Russell T Davies Claims BBC ‘Insists’ His Shows Have Happy Endings

Posted on 19/05/2026 by Boris Clair

Bafta-winning screenwriter Russell T Davies has said he’s happy to be collaborating with Channel 4 on his latest show Tip Toe, as the broadcaster affords him the opportunity to be more “radical” than its rivals.

Over the years, Russell has jumped around UK broadcasters, from the BBC (as with Doctor Who, A Very English Scandal and Years And Years) to ITV (with whom he collaborated on Nolly).

However, arguably the work he’s best known for – including Queer As Folk, Cucumber and, more recently, It’s A Sin – has been at Channel 4, which is set to broadcast his new drama Tip Toe later this month.

The timely Tip Toe stars Alan Cumming and David Morrissey as two neighbours who have co-existed for decades, but abruptly find themselves at war with one another due to their opposing views in the current political and social climate.

“It’s tough. It’s a hard piece of work,” Russell told Radio 4’s Today earlier this week. “And that’s why I’m really glad to be writing for Channel 4.

“When I write at the BBC, they insist that we give things happy endings in case it drives people away! It’s true!”

Russell continued: “That’s what Channel 4 is for, to sit back and be a bit more radical and more opinionated.”

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Earlier this year, Russell told an audience at the Series Mania event: “I love Years & Years but it was only made on the assistance of the BBC, which kind of meant it had to have a happy ending.

“The world has proved me right [on the need for a sad ending] since, things are just getting worse. I loved that ending but it was a condition that you can’t be that bleak. That condition does not apply to [Tip Toe].”

Tip Toe will premiere on Channel 4 on Sunday 31 May.

9 Things We Learned When We Met The Cast Of Netflix’s Divisive New Drama Monsters

Posted on 28/09/2024 by Boris Clair

After over a week at the top of Netflix’s most-watched list, and countless pieces written about its content, it’s fair to say the latest season of Ryan Murphy’s true crime series Monsters has really captured the world’s attention.

Having already split opinion right down the middle and sparked plenty of debate about its more graphic and salacious scenes, HuffPost UK managed to speak to the cast of The Lyle And Erik Menéndez Story about the making of the show – and its aftermath.

Here’s what we learned when we spoke to Cooper Koch, Nicholas Chavez, Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny…

The interview took place just days after Cooper Koch visited the Menéndez brothers in prison, which he said had been a ‘crazy experience’

Cooper admitted was “super nervous at first” but his meeting with the Menéndez brothers proved to be a “really amazing” experience.

He met with Lyle and Erik Menéndez, as well as a group of other incarcerated individuals, in the prison gymnasium, where the inmates shared their names and stories, and the brothers also gave a presentation about a “greenspace project that they’d been working on”.

“The thing that I really wanted to do was look both of them in the eye and tell them that I believe them and that I support them and I’m going to do everything that I can to advocate for them – and that in playing the role I tried to be authentic and just to have integrity,” he told us.

Cooper added: “They’re both so kind, really upstanding individuals. They’ve done so much amazing work on themselves in prison.”

Chloë Sevigny, Javier Bardem, Nicholas Chavez and Cooper Koch on the set of Monsters

Cooper ‘can understand’ where the backlash against Monsters has come from, but he stands by the show

“I don’t think it’s changed my point of view on the series,” he insisted of the ongoing controversies surrounding the show. “We always [intended to take] this Rashomon approach with all these different perspectives.”

“Our goal [was always] to really show all sides of the case – in my eyes, I sort of always saw it as the audience is going to be the jury and they’re going to be able to determine what they believe at the end of the show.”

“But I can understand and sympathise with how that would be jarring for people to see these other perspectives, and so I understand why it’s getting that sort of response,” he added.

“I think there’s a lot of support out there for the brothers, which I love.”

Cooper Koch in character as Erik Menéndez

Nicholas Chavez admitted that working for the role was actually a big part of helping him get into character as Lyle

“It’s said in the first episode that José thought they could become a great family like the Kennedys,” he said.

“I think that there were many expectations of perfectionism within this family and I wanted Lyle’s physique to reflect that as well.”

He also took a similar approach when it came to Lyle’s toupée

Nicolas says “mask work” was an important part of his creative process.

“During this time in his life there were many expectations to wear masks in many different facets of his life,” he explained.

“The toupée, for instance, became very symbolic of this for me, a mask that was imposed on him by his father, and just because symbolic of the image that the Menéndez family wanted to project to the world about who they were.”

Nicholas Chavez on set with Cooper Koch in Monsters

During the making of Monsters, Chloë Sevigny found herself becoming protective of her young co-stars

She says that between herself, showrunners Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, the show’s directors and her co-star Javier Bardem, “we all really wanted to protect the boys, first and foremost” and “make sure that they felt safe”.

“They had a lot to carry in the show and we felt like they were internalising it in a way,” she claimed. “We wanted to make sure that they had a way to kind of let go and turn it off and not internalise it too much.

“Javier was really supportive of them, and encouraging them, and we were saying how great how they were in scenes, but also how important it was to sit down, talk about the work, talk about ourselves personally, about our families and be open with one another.”

Chloë was also ‘really impressed’ with the support offered on set by Netflix

“The whole environment was very sensitive to the material,” she revealed. “Netflix has released a statement across the cast and crew that if any of the material we were dealing with was triggering in any way to anyone they would provide help and support for them.

Chloë revealed it this was “really the first time I had seen that on a set, and I was really impressed with the way they handled it”.

Javier Bardem had apparently been wanting to be part of a Ryan Murphy show since visiting his wife Penélope Cruz on the set of American Crime Story

“I had the chance to be on set back in the day in Miami for a couple of days, and I saw the quality of everybody behind and in front of the camera, and it was the first time I had access to a show like that on set,” the Oscar winner recalled. “Since that day, I was like, ‘I would love to make one of these’.”

The Spanish actor previously collaborated with Ryan Murphy on the film Eat Pray Love, but Monsters is their first time working together on the small screen.

“I’ve known Ryan since 2009, and I know how loving and caring and what a beautiful person he is,” Javier added.

Despite all the controversy surrounding Ryan Murphy’s Dahmer, the show was a big part of Javier Bardem saying yes to Monsters

Asked if he felt trepidation about signing up to play José Menéndez because of the backlash against Dahmer, Javier claimed “it was the opposite for me”.

“I binged the whole show in two nights, and I was mesmerised by the quality of it all,” he said.

“What I loved about it, among many other things, was what was underneath – the criticism of the homophobic, racist society back in the day, where if you were just a nice white guy, blond, you could more or less skate out of justice compared to other people.”

“And I knew that when he was bringing this show to us, there was way more than just a murder,” he continued. “It was something about trauma, abuse and relationships.”

Cooper Koch will ‘without a doubt’ be watching the Menéndez brothers’ authorised documentary when it debuts on Netflix next month

Erik and Lyle Menéndez pictured in court in 1992

“Absolutely,” Nicholas agreed. “I’m really excited to see the perspectives that they share with this documentary.”

“I’m quite glad that Netflix is giving them this platform,” he added.

Monsters: The Lyle And Erik Menéndez Story is now streaming on Netflix.

House Of The Dragon Director Clears Up Our 1 Big Question About Aemond’s Nude Scene

Posted on 03/07/2024 by Boris Clair

One of the biggest criticisms levelled at Game Of Thrones was its disparity between male and female on-screen nudity – and it seems spin-off House Of The Dragon is keen to remedy that.

The latest instalment of the prequel series featured an extended sequence set in a brothel, which made TV history of sorts as the first scene in any Game Of Thrones show to feature an erect penis.

Not only that, the scene came to a climax (sorry!) with Aegon Targaryen catching his brother Aemond in the act, only to wind up humiliating him in a manner reminiscent of the bullying Aegon subjected Aemond to in their younger years.

At the end of the exchange, Aemond coldly walks away from the scene without bothering to dress, with director Geeta Vasant Patel telling Variety that Ewan Mitchell threw himself into going fully nude for the sequence, rather than using a double or prosthetic.

“Ewan is such a great actor. He understands what he needs to do in order to portray Aemond,” she enthused.

“When I spoke with him originally about the nudity, I said to him, ‘Let’s just go through the story. If you don’t feel comfortable being nude, then you’re not going to be nude’. We were both on the same page in that way. We started walking through, and he walked me through his character.

“One thing about directing that’s really important is to surrender to the actors, and the actors surrender. It’s a mutual surrendering. In this case, Ewan knew his character so well that I was listening to him and walking with him as we went through every episode before this.”

A (cropped) still of Ewan Mitchell's nude scene from the latest instalment of House Of The Dragon — A (cropped) still of Ewan Mitchell’s nude scene from the latest instalment of House Of The Dragon

She explained: “What we came to is that Aemond was hurt. He was bullied when he was little. Since he was hurt, he had created this persona that was the exact opposite of how he was feeling.

“He created the persona of a someone who is callous and has no regard for what others think of him. That shift, from someone who’s vulnerable to literally watching him put on his armour, was what we were going for in that scene. It’s one of the few times you see the young child in him and you see the pain in him.

“Slowly he starts putting on his armour and when he stands up, the fact that he doesn’t care that you see his penis is such a strong visceral shift. And so, of course, Ewan was like, ‘I want to be fully nude in that moment. It’s important to me because that’s who my character is. That’s what he would do’. And that’s what we did.”

Geeta Vasant Patel at the season 2 premiere of House Of The Dragon

In a separate interview with Vulture, Ewan agreed it was “encoded in Aemond’s DNA” for the character to leave the scene in the way he does.

“He’s humiliated by his brother and all his crew, and it’s like this switch flips,” he said of his character.

“The madam is no more. All of these people in front of him? They mean nothing. He stands up, he owns it. ‘Yeah, I’m bulletproof. Anything you say, it will not work’.”

Ewan added: “Scenes like this start with a conversation about how far you’re prepared to go. It wasn’t a choice we made lightly. But it’s true to Aemond that he shocks the audience. Weakness is not part of Aemond’s vocabulary.”

House Of The Dragon airs on Mondays on Sky and Now.

Stranger Things Creators Debunk Major Theory About Show’s Ending

Posted on 18/12/2023 by Boris Clair

The Duffer Brothers have put an end to a popular fan theory that the events in Stranger Things are not *actually* happening.

The runaway hit show, which has been a flagship series on Netflix since its inception in 2016, will draw to a close with a fifth season, speculated to drop in late 2025 or early 2026.

Created by brothers Matt and Ross Duffer, Stranger Things has gripped fans since its debut, and made huge stars of its principally younger cast, including the likes of Millie Bobby Brown, Sadie Sink and Finn Wolfhard.

Though the premiere date for the final instalment has yet to be revealed, with filming having been delayed significantly by the SAG-AFTRA strike of this year, one thing that has been confirmed is that the fantastical events that occur throughout the show are most definitely real.

As revealed to Metro at the premiere of the West End spin-off of the TV show, Matt and Ross Duffer clarified that the fan theory that most of the action in the series is happening in one long game of Dungeons & Dragons was incorrect.

The theory has been in circulation for a good long while, but picked up steam again last summer around the end of season four of the show.

Fans theorise that the show’s main characters – Will Byers, Mike Wheeler, Lucas Sinclair and Dustin Henderson – are in fact playing the same game of Dungeons & Dragons that they were playing in Mike’s basement at the beginning of season one.

Therefore, events like Eleven coming onto the scene and Vecna’s mass destruction never actually occurred.

The young friends playing a D&D campaign in the first ever episode

Dungeons & Dragons is certainly a big motif in Stranger Things – from the friends using the game as a metaphor to understand what’s happening to their small town in season one, to the many monsters that appear throughout the show which are largely plucked from the popular tabletop game.

However, when confronted with this particular theory on the red carpet of Stranger Things: The First Shadow, Ross Duffer said “that would be the equivalent of, ‘that’s all a dream’… No, I assure you that is not how we’re going to end the show.”

Duffer continued “we’ve known where we’ve been going for a while. And we feel comfortable with it; hopefully, it satisfies everyone. We’ll see.”

Stranger Things season four finished streaming on 1 July 2022, and quickly became Netflix’s most popular English-language TV series ever, with a total of 781.04M hours viewed in 17 days. It has since been usurped by Wednesday.

In an interview with QG, Wolfhard revealed that the highly anticipated final season would most likely be released in early 2025, although this has not been confirmed by Netflix.

Suits Creator Reveals One Word The Royals Apparently Didn’t Want Meghan Markle To Say On Air

Posted on 30/08/2023 by Boris Clair

Suits creator Aaron Korsh has claimed he was “irritated” by the Royal Family’s supposed interventions when it came to Meghan Markle’s character after she began dating Prince Harry.

The Duchess of Sussex was still playing Rachel Zane in the US drama when she met her future husband, and her character was eventually written out of the show in the lead-up to their wedding.

Prior to that, however, Aaron has alleged that the Royal Family “weighed in on some stuff” to do with Meghan’s character, which left him rather displeased.

He told The Hollywood Reporter: “I will say, and I think Harry put this in the book, because I heard people talking about it — [the royal family] weighed in on some stuff.

“Not many things, by the way, but a few things that we wanted to do and couldn’t do, and it was a little irritating.”

Aaron went on to say that one particular grievance was related to the term “poppycock”, which he’d planned to have Meghan’s character say as a nod to his in-laws, who use the term regularly.

Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane during the sixth season of Suits

“The Royal Family did not want her saying the word,” the producer and writer claimed. “They didn’t want to put the word ‘poppycock’ in her mouth. I presume because they didn’t want people cutting things together of her saying ‘cock’.”

Interestingly, Aaron said the term was then changed to “bullshit” in the script, adding: “There was maybe one or two more things, but I can’t remember.”

Asked how the Royal Family got their hands on the script in the first place, Aaron said: “I don’t know how they got ’em. I was aware that they were reading them because I got the feedback, but I don’t remember the process by which they got them.”

Buckingham Palace had no comment when contacted by HuffPost UK. We have also contacted representatives for the Duchess of Sussex.

Prince Harry previously wrote about Meghan leaving Suits – and the alleged royal interference that preceded it – in his book Spare, which was released at the beginning of this year.

“Meg packed up her house, gave up her role in Suits. After seven seasons,” he wrote.

“A difficult moment for her, because she loved that show, loved the character she was playing, loved her cast and crew – loved Canada.

“On the other hand life there had become untenable. Especially on set. The show writers were frustrated because they were often advised by the Palace comms team to change lines of dialogue, what her character would do, how she would act.”

Harry and Meghan’s wedding in 2018 was attended by a number of her former Suits co-stars, who have also publicly jumped to her defence on several occasions since.

Euphoria Creator Finally Lifts The Lid On What To Expect From New Season

Posted on 27/08/2023 by Boris Clair

Sam Levinson is finally giving Euphoria fans what they want.

Dedicated viewers of the award-winning US drama have patiently endured the last year and a half without as much as a hint about its anticipated third season.

Fortunately, showrunner Levinson made an appearance in Elle’s recent cover story about lead actor Zendaya — and finally dished.

Audiences last saw Zendaya’s character, Rue, in the season two finale in February 2022 and watched her loved ones stage a drug intervention. While a voiceover confirmed she stayed sober for the rest of the school year, Levinson teased more upcoming hardships.

The showrunner told Elle he plans on turning the next season into a “film noir” that uses Rue as a vehicle to “explore what it means to be an individual with principles in a corrupt world”.

Further details remain sparse, though Zendaya – who is also an executive producer on the show – previously teased what she wanted to see in the new season.

“I would like to explore Rue’s sobriety and that journey for her and what that looks like,” she told Extra in April 2022. “What the ups and downs of that journey for her might look like. We see her in the midst of it. It would be nice to see her close to the other side.”

Levinson praised the Emmy and Golden Globe winner for always creatively pushing herself. He told Elle: “She’s the most competitive person I know, in a good way. She’s constantly growing as an artist and always seeking a challenge. She’s never complacent.”

Sam Levinson said the next season of "Euphoria" will dig into Zendaya's character's sobriety. — Sam Levinson said the next season of “Euphoria” will dig into Zendaya’s character’s sobriety.

The cast and crew of Euphoria have been busied by an ongoing strike, however, as the Screen Actors Guild and Writers Guild of America unions demand fair residual pay from streamers, guidelines on the use of artificial intelligence and other protections.

In July, the Euphoria team faced a major loss when show standout Angus Cloud was found dead in his home at 25 years old. His charming drug dealer character, Fezco, was last seen getting arrested during a raid.

“I can’t wait to get back to work with everyone,” Angus previously told E! News in October. “I feel like it’s been way too long. I just can’t wait to see everyone and working on set again. Definitely not sure what to expect for Fezco, but knowing Sam, it will be good.”

The show commemorated Angus Cloud by adding a note in his honour to multiple episodes, while co-stars including Sydney Sweeney and Alexa Demie remembered him in their own ways. Zendaya, meanwhile, published a lengthy tribute to her late friend and colleague on Instagram.

“I know people use this expression often when talking about folks they love…‘they could light up any room they entered’ but boy let me tell you, he was the best at it,” Zendaya wrote at the time. “I’d like to remember him that way.”

The Crown Bosses Respond To Speculation About How Princess Diana’s Death Will Be Depicted

Posted on 25/08/2023 by Boris Clair

The team behind The Crown has spoken out about how the award-winning Netflix drama will cover the death of Princess Diana.

Ahead of the sixth and final season later this year, there’s been plenty of conversation both in the media and among fans about how Diana’s death will be handled in the show.

Last year, Netflix was forced to shut down reports in Deadline that the crew had been “on edge” while filming scenes of Diana’s fatal car accident in Paris, with a spokesperson insisting that the “exact moment of the crash impact will not be shown”.

The conversation then reignited in March when the Daily Mail reported that The Crown had recreated the aftermath of the crash, and published photos of a wrecked Mercedes that will supposedly be used in the show’s final season.

During a discussion at the Edinburgh TV Festival on Thursday, The Crown’s executive producer Suzanne Mackie insisted (via Metro): “The show might be big and noisy, but we’re not. We’re thoughtful people and we’re sensitive people.

“There were very careful, long conversations about how we were going to do it.”

She continued: “The audience will judge it in the end, but I think it’s been delicately, thoughtfully recreated.

“Elizabeth Debicki is an extraordinary actress and she was so thoughtful and considerate. She loved Diana. There’s a huge amount of respect from us all, I hope that’s evident.”

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly last year, Elizabeth Debicki admitted she was unaware of the “concerns”, adding: “I’ll say that Peter [Morgan, The Crown’s creator] and the entire crew of this job do their utmost to really handle everything with such sensitivity and truth and complexity, as do actors.

“The amount of research and care and conversations and dialogue that happen over, from a viewer’s perspective, something probably that you would never ever notice is just immense.

“From that very first meeting [with] Peter, I knew that I’d entered into this space where this was taken seriously [in] a deeply caring way. So that’s my experience of the show.”

Elizabeth Debicki joined The Crown for its fifth season, which aired last year

Since its debut, The Crown has been met with criticism from some viewers due to its fictionalised depiction of 20th century history.

However, as the events portrayed in The Crown have come closer to the present day, these discussions have become louder, with many calling for a disclaimer to be added to the Netflix show highlighting that it is not always historically accurate.

Netflix eventually added one to the season five trailer, but not the show itself, saying at the time: “The Crown has always been presented as a drama based on historical events.

“Series five is a fictional dramatisation, imagining what could have happened behind closed doors during a significant decade for the Royal Family — one that has been scrutinised and well-documented by journalists, biographers and historians.”

The Crown is expected to return for its sixth season in November.

The Idol Is Already Shaping Up To Be 2023’s Most Controversial TV Show – This Is Why

Posted on 11/06/2023 by Boris Clair

HBO’s music industry drama The Idol is shaping up to be one of the most talked-about TV shows of the year – just probably not for the reasons producers were hoping for.

The controversial series stars Lily-Rose Depp as Jocelyn, a young pop star making her way back into the spotlight after a very public breakdown.

When she meets Tedros – a shady manager-producer-cult leader type played by The Weeknd (who uses his real name, Abel Tesfaye, for the show), her comeback plans become seriously derailed.

The opening episodes of the series premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last month, with the first debuting here in the UK earlier this week.

After its Cannes premiere, the show garnered some seriously mixed reviews, with many critics highlighting the show’s sex scenes and graphic drug use.

But it’s not just the plot that has polarised viewers – the furore around The Idol goes much further back…

Production delays

When The Idol was first announced back in June 2021, it seemed to have all the makings of another HBO must-watch, thanks to the buzzy names attached to the series.

The Weeknd was revealed to be collaborating with his creative partner Reza Fahim and Euphoria creator Sam Levinson to produce a drama exploring the darker side of the music industry, with Lily-Rose on board as its lead and the Can’t Feel My Face singer himself starring opposite her.

Jocelyn and Tedros dance together in the first episode of The Idol

The following year, in April 2022, it was announced the drama’s original director, Amy Seimetz, would be leaving the project, after much of the show had already been shot.

HBO confirmed the news in a statement, explaining that The Idol’s creative team had “aligned on a new creative direction” and that the production would be “adjusting its cast and crew accordingly to best serve this new approach”, with Levinson stepping in to serve as director as well as a co-producer.

A report from Deadline claimed that The Weeknd had been “unhappy” with the direction the show had taken, believing it to be focusing on the “female perspective” too much, prioritising Lily-Rose’s character.

He later refuted this in an interview with Vanity Fair, dismissing suggestions he “wanted to be the star” and insisting that the show’s story is still very much told from Jocelyn’s perspective.

The Rolling Stone bombshell

In March 2023, the controversy stepped up a gear when Rolling Stone published a bombshell report, claiming that the show had gone “wildly, disgustingly off the rails”.

After speaking to 13 sources involved in production on The Idol, the magazine alleged that Levinson had scrapped most of the initial version of the show, resulting in extensive reshoots. One source even went as far as claiming that, under the Euphoria director, the tone of the show had shifted into “sexual torture porn”.

Production was beset by extensive rewrites and delays, Rolling Stone claimed, with some crew members especially critical of Levinson.

The cast responds

Addressing the report, Lily-Rose released a statement in March standing by Levinson, describing him as “the best director I have ever worked with”.

“Never have I felt more supported or respected in a creative space, my input and opinions more valued,” she added. “Working with Sam is a true collaboration in every way – it matters to him, more than anything, not only what his actors think about the work, but how we feel performing it.”

HBO, meanwhile, said that “the initial approach on the show and production of the early episodes, unfortunately, did not meet HBO standards”, and stressed that The Idol’s team had been “committed to creating a safe, collaborative, and mutually respectful working environment”.

When The Weeknd waded into the controversy, though, his response arguably fanned the flames further, sharing a clip from the series on Twitter in which some of the characters call Rolling Stone’s relevancy into question.

The mixed reviews

When the show finally premiered at Cannes last month, it received a five-minute standing ovation. That might sound like a decent reception, but in Cannes terms, it’s actually pretty much the standard.

As the first reviews rolled in from the festival, the series initially received an unenviable 9% on Rotten Tomatoes, although this has since risen to 27% as more critics have published their own takes.

Variety said that the show plays out “like a sordid male fantasy”, while The Hollywood Reporter wondered “if in trying so hard to be transgressive, the show ultimately becomes regressive”.

Abel Tesfaye and Lily-Rose Depp pose together on the set of The Idol

In a one-star review, The Telegraph branded the series “a new low for HBO”, claiming that any attempts to skewer the music industry fall flat. “If there was ever any satirical or cautionary element in this story of a young woman being chewed up by the game machine, it’s nowhere to be seen,” critic Robbie Collin wrote.

Some reviewers did single out Lily-Rose’s performance as a highlight, though, with Deadline describing her work as “riveting”.

The explicit content

Just one episode in and the show’s explicit scenes have already generated plenty of discussion online, with many critics branding some of the on-screen nudity gratuitous.

One storyline in the opening instalment sees Jocelyn deciding she wants to appear topless in a photo-shoot, with her manager (played by Hank Azaria) going as far as locking the set’s intimacy coordinator in the bathroom so that she can do so.

Lily-Rose Depp in the opening scene of The Idol

Elsewhere in the episode, Jocelyn becomes the victim of revenge porn, with one scene involving photos of certain body fluids on the character’s face.

And if this didn’t already sound like A Lot, the season premiere also features a masturbation scene involving ice cubes, not to mention numerous scenes depicting drug use.

With five more episodes to go, it seems like the controversy around the show won’t be disappearing any time soon. Brace yourselves for more feverish debate (and if you want to watch it for yourself, you can watch weekly instalments on Sky Atlantic and Now, dropping on Mondays).

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Jennifer Coolidge Reveals How She Almost Missed Out On Her Career-Changing White Lotus Role

Posted on 10/06/2023 by Boris Clair

Jennifer Coolidge has revealed she came close to turning down her award-winning role in The White Lotus.

The Legally Blonde star made her first appearance as the rich, needy, and self-absorbed Tanya McQuoid in the acclaimed comedy drama in its first season back in 2021.

Tanya quickly became a fan-favouriteand returned for the show’s second season with some unforgettable lines, including the forever-memed quote: “These gays, they’re trying to murder me.”

But in a new interview, Jennifer has admitted that she almost didn’t accept the part.

Speaking to British GQ about how she felt after landing the role, Jennifer admitted: “I was, like, not in the mood.”

“I was depressed,” she added. “I was very depressed.”

Luckily, Jennifer had a change of heart and committed to the show.

Her efforts were subsequently rewarded as she picked up an Emmy and a Golden Globe for her portrayal of Tanya, putting her career in a completely new direction.

Jennifer Coolidge with her two SAG Awards

The White Lotus is a satirical anthology series created by former School Of Rock star Mike White, with each season set in a different branch of a luxury hotel resort chain.

The second series arrived in November 2022 and, set in Sicily, Italy, followed the demise and eventual death of Jennifer’s character.

Divulging what she had hoped the most recent season would have in store for her, Jennifer added to the publication: “I had encouraged Mike to tell an Italian story, I said I would love to be in Italy or something, riding around on a Vespa with all these men reaching out and trying to light my cigarette.

“That’s my fantasy. But then I guess that suggestion got me killed.”

It was announced last year that The White Lotus would be returning for a third series, with reports claiming that it will be set in Thailand.

In April, it was confirmed that Natasha Rothwell – who played Belinda Lindsey on the first season – will be reprising her role.

Seasons one and two of The White Lotus are streaming on NOW in the UK.

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Obsession Viewers Can’t Get Over That Wild Pillow Scene: ‘I Have No Words’

Posted on 15/04/2023 by Boris Clair

Warning! This article contains mild spoilers for Netflix’s Obsession.

Obsession viewers have been left lost for words over a wild scene involving a hotel pillow in Netflix’s raunchy drama.

The four-part series tells the story of a surgeon who embarks upon a sex-fuelled affair with his son’s girlfriend, as the pair grow increasingly infatuated with one another.

Despite the show only debuting on Thursday, one scene in particular has already sparked much conversation online.

It sees William Farrow follow his lover Anna Barton to Paris, where she is on a mini break with his son Jay.

After meeting up with Anna for sex in a back alley, William later checks into the same hotel room where Anna and Jay had been staying, where he turns carnal and hunts for her scent.

Intensely sniffing a hotel cushion, William then begins a solo sex act, which left viewers not knowing what to make of it all..

Obsession #Netflix
Fucking hell was not expecting the pillow sniffing wank 😳😂

— Clare Newby (@NewbyClare) April 13, 2023

the pillow humping scene in Obsession on Netflix is the funniest worst thing I have seen in a while

— Talia Marshall (@princesstehangi) April 14, 2023

Nah because obsession on Netflix is not real like this guy really flew to Paris for a 10 second shag with his sons girlfriend? He then books the SAME ROOM they had after they leave and shags the pillow that smells like her while crying

— daisy 🏼 (@daisywright_) April 14, 2023

I’m absolutely howling what is he doing to that pillow, god this is tragic #obsession

— Kieran (@hiblenky_) April 14, 2023

Nothing really ruins your childhood celebrity crush more than watching Richard Armitage having a wank to a pillow 😩😩 #Obsession

— Leah White (@leahwhitex) April 15, 2023

The pillow sniffing wank in obsession was just very unexpected 😂😂😂😂

— Tochi Ogboko (@tochiogboko) April 15, 2023

Na y’all go watch Obsession on Netflix, this man just fucked a whole pillow bruh 😂

— Casee (@imcasee) April 15, 2023

This Obsession series on Netflix is weird. What was the man doing on the hotel bed please? 😭😩🤣

— Larni 🖤 (@Larni27) April 14, 2023

Richard Armitage, who plays William, revealed that actually the scene was originally meant to play out differently, and some of what made it in the edit was improvised.

In an interview with Metro, he said: “It was really unexpected because it was written as quite a different scene.

“There was a tissue with her imprint of her lipstick on which we didn’t feel necessarily worked.

“I was really conscious that it shouldn’t be in any way comedic so we sort of left it quite open and it was a bit of an improvisation actually.”

He continued: “Charlie [Murphy, who plays Anna] had – without me knowing – sprayed her scent that she’d been wearing throughout the shoot into different parts of the bed and I just got the sense of it, and that’s where the scene just opened.

“But the recording it wasn’t too planned, actually.”

Obsession is available to stream on Netflix now.

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