Liam and Amy’s on-off romance may be on again

Liam has changed his mind yet again about his relationship with fellow Big Brother housemate Amy.First it was on, then it was off and now, three days after he called an end to his romance with the glamour model, he does want to be with her after all, for the time-being anyhow.Liam ditched Amy at the weekend, telling her that their in-house relationship was little more than “a bit of fun”, though he has been sending out mixed signals ever since.Most recently, the bookmaker’s favourite for the title, has spent much of his time giggling and flirting with her on her bed.Not surprisingly, Amy seems just as confused over her feelings for the cheeky chappy.“We actually get on better now we’re still flirting - he’s kind of cuddly and touchy-feely more than he was before.”However, she did confide in half-way housemate Kara Louise that she would be interesting in seeing how they got on together away from the confines of the reality show.

“I suppose realistically, after this, we’re more likely to have a relationship with each other more than anyone else - who am I going to trust,” she said.

However, she may have to wait some time, given that he is expected to stay in the house until the bitter end while she could looks a likely candidate for a much earlier eviction.

The Talented Mr Ripley

“The Talented Mr Ripley” is one of those films that you can watch many times and pick up something new from the storyline. The film was directed and written (screenplay) by Anthony Minghella, who won an Oscar for his film, “The English Patient” and also plenty of BAFTA and other awards for “Cold Mountain” and “Truly, Madly, Deeply”. “The Talented Mr Ripley” itself was nominated for 5 Oscars and it’s easy to see why.

The film is set in Italy in the 1950s and has stunning shots of Venice, Rome and Naples. It has an all-star cast featuring Matt Damon, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Cate Blanchett.

Tom Ripley (Matt Damon), after pretending to be a student at Princetown starts chatting to a wealthy businessman. He pretends to know his son – Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law), and is asked to travel to Italy to bring back the errant playboy. Tom Ripley is offered $1,000 to do this. He arrives in Italy and tracks down Dickie and his fiancée, Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow) and quickly makes friends. They make fun of him a little because of his dress sense and his manner, but he is introduced to their wider circle. Tom Ripley becomes rather obsessed with the pair, particularly Dickie Greenleaf and the film makes you wonder if there is a hidden homosexuality to Dickie.

In one scene, Tom is caught by Dickie’s friend Freddie watching the couple making love below deck on a boat and earns the nickname of “Peeping Tom”. Slowly Ripley infiltrates their life , but Marge becomes suspicious of his motives.

On holiday with Dickie, Ripley professes his love for him but murders him on a boat and sinks it. He quickly assumes the identity of “Dickie Greenleaf” but manages to persuade Marge that Dickie has simply deserted her. However Freddie discovers the truth and the story continues with Ripley trying to avoid the police and the attentions of the heiress (Meredith Logue) (Cate Blanchett) who thinks he is Dickie.

There are many twists and turns to the plot, with a surprise ending.

Tom Ripley is not a “pantomime baddy” but a character that you learn to feel sorry for as he shows his vulnerability and is quite sad and lonely as well as obsessively in love. He has a great ,musical talent and is intelligent of nature However, he also yearns for Dickie’s lifestyle, is ruthless, calculating and secretive. This is Matt Damon at his acting best.

Paris Hilton linked with celebrity BB

Celebrity heiress Paris Hilton is reportedly being lined up to star in the next series of Celebrity Big Brother.

The show’s producers will be keen to ensure that the 2008 series is a success following the racism rows which dogged their most recent efforts and celebrities don’t come any bigger or more colourful than Miss Hilton.

Not only is she a veteran of reality-TV, having starred in her own show, The Simple Life in the US, but she also has plenty of experience of being locked up with a number of unsavoury characters thanks to her incarceration for driving offences.

“Paris is really keen to do the show because she wants to show people the real her,” said a Channel 4 insider.

“She wants to show the British public that there is more to her life than shopping and partying and she would certainly make an interesting housemate.

“It all depends on whether or not we can afford her.”

Given that her high demands would probably take up most of the show’s budget, it could be the cases that the rest of the housemates are a bunch of C-listers, but then, what’s new?

The Diana Years

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the tragic and untimely death of Diana, Princess of Wales in a car accident in Paris. There have been a series of events during the year – such as the Concert for Diana and the forthcoming Memorial Service.

The Diana Years provided unseen footage accompanied by the music of the time (Abba, Barbara Streisand, Neil Diamond and Aha). We are told that much of the music comes from Diana’s own personal collection, Various people have taken part in the series including James Whitaker (Royal Correspondent), Sarah Bradford (Royal biographer) and Andrew Morton, controversial writer of “Diana: Her True Story”.

The first programme of the series focussed on Diana’s life during 1980 – 1984.

Prince Charles had been known as a bit of a playboy, with much speculation regarding the woman that he would marry to become the future Queen. In 1980, Lady Diana Spencer was receiving much press attention, at a time when the UK had been in an economic gloom and needed some “good news”. Diana was just 19 at the time and was a children’s nanny at a kindergarten in London. Although she shared a flat with friends, Diana had never really had a boyfriend before Prince Charles, was quiet naïve and had a closeted upbringing. The Spencers are a well-known aristocratic family and many of Diana’s relations were courtiers or friends of royalty. They own estates in Northamptonshire including Althorp.

The program went on to describe the engagement of Charles and Diana in February 1980 and their subsequent wedding on 29 July 1981, which was a huge media event, watched by 750 million people in 75 countries. The wedding was a fairytale dream and Diana thought that her marriage would provide the stability and loved that she craved (she was an unwanted 3^rd daughter whose mother left when she was very young).

Diana’s honeymoon was not as happy as it could have been, as she felt tremendous pressure on Royal engagements and made nervous speeches in public. She had developed bulimia (her sister Sarah also had an eating disorder) and she lost a noticeable amount of weight in a short period of time. Within 3 months of the wedding, Diana became pregnant to William. It was a difficult pregnancy for her and she had a number of public engagements.

Although, she was besieged by eating difficulties, Charles and Diana were happy following the birth of William in June 1982 and often showed genuine displays of affection. They embarked on their first Royal trip together to Australia and New Zealand and took William with them. They were shown meeting the crowds, appearing on a radio programme and dancing at a charity ball.

Diana was becoming more popular than Charles – something which clearly irked the Prince and caused tension between them. Despite the difficulties, Diana became pregnant again and gave birth to Harry in November 1984. Unfortunately this was the point at which Diana herself identified that the marriage was over (Charles had resumed his friendship with Camilla Parker Bowles and was unhappy that the baby was 1. not a girl and 2. had red hair).

The programme ended with a preview of the next episode, which will examine the breakdown of her marriage.

Davro enters Albert Square

Eighties star Bobby Davro is to join the cast of BBC soap EastEnders, it has been announced.

Davro’s career had suffered something of a slowdown since his heyday as a top flight stand-up comedian/impressionist came to an end.

However, the show’s producers have big plans for his character, Vince.

Viewers will first meet Vince in October when he knocks over Walford’s Miss Misery Shirley Carter, who he then takes shine to after taking her to the hospital.

Speaking to the Sun, a source with inside knowledge of the show, said: “Vince likes a challenge - and he’ll have a big one on his hands trying to get Shirley to crack a smile. She’s going to find him very irritating.”

Almost inevitably, parallels have already been drawn with Davro’s showbiz pal Shane Ritchie’s Alfie Moon, who left the show in Christmas 2005.

Commenting on his new role, Davro said: “I’m really chuffed and looking forward to becoming a soap opera luvvie.”

You Can’t Fire Me, I’m Famous

You Can’t Fire Me, I’m Famous is a series about people that have been famously fired and how that they have recovered from it. Piers Morgan introduces the programme and explains who the person is, showing how they got fired and how it affected their lives. He interviews them and examines their history.

This week Anne Robinson, the host of ‘The Weakest Link’ explains how a rift with the Royal Family left her out of work and prompted the start of her television career.

Showing a ruthless streak as a young reporter she got a job at the Daily Mail thanks to an underhand exclusive over the death of the Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein. Spotted as a talent, in more ways than one, by her boss Charles Wilson, she ended up marrying him and being fired for it. It didn’t do much for the marriage.

Soon she was at the Sunday Times though, where she was given the big stories befitting a star journalist. This was also the beginning of her excessive drinking, as befitting any journalist on Fleet Street. One child, a divorce and losing all the stories later, she left the Sunday Times, thin, alcoholic and ill. As she lost custody of her daughter, she stopped drinking and went back to a local newspaper in Liverpool.

Later, she returned to Fleet Street and became assistant-editor at the Daily Mirror. Back in the limelight she started appearing on television. At this point she got into trouble with the Royals. Diana turned up late for a remembrance service in 1982 and Anne and James Whittaker spotted the story of Diana’s weight loss, prompting a conclusion of anorexia nervosa, which later proved to be bulimia. Anne was sacked on the back of the furore and ent to the television screens.

Her first appearance was on Question Time where she was pitted against Norman Tebbit. Then, she covered for Barry Took on ‘Points of View’ which she did regularly, but really came to prominence as the hard-hitting presenter of ‘Watchdog’.

Finally, she got the role of the presenter of new quiz show ‘The Weakest Link’ where she got to be as rude as possible to nervous contestants. Setting a standard for the savage twenty-first century, she is much imitated worldwide, but Anne remains the original, even taking the show to America.

Anne Robinson was a more convincing subject than Big Brother contestant Jade Goody who appeared on an earlier programme of the series, and it will be interesting to see how the series progresses.

Beckham to star as Robbie’s boyfriend in hit US show?

Just weeks after arriving in Los Angeles, David Beckham has been linked with his first major acting role - as Robbie Williams’ gay lover in Desperate Housewives.

While the former England captain has yet to make an impact in the states through his footballing skills, should the rumours be true then Beckham would be well on his way to becoming a household name in the country.

According to the creator of Desperate Housewives, Marc Cherry, Beckham had expressed his wish to be paired up with his actor friend Tom Cruise for the part, though the show’s producers have other ideas.

“David and Robbie are perfect to star as the new neighbours’ best friends - the gorgeous, eccentric couple flown over from Blighty,” he said.

“David’s keen, but though the obvious choice was to work with Tom Cruise, we wanted someone who matches him in height and well, Britishness, so Robbie is the one.

“They’re both funny, game for a laugh and ridiculously macho, so it should work wonderfully. The English are pitch-perfect for sending themselves up.”

Fans of the show claim that a good-looking male character is needed to replace the recently-departed Jesse Metcalfe.

TV Heaven, Telly Hell

TV Heaven, Telly Hell is another formula night-time show that’s really just an excuse for a chat-show. The normal crowd that turn up as panelists for all comedy shows take a turn being interviewed by regular panel-show member and team-leader Sean Lock, taking his turn as host.

The premise of the programme is that the guest chooses four programmes that they either love or despise and then they have a chat about it. The show finishes with a reconstruction that the guest would have liked to have happened. Previous guests have included Alan Davies (QI), Bill Bailey (Never Mind the Buzzcocks), Nick Hancock (They Think It’s All Over), David Mitchell (Would I Lie to You), and in this series Alan Carr (The Friday Night Project).

Tonight’s show starred Lee Mack (They Think It’s All Over and Would I Lie To You).

First choice was a TV Heaven of ‘Stars in Their Eyes’. This may seem a surprise, to say the least. A programme where the checkout girl from Tesco’s impersonates Bonnie Tyler may not seem like heaven to many but it was one specific occurrence. Some poor soul was doing an impression of Chris de Burgh singing ‘Lady in Red’ (bit of a surprise there). Meanwhile Mathew Kelly, the show’s host let the real Chris de Burgh come on stage behind him and start singing. A genuine piece of surreal television.

Next up was Rod Hull and Emu, seen initially brutalising Michael Parkinson and on another occasion throwing himself into a supermarket freezer. For the uninitiated, Rod Hull was a comedian who had a dummy emu. Emu was mute and fine for a short period of time before he turned nasty. This normally resulted in him attacking Rod Hull but if there is anybody else around it will attack them as well. The weird thing is to imagine the Hull without the dummy on his arm attacking himself and other people.

Telly Hell was ‘Are We Being Served?’, where host Arkin Salih shows that we aren’t being served properly in our stores, as if we didn’t know. To prove his point he intimidates the poor minimum wage workers and deliberately sends them on wild goose chases.

Finally, with more TV Heaven, it’s back to the Seventies with ‘The Indoor League’. This was a programme of pub sports set in Yorkshire, hosted by professional Yorkshireman Fred Trueman, smoking his pipe and drinking a pint. Due to changes in schedules this went out at 5:15PM: children’s television time. As the two point out, this is in stark contrast to having a squeaky clean youth in a broom cupboard with a puppet. Nowadays it could only be shown after the 9pm watershed.

Finally, the reconstruction had Lee Mack doing ‘Stars in Your Eyes’ as Limahl from Kajagoogoo, whilst Sean dressed as Mathew Kelly and threw the real Limahl on behind him.

The show is good, harmless after hours entertainment and Sean Lock is a very amiable and humorous host. He manages to strike up a good relationship with all of the guests, but then he should, as he appears on all of their shows.

Amy and Liam the latest BB romantic casualty

The Big Brother house is not the place to have a successful long-term relationship, so it would appear.

Following the recent split of this series’ main couple, Ziggy and Chanelle, Liam has called an end to his in-house relationship with Amy.

The 23-year old tree surgeon first met Amy just four days ago when he was consigned to the ‘Halfway House’ where she was a resident.

While it has been only too clear to the show’s viewers that he has been enjoying the time he has been spending with her, Liam has claimed that the relationship was turning him into a show-off and a chauvinist, as well as affecting the atmosphere of the house.

In a heart-to-heart talk with Amy, he said: ”Because you were here a chauvinist part of myself came out… Lads tend to show off in front of lasses and I’m not prepared to do that.

“I’m just thinking about here and the situations and I’m thinking about you a little bit… I can’t help but think anything between me and you causes a bad vibe in the rest of the house, which is what I don’t want,” he added.

Perhaps, however, the move is part of his grand-plan for the show.

Liam is now the joint favourite alongside Brian to take this year’s crown and add to the £100,000 of Big Brother’s money he has already pocketed.

The Friday Night Project - with Joanna Lumley

The concept of The Friday Night Project is a chat-show where the guest is the host, or the “Guest Host”, with the regular guests being the same people. It is a formula chat show with a little twist.

The current regular guests are Alan Carr and Justin Lee Collins, two camp comedians, one gay and the other with a beard. Previous regular hosts were Jimmy Carr (no relation – we think) and Rob Rouse. Each week a famous person hosts the programme but is really the guest – confused yet?

Each week the formula starts with an introduction to the guest host and a cameo show of the regular guests playing in the life of the guest host. This week the host was Joanna Lumley, of The New Avengers, Sapphire and Steel & Absolutely Fabulous. Justin and Alan go to a photo-shoot with Joanna directing, resulting in a very camp set of Seventies-style photographs.

Other standard sections include Friday Night News, where Alan and the guest talk about the week’s news from a ridiculous standpoint. This is followed by “What’s Hot, What’s Not?” where they discuss the ups and downs of the week. This week Alan and Joanna discussed the relative merits of sharks off the coast of Cornwall, renting pets and whether the Spice Girls would rather do a gig in Baghdad or Wolverhampton.

As Big Brother is on, there is also a regular sketch about the reality show, with the guest host impersonating Davina McCall and Justin Lee Collins impersonating mother-hen Carole, beard and all.

This is followed by “Who Knows Most About the Guest Host?” This is a quiz, hosted by the guest host with the regular guests accompanied by a guest guest (no really). This week the guest guests were Charley from Big Brother (boos all round) and smoothie Nigel Havers. This resulted in a very nervous Charley running into the audience in a coat covered in fivers.

The guest host is then subjected to “Ask Me Anything” were they answer any question from the audience. This week’s questions included “Have you ever fallen asleep on the night bus?”, which Joanna said she had fallen asleep on the night-train, drooling. “Would you rather have a bum on you forehead or feet on your chin?”; after mis-hearing “bum” for “bump” she changed opinion to feet on the chin and worrying about the sanity of the questioner.

She also played a prank on a member of the public by pretending to have injured herself on a Paris to London bike-ride, resulting in the victim cycling into a celebratory finish on Patsy wig. Finally, a member of the studio audience (reminiscent of Patsy) gets to win a prize based on the guest host’s knowledge. This always includes Alan Carr doing a terrible impersonation that is always obvious.

Finally, the evening is finished with a guest musical act. This week it was Amy MacDonald. Not “The Lovely” Aimi MacDonald, the Glaswegian comedy actress of “at Last the 1948 Show” but a quite sweet looking Amy MacDonald, a Glaswegian singer-songwriter, performing “Mr Rock and Roll”.

The Friday Night Project is pretty standard post-pub fair but enjoyable nonetheless. Collins and Carr are immensely watchable and the guest hosts are normally pretty game, Joanna Lumley especially so. Don’t expect too much but sit down and enjoy.

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