possible wherever they live in the UK. So regardless of the debates about the past, we want to give BBC Three its own broadcast channel again.”

BBC

Phoebe Waller-Bridge in Fleabag

Moore added: “It has exciting, groundbreaking content that deserves the widest possible audience and using iPlayer alongside a broadcast channel will deliver the most value.”

It’s been proposed that BBC Three will return to screens in January 2022, with the move being described as “part of our drive to deliver more value to audiences”.

However, the BBC has said the channel will not be airing 24-hours, and will instead broadcast between the hours of 7pm and 4am.

The corporation’s children’s channels CBeebies and CBBC also have limited schedules, with the former airing between 6am and 7pm, and the latter broadcasting between 7am and 9pm.

BBC/World of Wonder/Ray Burmiston

The cast of Drag Race UK series two

A BBC press release stated: “The returning BBC Three will deliver greater public value by further increasing the diversity and creativity of our output and build on the strengths of BBC Three’s online performance. That’s why we will aim for at least two-thirds of the expanded BBC Three’s programme spend to be outside of London and across the UK.

“BBC Three has a strong heritage in breaking and supporting new British talent and this will create a bigger platform to launch and celebrate them.

“It will provide us with a new shop window to reach a younger audience currently underserved by the BBC, bringing them the best BBC young programming and talent across all genres.”

Past successes for BBC Three have included comedies like Gavin & Stacey, The Mighty Boosh and Little Britain.

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Golden Globes: ‘Amazing, Weird And Wonderful’

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ENTERTAINMENT

The Golden Globes for film and television, organized by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, were handed out at a virtual ceremony hosted by comedians Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. Big winners included Anya Taylor-Joy, Catherine O’Hara and a posthumous award for Chadwick Boseman. But the awards, with most nominees joining via video-link, were not without their glitches including Daniel Kaluuya being muted while trying to give his acceptance speech.

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Only Fools And Horses Star Reveals The Comeback That Nearly Was But Never Happened

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Only Fools and Horses fans were nearly granted a revival to celebrate the show’s 30th anniversary, one of its stars has revealed.

John Challis, who played Boycie in the hit BBC sitcom, said that writer John Sullivan was working on a comeback episode but died before completing the script. 

The episode would have seen Del Boy celebrate his retirement in the Nag’s Head.

BBC

Only Fools And Horses stars Nicholas Lyndhurst and David Jason

Speaking to The Sun, Challis said: “The 30th anniversary was coming up and John was in the process of getting together a Christmas special or something.

“It was going to be Del Boy’s 65th birthday, he was going to retire and there was going to be a bit of a get-together in the Nag’s Head. But unfortunately he (John) got ill and didn’t come out of it.”

Sullivan died after contracting viral pneumonia in April 2011, five months before the 30th anniversary of Only Fools And Horses’ debut. 

Recalling his death, Challis said: “It was a complete shock to everybody. We got a phone call from the producers giving us the bad news.”

Radio Times via Getty Images

The cast during filming for the 1988 Christmas special of Only Fools and Horses

Sullivan wrote all 64 episodes of Only Fools And Horses, which ran between 1981 and 2003. 

Over 19 million people tuned in to see its final episode on Christmas Day in 2003. 

Sir David Jason, who played Del Boy in the show, recently admitted he had watched an old episode of Only Fools And Horses during lockdown, and was left in fits of giggles at the iconic moment when his character fell through a wine bar hatch. 

He told The Mirror: “It gave me great joy. The hatch scene still makes me laugh out loud. Normally I’m very critical of what I do, I don’t enjoy watching very much. But that one just works.”

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Kenneth Branagh’s First Picture In Character As Boris Johnson Is Spookily Uncanny

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If you thought Boris Johnson’s Spitting Image puppet was uncanny, just wait until you see Kenneth Branagh as the prime minister. 

Sky has unveiled a picture of the actor in character as the PM for new drama This Sceptred Isle, and it’s fair to say he bears more than a passing resemblance to Boris. 

Admittedly, Kenneth’s blond wig looks a little less unkempt than the PM’s in recent weeks, thanks to the closure of hairdressers.

Sky

Kenneth Branagh as Boris Johnson

Filming has just commenced on This Sceptred Isle, which will focus on the events in government as the UK faced the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic. 

Written by Michael Winterbottom and Kieron Quirke, it is based on the first-hand testimony of people from all walks of life; from Number 10, the Department of Health, The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), and from hospitals and care homes across the country.

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Kenneth and the real Boris Johnson

Speaking about the series, Winterbottom said: “The first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic will be remembered forever. A time when the country came together to battle an invisible enemy. A time when people were more aware than ever of the importance of community.

“Our series weaves together countless true stories – from Boris Johnson in Number 10 to front line workers around the country – chronicling the efforts of scientists, doctors, care home workers and policy makers to protect us from the virus.”

This Sceptred Isle is expected to premiere on Sky Atlantic and NowTV in the autumn. 

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Gwyneth Paltrow’s Methods For Treating Long Covid Called Out By NHS Medical Director

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A NHS medical director has criticised Gwyneth Paltrow after she revealed her methods for tackling the long Covid symptoms she has been suffering from since contracting the disease last year.

Earlier this month, the Oscar-winning actor-turned lifestyle guru revealed she had tested positive for coronavirus early on in the pandemic. 

She went on to disclose that she had been left with “long-tail fatigue and brain fog” and “high levels of inflammation” in her body.

The 48-year-old has since embarked on a “keto and plant-based” regime, with no sugar and alcohol, and fasts until 11am every day.

But Professor Stephen Powis, national medical director for the NHS in England, said that “serious science” should be applied and “influencers” have a responsibility after name-checking Gwyneth.

“Like the virus, misinformation carries across borders and it mutates and it evolves,” he told PA.

“So I think YouTube and other social media platforms have a real responsibility and opportunity here.

“In the last few days I see Gwyneth Paltrow is unfortunately suffering from the effects of Covid.

“We wish her well, but some of the solutions she’s recommending are really not the solutions we’d recommend in the NHS.

“We need to take long Covid seriously and apply serious science. All influencers who use social media have a duty of responsibility and a duty of care around that.”

Writing on her blog on her Goop website last month, the Hollywood star wrote: “So I turned to one of the smartest experts I know in this space, the functional medicine practitioner Dr. Will Cole. After he saw all my labs, he explained that this was a case where the road to healing was going to be longer than usual.”

Gwynnie being Gwynnie, the post then saw her discuss detoxing and other healing methods (including infrared saunas), which you can read more about on her website.

A number of Gwyneth’s A-list peers have spoken out about their own personal experiences of Covid-19, including Tom Hanks, who was among the first public figures to speak out about testing positive for the disease in March 2020.

Hugh Grant also shared recently that he believes he had Covid last February, stating: “It started as just a very strange syndrome where I kept breaking into a terrible sweat. It was like a poncho of sweat, embarrassing really.

“Then my eyeballs felt about three sizes too big and this feeling as though an enormous man was sitting on my chest.”

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Sarah Harding Shares Update With Fans Following Cancer Diagnosis

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Sarah Harding has said that the support of her fans following her cancer diagnosis has helped her “so much”, in an update posted on her Twitter page.

Last August, Sarah revealed that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer earlier in the year, which she was then informed had spread to other parts of her body.

The Girls Aloud star has now told her fans she has been able to finish writing her autobiography “in between treatments and hospital visits” for the disease.

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Sarah Harding

In a Twitter post on Monday, Sarah wrote: “I know I’m not really that present on here which I promise I’ll try to get a bit better at, as honestly it means the world to me when I come on and see all your well wishes.

“Thank you for the love and support, on bad days it helps me so much.”

She continued: “Mum, the dogs and I had a really lovely but quiet Christmas together, which was different to my usual, but seemed a fitting way to end such a strange year. And since then, in between treatments and hospital visits I’ve managed to finish my book!

“I can’t believe I’ve actually gone and done it and it’s now at the printers! I’m so excited for it to come out.”

Sarah said she hoped her upcoming book – titled Hear Me Out – would “show people the real me, or perhaps remind them”. 

“Because, somewhere – amongst the nightclubs, the frocks and hairdos, the big chart hits, and the glamour of being a popstar – the other Sarah Harding got utterly lost,” she said.

“She’s the one who’s been forgotten. And all I want is for you to hear her out.”

Sarah also noted that her book had been named after a song she wrote for Girls Aloud’s second album, as the lyrics had always “meant a lot” to her. 

“It’s been lovely revisiting our songs, looking back over photos and writing down memories from my last 39 years,” she said. “I really hope you might enjoy reading about them too.”

Sarah’s diagnosis came as a shock to fans, with the star saying at the time she was “fighting as hard as I possibly can” to beat the disease. 

The singer is best known as a member of the Brit Award-winning band Girls Aloud, who rose to fame on Popstars: The Rivals in 2002 and went on to score four UK number one singles.

Following the band’s split in 2013, Sarah launched a short-lived solo career, as well as appearing on reality TV shows like The Jump, Tumble and Celebrity Big Brother, which she won in 2017.

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Derry Girls’ Nicola Coughlan Shares Very Exciting Series 3 Update

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Derry Girls star Nicola Coughlan has shared some extremely exciting news about the hit Channel 4 sitcom’s forthcoming return.

A third series of Derry Girls was confirmed to be in the works as far back as April 2019, but due to various factors – yes, we are mainly talking about that global pandemic we’re all still living through – production has been put on hold on several occasions.

When one fan tweeted Nicola saying he hoped Derry Girls would be back on our screens soon, the actor responded saying: “Can confirm Series 3 of Derry Girls is filming this year and I cannae bloody wait.”

She added: “Covid has pushed back filming several times which has been so shite, but honestly the storylines in this series are the best we’ve ever done so I can’t tell you how worth it the wait will have been.”

Derry Girls first debuted on Channel 4 in 2019, and later gained international appeal when it began streaming on Netflix in other territories.

As well as winning huge critical acclaim, Derry Girls has pulled in massive viewing figures, becoming the most-watched TV series in North Ireland since modern records began in 2002.

Channel 4

The cast of Derry Girls

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Ant And Dec Tease Ambitious Plans To Make Saturday Night Takeaway Work Without A Studio Audience

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Ant and Dec have explained how the new series of Saturday Night Takeaway will work without one of the show’s key components – a studio audience.

In the past, audience members have been required for recurring Saturday Night Takeaway features like the Win The Ads quiz, while the dup have also pulled certain people out of their seats on multiple occasions for different surprise segments.

For obvious reasons, this year’s series will launch without an audience for the first time without a studio audience, which presenter Declan Donnelly has said will make for a “very different” viewing experience.

However, they will have a virtual audience appear on screens behind them, and while shows like The Voice and Britain’s Got Talent have tried this in the last year with mixed results, Ant and Dec have said they’re determined to take things to the next level on Saturday Night Takeaway. 

ITV/Shutterstock

Ant and Dec are back in the Saturday Night Takeaway studio – but they won’t be joined by an audience.

Dec told Digital Spy: “A lot of this show is about the audience. So we have researched ways, and are coming up with ways, to do a much more interactive virtual wall – more than any other show has done.

“Our studio audience, for want of a better phrase – our audience on the night, on the virtual wall – will be an interactive part of the show. This year’s series will have a very different feel to it because it’s normally a big kind of party vibe with the audience.

“This year, it’s going to be very different. We’ll still have our star guest announcer. But it’s a much more interactive virtual wall.”

ITV/Shutterstock

Harry and Jamie Redknapp will be appearing in the first episode of Saturday Night Takeaway’s new series.

Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway returns on Saturday night with guests including Take That singer Gary Barlow.

While certain segments won’t be taking place due to Covid restrictions, the pair have pre-recorded new pranks for their I’m A Celebrity, Get Out Me Ear game – featuring Davina McCall and Harry Redknapp, among other stars – and a new show-within-a-show called Double Trouble.

Find out how things play out in this week’s Saturday Night Takeaway airing at 7pm on ITV.

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