Entertainment industry insiders have reacted with dismay to a job advert for a "Head of Generative AI Innovation" to spearhead the use of the tech for "ideation" and "character development" for ITV shows.

The ad, posted on LinkedIn last week, has reignited concern over the role that artificial intelligence is increasingly playing in television and film production.

'Depressing and unethical'

The vacancy, which is no longer open for applications, offers a salary of between £80,000 and £95,000 for an AI expert who could act as an "innovative and visionary leader" for the TV channel.

Speaking to Broadcast, comedy writer Lisa McGee, creator of "Derry Girls", said that the role was "incredibly depressing" and "unethical", while Jack Rooke, the creator of "Big Boys", said that ITV was "neglecting to realise their most successful scripted projects have always been born out of real life human experience".

The development shows that AI "could be a game-changer for TV and film", said Gareth Roberts in The Spectator, and "not the good kind" for workers in the industry. Why hire writers, actors, directors and producers "at huge expense", or "in fact, why hire anybody", when "you can just press send on a prompt" and "get a new show or film tailored to your needs"?

'Textual turkey dinosaurs'

Has that prospect already arrived? This summer saw the release of the first-ever movie with an AI-generated script. Fittingly titled "The Last Screenwriter", every line had been "dreamt up" by an AI chatbot, which wrote the entire screenplay based on a 17-word prompt.

The industry was "terrified" by this milestone, said The Telegraph's film critic, Robbie Collin. And fans were equally outraged: plans to screen the film at London's Prince Charles Cinema were cancelled after the venue was bombarded with complaints.

There were also charges of plagiarism. AI "ingests vast quantities of (human) writing, which it then mulches down and reshapes, like textual turkey dinosaurs, to satisfy the instructions keyed in by its users". In a way, then, "everything" AI produces is "stolen".

Last year, Hollywood writers "scored a major victory" in the battle over artificial intelligence when they agreed a new contract featuring "strong guardrails" over how the technology can be used in film and television projects, said The Guardian.

A sticking point in one of the longest labour disputes in Hollywood history was the danger that "unchecked" AI could pit "artists against robots in a battle over human creativity". The deal, which aims to ensure that new technology stays in the control of workers rather than being used by their bosses to replace them, meant some writers are "breathing easier – for now".

'Galumphing rate' of progress

Many in the industry remain nervous over what the future holds. Responding to the row over its recent job ad, ITV said that "while nothing can replace the human creativity of our teams", the channel is "exploring how GenAI can help our staff to work more efficiently and creatively".

With the "galumphing rate" of progress in AI, said Roberts, it "surely won't be too long" before the viewer can "press send on a prompt and get the show they want in their inbox", which would be "kaboom for the entertainment industry".

So if the TV industry is "serious about survival", it must "start crafting better shows before the machines do".

Phillip Schofield has returned to the small screen for what will either be the "first seeds of a television comeback" or the "incontrovertible death knell of his career", said Stuart Heritage in The Guardian. "Honestly, at this point it's hard to tell which way it's going to go."

It's been one year and three months since the "This Morning" presenter was sacked by ITV, following the highly publicised scandal of his extramarital affair with a much younger showrunner. Now, he's back on television – this time marooned alone on a remote island off Madagascar for 10 days in a three-part Channel 5 special, "Phillip Schofield: Cast Away".

For the broadcaster, it's a move that makes sense, said Louis Chilton in The Independent. Driven into "irrelevance" for its "all-tat programming", Channel 5 seized on the chance to use the presenter's "sullied name to curry more discussion and media coverage than it's seen in months". More "baffling", though, is Schofield's goal: is he attempting to "revive" his career, or is the show simply a chance for an "airing of grievances"?

'Main character syndrome'

Whatever your opinion of Schofield, said Heritage in The Guardian, you have to "grudgingly admit" that some parts of the show are "pretty entertaining". His decades-long television career has given him ample time to hone an engaging screen presence, and the scenes where he's "fending for himself" work "tremendously well". "Frank and funny and self-effacing about his lack of survival instinct", it begins to feel "almost like nothing ever happened".

But the man "cannot help himself". Schofield is "incredibly bitter"; before he even leaves his house he is "darkly muttering" about how he would never appear on "I'm A Celebrity", "because there are just some channels, some people you won't work for", and even a family meal filmed at his home "coagulates into something nasty" as he snidely asks his daughter "Are you OK?" in a nod to Holly Willoughby's widely mocked "This Morning" speech.

Schofield's "self-absorption is exhausting and makes for wearying entertainment", added Ed Power in The Irish Times. He seems to be suffering from a "chronic case of main character syndrome"; instead of letting things go and taking the chance to "find peace" on the remote island, he continues to "stew with resentment".

It's clear the presenter is back to "settle some scores", said Anita Singh in The Telegraph. He's using "Castaway" as a "f*ck you" to ITV, his "former-best-friend-turned-moral-enemy" Willoughby, and anyone who he thinks hasn't treated him with sympathy he deserves. Following a 16-month hiatus, he has "decided to blame his downfall on homophobia rather than his deceit", and when addressing his affair won't go beyond calling it "unwise" – a term that feels as if it's been carefully scripted by his lawyers.

What isn't included, said Vicky Jessop in the London Evening Standard, at least in the episodes that have aired so far, is the "power imbalance" in the relationship with his young colleague and the more "toxic elements" of the story, like the "bullying culture" at "This Morning".

'The performance of a lifetime'

While he discusses the fallout from the scandal in detail, he skims over the "particulars of his behaviour", added Chilton in The Independent. Scenes filmed with his family feel like a "PR exercise" attempting to reposition him as a "benevolent victim of a cruel and pernicious hate campaign", and the inclusion of his reflections on coming close to suicide "feel rather calculated".

It's a "compelling" watch, said Anita Singh in The Telegraph, but "not for the reasons Schofield had hoped". "Castaway" is a "revealing study" of an "entitled TV star" struggling to come to terms with his life without the "adulation and stardom" he had become accustomed to.

There's a chance that the presenter's "very modern form of public therapy" could pay off in the "chaotic ecosystem" of TV, public opinion and social media, said Mark Borkowski in The Guardian. The show has been expertly weaved together to "propel Schofield into a redemption arc" – something the public, despite our "harsh, judgemental culture", enjoys. To have any hope of repairing his "battered" career, he must "put in the performance of a lifetime".

The timing of the show, shortly after Huw Edwards pleaded guilty to making indecent images of children, could "work in Schofield's favour, and afford a bit of perspective", added Carol Midgley in The Times. "Revenge is a dish best served cold, they say. Let's see if it also works when served under a hot Madagascan sun."

"Celebrity Big Brother" has hit the headlines after the Princess of Wales's uncle, Gary Goldsmith, accused the Duchess of Sussex of "creating drama" between the royals.

Goldsmith said Meghan Markle had put a "stick in the spokes" of a previously "really comfortable" relationship between the trio, reported Sky News.

Goldsmith's presence in the house is expected to draw extra attention to the new series, but that has not saved it from a string of savage reviews. This is the first "Celebrity Big Brother" for six years, wrote Claudia Connell in the Daily Mail, "and, boy, was it not worth the wait".

'Reality trash'

Goldsmith announced himself "with a wink, tongue sticking out of the side of his mouth", and "eyes in wide 'here comes the entertainment' mode", wrote Shane Watson in The Times. But "beady-eyed viewers" spotted that "his flies were undone".

"Most families have an embarrassing relative", wrote Michael Hogan in The Telegraph, but "mercifully few of them opt to flaunt their eccentricities" on primetime television. "Look away now, Middletons", for "this was reality trash by royal appointment", said Hogan, who wondered if eviction votes would come "flooding in from the Windsor area".

But it is not only Goldsmith who has attracted disdain. The show has a "mostly pitiful line-up", said Connell at the Mail, and to put them together, "Google must have taken one hell of a beating". Only the broadcaster Fern Britton, "looking like she'd rather be anywhere else", managed to "save the day and restore the good name of 'celebrity'".

Louis Walsh and Sharon Osbourne have been enlisted to "judge" the other "CBB" housemates, "watching them from a separate boudoir", said Sean O'Grady in The Independent. They are also "secret housemate spies" – as on the BBC hit game show "The Traitors". Or "something like that – disgracefully it's not thought through".

Noting its move from Channel 4 to ITV, O'Grady feared it would be an "unsuccessful organ transplant, rejected by both host and audience".

'Definitely fun'

Praise for the new series is celebrity-slim on the ground, though Daisy Jones in The Guardian conceded that "it does have promise" and "it's definitely fun to see a slightly less careful, less formulaic TV offering that harks back to a pre-streaming era".

But she recalled that, while in its heyday, a "CBB" launch could draw seven million viewers, now "there isn't that same almost manic atmosphere that can come from celebs desperate for their second shot of golden juice". So, it "feels like the beginning of the end for TV's most ridiculous reality show".

"Though it is still early days, there is something about the launch that lacks the raucous magic of its predecessor," she said. "This isn't watercooler telly in the way it once was."

The "cultural bin fire" and "temple of vacuousness" normally "thrives on conflict, bitching and melodrama", said Carol Midgley in The Times. This time, "despite being spruced up", it "felt tired and flat".

ITV's new Covid drama "Breathtaking" is "breathtakingly good". 

That was Carol Midgley's assessment in The Times. She said "it's the best I have seen" from the lead actor, Joanne Froggatt, because "her performance as the consultant Abbey Henderson was more powerful for being restrained".

This is a "tour de force, exposing political complacency and reminding us how, despite all the clapping, NHS staff, many of whom died in the line of duty, are still taken for granted".

'Unparalleled attention to detail'

"Rarely does television feel so visceral," said Rachael Sigee on the i news site. "The attention to detail is unparalleled," she added, "from the scuffs on the walls to the red imprints of mask outlines on faces", and "that authenticity carries into the performances".

Sigee added a "big caveat", though. "It might be essential viewing but it is equally essential to do so with care. It may make you want to scream, but it's more likely you will watch in stunned silence."

As a polemic it is "powerful", said Anita Singh in The Daily Telegraph. But it does at points become "so caught up in the fierceness of its message that it forgets the basics of hooking an audience".

Lucy Mangan, in The Guardian, had a similar take. "By the end, despite great performances from the whole cast, Breathtaking feels more like a cathartic rush for the writers, rather than something that deepens our understanding of what doctors and patients – and to some extent what we all – went through."

'Sad and authentic'

Ultimately, though, it is a "deeply sad and often triggering drama", said Sean O'Grady in The Independent. It is also a "highly authentic" one, based as it is on the book by Dr Rachel Clarke, who worked in hospitals during the pandemic.

"Without lapsing into heavy-handed propagandising, the drama has the voice of Boris Johnson in 'Mayor in Jaws' mode floating above the traumatic scenes, with the juxtaposition between lazy spin about 'sending the coronavirus packing', and the "frantic reality of people basically drowning, adding to the tragedy."

A former subpostmaster who spent decades fighting for justice for colleagues devastated by the Post Office scandal is being urged to refuse a knighthood.

Alan Bates led a 20-year campaign on behalf of Post Office workers, after more than 700 subpostmasters and mistresses were prosecuted and convicted of theft or fraud based on information from faulty Horizon software.

His story has recently become well known following the release earlier this month of ITV drama "Mr Bates vs. The Post Office".

Honour for Bates 'common sense'

Bates initially refused to accept an OBE while former Post Office boss Paula Vennells held a CBE given to her in 2019. He argued that accepting the honour would be a "slap in the face" to the victims, many of whom were not only prosecuted but faced financial ruin, lost their homes, or were shunned by their local communities.

But after Vennells relinquished her honour last week amid huge public pressure, Bates told The Times: "I would wait until I was offered, if anyone chooses to offer me one, then come back and ask me."

And the offer could come "sooner than expected", according to the paper. After a mass quashing of convictions was announced last week by the government, Downing Street said it would be "common sense" to honour Bates. 

More than 125,000 people have signed a petition, led by the Daily Mirror, demanding that he be honoured with a CBE or even a knighthood for his role in exposing the Horizon scandal. 

Labour has also backed the calls, with a spokesperson for Keir Starmer telling the paper that Bates has "clearly emerged as a hero" for his role leading the campaign.

"Obviously, honours have their own independent process, but I'm sure that is something the public would regard as entirely appropriate and we would support," the spokesperson said.

'British heroes receiving crumbs from a tainted table'

"Please don't accept it, Mr Bates," pleaded Matthew Syed in The Sunday Times. "Just say no." 

If members of the honours committee "come knocking" with a CBE or even a knighthood, Syed continued, tell them to "shove it". After all, "it is the honours system, and the wider cancer of patronage and privilege, that provides the essential backdrop to this very British scandal".

What "shines through" in the ITV drama is that this scandal is "what happens when you have one set of rules for insiders – the ministers, the quangocracy, the executives of giant corporations – and a different set of rules for those who are euphemistically called 'ordinary people'".

Bates represents the "antithesis of the complacency" of the so-called establishment,  argued Syed. He is "a counterpoint to the spider's web of access and impunity that distorts so much of our society", which is "why a knighthood would jar with those of us who see this scandal not merely as spotlighting a grievous injustice but as a chance to cut out this cancer once and for all".

Many defenders of the UK system of honours argue that it is valuable "because of the hundreds of unsung heroes and heroines who receive recognition", said Sky News's Adam Boulton. But the truth is that these unsung heroes "tend to get the lower honours" while the top awards, such as CBEs and peerages, "go to the already powerful". Britain's heroes are therefore "receiving crumbs from a tainted table".

Bates "deserves all the respect and praise we can give him", not least for his "decency and his honourable determination to clear the name of so many and obtain compensation for them". But "my advice to the people's hero, however, is do not 'Arise Sir Alan'".

Cary Grant starred in some of cinema's "most cherished, enduring classics", from "The Philadelphia Story" to "North by Northwest", said Dan Einav in the FT. "Yet Cary Grant was, in a sense, merely a part" played by Archibald Leach: an anxious, unhappy man who'd created his debonair persona "as a means of escaping from himself". As the actor famously said: "Everyone wants to be Cary Grant. Even I want to be Cary Grant." 

"Archie", ITVX's new four-part drama, explains how the boy born into extreme poverty in Bristol, to a depressive mother and a cruel and feckless father, transformed himself into one of Hollywood's biggest and best-loved stars. 

Jason Isaacs was given lashings of fake tan and facial prosthetics to play Grant, said Carol Midgley in The Times. He captures his "strange mid-Atlantic voice" very well, but it was always going to be a tough job: "a performance of a performance of a performance". We see Isaac's Grant mainly in the early 1960s, when he is courting and then married to Dyan Cannon, and in 1986, when he is looking back on his life.  

The best scenes, said Anita Singh in The Daily Telegraph, are those in which he returns to Bristol to visit the mother (beautifully played by Harriet Walter) he thought had died decades earlier. It would have been interesting to explore this complicated relationship further. Instead, the drama is mostly set in sunny California. Alas, the Hollywood of that era is not recreated all that convincingly, which lends the mini-series a feeling of "cheap artifice". 

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Holly Willoughby has announced she will not return to present "This Morning" after a tumultuous year. 

The 42-year-old, who presented ITV's flagship mid-morning programme for 14 years, said leaving the show would be a "difficult goodbye" but she needed to take the decision for "me and my family".

The background 

The decision comes a week after an Essex man was charged with plotting to kidnap and murder Willoughby. But her exit from the show also stems from "a difficult several months" including being "bruised" by the scandal that engulfed her long-time co-presenter Phillip Schofield and forced him to leave the show in May, said Ed Power in The Telegraph.

While her departure in search of a fresh start" is "entirely understandable", he added, "This Morning" is on the "back foot" following the recent controversy and it will need to be "rebuilt from the ground up" having made for "increasingly tense viewing" this year.

A source told The Times that the kidnapping plot was the "straw that broke the camel's back", and the decision to quit ultimately "was a result of the row at the show this year". 

A "television staple" for years, Willoughby's long-running presenting partnership with Schofield came to an abrupt end after his "sudden fall from grace", said The Independent. The pair were rumoured to have a strained relationship in May 2023, but their time together on "This Morning" came to an immediate end when Schofield was forced to quit having admitted to lying about having an affair with a younger male colleague at ITV. Willoughby said it had been "very hurtful" to be lied to when she had asked Schofield about the rumours.

Schofield's relationship has prompted an "external investigation into the facts" with "allegations of harassment, bullying and discrimination more widely within the show" being considered, said The Times.

The latest

Willoughby had not been on air since she pulled out of the show last Thursday when shopping centre security guard Gavin Plumb was arrested for conspiring with a person in the US to travel to the UK and help carry out the presenter's kidnap and murder.

After producers at "This Morning" were made aware of the arrest on Thursday, Willoughby pulled out "shortly before she was due to go on air", said Sky News, and has since been at home with "round-the-clock security and support" provided by the police and ITV.

Willoughby's departure from "This Morning" also raises questions on "whether ITV would call time on the programme" and if it can "survive" the exit of its two long-standing presenters, the paper added. The show has recently "averaged about 600,000 viewers" which is down from "more than one million in its prime", but an ITV daytime executive "dismissed the suggestion" that "This Morning" would end, telling The Times that "the team will ride it out".

The reaction

Willoughby's exit from "This Morning" was "inevitable and necessary" said Power in The Telegraph. Though she has been "protective of her privacy" during her career, the kidnapping plot has shown that "fame has become more toxic than ever" and has "increasingly dangerous real-world consequences".

Her colleagues at ITV have "rallied behind her in the wake of her shock exit", said the Daily Mail, while Schofield reportedly "broke the ice" and contacted Willoughby for the first time since his departure after being "horrified" by the allegations about the kidnap plot.

Whether or not Willoughby will return to television as a presenter remains unclear, though an ITV statement said the broadcaster looked forward to working with her "in the future". There's a chance she could keep a "low profile in the short term", added Power, but it is "unlikely she will leave TV altogether". She is still the presenter of ITV's "Dancing on Ice", which is scheduled to return in 2024.

For ITV, it could be an "opportune moment" to refresh the format of "This Morning", which, having been on air since 1988, could do with "a refresh", said the BBC. The "brand and name recognition" for the show is "extremely high", but even without Willoughby, rescuing the show "is still perfectly possible" even if ITV will “now have to rethink its strategy".

“As most of us are unlikely to be invited on holiday with Joanna Lumley any time soon, let us enjoy the next best thing,” said Anita Singh in The Daily Telegraph: an ITV series in which she travels through Indonesia, Madagascar, India, Jordan and Zanzibar, tracing the history of the spice trade.

“Celebrity travelogues are the scourge of television, but I will always make an exception for Lumley”, whose enthusiasm and manners never flag. “Look at this, a dear little cabin with my own kettle,” she beams aboard an unlovely ferry from an Indonesian port.

The bathroom, she adds, has “one of those nice buckets where you wash your bottom with a pipe”. Most stars would recoil in horror, but Lumley sighs contentedly: “Couldn’t be better.” She has “reasons to be cheerful”, of course – she’s on an all-expenses-paid trip – but her approach to her televised travels feels refreshingly “uncynical”.

Lumley floats around looking lovely in linen, smiles charmingly and says “golly” a lot, said Ben Dowell in The Times. All this makes for very “soothing television”, but you do find yourself wondering if there could be a bit more insight.

Lumley is nothing if not game, said Lucy Mangan in The Guardian, and the producers are clearly aware that there is something a bit tricky about a “posh, white lady born in India under the Raj” presenting a tour of Britain’s former colonies: the historical controversies are alluded to. But the overall effect is still uneasy. Perhaps this kind of travelogue has just had its day.

Where to watch: ITVX

A series of controversies in recent months has led to popular presenter Phillip Schofield calling time on his daytime television post at “This Morning”.

Schofield, who has had a career of over 40 years in the entertainment business, started as a tea boy and worked his way up to become a regular fixture recognised by millions of people across the UK and beyond.

The latest developments, including a falling out with co-host Holly Willoughby, represents a “fall from grace” for the “King of TV”, said the Mirror ​​​​​​.

Who is Phillip Schofield?

Schofield was born in Oldham on April Fool’s Day 1962, and grew up in Newquay, Cornwall with his parents and brother.

From a young age, Schofield was keen to secure his big break in the business, and according to the Daily Mail, a former neighbour spoke of him being “obsessed” with working for the BBC, writing to the corporation from the age of ten to secure a role “no matter how menial”.

He acheived his goal when he became a bookings clerk for the BBC at the age of 17 in 1979.

While his BBC dreams were cut short at the age of 19 when his parents emigrated to New Zealand, Schofield’s experience soon had him fronting a new pop show on the TVNZ network. He later tweeted he owed the country “a lot” for his experiences there.

But the fresh-faced host was soon back in the UK, returning as a children’s presenter for the BBC. He became a familiar face on Saturday morning television alongside the puppet Gordon the Gopher, and later presented “Going Live!” until 1993.

Schofield also made a foray into theatre, starring in the leading role in “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat” in the West End, as well as in “Doctor Dolittle” in the 1990s.

Making the switch to prime-time television, he then presented a host of programmes for ITV, before arriving at “This Morning” in 2002, marking the start of a two-decade stint on the show.

‘Queue-gate’ and other controversies

Described in 1992 as the “hottest star in Britain today” by the then showbiz journalist Piers Morgan, Schofield used “This Morning” to cement his place as a household name.

However, circumstances recently began to sour for the well-loved presenter, after a series of damaging stories that eventually made his position untenable.

The BBC’s Steven McIntosh said “the wheels began to come off” for Schofield back in September 2022, when he visited the late Queen’s lying-in-state alongside co-host Holly Willoughby, in what soon became known as “queue-gate”.

While the presenters had been granted press access alongside other journalists, their actions were widely interpreted as skipping the queue, as others had waited for up to 20 hours to pay their respects. Schofield suggested the pair had been “unfairly targeted”, the Express reported, but the damage to his reputation had already been done.

For years, Schofield and Willoughby were a “shiny picture of camaraderie”, The Times said, but this appeared to mark the first signs of a shift in their relationship.

In the last few weeks, newspapers reported an apparent behind-the-scenes feud between the pair, with viewers noticing a change in presenting style from the once-popular duo.

The tension appears to have been brought to a head by Schofield’s brother being found guilty in April of sexually abusing a boy. The Guardian cited reports that suggested Willoughby was “blindsided” by the trial, and the BBC added that the issue put “additional strain on an already fragile relationship”.

It appears ITV then decided the situation could not continue and Schofield released a statement via social media, stating he had agreed to step down from “This Morning” “with immediate effect”.

An uncertain future

Upon his departure, ITV thanked the presenter, with managing director Kevin Lygo describing him as “one of the best broadcasters of his generation”. It was also confirmed that Schofield is set to front a “brand new peak time series” in the future.

But beleaguered by controversy, some critics are unsure of a clear path forward for Schofield. Writing in the Daily Mail, Tory MP Nadine Dorries criticised the decision to allow him to present the British Soap Awards next month, and said: “Why does the channel think that’s a good look – or even what the British public wants?”

The i news site also reported that ITV insiders fear a “public backlash” when the presenter makes a “high risk” return to present the awards ceremony in June. The newspaper also understands that Schofield will continue to appear on “Dancing on Ice”.

Speculation is rife that the relationship between “This Morning” darlings Philip Schofield and Holly Willoughby is on the rocks, with rumours of behind-the-scenes tension.

The “golden couple of daytime TV” are having a “relationship crisis”, said Anita Singh, arts and entertainment editor of The Telegraph. “This is the duo who have spent the past decade-and-a-half describing each other as ‘best friends’ in gushing social media posts,” said Singh, “who holidayed together each year; and whose giggly on-screen chemistry was for so long a hit with audiences, especially when they partied so hard after winning a National Television Award that they rolled up to work the following morning without having gone to bed.”

But now there are rumours that Schofield is “on his way out” of the show, “ending a 14-year partnership that once looked unbreakable”.

‘Sickly sweet and then sour’

Three recent events “probably explain the ‘strains’ in their relationship”, wrote Andrew Billen for The Times.

The first was when Schofield came out as gay in 2020. “There were suggestions”, said Billen, that the host’s announcement was “less voluntary than he was letting on” and viewers were “surely entitled to wonder whether he had been entirely upfront with them”.

Then, last year, the press accused Schofield and Willoughby of “leap-frogging the queue for the Queen’s coffin”, bringing Willoughby her first taste of bad publicity, and, last month, Schofield’s brother Tim was convicted of sexual offences against children. Willoughby was reportedly angry she had not been warned of it.

A report in The Sun that Schofield has hired a lawyer and a PR expert did little to dampen the gossip.

Now it is Schofield’s “This Morning” career that “is lying in state on a catafalque and the queue to view it currently runs to 10 miles”, said The Guardian’s Marina Hyde. Viewers of Monday’s programme claimed they could feel the tension, although “these daytime shows often have the feel of a hostage video”, she added.

“The nation’s favourite cocktail” is “on the rocks”, said Hyde. It was “sickly sweet at first and then quite sour”.

Just a rough patch?

Television hosts “sentenced to the morning shift face many challenges”, sympathised Billen in The Times, including “being on air at a time when few are at their most social”.

“Getting up in the dark is grim, going to bed early dull,” he wrote. “To additionally be expected to look good, conduct examinations of a dozen guests and feel warmth towards your co-presenter is to ask a lot.” So, “let us hope this is a hiccup, a rough patch in an otherwise blissful Phil and Holly union”.

To make things harder, “viewers have been tuning into the ITV chat show like armchair Poirots, scrutinising every sideways glance or rictus grin for the signs of poorly concealed fury”, said The Independent’s culture reporter Louis Chilton. Schofield has “dismissed the idea of any bad blood between them” and “both presenters have smiled through this week’s broadcasts as if the ongoing tabloid feeding frenzy was a forgotten dream”.

It is a “potentially messy situation” but they “lost their audience’s sympathy months ago” after they skipped the queue to see the Queen, he said. If the rumours are true, “This Morning” will need an overhaul. Given its “peach of a time slot, there’ll be no shortage of presenters queuing up to replace them”, said Chilton. “If only they can make sure to wait their turn.”

A week-long manhunt that gripped the UK in July 2010 has been turned into a television drama, bringing Raoul Moat’s violent crimes back to public attention.

Neil Adamson, who was head of Northumbria Police CID when Moat went on the run after shooting three people, told ITV that it was “inevitable” the events would one day become a TV crime drama. “The circumstances were so unique. It was so dramatic and so awful.”

The attacks

Moat was serving an 18-week sentence in Durham Prison in 2010 for assaulting a relative when he found out that his ex-girlfriend Samantha Stobbart had a new partner, Christopher Brown.

Moat told an inmate that he planned to “harm” Stobbart when he was released, the Daily Mail reported. An unpublished report from the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), the name of the police watchdog at the time, seen by the BBC, suggested the police were informed of Moat’s threat, but the information wasn’t acted upon in time.

Moat was released on 1 July and his “shooting spree” began two days later, said ITV. “Driven by insane jealousy”, the 37-year-old used a “sawn-off shotgun” to fatally shoot 29-year-old Brown outside a house in Gateshead in the early hours of 3 July. He then shot 22-year-old Stobbart, who suffered life-threatening injuries, said the Daily Mirror. Moat and Stobbart’s daughter, Chanel, was asleep in the house at the time.

Within 24 hours, the killer carried out another brutal attack. PC David Rathband was finishing his shift in a patrol car in Newcastle when Moat snuck out of a nearby car and “blasted him twice in the face at point-blank range”, said the Mirror. The police officer survived, but was blinded in both eyes and took his own life in 2012.

After fleeing the scene, the “17-stone bully” then “went on the run” and “vanished into open country”, said the Mirror.

Manhunt

The UK’s “biggest ever manhunt” ensued, said the Mail. Police deployed 160 armed officers in the search for Moat, and “at least 10 armoured anti-terrorist vehicles were shipped over from Northern Ireland”, said the Independent. “Snipers, dogs, helicopters and even an RAF fighter jet were deployed in the search”, and police even “secretly recruited TV survival expert Ray Mears to help track Moat’s movements”.

Following reports of an armed robbery at a chip shop around ten miles from Newcastle on 5 July, a two-mile exclusion zone was set up in Rothbury and local residents were advised not to leave their homes.

On 6 July, Moat sent the police “a chilling warning” in a letter “declaring war on them”, said The Sun. The killer promised that he wouldn’t stop “until I’m dead”. Police appealed to the public for any information about the missing man’s whereabouts, and a £10,000 reward was offered.

Stand-off

After days “living rough” and “taunting police”, Moat was discovered in the National Trust’s Cragside estate on 9 July, said the Mirror. “A tense, hours-long standoff ensued” as Moat held a shotgun “to his neck”, said the Independent. Negotiators “desperately pleaded with the fugitive gunman” to hand himself over, said The Times, and urged him “to think of his children”.

The wanted man “gained a ghoulish cult status after attracting the unlikely interest of football legend Paul Gascoigne”, said the Mail. The former England star had “arrived in a taxi bearing lager, chicken and a fishing rod”, falsely claiming that he knew Moat and could persuade him to hand himself over to police. The police refused to allow him to speak to Moat, who brought the episode to a violent end by shooting himself at 1.15am on 10 July.

Two men who claimed that they had been taken hostage by Moat were arrested during the manhunt. Karl Ness was with Moat when he carried out his attacks on Brown and Stobbart, and his friend Qhuram Awan was driving the car that Moat was in moments before he attacked Rathband. The black Lexus that Awan was driving proved to be the “key to the hunt”, said the Mirror.

After a five-week trial the following year, the two accomplices were given life sentences for their involvement in Moat’s crimes.

This “fun and funny” three-part ITV drama recounts the “brief rise and astonishing fall” of John Stonehouse, the Labour MP who famously faked his own death in 1974 and fled to Australia, said Rebecca Nicholson in The Guardian.

Matthew Macfadyen plays Stonehouse as a “heedless buffoon”: in the Commons, he parrots what Harold Wilson says; “at home, he parrots what his wife, Barbara (played by Macfadyen’s real-life wife, Keeley Hawes), says”. When he is recruited as a spy, he proves so useless, his Czech handler barks at one point: “You are the worst spy I have ever come across. Ever!”

Written by John Preston (The Dig; A Very English Scandal), the series canters along at a satisfying clip, and makes for “enormously entertaining”, high-spirited TV.

I found Stonehouse “a joy, chiefly thanks to Macfadyen’s witty, light-on-its-feet performance”, said Carol Midgley in The Times. The drama’s “frisky vibe” recalls that of the “excellent” television adaptation of A Very English Scandal, about Jeremy Thorpe. To my mind, this is just the sort of “lifter” we need in January.

Stonehouse is “very funny”, agreed Hugo Rifkind in the same paper, but I can’t help feeling that its “camply satirical tone” rather drains it of meaning. Was Stonehouse really a “floundering tosspot, only unnoticed because he was living in a Westminster version of Abigail’s Party where everyone else was a floundering tosspot”? Or was the truth more nuanced? The series is “good fun. But I don’t think I understand the man any better.”

Bob Dylan has revealed that he is a fan of Coronation Street. In a rare interview, the legendary singer-songwriter said the ITV soap makes him feel “at home”, adding that he finds it preferable to “disgusting” modern streaming shows. “I recently binged Coronation Street, Father Brown, and some early Twilight Zones,” he told the Wall Street Journal. “I know they’re old-fashioned, but they make me feel at home. I’m no fan of packaged programmes or news shows. I never watch anything foul-smelling or evil. Nothing disgusting, nothing dog ass.”

‘Virgin birth’ for aquarium shark

An aquarium in Chicago said a female zebra shark had hatched pups without any genetic material from a male. The Shedd Aquarium said genetic testing was performed on the pups and researchers were surprised to discover Bubbles was the sole parent of the baby sharks, having reproduced via parthenogenesis. Also known as “virgin birth”, this process sees a female fertilise eggs with her own genetic material, explained UPI.

Trump aide follows him with a printer

Donald Trump has an aide with a laptop and printer following him around the golf course showing him uplifting news articles, according to the Washington Post. The former president plays at least 18 holes of golf most days and is followed on the course in a buggy by a former cable TV host. She has a laptop, and sometimes a printer, to print off flattering or positive online stories so he can read them on paper, claimed the report.

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1. It’s time Love Island features LGBTQ+ contestants

Sharon Gaffka in Metro

on representation

“June is huge for two reasons,” writes Sharon Gaffka in Metro. The first is it’s Pride month – “a celebration of the LGBTQ+ community’s love, acceptance, diversity and pride”. It’s also when series eight of Love Island kicks off, with the first episode airing last night. “Wouldn’t it be even better if we combined the two things and the show prominently featured LGBTQ+ contestants?” she asks. This former Love Island contestant would welcome the move “wholeheartedly”. The queer community “has been fighting for representation on TV for decades”, and it’s not necessarily “getting fair opportunities”. Gaffka first came out publicly as bisexual while on the show, “including to my parents”. Afterwards, her Instagram messages “were filled with young women” asking for advice. The show’s influence “extends far beyond the duration of its time on TV”, so “please can we remember that all love is love, and not just heterosexual love?”

Read more

2. Conservative civil war would be a gift to Labour – giving them the best possible chance at next election

Dominic Raab in The Sun

on ‘Westminster navel-gazing’

Dominic Raab says that Boris Johnson has “faced a series of unprecedented challenges” during the past three years. Writing in The Sun, the deputy prime minister says that “most leaders” would have found Brexit, Covid-19, war in Europe and the cost-of-living crisis “individually daunting, and collectively overwhelming”. But “not Boris Johnson. Time and time again he has got the big calls right – and proved the doubters wrong,” Raab continues. Given the global challenges at hand, “it is more important than ever that the Government has a laser-like focus on doing its job”. He says that “some would like to see a destructive, divisive and distracting Conservative civil war up at Westminster”, but that “would dominate the agenda for months” and “be a gift to Labour”. Instead, Raab says a page should be turned on “Westminster navel-gazing” and energy focused instead on “delivering for the British people the things that really matter”.

Read more

3. Watching the Queen grow old has made me reflect on my own mortality

Simon Kelner at the i news site

on doctors’ orders

Simon Kelner suspects that many people “will have been ruminating on the subject of age this past weekend of non-stop nostalgia”, he writes at the i news site. “Like all of us of relative vintage”, the Queen “has had to make the compromises that age forces on a person”. But the “revelation” that the monarch was “advised to give up her quotidian martini” struck Kelner as “particularly poignant”, and “largely because it is so relatable”. This writer likes “being alive, too” and finds “one of the things that makes the business of living so agreeable is to punctuate the end of my day with a martini, that most regal of cocktails”. During the Queen’s reign, “who knows how many family and national crises” she has “been able to deliberate on, to make sense of, to rationalise, finding succour while quietly sipping” her drink of choice. “The ageing process compels us to make sacrifices” and the jubilee will have given some “a rather melancholic pause for thought”.

Read more

4. Cannabis and the violent crime surge

Allysia Finley in The Wall Street Journal

on a possible pattern

“The stigma once attached to marijuana has vanished,” writes Allysia Finley in The Wall Street Journal. “But the public needs an honest discussion of its social and public-health risks, which include violence and mental illness.” There’s “a pattern”, she writes – the perpetrators of a number of mass shootings in the US in the past 11 years were reported to be marijuana users. “It could be coincidence, but increasing evidence suggests a connection.” The drug might be “supposed to make you mellow” but nowadays young people are “consuming marijuana more frequently and in higher doses”, leading to increased addiction and antisocial behaviour. “Countless studies” have linked “chronic cannabis use to schizophrenia” and “young people are especially vulnerable” to the drug’s effects as their brains develop. “Maybe it’s time that lawmakers and voters rethink their pot-legalization experiment before more young lives are damaged,” she concludes.

Read more

5. Quaint relics of our rural heritage should be saved

Sean O’Neill in The Times

on countryside crossings

“Stiles have graced the countryside for centuries,” writes Sean O’Neil in The Times. There are literary references to the wooden steps dating back to the 16th century, “but the stile police have decreed that it is no longer politically acceptable”. In February, Whitehall issued guidance “urging” landowners and farmers to “create gaps or put up accessible self-closing gates instead”. O’Neill says “the elimination of the stile is being carried out in the name of making the countryside more accessible”, something he has “no argument with”. “But must we replace every single stile?” This writer says installing gates “alongside” the crossing points would combine “access and charm”. “And if there must be a gate, could it at least be a locally made wooden one, more in keeping with the surroundings and preserving an element of craftsmanship?” Climbing over stiles is “part of the adventure” of a rural walk. “Let’s not obliterate it altogether.”

Read more

Chris Mason has come from relative obscurity to land one of the most coveted and prestigious jobs in British journalism.

The 42-year-old presenter was the surprise choice to replace Laura Kuenssberg as the BBC’s new political editor in April after a host of more well-known names ruled themselves out and a women-only shortlist was scrapped by executives.

While unexpected, Mason is seen as a safe pair of hands during a time of transition for the broadcaster’s news department following a series of high-profile departures and constant accusations of political bias.

What is his background?

Born in Bradford, West Yorkshire in 1980, both Mason’s parents were primary school teachers.

While he is now required to “help millions of viewers to navigate Westminster drama from the doorstep of Downing Street”, The Times reported that he “got his break in more modest surroundings, battling against fake BBC news and introducing items like Babes on the Box for a haphazard student television show.”

Hailing the “straight-talking grammar school-educated ‘proud Yorkshireman’ from a working-class background”, the Daily Mail said he “briefly flirted with the dream of becoming a bus driver, before developing his insatiable appetite for news”.

After graduating from Cambridge he began his journalism career as a trainee at ITN the week after 9/11. He has spent the two decades since at the BBC, working on its regional desk at Westminster and as a political reporter for BBC Radio 5 Live. In 2012 he became a political correspondent for BBC News, covering British politics on national TV over the course of a decade during which he “developed his distinctive ‘earnest yet informal’ style in front of the camera”, said politics.co.uk.

He shot to prominence in 2017 as the presenter of the popular Brexitcast podcast, first with Adam Fleming, and then with Laura Kuenssberg and Katya Adler.

In October 2019 Mason became the host of BBC Radio 4‘s Any Questions?, taking over from long-time host Jonathan Dimbleby.

Mason lives in southeast London with his wife, who is a primary school teacher, and their two sons.

How did he get the job?

Mason first emerged as favourite for the six-figure-salary job in early April. He is “widely liked across the BBC”, The Guardian said at the time, but did not originally apply as it was seen as a role for a more experienced journalist.

People with knowledge of the recruitment process told The Sunday Times that BBC bosses had encouraged him to apply after the “protracted” appointments process “descended into farce” and plans for an all-women shortlist were scrapped.

Jonathan Munro, interim director of BBC News, and Katy Searle, its executive editor for politics, had “emphasised during interviews that they wanted a journalist who will produce exclusives”, the paper added. But “Mason is not known for big scoops”.

“They said they wanted someone who breaks stories but I think they’ve realised they actually need a wise statesman who is good at analysing events, and Chris will do brilliantly at that,” a senior political journalist told the paper. “This feels like a moment of self-realisation for the BBC, that they can’t be that bold.”

What are his political views?

While Mason “is yet to provoke as many (and varying) different claims of bias as his predecessor, his broadcasting career to date has not been shy of controversy”, says politics.co.uk.

The Independent unearthed a 2000 interview he conducted while still a student with the former chancellor, Norman Lamont, in which he blasted the Lords as a “talking shop for past-it politicians and do-gooders in high places”.

“However, those on the left of the political spectrum have also had their disagreements with Mason,” says politics.co.uk. It cited a December 2021 episode of BBC Breakfast in which Mason was accused of targeting Labour shadow cabinet minister Baroness Chapman, and there was another bias row in 2021 when he intervened to defend former Conservative MP and minister Ann Widdecombe during a live recording of Any Questions?.

What has the reaction been?

“Internally, he is seen as the ultimate safe pair of hands – with both the pluses and minuses that entails – for a BBC news operation in transition,” said The Guardian.

His promotion from a host on Radio 4 to BBC political editor “seems to have taken many people by surprise”, said the Daily Mail, but “the public outpouring of praise appears to have touched the born-and-raised Northerner”.

Mason reacted to his appointment to “the most extraordinary job in British broadcasting and journalism” by saying he “clambers upon the shoulders of giants like Laura, Nick Robinson and Andrew Marr with a smattering of trepidation and a shedload of excitement and enthusiasm.

“To lead the best team of journalists in the business on the best news patch of the lot is something I’d never even dared dream of. I can’t wait to get started.”

What is more, says the Daily Mail, “in this day and age of equality and diversity, Mason’s strong Yorkshire accent will allow BBC bosses to keep Boris Johnson’s prowling Culture Secretary satisfied as the government insists on more regional representation within the corporation’s ranks”.

ITV miniseries Quiz drew to a close on Wednesday night, with critics and the public heaping praise on the show which told the story of Charles and Diana Ingram.

The couple hit the headlines in 2001 after being accused of cheating to win on TV quiz show Who Wants to be a Millionare?. Both were later found guilty during a lengthy and much publicised trial.

The couple were caught cheating after producers noticed suspicious coughs from a co-conspirator, Tecwen Whittock, when correct answers were read out.

But, 20 years on, what happened to the real-life characters in this sensational story?

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Charles Ingram

The Daily Mirror reports that Charles Ingram, portrayed in Quiz by Matthew Macfadyen, “became a household name 19 years ago” when he allegedly tried to scam the quiz show.

The father of three, who has a degree in civil engineering, became a major in the British Army in 1995 at the age of 32 and was sent to Bosnia for six months as part of the UN’s peacekeeping operations in 2000.

Following the scandal on Millionaire, in 2003 the Ingrams were found guilty of “procuring the execution of a valuable security by deception”. They received 18-month sentences, suspended for two years, and were ordered to pay £15,000 each.

Later the same year, The Telegraph reports, Ingram was convicted of fraud for claiming £30,000 on invalid insurance. He had reportedly applied for an insurance pay-out after a burglary in August 2001 at his home in Wiltshire, but he had failed to declare £3,000 of previous claims when taking out the policy only a few weeks earlier.

As recently as this week, the Ingrams announced that they will ask the court of appeal to overturn their convictions for cheating on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, arguing that new audio analysis casts serious doubt on the evidence used to prosecute them.

Diana Ingram

Diana Ingram was training to be a teacher when she met Charles and they married in 1989.

I News reports that she had “previously made it to the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? hot seat where she won £32,000”.

The paper adds that she and Charles now live in Bath, where she makes handmade jewellery.

According to her own website, she designs necklaces, bracelets and earrings using “Murano glass beads, Swarovski crystals, seawater and freshwater pearls or crystals”.

Chris Tarrant

Tarrant, 73, became one of the UK’s most well-known TV stars after taking the hosting role on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? from the show’s inception in 1998. He ended up presenting the quiz series for over a decade, leaving in 2014.

Alongside the Channel 5 series Chris Tarrant: Extreme Railways, the TV presenter has featured in the ITV daytime game show Show Me the Telly.

I News says that in 2017, Tarrant became a continuity announcer for the Challenge channel.

In 2019, Tarrant was asked by This Morning hosts Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford if he would ever return to host the show.

Tarrant said: “I did it for 15 years, about 700 shows, I loved it... we had a fantastic time, but I don’t want to do any more. So good luck, it’s a great show.”

Tecwen Whittock

Tecwen Whittock, a lecturer from Cardiff, was “convicted of helping Charles Ingram to cheat his way to victory”, according to The Telegraph. He was given a suspended sentence of 12 months and fined £25,000 for his role in the scandal.

The paper adds that “in the first few years after the trial, Whittock quit his job and attempted to carve out a career as an after-dinner speaker”.

The Telegraph says that Whittock would regale audiences with “very interesting and humorous anecdotes” from his part in the Ingram scandal, according to his now-defunct website.

He has since disappeared from public view.

Sonia Woodley QC

The Ingrams have always denied any wrongdoing and, during their four-week trial, were represented by defence counsel Sonia Woodley QC, played by actress Helen McCrory in Quiz.

At the trial at Southwark Crown Court, Woodley described Charles Ingram as “a hard-working soldier and law-abiding citizen”, urging the jury to consider the “nature of the man”.

The barrister returned to the public eye ten years later when she unsuccessfully defended entertainer Rolf Harris against allegations of indecent assault. She retired soon after the case.

Paul Smith

Paul Smith, played by Mark Bonnar, is the founder of UK production company Celador and the man who first pitched the idea for Millionaire to ITV back in 1995.

Heart Radio says that while executives at ITV “weren’t interested to begin with, several years later it found its way onto our TV screens”.

As seen in the show, Smith ended up leading the investigation into the Ingrams, which led to their arrest and prosecution, and he testified against them in court.

Smith received a CBE in 2012 after being named on the New Years Honours list.

Claudia Rosencrantz

One of the most prominent figures in the show is ITV’s former controller of entertainment Claudia Rosencrantz – played by Irish actor Aisling Bea – who first commissioned Millionaire in 1998.

After a successful stint at the network in which she also commissioned smash-hit I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here!, Rosencrantz left ITV in 2005, but “not before she mic-dropped with two little shows by the names of Dancing on Ice and Britain's Got Talent”, Digital Spy notes.

She went on to work at Virgin Media and later the Jamie Oliver Media Group. Claudia was voted one of Britain's most inspirational 50 women in 2018.

Monday’s televised announcement by Prime Minister Boris Johnson - in which he announced strict new measures to combat the coronavirus outbreak - has become one of the most watched TV broadcasts in UK history.

The statement, the first prime ministerial address of its kind in the UK since Tony Blair announced Britain’s involvement in the invasion of Iraq in 2003, attracted a total audience of 27.1 million viewers across a number of channels, according to the BBC.

“That makes it the most watched broadcast for years,” says the broadcaster.

The figures make it the eighth most watched UK broadcast in history, behind such events as the 1970 FA Cup final replay between Chelsea and Leeds United, and the Apollo 13 splashdown the same year.

The 1966 World Cup final between England and West Germany is the record holder for the nation’s most watched broadcast, with a combined audience of 32.3 million across the BBC and ITV – though The Guardian notes that “measurement methods were much less sophisticated” in that era.

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In second place is the 1997 funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, which drew a peak television audience of 32.10 million.

However, the paper also notes that it is “possible that the final official viewing figures, compiled over the course of the next four weeks, could push it close” to the 1966 final, as catch-up and online viewings of the speech are thought not to have been counted yet.

Here is the current list of the most-watched broadcasts in UK history:

ITV News presenter Alastair Stewart is stepping down from his role following what the programme called “errors of judgement” in his use of social media.

During a row with Martin Shapland, a black former Liberal Democrat council candidate, the 67-year-old broadcaster posted a Shakespearean verse from Measure for Measure, which included reference to an “angry ape”.

In response to the tweet, Shapland described the veteran newsreader as a “disgrace” and accused him of using Shakespeare as cover to make a racial insult.

In a statement, the journalist said that he made a “misjudgment which I regret”, adding that it had been a “privilege” to work at ITV.

The Sun says Stewart was “forced out,” while The Telegraph adds that Stewart’s colleagues “lamented his departure”.

The Daily Mail reports that an ITN insider has defended Stewart. The source said: “He would have thought he was being clever and it was merely an innocent put-down. He is certainly not a racist in any way.

“It is sad if he has had to go because of this. He will be the first man ever fired for accurately quoting Shakespeare.”

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Meanwhile, Duncan Golestani, a presenter on both BBC and ITV, described Stewart as “one of the kindest men in broadcasting”, while BBC Radio 3 presenter Katie Derham said Stewart was “a very dear friend and colleague” and added: “He will be missed.”

ITV presenter Julie Etchingham wrote on Twitter that she was “so sad to learn this - we have worked on many big stories together & Al is a trusted friend and guide to many of us”.

Stewart was the longest-serving male newsreader after joining Southern Television in 1976 and then ITN in 1980. He began fronting News at Ten nine years later.

He was named presenter of the year by the Royal Television Society in 2005, and was awarded an OBE the following year.

Stewart’s Twitter account has now been deactivated.

The Week’s daily round-up highlights the five best opinion pieces from across the British and international media, with excerpts from each.

1. Zack Beauchamp in Vox

on a calamitous day for the GOP

Tuesday’s impeachment hearings were a disaster for Republicans

“The Republicans on the intelligence committee, from ranking member Devin Nunes on down, did not present a consistent and compelling counternarrative [in the case against Donald Trump]. They did little to contest the facts, preferring instead to attack the media, the whistleblower whose complaint kicked off this saga, or the witnesses themselves. The day underscored the fundamental fact of the situation: Trump did what Democrats are accusing him of doing. The only issue is whether congressional Republicans are willing to punish him for it.”

2. Michael Deacon in The Telegraph

on an unsatisfying TV stand-off

This debate between Johnson and Corbyn never got going – because Julie Etchingham wouldn’t let it

“The biggest applause of the night, meanwhile, went to neither party leader. It went, instead, to a man in the audience – who told them that the nation was watching the election campaign ‘in utter despair’ (applause), and that under their leadership politics had become ‘toxic’ (applause), so why should voters trust either of them (applause). Three rounds of applause in 15 seconds. If anyone can be said to have ‘won’ the debate, it was probably that man.”

3. Daniel Finkelstein in The Times

on expectations vs reality

This isn’t the election politicians think it is

“There is a big gap between the election that politicians think they are fighting and the election that’s actually happening. The daily stories of policy announcements and gaffes and interviews on The Andrew Marr Show pass almost everyone by. Half the population (48 per cent to be exact) has never heard of John McDonnell (he’s the shadow chancellor). While the media go on about the prime minister’s adviser Dominic Cummings, only 18 per cent of people are confident they know who he is. So if people aren’t following much, what determines election results? Do elections actually hold politicians to account at all?”

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4. Sofia Barbarani on Al Jazeera

on the unravelling situation in Iraq

Death on the bridge: The young lives cut short in Iraq’s uprising

“In the capital, Baghdad, most of those killed came from the sprawling slum of Sadr City and its surrounding neighbourhoods. An unofficial list compiled by the organisers of a memorial tent in Tahrir Square shows the names of 31 victims - all born between 1993 and 2003. Many were young men of marrying age, like 21-year-old Muslim Abbas, who was due to graduate from college next year; 23-year-old tuk-tuk driver Hussein Mohammed, whose family was too poor to pay for his burial; or Abbas Ismael, 28, who recently became engaged. Some were younger, like 14-year-old Hassan, an orphaned teenager who made a home out of the city streets and found a community among the protesters.”

5. Barbara Wesel on DW

on Israel’s Washington lifeline

Power overrules the law — especially in Middle East politics

“On the grand stage, where smaller players like the Kurds or the Palestinians have to fight for their future, the EU is forced to sit by and helplessly wring its hands. That is because it lacks military power and because over the past decade, it has wasted the opportunity to create an effective diplomatic policy that would make it indispensable in resolving major international conflicts. The EU lacks unity and an appreciation for shared interests, not even the words of French President Emmanuel Macron can change that. He recently made an urgent call for Europe to take up its role on the international political stage. From its current position of foreign policy weakness, all the EU can do is look on in helpless fury as Washington quickly proclaims injustice in the Middle East a new legal right.”

The first reviews of the eagerly awaited Downton Abbey movie have praised it as a warm, easy-going adaptation of the smash-hit ITV drama.

The show’s transition to the big screen is, according the BBC’s Caryn James, “delightful fun, even though the plot is obvious almost to the point of stupidity”, while The Hollywood Reporter describes it as “satisfyingly sumptuous”.

Peter Bradshaw writes in The Guardian that the movie “is at all times ridiculous – but, I have to admit, quite enjoyable”.

He adds: “In order to get the full, authentic experience, you’ll need to see it on the small screen, on 27 December, with a quart of eggnog inside you and enough Quality Street to trigger a diabetic coma.”

The release of a major feature film has naturally revived interest in the real-life filming locations for Downton Abbey - and none more so than Highclere Castle, which doubles as the titular abbey on screen.

Here’s a look inside the famous castle used in the show:

History

The real Downton Abbey is Highclere Castle, an enormous country house located five miles south of Newbury in Berkshire, around 60 miles west of London.

The first mention of a property on the current site in any document was in 749, when Bishop William of Wykeham built a medieval palace there, iNews reports. Almost 1,000 years later, in 1679, it was bought by Sir Robert Sawyer, Attorney General to Charles II and James II, and rebuilt as Highclere Place House.

In 1838, Sir Charles Barry, the architect who also worked on the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, was commissioned by the 3rd Earl of Carnarvon to create a new building. Work on Highclere Castle in its current form began in 1842 and was finished in 1878.

According to The Sun, the castle’s “giant estate includes 5,000 acres of land”, 11 bedrooms, servants’ quarters and a “room for entertaining the upper classes”. Recently Which? consumer magazine revealed the property to be worth around £72m. INews reports that the “author of Downton Abbey, Julian Fellowes, reportedly had the castle in mind when writing the series”.

According to Travel and Leisure, the castle “has become a totem for the show, with fans making pilgrimages to see where their favorite series was shot”, adding that an estimated 1,200 people visit Highclere each day the house is open to the public.

Who owns it now?

Currently, Highclere is the home of the 8th Earl and Countess of Carnarvon, whose family have lived there since 1679.

Prior to the premiere of Downton Abbey, the couple “admitted their Berkshire estate needed £11.75m worth of repairs, including £1.8m of urgent work on the main house”, the Daily Mail reported in 2012. However, the success of the show and subsequent interest in the property allowed the pair to undertake the major renovations through profits from ticket sales.

Lord Carnarvon, 55, said the show had “taken the pressure off”, adding: “At the time that we were approached about Downton, it was just after the banking crisis and it was gloom in all directions. We had been doing corporate functions, but it all became pretty sparse after that.

“Then Downton came along and we became a major tourist attraction,” he added. “It has been a wonderful thing for us and our visitor numbers have doubled.”

Where the key scenes are filmed

The Sun reports that “much of the exterior shots of Downton Abbey and most of the interiors are both filmed at Highclere Castle”.

In the main building are the dining room, Lord Robert’s library, the sitting room, the family bedrooms, the grand staircase and the salon.

However, the “downstairs” sets, such as the kitchen and servants’ quarters - along with some of the upstairs bedrooms - were constructed and filmed at Ealing Studios.

The Downton Abbey movie will be released in UK cinemas on 13 September. American fans will have to wait another week to see it, with US release set for 20 September.

A formal parliamentary inquiry into British reality TV has been announced following the deaths of former participants on The Jeremy Kyle Show and Love Island.

Three former Love Island contestants will give evidence to a formal parliamentary inquiry into British reality TV today.

The inquiry was announced following the deaths of former participants from the programme, as well as from The Jeremy Kyle Show.

Ex-islanders Chris Williamson, Marcel Somerville and Yewande Biala will appear before the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee as it discusses “how race, gender and body image are represented”, says Metro.

Former Jeremy Kyle Show participants Dwayne Davison and Robert Gregory will also give evidence to the committee, which is investigating the use of DNA and lie detector tests in reality TV.

MPs will consider whether enough support is offered during and after filming to people who appear on such programmes, and whether further regulatory oversight in this area is needed, says the Parliament.uk website.

Which guests have died?

Steve Dymond, 63, was found dead in a suspected suicide in May, ten days after he was filmed failing a lie-detector test on ITV2’s The Jeremy Kyle Show. He subsequently split from his fiancee, who had accused him of being unfaithful. Following pressure from Downing Street, MPs and psychologists, ITV decided to axe the programme.

Dymond’s death came after two contestants from the channel’s most-watched show, Love Island, were found hanged in separate suspected suicides. Sophie Gradon, 32, died in June last year, while Mike Thalassitis, 26, was found dead in March.

What will the inquiry be investigating?

MPs will look at the levels of psychological support provided by production companies and broadcasters; whether the design formats of shows “put unfair psychological pressure on participants and encourage more extreme behaviour”; and whether reality TV matches evolving attitudes to mental health.

Damian Collins MP, chairman of the committee, said: “This kind of TV featuring members of the public attracts viewing figures in the millions but in return for ratings, the broadcasters must demonstrate their duty of care to the people whose personal lives are being exposed.

“With an increasing demand for this type of programming, we’ll be examining broadcasting regulation in this area – is it fit for purpose?”

What has the committee looked at so far?

The committee has already received written and oral evidence from anti-bullying charities, the British Psychological Society and numerous TV channels.

And the inquiry grilled ITV bosses in a 25 June public hearing.

Those called to give evidence included Julian Bellamy, managing director of ITV Studios, Tom McLennan, executive producer on The Jeremy Kyle Show, and Graham Stanier, director of aftercare for Jeremy Kyle.The Committee chairman, Collins, told McLennan he found it “astonishing” and “irresponsible” that he did not have a rough estimate for the accuracy of the show’s lie detector tests.

Questioned over the professionalism of the people conducting the lie detector tests, McLennan said: “I don’t think they have medical qualifications, but they have qualifications in lie detectors.”

Will Love Island follow Jeremy Kyle’s fate?

The inquiry could have “major implications” for ITV, says The Guardian. “Tighter regulation that could increase costs could hit the bottom line at the broadcaster, whose share price has fallen in recent months,” the newspaper continues.

However, Love Island returned over the summer and is due to be screened twice a year from 2020, despite ITV being accused of “hypocrisy” by social media users, for cancelling one show and not the other, reports the Daily Mail.

The broadcaster has insisted that its duty of care is a “continuous and ongoing process” for Love Island contestants and that all participants are now offered therapy and bespoke training on social media and financial management.

BBC and ITV are to team up to launch a streaming service called BritBox, featuring TV shows from their archives as well as new, exclusive content.

In a statement, the BBC said it was in the “concluding phase of talks” with its free-to-air rival to bring BritBox to the UK in the second half of 2019.

The BBC says the BritBox would offer subscribers the “biggest collection of British content available on any streaming service”, both in the form of archive content and new commissions.

BritBox is already available to viewers in the US and Canada, “but a deal to launch in their domestic market with new original programming represents a shift in ambition”, says The Daily Telegraph.

The newspaper calls BritBox “a spiritual successor to Project Kangaroo”, a planned joint streaming service by BBC, ITV and Channel 4 which was blocked by competition regulators in 2009, “leaving the door open to Netflix and Amazon, which were able to build up their businesses partly by licensing BBC and ITV archive programming”.

There is no word on how much a subscription to the new service will cost, but North American subscribers currently pay $6.99 (£5.25) per month. Recent broadcasts will still be available on free catch-up services iPlayer and ITV Hub.

Some reacted with indignation at the idea of charging UK TV viewers to stream licence payer-funded content:

However, others dismissed the objection:

Traditional TV channels are fighting to compete in a landscape in which “audiences increasingly desert established channels and expect shows to be available instantly on streaming services”, says The Guardian.

However, ITV chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall denied that BritBox was intended to rival Netflix.

“We have never said this is the British equivalent of Netflix,” she said. “The most important thing here is that it is complementary to Netflix because it is doing different things.”

Many BBC series, including Luther, Fawlty Towers and Absolutely Fabulous, are currently available on other streaming platforms, but “British broadcasters are likely to stop licensing their archive material to services such as Netflix to try to drive subscribers to the new UK service”, says The Guardian.

ITV or BBC? A bitter rivalry that has now engulfed Brexit as Jeremy Corbyn and Theresa May have become locked in a battle over which TV channel should broadcast their debate.

Downing Street revealed they had accepted BBC One’s offer “to clear its schedule for a special 8pm debate on 9 December between the prime minister and Jeremy Corbyn on the terms of Britain’s departure from the European Union”, reports The Guardian.

A BBC spokesperson said the broadcaster was “delighted” the prime minister had accepted the offer and hoped to hear confirmation from the Labour leader soon.

The government “chose the BBC over rival broadcasters to host the debate as it would address the crux of the issue, namely the deal”, according to the BBC’s Norman Smith.

But Corbyn said on ITV’s This Morning that he had yet to formally accept any debate but that ITV’s Sunday night programme made sense as it would enable people to watch other programmes later in the evening.

“One should always have respect for the viewers,” he said, adding that he was keen to watch the final of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! “It is important because parliament will have to vote on the 11 December on the agreement that prime minister has reached.”

Labour has previously said Corbyn would be happy to take part in a debate that kept the format as a head-to-head debate and excluded third parties, such as those proposing a second referendum.

A source with knowledge of Labour’s position told Politics Home the party “believes the ITV slot would reach a bigger and more diverse audience, and is angry about the BBC format”.

The BBC’s proposal “would feature a 12-strong panel of 'prominent' campaigners, potentially backbench politicians, business and sports figures rather than frontline political figures, who will ask questions directly to the leaders”, says Broadcast Now. A moderator would then put additional questions submitted by the public through social media.

But the source suggested to Politics Home that the Labour leadership “felt bounced into the plan – possibly as part of a stitch up between No 10 director of communications Robbie Gibb and his former employer the BBC”.

The furore has not gone down with rival politicians or broadcasters. Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP leader, said it would be “an absolute travesty of democracy” if proponents of all the options – including remaining in the EU – were not given a voice.

While Channel 4 News’s Krishnan Guru-Murthy described the BBC’s proposal as “gimmicky crap” on Twitter.

Others seemed less enamoured with the idea of a debate at all.

Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly were named best presenters for the 18th time in a row at the National Television Awards last night, despite McPartlin being absent from screens for much of last year.

The presenters accepted their prize via live feed from the Britain’s Got Talent auditions, with McPartlin particularly emotional.

“This is a genuine shock especially this year. I’m shaking! We want to say thank you to everybody. I really don’t feel like I can accept it, the one reason we won this award was this guy, his wit, his determination, I love you pal,” he said.

So what has McPartlin been doing?

The TV star entered rehab in June 2017 for treatment for depression, anxiety and prescription drug and alcohol abuse.

Announcing the move, he told The Sun on Sunday: “I’ve spoken out because I think it’s important that people ask for help if they’re going through a rough time and get the proper treatment to help their recovery.”

He later returned to work, but then went back into treatment after being arrested for drink-driving in west London in March last year. The incident came just weeks after he announced the breakdown of his marriage to his wife of 11 years, Lisa Armstrong.

After being handed an £86,000 fine and a 20-month driving ban, McPartlin told reporters at the court: “I let myself down, I let a lot of people down. For that I’m truly sorry.”

He subsequently cancelled his appearances on the remaining two episodes of Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, as well as the live finals of Britain’s Got Talent, leaving Donnelly to present on his own.

Despite speculation that McPartlin would return to hosting I’m a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here, ITV confirmed in August that he would stepping down from the show, says the Radio Times.

A spokesperson for the TV channel said he would “continue to take a break from all television presenting roles until 2019”.

Saturday Night Takeaway was postponed until 2020, and - for the first time since it began in 2002 - I’m a Celebrity co-host Donnelly had a different presenting partner: Holly Willoughby.

Speaking to The Sun on Sunday last weekend, McPartlin said he had left London after getting out of hospital last year: “I rented some houses in the country and locked myself away and walked the dog. No TV or social media. I did nothing. I barely watched the World Cup. I worked on myself and got well.”

The presenter said he had been supported by his PA-turned-girlfriend Anne Marie Corbett, who whisked him away for his birthday in November while he was struggling with not hosting I’m a Celebrity.

He has now moved to a new part of London, further away from co-host Donnelly and his ex-wife.

“You can’t go through what I’ve been through without being humbled,” he told The Sun on Sunday. “I would say I’ve definitely been humbled for the better.”

Emmerdale residents must dread New Year after suffering everything from plane crashes and fatal lightning storms to confessions at gunpoint - and now ITV bosses are plotting another festive surprise.

Mandy Dingle, played by Lisa Riley, is returning to the Yorkshire Dales after a 17-year hiatus and she is “carrying a secret that turns lives upside down”, producers have revealed.

Riley has had one of the more successful post-soap careers of former Emmerdale cast members, presenting You’ve Been Framed and appearing on Strictly Come Dancing and Loose Women.

When the “iconic” Mandy left in 2001, “it was a blow to the ITV soap and fans alike, as she’d regularly been named the favourite character and often garnered the most laughs”, says the Daily Express. Producers have long been trying to lure her back in a bid to boost ratings against competitors such as Coronation Street and Eastenders, the newspaper adds.

The news of her return has prompted much speculation about the bombshell “secret”.

One theory is that she will have a 17-year-old child from her previous marriage to Paddy Kirk (Dominic Brunt), who is now in a relationship with Chas Dingle (Lucy Pargeter). The couple recently lost their newborn baby, so “Mandy will be entering an incredibly sensitive zone”, says the Express.

“Other theories could see Mandy’s secret simply being that she’s still in love with her ex-husband Paddy, and is in the village to make it her mission to get him back,” the paper continues.

The feisty barmaid was known for being “at the centre of drama in the village and will no doubt cause even more upon her return”, says the Yorkshire Evening Post.

“All we know so far is that Riley is returning for what the soap’s bosses are calling ‘a self-contained storyline’ and that Mandy won’t be staying in the village long-term,” says the Radio Times. “But might her short stay end up having big repercussions for those left behind?”

ITV’s latest period drama Vanity Fair premiered last night at 9pm, with critics and viewers divided about the modern touches given to the classic source material.

The new show, based on William Makepeace Thackeray’s classic 1848 novel of the same name, tells the story of Becky Sharp, a “heroine of dubious parentage who attempts to scale the heights of English society during the Napoleonic Wars, eventually earning an audience with King George IV”, write Digital Spy. It stars Olivia Cooke and Tom Bateman.

Originally released as a nine-volume monthly serial, the novel has become revered as a British classic, and was voted one of the UK’s favourite novels of all time in a 2003 BBC poll.

“Vanity Fair feels like the perfect classic to adapt for ITV, and Gwyneth Hughes’ stunning scripts bring the novel to life in a way that will really connect with a modern audience,” promised Polly Hill, the head of ITV drama.

But how similar to the original is this adaptation?

“Generally, the first episode, titled Miss Sharpe in the Presence of an Enemy, sticks close to the first six chapters of Thackeray’s novel,” says the Daily Express.

However, there is one crucial difference, adds the newspaper: “In the novel, the framing device of the story is a puppet show. Episode one, in contrast, begins and ends with the characters on a carousel.”

The TV drama also skips the book's flashback to the childhood of William Dobbin, when he goes from school outcast to school hero for fighting the bully of his friend George Osborne.

The show has taken a number of stylistic liberties related to the period setting, drawing praise and criticism in equal measure.

Radio Times says the adaptation “stays very true to the plot and characters of his novel”, but that “there’s something very fresh” about the drama.

There has been criticism for a “vast number of anachronisms, such as the featuring of electric bulbs and its pop music soundtrack”, along with modern language, says The Daily Telegraph.

One “major blunder” in the first episode was the use of a building with uPVC windows in the opening titles, says the Daily Mail.

Nevertheless, the Telegraph’s TV writer Ben Lawrence suggests that “it’s time we learnt to love anachronisms in period drama” and that “these little things may niggle but I don’t think they are enough to spoil one’s enjoyment” of the show.

The former detective who brought Milly Dowler’s killer Levi Bellfield to justice has defended the ITV series Manhunt which dramatises his capture.

Surrey schoolgirl Milly Dowler, 13, was murdered in 2002 and the programme’s makers have come under fire for exploiting her real-life family tragedy for dramatic purposes.

Manhunt also focuses on how the murder of 22-year-old French national, Amelie Delagrange, on Twickenham Green in 2004 was eventually linked to the murders of 19-year-old Marsha McDonnell in 2003, and the 2002 abduction and murder of Dowler in Walton-on-Thames.

The production team was criticised for filming the new series at the exact spot where Dowler vanished on the 16th anniversary of her murder last year.

One local told the Sunday Mirror: “Milly’s murder happened a long time ago and people are reluctant to be bringing it up again. Why film it here at all? It’s raking up the past.”

Jean Taylor, of the support group Families Fighting for Justice, added: “It is already hard enough for the family without this. It will be horrific for Milly’s family, reliving the agony of what happened.”

The first and second episodes, aired on Sunday and Monday, were received well by critics, although The Independent said at times it felt like an “exploitative theme-park ride” and some tweeters said they feared it would leave Bellfield “gloating in his cell”.

But former Detective Chief Inspector Colin Sutton, who caught Bellfield and whose memoirs inspired the three-part drama, told The Daily Telegraph: “I don’t understand the perpetually offended… We’ve spoken to the families, and they were quite happy with the way they we were treated by us, the things that we did and the results that were achieved.”

Sutton, who is played by Martin Clunes in the series, says he wrote to the families of the victims as soon as he knew the book might be made into a drama and none of them asked him not to make it.

“I spent four or five years of my life trying to help these people. I’m not now going to upset them,” he says.

Nevertheless, Marsha’s brother Jack, now 21, has said on Twitter: “I don’t understand why this programme needed to be made. People might be curious about the story, but I don’t think it needs to be re-told. It was a very difficult period for all involved and we don’t like dwelling on it. We want to move past it, so we are consciously ignoring the show.”

Reality TV is responsible for making half of British young people feel bad about their bodies, a survey for BBC 5 Live has found.

The ComRes poll of 2,000 British adults found 55% of 18 to 34-year-olds feel that reality TV shows, such as Love Island and The Only Way is Essex, and social media have a negative effect on how they see their bodies.

Over a third (35%) of Millennials said they were more likely to consider cosmetic surgery as a result of what they see on TV, 15% higher than the national average.

Bullying Statistics, which offers facts and advice to help counter so-called ‘body shaming’, says “technology has made a focus on appearance stronger than ever”.

But the current obsession with thin is in fact a fairly new phenomenon. In centuries past being overweight was seen as a sign of good health because it meant the person had money to buy food and was eating well.

“This was a status symbol” says Bullying Statistics. “Now, food is an easier commodity to come by in developed nations. Having the money to own exercise equipment or have a gym membership is the new status symbol. Thin is a symbol of wealth and fitness.”

While obesity is putting an ever-growing strain on the health service, the ComRes survey suggests a quarter of British adults have either had surgery, or know someone who has had plastic surgery or a cosmetic procedure.

ITV has been forced to defend advertising for Love Island, which pulled in a record audience for its Monday night finale, after criticism from the head of NHS England about seeing trailers for cosmetic breast surgery.

ITV anchorman Tom Bradby has been absent from News At Ten for more than a month as a result of “crippling insomnia”, it has emerged.

Bradby, 51, has been unable to work on the live news show and may even have to miss his friend Prince Harry’s wedding, where he was expected to be a guest, The Sun reports.

An anonymous source claimed that the news man is “dealing with insomnia and is resting and having some time to recuperate” , but will be off for at least another three weeks, says the Daily Express.

Insomnia is one of the most common sleep disorders, affecting millions of people worldwide. So what are the symptoms and is there a cure?

What is insomnia?

Symptoms of insomnia include difficulty falling asleep, waking up often during the night, and waking too early. The effects of such disturbed sleeping patterns can be “devastating”, says Medical News Today.

Insomnia is something of a blanket term, and the disorder can be caused by an array of different factors.

WebMD says there are two types of insomnia. The first is primary insomnia - when a person develops sleep problems that are not directly associated with another health condition.

Secondary insomnia means that a person is having sleep problems as a result of another factor, such as a health condition (asthma, depression, arthritis or cancer have all been linked to insomnia). Some medications and recreational substances, such as alcohol, can also disrupt sleep.

How common is insomnia?

Around a third of Brits suffer from insomnia, according to The Times.

“Some doctors claim that its prevalence is becoming worse, perhaps because of the profusion of electronic devices and bright screens that we take into our bedrooms,” the newspaper says.

Around a quarter of sufferers in the UK claim to have suffered insomnia for 11 years or more, and 79% for at least two years, according to a 2012 Great British Sleep Survey. Experts believe a total of at least 200,000 working days are lost every year in the UK as a result of insomnia.

Can insomnia be cured?

The NHS recommends that people suffering insomnia follow a set of guidelines aimed at developing a healthy sleep pattern. These include going to bed at the same time every day, only going to bed when you feel tired, relaxing for at least an hour before bed, making sure your bedroom is dark and quiet, and exercising regularly during the day.

Health experts also recommend that sufferers avoid eating big meals late at night, try not to use electronic devices before sleep, and resist the urge to have naps during the day.

The NHS says people with insomnia should speak to their GP if those changes fail to lead to improved sleep pattern after a month, or if the condition “is affecting your daily life in a way that makes it hard for you to cope”.

Doctors may recommend cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and will only prescribe sleeping pills in extreme circumstances, as they can have serious side effects and patients can become dependent on them.

It’s the early May bank holiday and for sporting fans it promises to be a scorcher.

The weather forecast says the UK is set for record-breaking temperatures, which makes it perfect for end-of-season football or early-season cricket matches. Top-class golf and cycling will also be taking place.

For people staying at home this weekend, there’s plenty of sport to enjoy on television. From the Women’s FA Cup final to heavyweight boxing, here are the weekend’s big sporting events and what to look out for on the box.

Boxing

Bellew vs. Haye 2

British heavyweight boxing rivals Tony Bellew and David Haye go head-to-head tomorrow in their rematch at The O2 in London. The bout will be shown live on Sky Sports Box Office and costs £19.95. The Daily Express says that the ring walks are scheduled for 10.30pm and the fight should start at 10.45pm.

Cycling

Tour de Yorkshire

The Tour de Yorkshire men’s cycling race will be shown live on ITV 4 this weekend. Tomorrow’s third stage is live from 1pm to 6pm and Sunday’s fourth stage is live from 12 midday to 5.30pm.

Football

Women’s FA Cup final: Arsenal vs. Chelsea

It’s the Women’s FA Cup final tomorrow at Wembley Stadium between Arsenal and Chelsea – and tickets are still available. The match kicks off at 5.30pm and will be shown live on the BBC.

Premier League

The Premier League relegation survival fight continues with Stoke City taking on Crystal Palace in the early match tomorrow. But the weekend’s live EPL action starts tonight with Manchester United travelling to Brighton.

Premier League fixtures – tonight

• Brighton & Hove Albion vs. Manchester United (8pm, live on Sky Sports)

Tomorrow (3pm unless stated)

• Stoke City vs. Crystal Palace (12.30pm, live on Sky Sports)
• AFC Bournemouth vs. Swansea City
• Leicester City vs. West Ham United
• Watford vs. Newcastle United
• West Bromwich Albion vs. Tottenham Hotspur
• Everton vs. Southampton (5.30pm, live on BT Sport)

Sunday

• Manchester City vs. Huddersfield Town (1.30pm, live on Sky Sports)
• Arsenal vs. Burnley (4.30pm)
• Chelsea vs. Liverpool (4.30pm, live on Sky Sports)

English Championship

It’s the last day of the Championship season on Sunday. At the top of the division, Cardiff and Fulham are battling to secure second spot and promotion to the Premier League. Cardiff’s home match with Reading is live on Sky Sports Football at 12.30pm.

Other football

Sky Sports will also bring live matches from Spain’s La Liga and Major League Soccer in the US. BT Sport will present live coverage from the Serie A in Italy, Germany’s Bundesliga and Ligue 1 in France.

Golf

GolfSixes

The European Tour’s GolfSixes tournament takes place tomorrow and on Sunday at the Centurion Club in St Albans. If you can’t get there to watch it, Sky Sports Golf will be broadcasting live from midday each day.

Cricket

Indian Premier League (IPL)

The IPL has matches all weekend. All games are live on Sky Sports.

• Saturday, 5 May: Chennai Super Kings vs. Royal Challengers Bangalore (11.30am); Sunrisers Hyderabad vs. Delhi Daredevils (3.30pm)
• Sunday, 6 May: Mumbai Indians vs. Kolkata Knight Riders (11.30am); Kings XI Punjab vs. Rajasthan Royals (3.30pm)
• Monday, 7 May: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs. Royal Challengers Bangalore (3.30pm)

Rugby Union

Army vs. Navy

There’s plenty of rugby union action across the world this weekend, but perhaps the biggest match is tomorrow’s clash at Twickenham between the Army and the Navy. Tickets are sold out, but it’s live on Sky Sports Arena at 3pm.

Premiership Rugby

BT Sport will broadcast two Aviva Premiership Rugby games simultaneously tomorrow.

• Newcastle Falcons vs. Wasps (4pm, live on BT Sport 2)
• Sale Sharks vs. Leicester Tigers (4pm, live on BT Sport 3)

Other rugby union matches live on TV

Meanwhile, Sky Sports will show live coverage of matches in Super Rugby, Guinness PRO14 and Top 14 in France.

Super Rugby fixtures – tomorrow

• 8.35pm: Hurricanes vs. Lions
• 10.45am: Waratahs vs. Blues
• 2.05pm: Stormers vs. Bulls

Guinness PRO14 quarter final fixtures – tomorrow

• 3.15pm: Munster vs. Edinburgh
• 4.15pm: Sharks vs. Highlanders

Top 14

• 8pm: Castres vs. Oyonnax
• 8pm: La Rochelle vs. Stade Francais

ITV’s evening news came to a sudden end last night when a fire alarm forced newsreader Tom Bradby and other staff to evacuate the studio live on air.

Midway-through Wednesday’s ITN News at Ten broadcast, the sound of a fire alarm could be heard in the background of the newsroom.

An unperturbed Bradby continued to read the day’s headlines, introducing a video story about President Donald Trump amid the clanging bells. However, when the programme cut back to the studio after the pre-recorded clip, he was forced to cut the broadcast short to join other staff evacuating the building.

“As you can probably tell, we have a fire alarm,” he told viewers. “I’m really, really sorry about this, but we have to evacuate the building.

“We’ll get back to you with the rest of the programme if we possibly can, but for now it’s good night,” he said, shortly before the live feed was replaced by a ‘Sorry for the disruption’ test card.

More than ten minutes later, the channel returned to the airwaves with the weather forecast, and normal programming was resumed.

Viewers praised Bradby’s cool and collected handling of the unexpected interruption:

An exasperated Bradby later confirmed via Twitter that the incident was a “false alarm”, adding “words fail me”.

Select media

In November 2011, NBC News anchor Brian Williams soldiered on through a live broadcast plagued by an almost-constant interruption by a faulty alarm.

Both ITV and the BBC will show live coverage of the World Cup final between France and Croatia on Sunday 15 July.

The final will be played at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, 4pm kick-off (UK time). The third-place play-off between England and Belgium on Saturday 14 July will be on ITV at 3pm.

2018 World Cup TV schedule (UK times)

Third/fourth place play-off

• Saturday 14 July: Belgium vs. England at Saint Petersburg Stadium, St Petersburg (3pm, ITV)

Final

• Sunday 15 July: France vs. Croatia at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow (4pm, BBC/ITV)

ITV's chief executive Adam Crozier has stepped down after seven years in charge of the broadcaster.

Crozier, who formerly led the Football Association and Royal Mail, has been credited with turning around the company's fortunes by building up its in-house production arm and reducing its reliance on shrinking advertising revenue, says the BBC.

He said: "Having spent 21 years as a chief executive across four very different industries, I now feel that the time is right for me to move to the next stage of my career and to build a portfolio of roles across the plc and private sectors."

Chairman Sir Peter Bazalgette will take over some of Crozier's day-to-day responsibilities for an interim period, while finance director Ian Griffiths will lead the executive team until a replacement is appointed.

According to ITV, revenue from sources other than advertising more than doubled to almost £1.9bn under Crozier's tenure and now makes up more than half of the company's income.

"The broadcaster, which makes Coronation Street, is seen as a possible takeover target in an industry that is consolidating as viewers increasingly watch content on demand," says the BBC.

Another step in ITV's move to build up production was also announced today, with the firm confirming it has bought a majority stake in the company behind BBC1's Line of Duty.

World Productions, which also makes the Bletchley Circle, Dark Angel and In Plain Sight, will become part of ITV Studios under the deal, says City AM.

One For Arthur became only the second Scottish winner of the Grand National on Saturday when he beat Cause Of Causes and Saint Are in the biggest race of the year at a sun-drenched Aintree.

But the good weather was blamed for disappointing television viewing figures. Only 8.2 million people watched the race, which was broadcast on ITV for the first time. Last year, however, ten million tuned in to watch it on Channel 4 and ITV had been hoping to improve on those figures.

"The Grand National is racing's biggest annual draw – one of the biggest, in fact, in any sport – and John Baker, Aintree's managing director, said last year a peak audience of 12 million 'would be at the lower end of expectations' for 2017," reports The Guardian.

"As a result the bare figures for ITV's coverage appear deeply disappointing. However, the headline number should also be seen in the context of a huge drop in the total television audience on Saturday afternoon, when the warm temperatures and cloudless skies at Aintree reflected the weather nationwide."

So while fewer people were watching TV at 5.15pm on Saturday most of those that were, were watching the race.

"ITV's audience for Saturday's Grand National fell short of some expectations, but its 62 per cent peak share of the total TV viewers equalled the modern record for a commercial station," says the Racing Post. The last time ITV had such a large share of the audience was during Euro 2016 when England were beaten by Iceland.

The figures represent "a disappointing footnote to the weekend", says the Guardian, which notes that there were plenty of positives to take from the race.

"The National itself had a popular, well-backed winner and there were no injuries to any of the 40 runners and riders in the big race for the fifth year in a row."

Bookies in Scotland were not celebrating after the race, however, as they prepared to pay out on One for Arthur, a 14-1 shot.

William Hill said it did not expect to make a profit on the race and Paul Petrie of McBookie.com told the BBC: "It was a bad day for Scottish bookmakers but a great day for punters and more importantly for Scottish racing."

In a perfect antidote to a post-truth world of disputed dossiers and mistrusted media, the Ultimate News Quiz returns this year with nothing but cold hard facts.

Bringing together the elite of broadcast news, the charity event pits teams from the BBC, Sky and ITV against each other in the country's toughest current affairs contest. More than professional pride will be at stake: previous prizes have included such treasures as life-sized cardboard cut-outs of the major party leaders.

Good Morning Britain's Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid will host proceedings, while celebrity guests include Jon Snow, Louis Theroux, Grayson Perry and Natasha Kaplinsky. The event is sponsored by the Premier League.

This year's beneficiaries are Restless Development, a leading international development charity working with young people across Africa and Asia, and Action for Children, which supports and speaks out for the UK's most vulnerable and neglected children.

Previous events have raised a total of £750,000.

The 2017 Ultimate News Quiz takes place at Plaisterers' Hall, One London Wall, London, on Thursday 16 March. More information is available on the event's website.

A new three-part drama about the life of England's 1966 World Cup captain Bobby Moore and his wife Tina offers fans an intimate look at football's first golden couple.

ITV's Tina & Bobby follows them through from their humble beginnings to the dizzying heights of international fame.

Former Coronation Street star Michelle Keegan plays the stylish but unpretentious Tina, considered by some to be the very first WAG, while taking on the daunting task of filling Bobby's football boots is Scottish actor Lorne MacFadyen, best known for his role as Phil Wilkinson in ITV's detective drama Grantchester.

Based on Tina's 2006 memoir, Bobby Moore: By The Person Who Knew Him Best, the mini-series explores the couple's struggle to balance family life with Bobby's super-stardom following England's 1966 World Cup win.

The "sweet-natured" biopic proves how life was very different for women 50 years ago, says the Daily Telegraph. Tina was expected to play "wifelet" to Bobby, while the footballer couldn't work out why the forthright ex-grammar schoolgirl wanted more.

"It doesn't sound like a recipe for nail-biting drama, but Tina & Bobby whizzed enjoyably through the first few years of the Moores' marriage in a blaze of giddy fashions and groovy hits," says the paper.

Giving the series an "extra shot of poignancy" is our knowledge that things end badly, it adds. Bobby had an affair, causing the marriage to collapse, and died of cancer at the age of 51.

Their son Dean, a recovering alcoholic, died 18 years later from a life-threatening complication of diabetes.

Howard Carter made history when he uncovered the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922, famously telling his patron Lord Carnarvon he could see "wonderful things" as he gazed upon ancient treasures that had not been seen for more than 3,000 years.

Carter and co are the subject of a new ITV drama, Tutankhamun, about the legendary archaeological dig that uncovered the resting place of the Boy King, starring Max Irons as Carter. Given that TV costume dramas are renowned for playing fast and loose with historical facts, prepare to nitpick with the real story behind Carter and his Egyptian odyssey…

Carter was born in London on 9 May 1874, the youngest of 11 children, and enjoyed a middle-class upbringing living with his aunts in Norfolk. His youthful interest in antiquities was inspired by the collection of Egyptian artefacts held at the nearby Didlington Hall, owned by the Amherst family.

In 1891, the Amhersts arranged for the 17-year-old Carter to accompany the renowned Egyptologist Percy Newberry to an excavation of tombsCarter proved a natural archaeologist, and continued to work on different burial sites in Egypt until 1899, when he was appointed chief inspector of the Egyptian Antiquities Service.

However, his reign was short. In 1905, a group of French tourists clashed with Egyptian tomb sentries in what became known as the Saqqara Affair. "Loyal to his men and forever obstinate, Carter defended their action and refused to apologise", choosing instead to resign, says Archaeology magazine.

In 1907, Carter found a powerful financial backer in Lord Carnarvon, a passionate amateur Egyptologist who agreed to fund Carter's excavations in the Valley of the Kings.

Remarkably, in 1922, the year Carter discovered Tutankhamun's tomb, Lord Carnarvon informed him that this would be his final year of funding after 15 years with no major successes.

On 5 November, Carter was excavating around the site of some huts when he found what he had been looking for – a flight of steps that led to the final resting place of the Boy King. After careful excavation of the steps, on 22 November, Carter made a small hole in the door and peered in by candlelight, with Carnarvon beside him.

As he stared, transfixed, at the glimpses of piled-up treasures within, an impatient Carnarvon asked: "Can you see anything?"

Carter replied with the phrase that would forever be associated with the discovery: "Yes, wonderful things!"

It was "the archaeological triumph of the 20th century", the Daily Telegraph reports, a global sensation that sparked a "craze for Egyptian exoticism" which lasted well into the 1930s. Carter himself retired from field work and became a museum agent and a popular lecturer.

Much has been made of the "curse of the pharaohs", but unlike his backer, Lord Carnarvon, who died of an infected mosquito bite four months after the tomb was opened, Carter seems to have escaped any supernatural revenge – he died of lymphoma in 1939 at the age of 64.

Who is Max Irons?

Max Irons, who plays Carter in ITV's Tutankhamun, comes from excellent theatrical stock – he's the son of actors Jeremy Irons and Sinead Cusack and the grandson of 1960s film star Cyril Cusack.

Tutankhamun is the 31-year-old's biggest TV role to date, although he has appeared in a number of big-screen films, including Red Riding Hood (2011) and The Riot Club (2014), the film adaptation of Posh. He has also modelled for Burberry and Mango.

Irons was born in London and went to Bryanston School in Dorset before being expelled for having sex with another pupil. He graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2008.

His performance in Tutankhamun has been described as "generally solid" by the Daily Telegraph, which praises his strong chemistry with co-star Sam Neill.

Meanwhile, fans on Twitter have been obsessing over his "devilishly handsome" appearance and the rather interesting moustache he dons for the role of Carter.

Irons told Radio Times: "It's embarrassing. You know, I'm fairly young and I still can't grow a beard. I spent about a month growing that moustache."

Tutankhamun airs every Sunday at 9pm on ITV1.

The third season of the historical drama Victoria premiered on British TV screens last night to polarised reviews from critics.

The 19th-century period piece, which tells the life story of Britain’s second-longest-reigning monarch, has been praised by The Daily Telegraph for its “poise, passion and higher stakes”, but The Independent counters that the famed monarch “deserves better than this middling drama”.

The Guardian strikes a more nuanced tone, suggesting that “as light Sunday-night entertainment, the endlessly unsubtle Victoria does the trick” but warns that viewers shouldn’t even think about fact-checking the plot.

This criticism is nothing new for the series. Its first two seasons were pored over by historians and critics searching for historical inaccuracies. The general consensus was that the show “mixes a lot of historical detail with fictional characters and events”, as Daily History puts it.

Does season three follow suit?

The creator of the show, Daisy Goodwin, based much of the plot on Victoria’s personal diaries, which she wrote prolifically. According to Goodwin, the monarch knew that her mother and governess might read her diaries. Later she feared that Albert might be tempted to read them “so they weren’t entirely frank”.

Goodwin told History Extra that she had created a dramatic story for some characters but tried to ensure that the drama was inspired by real events, “whether they are assassination attempts, the repeal of the Corn Laws, or the terrible potato famine”. She insisted: “All the big building blocks of the series are true.”

On the website of broadcaster PBS, which airs the show in the US, Goodwin has created a full rundown of all the facts and inaccuracies that she added to the scripts of the first two episodes of the series.

In the first episode, for example, the then-prime minister Lord Palmerston is portrayed as an exuberant, vulgar man with a notorious reputation for womanising, while Prince Albert is shown visiting London’s most desolate slums to understand the living conditions of the poor in Victorian England.

According to Goodwin, these depictions and storylines are based on reality. She says that descriptions of Palmerston refer to him as a “dandy” and a “buck” who “combined office with a rambunctious sexual adventurism”. She also says that Albert toured London slums with philanthropist and social reformer Lord Shaftesbury, subsequently becoming the first president of the Society for Improving the Condition of the Labouring Classes.

But the second episode stands on historically shakier ground, as Goodwin freely admits. Although it accurately demonstrates Albert’s hatred of gambling and Bertie’s indifference about one day becoming king, Goodwin admits to giving the monarch “more liberal outlooks than she probably had” after she resists government pressure to use violence to contain the Chartists.

She also says there is no evidence to directly suggest that weapons were planted to try to portray the Chartists as violent. “However, there was definitely a lot of what we would call ‘spin’ at the time, and the idea was to put the Chartists in the worst possible light. So it didn’t happen, but it easily could have done,” she added.

Coronation Street is facing a possible investigation by Ofcom after one of its characters made a controversial reference to slavery.

During Monday night's episode Eva Price, played by Catherine Tyldesley, looked at her hair in the mirror during a visit to the hairdressing salon and commented: "I've more roots than Kunta Kinte!" She then added: "No idea who that is, by the way – just something my mum used to say."

Kunta Kinte was a central character in Alex Haley's 1976 novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family. Adapted for the popular TV series Roots, it tells the story of Kunta Kinte's life as a slave captured in Africa and forced to work on an American plantation. Haley said the character was based on one of his ancestors and the story was a mixture of fact and fiction.

The comment prompted a storm on social media, with 278 people complaining to Ofcom.

Slavery Remembrance, which campaigns to remember the victims of the slave trade, suggested on Twitter that ITV would be unlikely to script "I've got more secrets than Anne Frank's diary."

An ITV spokesperson said: "We apologise if this dialogue has caused offence." However, blogger Delia-Rene questioned the use of the "if" in the statement.

One viewer, Kenroy Brown, quoted in the Daily Mirror, asked on Facebook: "How did these offensive words get past all the people that should have been aware of their historical content?"

Zita Holbourne of Black Activists Rising Against Cuts was similarly outraged. "There's a difference between the ignorance of a person on the street and that of a well-known show that should have its script proofed before airing," she told the Morning Star.

Trainee vicar Aaron Moffat-Jackman wanted an apology from ITV. Interviewed by the Manchester Evening News, he said: "What it did was trivialise a horrific, traumatic time for many people."

The Durrells, ITV's new adaptation of Gerald Durrell's popular book My Family and Other Animals, has turned out to be such a crowd-pleaser that it has already been renewed for a second season.

The six-part debut series, written by Men Behaving Badly's Simon Nye, is based on the celebrated naturalist's semi-autobiographical tale about growing up on the Greek island of Corfu between 1935 and 1939.

Keeley Hawes stars as matriarch Louisa, who struggles to manage her family in Bournemouth and decides to take them to Greece. The island offers warmth and hospitality, but also a series of challenges for the beleaguered widow and her four unruly children, sex-mad Larry (Josh O'Connor), gun-obsessed Leslie (Callum Woodhouse), boy-crazed Margo (Daisy Waterstone) and animal-lover Gerry (Milo Parker).

This laidback treat is just the thing to fill the Death in Paradise/Grantchester/ Downton Abbey gap, says Tom Eames in Digital Spy, who tipped the series early on to become "ITV's next big drama hit".

It's "friendly, funny and surprisingly crude in parts", he says. It may be twee at times, "but sometimes you need a bit of that after being drained by the many doldrum crime dramas that fill our screens all year round".

The Durrells has all the classic ingredients for Sunday night viewing: "warmth, nostalgia, beautiful locations and a star, in Keeley Hawes," says Gerard O'Donovan in the Daily Telegraph. It is "a gem", not only "sun-drenched and liberating", but also catching the high good humour and authentic sense of the innocent exoticism of the original.

He concludes that this "tip top" family friendly fare will "make us dive for a laptop to book our very own bit of bliss in the sun".

While My Family and Other Animals is billed as autobiographical, it was, in fact, a work of fiction, notes Joanna Hodgkin in The Times. Yet, while the incidents were all made up, "the essence of the family was preserved in their speech and escapades".

The Durrells has drifted even further from the real story, she adds, and shifted the focus from the young naturalist to Louisa, now ten years younger and much easier for contemporary women to identify with.

Son Larry, a young man with a passion for literature whose Alexandria Quartet tetralogy of novels astonished a whole generation, has been replaced by "a bumptious adolescent", adds Hodgkin. It doesn't really matter, she admits, as long as the series entertains.

And entertain it does. As well as a second series in the pipeline, The Durrells is ITV's best-rating new drama of the year and its highest-rating new show since September 2014, amassing an audience of more than eight million for its first episode.

A host of fans have been tweeting their praise.

Filming on the second season will take place later this year in Corfu.

Wayne Rooney put in a solid performance as he made his debut as a TV pundit and joined the ITV commentary team for England's game against the Netherlands at Wembley.

Faced with awkward questions over his future, the injured England skipper, who is increasingly viewed as surplus to requirements by many, used all his media experience to navigate the minefield and, without a hint of arrogance, present the case for his own inclusion in Roy Hodgson's squad for Euro 2016.

It could have been a tricky night for Rooney, says Jim White of the Daily Telegraph. "ITV asking the injured England captain to comment on the next stage of his team's upward trajectory was a bit like getting Pete Best to give his critique on Rubber Soul," he writes.

But Rooney's experienced enough to choose his words carefully. "He was as likely to say something controversial as Donald Trump is to say something emollient," adds White. "Yet, even among the blandishments, there were hints that he was fully aware of the platform he had been gifted to promote his own interests."

Rooney was eager to stress the value of competition for places and also to reinforce the value of experience.

He also displayed a sense of humour and Giles Smith of The Times says he deserved his place in the ITV team.[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"content_original","fid":"92838","attributes":{"class":"media-image"}}]]

He "got the audience entirely onside with a self-deprecating anecdote about his son asking him to get an England kit with Jamie Vardy's name on the back", notes the journalist. He also joked that the late Johan Cruyff was at least partly responsible for his lack of European Cup winner's medals, thanks to his influence at Barcelona.

The Dutch team may have done Rooney's international future a world of good by scoring twice in the second half, but "if he took any pleasure in this all new, brakes-off, Wazza-eclipsing England looking a bit stiff and losing, he manfully defeated the urge to show it", says Smith. "Solid enough stuff from the captain, then."

ITV's new period drama series Jericho has been called the new Downton Abbey by some commentators, while others compare it to the US western series Deadwood. What's it all about and why are critics hooked?

The eight-part drama, created and written by Sherlock writer Steve Thompson and directed by Paul Whittington, premiered on ITV last week. It is set in the fictional Jericho, a workers' shanty town in the Yorkshire Dales that springs up around the construction of the fictional Culverdale railway viaduct in the 1870s.

Jericho focuses on the community who live in the shadow of the bridge: Annie Quaintain (Call the Midwife's Jessica Raine) is a widow with teenage children escaping from her husband's debts, plus there's well-mannered navvy Johnny Jackson (Hans Matheson of The Tudors) and American railway agent Ralph Coates (Clarke Peters from The Wire). Sabotage, intrigue and secrets soon emerge.

While the critics' responses have been largely positive, some haven't quite known what to make of the show."When is a western not a western? When it's a northern," says Jasper Rees, in the Daily Telegraph.

"Jericho had all the appurtenances of a cowboy movie – sideburns, hosses, a saloon, a brothel," he adds. "I feel certain Clint Eastwood or John Wayne once rode into a two-bit town called Jericho."

Jericho has an "air of hybridity, of not quite knowing what it is – industrial costume drama?" continues the writer, before concluding: "Let's give a big ole yee-haw for Jericho's fearless ambition to be (slightly) different."

Thea Lenarduzzi in The Independent thinks it looks set to be "Downton for the HS2 generation". The series is being touted as a "British western" and it certainly has "the intrigue and historicity of Deadwood meets the industrial boom of Peaky Blinders", with "more grit and grunts than a packed third-class Victorian train carriage".

If what we've seen so far is anything to go by, adds Lenarduzzi, "that's a pretty gripping way to ride".

In fact, says her fellow Independent writer David Barnett, "it's quite faithful to an almost forgotten slice of history that saw the Yorkshire Dales transformed into a series of what were, essentially, frontier towns as harsh, tough and sometimes lawless as anything in the Wild West".

There was even a real Jericho, he adds, though it's thought the TV series is based more on the shanty town that built up around the Ribblehead Viaduct - Batty Wife Hole, named after a man who murdered his wife. "They missed a trick there," he says.

Jericho is "a sturdy step" if not a "flourish", writes Lucy Mangan in The Guardian.

"Visually, it's a bit suspect, a bit Downton-wi'-navvies," she adds. "The clothes, huts and warmhearted prostitutes all look a little too clean, the machinery a little too unbattered and the moors a little too unscathed, but no matter. The story's the thing, and there's plenty of that."

Cold Feet, the hit ITV comedy-drama about the joys and pitfalls of love and relationships at the turn of the millennium, returned to our screens this week – so what has changed?

The show, which ran for five series from 1998 to 2003 and gathered ten million viewers, explored the complicated love lives of three middle-class couples in Manchester. The central characters were attractive and successful, but also had to deal with serious issues ranging from infidelity, infertility and abortion to alcoholism, divorce and the death of a partner.

The key characters were Adam Williams and Rachel Bradley (James Nesbitt and Helen Baxendale), a new couple followed from their early dating days through marriage, the birth of a child and Rachel's tragic death. Their story was interwoven with that of their friends Pete and Jenny Gifford (John Thomson and Fay Ripley) and Karen and David Marsden (Hermione Norris and Robert Bathurst).

It has been 13 years since the couples last appeared on our screens and a lot has changed since then.

Life without Rachel

The show ended in 2003 with the tragic death of Rachel in the penultimate episode. She was killed in a car crash while on the phone to Adam, discussing their new flat. Her death left Adam a single father to their baby son Matthew. A final scene showed a grieving Adam leaving behind the house he shared with Rachel and saying goodbye to Manchester for a new life elsewhere. Now Adam is back in Manchester with new plans.

Mid-life crises

Since the show was last on air, the key characters have aged from thirtysomethings to fiftysomethings. With mid-life, comes mid-life crises. The show sees Adam set to marry again, to Angela (Karen David), a woman he met while working in Singapore who is 18 years younger. Is this why Adam's hair looks suspiciously thicker? Meanwhile Pete's mid-life crisis sees him depressed and down on his luck. He has lost his old job and is forced to work two jobs as a taxi driver and a care worker for old people. The taxi job is cause for a series of gags in the first episode as Adam jumps into Pete's cab, not realising his old friend is the driver.

Teenagers

When we left the couples they were dealing with pesky but adorable babies and toddlers, but as time has marched on, those children have grown into teenagers, adding a multi-generational element to the story. The first episode establishes that Adam will have issues dealing with his troubled son Matthew, played by Cel Spellman. Meanwhile, Pete's wife Jenny was pregnant back in 2003 and they are now bringing up teenage daughter Chloe – but they still haven't told her that Pete is not her father.

Sobriety

Following David and Karen's divorce, David remarried, and Karen, who is now single, sobered up. She is now bringing up their two daughters Ellie and Olivia (Ella Hunt and Daisy Edgar-Jones), while their son Josh is away on his gap year. But despite her past troubles, Karen seems to have emerged happier than she has ever been.

Troubled marriages, new romance

Meanwhile, David's new marriage to his former divorce lawyer, the tense and prickly Robyn (Lucy Robinson), is not turning out well, and could be heading for the rocks. And while Adam is set to marry Angela, could there be second thoughts as he hits it off with his sparky new landlady, Tina (Leanne Best), at his Manchester flat?

A welcome return

Cold Feet's comeback has been greeted warmly by both critics and viewers. On Twitter, fans heaped praise on the show, welcoming back their old favourites like long-lost friends and complimenting them for ageing well.

While many recent TV comebacks have received mixed reviews, Cold Feet has not suffered this fate. The difference with Cold Feet, suggests Jordan Paramor on Digital Spy, is that instead of completely recasting the show with lookalikes, the main cast reprise their roles. The original writer Mike Bullen has also penned the script.

Yes, it was "witty, well-made drama", agreed Michael Hogan in the Daily Telegraph. Not as fresh or original as it once was, perhaps, but still "compelling and warm" because "it wasn't purely wallowing in nostalgia or trading on past glories", but offers "something more sobering and poignant".

Sam Wollaston in The Guardian agreed it was an "unexpectedly pleasant reunion". It's a relief, he says, that "something that could have been a really bad idea isn't".

The new series of Cold Feet airs on ITV on Mondays at 9pm.

The Rugby World Cup kicks off this week, and promises to take the profile of the game to new heights. But it won't just be new converts to the sport on a learning curve, seasoned rugby fans will also be getting used to the television coverage, which is once again on ITV.

Live rugby has been the preserve of the BBC, Sky and BT Sport in recent years, but the commercial broadcaster has a history of covering World Cups and is not so much dipping its toe in the water ahead of its Six Nations deal with the BBC, as diving in at the deep end, with live coverage of every single match of the tournament.

So, why has ITV entered the arena and what will the channel's coverage be like?

High stakes:

The tournament organisers "are determined the tournament will grip the entire nation", says The Guardian. For six weeks rugby will have "an unprecedented hold on the nation's media" and ITV "is determined to draw mass audiences in weekend prime time and use the tournament as a launch pad for its Six Nations rights deal from next year".

ITV will also be desperate to make a fist of it for another reason. "The commercial broadcaster, which has the exclusive UK rights to the tournament, has experienced a 5 per cent drop in viewing share so far this year," notes the FT. "Several key programmes have flopped, while others have lost audiences to BBC and Channel 4... But the Rugby World Cup, which starts on Friday, promises a particularly upmarket demographic that the broadcaster has struggled to attract."

In short, it cannot afford to drop the ball.

Low expectations:

Not everyone is looking forward to it. TV critic David Munday of the Plymouth Herald warns his readers: "Every rose has its thorn and I am fairly confident that the prickly protrusion growing on the stem of England’s upcoming Rugby World Cup will be the television coverage... Anyone who has watched ITV's World Cup, Champions League or FA Cup coverage in recent years will know how poor they can be."

Who's in the studio?

With so much at stake ITV has drafted in some big names.

John Inverdale will be the channel's lead host and will be backed up by fellow anchormen Mark Durden-Smith and Craig Doyle.

The real talent is to be found among the pundits, who will include Jonny Wilkinson, Lawrence Dallaglio and Jason Robinson, members of England’s victorious 2003 team, and the coach Clive Woodward. Irish legend Brian O’Driscoll, former Wales captain Gareth Thomas, former Scotland coach Sir Ian McGeechan will also be watching the matches.

There will also be analysis from World Cup winning captains Sean Fitzpatrick of New Zealand, Australia's Michael Lynagh and Francois Pienaar of South Africa. Other faces include George Gregan, who won the trophy in 1999, England Women World Cup winner Maggie Alphonsi, and former England international, David Flatman.

And the commentary box?

There will be some familiar faces at the matches too, with well-known commentators including Jon Champion, Miles Harrison and Nick Mullins behind the mic. ITV's roster of co-commentators includes former players Geordan Murphy, Scott Hastings, Shane Williams and Ben Kay.

Cult TV personality Gabriel Clarke leads the team of pitch-side reporters which also includes Jill Douglas, Fran Donovan and Martin Bayfield.

Will there be any innovations?

ITV claims to have been working on its coverage since 2011 and there will be the kind of saturation coverage sports fans have come to expect, with spidercams floating above the play and cameras on rails running along the sidelines. Referees will also be fitted with camera and there will be specialist 'cherry-picker' line-out cameras and tracking cameras behind the posts giving a perspective of oncoming play.

Each stadium will have at least 30 cameras, and the bigger arenas will have up to 40.

A mobile app has also been released offering news and match highlights, plus statistics, facts and figures. During live games fans will be able to vote on Television Match Official decisions and other crucial moments in real time. Games can be watched live via the ITV Player app.

In London ITV has also teamed up with Transport for London to relay live match information to commuters on the underground using information boards.

What about the adverts?

The biggest gripe is likely to be about the adverts, which many fear will get in the way of proper analysis. But ITV hopes to capitalise. "The audience is skewed towards the male, upmarket viewer much prized by advertisers," says Martin Kelner in the Daily Mail. "Watch out for the ads for premium lagers and male moisturiser."

Will it be any good?

It has to be as far as ITV in concerned, but viewers, particularly those who already know the rules, may be nervous about what's to come.

"The tournament is hugely important to ITV, which hasn't exactly been awash with ratings winners of late and has lost live Champions League football, a guaranteed crowd-puller, to BT Sport," says Kelner in the Mail, who believes that signing Inverdale could be a smart move.

"He is currently riding a wave of popularity by default, having been replaced on the BBC's Wimbledon highlights programme by the disastrous Clare Balding-fronted Wimbledon 2Day." He will also be popular with advertisers and sponsors, as he "looks like the sort of chap who might drive a Land Rover, and he almost certainly moisturises".

Fans who have lambasted ITV's football coverage for being too flippant may not like what they see. Mark Demuth, controller of sport at the broadcaster, suggests that the tone will be informal. "We intend to make our coverage inclusive and engaging," he says. "The serious business takes place on the pitch. We will address the editorial talking points and key issues, but we realise there'll also be lighter moments and we'll reflect those in our coverage during the course of the tournament. In that regard, it's the same as covering a Football World Cup."

He also hinted that the coverage may be aimed at those who are not experts. "We're mindful that not every viewer will be familiar with all the laws of the game," he adds.

Celebrities, politicians and fans have been paying tribute to the late singer and television host Cilla Black, who passed away at her home in Spain aged 72.

Sir Cliff Richard led the tributes to his close friend and showbiz legend. "I will always think of her as outrageous, funny, incredibly gifted but above all full of heart," he said. "She was a very special person, and I have lost a very wonderful friend, I will miss her dearly."

Black, famous for her role as a presenter on Saturday night shows Surprise Surprise and the much-loved matchmaking show Blind Date, was the highest-paid woman on TV during the 1980s and '90s.

She was awarded an OBE in 1997 and honoured last year with a special Bafta award for her contribution to television, but there are some things you might not know about the Scouse icon.

Her stage name came about in an unusual way:

Born Priscilla Maria Veronica White to a father who worked at the docks and a mother who ran a market stall, she was told by teachers that she would be "suitable for office work". After a brief stint as a typist, she began singing and performing in local pubs and clubs in Liverpool. But it was only after a misprint in a music paper that she changed her stage name to Cilla Black and began a successful pop career, the BBC reports.

She outed an undercover journalist on Blind Date:

Nicola Gill, a 27-year-old writer for Cosmopolitan magazine, bluffed her way on to the show, but was quickly rumbled by Black, who lectured the young journalist in front of a live audience. "You don't work as a temporary secretary," Black said. "I know for a fact that you're actually an undercover journalist and you've robbed somebody of coming on a proper blind date."

She got the Blind Date job because she was "sexless"

Producers initially refused to launch the show because it was littered with sexual innuendo and considered too risqué, but they changed their minds when it was suggested that the good Catholic Liverpudlian would help "keep it clean". She gave the impression – "unusually for the '60s music scene – that she was more likely to opt for cocoa with her mum after a gig than a beer with a Beatle", says The Guardian. Black recalled the moment ITV producer Alan Boyd called to offer her the job: "I've thought of an idea how to pass it by the Independent Broadcasting Authority. I thought 'who is the most sexless person on television?', and I thought of you!" he said.

She hated selfies:

Unlike her friend Ringo Starr, Black never refused to sign autographs for her legions of fans when out in public, but she did have one pet hate: the selfie. "I don't like the selfie because it's too close. There ain't no people with arms long enough to do a selfie of me."

She had only one regret:

In a career that spanned more than five decades, Black said she had only one regret: not breaking the US. Despite appearing alongside the Beatles on the influential Ed Sullivan Show numerous times, her career never took off across the pond. "Now it wouldn't be any problem but in them days you had to live there to be a success, so I was a wuss. I bottled out and I was homesick and I came home," she told the BBC last year. The decision allowed her more time with her children and husband Bobby Willis. The couple were inseparable and reportedly never spent more than three nights apart from each other.

Employees at ITV are staging a 24-hour strike in protest at the "huge disparity" in pay offered to executives and staff.

Members of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and technicians' union Bectu voted for industrial action in response to a two per cent pay offer from the company.

The unions say the pay rise fails to bring the workforce in line with the cost of living increases over the past ten years and are asking members to protest outside the company's AGM in Westminster today.

ITV said it was "confident" that viewers would be unaffected. However, Good Morning Britain was the first live show to show signs of a change. Martin Lewis, of moneysavingexpert.com, who normally presents a weekly slot on the programme, tweeted yesterday: "Sadly I won't be doing deals of the week on Good Morn Brit tomorrow due to ITV strike. As NUJ member I prefer not to cross picket lines."

Presenter Susanna Reid did not appear either, although an ITV spokesman told The Guardian she had a "day's holiday which was planned as part of the post-election coverage".

The newspaper says there are also reports that the company rescheduled filming for Coronation Street and Emmerdale, and pre-recorded its lunchtime show Loose Women.

According to the Press Gazette, most of the journalists taking part in the action work on ITV's regional news programmes.

Insiders at ITV Granada told the Manchester Evening News that there was "chaos" behind the scenes, with "employees working overtime and celebrity guests having to be rebooked".

ITV said it made an above-inflation pay increase on top of the 11.5 per cent of pay rises over the last four years and claimed that it was the "only UK broadcaster to pay the living wage".

But Gerry Morrissey, Bectu general secretary, said staff were "very unhappy" with the offer. "There is a huge disparity between the pay offered to staff and the bonus package to executives as well as shareholder dividends," he said. "Our members are helping to make the profits but are not sharing in them."

ITV has released a trailer for the Downton Abbey Christmas special, the last ever episode of the hit period drama. So will the Downton household live happily ever after, or are there more surprises in store?

The Downton Christmas special, set to air on Christmas night, is one of the most anticipated shows of the season. It is also the final episode of the sixth series and serves as the finale for Julian Fellowes's hugely successful drama.

The two-hour episode is set in later 1925 and on the eve of 1926. The trailer shows the New Year's Eve setting with Mrs Hughes (Phyllis Logan) leading a chorus of Auld Lang Syne.[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"content_original","fid":"87741","attributes":{"class":"media-image"}}]]

It also shows Lady Mary's new husband Henry Talbot adjusting to married life, and sees the return of Lily James as Lady Rose.

Fans have been promised "love and loss, happiness and heartbreak", says the Daily Mail. "But the question of Lady Edith's happy ending is deliberately left unanswered."

Edith (Laura Carmichael) receives only a fleeting part in the festive trailer, featuring an awkward encounter with Bertie Pelham - though it does seem like Lady Mary will try to patch up her relationship with Edith, after she ruined her sister's engagement to Bertie at the end of series six by revealing Edith's illegitimate daughter.

The trailer also raises the question of whether Mary will find happiness in her own recent marriage, as we see a pensive Henry (Matthew Goode) trying to take on the role of stepfather to Mary's son, while also dealing with the death of close friend Charlie Rogers (Sebastian Dunn).

Meanwhile, the tear-jerking trailer hints at heartbreak for Daisy, who misses a chance with an admirer. But there's some happiness in romance for Anna and Bates who celebrate "a day they have been waiting for", which some have speculated could be the arrival of their first child.

And following on from the sad scenes of Thomas Barrow's (Rob James-Collier) attempted suicide in series six, the trailer suggests he will finally depart Downton.

Apparently, Jim Carter's Carson is also struggling to come to terms with new developments – "if it means the end of Downton, then us too", says Rachel Moon in the Daily Mirror.

Even Michelle Dockery, who plays "queen of the put-down" Lady Mary, has described the final take as "terribly emotional", says Moon.

She adds: "What everyone's really hoping for from the Christmas special is a happy ending for secret single mum Lady Edith."

Yes, one Christmas present to Downton fans would be if unlucky-in-love Edith were reconciled with her ex-fiancee, Bertie, says Amy Blumsom in the Daily Telegraph.

It's true that the trailer shows very little of Edith or Pelham, says Blumsom, but a prop reportedly left behind at an Oxfordshire church during filming hints that Edith may finally have found some happiness.

Downton Abbey: the Finale airs on Christmas Day at 8.45pm on ITV.

Downton Abbey's 'horror' dinner party scene shocks fans

19 October

Fans of Downton Abbey, used to the demure swish of silk petticoats and the clink of fine bone china, got a nasty shock on Sunday night when episode five of the hit ITV period drama featured a gory dinner party scene.

The usually genteel drama became "a horror story fit for Halloween" when Robert, Earl of Grantham, (Hugh Bonneville) suffered a burst stomach ulcer right in the middle of a large dinner party, reports What's On TV. Viewers were warned that the episode contained some "shocking scenes" but there was no mention of the one-man bloodbath that was about to erupt.

The earl told his wife he was "feeling a bit rough", and then, in "scenes worthy of The Exorcist", says the website, stood up and started spewing blood all over the table, before anyone had time to take cover. "There's a dinner that delivered more than you bargained for," said former chauffeur Tom Branson to Neville Chamberlain – "more than viewers bargained for, too," says What's On TV.

Indeed, viewers reacted immediately to the scene, sharing their views on Twitter.

Many complained there was not enough warning for such a gruesome scene and they were left reeling, reports Digital Spy. "Has the whole of the UK just uttered 'Holy sh*t!' in unison!!?" asked one fan.

Others, however, seemed to appreciate a bit of excitement. "Just when I thought Downton Abbey was being a bit slow – someone vomits blood on a future prime minister. Blimey," wrote one tweeter.

There were some viewers though, who maintained a stiff upper lip. "So the 'shocking scenes' in Downton was a bit of coughing up blood? Presumably it was shocking because he did it before brandy," wrote the media blog.

Commentators were also thrown off balance by the uncharacteristic grisliness of the scene. Some saw it as the beginning of the end.

"It was positively ill mannered," says Gerard Donovan in the Daily Telegraph. Especially in the presence of His Majesty's government. "Has Lord G no shame?"

But ultimately, says Donovan, it's just another example of the bitter realities of the times, from failing stately homes and Bolshevik kitchen maids to lady magazine editors. "The Twenties was the decade when the upper classes really began to let standards slip. It was then that the rot set in."

In the Radio Times, Ellie Walker-Arnott says she was reaching for the smelling salts. It's not that Robert's illness has come as a shock, she says. He has been clutching his stomach in discomfort for weeks now. But no one could have imagined it would all "come out" so "disgustingly". And all over the dinner table.

But Walker-Arnott wasn't complaining. It shows that Downton Abbey can still pack "a few gut punches", she says. That episode was "more Game of Thrones than Downton Abbey", she adds. But it "woke me up from a Downton Abbey daze. I can't wait to see what next week has in store."

Downton Abbey: five things we can expect from series six

10 September

The sixth and final series of Downton Abbey starts this month, with audiences bidding farewell to the much-loved period drama with a special episode on Christmas Day.

As the debut episode approaches, plot details have begun to emerge from the usually tight-lipped actors and producers.

Creator Julian Fellowes has confirmed the series takes place six months after last year's Christmas special, but what else can we expect?

Downton is downsizing

The Crawley family is forced to lay off some of its faithful staff and get used to doing menial tasks, as cost-cutting gets under way in the country house. "It is a scene that would no doubt horrify the Dowager Countess: Lord and Lady Grantham venturing below stairs to prepare a snack, without the aid of a single servant," says the Daily Telegraph. The change is being driven by family patriarch Robert Crawley, played by Hugh Bonneville, who is struggling to hold on to the stately home with dwindling finances. "The final season very much has a flavour of the end of an era," says the actor.

Love is a major theme

Does imperious widow Lady Mary, mother of Downton's heir George, finally find true love, asks The Guardian. "It's the main part of the final season," says the show's executive producer Gareth Neame, but he remains tight-lipped on whether the final series will end with her getting married. Meanwhile, wedding bells are expected for Carson and Mrs Hughes after he proposed in last year's Christmas special. "Although he refuses to call her by her first name while at work," says the Telegraph.

There's an 'epic catfight'

Expect an almighty row between Lady Mary and her sister Lady Edith as the show winds to a close. Joanne Froggatt, who plays ladies' maid Anna, spilled the beans: "There's a great argument between the sisters. They've sort of mellowed a bit over the years, but this is a reminder of how things were. I can't say what it's about, but it's great. Everyone's going to be [saying] 'I can't believe she actually said that!'"

Mary's past comes back to haunt her

Last series saw Lady Mary embarking on a secret tryst in Liverpool with love-struck suitor Lord Gillingham. After taking Gillingham for a risqué test drive, she decided to ditch him and pursue her budding romance with Charles Blake. And now it seems her scandalous pre-marital affair might not be as cleverly hidden as she imagined. An "unwelcome visitor delivers an ultimatum" to Lady Mary in the first episode of the series. Is Mary about to become yet another Downton blackmail victim?

Goodbye for Thomas?

Thomas Barrow, Downton's resident scheming footman, was once the show's undisputed downstairs villain, but his struggle to live with his homosexuality has also won him plenty of fans. Whether you love him or hate him, most viewers would be sorry to see the Abbey's biggest troublemaker go – but that may be exactly what's in store. Actor Robert James-Collier told the Daily Telegraph that the show's creator, Julian Fellowes, told him: "I hope you're prepared to be the tragic hero" at a script read-through. "Am I going to die? I don't know," Collier-James teased.[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"content_original","fid":"84371","attributes":{"class":"media-image"}}]]

Downton Abbey series 6 previews: Grantham 'on the brink'

14 August

Anticipation is building for the sixth and final series of Downton Abbey, which starts next month, and will conclude with a Christmas Day special.

Selected members of the press were given a glimpse of the first episode in Mayfair yesterday – and most were happy with what they saw.

The action begins in 1925, with the aristocracy teetering on the brink – although at the outset, it seems that very little has changed, says Ben Lawrence in the Daily Telegraph. As the household set out on "a beautifully shot hunt", only Lady Mary's insistence on no longer riding side-saddle hints that "change is afoot".

Yet it isn't long before we hear of belt-tightening, says Lawrence. The Abbey is having to make do with less servants, tenant farmers might lose their land, and the cottage hospital is threatened.

But, as usual, adds Lawrence, Julian Fellowes's script soon sprinkles in "a potpourri of plot-lines", from blackmail and an unsolved murder to conjugal rights and female emancipation. Lady Edith even takes tentative steps into London literary life, meeting Virginia Woolf and Lytton Strachey.

The decline of the British aristocracy appears to be the main theme of this final series, says Julia Raeside in The Guardian. The calendar days almost visibly fly past and characters constantly mention what year it is, "just in case our attention wanders".

The Crawley family still enjoy their hunts and parties but can no longer ignore the changing times, says Raeside. "Your lot's finished," spits one new character, who arrives "to thoroughly ruffle the feathers of her posh overlords".

Meanwhile, adds Raeside, the daughters of Downton, Lady Mary and Lady Edith are now both single parents looking to further their independence, "so for once, we are given respite from their love lives, although suitors are bound to surface again before the end of the series".

Yes, the first episode offers "a fairly typical compilation of the sort of thing that has made Downton Abbey both so beloved and so easy to lampoon", says Gabriel Tate in The Times. There is "ravishingly filmed" expository dialogue and yet "another working-class character with a chip on their shoulder, scuttling out of the woodwork with mischief in mind", as well as the odd "nonsensical plot twist".

As expected, there was plenty of romance, melodrama and thwarted ambition, painted with the broadest of brush strokes, says Tate, who adds that the elegiac tones and themes of resolution aren't applied with a lot of delicacy. Still, Tate admits "Downton is too long in the tooth, too set in its ways and too successful to bother about attracting new fans".

Meanwhile, it was a cast photo for the series that got fans talking. After a promo picture for the final series emerged online on Thursday, The Wrap reports that fans have been in a "frenzy" about the characters who are missing from the shot. Some have demanded in caps lock: "Where is Tom Branson?" while others asked: "Where are Tom & Sybbie and Lady Rose?"

If it's any consolation to Tom Branson fans, The Wrap notes that Allen Leech, the actor who plays Tom, will appear in at least one scene in the upcoming season. But fans will have to wait until September to see what exactly happens to their favourites.

Downton Abbey to 'end on a high' after next series

27 March

This autumn's series of Downton Abbey will be its last, ITV has announced. The decision to make the sixth series the hit drama’s last has provoked protests from fans but a murmur of relief from some of the show's critics.

Since it first aired in 2010, Downton has won a string of awards, including two Baftas, three Golden Globes and 11 Primetime Emmys, but producers of the show say it's time to bring the saga to a close."Inevitably there comes a time when all shows should end and Downton is no exception," said the programme's executive producer Gareth Neame at a press conference. He added: "I think our feeling is that it's good to quit while you're ahead."

Julian Fellowes, creator and writer of the series about an aristocratic British household in the early 20th century, told Reuters he has nearly finished writing the sixth season. "Obviously, I am sad," said Fellowes. "It has been an extraordinary part of my life and career."

The news has prompted mixed reactions among viewers with some already mourning the end of the series and others rejoicing in its demise. Many viewers are already speculating on how it will end.

It is a black day for PBS, the show’s distributor, says Deadline Hollywood. Downton single-handedly put its Masterpiece franchise back on the map and in the black. A PBS spokesperson said the series has been "a game-changer" for the franchise that struggled for years to find a corporate sponsor, "until Downton came along and turned it back into the prettiest dress in the shop".

No doubt many viewers will also be in mourning, writes Ben Lawrence in the Daily Telegraph. In the UK alone, each episode has been watched by an average of 11 million people. "But could Downton's departure from our screens actually be a good thing?" he asks. Certainly the recent series has been showing signs of fatigue, says Lawrence. Lady Mary has had a seemingly endless carousel of suitors and other plots have drifted without a satisfying resolution. No series can last forever and it's best to bow out while ratings are still high. "Fans should refuse to mourn Downton's passing."

Yes, it's the right time to say goodbye, says Tim Teeman on the Daily Beast. There are only a certain number of tense dinners, lost letters, and nervous breakdowns over spilled consommé the most skilful screenwriter can spin dramatic gold from. But how will it end?

"There will be no mass apocalypse or poisoning by one of Mrs Patmore's Victoria sponges," says Teeman. "Fellowes is happier writing in sepia than the harsh contours of the present day." Teeman believes the show’s writer and producer has a sadistic streak but thinks his vision of Downton will end "with rose-tinted glasses intact." He concludes: "That being said, if he gives 'Poor Edith' a storybook-happy ending I'll choke on my cucumber sandwich."

I won't be shedding a tear, says Viv Groksop in The Guardian. Downton "has taken its place in the British psyche and become a bizarre, reactionary cultural ambassador for us across the globe occasioning Chinese oligarchs to engage butlers and housemaids, and American fans to host Downton parties", says Groksop.

She adds: "Maybe it's worth shedding a tear of frustration here because, yes, there will be yet another sodding season".

But is it really all over for Downton? Perhaps not. Producers have said there are no plans for spin-offs, but they haven't ruled out a Downton Abbey movie.

Is Downton Abbey ending? Maggie Smith exit prompts rumours

3 March

Dame Maggie Smith has revealed plans to hang up her pearls and bow out of the popular ITV series Downton Abbey, fuelling speculation that the series might end this year.

The report comes after NBC chairman Bob Greenblatt announced that Fellowes's new show for the US network, The Gilded Age, will launch "next season".

Greenblatt's statements prompted commentators to conclude that Downton Abbey is coming to an end, though the show's fate has yet to be confirmed by ITV or producers Carnival Films. A spokesperson for the channel told Digital Spy: "We wouldn't comment on speculative stories about our programmes."

But the news that one of the shows biggest stars Maggie Smith, who plays sharp-tongued dowager countess Violet Crawley, is set to leave, is "now adding more fuel to the fire", says the Daily Mail.

In an interview with the Sunday Times, Smith, 80, said that she couldn't see how the programme could continue after its upcoming sixth season. She added: "I mean, I certainly can't keep going. To my knowledge, I must be 110 by now. We're into the late 1920s."

The news has prompted some to consider how the series will end. In Forbes, Neil Midgley writes that "Fellowes must already be storylining those final episodes, and viewers will be expecting a satisfying conclusion".

Midgley goes on to predict what some of those plot-lines might be including the death of the Earl of Grantham. "The one clear way to signal the end of Downton as we know it would be to kill off the earl," says Midgley, adding: "It is, perhaps, no accident that Fellowes gave the earl a health scare in the Christmas episode." He also suggested that Lady Mary might take over the estate, with Mr Talbot in tow.

Whatever happens, writes Tim Teeman of the Daily Beast, "we will bitch about its infuriating plot twists and inconsistencies. And we will say it's done, and tired, and get frustrated at yet another misplaced letter". But Teeman admits, the show drives us mad, and "happily so", because of these fiendish games and occasional, surprising moments of sweetness.

Viewers will have to wait and see which, if any, of the rumours about the show are true. But fans mourning the imminent end of the show might take heart that the ultimate plot twist might be a series revival a few years down the track.

With Hollywood A-listers falling over themselves to appear on our television sets, we are living in a golden age for the small screen.

Here are our top box set picks from last year:

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Set in New York City in the late 1950s, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel follows the life of Miriam “Midge” Maisel, a housewife with two children, whose life is turned upside down by a sudden break-up and discovery that she possesses a talent for stand-up comedy.

Last year's premiere was a smash hit, taking home eight Emmys, and the second season is due out in December on Amazon Prime Video UK.

“With a much-needed message for our times, a talented ensemble cast, and the period appeal of a Mad Men-with-a-feminine-flair production design, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is well on its way to becoming the next obsession for Gilmore Girls devotees,” says IndieWire.

The Americans

The reputation of this remarkable spy thriller has only grown since its original broadcast six years ago. It tells the story of Philip and Elizabeth Jennings, two Soviet KGB spies in an arranged marriage posing as Americans in the US suburbs in the wake of the election of Ronald Reagan.

Both the Hollywood Reporter and The AV Club have described the show, which wrapped up its sixth and final season early last year, as one of the greatest in the history of television. For almost every year during its run it has been included in the American Film Institute Awards’ Top 10 TV Shows of the Year and nominated for a handful of Emmys. The sixth and final season came out in March.

“The Americans remains the best show on TV about family - and, you know, the best show on TV - because it is both tender and unflinching in its examinations of lies big and small, good and bad,” says Grantland.

Bodyguard

Fresh from her role on the incredibly well-received Line of Duty, Keeley Hawes returns to the BBC in Bodyguard. Hawes plays Home Secretary Julia Montague who is protected by heroic war veteran David Budd, played by Richard Madden.

The six-part drama debuted in August 2018 on BBC One, attracting an audience of 6.7 million viewers, making it one of the biggest TV drama launches of the year.

The programme charts the relationship between the pair as they clash over politics and Julia realises that her bodyguard could soon become her biggest threat.

The new political thriller has been lauded by critics with The Daily Telegraph's Michael Hogan describing the show as “riveting” and saying he “had to remind myself to breathe”.

“Starting with a suicide bomb attack and only becoming more breathless, this was edge-of-the-seat, shush-the-family fare,” he adds.

The Guardian's Lucy Mangan also hailed the programme: “The first 20 minutes of Bodyguard would be pure James Bond if it were not for the fear and doubt that convulse Budd when he is preparing to do his flinging or his saving.”

By the end of the episode, it was clear Jed Mercurio - who was also behind Line of Duty - has “created something as dark and moreish as ever”, says Mangan.

BuzzFeed UK's Scott Bryan complimented Mercurio's ability to “take it to the absolute maximum it can go - slowly turning the screw, really building up the tension and never becoming unbelievable and never jumping the shark”.

Black Earth Rising

Autumn “always brings an abundance of TV riches, over-spilling with clever thrillers, witty period pieces and entertaining new series”, Sarah Hughes writes for i News. “Black Earth Rising, however, is a class above the rest.”

The dark, stylised thriller from acclaimed writer and director Hugo Blick centres on the horror of the 1994 Rwandan genocide and its aftermath, as well as Africa’s evolving relationship with the West.

Playing out across three continents, the series stars Bafta-award winning actress Michaela Coel as Kate Ashby, who was rescued during the genocide and brought to Britain as a child by her adoptive mother Eve (Harriet Walter).

Kate and her mother clash when Eve takes on a controversial case at the International Criminal Court at the request of her friend and colleague Michael Ennis (John Goodman). After an attack outside the courtroom, long-buried secrets about Kate’s past slowly begin to unravel.

“As much as it’s an examination of moral boundaries and international justice, it’s also a solid thriller, taking its time to lay the breadcrumbs of several mysteries amid a constant murmur of menace,” says The Guardian’s Rebecca Nicholson.

Blick uses the show to ask “big, thorny questions, stoking debate rather than closing it down, not least when it comes to conversations over history and to whom it belongs,” she adds. “This is rich, demanding drama that is well worth investing in.”

On BBC iPlayer

The Split

Emmy-winning writer Abi Morgan returned to the BBC this autumn with a new series exploring modern marriage, seen from the view of the Defoes, a family of female lawyers at the heart of London’s emotionally charged divorce circuit.

Starring Nicola Walker, Stephen Mangan, Deborah Findlay and Anthony Head, The Split is “a generous joint, rich, juicy and marbled with possibility”, says The Guardian’s Lucy Mangan.

“The interplay of family and office politics, the shifting perspectives on marriage from people at different stages of loving and being left, the ramifications of abandonment and failure, the fragility of family, all of it refracted – still so rare! Still such potential! – through a primarily female lens is a meal by itself,” Mangan writes.

Morgan has proven pedigree, having won Baftas for Sex Traffic and White Girl and an Emmy for The Hour, but the relentless sniping in her latest series may not be for everyone.

“Like a good divorce lawyer, to watch this unusually complicated drama you will need to do some preparatory work, pay full attention to the proceedings and, most essential, you have to be able to enjoy watching people tear themselves apart,” says Sean O’Grady in The Independent.

On BBC iPlayer

Save Me

After the shock twist that rounded up the end of series one, Lennie James and Suranne Jones return for a second series of Sky Atlantic drama Save Me.

The entire first series was released on Sky’s Now TV on-demand service early last year, becoming the most rapidly binged box-set in the broadcaster’s history, with 700,000 watching the entire series in the first week alone, according to the Radio Times.

The first series followed Nelly Rowe, an innocent man arrested on suspicion of kidnapping his estranged 13-year-old daughter Jody, and his fight for justice.

On Now TV

Ordeal By Innocence

As the BBC slogs its way through endless literary adaptations to suit all tastes, one of the finest examples of recent years is Ordeal By Innocence, a three-part TV reincarnation of Agatha Christie’s 1958 novel of the same name that went somewhat under the radar upon first broadcast in April.

Featuring Luke Treadaway, Anna Chancellor, Bill Nighy and Morven Christie, this rapturously British crime saga adaption has been described as a “real belter” by The Daily Telegraph, which praised its “doomy soundtrack, gloomy visuals and hyper-intense performances”.

The Guardian says that after such light-hearted Christie adaptations as Poirot and Miss Marple, Ordeal By Innocence gives us “the Agatha Christie adaptation we need”.

On BBC iPlayer

The City and the City

The peculiarly titled The City and the City is an adaptation of China Mieville’s award-winning sci-fi novel that aired on BBC Two early in 2018, telling the story of a murder investigation that ensues when a foreign exchange student winds up dead in a fictional post-Soviet European city that is actually two separate places at the same time.

Mind-bending and mysterious, the original novel received plaudits upon publication, taking home the Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel and tied for the 2010 Hugo Award for Best Novel.

The BBC’s intriguing adaptation, starring David Morrissey, is much the same, taking the dark, complex narrative and weaving a sleek four-part drama that the London Evening Standard describes as “a clever take on the crime-show genre that has echoes of past Hollywood classics” and “smart without crowing about it”.

On BBC iPlayer

Vanity Fair

Based on William Makepeace Thackeray’s Victorian novel, this adaption features an all-star cast including Michael Palin, Suranne Jones and Martin Clunes.

The show is set against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars, following the protagonist Becky Sharp as she attempts to escape poverty and ascend the heights of English Society.

The seven-part series hit our screens in September and received rave reviews, with Susannah Butland of the London Evening Standard saying: “From the entrancing start, you feel as if you are in safe hands. There's an all-star cast...who are such pros that after establishing where you recognise them from, you believe they are their characters.”

Woman in White

“How is it men crush women time and time again and go unpunished?” is one of the first lines of the first episode of the BBC’s adaptation of Wilkie Collins’ classic Victorian novel The Woman in White.

The story follows Walter Hartright, a teacher who encounters a woman who has escaped from a lunatic asylum on London’s Hampstead Heath.

He later takes up a position as a drawing master in Cumbria, but as he falls in love with one of his pupils, he discovers a connection between her family and the strange woman's troubled past.

“To justify this latest going-over of Wilkie Collins’ novel, Fiona Seres’ adaptation foregrounds a dishearteningly ageless theme: the abuse of vulnerable women by sadistic men,” writes Den of Geek. “Like style, that one just never goes out of fashion.”

On BBC iPlayer

Butterfly

Starring Golden Globe nominated actress Anna Friel, Butterfly follows the story of an 11-year-old boy, Max, who makes the huge decision that he wants to live life as a girl. The shows tackles issues that have been at the forefront of debate lately and questions how parents can decide what is best for their child while trying to support and protect them.

Polly Hill, head of ITV Drama, commented: “Butterfly is a beautiful story about a young boy on the cusp of puberty who doesn’t feel comfortable in his own body. It’s a heartwarming and emotional script from Tony Marchant that focuses upon gender identity and one boy’s search to be recognised for who he really is.”

Radio Times describes the show as a “landmark drama” and note that it was warmly received by prominent members of the transgender community, who called it “heartbreaking”, “important” and “beautiful”, and said it “starts a much needed discussion about trans children”.

Requiem

BBC One's supernatural drama thriller Requiem is already building a fearsome reputation as a sharp, spooky - and often bafflingly complex - series.

Lydia Wilson stars as Matilda, who, after the suicide of her mother, realises that she had a box filled with press clippings about the mysterious 1994 disappearance of toddler Carys Howell in the fictional Welsh town of Penllynith, leading Matilda to the town to chase loose ends.

The Daily Mirror has described the show as “the spookiest TV in years”, with the “same effect as mess-with-your-head movies The Shining, Black Swan and Don’t Look Now”.

On BBC iPlayer

Westworld

This remake of the classic 1970s sci-fi film was one of the most hotly anticipated new shows in years. It centres on a theme park that recreates the Wild West and is filled with life-like androids, with human guests allowed to partake in all the debauchery and violence of the era they can muster. If that sounds like a recipe for disaster, that's because it is.

HBO calls Westworld "a dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the future of sin" which "explores a world in which every human appetite, no matter how noble or depraved, can be indulged".

The cast is the kind of all-star line-up that until recently you would have expected to see in a big-screen blockbuster rather than a cable TV show, with Anthony Hopkins, Thandie Newton, Evan Rachel Wood, James Marsden, Jeffrey Wright, Ed Harris and on and on.

Written by Jonathan Nolan and his wife Lisa Joy, and produced by JJ Abrams, the off-camera talent isn't too shabby either.

On Now TV and Sky Atlantic

Billions

Brian Koppelman, David Levien and Aaron Sorkin's TV show is a “slow-ish burner”, says Wired, with the drama building steadily over its three seasons.

It stars Damian Lewis as Bobby Axelrod, an eccentric billionaire who made his fortune in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks by turning the stock market chaos to his advantage. In his pursuit is Charles “Chuck” Rhoades Jr, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, played by Paul Giamatti, who is convinced Axelrod is using illegal insider trading.

“Billions belongs in a special class of dramas that skyrocket upward in quality from one season to the next,” writes the New York Times. “[It] is the new Breaking Bad, with white collars instead of blue meth.”

On Now TV

Hang Ups

Based on Lisa Kudrow’s successful US show Web Therapy, Hang Ups is an unusually structured show that follows a troubled therapist who gives quick-fire therapy sessions through a webcam.

It stars Steven Mangan as Dr Richard Pitt, whose patients are played by a veritable who’s-who of British acting talent, from Richard E Grant to Charles Dance to David Tennant.

The show was a hit with critics. The Guardian says: “these brilliant improvised performances bring such a spontaneous authenticity that it’s easy to forget you are not spying on a real session”.

The Daily Telegraph takes a less lenient view on the show’s loose grasp on reality, saying: “I should imagine that practitioners will roll eyeballs at its flagrant liberty-taking. But taken with a pinch of salt, Hang Ups is a ribald skewering of the talking cure that’s almost too much of a tasty treat.”

On Channel 4

Atlanta

After the release of his hit single and video This Is America under the pseudonym Childish Gambino, you would be forgiven for thinking Donald Glover’s profile couldn’t go much higher.

But the US musician and actor is also turning heads with his comedy-drama Atlanta, described by The Guardian as “the smartest and funniest” show on TV.

It follows music manager Earnest “Earn” Marks (Glover) and the quirky and unusual people he crosses paths with as he attempts to make a career out of the music of Alfred “Paper Boi” Miles, an old friend in Atlanta.

The second season of Atlanta has concluded, and this surreal, irreverent and frequently hilarious show has received rave reviews from critics and the public alike.

“Is Atlanta the best comedy on TV? Or the best drama? The best family saga about the impossibility of either fatherhood or son-hood? The most depressive stoner romp? The most anti-romantic love letter to a city?” asks Rolling Stone. “Simply ‘the best show on TV’ will have to do.”

On Now TV

Sweetbitter

Based on Stephanie Danler's semi-autobiographical novel of the same name, Sweetbitter was adapted by Danler herself and optioned for TV by Brad Pitt's production company Plan B Entertainment in July 2017, Bustle reports.

“Quickly securing an impressive cast in the form of emerging British stars Ella Purnell and Tom Sturridge, as well as UnREAL actress Caitlin Fitzgerald, Sweetbitter hit screens as an authentically millennial tale,” the site adds.

This six-part comedy-drama is set in 2006 and follows the story of 22-year-old Tess (Purnell) in a hyper-realistic coming-of-age story, set against the glamorous backdrop of New York’s most elite restaurants, where she gets a job as a waitress.

“If Sweetbitter were longer”, Variety says, “I suspect it would lose much of its charm, but six 30-minute episodes is a welcome antidote to the number of television dramas with bloated episode runtimes.

“Rather than overstay its welcome, it remains fun and breezy.”

On Amazon Prime

Killing Eve

Killing Eve, from BBC America, is a unique and decidedly 21st-century take on the spy genre, with the hero and the charismatic villain played by women.

The show follows Eve, played by Sandra Oh, an MI5 security officer who finds herself caught in a conflict with an assassin known as Villanelle (Jodie Comer). However, this is more than a simple cat-and-mouse chase, according to Autostraddle, which covers LGBT and feminist news.

“First, it’s super queer in a way that is entirely unpredictable and exceedingly interesting,” the site says. “Villanelle sleeps with men and with women – sometimes at the same time. But you can tell it is only women who she becomes infatuated with in a deep and seemingly unconscious way.”

The Verge says: “It’s a recipe that, if executed poorly, could have fallen prey to age-old issues dealing with LGBTQ representation on-screen, like queerbaiting or male-fantasy lesbianism. Yet even with its shocking finale... Killing Eve escaped those criticisms entirely, thanks to a few specific choices - including the decision to let Villanelle and Eve confess, if not fully act on, their feelings for one another.”

On BBC iPlayer

The ABC Murders

With David Suchet hanging up his Hercule Poirot moustache for the last time, it is John Malkovich’s turn to play the famous Belgian detective in the BBC’s latest adaptation, which premieres on Boxing Day.

Set in the 1930s, the three-part mini series sees Poirot face a serial killer known only as A.B.C. As the murder count rises, the only clue is a copy of The ABC Railway Guide left at each crime scene. Poirot’s investigation is thwarted at every turn by an enemy determined to outsmart him.

Adapted by Ordeal by Innocence writer Sarah Phelps, The ABC Murders sees Malkovich square off against Harry Potter’s Rupert Grint as Inspector Crome, with a stellar cast also including Andrew Buchan, Eamon Farren, Tara Fitzgerald and Shirley Henderson.

On BBC One on Boxing Day at 9pm

The Kominsky Method

Rolling Stone describes this heartfelt series about an acting coach, played by Michael Douglas, helping his own agent, portrayed by Oscar-winner Alan Arkin, cope with the loss of his wife as “an oldie (in terms of characters), but a really goodie”.

“A dramedy in the best possible sense, with the sad moments making the jokes feel more potent and necessary, and the humor in turn making the melancholy feel both bearable and real,” the magazine says.

At this year’s Golden Globes ceremony, the show took home two major awards: one for Best Comedy TV Series and the other for Best Actor in a Comedy TV Series for Douglas.

A Very English Scandal

Among the best TV shows of last year is A Very English Scandal, which The Guardian calls a “ravishing study of vengeance, tabloid titillation and the high camp of British politicians”.

The series tells the story of the sex scandal that effectively ended the career of Liberal Party Leader Jeremy Thorpe, played by Hugh Grant, in the 1970s.

Crammed full of obsessive attention to detail, the mini-series races through decades of British political history in just three episodes. “Lively and funny and joyously irreverent, a thumbed nose to propriety that delights in showing the old boys’ club with its knickers down,” says Den of Geek.

Adrian Chiles is to be replaced as the host of ITV's football coverage by BBC Radio 5 live presenter Mark Pougatch, who will anchor the rest of this season's Champions League, Europa League and England coverage.

There is an element of intrigue to the announcement as ITV have refused to comment on the reasons behind the change, but Chiles has been stood down with immediate effect.

He is the latest big name casualty at the station, following fellow presenter Matt Smith and veteran co-commentator Andy Townsend out of the door. Roy Keane also quit his punditry duties on the eve of the World Cup.

"Perhaps tellingly," says The Times, "Chiles was not mentioned at any point in the statement released by ITV this morning, which instead focused on Pougatch's elevation."

ITV also refused to comment on whether Chiles would continue to work with the station. The former BBC man joined ITV in a mammoth deal said to be worth millions per year in 2010. He was signed to present the station's football coverage and also front its new breakfast show, Daybreak, which was soon axed.

Although his everyman approach did not go down well in all quarters – there was a campaign to have him sacked after the World Cup – he remains "a broadcasting heavy hitter", says Mark Webster in the Daily Mail.

Webster belives Chiles performed well at the World Cup but says he should have left in the summer. In recent months he has been "trying too hard, being offbeat for offbeat's sake", he argues.

Others agree. "For a TV channel that is meant to be showing the best games football has to offer – Champions League, major international tournaments and, er, England – Chiles' happy-go-lucky charm just doesn't fit," says Jack de Menezes in The Independent.

His colleague, James Mariner, diagrees. Chiles "would say what those of us in the stands where thinking," he says. "Mark Pougatch is a first-class broadcaster and will no doubt fill Chiles' shows admirably, but I can't help feeling ITV have made their move too soon."

And, as the Daily Telegraph notes, Pougatch could be the big winner. "ITV will not have Champions League football next season but the move presents an intriguing prospect of Pougatch possibly hosting a Premier League Saturday evening highlights show from the 2016-17 season, should ITV outbid the BBC's Match of the Day for the rights."

Andy Townsend, the TV pundit credited with popularising some of football's most infamous cliches, is to leave ITV after 15 years.

The broadcaster, which has lost the rights to the FA Cup and will no longer show live Champions League and Europa League games after this season, is offloading personnel including Townsend and sport anchor Matt Smith.

According to David Sale in the Daily Mail, the decision for Townsend to leave was "mutual", as the former Republic of Ireland midfielder wants "wants to work on live football and has offers from other international broadcasters".

The move has raised some eyebrows as ITV has been tipped to join the bidding when the Premier League TV rights come up for auction in February. "Shedding football personnel doesn't say much about ITV's ambitions to take Match of the Day highlights off the BBC," notes Sale.

Although he describes Townsend as "one of the best operators in the difficult role of co-commentator", the midfielder who played for eight clubs including Chelsea and Aston Villa in a 20-year career, has been widely lampooned for his use of cliches during commentary. The Daily Telegraph published a Townsend phrasebook before the World Cup, while football fans have been encouraged to play 'Townsend bingo' during matches.

However, he has maintained his position as ITV's chief co-commenter, even surviving a stint in the much-derided Tactics Truck when ITV briefly held the rights to the Premier League. Last summer the Daily Mirror even claimed that Townsend's predictable interjections and cliche-ridden analysis added to the enjoyment of watching a game.

Top Townsend-isms:

For me, Clive: Having spent his career alongside commentator Clive Tyldesley, Townsend developed an easy familiarity with his colleague, frequently referring to him by name. It has become Townsend's calling card. The phrase has been adopted outside football and is now frequently used to preface a statement of the blindingly obvious.

In and around: Originally meaning in the general vicinity of, the expression has taken on a life of its own. Townsend often urges players to get "in and around" the penalty area, although he has subverted the phrase to such an extent that it can now be applied to an actual player. A striker might be encouraged to get "in and around" the goalkeeper, for example.

As an established part of the football lexicon, its usage continues to develop. Pundit Kevin Kilbane recently referred to incidents that occurred "in and around" Christmas.

That's better!: A verbal pat on the back for a team or player, usually after they have taken Townsend's advice on an aspect of their game. Townsend, for example, may berate a winger for failing to provide a decent cross, but if he manages a good delivery next time he will praise him with a heartfelt "that's better", delivered with breathless urgency.

Your Arsenals, your Chelseas: There may only be one Andy Townsend, but in his world there are several Arsenals, and Chelseas... and Messis and Ronaldos (although in the latter case he is right). This phrase is used to emphasise the qualities of the subject. A team may have qualified for the Champions League but will they be able to compete with "your Barcelonas and your Real Madrids"? Conversely, Townsend was no doubt wondering earlier this week how Liverpool would handle the challenge of "your Wimbledons" in the FA Cup.