While his messy divorce from third wife Karen makes headlines, Earl Spencer braces himself for another significant break-up tonight. Despite having regularly won plaudits for their quirky history show Rabbit Hole Detectives, Spencer and girlfriend Professor Cat Jarman will officially part ways with co-host the Reverend Richard Coles, following the trio’s swansong performance at the Althorp Literary Festival, held on the Earl’s Northants estate.
Having regularly appeared together for two years, the unexpected decision to end the popular show was down to work commitments, with Coles remaining a close friend and confidant to the couple. Indeed, whisper it quietly, but the smart money’s on the celebrity vicar eventually being called on to wed the two lovebirds...
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Audaciously attempting to play all the parts during a solo stage tour of Hamlet, Eddie Izzard proudly announces that friend and former co-star Dame Judi Dench considers the performance “spectacular”. Izzard enthuses: “So that’s great if it works for her!”
Alas, many critics haven’t shared loyal pal Judi’s enthusiasm.
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Despite ex-Doctor Who star Christopher Eccleston insisting he'll only ever return if current show boss Russell T Davies is “sacked", the latter notably refuses to be drawn into hostilities.
While Eccleston left the Timelord role on famously bitter terms 20 years ago when the Welshman had his first stint in charge (he came back in 2021), Davies now gushes of Christopher's portrayal: "You get to work with a genius - someone who's still at the top of his game all these years later."
With Mr Eccleston showing no sign of being ready to reconcile, heaven forfend perky Russell’s being mischievous!
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Now retiring at 83, ex-Beatle Pete Best has long hankered for a reunion with Sir Paul McCartney, more than 60 years after he got the chop on the eve of the Fab Four’s success. Memorably described as the "unluckiest man in show business", the drummer has suggested: “We're senior statesmen now...let's talk about things in general. Stick a bottle of scotch on the table and let's have a good old bash.”
Cynics suggest poor Pete shouldn’t hold his breath.
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In the centenary year of Peter Sellers’ birth, the late comic's acclaimed biographer Roger Lewis frankly reflects: “He was mad, he was off his head.” Lewis, whose book on the Pink Panther actor was turned into a 2004 movie biopic starring Oscar-winner Geoffrey Rush, adds of Sellers: “I suppose today he’d be given a diagnosis, he’d have been medicated and calmed down...maybe that would have destroyed the genius?"
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With former 007 Pierce Brosnan, now being mercilessly teased about his attempt at a broad Irish accent in crime series MobLand (the actor left Ireland for England 60 years ago), surely high time industry folk realised this is a no-no?
Long known for his transatlantic vowels, the briefest of research would have flagged up Pierce’s similarly unfortunate attempt at a strong Emerald Isle brogue for an Irish tourism video in 2021.
