OHMYGOSSIP — Lindsey Coulson has joined ‘Waterloo Road’.
The former ‘EastEnders’ actress will play Dame Stella Drake in the upcoming 15th season of the school drama, replacing Jason Manford’s Steven Savage as headteacher after he was arrested for covering up the death of a pupil at the hands of his own son.
Stella is described as having an “uncompromising work ethic, strict moral compass and no-nonsense approach” and is eager to bring about change at Waterloo Road, ruffling feathers as she goes.
Lindsey said: “I’m delighted to be joining ‘Waterloo Road’ as the new headteacher, Dame Stella Drake.
“It’s a role I haven’t played before, so I’m really enjoying peeling back the layers of who Stella is and seeing how the teachers and students react to her no-nonsense approach.
“Waterloo Road tackles social issues head-on, which is so important to see on television, and this series will be no different.”
Producers are “thrilled” to have the actress on board for the programme.
Cameron Roach, executive producer of ‘Waterloo Road’ and founder of Rope Ladder Fiction, said: “We’re really thrilled that Lindsey Coulson is joining Waterloo Road, she has absolutely embraced the spirit and ethos of the show, and she completely inhabits the role of Dame Stella Drake, we can’t wait for the audience to meet her.
“The fact that the show has attracted an actor of Lindsey’s calibre is testament to the continued ambition and commitment from our writing and story teams, as well as our brilliant cast and crew.”
Lindsay Salt, director of BBC Drama, added: “It’s a real honour to have an actor of Lindsey Coulson’s calibre take the reins at Waterloo Road.
“Dame Stella Drake is a force to be reckoned with, and we know fans of all ages are going to love watching her.”
‘Waterloo Road’ season 15 will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in 2025.

Source: VacationHunter.Online

OHMYGOSSIP — Dancing On Ice professionals Mark Hanretty and Brendyn Hatfield will both be leaving the ITV show after the next season.
The skaters will be appearing in the new series – which is due to start in January – but they have both confirmed the 2025 shows will be their last stint on the programme.
Mark – who joined DOI in 2011 – announced the news in a post on Instagram, writing: “Hard to believe I’m embarking on my 12th series of Dancing on Ice.
“I’m as excited as ever and so grateful for the chance to work on the greatest show on ice once again.
“This will be my last year as a pro skater and I’m eager to soak up every second of it!”
Brendyn also confirmed his up coming sixth season on Dancing On Ice will be his last. In his own social media statement, he wrote: “Here we go! Excited to be back for my 6th and final season of ‘Dancing On Ice’.
“Let’s make this one the best one!”
Mark previously skated with stars including Donna Air, Kimberly Wyatt and Carley Stenson, and came third in the 2024 series with Adele Roberts, while Brendyn was paired with journalist Lucrezia Millarini, rapper Lady Leshurr and ‘Love Island’ star Ekin-Su Culculoglu.
He is in a relationship with S Club singer Rachel Stevens, who he met on the show back in 2022.
Dancing On Ice returns in January with another star-studded cast which includes ‘Coronation Street’ actor Sam Aston, ‘EastEnders’ star Charlie Brooks, ‘The Only Way Is Essex’ regular Dan Edgar and former footballer Anton Ferdinand.
Also taking part is actress Chelsee Healey, comedian Josh Jones, reality star Ferne McCann and Olympic rower Sir Steve Redgrave.
Redgrave, 62, previously admitted he’s enjoying training for the show but staff struggled to find skates to fit him so he’s having a pair custom made.
During an appearance on ITV show ‘This Morning’, he said: “It’s like going back to being an athlete again, I’ve been competing most of my life …
“They have not found skates to fit me yet, I have very big feet, size 12 and very wide, I am having some shoes made for me!”

Source: VacationHunter.Online

OHMYGOSSIP — James Buckley is still in touch with his co-stars from ‘The Inbetweeners’.
The 36-year-old actor shot to fame as sex-mad sixth former Jay Cartwright in the E4 teen sitcom alongside Simon Bird, Joe Thomas and Blake Harrison and revealed that he is keen to find time to reunite with his castmates for than a decade after the series ended.
He told OK!: “I talk to the boys quite a lot. We’re trying to meet up for something to eat, but it’s being pushed back to 2025 at this rate. There’s six of us – me, Simon, Joe, Blake, and the creators of the show, Iain [Morris] and Damon [Beesley]. So, trying to find a night where we’re all free and not working isn’t the easiest.”
James also explained that the BAFTA Award-winning show – which initially ran for three series from 2008 until 2010 and then spawned two spin-off films that were released in 2011 and 2014 – could never have come to fruition had he and his co-stars not been close friends.
He said: “We spent so much time making the show and we’d usually all be staying in the same hotel, which meant having dinner together most nights and seeing one another the next morning. That went on for years and I think if we didn’t get on or loved being around each other so much, making ‘The Inbetweeners’ would have been impossible. But we do really get on. I miss them.”
Since the sitcom ended, James starred in a main role on ‘White Gold’ from 2017 until 2019 and has earned a reported £1 million from the celebrity greetings video website Cameo.
He has been married to filmmaker Clair, 36, since 2012 and has Harrison, 11, and Jude, with her but the pair have found an audience themselves in the form of their YouTube series ‘At Home with the Buckleys’ and new podcast ‘The Buckleys.’
He said: “Even our arguments are funny because they’re so stupid. Nowadays, if I’ve done something that I know will annoy Clair, I’ll actually save it and tell her on the podcast. I want her genuine reaction.”

Source: VacationHunter.Online

OHMYGOSSIP — Gok Wan is to become a permanent co-host of Magic Radio Breakfast.
The 50-year-old presenter – who has been a regular face on British television since he launched ‘How to Look Good Naked’ on Channel 4 in the late 2000s – is thrilled to be joining the early morning radio show, and will appear alongside Harriet Scott every weekday from Monday January 27.
He said: “I am beyond excited to be joining the Magic Radio Breakfast team. I have loved working with the crew and of course getting to know our fabulous listeners. I have truly fallen in love with radio and I don’t even mind the early mornings, I’m an early riser anyway! We are going to have a brilliant time and I want you all to join us in the daily fun. Harriet is a wonderful co-host and I can’t wait for our Magic to happen!”
Harriet has been the co-host of Magic Radio Breakfast since 2017 and frequently interviews stars on the show and has recently chatted to the likes of pop singers Kylie Minogue and Rick Astley as well as ‘EastEnders’ legend Danny Dyer and actress Emily Atack, both of whom are starring in the new TV series ‘Rivals’.
Harriet added: “I know that our listeners are going to love spending their mornings with Gok just as much as I do. We’re all going to have some adventures together in 2025 and I can’t wait”
Until Gok – who has also carved out a culinary career with shows like ‘Gok Wan’s Easy Asian’ and has also cooked on ‘This Morning’ – joins the radio programme permanently after Christmas, he will appear as a guest on a rotational basis with the likes of Magic Soul broadcaster Lemar, as well as McFly star Harry Judd.
To listen to Magic Radio, find it on 105.4FM in London or nationally on digital radio, via the Rayo app or online at magic.co.uk.
Follow Magic Radio on Facebook, Instagram or TikTok.

Source: VacationHunter.Online

OHMYGOSSIP — Sara Davies “doesn’t feel any different” despite her huge weight loss.
The 40-year-old businesswoman – who has Oliver, 10, and Charlie, seven with her husband Simon – has managed to shed three stone but insisted that she is “still as happy” with herself as she was, even though now an added benefit is that she can spend more time being active with her children.
She told Prima magazine: “I don’t feel any different about myself when I’m in this size 12 body than when I was in the size 18 body. I’m still as happy with the woman that I see in the mirror. She’s still not confident about the stretch marks, wobbly bits and the mum pouch that never went, but I wouldn’t say I wasn’t happy when I was bigger. I’m happier that I can run around after the kids and not be out of breath. I feel like I’ve been through a health transformation.”
But the ‘Dragon’s Den’ star – who is worth an reported £37 million thanks to her Crafter’s Companion business – revealed that the key to her weight loss success lay in cutting out sugar, but she does not believe in following “fad diets” and has focused on the idea of keeping fit rather than losing weight specifically.
She said: “I spent the end of last year cutting out sugar. And when I say cutting out sugar, I don’t just mean I stopped eating chocolate and cake. I stopped drinking fruit juice or eating fruit, and cut down my alcohol intake. A lot of people say to me, ‘What’s your trick? How are you doing it?’ And I think they just want some kind of magic bullet, but it really was just lifestyle changes.
“Last year, I was cutting out sugar and focusing on weight loss. This year hasn’t been about losing weight, but I’ve trimmed down. I got fit to go to the Arctic.
“And had I not lost that weight, I wouldn’t have managed trudging through the ice. And then at the Great North Run this year, I shaved 42 minutes off my time and just absolutely smashed it.
“What’s really helped is understanding how my body works. I’m not following a fad diet. I’m just understanding how my body processes sugar and I’m making lifestyle changes to support that. So I think that knowledge is power.”

Source: VacationHunter.Online

OHMYGOSSIP — Anna Maxwell Martin felt “financial terror” when her husband died.
The ‘Line of Duty’ star, 47, was married to late TV and film director Roger Michell – with whom she has daughters Maggie, 15, and Nancy, 13 – from 2002 until 2020 but he died just a year after their split at the age of 65 and she has admitted that she was concerned about money amid her grief.
Speaking on BBC’s ‘Woman’s Hour’, she said: “My husband died three years ago. Things were really difficult in every aspect of our lives
“There’s lots of stuff that comes with grief – and one of those was financial terror.
“Then, there are real practicalities around your children, and their mental health and supporting them, which is your priority.”
The ‘Motherland’ star noted that she was in a “heightened state of shock” at the time and that continued until “very recently” but her “gritty” nature forced her to pull herself through it.
She continued: “Looking back, I was probably in a heightened state of shock and fear for a long time until very recently.
“I’ve travelled this road of grief and sudden traumatic death before. I’ve done it before. So in a way, I could pick myself up and do it again.
“It was horrible to have to see my children walk that road. But I’m pretty gritty and pretty strong, and I think I’m quite deft.
“I thought I’ve just got to keep the motor chugging on.”
Anna – whose former husband’s cause of death has never been disclosed publicly – previously explained that while her separation from Roger had been “very sad”, there was no animosity and she felt as if she had lost a “best friend” when he died.
She told The Guardian: “We didn’t have grudges. I don’t operate like that, Roger didn’t really operate like that.
“It’s very sad if you separate, it’s devastating, and you hope you’ll come back around, after a period of time, where you’ll be …
“When Roger died, I lost one of my best friends. I see it as that.”

Source: VacationHunter.Online

OHMYGOSSIP — ‘The Bill’ should be back on TV as other police shows do not reflect the industry properly, according to one of its writers.
Michael Jenner worked on several episodes of the ITV police drama – which ran from August 1983 until August 2010 – and claimed that the more contemporary BBC series ‘Line of Duty’ is not a realistic depiction of the force.
Speaking on ‘The Bill Podcast’, Michael – who has also written for ‘Waterloo Road’, ‘EastEnders’ and ‘Heartbeat’ – said: “I’m not talking about turning it into a hard, edgy nasty sort of thing, but there are so many stories that can be told through a vehicle like ‘The Bill’.
“A show that is actually about ordinary coppers who have to go out and clear up the mess, I’d love to see that on the TV again.”
‘The Bill’ followed the lives of the employees at the fictional Sun Hill Police Station, over the course almost 2,500 episodes it made television stars out of the likes of Huw Higginson, Cat Simmons, and Trudie Goodwin.
The programme came to an end over the “changing tastes” of viewers but old episodes still run on the Drama channel and streams on U.
UKTV were said to be working on a new take called ‘Sun Hill’ with some of the legendary cast, including Trudie as Sargent June Ackland and Graham Cole as PC Tony Stamp.
In April 2021, Mark Wingett, 63, who played PC/DC/DS Jim Carver, addressed the rumours of a potential reboot..
He wrote on Twitter: “If I could just put the record straight … we are at a very early stage of producing a spin-off to ‘The Bill’ named ‘Sun Hill’.
“We have been approached by several production companies and are reviewing our options. It has not been green lit, yet.”
However, no TV networks picked up the project.

Source: VacationHunter.Online

OHMYGOSSIP — Alison Steadman has claimed that ‘Gavin and Stacey’ was only written after she agreed to do the show.
The 78-year-old television veteran initially played matriarch Pam Shipman in the BBC Three comedy series from 2007 until 2010 after having previously worked with creators Ruth Jones and James Corden on Kay Mellor’s ‘Fat Friends’ in the years prior, and she laughed “so much” at a speculative script for the pilot that her co-stars decided to write the full series.
She told Prima Magazine: “I’d worked with Ruth and James on ‘Fat Friends’, and they sent me one episode.
“The first scene I read was the one when Pam’s lying on the couch with slices of cucumber on her eyes.
“Gavin comes home from work, and says: ‘All right, Mum?’ And she says: ‘No, I’m not actually. I’ve been watching this programme about these badgers, and they’re crying because the little badgers have died.’
“He says: ‘Mum, badgers don’t cry.’ And she says: ‘Gavin, I know what I saw.’
“It just made me laugh so much. Having said: ‘Yes, I’ll do it,’ they wrote the first series.”
The series followed the lives of the Shipmans and the Wests, who become intertwined Gavin (Mathew Horne) and Stacey (Joanna Page) begin a long-distance relationship from Essex and South Wales respectively.
The show returned in 2019 for a festive special which ended on a cliffhanger which Nessa Jenkins (Jones) proposed to Neil ‘Smithy’ Smith (Corden), and will be back on screen over the upcoming Christmas period to answer all questions.
Filming has since taken place in Barry Island, Wales, and it recently wrapped up, with the cast bidding a final farewell to the show.
Alison added: “It was wonderful to meet up again with Ruth and James for this year’s Christmas special. And with all the cast.
“They are like our family to me.”

Source: VacationHunter.Online

OHMYGOSSIP — Idris Elba is joining forces with King Charles for an upcoming BBC documentary about knife crime.
The ‘Luther’ star will discuss youth violence solutions with the monarch, 75, plus meet bereaved families, young offenders and police in BBC One’s ‘Idris Elba: A Year of Knife Crime’.
He said: “So many people dismiss knife crime as something that doesn’t affect them, assuming it’s a black and brown urban and gang-related problem – but this couldn’t be further from the truth.
“White, middle class and rural areas are also affected, perpetrators are getting younger and fear is spreading.
“I hope our film goes some way towards changing these stereotypes and getting everyone to engage with one of the biggest challenges of our time. For me, it’s been a tough year – but I’m hopeful.”
The news comes as the 52-year-old actor has recently been working with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, 62, who will also feature in the fulm, in a bid to tackle the “root causes” of the issue.
The 60-minute documentary has been produced by Idris and Diene Petterle’s production company 22Summers, which created ‘Erased’ for Disney+ – a series that reveals the untold stories of soldiers of color in the war.
Idris faced a crossroads in his life as a teenager when growing up in what he describes as the “tough part” of east London – where violence was a possibility – he wants to understand why the issue is still persistent amid efforts to combat it.
Idris added: “I hope our film goes some way towards changing these stereotypes and getting everyone to engage with one of the biggest challenges of our time.”
Transmission details for ‘Idris Elba: A Year of Knife Crime’ will be confirmed at a later date.

Source: VacationHunter.Online

OHMYGOSSIP — Craig Phillips can’t bring himself to watch his series of ‘Big Brother’.
The Liverpool-born builder, 53, became the first-ever winner of the reality TV show in 2000 and despite being given every episode on videotape when he came out, Craig has never had the time or inclination to relive the summer that made him one of the most famous people in the country.
Speaking to BoyleSportsGames, Craig said: “I’ve watched everybody else’s but I haven’t watched my programme. I didn’t get time when I left the house. I was given huge boxes with hundreds of VHS tapes, of all the content, with every single show. I didn’t go home for 97 days, so I didn’t have a chance to actually watch it, and then when I did come out, because I’d done hundreds of radio interviews and interviews with journalists, etc. I felt as if they told me everything happened. I knew what happened because I was there, but they told me.
” I got a very clear picture of what was used in the entire series from all the questions I was asked at the time, you know.
“So I felt as if after six months or so, when things started to finally ease off a little bit. I didn’t actually need to watch this, because I’ve already seen it in a way. Obviously, I’ve talked to hundreds of 1000s of people, and they’ve told me their versions of what they’ve seen and that’s mapped out the whole show for me.”
However, Craig – who is now married to Laura Sherriff and has Nelly, five, as well as three-year-old Lennon with her – has seen all of his highlights, including his confrontation with ‘Nasty Nick’ Bateman, and he has kept all of his memorabilia from his time on the show and afterwards.
He revealed: “I’ve seen a lot of the iconic moments of me like confronting Nasty Nick, or me winning and those moments hundreds of times because I went on every television chat show and they’d show clips before I went on. But I still have all of the tapes and funnily enough, I was going through a big sort out recently and I found hundreds of 1000s of photographs, probably about six or 700 VHS tapes.
“When I used to work with the BBC, again, we would come off all the live shows and give me a recording of it. I don’t even know what I’m gonna do with them all. I’ve kept all those little wristbands you get when you’re invited to awards, or a VIP thing.
“I’ve got about six boxes completely full of all these little memorabilia things. They’re worthless to anyone else, but they’re lovely memorabilia to me of what I’ve done and where I’ve gone.
“I brought a video camera which I used to film all these weird and wonderful things for the first year, right? For the first year, when I was doing personal appearances, charity work, TV stuff with celebrities. I’ve got boxes and boxes and boxes of those tapes still.”

Source: VacationHunter.Online