OHMYGOSSIP — Nadiya Hussain and Zoe Ball will front a ‘Great British Bake Off’ rival show for the BBC.
The 32-year-old baker – who became a household name after winning the popular contest in 2015 – will team up with the 46-year-old presenter to front ‘The Big Family Cooking Showdown’.
The new BBC2 show will hit screens in the autumn, meaning it will go directly up against ‘Bake Off’, which has moved to Channel 4 with judge Paul Hollywood the only star still appearing on the programme.
A source said: “The gloves are off. This is going to be a proper battle.
“The Beeb is not going to be beaten by a show they grew from the ground and made into a juggernaut.
“Using Nadiya as the face of what they see as their new smash hit is nothing short of inflammatory.
“There’s no doubt from anyone associated with Bake Off that this is the BBC’s new prime-time cookery show and it’s intending to go toe-to-toe with Paul Hollywood and Co.”
The programme will see chefs Rosemary Shrager, 66, and 63-year-old Giorgio Locatelli set challenges to find Britain’s best amateur home cook and Nadiya hopes her previous experience on ‘Bake Off’ will be reassuring for the contestants.
She said: “I know how tough it can get, so I’ll be there for them, alongside Zoe, as the pressure builds.”
The decision to launch a rival programme comes after new BBC Chairman David Clementi said he thought it would be wrong to produce a “copycat” version of ‘Bake Off’.
Asked if he would disapprove of a copycat rival, he said: “Yes, if it was precisely similar, but I don’t think that’s intended.”
Meanwhile, when ‘Great British Bake Off’ returns to TV screens, Paul is expected to be joined by Prue Leith on the judging panel following the departure of Mary Berry, but replacements for hosts Mel & Sue have yet to be announced.

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OHMYGOSSIP — Greg Lake is “convinced” he and Jennifer Metcalfe are expecting a baby girl because of a dream he had.
The former ‘Geordie Shore’ actor is expecting his first child with the ‘Hollyoaks’ actress, and though they haven’t found out the sex of the unborn tot, he’ll be surprised if they have a boy – though the brunette beauty is not so convinced by his vision.
Greg said: “I’m convinced it’s a girl. I dreamt it. A little girl ran to me. I don’t know how because she was a baby but she did.”
But Jennifer added: “He had a dream the other night that he was holding a baby ad it turned into a chocolate milkshake, so who knows.
“We keep saying ‘Awww the little lady’. We’re convinced that much but really we don’t have a clue
“I say, ‘Can e call it a little boy today?’ And when I do, Greg is like, ‘No, it doesn’t sound right.’ ” But all we want is a happy, healthy baby.”
The 33-year-old actress is looking forward to the “challenge” of giving birth and doesn’t have any special plans or wishes in place for her labour.
She said: “I don’t have a birthing plan and I don’t want one. I’m relying on Mother Nature.
“Cats and dogs do it behind couches on their own and women do it in the middle of nowhere.
“I’m actually quite excited about the birth. I thought I would panic about getting it out but I’m up for the challenge and looking forward to the experience in a sick way.”
While she’s almost in her third trimester, Jennifer – who has played ‘Hollyoaks’ man-eater Mercedes McQueen for over a decade – is still not sure when she’ll be winding up work or how long she’ll be off for, but she’s willing to keep filming until “the end”.
She told OK! magazine: “I’m not sure when I go on maternity leave yet. I still need to discuss it with the producer, Bryan [Kirkwood], but he was over the moon when I told him.
“I haven’t got a clue what I’m doing so I’m just going to trust their guidance and whenever they want me to go, I’ll go. But I’m willing to work until the end. Hollyoaks’ are really supportive, so it’s lovely.”

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OHMYGOSSIP — Sir Bruce Forsyth spent five nights in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) this week.
The 89-year-old TV presenter was reportedly rushed to St Peter’s hospital in Surrey last Sunday (26.02.17) after he was struck down with a severe chest infection, but is recovering well and is expected to be released soon.
A source close to the former ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ host, whose career has spanned over 70 years, said: “Bruce came down with an infection last weekend, and it rapidly escalated into something very, very serious.
“He was rushed to St Peter’s and put straight into ICU because of his age, and the nature of his illness. He was in a lot of pain, but has been very stoical throughout.
“Of course, because he is nearly 90, doctors had to take extra precautions and Bruce had to stay in intensive care for a minimum of five nights.”
Bruce, who underwent keyhole surgery in 2015 after suffering two life-threatening aneurysms, is now eager to return home to Surrey with his wife, Wilnelia.
The insider told the Daily Mail: “Wilnelia was by his bedside virtually the entire time, and has been amazing. Now Bruce just wants to get home, and slowly build his strength back up again. He remains in great spirits.”

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OHMYGOSSIP — Louis Theroux has announced he’s making a trilogy of documentaries about drugs, murder and sex trafficking for BBC Two that will air later this year.
The 46-year-old journalist has jetted off to the United States and scrutinised the seedy and “disturbing” underbellies of three cities across the pond in the docu-films titled ‘Opiate City,’ ‘Murder in Milwaukee’, and ‘Sex Trafficking Houston’ respectively.
Speaking about the series, Louis said: “I immerse myself in some of the most dysfunctional and disturbing aspects of American society. They combine hard-hitting actuality with intimate interviews.”
‘Murder in Milwaukee’ sees him focus on two police shootings, in ‘Sex Trafficking Houston’ he examines the relationship between the prostitutes and pimps, and in ‘Opiate City’ he reports on the abuse of prescription painkillers and the statistic that one in 10 babies is reportedly born addicted to opiates in Huntington, West Virginia.
And Louis – who received rave reviews for his work on ‘Drinking to Oblivion’ and ‘Saville’ last year – has promised an exciting and “personal” insight into the subjects.
He explained: “I have been granted access to the police in several states; I’ve got to know the people affected by crime; and I’ve also spent time with the perpetrators of crime, with the idea of understanding the causes of it, both on a systemic level and also in a very personal way.”
Last year, Louis revisited his interest in disgraced TV presenter Jimmy Saville, the late paedophile presenter who he first met in 2000 and profiled in the documentary ‘When Louis Met Jimmy’.
When his depraved nature came to the surface after his death, Louis was spurred on to make a new documentary – which aired last night, in a bid to connect the revelations with the man he knew and figure out if he himself had been “played” by the former ‘Top of the Pops’ presenter.
He also debuted his first documentary feature, ‘My Scientology Movie’, which featured recreations of incidents retold by former Scientologists.

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OHMYGOSSIP — ‘Emmerdale’s Lucy Pargeter used to sneak off in her lunch break and give herself secret injections in a bid to aid her chances of falling pregnant.
The 40-year-old actress – who is known for playing pub landlord Chas Dingle in the long-running soap – didn’t want her bosses to know she was undergoing IVF because she thought it would affect the storylines she was given over the next year or so, so she used to slip off without anyone knowing around lunch to inject the stimulant into her.
Speaking on ‘This Morning’ on Thursday (02.03.17), the brunette beauty said: “If you go to your employer and say I’m having IVF, then of course they think well, ‘If it works, in nine months time, you’re going to be off.’
“So you don’t really want to give somebody the indication that you might be off in nine months because it affects storylines and everything.”
Lucy and her fiancé Rudi Coleano managed to conceive last year after a second round of IVF and are expected to welcome twin daughters into the world in mid-April.
The couple are already parents to 11-year-old Lola and they both decided that it would have a good if she was heavily involved in the pregnancy.
She said: “I wanted to be totally open with her. She’s come to scans, she knew about the whole process. We thought it was so important for her to know everything.”

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OHMYGOSSIP — Linda Robson has threatened to quit ‘Loose Women’.
The 58-year-old actress – who has been a panellist on the programme on and off since 2003 – is toying with the idea of walking away from the chat show series after she angered some viewers on Wednesday (01.03.17) when she seemed to describe residents of Stoke-on-Trent as “poor” during a discussion about a woman who was prosecuted for pocketing a £20 note she found on the floor of a shop in Blurton.
Speaking to the Daily Star Online, she said: “I’m really, really sorry if I’ve upset anybody. It could have been any corner shop anywhere. I didn’t even know it was in Stoke-on-Trent, it wasn’t in our notes. Maybe I shouldn’t do any more ‘Loose Women’ if what I say gets me into trouble. Maybe it was a silly remark, but nothing’s scripted on ‘Loose Women’ and we just say whatever comes it our heads, really.”
The remarks prompted an official complaint to industry regulator Ofcom from Blurton resident Kirsty Bailey, who argued Linda’s comments were ill-informed.
She said: “I just thought it was pretty disgusting to be honest. She knows nothing about the area.
“I felt she was speaking ill of the working class and the people of Blurton in general. With all the bad press the city has had recently – this is just another blow.”
Kirsty said that Blurton is distinctly different to what Linda’s remarks would leave people to believe.
She explained: “The people of Blurton are friendly and community-minded – there is nothing wrong with us.
“It would be nice to see people change their opinions of Stoke-on-Trent and other parts of the city. It was awful the way it was portrayed during the by-election.”
During the discussion on ‘Loose Women’, Linda insisted she would always hand money into the authorities if she found it in the street.
The actress explained: “Whatever I lose, I always seem to get. I love those people who hand things in and that is why I’d always hand anything in that I found.
“If I found £20 in a shop I would have said ‘do you know who this belongs to?’ It looks like quite a poor shop – it’s not Waitrose or Marks and Spencer.
“It looks like they don’t have a lot of money, the people who shop there.”

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OHMYGOSSIP — Samuel L. Jackson stole the letter ‘L’ from the set of ITV’s ‘Lorraine’ following his appearance on Thursday (02.03.17).
The 68-year-old actor, who stars in ‘Kong: Skull Island’, appeared on the mid-morning show alongside his co-star Brie Larson, to promote the upcoming American monster film, but after the interview, L. Jackson made himself at home by picking up a piece of the furnishings used to represent Lorraine Kelly to take away and decorate his own place with.
Presenter Christine Lampard, who is standing in for show host Lorraine, told viewers: “Apparently Samuel L. Jackson took such a notion to some of our set, you can see the L behind me here, they are all over the place obviously L for Lorraine clearly, but it’s part of the L of Samuel L. Jackson and he wanted it and he’s taken it home with him.
“So part of our set, look there’s an empty space over there on the table, it was there, Lorraine will never notice I’m sure it will be fine when we tell her who took it.”
Earlier in the show L. Jackson and Larson described how they had travelled to Vietnam, Hawaii and Australia while making the film.
He said: “She [Brie] was travelling way more than we were because that was her season of collecting hardware worldwide [during film awards season 2016]. So we would go some place and we would go, ‘where’s Brie?’, ‘oh she had to go back to LA and get an award’, ‘oh she had to go to New York and get an award.’ ”
Speaking about her 2016 Oscar win for the film ‘Room’, Larson said: “I flew from Vietnam to the Oscars and then flew back to Vietnam at like 6am the morning after the Oscars. It was very confusing because my weeks were like us climbing around on mountains and being extremely dirty, like covered in dirt all day [while filming for ‘Kong: Skull Island’] and then on weekends I would get scrubbed down and perhaps go pick up an award and then be back on Monday.
“A lot of the time we didn’t have phone signal or anything so I remember distinctly showing up in Vietnam after the Oscars and just like not being able to contact anyone, I had no cell service [and thinking] ‘did any of that actually happen, I have no idea’, it was just a blur.”
When questioned about this year’s Oscars debacle which resulted in ‘La La Land’ wrongly being announced as winner of Best Picture, before it had to be correctly given to the cast and crew of ‘Moonlight’ following a mix-up of the winners’ red envelopes backstage, L. Jackson said: “It was like any other night in Hollywood, it was fine.”

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OHMYGOSSIP — Ricky Tomlinson thinks Richard Whiteley was responsible for his imprisonment in 1973 because he was a secret government spy.
The ‘Royle Family’ star – who was a plasterer before his glittering career in comedy – was sentenced to two years in prison after he organised the first national building workers’ strike, but he’s convinced the late ‘Countdown’ host is to blame because he worked undercover for the intelligence services, and an ITV documentary titled ‘Red Under the Bed’ that he presented with Woodrow Wyatt persuaded members of the jury to put him away because it aired on the night they deliberated evidence.
He told The Chester Chronicle newspaper: “We’ve just discovered that they made a film which went out on television the night the jury were out considering the verdict called ‘Red Under the Bed’ and it was so anti-trade union that two of the jury changed their mind and brought a majority verdict in of 10-2 guilty.
“We found out this week that the film was designed, written, made and paid for by the security services. Woodrow Wyatt was a member of the security services and unbelievably so was Richard Whiteley who hosted the show.
“Richard Whiteley from ‘Countdown’ was a member of the intelligence services.”
Ricky and the defendants were the so-called Shrewsbury pickets and there has been a campaign to clear their names as alleged victims of a political conspiracy.
The 77-year-old comedian – who was born in Blackpool but grew up in Liverpool – admitted he would have “strangled” Richard when they met on ‘Countdown’ years later if he’d known about his involvement in his prison fate.
He explained to the publication: “The security services paid to have the ­programme made, so they had to use someone of their own ilk to be the ­chairperson. It was common knowledge.
“The security services use media ­people as part of the intelligence ­services. I must have done ‘Countdown’ four or five times.
“I didn’t know at the time, I wish I had known, I’d have strangled him. There’s all sorts of people involved. It was a carve up right from the go.”
Ricky also insisted he has proof in the form of confidential documents that were passed to him from an informant but he’ll never reveal his source.
He added: “We’ve only just scratched the surface. I can’t reveal my sources, we’d be hung, drawn and quartered. People would lose their jobs.”

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OHMYGOSSIP — Anthony Head would love to be cast as the titular character in ‘Doctor Who’.
The ‘Buffy The Vampire Slayer’ star has admitted he’d like to be considered as a contender to take over from Peter Capaldi – who has played the time-travelling scientist since 2013 – as the iconic Time Lord when he leaves the sci-fi series later this year.
When asked by Ben Shephard and Susanna Reid on ‘Good Morning Britain’ today (02.03.17) whether he’d take on the Tardis, he said: “I don’t know, no one’s asked, but I wouldn’t say no. Well, would anybody say no?”
Although he’s thrown his hat into the ring, the person who gets the job will be chosen by the new boss Chris Chibnall – who will take over from Steven Moffat next year – and he wants the script written before he works on castings.
Chibnall said recently: “We’ll cast the role in the traditional way: write the script, then go and find the best person for that part in that script. You couldn’t go out and cast an abstract idea.”
Some viewers have called for a woman to be cast as the titular character and rumours have swirled that Chibnall is eyeing ‘Doctor Strange’ star Tilda Swinton for the role.
And though he’s not giving it much thought at the moment, Chibnall – the creator of the crime drama ‘Broadchurch’ – has “a very clear sense” of what he wants.
He said: “The creative possibilities are endless, but I have a very clear sense of what we’re going to do, without even knowing who’s going to play the part.”
The 46-year-old television writer will take over from current show runner Moffatt at the beginning of 2018 once Capaldi makes his final appearance as the time-travelling scientist in the Christmas special later this year.

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