Actress Sophiya Haque has died after a short battle with cancer, it has been announced. Sophiya, 41, appeared in Corrie in 2008, playing barmaid Poppy Morales.
Her agent Oliver Thomson spoke about his client after she passed away peacefully in a London hospital, saying: “Sophiya was a wonderful actress, a wonderful client but so much more than that a wonderful friend. She was adored by everyone she worked with and will be deeply missed.”
Sophiya also had a successful stage career and had been appearing in Privates On Parade in the West End when she became ill with pneumonia. It is understood she developed a clot on her lungs.
Her uncle, Syed Haque called her “a loveable person and very beautiful,” the Evening Standard reported.
In these cash strapped times there really is no need to hand over your hard-earned dosh for a copy of Radio Times (other listings magazines are available), because we’ve bought a copy and have worked out which are the best shows over the holidays. It’s our Xmas gift to you.
QI: Jingle Bells
Stephen ‘National Treasure’ Fry hosts a Christmassy edition of the show with guests Sarah Millican, Danny Baker, Phill Jupitus and regular sidekick Alan Davies. Go on, admit it, the show has now been on TV for so long that most of the things you know you learned from QI.
Friday 21st December BBC2 10PM
The Snowman And The Snowdog
Altogether now: ‘We’re walking in the aaaaair. With a dog’. The long-anticipated sequel to The Snowman features a snowman and his dog. Or something. We’ve not properly looked into it because we don’t want the surprise spoilt. It’ll be ace whatever happens.
Monday 24th December Channel 4 8PM
Friday Night Dinner
Christmas with the Goodmans – a truly nerve-tingling proposition. Robert Popper’s magnificent sitcom gets its first festive special, if you’ve not got into FND yet this is the perfect opportunity.
Monday 24th December Channel 4 10.30PM
Doctor Who
You’d have thought it impossible for Doc Who’s producers to replace Karen Gillan but they seem to have done a fantastic job with Louise Coleman. Here she makes her debut proper in a storyline that sees her and the doctor take on some funny/ fearsome-looking snowmen.
Tuesday 25th December BBC1 5.15PM
Call The Midwife
Miranda Hart, Jessica Raine, Jenny Agutter et al are back for some Xmas midwifery antics. TV’s most visceral period drama follows the midwives of 50’s East London as they deliver a load of post war sprogs called Carol and Noel. Probably.
Tuesday 25th December 25 BBC1 7.30PM
Downton Abbey
Xmas. Downton. Downton. Xmas. Was there ever a time when these two words were not synonymous? One day they will stop making Downton Abbey. Now there’s a thought to chill the soul.
Tuesday 25th December ITV1 8.45PM
The Royle Family
Let’s be honest, the Royle Family Xmas special has always been a bit hit and miss. But we’ll all still be sat in front of it in the hope that it’s a vintage year. After all, it’s the Royle Family, innit?
Tuesday 25th December 25 BBC1 9.45PM
Miranda
Oh look, it’s Miranda Hart again. This time not in period costume and not delivering babies but talking to camera and falling over a lot. At Christmas.
It’s back! Dancing On Ice, the celebrity ‘reality’ show that demands the most work of the contestants while offering the least reward. Seriously, which of the former winners have gone on to do particularly well? We reckon you’d even struggle to remember who actually won in previous years. Go on, try and remember Sam Attwater or Hayley Tamaddon. Or Gaynor Faye. Yet these poor people have to spend weeks learning not only how to skate but how to dance while skating. No easy task.
Anyhow, here are the runners and riders for the new series, which kicks of on ITV on Sunday the 6th of January.
Anthea Turner
Anthea hasn’t been on our TV screens much since the ill-advised incident at her marriage to Grant Bovey when they ate Cadbury’s chocolate bars for money. A cheap stunt that backfired quite severely and which Anthea probably doesn’t want anyone to mention any more. Oops.
Beth Tweddle
Beth is an multi-medal winning artistic gymnast, which must surely make her a favourite to win the show. All she has to do is learn to skate and she should walk it. Bit of a ringer, truth be told.
Gareth Thomas
2013 should be quite a year for Gareth as he is due to be the subject of a Hollywood biopic. Mickey Rourke was due to be playing Gareth but has recently dropped out, presumably because the film would have to end with Gareth’s appearance on Dancing On Ice and Rourke would look insane in lycra.
Joe Pasquale
Come on Pasquale, you’ve already been King of the Jungle. Let someone else have a go!
Keith Chegwin
Here’s hoping Cheggers doesn’t decide to make this series of Dancing On Ice the second time he’s appeared on TV nude.
Lauren Goodger
The latest of the woeful crop of ‘scripted reality’ show ‘stars’ to make the move to ‘proper’ ‘reality’ shows, Lauren will be rubbish at skating. You watch, rubbish.
Luke Campbell
Hull’s Olympic boxing hero, Luke has wasted no time in making a bid for TV stardom. You’d think he’d be to busy building a boxing career to take part but apparently not.
Matt Lapinskas
This year’s token Ex-Eastender. We’re seriously struggling to remember who he played. Was it Dirty Den?
Oona King
So Oona used to be an MP but lost her seat to George Galloway, then Galloway went on Celebrity Big Brother and made a complete fool of himself, now he’s an MP again. Will Oona be attempting to do the same thing by making a complete fool of herself on Dancing On Ice and then running for parliament again? We hope so.
Pamela Anderson
A few years ago, getting Pamela Anderson on Dancing On Ice would have been a genuine coup. Now it just weems weird. One for the dads, though.
Samia Ghadie
This year’s token Corrie star. ITV know how to get the most value from their salaried artistes, don’t they.
Shayne Ward
Go on, think real hard, you remember the name don’t you, yes, no, do you want a clue? OK, he won X Factor. No? Still don’t remember? Neither do we.
So James Arthur has fought off double-pronged attacks from a 9-foot tall, perma-tanned, blubbing scouser and a midget bible-basher with weirdly angular hair to become the winner of X Factor 2012. And doesn’t he seem delighted about it? No, he doesn’t. He just continues to shuffle around sulkily like a grumpy teenager who’s been told to tidy his room. Maybe it’s because now that he’s a somebody for the night he’s realised he has to start the hard work of becoming a nobody again.
You see, though they are famous for a while and some of them shift a few singles, most X Factor winners subsequently become spectacularly unsuccessful. Don’t believe us? Let’s take a look at the Ghosts of Winners Past then, shall we?
2004 – Steve Brookstein
Yeah, see? We’ve proven our point already! Brookstein won, released a Phil Collins cover version and then got dropped. He has spent the intervening years complaining about winning, about releasing a Phil Collins cover version and about being dropped.
He now claims to be a jazz singer.
2005 – Shayne Ward
He may have sold over 3 million records since winning but Mr Ward is now appearing in ‘80’s themed musical’ Rock Of Ages instead of being a pop star. He hasn’t troubled the charts for 5 years.
2006 – Leona Lewis
OK, we admit, she did alright. International hits etc, etc. BUT she still lives in Hackney, so can she really considered a success.
2007 – Leon Jackson
We know – who? We can’t remember him either. Apparently he was Scottish. Ring any bells? No? Let’s just move on.
2008 – Alexandra Burke
Success-wise, Alexandra Burke is kind of Leona Lewis-light. She had a few hits and still lingers in the periphery of the media, but really she’s all but had it. The only recent news we could find about her was that she bought a Range Rover. Says it all.
2009 – Joe McElderry
Yeah. Nice lad. That’s about all though, eh? Does musicals, releases Christmas albums, smiles a lot, makes a living. Good luck to him.
2010 – Matt Cardle
First single – No.1, second single – No.6, third single No.185. Say no more.
2011 – Little Mix
A bit early to tell how these munchkins dragged through a branch of Claire’s Accessories will get on. After a year of frantic dieting and photoshopping their debut album has only just come out. It could take anything from 2 to 6 months for them to hit the bargain bins.
The new I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here Queen of the Jungle Charlie Brooks has lashed out at the show’s producers for involving her daughter in the one of the show’s trials.
Brooks’s daughter Kiki was hidden behind one of four doors in a jungle trial while she and Eric Bristow tried to pick which one had the best prize behind. They did not pick the right door and so Brooks did not get to see her daughter.
Now that she has left the show, Brooks has said that producers went “too far” by involving her daughter. She told the Sun: “I signed up for this show, but Kiki didn’t. I didn’t want her to be so upset. I had no idea this was happening. It was my lowest point. My mum gave the green light for her to be there because it was an opportunity for Kiki to see me – and I think she thought she would.”
She continued: “I felt like I’d been kicked when I realised she had been behind that door. I felt so sad for both of us and I couldn’t stop thinking about it afterwards. I kept picturing Kiki’s face. She would have been excited about seeing me and nervous about being on the show – and then disappointed when we failed the task. Afterwards I went straight up and spoke to the show bosses. They said she ‘had a moment’, but assured me she was okay after they gave her a bowl of ice cream.”
Brooks outrage appears to have stopped short of refusing her fee for the show, however.
Although these days there are a million TV channels and programmes can be recorded or viewed on catch-up with ease, there is still a great deal of interest in what the BBC and ITV have got planned for us on Christmas Day. Well today we found out.
The BBC lead with the now-traditional Doctor Who special ‘The Snowmen’ at 5:15PM (featuring the introduction proper of new assistant Jenna-Louise Coleman) and then a special edition of Strictly Come Dancing.
The big clash of the night is at 8:45 when the BBC have put a festive edition of Call The Midwife against the Xmas Downton Abbey. Downton will win that one.
Then everyone will switch back to BBC1 at 9:45 for the Royle Family Xmas special, which apparently feature Dave (Craig Cash) pitching an idea on Dragons’ Den.
Earlier in the day ITV have a cartoon double bill either side of the Queen’s speech with Toy Story and Tangled. And then a You’ve Been Framed Christmas special and something called Paul O’Grady’s For The Love Of Dogs, which sounds awful.
Elsewhere, the BBC have Boxing Day Xmas specials of unfunny comedy Miranda and even-unfunnier Mrs Brown’s Boys and the final ever Merlin will be shown on Christmas Eve.
With the current series of I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here proving a little thin on classic moments we thought we’d trawl the archives to find some highlights from previous series.
Now, admittedly, this list contains a lot of eating trials but, let’s be honest, they are always the best bits. And we have included the greatest trial in the history of the programme. That’s right – Gaffney!
After days of avoidance, obfuscation and evasion the real reason why Brian Conley left I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here has been revealed, by Conley himself.
Speaking on Daybreak he said that producers had removed him from the show after he refused to take prescribed anti-depressants.
Conley was only allowed to take part in the show if he took his pills so producers were given no choice but to remove him when he refused. He left shortly after being seen crying as a result of an argument with fellow contestant David Haye.
He says that exhaustion and malnutrition also played a part in the deterioration of his condition: “Two days after six days of not eating, I didn’t have antidepressants. They said if I did not comply with these regulations, then I would not be on the show. I started feeling really bad, and very shortly after that I did have to leave. I found out I was malnutritioned (sic) and I was suffering from exhaustion, that’s what the doctor said. They then sedated me for two days, they gave me a tablet that could knock out a horse and I woke up with a saline drip in my arm. I was thinking, ‘What on earth has happened here?’ All because of a fluffy show that Ant & Dec do. I can tell you it’s not fluffy out there, it’s the real world. It’s tough, real tough.”
The reason for Conley’s exit wasn’t mentioned during the ITV show, only that he had left the jungle and was recuperating.
Conley also says that the jungle experience has helped him with his depression and his reliance on medication to deal with it: “I’ve taken those for 15 years, I’ve had people say, ‘You probably don’t need them now’. I’m proud I stuck to my guns and I got through it, and it’s made me a much stronger man. You’re looking at a man who doesn’t need antidepressants.”
She may be currently ‘wowing’ the nation by wearing a series of very revealing bikinis and crying at the sight of anything that comes within 10 feet of her, but Helen Flanagan did, in fact, have a life before joining I’m A Celebrity Get me Out Of Here. Not a very varied one, but a life just the same.
Helen was born in 1989 in Bury and went to school until she was 10 years old. She then joined Coronation Street (in 2000) and continued to go to school while playing Kevin and Sally Webster’s daughter Rosie.
Rosie, you may remember, had been born in a taxi on Christmas Day. Helen was not, as far as we can ascertain, born in a taxi. But she might have been. We can’t rule it in or out, to be honest.
Nothing much then happened to Rosie (or Helen) for a few years until she suddenly turned into a schoolgirl minx and started seducing her teacher John Stape (this is Rosie now, not Helen. Again, as far as we know). Then, almost overnight, Rosie turned into complete flibbertigibbet. The producers seemed to take any opportunity to include scenes where Rosie needed to appear wearing just her underwear, she started trying to pull all the men in Weatherfield, wearing very skimpy outfits and behaving, generally, like a bit of a gold-digging slapper.
Helen, meanwhile, started dating footballer Scott Sinclair.
After Helen took a 3-month break from the soap in 2011 life started to imitate ‘art’ as Rosie was a fairly unsuccessful model in the show and Helen decided to quit Corrie to become a sort-of unsuccessful model. She has dedicate the last few months of her life to a couple of fairly low profile modelling jobs that involved her wearing very few clothes and tweeting pictures of herself wearing very few clothes.
And now she has returned to our screens! Wearing very few clothes and squawking. Welcome back, Helen!
Several sources are stating that former darts legend Eric ‘Crafty Cockney’ Bristow and Linda ‘Her from Brids of a Feather’ Robson have both signed up for the upcoming series of I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here. They join Helen ‘Rosie Webster in Corrie’ Flanagan, Ryan ‘Jason Grimshaw in Corrie’ Thomas and Grace ‘Bound to really good value’ Jones in the ‘they’re-probably-doing-it’ file.
The new series doesn’t start until November so expect plenty more rumours and confirmations on the coming weeks. Apparently recently retired MP Louise Mensch is on the producer’s wish list and presenters Ant & Dec want Chris Moyles. We reckon they’re both long shots. We shall see……
For the past few years one of the later live shows of the X Factor has aired at the same time as the Sports Personality of the Year. Both shows have suffered reduced ratings as a result. With 2012 being a landmark year for British sport, SPOTY host Gary Lineker has taken matters into his own hands by tweeting X Factor boss Simon Cowell directly to appeal to him to avoid a schedule clash.
Lineker tweeted: “Be a lovely gesture and mark of respect to our wonderful athletes if X Factor didn’t run against SPOTY. What do you think @SimonCowell?”
There was no response from Cowell but Lineker later retweeted a message from Mirror journalist Mark Jefferies which said: “Good news @GaryLineker and sport fans, I’ve been told by ITV spokesman there’s “no chance” X Factor will clash with SPOTY.”
How the clash will be avoided has still not been revealed and there has been no official statement from either the BBC or ITV so the stand off may yet happen. Watch this space….
With X Factor struggling in the ratings and the new series of Strictly Come Dancing launching tomorrow, both shows need is to grab as many tabloid pages as possible to increase ratings. If only there was some way that they could do that. What’s that you say? There is? Wonderful.
Apparently, a couple of years ago, Strictly host Bruce ‘Brucie, nice to see you, good game, what do points make, not in this game, I’m in charge, hands off the wig’ Forsyth had some kind of war of words with X Factor ‘judge’ Louis ‘Louis, Louis, woah, we got to go now’ Walsh and they have decided to reignite it just in time for both of their programmes to get a tabloid boost. What fortuitous timing.
We won’t spoil your tea by going into too many details but it seems Louis thinks Bruce should retire and Bruce thinks Louis is a bizarrely coiffured idiot who’s over-reliance on botox has left him looking like a shiny-faced weirdo. Or something like that. We’re paraphrasing, obviously.
Who’s right, who’s wrong, who cares, what will happen next in this facile, manufactured war? Find out in the next exciting episode of TV Scoop.
With the Sun reporting that the Simon Cowell produced ITV show Red or Black has been axed, X Factor suffering deteriorating ratings and rumours of ill-health we ask ‘Is the end is sight for Simon Cowell’s TV empire?’
Despite giving away TV’s biggest ever prize (£1.5 million) and enjoying 5 million viewers, the Ant & Dec-fronted show Red or Black has been deemed a flop and has seemingly been dropped by ITV. The show is produced by Cowell.
Then, after heavy criticism last series, the current season of the X Factor has seen ratings drop every week and the most recent show was watched by 2.9 million fewer viewers than the equivalent show last year.
In addition, a new biography claims that Cowell has been using tablets and pills to keep up with the intense schedule of shooting the American version of the X Factor and that he was turning into a ‘weird vampire’. The book – Sweet Revenge, the intimate life of Simon Cowell – claims that Cowell confided in X Factor judge Louis Walsh: “I don’t want any more tablets and pills. I’m cutting out the lot, including cigarettes. I desperately need peace. I’m craving normality. I’ve got to work out my demons and come out of it. I have to get back to where I was years ago. I had to stop reading texts at three in the morning and making calls later and later. I wanted peace.”
If you take all of this together it certainly seems that the cracks are finally starting to show in the carefully constructed Cowell empire, who knows maybe ITV’s Saturday night schedule may soon need another overhaul.
Top ITV soap Emmerdale have been busy creating their own fake music festival to feature in an upcoming episode.
The festival “Home Fields’ has been organised (in the soap, like, not in real life) by Home Farm residents Declan and Megan Macey and it features real stages, bars, toilets and mud. Headlining the entirely fictitious festival are the entirely real Scouting For Girls and The Proclaimers and the gig was filmed over three days using hundreds of extras.
The festival will feature in the show as part of its 40th birthday celebrations. Series producer Stuart Blackburn said the festival had proven on the biggest technical challenges the show had ever faced: “It was an amazing feat to put together an entire festival in such a short space of time. Technically it is probably one of the biggest challenges we have ever had on the show but the end result looks great. This festival represents the modern countryside: vibrant, young and energetic.”
Lead singer of Scouting For Girls, Roy Stride, said: “Having played the Woolpack in 2010 we felt the next step as Emmerdale fans was to appear in the show… and finally now our dreams have come true. Our Drummer Pete is the biggest Emmerdale fan I’ve ever met and I think we’re going to have to work hard to keep him focused on the job in hand.”
The week long 40th anniversary celebrations will also feature a live episode and the birth of two babies. Presumably those won’t be live.
Bosses at the X Factor have confirmed that the final of the upcoming series will move from its traditional London base to the Manchester Central Centre.
Show sponsors TalkTalk will be giving away 10,000 tickets to the final, which will feature this year’s judging panel Gary Barlow, Nicole Scherzinger, Tulisa and Louis Walsh. Walsh said: “Our live final is going to be another major event – so The X Factor 2012 has everything! I believe it’s going to be our best series yet.”
The last series of the show has been criticised by both show boss Simon Cowell and Gary Barlow, who called the contestants ‘lazy’. As expected, though, all of the judges are being extremely enthusiastic about this year’s run, which starts this Saturday at 8PM on ITV1.
Finally, at long last, after months of worry that the whole thing would be a storm in a teacup, the video for Mr Zip’s magnificent ‘Where’s me keys, where’s me phone?’ has arrived.
When the song first aired on the last series of Britain’s Got Talent it caused a frenzied reaction. People all over the country were asking each other ‘did you see that bloke on telly?….y’know….the keys thing’ or writing to the Prime Minister demanding that the song be made the new national anthem (we made that bit up). Well now the full-on, bells-and-whistles single version is here for your delectation and you can watch the accompanying video below.
Mr Zip (also known as Zipparah Tafari) releases the single via Sony Music on August the 19th. So now you can all rest easy.
The Daily Star are today claiming that ITV may be looking to replace their Saturday night megahit the X Factor.
The last series was deemed by many to have been a relative disappointment and, with Simon Cowell again missing from this year’s judging panel, it looks like there are plenty of people around ready to sound the death knell for the show.
The paper are quoting a ‘senior ITV source’ as saying: “Every television network is always looking for the next big thing. They’d be crazy not to. X Factor has had a brilliant run, but no show lasts for ever. Over the past few years Simon Cowell has been the main source for many of our top hits but some feel that we’ve got too many eggs in one basket and we’ve become too reliant on one man.”
Scrap a show that is still raking far more money than it costs to produce AND risk the ire of Cowell, one of TV’s most successful moguls? Seems a bit unlikely. We think it’s far to early to write the show off.
The judging line up for the 9th series of the X Factor has been released. It will once again feature Gary Barlow, Louis Walsh and Tulisa Contostavlos but Kelly Rowland has been replaced by former Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger.
Sherzinger has been quoted as saying: “I’m so excited to join the UK X Factor family. It’s where I got my start, so it feels great to come full circle. I can’t wait to see what talent the UK has to offer and to help inspire and bring out the best in these artists.”
She had previously been a guest judge on the show. This series will also feature Geri Halliwell, Rita Ora, Leona Lewis, Mel B and Anastacia as guest judges.
Comedian Jenny Eclair is leaving ITV’s Loose Women after reportedly failing to get on with her co-stars.
It’s being reported by the Mirror that after a year with te sow she rarely spoke to Loose Women regulars like Carol McGiffin, Denise Welch and Andrea McLean when they were not on camera.
Eclair said: I’ve had a brilliant time at Loose Women over the past year. It’s been an absolute hoot and I’ve met some really lovely people,” said Eclair.
“I just want to say thanks to everyone at ITV for 12 months of many laughs and I wish Loose Women, and all who sail on her, all the love and luck.
“There are no hard feelings on either side and I’m happy to offer my services behind the Loose Women desk should there be any last-minute emergencies. After all, I only live down the road.”
The Mirror quotes a ‘show insider’ as saying: “It is no secret that there is tension backstage between some of the women. Jenny never fully integrated with the other women and feels now is the time to move on.”
And so it begins again, the bi-annual face off between the UK’s main domestic channels to see who can capture the hearts of the nation’s footy lovers. Euro 2012 kicks off today with Poland V Greece on BBC1, then it’s Russia versus the Czechs on ITV, then it’s…..you get the idea, the behemoths of British broadcasting take turns to slug it out match by match until we decide which of them we will watch the final with on July 1st.
The opposing pundit panels will play a major part in our decision making so it’s worth looking at the options.
The Beeb have gone for a mixture of the experienced and predictable; Hanson and Lawrenson at the back with Shearer and Lineker up front. Booooooooring. Sad to say but this team have been in place for so long they have become jaded, dull and lifeless. It always feels like they’re doing you a favour by getting off the golf course to drag themselves to the studio, and when they get there they simply offer the same tired clichés. Even Shearer’s hair doesn’t bother turning up anymore.
ITV, sadly, don’t appear much better. There’s Jamie ‘calm down’ Carragher, Roberto ‘manager of footballing giants Wigan’ Martinez, Gordon ‘Gimley’ Strachan and Gareth ‘Alan Partridge’ Southgate. The only potential highlights are Patrick Viera (who actually knows what he’s on about), Roy Keane (who could go on a barely literate rant at any second) and Adrian Chiles (whose miserable head may just implode live on air with dourness one day).
Who will win? The BBC, obviously. Why? Because it doesn’t have ads. The commercials kill ITV’s punditry stone dead every time, stopping any decent debate and forcing Chiles to spout scripted guff for 90% of his screen time. Even if ITV had a panel made up of Jack Charlton, Maradona, Gazza and a re-animated Brian Clough they wouldn’t get an entertaining word in between the Lynx and lager missives.
Actress Sophiya Haque has died after a short battle with cancer, it has been announced. Sophiya, 41, appeared in Corrie in 2008, playing barmaid Poppy Morales.
From:Set The Video: NASA: Triumph and Tragedy, BBC Two, Wednesday, 24 June, 9pm