June Whitfield To Guest On Coronation Street

Coronation Street bosses have revealed that June Whitfield will be making a guest appearance in the soap to explain the death of show favourite, Blanche Hunt.

The veteran actress, who is famous for her role in Absolutely Fabulous among other things, will play May, a friend of Blanche’s with whom she was staying in Portugal when she died.

The former Terry and June star, arrives in Weatherfield for two episodes to attend the funeral – and has to tell long-suffering Deirdre Barlow how her mum died.

A show source told The Sun: “Blanche was her favourite character and she loved her hilarious put-downs. She is really pleased to be involved in such a big storyline and bosses are sure she’ll be perfect for the part.”

Meanwhile, a Corrie stage production which crams the most popular storylines from the show’s history into a two hour play, is set to start trouring the country this summer.

Old characters like Ena Sharples, Hilda Ogden and Bet Lynch will feature in Coronation Street Abridged Live! but no members of the TV cast are taking part.

Cowell ‘Wants Extra £3m For X Factor’

Whether it’s going towards an extra hundred gallons of black hair dye we’re not sure, but Simon Cowell has reportedly decided that he wants a £3 million budget increase for the next series of The X Factor.

According to The Mirror, the music mogul is to tell ITV bosses that he needs £300,000 extra for each of the ten live rounds in order to improve the talent show.

It is thought that Cowell will make his demand in a fortnight’s time when senior ITV figures visit his home in LA, where he is expected to present his plans for how the format could change.

A source told The Mirror: “Simon has said he will sign but the details must be right. It’s about making the show better each year.”

Someone should tell Simon it costs nothing to select good contestants cough Jedward cough.

Schofield Joins In Dancing On Ice Jibes

Jason Gardiner’s bitchiness seems to spreading on the Dancing On Ice set with even clean-cut Philip Schofield joining in with the jibes.

The silver-fox poked fun at professional skater Brianne Delcourt’s fake tan in front of the nation on This Morning.

Housewive’s favourite Schofield, 47, said: “I’ve never seen a colour like that before on Dancing On Ice.

“I was walking down the corridor past the dressing rooms. There was a tin of Ronseal Dark Oak outside Brianne’s door.

“It was doing exactly what it says on the tin.”

He’s got a point, there can’t be many ice rinks in the Costa del Sol, but we’ve seen a lot worse.

Brianne is partnered with Hollyoaks star Keiron Richardson. The pair is currently one spot off the bottom with a score of 18.5.

James Corden: ‘Sketch Show Was A Mistake’

Someone was bound to admit it eventually, but at last James Corden has revealed to Shortlist magazine that he thinks his BBC Three sketch show with Matt Horne was a “mistake”.

“The truth is, honestly, I’m not good enough at writing sketches to write a sketch show. It was a mistake. There’s no pint in doing something unless it’s going to be as good as Big Train or The Fast Show. Why bother? And the absolute truth is I wasn’t good enough.”

Corden said that he found the criticism of the show in the media upsetting, but admitted that he has no grounds to complain.

“We were everywhere and I got called a fat waste of space a lot in the papers,” he said. “The material wasn’t strong enough, but the torrent of abuse I got for it from the media was something else. But you can’t cry about it – my life is a picnic.”

All’s well that ends er, badly, eh Corden?

EastEnders Cast Backlash Over Kat’s Return

We knew that Kat Slater was a bit of a firebrand on-screen, but it turns out that she was also a pain in the backside off-screen as well.

According to The Sun, the EastEnders cast have branded the ‘tart with a heart’ a ‘nuisance’ and handed in a signed petition to show bosses urging them to re-consider Jessie Wallace’s comeback. Strong words indeed…

The actress has signed a one year deal to return to The Square, but cast members led by Steve McFadden are furious with her return and have warned that it will be ‘disasterous’ for the morale of the cast. They’ve even demanded she does not return with screen hubby Alfie Moon this autumn as planned.

“A lot of the senior cast who worked with Jessie the first time round are livid”, said one show insider. “She was a complete nuisance when she was on the show. It would be a disaster for her to come back. She wasn’t afraid to speak her mind and often upset stars during filming. By the time she left, a lot of them were breathing sighs of relief.”

“Many of the cast saw her as a bully. She was aggressive and difficult to deal with because she was so strong-willed. The petition was handed in last week. It didn’t go down well, but some of the senior cast felt it was a point that had to be made.”

Wallace did have some problems during her original five year stint on the BBC soap which ended in 2005, (she was suspended from the show for two months for her boozy ways in 2003 and also clocked up a drink driving ban).

The BBC have denied receiving any complaints from other cast members.

Tess Daly: ‘Things Are O-Kay With Vernon’

Tess Daly has announced that she is working things out with wandering husband Vernon Kay following the TV host’s saucy sex text scandal.

The Strictly Come Dancing presenter spoke publicly about the matter for the first time yesterday after completing a photoshoot for her Marks & Spencer beauty range.

Daly told The Mirror: “The past few weeks have been tough, but we’re working through it.”

She added: “I’ve been really touched by the support from the public and it feels great being back at work.”

Last month, Kay was forced to admit that he had sent racy text messages to five different women. He made the confession after his secret was uncovered by a tabloid newspaper.

The father-of-two later made a public apology to his wife on his Radio 1 show, while Daly cancelled a series of public appearances due to the embarrassment.

I’d be more embarrassed about Family Fortunes, personally. Oh, the irony…

Eastenders Dog Death Sparks Complaints

More than 100 viewers complained last week about Eastenders killer Lucas Johnson’s implied murder of collie dog Sugar.

But hardly any contacted the Beeb after he murdered two humans.

On Wednesday last week Lucas is believed to have sent Sugar to the big kennel in the sky after she started sniffing round the spot where he buried Owen Turner.

Shocked fans, 103 of them, called in to protest but only a “handful” bothered when he bumped off Trina and Owen.

The BBC was forced to put out a statement saying the show: “does not condone the killing of dogs…or people”.

A spokesman said: “Although it is never explicit that Sugar dies, the story does indeed suggest that Lucas has killed her.

“This behaviour is completely in keeping with his character.”

Lost Episode To Air With Cast Of Unknowns

If you’re a huge fan of Lost we would like to take this opportunity to warn you that this article contains some (very very mild) spoilers…

In an interview with E! Online, Michael Emmerson, who plays Benjamin Linus on the show, revealed a rather interesting nugget of information.

Emmerson describes episode 15 as ‘kooky’ because it will include no series regulars! ‘It’s unusual – it’s unprecedented. They’re pushing the envelope with this one.’

No, no more pushing evelopes. We just want answers, damn it!

‘It’s set in a time and a place that you will never have seen on a network series before, I would venture to say. When was the last time you saw a network drama episode where none of the series regulars were in the episode? That’s how kooky it is!’

You’ll have to wait and find out which non-regular character’s will make an appearance, but have fun guessing. Drop a comment below about who you think we’ll get to see.

Michael Parkinson Accepts Libel Damages From Daily Mail

Sir Michael Parkinson has accepted £25,000 libel damages over a newspaper claim that he had lied about his family background.

The article – ‘Who’s Telling Parkies’ was published by ardent truth-mongers The Daily Mail in May last year – caused considerable distress and harm to Sir Michael, 74, who has described his upbringing in the mining community of Cudworth, near Barnsley, in his autobiography.

It suggested that he had behaved in a grossly insensitive way towards his elderly uncle, Bernard Parkinson, and alleged he had intentionally lied about his family background and his father, by painting a false picture of a harmonious and close knit family and by presenting his father as an honest and well-liked man.

Sir Michael, who was at London’s High Court for the settlement of his action against Associated Newspapers, said he would donate the sum in full to two charities – the Alexander Devine Children’s Cancer Trust and a school for orphans in South Africa.

Party Leaders To Clash In US Style TV Debates

Are you one of the 26 Britons who actually bother voting in general elections?

Then you might be interested to hear that the leaders of the three major political parties will be engaging in three face-to-face television debates in the run up to the election.

The final touches were put inplace yesterday to the format of the American-style confrontations which will take place in front of studio audiences, and are due to be screened during midweek on ITV, SKY and BBC respectively.

Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg (the leader of the Lib Dems) will answer questions from selected audience members without knowing the subjects, although it has been confirmed that there will be no personal political questions. (Eg. “How long have you known that Lord Ashcroft was a ‘nom-dom’ Mr Cameron?” or “Why did you chicken out of an early election Mr Brown?”)

Which will obviously be a bit of a shame…

Each programme will focus on a different subject; domestic policy, the economy and international affairs and will last for 90 minutes. However the dates are yet to be set (as the election has yet to be called).

« Previous Page — Next Page »