The public have spoken, and now the women are making history - the National Television Awards (NTA) voters have selected an all-female shortlist in the best drama performance category for the first time ever.

As a TV writer, I am both incredibly excited by this, and also felt it in my blood that these incredible women were going to get the recognition they deserved.

First up, the impossibly talented Sheridan Smith has been nominated for her performance as campaigner Ann Ming in ITV's true crime series I Fought The Law.

Always an absolute powerhouse, Sheridan doesn't put a foot wrong in telling the story of one mother's long fight to change the law to get justice for her murdered daughter.

If you haven't seen it yet, all four episodes are available on ITVX, and I guarantee the hauntingly devastating story will stay with you for a long time after the credits have finished rolling - and a poignant cameo at the very end will leave even the most hardened viewer sobbing.

Another small screen legend, Ruth Jones has been nominated in the category for her role as Elena Ravenscroft in Netflix thriller Run Away.

Well known for her comedy acting and writing, Ruth shows her range in a very straight role as a firearms officer turned private investigator pulled into a dark web of secrets and death in the adaptation of a Harlan Coben thriller.

As one of the most bingeable shows you'll ever see, clear a massive space in your diary if you are yet to see this one. This will allow you to get through the eight episodes without having to take a break, because you won't be able to tear your eyes from this one.

Next up is Vicky McClure for the role of Lana Washington in Trigger Point. One of the most versatile, memorable actresses of her generation, nobody does thrillers quite like Vicky.

There's three seasons of this gripping show on ITVX, and if you like relentless threat in the form of the utter precarious nature of bomb disposal, this is for you. Season 4 is also arriving this autumn, so get the other three firmly under your belt in readiness.

I definitely let out a scream when I found out Ella Bruccoleri had been shortlisted for her portrayal of Mary in The Other Bennet Sister.

Now, this is one of the most joyful, life affirming, boundary breaking shows you'll ever see. The sort that I mentioned to absolutely everyone who would listen, in the hope they'd watch it so I could talk endlessly about every second of it to someone other than my cats.

The 10-parter is based on author Janice Hadlow's 2020 novel of the same name, reimagining Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice through the eyes of the overlooked Mary Bennet.

Viewers are treated to a glimpse of what Mary's life could've been if she'd been known for what she is, rather than simply being the 'plain one' of the sisters.

And I'll say it again for those at the back, it is GLORIOUS viewing. Watch it, and hit me up with what you think, it's all available to view on BBC iPlayer.

Last and absolutely no means whatsoever least, the inimitable Judy Parfitt is nominated for playing Sister Monica Joan in Call The Midwife.

If you still haven't seen season 15 of this incredible show, a) where have you been, and b) look away now because there's spoilers ahead.

Now, it's been eight months since Sister Monica Joan's soul was led away from Nonnatus House by Sister Evangelina no less, and I still can't think about it without crying.

I was hooked by the charm of Call The Midwife from the very first moments of the opening episode, all the way back in 2012, and my love for it has never waned.

It's since become one of my ultimate comfort watches, and Judy Parfitt's perfect portrayal of a kindly nun suffering dementia and memory loss has been one of the greatest performances myself and all viewers have been blessed to witness.

The show won't be the same without her, but how wonderful to see such a fine actress rewarded for the dedication she gave Sister Monica Joan right until the very end.

All 15 seasons and Christmas specials are on BBC iPlayer. If you're watching for the first time, you're in for a treat. If you often go back for a re-watch like me, welcome to the club.

With the shortlist for the best drama performance award now public, another round of voting is open to determine the winners in the ceremony's 15 categories.

It's impossible to pick a favourite from the wonderful actresses above, so I'll be rooting for all of them when the NTAs air on September 8.

As summer enters its final weeks, the season of cosy nights in front of the TV beckons - which makes the return of the BBC’s Ludwig even more exciting.

The series stars David Mitchell (Peep Show) as John Taylor, a reclusive puzzle expert who goes by the pen name of Ludwig. His twin brother, James, is a police detective who has gone into hiding.

John ends up impersonating his twin brother to help the police solve crimes, all while joining forces with his brother’s wife, played by Anna Maxwell Martin (Motherland), to work out the mystery of his disappearance - and he realises there’s much more to it than meets the eye.

While trying to solve the overarching mystery of his brother’s disappearance, each weekly episode will see a different crime being solved by John and the police. Guest stars this season will include Stephen Merchant (The Office).

How to watch Ludwig in the UK

If you're in the UK, it's very simple to watch Ludwig, as it's free to watch on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

Providing you have a TV licence, you can watch the new episodes when they begin airing on Thursday, August 20. The episode airs on BBC One from 9pm, and will be available to watch on iPlayer.

New episodes are expected to air weekly in the same time slot. The first series had a total of six episodes and the second series is expected to have the same.

You can also catch up on all episodes from series one now.

How to watch Ludwig from anywhere in the world

If you’re going to be away from your usual TV set-up when Ludwig starts airing, but can't wait to see what cases he cracks, there's still a way.

You can still enjoy all episodes when they become available with the use of a Virtual Private Network - a VPN.

A VPN allows you to change your IP address to that of the area of what you want to watch, meaning you can tune in to the show, even if you're not there.

Our sister site, TechRadar, has tested all of the major VPN services and they rate Nord to be the absolute best.

They say, "It’s compatible with all of your devices, supports most streaming services, and ranks among the fastest. You can even install it on devices like an Amazon Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, Xbox, and PlayStation. So for a one-stop-shop, you can’t go wrong with Nord."

If you've never installed a VPN before, don't worry, it's quick and easy. Just follow these three steps:

• Download and install the VPN following NordVPN's easy-to-follow instructions.
• Once you've installed your VPN, open the app and select your server location as anywhere in the UK.
• With your VPN installed and server location set to UK, you can now watch Ludwig on BBC iPlayer.

How did Ludwig season 1 end?

If you haven’t caught up with the first series on iPlayer yet, there could be spoilers ahead.

In the final episode of the first series, John - still impersonating his missing brother - helped clear his sister-in-law, Anna Maxwell Martin, of a murder for which she was almost set up.

Elsewhere, John’s brother’s disappearance was set up to be connected to former journalist, blogger and conspiracy theorist Roger Sinclair. After Sinclair was murdered, John’s brother James was one of the first cops on the scene.

James suspects something is wrong with the handling of the death scene, after the contents of Sinclair’s home go missing and his boss, DCS Carol Shaw, tells him to stop investigating. Both James and his police partner, Matt, went missing shortly after being told to drop the investigation.

James, who has been watching John from the shadows throughout the season, ends up leaving him an unusual voicemail in which he seemingly tells John to drop the investigation, too. However, using his puzzle solving brain, he realises his brother was hiding the truth in his cryptic message.

After solving the clue, John and James’s wife, Lucy, are led to a storage unit where the contents of the murdered Sinclair’s home are hidden away. What had Sinclair worked out, and who is trying to keep it hidden?

That’s what season two will explore…

TV audiences have an ongoing fascination with true crime, and there's no shortage of documentaries and dramatisations of criminal wrongdoing to keep up with appetites for the genre.

When crimes have been committed against a child and the mother is found to be responsible, the public find these particularly jaw-dropping.

In the BBC's recent documentary The Mother of All Cons, those tuning in couldn't believe the lengths Jean O'Brien went to in order to fabricate her daughter, Megan Bhari's illness.

Following in the show's footsteps, a new channel 4 documentary, Love You To Death, investigates the case of Lisa Hayden-Johnson and how she came to be labelled "Britain's most evil mum."

Airing from August 19, the three-part series looks at how Lisa created a vast number of claims that her son Matthew was incredibly ill. This included maintaining the lies that he was unable to walk, eat or breathe without assistance.

We look at what Lisa did to her child, and where they both are now in the aftermath of her shocking deceit being uncovered.

What did Lisa Hayden-Johnson do?

When Lisa Hayden-Jones' son Matthew was born prematurely in 2001, he temporarily needed a tube for feeding.

However, he made a full recovery and could have been discharged home to live a normal life, except Lisa spent the next six years insisting he was very unwell.

She claimed that Matthew was allergic to nearly all food, diabetic, had cerebral palsy and cystic fibrosis, suffered from a neurological disorder which reduced his mobility, and was intolerant to sunlight.

To continue the myth that her son suffered from diabetes, Lisa spiked his urine samples with glucose before testing, and even his own father believed in his apparent conditions and that he couldn't eat or swallow food.

Matthew was examined by doctors in Bristol and at Great Ormond Street hospital, and they couldn't find anything wrong with him.

However, Lisa countered their findings by falsely claiming that she was a qualified nurse and was the best person to judge how ill her son was. If medical professionals questioned her about Matthew's conditions, she threatened to sue them.

Matthew later had surgery at the age of four to fit a permanent feeding tube directly into his stomach. By the time he went to school, he attended in a wheelchair fitted with oxygen bottles.

Matthew also believed in his illnesses, while Lisa collected £130,000 in benefits after claiming £20,000 a year in disability living allowance over a period of just over six years.

She also received gifts from children's charities including a new car and a cruise in Tenerife. Lisa was given free X Factor tickets and sold her story to magazines - she even accompanied Matthew to collect a Children of Courage award at Downing Street.

However, in 2007, Matthew's paediatrician voiced suspicions that his illnesses had continued for too long without an official diagnosis.

Medical professionals insisted that Matthew needed more detailed tests and Lisa's story began to unravel.

In order to cancel a hospital visit, Lisa claimed she had been sexually assaulted, harming herself to make the made up attack seem real. An arrest was nearly made over her story.

Lisa Hayden-Johnson was eventually arrested in October 2007. By this time, Matthew had been subjected to 325 medical actions.

When the case went to court, the BBC reports that the prosecution told Lisa that her "sadistic fabrication of non-existent symptoms" amounted to "24-hour-a-day torture" for her child.

During Lisa's trial, the court heard that she often referred to Matthew as "the most ill child in Britain" and Matthew, as a result, was "convinced that he was chronically and seriously ill."

Lisa's defence team told the court she was suffering from conditions formerly known as Munchausen syndrome and Munchausen syndrome by proxy.

Now called Fabricated or Induced Illness (FII), the condition is something health, social care, and safeguarding professionals say is a rare form of child abuse where somebody exaggerates or deliberately causes sickness in a person under their care.

Two years after her arrest, Lisa pleaded guilty to charges of child cruelty and perverting the course of justice. She was sentenced to three years and three months in prison.

Where is Lisa Hayden-Johnson now?

Now aged 50 and remarried, Lisa does appear in the documentary, but doesn't show her face. Giving a reason for her anonymity, Lisa says, "I live in quite a small community, and I don’t want this to upset my life as I have it. And I want to be able to move on."

Unsurprisingly, she lost custody of both her children - she also has a daughter called Laura who is two years older than Matthew. Laura chose to rebuild a relationship with her mother when she was released from prison.

When she hit her teens, Laura went to live with Lisa, but the two fell into difficulty. Laura was suffering from PTSD as a result of witnessing what her mum did to her brother.

"I was getting that mother attention that I needed," Laura tells The Telegraph of going to live with Lisa.

However, Lisa's mental health went into decline when her daughter was living with her. "I would push her around in this wheelchair and become her carer," Laura explains, adding, "Every time we got into an argument… she would regress into this five-year-old state."

"She claimed that she had developed a regression disorder. She would be watching Peppa Pig, trying to self-harm." The relationship broke down Laura no longer speaks to Lisa.

Matthew appears in the documentary - he is now 25 and works in finance. When he was first removed from his mother's care, he was initially put into foster care while his father was questioned.

When it was ascertained that his father knew nothing about Lisa fabricating his illnesses, Matthew was returned to his care and reunited with Laura. Shortly afterwards, the family relocated from Devon to Sheffield to have a fresh start.

Matthew also regained some contact with his mother, but not the same level as his sister, but has since cut contact altogether and says he has no plans to ever see Lisa again.

He says this is because Lisa refuses to change, and in the documentary she continues to acknowledge any wrongdoing.

"How can I be Britain’s most evil mother?" she asks, adding, "The only thing I was guilty of was putting my son first and fighting his battle, which is what I did. And I don’t regret that."

While he no longer wants any contact with Lisa, Matthew forgives her and wishes her well. He says, "I forgive her. What other option do I have? I can’t hold the hate over her. I wish her the best. I just want to move on with my life."

Love You To Death airs on Channel 4 from August 19.

Some call it ‘loudcasting’. Others, like Jo Whiley and Zoe Ball, just consider it ‘unbelievably rude’. It is, of course, the incredibly divisive act of using one’s phone out in public without the use of headphones.

On a recent episode of Jo and Zoe’s podcast, Dig It, the pair waded into the topic of whether it should be outright banned to listen to music, watch videos or take calls with the volume coming out of the speaker on the phone.

For Jo, it was a crystal clear yes. She told Zoe, “It's so rude. I cannot believe that people think it's okay to do that.” In fact, if she comes across someone committing the annoying act, she said she has been known to give them the “Paddington Bear stare”.

Moving the conversation along, Zoe asked if she had it correct that they are trying to actually enforce a ban of people listening to things without their headphones on certain airlines. And the bad news for anyone hoping this is the case, is that it’s not an actual law yet - especially in the UK.

Some airlines, like United Airlines based in the United States, have indeed made it mandatory for people to use headphones whenever they’re listening to something, and staff are allowed to remove passengers who refuse to comply.

In London, passengers across the TfL network can get fined for not using headphones on public transport. A bylaw exists, technically banning people from playing music on services, with fines of up to £1,000.

However, Time Out reported that a Freedom of Information (FOI) request last year revealed that not a single person was ever actually fined for this in 2024.

An overwhelming number of the comments on the Dig It podcast’s Instagram page were in agreement with Jo that it’s unbelievably rude and should be banned, with some even offering their own unique ways of dealing with offenders.

Sharing a rather tactful approach, one person wrote, “I like to pretend I don’t understand tech and cheerfully tap them on the arm and say I don’t think your headphones are working because everybody can hear that”.

Another suggested, "I read somewhere that someone carries a spare pair of earphones and gives them to the offending person... Going to try to do that!"

Others prefer a different approach. “Next time it happens to me, I’m going to sit next to them and play Agadoo at full volume on mine with a big smile.”

However, there were those who took an opposing view to Jo - but they were in a clear minority.

One follower replied, “Genuinely don't understand why [people] moan about calls on speaker - you wouldn't moan about a conversation if they were sat next to you!” Another person replied, “It’s called tolerance”.

Whatever side of the debate people fall on, the root cause was another topic that inspired debate. Some blame it on the rise of "main character syndrome".

One of the replies offered, "It’s like all the worlds a stage. Look at me, listen to me, I need attention! I wonder if it has also come from parents paying less attention to their children due to their own phones and this is another result of that need for attention from others?"

Should it be officially banned, with a fine introduced? Or is that taking it too far?

It has become one of the nation’s most comforting shows, having run for 16 years and counting, and it introduced a whole new generation to the likes of Dame Mary Berry and Prue Leith.

However, Mel Giedroyc, who was there at the very beginning of The Great British Bake Off, revealed that she nearly quit on “day one, series one” because it was not the “kind of show” with which she wanted to be involved.

Mel told the How to Fail podcast that the original direction of the show felt “grim” - which led to her issuing an ultimatum. “There was a bit of a summit meeting where I spoke up and I just said, this is not the kind of show that we want to make… We won't get the best out of people.

“I don't like this vibe where everyone's crying and then suddenly they're on camera. People do cry on Bake Off, but they cry because it's kind of emotional and they've put stuff into it. We don't want to make them cry because they're so exhausted.”

Mel, who was one of the original presenters of the series, along with comedy and presenting partner Sue Perkins, explained how what she saw on that first day led her to tell her agent, “I want out of this”.

Describing what filming was like, she said, “Go, go, go. Get that person. They're crying. Right. They're having a breakdown. Get that person. Move the cameras. Quick, quick. There was that kind of vibe.

“I was really shocked, actually. It'd been like an 18 hour shoot and everyone was in tears.”

Mel said a collective effort - including her threatening to walk - helped reshape the focus of the show. “I hope we made it very clear the kind of show that we wanted to make. And I've never done that before. I've never threatened anything like that in my life.

“I'm just not that kind of person. But I felt in that instant, I had to say something because it would have been really grim and things changed. Things changed after that day.

“We were proud of ourselves that we'd sort of spoken up because I think it would have been a very different show.”

Mel and Sue were part of the show’s original line-up, presenting from 2010 until 2016, when the show aired on the BBC. After Bake Off moved to Channel 4, Mel, Sue and Dame Mary Berry departed, with Paul Hollywood being the only cast member to remain.

Since then, a few changes have taken place over the years, with Noel Fielding presenting alongside Sandi Toksvig, Matt Lucas and Alison Hammond. Prue Leith replaced Mary for eight seasons, before announcing her departure.

Nigella Lawson will join Paul as the expert judges in the upcoming 17th series, set to air a little later this summer. Channel 4 stated that viewers "can expect to see Nigella bringing her trademark warmth, wit and passion for flavour to the tent".

Antonio Banderas has shared where he stands with his ex-wife, fellow Hollywood star, Melanie Griffith, calling her one of his "best friends" over a decade after their divorce.

In an interview with People, The Mask of Zorro star revealed that the pair continue to share a close “healthy” relationship, describing the Working Girl actress as "if not my best friend, one of my best friends".

He added, "When I go to Los Angeles, we get together anyway; we have a lot of fun. We laugh and we just... It’s a very healthy thing, and it was very healthy for our kids."

The starry couple were married between 1996 and 2015, welcoming their daughter Stella in 1996. Antonio also became a stepfather to Melanie's daughter, Fifty Shades of Grey star Dakota Johnson, from her previous marriage to actor Don Johnson and her son, Alexander Bauer, who she had with second husband Steven Bauer.

For Antonio, the secret to staying on such good terms with his ex-wife comes down to one thing - sincerity. He explained, "The thing is that when we were a couple, when we separated, we were always very sincere.

"We came out of our relationship in a nice way that was very important for [the kids] and for us.” Antonio also credited Melanie for keeping the blended family together, calling her "an unbelievable mother".

Apart from an interview a couple of years after the split, Melanie has kept her life rather private. In 2017, she told Net-a-Porter magazine that the split came because she felt “stuck.”

She said, "Nobody else is to blame. It's just that I personally got stuck and I won't let that happen again. I want to enjoy life, I want to do whatever I want to do."

At the time, she added "I'm shy with men now, very reticent. I haven't met anyone in the almost two years I have been divorced. I don't go on dates, nobody has asked me on a date. I go out with my girlfriends."

In 2019, four years after their split, Antonio declared that he would always love Melanie. He told People, “Melanie is not my wife anymore, but I think she is my best friend. I love her and will love her until the day I die. She’s my family.”

He also offered a rare look at their family dynamic, and how naturally becoming a stepfather was. "I was there because I love their mother and I am totally taken with their mother and they were the most important part of what she came with.

"Very soon they understood that. They called me Paponio, a mixture between Papa and Antonio."

Elsewhere in his new interview, Antonio talked about learning to cherish the “experience of living” nearly a decade after his 2017 heart attack. “It was like somebody put glasses on me so I could see the reality that I didn’t see before.

"I was just too worried about stupid things. We sometimes forget that we are going to die. People live like they are not going to die. They collect things and they collect. I don’t want to collect anything. I want to just experience."

While many people - especially those in the public eye - might feel a pressure to fight the signs of time as much as possible, Gillian Anderson has an altogether different mindset - and it’s so refreshing.

The X Files star has revealed that she chooses to "ignore" ageing and thinks the conversation about getting older needs to change, with more acceptance and not something to be afraid of or needing "to be fixed".

When asked by Grazia magazine how the 58-year-old feels about getting older, she replied, “I ignore it. I behave as I have always behaved - as though I am invincible and never going to die.”

She added, "There are so many tools for arresting ageing. And as much as the conversation around ageing has evolved, most of the narrative still centres around it being something we should be afraid of, running from, or something that needs to be fixed.

"We need to be more accepting of ageing, to embrace it - we've still got a long way to go."

This is something she’s had to learn herself, too, admitting that she was guilty of being self-critical of her appearance in the past. "I was very judgemental about myself when I was younger. Of how I looked, my weight."

Gillian has really walked the walk when it comes to promoting a more confident attitude as she’s gotten older, and this has included writing her best-selling book all about female pleasure, Want.

Speaking to Stylist in the past, Gillian opened up about the importance behind the book’s message. She said, "Sadly, I think many women worry that at a certain age they won’t be desirable any more, or that they won’t feel desire as it will disappear with menopause or post-menopause.

"Women are starting to realise that life does not end at 50 or at menopause and that there is a whole new world of pleasure out there that they can embrace and lean into."

The Sex Education star has also shared her “very simple” approach to skincare, opting for a less-is-more approach. She has shared with Harpers Bazaar that, far from trying all the latest fads and treatments, she keeps her beauty regime to some simple steps.

"First and foremost, it starts with, are you going to take your make-up off in the evening?

"Now, most of the time I don't wear make-up. If I leave the house, I will have mascara on, and so sometimes it's only, are you going to clean your eyes before you go to sleep or not? And so that's the first step.

"So if I do actually take that step and clean off my makeup or my eye make-up, then I will most likely follow it up with moisture."

She does allow some indulgences, though, with a “glug” of a luxurious bath oil added to her soaks. In an interview with Sheer Luxe, she shared, "Baths are my favourite way to unwind.

There’s always a good glug of oil in my tub from Jo Malone London or Le Labo."

Jo Whiley has revealed that a visit to Dame Judi Dench's beautiful home for her gardening podcast, RHS Roots, transformed the way she thinks about her own house, inspiring her to create a space that's filled with family memories, rather than scaling things back and keeping it pristine, as she'd planned.

Speaking in our exclusive interview, the Radio 2 host admitted she'd coincidentally been on a major decluttering mission before visiting the Oscar-winning actress.

However, she noticed that rather than looking cluttered, Judi’s house felt warm and welcoming. "I'd been getting rid of things and trying to make everything look a bit more streamlined now the kids have left home. Coco’s the last one still living with us full-time, and she’s off to uni soon."

Everything changed when she stepped inside Judi's home and noticed how full of life it felt. "It was packed with family photographs, children's drawings and memories everywhere. It made me realise that's what a home should feel like.

"Seeing Judi’s reminded me that lived-in spaces are often the most beautiful because they reflect a lifetime of love, family and shared experiences.”

The presenter says seeing the beloved actress surround herself with sentimental keepsakes made her rethink her decision to have a further purge.

"I suddenly thought, 'Why am I putting all these things away?' As soon as I got home, I immediately put all the family photographs back out."

She revealed that the experience reminded her that our spaces are meant to tell the story of the people who live in them, rather than looking like a show home.

Jo now believes family pictures, her kids’ old artwork and much-loved mementoes deserve to be on display, saying they bring far more joy than perfectly styled shelves ever could.

"It's those little things that make a house feel like home. It's the memories that matter."

Emma Willis has been married to husband Matt for 18 years, tying the knot after four years of dating.

The couple share children Isabelle, 17, Ace, 14 and Trixie, 10. With their marriage still going strong after nearly two decades, and three children added to the mix, fans might want to know what their secret is.

There is one, and it's very simple - spending as much time together as possible. As Love is Blind season 3 approaches its release date on August 19, a show the couple host together, Emma has some thoughts.

"You'd think if you lived and worked together, you'd be like, 'Christ, I need a break,'" the presenter tells Closer.

She continues, "But we don't. We just absolutely love being with each other all the time."

Matt is in total agreement with his wife. "Of all the things I do, Love is Blind is my favourite, and it's mainly because I'm working with Emma," Matt shares.

He continues, "We get to do this really cool job together, and I'm with my best mate every day."

Filming the series also takes the couple to their "happy place," Ibiza. The retreat segment is filmed on the island, and it also happens to be somewhere Matt and Emma visit every year and is very special to them.

"We've been going there on and off for 20 years," Matt explains, with Emma continuing, "The island is like a second home."

She shares, "We go every year, so even when we're only there for a few days for work, we know exactly where we want to go and how to get there."

However, things weren't always plain sailing for the couple, who share sweet stories of their early dates together.

Matt reveals that he once tried to pick a really "posh restaurant" to impress Emma on one of their first dates. "I knew her as this glamorous woman who was a model and on MTV," Matt explains of why he chose an expensive place to eat.

But things went awry when Emma "couldn't eat anything on the menu because she didn't like any of it." Humorously, Matt adds, "I could've chosen somewhere cheaper!"

Revealing why she didn't like the restaurant, Emma says, "He didn't realise he was going out with someone from Birmingham who didn't care!"

The couple also had more serious problems to overcome when Emma supported Matt through issues with addiction. Once speaking to Rylan Clark on his How To Be In Love podcast, Matt says his relationship with Emma was the "anchor" in his recovery process.

“I always knew I had to [get clean] and I wanted to because I wanted her," he says, adding, "I wanted it for myself as well. I didn’t want to live that miserable, horrible, agonising life [of addiction] anymore."

Emma says, "I knew he was unwell but didn’t want to be unwell… I knew I would never leave him," sharing that therapy changed their relationship.

"People think if you go to couples’ therapy you must be [in trouble]," she says. Emma adds, "Actually, I’m glad we went when we went because it absolutely had a positive effect on our relationship… It’s about knowing how to communicate."

Davina McCall has been with her celebrity hairstylist husband Michael Douglas since 2019.

The couple married in December 2025 in a small ceremony at Marylebone Town Hall, and recently had a second celebration in July at their home in Kent.

Now, Davina has opened up about the daily habit she swears by to maintain intimacy and connection within their marriage - and it might surprise you.

In conversation with Closer magazine, Davina shares, "I have a bath with Michael every day if we are together."

She continues, "It's such a brilliant way to catch up and it's intimate and fun. Sitting opposite each other, you're both naked, so you're vulnerable and really open."

Continuing to explain just how much bathing together helps keep their marriage alive, the presenter reveals, "You're looking into each other's eyes - it's such an intimate way to unpick your day."

She calls this daily ritual "actually really lovely," suggesting that "it always makes me feel connected."

Davina has also opened up about how her husband supported her to let out her anger when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in November last year.

Speaking to Anita Rani on her Sisters of Defiance podcast, Davina said, "When I got breast cancer, I was really angry."

She adds, "And Michael sat me down, and said, 'It's alright if you're angry.'" Trying to deny to herself that she was angry, the presenter told herself that the universe must be trying to teach her a lesson, to rationalise what was happening to her and give it a "positive spin."

Michael responded to that with, "But if you were angry, it would be fine." Davina then acknowledged to herself and her husband how furious she was, and she recalls that Michael started "gathering cushions and pillows."

After setting up a space to allow her to vent, Michael watched as Davina was "screaming" and "punching."

This reaction surprised her because "I never allow myself to be angry." She shares, "It's the one emotion that I say to myself, 'It is not OK to be angry.'"

However, while she unleashed her rage, she listed all the reasons she was angry to Michael. Afterwards, she had a "wow" moment that she'd allowed herself to feel an emotion normally off limits.

He then responded with the most comforting words, telling Davina, "Thank you. I just thought you were upset that you were sick again, but I didn't understand all the reasons - so thank you for telling me that."

He followed that with a simple, yet equally supportive, "well done."

Clearly the pair prioritise communication within their relationship and appear to be very much in love. Thinking about the future, the couple are now hoping to slow down and spend more time together.

Michael shares, "We've got five years of hard work left in us. Then I think it's time for us to relax and enjoy all of that hard work."

Dolly Parton is as close to a universally beloved figure as there is, a national treasure across the globe. So it’s perhaps not surprising that she was named as one of Alex Jones’s favourite ever The One Show guests.

What is surprising, though, is the incredibly rare experience Alex had with the Jolene singer. Alex met her, as she put it, “before she'd become Dolly” - without her signature makeup or wigs.

Alex recalled meeting this rarely seen side of the icon, and said, “She was barefaced, still absolutely striking, so beautiful… I've never, ever come across a person so comfortable in their own skin.”

As the pair spoke, Alex revealed “she started Dolly-fying in front of me as we were chatting. And we chatted about all sorts of things, what she was going to do in the UK, how long I'd been doing the show, was I nervous, how she deals with nerves, all of this.

“And in front of me, she transformed into Dolly. I thought, how special that we all know her as this vivacious, very made-up, beautiful woman, but actually, she was equally striking and equally impressive because she is just a nice person.

“You know, in her heart, she's just gorgeous.”

Speaking with Vernon Kay, Alex agreed that she’s perhaps one of the few people to have actually met a more pared back Dolly - and Alex was quick to praise the self confidence and ease with which Dolly embraced the moment.

She said, “It is a private moment, and I can honestly hand on my heart, say, that if I didn't know somebody well, I wouldn't be that comfortable with going through that process while we’re chatting.

"But she knows who she is, and she is just very, very at ease with herself. And I thought, how amazing to be that self-confident, but in a lovely way.”

The reason Alex's encounter feels rare is Dolly herself has previously explained that she is so dedicated to her signature look she often sleeps in her makeup. In her book, Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones, the Grammy winning legend shared why.

She wrote, "I started sleeping with my makeup on, partly because of the earthquakes. I thought, 'I'm not heading out on the streets without makeup in case there are cameras out there! I'm going to be ready to go!'"

On Conan O’Brien’s podcast, Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend, Jane Fonda - a friend of Dolly’s and her co-star in the iconic 9 to 5 - also touched on Dolly’s commitment to her public image. Jane recalled a tour she joined Dolly on across regions of the US, and wherever she went, Jane "never saw her not looking 100% Dolly Parton - the wig, the whole thing."

But rather than vanity, Jane understood it was Dolly’s commitment to her fans that kept her going - Dolly made sure that her fans always got the Dolly Parton they fell in love with.

She recalled, "I thought, ‘Yeah, that’s how to do it. You’ve gotta love those people who like you.’ And oh boy, does she have fans, and she just loves them and appreciates them. She taught me a lot. She didn’t say anything. She showed by example."

There’s a very old saying that suggests a man can work from sun to sun, but a woman's work is never done - and despite dating back centuries, there’s many who still feel this rings true today.

Joanna Page, star of Gavin & Stacey, is one such person, as she let her husband know all too clearly during an episode of their shared podcast, Lush!

Joanna held nothing back as she criticised her husband for not helping with their four children, leaving her to do more than her share of the work to get them all ready and out the door, and even compared him to her "fifth child" thanks to the lack of help he offered.

During the (perhaps very) relatable marital squabble the two had on the podcast, Joanna asked her husband, former Emmerdale actor James Thornton "Do you want to talk about the argument that we had on holiday?"

Joanna wasn’t really asking, though, and didn’t stop when James claimed to not remember any argument. She launched right in, explaining that, while she was busy making sure their four children’s swimming bags were being packed up, she asked James to get their teeth brushed.

She said, "After [packing the bags], I’m saying to you, 'Can you just go and get her teeth cleaned? Because I’m packing everything up now'.

"You go in to do her teeth, you do such a rubbish job of it that you lose patience. She starts crying. I’m like, ‘For goodness sake, have I got to do everything? Have I got to take over doing this now?'"

Continuing her story, she said, "So I go in, I am then cleaning her teeth, get her sorted. I then go back, finish packing these three bags. I look and the kids and everybody are just waiting for me.

"And then you are just leaning... waiting as well, like a fifth child waiting for me to finish packing three bags before we can all go downstairs!"

James tried to plead his case - but chose the wrong words. After suggesting Joanna always did the bags because she knows what goes in them, she snapped, "Why can't we do them together? Why can’t you know what’s in the bags? There’s something wrong with you.

"You know why I always do them? Because you don’t".

The couple then explained what happened next - and it touched on the importance of communication. With Joanna already feeling overwhelmed, she believed James just upped and walked out.

But, as James explained, he had gone to collect the inflatables for their day at the pool or beach, trying to help move things along. He explained, “I went down to put the inflatables down on the sun loungers… it gets me out of the room, just take the tension out of the argument”.

Joanna, however, thought he had just walked out and “left me with four children [and] three bags… You didn’t verbalise it, you didn’t tell me.”

The fight ended with Joanna deciding to walk off and sit by herself in an over-18s section for a while and had "two Pina Coladas" leaving James with the kids. Something many a stressed mother has likely wanted to do before.

Jo Whiley has admitted she's already dreading becoming an empty nester as the youngest of her four children, daughter Coco, prepares to leave for university this autumn.

But she insists she would never stand in the way of her dreams, telling woman&home, with her usual candour, "I'm already feeling redundant!"

Despite her fears, Jo says she's excited for Coco to embrace the next chapter, even if it means she'll have to get used to Coco not being around the house as much. "I'd never stop her because I know she's going to absolutely love university. She’ll have the best time.”

The Radio 2 presenter and podcaster admits she's found herself thinking about how quickly family life changes, but has made peace with the fact that becoming an empty nester is a part of being a parent.

"It's a small price to pay for your children being happy. That is what you want for them first and foremost.”

Jo says she's taken comfort from the fact she's far from alone, revealing many of her closest friends are experiencing exactly the same emotions as their children prepare to leave home. "All my friends are going through exactly the same thing, so we can talk to each other about it, and that really helps."

Although she's wobbly about the transition, she believes watching her children spread their wings and grow into independent adults is what every parent hopes for. "You bring your children up to fly the nest. That's what you've worked towards all along."

While Jo knows she'll miss having Coco hanging out at home as much, she's looking forward to hearing about her daughter's new adventures and seeing her flourish. “It's the right time for her. It's going to be emotional, of course it is, but it's also something to celebrate. And she’ll be back to visit. I love it when all the kids come back and we’re all together."

On August 14, The One Show celebrates its 20th anniversary on air. After a week of special episodes in the run-up to the show's very special birthday, the festivities culminate on Friday's episode with an extended hour-long anniversary special.

The One Show at 20 will see Alex and Roman joined by the wider family of presenters, including Angellica Bell, Clara Amfo, JB Gill, Lauren Laverne and Vernon Kay. Former presenter Matt Baker will also make an appearance.

Much to the delight of fans of the show, there will be a trip down memory lane as Christine Lampard returns to the sofa to look back on her time on the show, and she'll be accompanied by a special film from former co-host Adrian Chiles.

As the iconic series marks 20 years on air, Alex Jones reflects on some of her favourite moments from her 16 years at the helm.

Speaking to Vernon Kay on BBC Radio 2's Tracks of My Years, Alex shares that it's "really tough" to pick her greatest times. "When you go back over the last 16 years, there's so many moments where I still can't believe I was in it," she says.

However, she does recall the 500 Words competition as being a particular highlight. This was a creative writing competition for children aged 5 to 11, tasked with writing an original story in 500 words or less.

Alex and Roman hosted the grand final at Windsor Castle. "Paddington sang a song and I burst into tears," she says.

Alex explains, "As a young girl, to ever think that I could ever go from West Wales and end up at Windsor Castle with the Queen and Paddington and all these aspiring writers, I thought, 'this is incredible, how has this happened?'"

The presenter also says that her bond with the audience is one of the greatest things to come from the show. "I trust them," she says of the audience, adding, "Because they accepted me when I was so green and so new to this world - they stuck with me until I was able to put a sentence together without falling over my words."

In conversation with TV Times, Alex offers further insight into some of her proudest moments from The One Show.

"The One Show has raised over £57 million for Children in Need across our 20 years," she says, adding, "so to be a part of that fills me with pride."

Alex continues, "But also, this show is a reflection of what's going on in Britain at the time, and we've been at the heart of some really big events like royal weddings, the D-Day anniversary and when Queen Elizabeth ll passed away."

However, while she adores being part of the series, there is one down side for the presenter.

"Something always has to give," she tells OK! magazine, explaining, "I always have mum guilt." Alex is a mother to Teddy, Kit and Annie with husband Charlie.

"I'm paddling away furiously under the surface," she says, adding, "I don't think we've cracked it and sometimes I think the balance is all wrong. But I do try my best."

Sometimes she's joined in bed at night by four-year-old Annie. "Darling, you need to start sleeping in your own bed," she sometimes tells her daughter.

Annie has sometimes responded with, "Mama, I haven't seen you and you haven't picked me up from school. I won't see you until tomorrow."

Alex concedes, "It's clever. She's got me!"

While she's best known for her iconic portrayal of Rizzo in Grease, Stockard Channing has enjoyed a long and varied acting career.

This includes appearing as First Lady Abbey Bartlet in The West Wing, Veronica Loy in The Good Wife, and her Emmy-winning performance as Judy in The Matthew Shepard Story.

Off screen, the actress has experienced an equally varied life. After studying history and literature at Harvard University, her acting career took off and she married four times.

Since her partner, Dan Gillham, died in 2014, Stockard relocated from Maine to London, and now says she lives "happily as a recluse" in the city.

"It was more devastating than I realised; it had a lag effect," the actress tells The Times of her partner's death. Explaining why she then chose to move to London, she adds, " The pattern of my life shifted, so I shifted my life from Maine."

Stockard shares that she hasn't felt the need to date or find another partner, revealing, "I’ve lived alone since I lost Daniel and I’m happy being a recluse."

She continues, "I was married four times before Daniel and they all represent epochs of me. I grew up in the Sixties, reacting to that repressed notion of marriage and sexuality from the Fifties - kinda like Rizzo."

The star doesn't have any children, and says the idea was "thought about" but ultimately didn't happen. "I think about them now because it’d be great to have someone taking care of me," she says.

However, Stockard understands that you can't rely on your children to look after you or be there for you, sharing, "children can be just as selfish as everybody else out there."

She delves into what she does to care for her mental health, but can sometimes feel a little anxious.

"Pottering is my meditation," she explains, adding, "moving things from that pile to that pile. If I can’t sleep, it’s probably just my subconscious clearing out stuff."

"Do I ever feel anxious? Sure, but that’s the price you pay for getting rid of the garbage."

She is still working, currently directing Krapp’s Last Tape at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and has appeared in theatre productions over the last couple of years, including The Gates of Kyiv, White Rabbit Red Rabbit and Elektra.

Outside of work she appears to keep things lowkey, and doesn't give too much concern to her appearance. "If I’m leaving the apartment I comb my hair, but I don’t have a wardrobe of designer outfits," she shares.

The actress continues, "Do I care how I look? Most actors do - although part of your job is not being self-conscious."

Revealing that she's never "considered myself as beautiful," she concludes matter-of-factly, "And I’m not a celebrity 'tart.' I’m just me, take it or leave it.

Model and presenter Heidi Klum revealed she’s noticed the changes in her body as she gets older - taking it all with confidence and declaring women look better when they’re not “as skinny”.

Speaking with US Weekly, Heidi talked about being in her 50s now - "I always say I’m 53 and just getting started" - and the changes this has brought to her figure. "I’ve gained weight over the years. I’m no longer a size 24 jean."

But, refreshingly for someone in the public eye, Heidi wants to enter this new chapter with nothing but acceptance and confidence. "I think with age, we look better when we’re not as skinny."

She added, "My husband was the first one who pointed that out. He said, ‘You should eat more; you would look better if you had more meat on your bones.’ I was like, ‘What?’ This is not something you’re told in the industry, ever, because you’re always supposed to be skinnier than you are.

"When I look back at photos, I’m like, ‘He’s right!’ Proportion-wise, I look better bigger."

As she continued, she also explained what she thinks makes a woman sexy - and it goes beyond the surface. "What makes a person sexy is knowing their self-worth and knowing who they are.

"That oozes sexiness. When people are looking at every measurement of their booties, [or] at cellulite, it’s like, ‘Is this really what makes me who I am? There’s so much more to me.'

"It’s about feeling great in your skin and knowing what you can do."

Heidi, whose career includes being a Victoria’s Secret Angel and the long-serving host of Project Runway, also explored where her confidence has come from, especially in an industry where, because of her “big boobs, wider hips”, she wasn’t the industry norm.

She explained, "[My confidence] was always from within. I’ve always had great friends and people around me, and I love to hear the opinions everyone has, but at the end of the day, I’m the one who makes a decision.

"I never had anyone make decisions for me. I gathered all the information that people were giving me and then I made up my own mind. If it worked, then great. If it didn’t, I’m the one to blame, and I’m fine with that."

Having previously been married to the singer, Seal, Heidi has been married to musician Tom Kaulitz since 2019. With a 17-year-age gap (Tom is 36), Heidi revealed the pair have kept the spark alive.

“It’s hard to explain, but the souls connect, not just the body and the flesh. The hearts and souls connect in a different kind of way.”

My Brilliant Career has arrived on Netflix to a well deserved flurry of fanfare, brilliant reviews and the accolade of being hailed as the next Bridgerton.

The six-part series lands on August 13, and is based on the 1901 novel by Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin, writing under the name Miles Franklin, and needs to go straight on your watch list.

The semi-autobiographical novel is considered to be one of the earliest feminist classics, and when the series it's based on is billed as something "the world is about to love" that is "unashamedly written for women," (The Guardian) you know you're settling down for something unmissable.

This latest reimagining follows in the footsteps of previous adaptations including a 1979 film version starring a Judy Davis and Sam Neill, and there's also been stage and musical outings of the novel.

The Netflix show follows Sybylla Melvyn (Philippa Northeast) who is determined to be a writer, while her family show equal determination to marry her off.

When the Melvyns receive a letter from Sybylla’s grandmother, requesting Sybylla move in to her sprawling estate, the family immediately see it as an opportunity for their daughter to get a foot in the door of Australian society and find a wealthy husband.

Still wanting to opt out of marriage, Sybylla agrees to go, seeing the move as a way to gain life experiences for her first novel if nothing else.

Sybylla breaks every rule and convention of 1900 Australia as she hunts for the story that will allow her to write her way to independence and not have to rely on a man - until she falls in love.

As a novel based on Miles Franklin's life, we look at the real influences behind My Brilliant Career, as it becomes your next gripping must-see.

Real influences behind My Brilliant Career

Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin was born in 1879 in the Monaro region of New South Wales.

Initially taught by a private tutor, her education suffered from disruption, although National Museum Australia reports that she "read voraciously."

Like Sybylla, Franklin fiercely followed her dream to become a writer and had no ambition to marry - in real life, Franklin herself never did marry, actively resisting falling into traditional domestic life and expectations placed on women, referring to them as a "trap" and "rabbit" work.

This put Franklin seriously ahead of her time, in a world where not only were women expected women to marry, have children and run a household, they had few opportunities to support themselves if they opted out of this life.

With societies built around forcing women to be dependant on a man, unmarried women only had low-paying jobs to turn to, such as domestic service, teaching, or nursing. Veering away from this path could have left Franklin, and others wanting the same for themselves, facing immense difficulty.

Also reflecting Franklin's actual upbringing in rural Australia, women living the bush faced extra difficulties of drought, isolation and challenging physical labour. This extra aspects of domesticity of the time are also explored in the novel and series.

Still determined not to face this life, Franklin wrote My Brilliant Career aged 19, carving out time to finish it around the chores she needed to complete on the farm she lived on.

By 1899 the writer was submitting her finished work to publishers, but faced multiple rejections. In the end, she sent it to literary hero, poet Henry Lawson, who immediately helped her get it published in Edinburgh.

The novel was published in April 1901 and as is already clear, Franklin used a common trick used by female writers of the era and decades gone by before her, and used a male pseudonym.

Also ahead of her time, she did realise that readers were likely to recognise a true female voice in her writing, and shared her true gender in the preface.

While she had no intention to marry, Miles Franklin did have multiple marriage proposals that were inevitably turned down.

While it's unknown how much romance in the novel is drawn from the author's real experience, the series makes a departure from the book by getting Sybylla involved in a love triangle.

The protagonist in the series finds herself caught between the handsome foreman of her grandmother’s estate, Frank Hawden (Jake Dunn), and local society celebrity Harry Beecham (Christopher Chung). In the novel, Harry is Sybylla's only love interest.

Casting Chung in the role also alters the character's heritage from the original book, and gives audiences a chance to explore a more accurate reflection of the people living in Australia at the time, including those with Chinese heritage.

According to The Conversation, while making up less than 1% of the total Australian population, Chinese people "were part of many rural and urban communities, particularly in the eastern states of New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria."

For showrunner Liz Doran, introducing indigenous characters, such as Nell (Sherry-Lee Watson) was equally important. She says, "The book has a very loose narrative structure that still feels fresh and alive, but it is inevitably old-fashioned, especially in the stories it doesn’t tell."

She adds, "Our inclusion of First Nations characters was fundamental to this process."

My Brilliant Career airs on Netflix from August 13.

Lorraine Kelly's daughter Rosie Smith is married. Rosie Kelly Smith wed Steve White at Sir Andy Murray's Cromlix hotel, near Dunblane, on July 25. The couple's nearly two-year-old daughter, Billie, was flower girl.

Now, the presenter has offered insight into the "joyful" and "relaxed" day, with Rosie herself giving details of the royal-inspired dress she wore, that she "manifested" for her special day.

Lorraine also reveals the adorable way her daughter honoured her own 1992 wedding, with an sweet touch that nodded back to the day she married Steve Smith.

Speaking exclusively to Hello! magazine about why she and her now husband chose Cromlix as the venue for their nuptials, Rosie shares, "We picked Cromlix as it’s in the middle of Scotland but it’s also very remote."

She continues, "You can't see any other buildings when you look out the windows so it feels like you're in the Highlands, which is quite nice. We wanted somewhere we could take over and have as our own" - the couple hired the entire hotel for exclusive use.

"It was the perfect day," Lorraine says of her daughter's wedding, adding, "I think the word I would use to describe it was joyful and it was also really relaxed."

Rosie wore a stunning dress from Suzanne Neville, with full-length sleeves and a buttoned back. She completed her look with a Suzanne Neville bespoke lace veil and Jimmy Choo shoes.

Lorraine's daughter also reveals the inspiration behind the choice for her gorgeous dress, and royal watchers might already have noticed it.

Rosie was actually inspired by the Princess of Wales when choosing her wedding attire. "Until Kate Middleton got married, I had thought you couldn’t do long sleeves without being much older," she explains.

She continues, "But she looked beautiful, so I wanted to wear something elegant like that."

Rosie reveals, "I had been manifesting it and when I tried it on, I knew straight away that this was it," she says of the gown, continuing, "I had looked at so many styles but this one was always in the back of my head."

To honour Lorraine's wedding, Rosie paid tribute to her parents' 1992 big day by wrapping her bouquet with a piece of the same Douglas tartan Lorraine had used for her own wedding invitations.

"That's my daughter, pure thoughtfulness," Lorraine says with apparent pride. Sharing her thoughts on seeing her daughter walking down the aisle, Lorraine felt many emotions.

"It was a mixture of, ‘Oh my gosh, I can't believe my baby is a bride and a mother and she looks so beautiful,’" she shares.

Lorraine continues, "The dress was perfect and she just radiated sheer happiness. I was so proud of her. When I saw her standing there looking like that, all the emotion came out. I did cry quite a lot; that was a beautiful, beautiful moment."

Lorraine's mother Anne was also in attendance, with Lorraine sharing, "It was so wonderful to have four generations there," adding, "My mum's not been too well, she's got a terrible kidney illness and she's very frail now compared to what she was. But on the day, she looked absolutely incredible, and she felt incredible as well."

Rosie met her husband on dating app Hinge, and fell pregnant six months later. She candidly reveals what she values the most about her relationship.

"I've always said that Steve – and I don't want it to sound boring, because it's not – to me, he feels very safe," she says.

Rosie concludes, "I know people talk about fireworks, which are also there, but all I need is that steady calmness."

The BBC air many intriguing true crime documentaries across their channels, with recent outings of The Mother of All Cons and The Beauty Queen and the Cat Fish sparking conversations and leaving viewers utterly shocked.

Adding to the BBC iPlayer catalogue of documentaries delving into the circumstances surrounding crimes carried out in the UK, Murder Trial: Death of a Dog Walker airs from Tuesday August 11 on iPlayer and BBC Scotland, and from August 12 on BBC Two.

Across two episodes, Death of a Dog Walker looks at the murder of former estate groundsman, Brian Low.

After going out to walk his dog Millie in rural Perthshire, Brian was later found dead by a fellow dog walker after being shot.

He was found in the middle of the countryside, with no witnesses, and no forensics linking a suspect to his shooting.

His neighbour and ex-gamekeeper David Campbell was later accused of his murder. But it wasn't a straightforward case, as legal teams battle potential missed forensic opportunities, while trying to build a clear picture of a decades-old feud between David and Brian that could've resulted in murder.

What did David Campbell do?

On February 17, 2024, Brian Low was found dead in a place called Leafy Lane, after walking his Labrador Millie - the dog was by his side when his body was discovered.

Incredibly, policemen arriving on the scene didn't realise the 65-year-old had been shot and thought his injuries had been caused by falling - paramedics also failed to spot gunshot wounds.

Six days passed before a medical examination concluded the actual way Brian had died, despite shotgun pellets having fallen from the body bag before his post mortem.

The examination of his body found multiple holes in his clothes after he'd sustained around 30 pellet injuries.

The delay in ascertaining Brian's cause of death meant there was no cordon put around the scene of the crime until six days after his body was found, and a murder inquiry wasn't launched until 10 days later.

This meant that evidence such as footprints near his body, tyre tracks and CCTV could've been missed or damaged.

David Campbell, now 77, was eventually arrested, but the prosecution faced struggles to build a case against him due to the issues with potentially missed evidence.

This led to a circumstantial case during the trial, linking smaller strands of evidence to piece together why David would have shot Brian - his partner of 22 years, Pam Curran, said of Brian, "I don't think he had a bad bone in his body."

However, it turns out David Campbell had a longstanding grudge against Brian Low. The pair had worked at the Edradynate Estate together for over 20 years, and witnesses described a "coldness" between them, with David saying he "loathed" and "hated" Brian.

David Campbell really fell out with Brian Low following an investigation into birds of prey being poisoned at the estate.

David's house was raided when his involvement was suspected in the alleged poisonings, and he accused Brian of "planting" items at to home to implicate him.

Pam Curran says of the incident, "Whatever Brian had said to the police really angered Dave and they had a right set-to. Brian wouldn't tell me the ins and outs of it, but I knew it was bad. Brian was really upset by it."

After working at Edradynate for over 30 years, David was "removed" from the estate in 2017. It's believed that in the seven years between him leaving the estate and Brian's death, David had been planning to kill him.

On February 17, 2024, David was captured on footage from his own doorbell camera, putting duct tape on it to cover it.

CCTV footage later captured a person on an e-bike near the crime scene, wearing a long bag that could have contained a shotgun. Although he denied it was him, a similar bike was later found at David's home, belonging to his wife, Elizabeth.

The day after the shooting, David had taken a bike to have new tyres fitted. The shop owner told him that the existing ones were perfectly fine and didn't need replacing, but he insisted.

It's believed David wanted the tyres changed because he cycled to the scene of the crime and would've left bike tracks in the mud, linking the bike to the murder. A soil analysis did then show traces of soil and vegetation taken from the pedals supported the theory that the bike had indeed been near Leafy Lane.

Elsewhere, more CCTV showed a startled horse in a field near the crime that could've been spooked because of a gun shot.

With mounting evidence stacked against him, when David was eventually arrested for Brian's murder, he denied any involvement and refused a solicitor, insisting he "didn't need one."

Following a 15-day trial at Glasgow's High Court, David Campbell was found guilty of murder.

Where is David Campbell now?

David Campbell remains in prison, after being sentenced to life - he has been ordered to serve a minimum of 19 years before he's eligible for parole.

Pam couldn't be present for the verdict to be delivered. "I couldn’t go in for the verdict because I didn’t know how I would react," she says.

Pam adds, "That verdict is not going to make it better, but it could make it a hell of a lot worse," continuing, "You don’t feel happy because you think it’s lives ruined. It’s not just my life, he’s ruined his own family’s life."

Judge Lord Scott said, "David Campbell, you’ve been found guilty of the murder of Brian Low.

"It may be that given serious errors in the early stages of police inquiries, you thought initially that you had literally got away with murder. If so, you were wrong."

Brian’s older brother, Douglas, who attended every day of the trial, simply said, "Brian meant so much to us."

Murder Trial: Death of a Dog Walker airs from August 11 on BBC iPlayer and BBC Scotland, and from August 12 on BBC Two. Both episodes will drop on BBC iPlayer on Tuesday August 11 at 6am.

The highly anticipated Call The Midwife spin-off, Sisters In Arms has finished filming, and the series creator has revealed that making the show left the cast and crew "in tears."

The three-part prequel will air during the next festive period, in place of the usual Call The Midwife Christmas special.

Set in 1939, viewers will get to see a young Sister Monica Joan, Sister Julienne and Sister Evangelina giving much needed midwifery care to the women of Poplar in the years before proper pain relief and the welfare state.

Alongside new characters Sister Alice and GP Dr Kit, the nuns' lives are thrown into chaos when war is declared - and babies still need to be delivered.

To help with their workload during precarious times, the team are joined by secular midwives Sybil, Olive and Marianne, who must help keep mothers and babies safe while the bombs keep dropping.

Filming for the series took two months, and creator Heidi Thomas says that it was eight weeks of "laughter, tears, love, loss and everything in between."

Sharing her thoughts on the shoot to Instagram, as well as offering a very exciting insight into what went on and what to expect from the spin-off, Heidi says, "Call the Midwife has a long and noble history of filming Christmas specials during heatwaves, and this year we welcomed the snow-machine back to the Nonnatus House set like an old friend."

The writer adds, "But I was surprised how many new emotions Call the Midwife: Sisters in Arms sparked. In particular, the evacuation of Poplar's children, and the fear that they may not make it home for Christmas had us all in tears..."

To mark filming coming to an end, the official Call The Midwife Instagram account shared photos of stars Julie Hesmondhalgh (Sister Alice) and Helena Wilson (Sister Julienne) holding a clapperboard featuring the words, "It's a wrap!"

A second photo showed Ellie McKay (Olive), Liv Andrusier (Marianne) and Lizzie Back (Sybil) standing together in their Nonnatus House midwife uniforms.

Clearly enthusiastic about the spin-off, Heidi Thomas says, "Oh we have SUCH a lot to show you!"

Building excitement for the viewers who can't wait to tune in, she adds, " Everybody has been completely blown away by the story we've been telling... and you'll see it for yourself at Christmas time!"

"And now that filming is over, we'll be starting to bring you sneak peeks at what to expect when we wind the clock back to wartime Poplar..."

The writer concludes with, "Don't go anywhere!." We certainly won't be, and will be counting down the days to the Sisters In Arms release date, along with other Call The Midwife fans everywhere.

Sisters In Arms will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer during the Christmas period, with no official release date set at this time.

Turn around, bright eyes…

On Wednesday, August 12, people across the UK will witness a near total solar eclipse, with the Moon set to cover between 90 and 96 percent of the Sun. Royal Museums Greenwich, which runs London’s Royal Observatory, have stated it’ll be the most complete solar eclipse since 1999.

People in the UK will get to witness this celestial event pretty clearly wherever they are (with those in the South West of England expected to have the most complete view) but it’s actually elsewhere across Europe where they will witness a total solar eclipse, including areas of Greenland, Iceland and northern Spain.

Here we’ll share when it starts, where it’ll be visible and how to safely look…

What time is the solar eclipse?

Depending on where you are across the UK and Ireland, the eclipse will start around 6:08pm and end just after 8pm on Wednesday evening.

The Royal Museums Greenwich have calculated the expected timings for the first contact (when the Moon first covers the disc of the Sun), the peak of the eclipse (when most of the Sun is covered) and the end.

• Edinburgh and Glasgow: first contact - 6:08pm, peak - 7:05pm, end - 8pm
• Galway and Dublin: first contact - 6:12pm, peak - 7:10pm, end - 8:05pm
• Manchester and Liverpool: first contact - 6:13pm, peak - 7:10pm, end - 8:03pm
• Norwich and Birmingham: first contact - 6:15pm, peak - 7:11pm, end - 8:04pm
• London, Bristol and Cardiff: first contact - 6:17pm, peak - 7:12pm, end - 8:06pm
• Truro, Cornwall: first contract - 6:18pm, peak - 7:16pm, end - 8:10pm.

Where can I see the solar eclipse?

The entire UK will experience the eclipse, with the entirety of the country able to witness the shadow of the Moon. People in Cornwall and Pembrokeshire are set to get the most coverage, at around 95 percent partial eclipse.

For people in Ireland, Dublin gets the next fullest eclipse, with about 94 percent coverage. London is expected to see around 90 percent partial eclipse coverage.

You might want to make the effort to catch a sighting - we won't get as full an eclipse again until 2081.

How to watch the solar eclipse safely

It’s rather a rare thing so it’s not a surprise many are excited to catch a glimpse, but looking directly at the Sun without the right protection can cause permanent damage to your eyesight.

The government have advised the safest ways to catch a glimpse - the first is wearing genuine eclipse glasses that meet the international safety standard ISO 12312-2:2015(E). These can be found at reputable retailers, including some on Amazon that if you're a Prime member you will get tomorrow.

The second method is to make an indirect handheld viewer. Safe options include:

• a pinhole viewer/projector, which can be made at home by cutting a 1-2-inch hole in a piece of card, sticking aluminium foil over it and poking a hole in the foil. Place a second piece of card on the ground and hold your pinhole viewer above to project the sun’s image onto it
• viewing the Sun's image projected through a colander or the gaps between tree leaves.

The Associated Press have also shared a video explaining that it’s safe to view the eclipse using the front-facing selfie lens on your smartphone.

For those unable to view it in person for whatever reason, the Royal Museums Greenwich will be running a live stream of the eclipse using one of their modern telescopes. Coverage will start live on YouTube and Facebook from 6.10pm.

Hannah Waddingham is not only an incredibly talented actress and singer, she's also a brilliantly influential voice when it comes to standing up for women's rights and speaking out against misogyny.

The Ted Lasso and Ride or Die star recently spoke very candidly about being brought up to believe women are "less than," and the moment she she realised this was wrong, and "male dominance" shouldn't have been normalised in her household.

During a video conversation shared by NPR, Hannah reflects on her Ted Lasso character Rebecca believing she's a feminist, and some similarities and differences between her character's life and her own.

Talking about scenes between Rebecca and her mum Deborah (Harriet Walter,) the actress says Rebecca "has clearly been indoctrinated from birth, by this mother."

Explaining further, she continues to say that Deborah leads Rebecca to think, "In a very passive way and playful way, that women are inferior to men."

Hannah shares the belief that this portrayal of how girls are raised is widespread in real life. "We've been passively indoctrinated generationally, that women are less than, for sure," she says passionately, sharing, "I was myself."

Alluding to the the "sliding doors" moment between her character's life and her own, Hannah shares that Rebecca doesn't join the dots about the level of indoctrination she's lived with until she's much older, whereas Hannah herself realised it as a teenager.

"The sliding doors of myself and Rebecca Welton, is that Rebecca doesn't realise until she's the age she is," Hannah says, adding, "whereas I realised when I was about 15."

The actress continues, "There was a male dominance in my family, and my mum was also indoctrinated by it, I don't mind saying so."

Hannah shares that it's been "interesting" to play someone who "thinks she's a feminist but perhaps isn't," in comparison to herself, who "very much is."

A comment on the video shares a lot of praise for what Hannah is saying. The person writes, "Such a lovely actress and character. I appreciate this topic, because I’m a single mum trying to teach my teenage son that no one is superior to another, and no one would exist without women."

"I’m so lucky that he’s quite the feminist and wants to make the world a better place. I cannot let the manosphere get him."

Showing just how much she isn't afraid to call out inappropriate behaviour by men, Hannah famously hit back at a photographer who asked her to "show leg" on the red carpet.

Arriving to host the Olivier Awards in 2024, Hannah was applauded by onlookers for her response to the photographer's request.

The star responds with, "Oh my God, you'd never say that to a man, my friend," adding that any similar comments would result in her moving on away from the cameras.

"Don't say 'show me leg.' No," she said at the time, adding, "Have some manners" as she walked away.

Earlier this month she made her presenting comeback with her multi-platform lifestyle series, Holly Willoughby Together, but the former This Morning star has now revealed the challenging impact quitting the ITV daytime show in October 2023 had on her life.

Speaking on Bottom’s Up! podcast with Alan Carr and Lee Peart, Holly admitted, “What I discovered was once I stopped working was that I am so lazy!”

She continued, “For somebody who worked a lot and was really busy and people were like ‘I don't know how you do it, how do you keep so many plates spinning?’ I was like, wow, I'm literally half woman-half mattress!”

Holly’s admission comes weeks after she revealed why it took her so long to make her comeback.

In an interview last month the presenter admitted there was a time when she “wasn't sure whether” she’d return to the spotlight following the highly-publicised kidnap, rape and murder plot against her.

“If I'm being really honest, everybody knows what happened to me and I just needed time out,” she candidly shared. The mum-of-three explained, “I needed to go, ‘Do you know, I need to park all of that. I'm just going to spend time with my family and my friends and see how I am and see what happens. And then when it feels right I'll go back.’ But there was a time when I wasn't sure whether that would ever be a thing.”

However, she added, “I feel good now, though. I wouldn’t be doing this if I wasn’t… I feel ready.”

Despite many being excited by the prospect of her return to the spotlight, so far Together, which launched on 28 July, hasn’t taken off as expected. At present her YouTube channel has amassed just 14.7k subscribers and her highest-viewed long-form video has only 36k views.

But Holly doesn’t appear to be phased by the possibility of her new career direction not reaching the same heights as her previous TV gigs.

“If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. But you have to have a go,” she said before adding, “What’s the other option? Just sitting scared and never doing a thing again?"

She also said that she feels “less pressure” due to the project being non-terrestrial, revealing, “I actually feel a little bit safer.”

The former Dancing On Ice presenter continued, “People find you and come to you because they’re interested in you," explaining that it means she isn't “forced” on people not interested in tuning in.

Bottom’s Up! with Alan Carr and Lee Peart is a Platform Media original show available wherever you listen to podcasts

Helen George is well known for her role as the beloved Trixie Franklin in the smash hit BBC series Call The Midwife.

With the role thrusting her into the spotlight, fans have been interested in the actress's life off screen. Helen has been very candid about life as a single parent since she split with fellow Call The Midwife actor Jack Ashton, with whom she shares two daughters.

The star has also experienced public heartbreak and loss, recently offering insight into her breakup with businessman Dan Innes months after they moved in together, and the devastating loss of a previous boyfriend to leukaemia, not long after they began dating.

After experiencing so much turbulence in her personal life, Helen has now revealed the one major coping mechanism she uses to help her during challenging times, that she kept secret for many years.

This includes delving into spirituality and mysticism, and using runes, crystals and tarot readings to find comfort and direction.

"I’ve definitely experienced things I can’t explain – particularly from tarot," Helen tells the iPaper. She adds, "I’ve had experiences with mediums where I’ve been given very compelling and intricate readings about my life and heritage, and where people I have known have come and described themselves. It’s fascinating."

Her interest in all things mystical is now out in the open, and she shares her "dirty little secret" with followers on the Mystic Mates podcast she hosts with fellow West End actor, Yvette Robinson.

Having explored the spiritual world together for 20 years, Helen says, "We’ve always discussed it privately because people always thought it was a bit weird or silly."

She continues, "But the older we’ve got, the more we’ve started to see the worth in it. And we’ve had some incredible experiences we now want to share with a bigger audience. We want to find a community of other people to share and learn with."

Delving into how spirituality helps her with loss, Helen shares, "That’s why I find the mediumship helpful."

"We’ve all experienced loss and when you feel that maybe there is a different energy or intelligence or life that hasn’t ended that is still around but which we can’t quite quantify, knowing that this is potentially present and that those people are still watching over you is very comforting. I feel very supported spiritually."

During an episode of her podcast, Helen revealed that an unnamed boyfriend once visited her though a medium to let her know she was in the wrong relationship. The person had died of leukaemia aged just 42.

"I went to this clairvoyant last week and she said, 'This is your ex-boyfriend, and he died very suddenly after you started dating him. He's come into the room because he's not very happy about your situation,'" she explains.

She continues, "It was wonderful to think this person, whom I didn't really know for that long, was there," concluding, "He was angry that he'd left me looking for someone else and then finding someone else who wasn't suitable."

The actress also believes she's "made some terrible decisions in my life" with the support of friendships and learning to trust her intuition helping her move forward from previous mistakes.

Discussing where she is within her career right now, Helen is currently starring as socialite Tracy Lord in Cole Porter’s High Society, at London’s Barbican theatre - her role as Trixie Franklin remains uncertain.

Helen reveals that she's "not quite ready to let go" of the character but "really excited about potentially revisiting Trixie because she’s so dear to me and has been such a massive part of my life."

Alongside her podcast, the actress is also trying to see what else she can turn her hand to outside of Call The Midwife.

"I feel like there’s a world of possibilities at the moment," she shares, adding, "I’m really in a place where I’m saying yes to anything that comes along and interested to see where that takes me."

Shania Twain has been married to Frédéric Thiébaud since 2011 and, 15 years on, he’s definitely still the one.

"This is the love I’m going to grow old with and it’s a beautiful feeling", the Man! I Feel Like a Woman icon revealed in a new interview.

She also revealed the secret behind their everlasting romance - communication. "He’s really good at reminding both of us that we have to keep communication open. He’s the greatest talker, and he’s not inhibited at all with expressing his feelings, which is really wonderful in a man."

Speaking to People, she added, "If you have a man that is really open and wants to keep the communication open, you’re blessed as a woman."

On the occasion when there is an issue between them, Shania praises Frédéric’s openness as a contrast to her natural inclination to go more inwards on the matter. She shared that she’d sometimes prefer "meditate over the issue, take a walk or be alone with my guitar if I’m having a marital issue… Fred wants to talk about it.

"He wants to talk it through, and he wants to fix it. And that’s the best advice. I mean, he’s not wrong."

Shania and her husband’s romance dates back to 2009, but their bond started before that. The music superstar has spoken candidly of how the pair met in quite the unconventional way - Shania’s first husband, Robert John ‘Mutt’ Lange reportedly had an affair with Frédéric’s former wife, Marie-Anne - who was a close friend and former assistant to Shania.

In an interview from 2022, Shania opened up on how the pair’s shared experience initially helped them to heal - before the romance blossomed. She told People, "We were a big part of each other’s healing.

"When I got divorced I said, ‘I’m never getting married again.’ I was definitely one of those people that could have written a million songs about, ‘I’m never going to fall in love again.’ But Fred was such an undeniable love."

And as for her ex - with whom she shares her son, Eja - Shania has found a form of forgiveness. "I’m able to have more appreciation for him again, not for what happened in our marriage but for all that he contributed to such a great part of my career and my life.

"We have a beautiful child from it. The resentment is gone."

After experiencing the shared devastation of alleged infidelity, Shania and Frédéric would find a new beginning together. Shania believes, though, that she was always destined to end up with her husband.

"I’m sure we’ll always have romance, but there’s a depth and a gratitude that I have about having this love. And if I [had] met Fred as a teenager, I do believe that he would have been my lifelong love even from then.

"It just takes sometimes years to find that person."

During their Dig It podcast, Jo Whiley and Zoe Ball discuss a huge range of topics, and recently debated something very timely - the unfair treatment of women in the public eye.

Using the recent scrutiny of Claudia Winkleman and Holly Willoughby as examples, Jo says that being critical of others so openly is "an unpleasant facet of human nature," adding, "It's so distasteful, it's really awful."

Claudia Winkleman recently stepped away from her chat show, The Claudia Winkleman Show, after one season because she was "too nervous to enjoy it."

Jo says that in the run up to the first episode of Claudia's show, "Everyone was going, 'Is it going to be any good, is it going to bomb?' - there is a frenzied attack, as soon as somebody does something, people are just going to pull it apart."

Calling Claudia "hilarious" and "talented," Zoe says she was saddened that she walked away from her chat show. Although both Zoe and Jo praised her for standing up for what she wanted and recognising the pressure she came under, finding it "refreshing."

Zoe explains that what "breaks my heart" about Claudia's situation is that some very high profile male chat show hosts weren't "amazing" when they started out, saying it can take "years" to "hone your craft."

She appears to allude to the men being given time to improve, "bed in and be given a chance," and find their rhythm, where female celebrities doing the same jobs are not.

Speaking about Claudia, Zoe shares, "The scrutiny, I wonder whether if it hadn't been so bad, whether she would've carried on." Jo agrees, adding, "There is no doubt within my mind that she wouldn't have been a great chat show host."

Zoe then says, "I'm seeing the same for Holly Willoughby as well." The presenter recently began her own lifestyle show on YouTube named Together.

She continues to say of Holly, who took time away from the public eye following a terrifying kidnap plot against her, "She's built up her confidence and her strength and she's doing this show on YouTube, and all I read is the horrible negativity about it all."

Zoe adds, "Give her a chance - she's doing this on her terms, she's doing what she enjoys. I've seen her chatting to some great people [on the show]."

Weighing in, Jo says, "People are so mean," adding that Holly has been "taken down" and nobody is "giving her a chance."

"That's really cruel and really harsh," she says, directly. "It's no good saying, 'Give women a platform, give them all the opportunities,' to then tear them down immediately," she adds.

Speaking about women in the industry, she says, "Support them, nurture them, let them thrive - let them fail a little bit and then succeed brilliantly."

Zoe concludes with a message of support for her fellow presenters, sharing, "Claudia we love you, and Holly, keep being brilliant and being the brave, brilliant women that you are."

Six years on from the breakdown of her second marriage, Fern Britton has revealed the one issue she has with getting divorced.

While she admitted in a new interview she’s “not really someone who regrets things,” the former This Morning star, 69, said the “only thing’ she does is ‘being divorced twice.”

Fern, who shares twins Harry and Jack, 31, and Grace, 28, with first husband Clive Jones and 23-year-old daughter Winnie with ex Phil Vickery, explained that it is “because of the effect” it had on her children.

She did, however, say “I don’t regret getting married because those relationships were right at the time,’”before cryptically adding, “Things are wonderful until they aren’t.”

Last year Fern told woman&home, that she’s “not looking for love.” She explained, “I’m still a bit too wary of losing my liberty.” She added that while there’s “nobody to run something past” now it “never really worked out,” so she is happy living life on her own terms. “I am my own boss now, which is great… I'm my own boss and I'm enjoying that.”

The presenter concluded, “I’ve got lovely friends and I have a lovely social life, which is quite enough for me.”

In 2020 she shocked fans when she announced her split from This Morning Chef Phil after two decades of marriage. While Fern previously told us, “Phil and I had the greatest fun together and we have the most beautiful daughter together… So we will always be connected,” earlier this year she admitted, “He hasn't spoken to me for six years.”

She did, however, say that for daughter Winnie’s sake she tries “very hard not to” bad-mouth him.

Prior to Phil she was married to TV executive Clive from 1988 to 2000. Speaking about the surprising catalyst of their break-up, the star revealed that an “immense rift” occurred after she secretly took the Mensa IQ Test.

“He had this degree and I don’t. I secretly went off and did the Mensa. I lied, I said I was going somewhere else, and it took a day to do this test. I passed - and quite well too,” she reflected.

The author added, “He was furious so he did it because he’s got a huge brain. But he’s not a problem solver and he didn’t get it. So an immense rift opened.”

Samantha Morton's career spans more than three decades, and she's appeared in high profile films and TV shows including Band of Gold, The Walking Dead, and The Serpent Queen.

Currently appearing in Christopher Nolan's smash hit The Odyssey, the actress has recently shared insight into her very difficult childhood, also revealing that while her career has been hugely successful, she hasn't worked for over a year.

Appearing on Joshua Harowitz's Happy Sad Confused podcast, Samantha reveals that after growing up in foster homes, acting "saved my life."

"I was taken into care as a baby," she shares, adding, "my parents weren't able to look after me - it was very complex, my dad was in and out of prison and I'd be on a care order."

Sometimes this meant the actress would be living with her dad, and "then he'd go back into prison and I'd be in a foster home."

Samantha continues, "At 16 I was living in a homeless hostel, and that was where I wrote my first play."

This was the start of the star being able to build her career and get herself out of the difficult situation she was living in.

She was "sometimes allowed to go to" a local drama workshop while residing at the hostel, and the man who ran it gave her a train fair to go to London, to allow her to audition for a TV show.

"That week I got that role, then I got an agent, then I did Band of Gold, and the rest is history," she explains.

Poignantly, Samantha says, "Acting saved me life." However, she also reveals that faith played a part in helping her get to where she wanted to be.

"I'm a firm believer in god," she says, adding, "I think that my faith gave me the ability to feel loved, when human beings and society were quite cruel."

Despite everything she's overcome and the huge success she's experienced as an actress, Samantha also reveals she hasn't worked for a year since filming The Odyssey.

In the film, she portrays Circe, a witch and goddess on the island of Aeaea. "At the end of the day, I’m 49. I do believe I’m a good actor, [but] there are other good actors out there" she says candidly.

However, she appears assured that more projects will come along in the future. "I feel confident, with the ups and the downs, that I will keep working, till I’m in my 80s or whatever, touch wood," she says.

She adds, "But it’s more that, for me, I got to work with Christopher Nolan in my lifetime. That’s it. I’m happy now. I mean, I was happy before, I’ve worked with some brilliant people, but as an actor, you’re always at the mercy of who your employer is and what they expect of you and what they believe in you to do for them."

As well as being in awe of working with Nolan, Samantha is also completely enamoured with the concepts conveyed in The Odyssey.

"Being part of something that’s bigger than any individual is really important in this day and age, because we’re living in the age of the I, the me, the Instagram, the selfie, the ego, and The Odyssey is the opposite of that," she shares.

The actress concludes, "It’s a deeply human, spiritual experience for me personally, when I saw the film for the first time. So, to be part of that is incredible. Obviously, it’s awesome."

Fans of long-running ITV detective series Vera were devastated when Brenda Blethyn hung up her mac and hat, and the show came to an end after 14 incredible seasons in 2025.

The actress had perfectly inhabited the role of the iconic Vera Stanhope, but insisted that it was time to step away from the role to focus on her home life and other projects.

However, after appearing with author of the original book series Ann Cleeves at the Theakston Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, Brenda appeared to offer a spark of hope that she could one day reprise the role of the beloved detective.

Ann Cleeves also shared that she has finished the final novel in the Vera Stanhope series, revealing that it will be released next year. The author also confirmed whether the detective lives or dies during the final outing.

In conversation with the Sunday Express before their appearance at the literary event, Ann says, "I haven't killed her. I can tell you, I haven't killed her." This news will no doubt induce sighs of relief in fans everywhere.

While Brenda cannot commit to filming the show for a another full series, she does hint that a return to Vera could be on the cards in another form.

"I wish they'd do a special or something," she shares, adding, "It would be lovely to get that hat and mac back on again. One more time will be great." We'll be watching this space.

Brenda also spoke about being shocked when she was first offered the role of the straight-talking detective. "To be a woman in charge of a team of men, I wouldn't have thought I was the first choice," she shares.

The actress "just loved the character," and was particularly proud to play her because "you wouldn't normally see a woman of her age and her persona being a central character."

This isn't the only way Vera Stanhope broke the mould for female detectives portrayed on TV. Both the cast and viewers found the way she was a "woman of a certain age who didn't actually care what she looked like," a breath of fresh air.

Ann says Vera "didn't need to hold anyone's attention" and the focus was never on her love life or finding a man, which is what happens with many female TV Leads.

"She doesn't need anyone in her life to make her whole and real," the author adds.

There's also a fascinating story behind Vera actually making it from book to screen - which was a perfect coincidence.

The first novel in the series, The Crow Trap, was published in 1999. TV producer Elaine Collins was later heading off on holiday and picked up a copy in a charity shop to read while she was away.

Elaine was looking for a detective series to fill the Sunday evening slot at ITV, and wanted Vera Stanhope to be the person to fill it.

When Brenda was being considered for the role, she was unfamiliar with the books, and "rushed straight out and bought them."

The actress explains of The Crow Trap, "I couldn't put it down. I just loved the character."

All 14 seasons of Vera are available to stream on ITVX.

Jo Whiley sadly lost her father, Martin Whiley, on July 21 at the age of 86 following a battle with Parkinson's disease.

The DJ and presenter returned to work shortly afterwards because she had a gig booked and didn't want to "let people down," despite feeling that all she wanted to do was be "in a room" by herself, "not talking to anybody."

During an episode of the Dig It podcast she hosts with good friend Zoe Ball, Jo shares that as she was feeling "vulnerable" hosting the 90s anthem gig, a lovely gesture from a fan in the audience brought her a lot of reassurance.

Explaining what happened, Jo says, "There was one person in the audience, and she had a sign saying 'number one Digger.'" A 'Digger' is the name coined by Zoe and Jo for followers of their podcast.

To begin with, the lady holding the sign was "at the back of the crowd," and Jo "clocked her and blew her a kiss."

The fan then made her way through the crowd still holding up her sign "the whole way," until she got to the front of the audience.

"It was amazingly comforting," Jo shares, adding, "It was such a sweet thing to do." The presenter recalls that being "really focussed" on the sign "really helped me a lot."

When the gig was over, Jo shared a photo of the show to social media. The presenter wasn't aware that so many people knew about the death of her dad, assuming the lady with the sign might've been one of the only ones.

However, it turns out many people in attendance knew she had been recently bereaved. Jo was then sent many other messages of support from those who had been at the show, after posting the picture from it online.

"I had so many comments from people saying, 'We were there in the crowd and we were rooting for you, and sending you all our love and support, and thank you for turning up and doing the show,'" Jo shares.

Emotionally, Jo continues to thank everyone who sent messages of sympathy, saying, "I had no idea that you knew what had been going on, and I'm really grateful."

Becoming tearful, Jo continues to reveal the level of support she's received, saying, "Everywhere I go, people have been kind."

The day after her father passed away, Jo tells podcast listeners that she went to the supermarket and the staff in there, who knew her dad well, handed her a bunch of his favourite flowers.

She later went to the dentist, and was offered condolences from staff at the practice. "It's so nice, people just acknowledging what's gong on and being kind and respectful," she shares, adding that the respect "means the world."

As she copes with her grief, Jo reveals that she felt "guilty" for going to a festival in the days after Martin's passing. However, this appears really positive for her mental health as she shares, "It's quite a release to go and dance and sing."

She says, "Life carries on, and you do have to carry on enjoying yourself."

She’s been a mainstay on TV for decades, but Davina McCall does have a timeline for when she plans to retire - and it’s not too far away.

Her husband, hairdresser and woman&home contributor Michael Douglas, revealed that he and Davina plan to retire in the next five years, when it’s "time for us to relax and enjoy all of that hard work".

Speaking to The Mail on Sunday, Michael confirmed that the pair are planning to retire, stating, "We've got five years of hard work left in us… Davina will be about 62 and I’ll be around 58."

He added, "There comes a point where you think, when do we actually sit back and enjoy everything we've worked so hard for? We're both happy and healthy individuals, but that might not last forever."

Davina in particular has faced a tough few years in terms of health battles. In 2024, the Long Lost Family host underwent surgery to remove a rare brain tumour after doctors found a colloid cyst during a health check-up as part of her menopause advocacy work.

In November 2025, she also revealed she’d undergone a lumpectomy after catching the signs of breast cancer very early.

"I had a biopsy, and I found out it was indeed breast cancer," Davina shared at the time. "I'm so relieved to have had it removed, and to know that it hasn't spread".

At the time, she revealed she was “very angry" on receiving a cancer diagnosis but learnt to “let go” and focus on the positives.

"I'm the happiest I have ever been. I’m in such a good space," she told Hello!, adding, "It’s age that’s given me that. You don’t get the experience without ageing. It’s taken me until my fifties to learn enough to make myself feel really, deeply content.”

Touching on the journey they’ve gone on together, Michael opened up on the pair’s shared podcast, Making the Cut, revealing the past few years had left him “very, very low.”

He said, “The back end of last year [I] was very down, very, very low. Of course, far as to say, the lowest I've ever felt. It was a mixture of things going on.

!I had some kind of emotional family stuff that was weighing me down a little bit. Business was quite tough last year. I was carrying, shouldering, a lot of responsibility. We had a very tough year. You had breast cancer.”

Davina added that her memory issues after the brain surgery had an impact, saying, “Also my memory was really difficult and that was very difficult. I couldn't remember, but it was hard on you, I know that.”

Despite the health battles, Davina and Michael have had many a reason to celebrate over the past few years, too. Earlier this summer, the pair hosted a second wedding party at their home in Kent, less than a year after officially tying the knot in a December wedding.

When Ted Lasso departed from our screens in 2023 after three incredible seasons, it truly felt like the end.

As you'd expect from a show that put optimism and hope front and centre, the characters audiences grew to adore across 35 episodes were given proper and positive send offs, wrapped neatly in a bow.

That's why, when rumours of a surprise season 4 return began circulating, I instantly believed they were just that - terrible lies to instil false hope in me that some of the greatest characters in TV history were actually coming back, that would then see me fall into a state of abject despair when I found out it wasn't true.

But I really should "believe", because here we are, with season 4 genuinely making its Apple TV debut on August 5. If that doesn't smell like potential for some excellent feel good viewing, I don't know what does - settle down for TV's happiest homecoming.

If you haven't heard amid the furore of media attention surrounding Ted Lasso season 4, this time the moustachioed, endlessly cheerful coach is persuaded back to the UK from Kansas to coach Richmond FC's women's team.

While this means none of the actors formerly playing the men's team will be returning, it does mean the introduction of the brilliant and versatile Tanya Reynolds (Sex Education, The Other Bennet Sister) as coach Alice Chilton, and a whole new cast of female players to get to know.

And while they perfectly fill the void left by Nate (Nick Mohammed,) and the likes of Dani Rojas (Cristo Fernández,) Sam Obisanya (Toheeb Jimoh) and Jamie Tartt (Phil Dunster,) the 'other' dream team will be back in their entirety.

Yes, this means the inimitable Hannah Waddingham will be back as Rebecca, one of the greatest and unapologetically strongest female characters ever seen on screen.

Also currently flying high in the highly bingeable Ride or Die, I am absolutely here to see what else the fantastic actress can bring to Rebecca, while her career outside of the show is on fire.

Juno Temple is also back as Keeley, bringing a sisterly energy to the unlikely friendship between her and Rebecca, and chemistry that spills off the screen into real life - the pair are seemingly totally enamoured with each other when the cameras stop rolling.

Jeremy Swift is back as Leslie, and Brett Goldstein brings gruff and kindliness in equal measures, reprising his role as Roy Kent.

Would it be too much to ask for Roy and Keeley to get back together this season? It was the only bow left slightly knotted at the end of season 3, with Roy working on himself in therapy sessions with Dr Sharon, and Keeley focussing on building her PR career.

Normally I'd be all for a woman prioritising everything but romantic relationships, but somehow feel the need to make an exception for Keeley and Roy.

While season 3 did come under fire for being "too twee" and overly saccharine in its positivity, I'm hoping season 4 will be the same.

Why? Because the world is dark and gloomy, and Ted Lasso gives us wholesomeness in droves, and a bright light in this often dark place.

With the manosphere creeping into every aspect of our lives, the show also offers the perfect antidote to toxic masculinity. Ted shows us it's ok for men to be vulnerable, curious and empathetic.

When boys don't have a clue what positive friendships look like, Ted guides the way to show what to aim for. If the show is toxic positivity then I'm all over it - this is the joyful escape we all need right now.

Ted Lasso airs on Apple TV from August 5.

On a recent episode of Dig It, Zoe Ball was joined by The One Show’s Alex Jones, as her regular co-host Jo Whiley dealt with the loss of her father.

The temporary new duo wasted no time getting down to business, though, getting candid with their concerns about ageing, the pressures women find themselves under, and the tweakment which left Zoe "drooling" down her face.

As the pair got on to pressures of ageing in the public eye, Zoe shared, "I'll tell you, once I had something done to my lip, I hate these sort of lines here. I looked like a right smoker. And I thought I'd get something stabbed in those because it would make a difference.

"And I went to lunch with my mum a couple of days afterwards and I was just literally drooling my drink down my face and she was wetting herself laughing. She's like, ‘What the hell have you done to yourself?’

"I was like, "Mum, I've had Botox in my lip to try and stop these lines.’ She went, ‘Well, that's worked out well for you, hasn't it?’

"And I just thought, you're absolutely right. Hit the nail on the head."

For Alex, while she insisted that it’s every woman’s right to choose whether they get treatments or tweakments, and she’s in the camp of "never say never", she worries that there’s a trend in not allowing women to age the way she saw her mother age.

She said, "I look at Mum and I still think she's so beautiful because she is comfortable in her own skin. All of it is just her, the way she's aged naturally. She still looks incredible.

Whereas, with the generations that came after, "We’re setting a precedent now where nobody's allowed to look old. And old isn't always bad. Old is just because you've lived a life. And what a privilege, by the way, to live a long life.

"I'm really scared for girls that are younger than us that are coming up who are in their late 20s, early 30s, and now everybody is starting to fiddle with their face."

"I'd never say never because you know that we're living up to impossible sort of goals, aren't we? Because everybody's doing it and so everybody looks like they never age any more than sort of 35, 40 anymore.

"Whoever wants to do it, go for your life… But there's so many other things that concern me, I'd really think twice about putting things into my body that don't necessarily need to be there."

Zoe agreed, and also turned the conversation to how other women, and the media in general, perpetuates the problem. She blames the way ageing is handled, arguing that women are often criticised for ageing and then criticised for the steps they take to hide the signs.

"That is the headline… whether a woman has had Botox or not, and whether she should have Botox, and now she's had Botox perhaps because she feels like she needs to look good in appearance and then you're giving her a hard time because she had Botox and now you're thinking her face doesn't move enough.

"It's like stop this. Stop the judging."

Eva Longoria may be the glossy, high-glam star we all know from Desperate Housewives and, of course, being friends with Victoria Beckham. But it turns out that while she may look like that on the outside, she is never happier than when she is at home with her husband of 10 years Jose and son Santi, eight, watching him grow up.

Discussing what she is most proud of for the latest issue of woman&home, Eva, 51, beams, “My son. He’s the light of my life, the centre of my universe. He’s finishing first grade, and so just to see this little human learn and accomplish things and really come into his own - and that I created that! I think I did it by myself,

“I mean, my husband may have helped a bit… You guide these little humans, but really, it’s nature and nurture. He’s really figuring it out on his own, and that’s fascinating watching that unfold. But it’s definitely my proudest role in my life, being a mom.”

And asked what she would do if she had a moment to herself, it is whipping up a feast in her homes in Marbella, Spain, and Mexico.

“I would cook, I love cooking, it’s very therapeutic for me. So any chance I get, I’ll be in the kitchen. Usually I would make Mexican food, that’s the most loved thing in my household - tacos, beef, chicken, all of it,” she said.

For someone who looks as glamorous as she does, Eva - who is a brand ambassador for L'Oreal Paris - has a surprising way of looking her best that doesn’t involve any surprising make-up tricks, and is achievable for most of us (depending on the day!). A good night of sleep.

Discussing her one non-negotiable in life, she said, “Sleep, I need sleep. I really fight for sleep. If I don't get eight hours, I'm not human! And people always ask me, ‘What's your beauty secret?’ It's sleep! I take supplements, I take my magnesium, I set an alarm for bedtime. I turn off the screens. I have a sound machine. I make the room cold - I do it all.”

And her advice for anyone trying to get into the business she has worked so hard in for decades now? Take rejection as “fuel” and move forward.

“You’ve got to accept rejection as part of the game and be really thick skinned about it. Take rejection as fuel, not as a failure,” she said. “And it's not so much rejection as redirection. It's just like, ok, not that, but maybe this? That's not for you, but maybe this is your role. Maybe this is your script. Maybe this is your movie. So be really prepared to understand the psychology of rejection, because it's not always negative.”

Wise words, whatever industry you work in!

The heatwave might have people hiding from the sun, but the July Full Moon might have sky watchers and stargazers flocking outdoors to see the eighth full moon of the year.

July’s full moon is usually the seventh of the year, but May had two full moons - including a rare blue moon. The new full moon, called the Buck Moon, is expected to be a warm, summery orange or amber.

We’ve got all the details on how to see the July full moon, when it hits its peak and why it’s called the Buck Moon.

What is the Buck Moon?

The Buck Moon takes its name from the time of year when male deer - bucks - start to grow their antlers.

Rooted in Native American tradition, the moon’s names were given as a sort of calendar system, helping them to keep track of the seasons. Other names include the Wolf Moon in January, named for the surge in wolves hunting in the deep winter and the Strawberry Moon in June, named after the peak season for the fruit.

Other cultures have their own names for July's full moon, including the thunder moon for the summer storms that often occur, and the hay moon, named after the summer hay harvest.

Will the Buck Moon be visible in the UK?

Yes, you should be able to see the Buck Moon today - with a caveat. Per the Royal Greenwich Observatory, the full moon will appear at its fullest at 3.36pm today (July 29).

Because the moon will be just below the horizon at its peak, it’s likely you won’t get to see the Buck Moon at its fullest. However, you will still get to see it as the evening goes on.

Even if you miss the exact moment the moon becomes full, it will appear almost full on the nights immediately before and after sunset.

When is the best time to see the July Buck Moon?

For the most impressive view, head outside shortly after dark. As is always the case with celestial sightings, you’re guaranteed a better view if you head away from light pollution. Also, those with higher vantage points - climbing up hills, for example - should be able to get a clearer, fuller view

If you don’t get the best view of the Buck Moon tonight, the good news is there’s plenty more lunar activities set to take place in the coming weeks.

The Perseids meteor shower will take place until August 24, reaching their peak between August 12 and 13.

When is the next full moon?

If you’re keeping track of the full moons, the next are the:

• Sturgeon Moon on August 28 (5.18am)
• Harvest Moon on September 26 (5.49pm)
• Hunter’s Moon on October 26 (4.12am)
• Beaver Moon on November 24 (2.53pm)
• Cold Moon on December 24 (1.28am).

Just days after we reported that Kate Garraway had marked a significant milestone in her new relationship, the star has been cruelly torn down by trolls.

Thanks to new partner Liam Halligan, the Good Morning Britain presenter finally has a reason to smile again following an unimaginable few years of heartbreak.

But, after ‘hard-launching’ her relationship online with a social media photo together - something that many perceive confirms a couple are officially together -, Kate was met with a cruel response.

Some social media users branded her finding love after the sad loss of husband Derek Draper in 2024 as “disgusting betrayal” while others said she and Liam have “no morals” because he had been friends with Derek.

“It’s been extremely upsetting,” a source said, explaining, “The messages are deliberately written to provoke reaction and cause distress.”

They continued, “Kate deserves happiness after everything she’s been through. It’s sad there are some people who are bitter and twisted enough to try to ruin that.”

Thankfully, fans leapt to the mum-of-two’s defence, with many saying they were “absolutely thrilled” for her and that she “deserves happiness”.

Others added that “life is for living,” explaining that it's “nobody’s business but theirs.”

‘[She has] every right to have a life after her husband's death,” said another.

In May Kate, who cared for Derek for four years prior to his death, addressed her budding romance, gushing, “It’s lovely”. While Liam said that after becoming “single against our wishes” he and the broadcaster, who he has known for “a long time”, were “really enjoying each other’s company” and there is a "definite spark” between them.

Liam is the first man that the star has been linked to since losing Derek, who she met in 2004 and tied the knot with in 2005 before welcoming daughter Darcey, and Billy.

Derek contracted COVID-19 in 2020 and was said to be the one of the UK’s longest-suffering Coronavirus patients, experiencing extreme complications including major organ damage before suffering from a cardiac arrest and subsequently passing away in January 2024.

Kelly Clarkson gave a rare update on her love life during a recent performance in Las Vegas - and, for now, she’s more than happy staying single.

The Since U Been Gone singer revealed that one of the big motivators in staying single is seeing how other people’s relationships look from the outside. She told the crowd, “People are like, 'Oh, why are you single?' And I'm like, 'First of all, there are a lot of people out here making single look real good.’”

She added, “You see relationships and you're like, 'I am so glad I'm going home alone’. You know what's not happening in my house? That s**t.”

"If you are in a relationship, the hardest part, I feel like, is just keeping that fire alive and still dating," she continued. "And still making it feel magical and not monotonous."

The singer and talk show host usually keeps this part of her life private, especially following the death of her ex husband in 2025. Kelly was married to manager Brandon Blackstock for seven years, separating in 2020.

The couple shared daughter River Rose, and son Remington. Brandon died at his Montana home in August 2025 at the age of 48 following a private battle with melanoma.

In early 2024 - after she had divorced from Brandon but before his passing - Kelly did offer rare insight into whether she could see herself looking for a new husband. Speaking to People, she categorically ruled it out, saying, "No. I never wanted to get married the first time".

She added, "[Brandon] had children, a religious background, and it was important for him. But I’ve never been that person. Because I’ve been through a couple divorces in my family, I just don’t like to put any weight on it.

"It can happen; it doesn’t have to happen. For my kids, I definitely would never even think about it until they’re out of my house."

Offering her insight into love, she also told the outlet, “I’ve always known that love is hard. For me, love has always come with this elephant in the room of sadness.

"I’ve known love is not forever. I don’t mean that to sound depressing, but I think we put a lot of pressure on that word. Sometimes love is looking at someone and going, ‘This is not good for you. This is not good for me.’

"That’s a hard thing to face. But when you do, I think you grow."

If a new man were to come into her life, what would Kelly be looking for? She explained, "I told a friend [that a potential partner] would have to be an individual that brings their own life to the table without needing anything from me.

"It’s far more romantic to say, ‘I want you, but I don’t need anything.’ I’m really good right now, I’m having a good time."

Naga Munchetty has quit BBC Breakfast after almost two decades.

The move comes as the broadcaster, 51, has been announced as the new co-presenter of BBC Radio 5 Live’s flagship Breakfast Show, taking the helm from January.

"I'm thrilled to be joining 5 Live Breakfast," she said, explaining, "Live news, great conversations and connecting with audiences are what I love most about broadcasting, and 5 Live does all of that brilliantly."

Addressing her departure, Naga added, "It has been a privilege to be part of the BBC Breakfast TV team for the past 17 years, working alongside an incredibly talented and hard-working group of journalists."

However, she added that "presenting a flagship programme on 5 Live is an opportunity that was simply too good to pass up… I'm really looking forward to throwing myself into the role."

This morning current 5 Live Breakfast hosts, Rachel Burden and Rick Edwards, announced that they will step down in December. As part of the changes, Rachel will move to present Naga’s current weekday mid-morning programme Monday to Wednesday 11-2pm.

Rachel said, "After 15 years hosting 5 Live Breakfast, I’ve decided it’s time for a change - and I’m really excited about launching my new show on the station. It’s been an absolute joy and privilege to be part of our listeners’ mornings for all these years. We have been through life-changing events together - from the pandemic to huge political moments, and great sporting journeys."

"They are my extended family, and we’ll carry on doing what we do best - telling stories, sharing experiences and working out the world together. Just this time, on a little bit more sleep!"

The changes come after Naga was accused of workplace bullying and reportedly put under investigation, however the outcome of said inquiry has not been publicly revealed.

Kate Garraway marked a significant milestone in her relationship with Liam Halligan over the weekend, sharing one of the first photos of them together on her social media.

The Good Morning Britain presenter reposted a photo of the group of friends, including Kate and Liam, celebrating someone’s birthday. Sharing the post to over half a million of her X followers, Kate added, "We love you James!" to her post, a nod to the birthday celebrant in question.

However, the birthday boy has slightly been overshadowed by the significance of Kate’s first post with Liam. In a move that’s often dubbed ‘hard-launching’ or ‘going official’, sharing a photo of one’s partner on social media is perceived as confirming that they are an official item.

It was only a couple of months ago, at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show, that Kate first publicly addressed the rumours that she’d been starting up a new relationship with Liam. .

She told reporters there of the budding romance, "It is lovely. We basically haven’t really had time for a proper date! I don’t want to jinx it! I don’t want to say anything because I will jinx it! I will jinx it."

She added, "We all love an Irishman, don’t we?"

When asked if the pair were hoping to find the time to properly date, she joked that Liam has been hoping for the same. “He says to me, 'Now we're in the papers, is there a chance we can actually have some dates?'"

Born and raised in London to an Irish family, Liam is an economic journalist and the presenter of The Telegraph’s Planet Normal podcast.

While Kate had kept things relatively quiet at the start of their dating, Liam addressed the speculation early on, telling Talk TV, "I’ve known Kate for years and we’ve recently become close. We laugh a lot and really enjoy each other’s company."

“We’ve known her for a long time, I knew Derek [Kate’s former husband], I was a political commentator, of course I knew him. In recent years for different reasons, we have both become single, against our wishes, so, in recent weeks and months, Kate and I have become good friends.

“This may or may not turn into something long-term but there is a definite spark between us - and we’re both excited to see what happens."

Liam is the first man Kate has been linked to since the loss of her husband, Derek Draper in 2024.

Kate and Derek met in 2004, set up on a blind date by one of Kate’s former GMTV colleagues. Married in 2005, the two shared a daughter, Darcey and a son, Billy. After contracting Covid-19 in 2020, Derek suffered extreme complications, including damage to his major organs and contracting sepsis.

After a lengthy battle that Kate documented in two books, The Power of Hope and The Strength of Love, Derek suffered a cardiac arrest before passing away in early 2024.

Elizabeth Hurley and Billy Ray Cyrus’s love story is still going strong - and a shared passion of the simple life is, perhaps surprisingly, at the heart of it all.

Despite their perceived differences - something Elizabeth accepts might strike people as odd from the outside - she revealed in an interview with E! News that their mutual interest in all things nature and country living is something that’s given them “a really lovely life”.

“Nobody would look at either of us and think that's who we were, but we are,” she continued. “And I love it. I love gardening. He loves being outside in nature. We both love watching birds of prey. It's a really lovely life.”

The Bedazzled actress also explained how they’ve kept this lovely life going when living apart. She shared, “We’re very happy together. We're really enjoying trying to get this balance between America and the UK.

“He's always been based in Tennessee, for the last 35 years or something. But the good thing is that he's very country where he is in Tennessee. I’m very country where I am. And that's a really important thing in our relationship that neither of us want to be out and about.”

Despite exuding glamour, the glamorous Elizabeth explained that she and the Achy Breaky Heart singer very rarely hit the town together for the more showbiz side of things. Instead, they’re much happier just “being at home in the country and snuggling up and doing a lot of things with nature.”

The pair’s romance was thought to blossom in 2025, and speaking to People magazine, Elizabeth - who has one son, Damian Hurley with her late ex Steve Bing - confirmed the pair were indeed enjoying a moment of "bliss" together.

She added even more detail about splitting the time between his farm and her country house, revealing she's usually the one "wielding power tools in the garden whilst Billy strums his guitar under a tree."

She added, "We obsessively watch birds of prey and light lots of bonfires. It’s bliss."

For Billy Ray - who is a father of six, including superstar daughter Miley Cyrus - he shared that his romance with Elizabeth has helped to ground him after a tumultuous few years prior.

He told the outlet, “There was something in the opposites of us, I think, that maybe not only got other people’s attention but even our own.

“And I’ve never seen anybody that, in some ways, has more in common with the insanity that I have lived through in this crazy show business…I do feel at this moment a calm and a peace of mind of knowing that I’m on the right path - and certainly love feels good.”

He added, “What more could I ask for? I don’t have anything to complain about. I like how everything looks right now. I finally found this wonderful place where I’m happy.”

Jo Whiley and Zoe Ball have turned their popular podcast, Dig It, into a place where all topics are on the table, and there’s no airs or graces about digging deep.

From the liberation of changing your goals with age to feeling rejection after missing out on a high profile showbiz gig, they’ve connected with their audience through their own candid confessions and relatable honesty.

With menopause being a long-running topic of conversation on the podcast, the pair have taken discussions around the subject one step further. Zoe and Jo have now channelled their signature humour to come up with the idea of creating the ultimate menopause playlist.

During a recent episode, Zoe declared, "We are making Meno-play… Songs that reflect your mood and symptoms during the menopause."

The pair then divulged some of their personal picks before asking listeners to suggest their own. Jo opted for Kelis, I Hate You So Much Right Now. For Zoe, some options included Faithless’s Insomnia and the Style Council’s My Ever Changing Moods.

While the pair were sharing this in good fun, it’s further proof of the power in breaking down taboos and talking openly about symptoms that might be more common than people realise. Menopause fatigue and sleep issues affect many women, with various therapies on offer to help manage the change in sleeping patterns.

Zoe would also put Anxiety by Doechii on the list. For the presenter, this is reclaiming one of the worst symptoms which she has talked about in an earlier episode, sharing her battle with ‘crippling anxiety’ that left her struggling to work.

Previously, the radio DJ opened up on needing to go on anti-depressants after being overwhelmed with anxiety. "When I was doing the Breakfast Show, I had horrific anxiety. That was my worst sort of symptom and that involved panic attacks, not being able to breathe, a lot of tears, quite a low mood and it was quite frightening at times.

"I did go on anti-depressants for a while for my anxiety, but I'm off those now and I'm really glad to be off those, but they did help for a little period of time.

"It's difficult with things like this because sometimes you are not sure what is what. You don't know whether some of your symptoms are coming from things in life or mainly menopause so you have to try these things."

When fans of the podcast pitched in with their ideas, there were two clear themes that emerged - some were humorous, others were all about empowerment.

One fan shared their suggestion would be I’m Every Woman by Chaka Khan because of “the liberation [menopause] brings us … say what we think, know ourselves, know and accept our bodies”.

While another took a different approach, and simply replied, “Feelin' hot hot hot”.

Tamzin Outhwaite is part of the 'sandwich generation' caught between looking after children who are still living at home, and the needs of ageing parents who might be in need of care themselves.

Many women also juggle this challenging stage of life while dealing with perimenopause and menopause, and it can come fraught with hard decisions to make.

The most emotive decision seems to be whether or not to place elderly parents into care homes when the time comes. Tamzin decided to move her father in with her when he needed extra care, and has spoken about the "wonderful" side of this.

"Dad has been living with us for eight and a half years," the actress tells The Telegraph, explaining that 80-year-old Colin "has survived prostate cancer, lung cancer, skin cancer."

The actress reveals that at the moment, Colin is "going through chemo" and "is not very well at all." She had her dad his own cabin built at her property to bring him close to her family home where she lives with children Flo, 18, and Marnie, 13.

While she dedicates some of her time to "checking he is all right," which includes "bringing back all of his plates and cups as he only has a kitchenette," she also spends time "hanging out with him."

Tamzin enthuses that, "They say multi-generational living helps people to live longer." Reflecting on what is so good about the set-up for her children, she shares, "What is wonderful is the kids would never have spent so much time with their granddad."

Tamzin lost her mother, Anna Santi, to a sudden heart attack in 2018 at the age of 67. She's been open about the grief she needed to work through after this happened, as well as expressing fears something similar could happen to her.

Earlier this year, when her dad Colin turned 80, Tamzin shared a series of pictures of him to Instagram, sharing joy at her decision to bring him to live in the cabin at her home.

The actress wrote in the caption that she believed living with her and her daughters "has kept him going." She said, "Basically you are still thriving and surviving with a decent amount of joy and fun on a daily basis."

Tamzin added, "We thought we were losing him a few times" while sharing that "having a cabin built in the garden for him to see out his end of life, was one of my better decisions."

She reflected on the times "we kept him safe through covid lockdowns" by having him so close, and how this allowed her children to "chat through windows" and for her to "take him meals."

For the actress, it appears the close relationship her dad has been able to have with his grandchildren is the thing she most values from the setup.

"It has been such a pleasure of mine to watch you and Marnie and Flo form bonds I dreamt about, and I am so proud of all of us for navigating through some difficult times," she penned.

While caring for both children and her dad, Tamzin still makes sure to carve out time for herself.

"The best money I ever spent was a tiny one-person sauna that is in my spare bedroom," she explains, adding that "It’s not flash, but it does the job brilliantly."

She continues, "It’s just a 13-amp plug and doesn’t need a special generator. I have a sauna probably five times a week. I’ll sit in it for anything between 20 and 40 minutes and have a little meditate."

BBC's The Rapture has every element needed for a show that viewers won't be able to stop talking about.

The five-part psychological thriller carefully combines elements of trauma, mental health, the supernatural and a good dollop of climate change, with unmissable results.

Airing on BBC One and iPlayer from July 26, The Rapture is based on Liz Jensen's novel of the same name, and is set during a heatwave - anyone who has been living through the last couple of months in the UK will relate to this instantly, and this is also where the climate change element of the story comes in.

The trauma and supernatural branches come from the unravelling story between psychologist Dr Gabs Fox (Ruth Madeley) and a teenage psychiatric hospital patient called Bethany Krall (India Amarteifio.)

Dr Fox suffers a life-altering car accident that leaves her husband dead, and her paralysed and wheelchair bound. Back at work in a new job and dealing with a lot of anguish, she's assigned the case of 17-year-old inmate Bethany.

Bethany was sectioned for brutally killing her mother, Carys Krall, simply because she'd prophesised the way she'd die before it happened. Her father Leonard Krall (Sam Hazeldine) leads an online spiritual movement/possible cult called Faith Way, and has vast numbers of followers.

Bethany is the intriguing focal point of the story because she can pluck private details of people's lives from nowhere, claiming she has visions of the future. Her named nurse alarmingly insists Bethany’s predictions always come true.

Working with Bethany forces Dr Fox to reassess everything she thinks she knows. Can people really see into the future and can supernatural forces be at work that have zero clinical explanation?

Is the doctor being manipulated by a teenager with a wild imagination and a bit of luck on her side? Did Bethany really kill her mother and did her father's line of 'work' have any involvement?

It's not only the characters who have big questions, it's viewers who will also be left wondering about life and its existential possibilities.

There's not only all of this to look forward to in the show, but the cast is absolutely stellar, bringing the drama - and the questions - together perfectly.

Alongside Ruth Madeley and India Amarteifio at the helm, you'll also find Iwan Rheon (Game of Thrones), Jack Farthing (Industry), Stephen Campbell Moore (Masters of the Air), and Ruth Jones (Gavin & Stacey) among the talented actors showcasing their skills.

Speaking about The Rapture, Ruth Madeley says, "There are so many themes. There’s climate change, there’s mental health issues, there’s disability, there’s general female life."

She continues, "The great thing is that the story is so compelling. It’s a psychological thriller, so there’s a lot going on, and its high stakes all the time. The way these subjects are woven into the world of The Rapture is really beautiful."

Reflecting on the original novel, India Amarteifio shares, "What’s amazing about Liz Jensen’s book is that it was written over a decade ago, but if anything, it’s more relevant now in terms of climate change, how we treat people with mental health needs, and how we also, as a society, ostracise people who need the most help."

"It’s important to talk about that, because it is an actuality of what’s going on. I guess the fact that we get to tackle those issues head on is something I’m proud to be a part of."

The Rapture airs on BBC One and iPlayer from July 26.

From international musicians to Oscar-winning Hollywood stars, Jennifer Lopez’s dating history is not entirely relatable to the average person.

However, JLo proved she still understands what women really want when she revealed what she really finds “sexy” in a man during her performance at the Dolce & Gabbana fashion show in Sicily.

The iconic singer and actress insisted her love really doesn’t cost a thing because, for her, the sexiest thing a partner can do is be thoughtful and helpful, such as “seeing them make the bed in the morning” or “wash the dishes”.

During her performance, JLo told the crowd, “You know what really makes a man attractive? It’s not the watch. It’s not the car. It’s not the private jet. It really isn’t, although that’s nice.

“It’s seeing them make the bed in the morning or wash the dishes for you when you’re tired at night. Now that’s what I call sexy. Because ladies, you know, we do all the things. We do all the things.”

Per reports, Jennifer’s declaration - like her performance - seemed to hit all the right notes as she was met with applause.

So while it’s not known if JLo is dating again after her divorce from Ben Affleck, it would seem that potential suitors now know what they need to do to woo the Hustlers star.

For now, based on recent comments made in interviews, Jennifer is quite content to be by herself, choosing to take away some lessons from her break-ups. She told the Subway Takes YouTube talk show, "I just feel like the biggest growth spurts I've had emotionally, mentally, psychologically have always come from a heartbreak.

“And that's not just in romantic relationships, that's in work heartbreaks, all of it. It's the only time you dig. You’re like, 'What the f*** happened? How do I do this? Why do I keep doing this? Or why didn't that happen? What could I have done better?' You change yourself."

In another recent appearance on Kelly Clarkson’s chat show, Jennifer hinted that she’s in no rush to meet potential husband number 5. When asked what's next for this stage of her life, she replied, "What is my life going to be? Free!"

And her recent social media snaps revealed just what that entails for a superstar like her.

Enjoying quality time with herself and her family, JLo shared snippets of her Dolce & Gabbana trip, including celebrating a joint birthday with her sister, Lynne. Sharing numerous glamorous shots of the pair soaking up la dolce vita, Jennifer wrote, “A double birthday sister trip is always a good idea! I love you Lynnie!”

One of the photos showed Jennifer, in the bath, eating cake with her sister who is sitting on the bathroom floor. Freedom certainly looks good!

Fern Britton has recently opened up about the "brutal" nature of her four children leaving home and the empty nest they left behind.

Now, she's offered a look at the most memorable good and bad times throughout her life during a candid interview, and shared the "worst" moment from being married.

The 68-year-old was married to TV executive Clive Jones from 1988-1998. She later married celebrity chef Phil Vickery after meeting on the set of Ready Steady Cook - the couple married in 2000 before announcing their separation in 2020.

The statement announcing their split read: "After more than 20 happy years together, Phil and I have decided to go our separate ways. We will always share a great friendship and our lovely children."

Fern shares twin sons Jack and Harry, 31, and daughter Grace, 28, with Clive Jones, and daughter Winnie, 23, with Phil Vickery.

However, it appears some of of the memorable bad days from her time being married loom large for the presenter. When asked by The Telegraph to reveal the "worst" thing about marriage, her response is quite visceral.

"That moment when you hear the key in the lock and your heart sinks because things haven’t been going well," she says, adding that she'd hear the key and wonder, "What’s the mood? What’s the temperature?"

Although she doesn't state which marriage she's referring to, the presenter says she'd be left with a feeling of "here we go again" when her husband came home.

Speaking to Yours about her marriage breakdown recently, Fern shares, "There comes a point when the children are substantially off your hands and you look at each other and wonder where you’re going to go from here."

She continues, "We didn’t hit a brick wall. It’s just that we both said out loud what we were feeling – and that was it," as she sadly reveals the couple haven't spoken in "six years" after Phil "stopped talking" to the presenter after her mother died.

Fern is now happily single and living in Cornwall. "I’m not even looking. Nor is there a queue of suitors at the door, which I find liberating," she says.

Speaking about what she loves most about living in the county, Fern shares, "Being there, the whole experience. I just love it."

"It’s the first thing I think of when I wake up in the morning. I can hear the sea on a quiet day. There’s nothing to beat the smell of spring, the hedgerows full of cow parsley and pink campion."

"I was running up the lane the other day and I saw a Jenny wren, so beautiful, so tiny, singing in a tree and then following me as I continued to run."

Sophie Raworth has had a difficult few years, dealing with the death of her father, and also of her dear friend George Alagiah.

Around the time her dad's health deteriorated, the presenter's mother was diagnosed with bowel cancer and normal pressure hydrocephalus.

Sophie spoke very candidly about grief, loss and watching her mother become so unwell, during a recent interview with Saga magazine.

The presenter had worked with George Alagiah when they hosted the BBC's Six O' Clock News together, and she named her daughter Georgia after him. He died from bowel cancer in 2023 at the age of 67.

"George had so much chemotherapy," Sophie explains, adding, "the side effects were awful, but he never complained."

She later had to announce his death on the news, and "dug my nails into my palms really hard" while delivering information, because "it was the only way to get through it without breaking down."

Her father Richard passed away last year aged 67, after suffering from Parkinson's disease.

Days later she was fronting the BBC's coverage of the VE Day celebrations, and unsurprisingly felt "in a complete daze."

"It didn't seem real," she shares, but does say having a job to do helped, offering something "to focus on."

Under even more devastating circumstances, at the time George died and her father's condition began to deteriorate, the presenter's mother, Jenny received her devastating diagnosis.

Normal pressure hydrocephalus is a rare brain disorder, with Sophie explaining, "Your spinal fluid doesn't drain, and presses on your brain."

Sadly, the condition also affect movement, and Sophie shares, "Mum can't move. She's in a wheelchair which is really hard because she was always so active."

Jenny now has live-in carers, and Sophie visits "at least once a week."

The presenter, also famous for her love of running and keeping fit, reveals she copes with difficult feelings brought about by grief and loss by just going out "to run and run."

"Running is so simple," she explains, adding, "one foot in front of the other, but it gives you such a sense of progression and purpose."

She continues, "My mind clears, you zone out, even though you're physically working hard. It's such a peaceful place to be."

The 58-year-old didn't actually start running until she was 38. She previously told us at woman&home more about the mental benefits of running.

"A lot of the time I run on alone. It is an escape," she says, continuing, "I’ve got a busy job with people talking in my ear while I am on air. When I’m running, it’s quiet, and I really value that."

The presenter shares, “Running has made me more resilient, like I can cope with anything."

Granite Harbour is back for a third series, and this one is set to be the most "intriguing" and "emotional" so far, as the cast urge viewers to "not trust anyone" when they tune in.

Showcasing phenomenal Scottish talent and equally incredible filming locations in the country, the latest three episodes are definitely worth your time when they air on BBC One from July 24 at 8pm.

This time, the Major Investigations Team are drawn into a complex murder investigation when teenager Lisa Sterling (Jess Douglas-Welsh) disappears into the woods of a prestigious estate owned by Richard Loughty (Alastair Mackenzie).

The young woman had been at a birthday party for the matriarch of a local traveller community when she disappears, and Lisa's body is later found at the bottom of a ravine.

Of course, there are bumps in the road during the investigation, and the mystery of Lisa's death becomes much darker than viewers would ever expect.

Describing the series as "Intriguing, emotional and heartfelt," John Gordon Sinclair (Chief Constable Alan Willis) is one of the "legendary" actors joining the show for series 3.

Speaking of his character, a wealthy estate owner, fellow newcomer Alastair Mackenzie (Richard Loughty) says, "Cracks begin to appear in this charming veneer of his when sketchy things start happening on his estate and things go from bad to worse for him."

He warns viewers, "Maybe there’s more to him than meets the eye…. Don't trust anyone."

Where is Granite Harbour filmed?

Many viewers like to know where their favourite TV shows are filmed, and the cast of Granite Harbour are delighted to be showcasing the Scottish landscape, and even reveal their favourite spots in the country.

Granite Harbour is filmed in Aberdeenshire, particularly in well known locations such as Castlegate in the Aberdeen's centre, and Broad Street in the city, one of the city's oldest medieval thoroughfares.

Other iconic locations can be seen in the series, including Marischal Square, North Silver Street and Provost Skene’s House.

For Romario Simpson (DC Davis Lindo,) his favourite part of Aberdeen is "the esplanade along the coast." He says, "You can drive alongside it and take in the coastline. It's a beautiful part of the city."

For Hannah Donaldson (DS Lara ‘Bart’ Bartlett), she is enamoured with "Footdee (aka Fittie)," saying, "We have to keep making shows about Scotland and the people who live here. I can’t tell anyone else’s stories better than my own."

"It’s something I feel very strongly about. We have a wealth of talent here that should be given the platform to tell our stories and share them to the wider world. Isn’t that what art is all about?"

Granite Harbour airs on BBC Scotland on Thursday 23 July at 9pm, followed by BBC One on Friday 24 July at 8pm. All episodes will be available to stream on BBC iPlayer from 23 July.

Call The Midwife star Helen George has had a challenging romantic life since splitting from her husband Jack Ashton, but usually remains private about her love life.

The actress met Jack during filming for the Call The Midwife Christmas special and they began dating in 2016. Their daughters Wren and Lark were born during their time together, and the couple announced their separation in 2023.

In 2025 Helen began dating an unnamed man, who sadly died of leukaemia shortly after they got together.

She later met businessman Dan Innes, and the couple moved in together earlier this year. However, after hinting at difficulties in the relationship on Instagram, Helen has now divulged further insight into her feelings about the split, confirming it in the process.

During the Mystic Mates podcast she hosts with friend Yvette Robinson, Helen opened the latest episode by saying, "I was having a really rubbish day yesterday, it's been a week."

Yvette shares that between the friends there's been "tears, and voice notes with lots of tears," with Helen confirming, "It's been pretty s**t and yesterday was a hard day."

With their podcast being concerned with tarot, astrology and spirituality, Yvette later gives Helen a card reading - and the results are not what the star had hoped for.

One of the cards indicated "negativity," with Yvette's interpretation confirming, "There have been good things with your love life, but it's been challenging."

Another card represents Helen "walking away from something challenging, away from the life that you had, into the unknown." Yvette also believed there would be "challenges ahead" in Helen's romantic life.

"Don't you think I've had enough challenges?" Helen asks, adding sadly, "I've had enough."

Helen later says with sarcasm, "I feel really revived to know I'm facing further challenges, so thank you so much."

Shortly after her breakup with Dan, Helen posted some quotes to Instagram that alluded to what went wrong in the relationship.

One quote read: "I absolutely take responsibility for when I am wrong. But I will never apologise for responding to disrespect. If you lit the match, do not stand in the flames pretending to be the victim."

The actress also reveals during her podcast that the man she was dating who passed away, sometimes gives her messages through clairvoyants and appeared "unhappy" about her romance with Dan.

"I went to this clairvoyant last week and she said, 'This is your ex-boyfriend, and he died very suddenly after you started dating him. He's come into the room because he's not very happy about your situation,'" she explains.

She continues, "It was wonderful to think this person, whom I didn't really know for that long, was there," concluding, "He was angry that he'd left me looking for someone else and then finding someone else who wasn't suitable."

Daytime television across both BBC One and ITV will look different this summer, with Rachel Burden making a permanent exit from BBC Breakfast, and both Lorraine and Loose Women on hiatus until September as part of ITV's cost cutting measures.

Good Morning Britain will also take on a new look for some time as Susanna Reid has announced she'll be taking a break from hosting duties.

The presenter was supported by viewers and colleagues, including Kate Garraway, as she made the announcement on social media.

Sharing a picture of herself on the Good Morning Britain sofa wearing the red floral dress she wore for her final show before the summer, paired with some comfortable slippers, Susanna wrote on Instagram:

"SHOES OFF, OUT OF OFFICE ON! Time for my summer break - but also time to say goodbye to our wonderful Director Stuart Earl, who has been the champion of this programme for a decade. Thank you for everything Stuart."

The presenter continued to say that she and Ed Balls "Will be back September 1st after our travels," while adding, "THANK YOU to our amazing viewers for watching and for contacting us and sharing your views."

Susanna concluded her post in a very tongue-in-cheek way by saying, "Never a 'waste of time being on this brilliant programme, and thanks to everyone on Team Good Morning Britain."

It's thought the "never a waste of time" reference is a nod to the time Reform MP Robert Jenrick appeared on the show recently to be interviewed by Ed and Susanna.

In an awkward aside, the Reform MP could be heard saying, “Well that was a waste of time” after his interview with the hosts.

As the Reform UK treasury spokesperson logged off the call with the presenters and they began their their next segment, it became clear he hadn't fully disconnected his microphone as he's clearly heard saying, "Well that was a waste of time."

Addressing the moment live on air, Ed Balls says, "Oh dear," before disagreeing with the MP to suggest he didn't think the interview was a waste of time, and it was "good that he came on the programme."

With Susanna now of for her summer adventures, Kate Garraway jumped into the comments to say, "We’ll miss you both Susanna and Ed, and Stuart - we’ll miss you so much - good luck with your next adventure!"

One fan wrote, "Enjoy your time off Susanna, have a few lie ins, and perhaps catch up on some new reading material, which you might like to share and recommend. We'll miss you, always the voice of reason for me."

Another shared their thoughts, writing, "Great show today you deserve to relax and kickback. You looked very happy and relaxed today, stay well."

Diane Morgan is one of the country's current queens of comedy. Her brilliant turns in shows like Motherland, Mandy and Last One Laughing reveal just how great she is at comic writing, acting and improv.

Currently riding high on our screens as humanoid robot Linda in the delightful Ann Droid, only Diane could mastermind something that perfectly satirises the state of the nation and the AI takeover, while touchingly covering themes like grief and loneliness.

However, it's a good thing that Diane got a break into the industry she's so successful in, because a stint working in a dentist's before she made it big nearly ended in disaster.

Appearing on BBC Radio 2 to chat to host Rylan Clark (who makes a brilliant cameo in Ann Droid,) Diane recalls the hilarious true story that leaves Rylan incredulous.

Rylan reveals, "Diane accidentally knocked out a patient's front tooth while working as a dental assistant."

Not believing this, he asks her to clarify. Diane responds with, "All right, yea, I knocked someone's tooth out," with her typical deadpan demeanour.

"Why did you knock someone's tooth out?" Rylan asks, horrified and his voice rising in octaves.

Diane explains that she was "daydreaming through the window" at the time of the incident, holding the aspirator - the device to suction out debris from the patient's mouth during procedures - in her hand.

Realising the dentist had been calling her name to get her attention, the actress shares that she "came to" from her daydream and "shoved" the aspirator into the patient's mouth "with such force, that I knocked the cap off their front tooth."

With his hands covering his mouth in disbelief, Rylan needs to know what happens next.

"It was lying in the middle of their tongue," Diane replies, fairly nonchalantly. She continues, "The dentist looked at me like, 'That's not good, you're fired.'"

Incredibly, Diane wasn't actually fired. The story ends with the dentist "gluing it back on," and "everything was fine."

Knowing that being a dental assistant definitely wasn't for her, and acting definitely was, Diane revealed more about getting her break into industry during a recent interview with The Independent.

Struggling to find work after leaving Essex’s East 15 acting school, fellow actress Maxine Peake encouraged Diane to get in touch with Peter Kay to see if he'd help her get a foot in the door.

She wrote to him to say, "I love what you do. If you ever make anything else, I’m happy to do anything. I’ll make the sandwiches, hold the coats."

He remembered, and gave her a small role in Phoenix Nights, playing background character Dawn. "He gave me this little part and I was so grateful. I’ll never forget that. That was really nice of him," she recalls.

For the next 10 years, Diane balanced picking up other small acting roles with regular jobs to pay the bills. Reading like an episode list from her hit show Mandy, these included packing worming tablets, selling Avon and peeling potatoes at a chip shop.

During this time, the infamous incident at the dentist's occurred while she took a job there as an assistant.

The actress believes her working class roots stopped her getting some of the acting roles she definitely could've nailed.

"I think if I was middle-class and I’d been to Cambridge, people would have had more confidence in what I was doing," she says.

Diane concludes, "I certainly don’t think I’ve been given opportunities because I’m working-class. I’ve proved myself."