7 h. ago ‘Terry Jones tried to eat the studio’s pet goldfish!’ The tiny village TV station that became a 90s smash hit

When the people of Waddington teamed up to broadcast self-written soap operas, horoscopes and magic tricks, little did they know it would be the most successful channel in the world – despite the chaos behind the cameras‘What a cock-up!” Those were the words that ended the first broadcast on the world’s tiniest TV station. Hours earlier, four young locals had been wrangled into being live presenters at their quiet village Sunday school. Despite dead air and awkward line delivery, it was the poor transmission quality that made the stars – Michelle Hornby (31), Jonathan Brown (27), James Warburton (25) and Deborah Cowking (21) – apologise and cut the inaugural broadcast. But Cowking, not realising they were still on air, slipped past the censors and summed up the evening’s vibe perfectly: chaotic, amateur and unrelentingly British.This was The Television Village – a first-of-its-kind social experiment from 1990 that had the Lancashire village of Waddington “watch, make and become” tel...

Events

28 h. ago Stranger Things fans gasp 'how did Netflix not notice this?!' as they spot glaring wardrobe blunder in blink

The smash-hit Netflix series has been releasing its final season in batches - with the finale set to land on New Year's Day.

Sport

31 h. ago Backlash at 'woke' Stranger Things as 'comically bad' penultimate episode faces barrage of bad reviews

The smash-hit series is currently airing its final season, with the grand finale set to air on New Year's Eve.

Politics

7 d. ago ‘I wouldn’t answer Stephen Graham’s calls’: Erin Doherty on dreams, danger and ghosting Adolescence’s creator

She won an Emmy for her electric performance in the Netflix smash hit, but the casting process wasn’t exactly hiccup-free. The actor opens up about a year of success, struggle – and how she nearly became a footballerFor a while, Erin Doherty ignored Stephen Graham’s calls. Not deliberately, she stresses with a laugh. “I’m just really bad at my phone. I’m such a technophobe, and he knew that,” she says. They had made the Disney+ show A Thousand Blows together, in which Doherty plays an East End crime boss in Victorian London, and Graham had talked about an idea he wanted to dramatise, about a teenage boy who is catastrophically radicalised by online misogyny. A couple of months after they’d wrapped A Thousand Blows, Graham and his wife and producing partner, Hannah Walters, kept trying to get in touch. “I was getting voice notes from him and Hannah being like, ‘Erin, pick up your phone!’” Doherty’s girlfriend told her to ring him back and Graham offered her the role in Adolescence. S...

Politics

7 d. ago I started losing my hair aged TWO with condition that impacts 1 in 50 Brits – I battled bullies but the tide is turning

JASMINE Mitchell proudly spoke about alopecia after being crowned the champion of Great British Bake Off last month. The inspirational 23-year-old opted to remove her wig to film the smash hit TV series and admitted the hair loss condition "changed her perception of beauty". She made an immediate impact far beyond her home city of Edinburgh...

Events

8 d. ago Inside Stranger Things creators The Duffer Brothers' lives from famous ex

Identical twin brothers Matt and Ross Duffer have become two of the most in-demand showrunners in the world thanks to their Netflix smash hit Stranger Things

Politics

1 week ago Emotional Only Fools and Horses icon David Jason to appear 'one more time'

Fans of the legendary BBC comedy are set to be thrilled after Del Boy actor David Jason revealed he was set to make one final appearance at a convention dedicated to the smash hit

Politics

1 week ago Thug hit woman with wine bottle and said 'I'll smash her head in'

Courtney Harris, 32, chased the victim when she got into a taxi and told the driver "I'm going to smash her head in."

Events

1 week ago ‘A lot of these scary blokes doing time are terrified little boys’: Dennis Kelly on writing a new kind of prison drama

The new project from the creator of Pulling and Utopia is the real-life tale of a teacher whose life is upended by working with inmates. ‘It upends your prejudices,’ he saysWriter Dennis Kelly has a few mantras he’s always lived by. They’re all there, clearly defined in his very earliest interviews, right from the start of his career. Write like you mean it (perhaps that’s why his plays have so much heart and drive). Never write for money and never compromise (maybe that’s why two of the best TV shows he had a hand in, the controversial conspiracy drama Utopia and the Sharon Horgan comedy Pulling, were cancelled after two series). And finally: make sure your writing always contains a secret.In the case of Matilda, the smash-hit stage adaptation he wrote alongside Tim Minchin, Kelly only figured out the secret hidden inside his writing long after the awards came flooding in. It turns out that Matilda, a show that glows with love but also aches with a sense of a loss, was al...

Events

1 week ago I was on The Wheel and Michael McIntyre showed his true colours when the BBC cameras stopped rolling

Comedian Michael, 49, created the smash-hit BBC game show and has presented it since its 2020 debut.

Politics

1 week ago Kirsty MacColl's brutal death, wealth and who gets Fairytale of New York royalties

Kirsty MacColl continues to dominate the music industry around Christmas, with her smash hit Fairytale of New York alongside the late Shane MacGowan – but who receives her royalties?

Events

1 week ago In a middling year for television, Pluribus is ending things on a high

Apple’s smash hit sci-fi drama has confounded and compelled in equal measure and provided hope for small screen innovation at an underwhelming time In many ways, it feels like 2025 was the year that television gave up. Old favourites such as The White Lotus and Severance let us down, with gaping plotholes and a total absence of forward momentum respectively. New shows have failed to break through, too, largely due to an expectation that television shows are now the things people put on in the background while they scroll on their phones.All in all, it seems like there hasn’t been a show that people could really get their teeth into this year. That is, until Pluribus came along. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago The magical life of Toni Basil: how she taught Elvis, enchanted Bowie

The woman Quentin Tarantino called ‘the goddess of go-go’ is one of the most connected and accomplished in Hollywood. At 82, she recalls working with Tina Turner, Bette Midler, Frank Sinatra, David Byrne, Margot Robbie, Leonardo DiCaprio - the list goes on - and the time Bing Crosby made a pass at herIf your knowledge of Toni Basil begins and ends with her cheerleader-chanting smash hit Mickey, that’s just the tip of a very deep iceberg. By the time Mickey topped the US charts 43 years ago this week, in 1982, Basil had already spent four decades in the entertainment industry. The deeper you go, the more places you realise she was. When Elvis Presley sings “See the girl with the red dress on” in his 1964 movie Viva Las Vegas, and points across the dancefloor, the gyrating girl in the red dress is Basil. When Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper take LSD at the end of Easy Rider with two sex workers, one of them is Basil. When dance troupe the Lockers show case their pre-hip-hop street dance...

Politics

1 week ago The magical life of Toni Basil: how she taught Elvis, enchanted Bowie – and had a smash hit with ‘Mickey’

The woman Quentin Tarantino called ‘the goddess of go-go’ is one of the most connected and accomplished in Hollywood. At 82, she recalls working with Tina Turner, Bette Midler, Frank Sinatra, David Byrne, Margot Robbie, Leonardo DiCaprio - the list goes on - and the time Bing Crosby made a pass at herIf your knowledge of Toni Basil begins and ends with her cheerleader-chanting smash hit Mickey, that’s just the tip of a very deep iceberg. By the time Mickey topped the US charts 43 years ago this week, in 1982, Basil had already spent four decades in the entertainment industry. The deeper you go, the more places you realise she was. When Elvis Presley sings “See the girl with the red dress on” in his 1964 movie Viva Las Vegas, and points across the dancefloor, the gyrating girl in the red dress is Basil. When Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper take LSD at the end of Easy Rider with two sex workers, one of them is Basil. When dance troupe the Lockers show case their pre-hip-hop street dance...

Events

2 w. ago Simon Cowell's new boyband December 10 release debut video Bye Bye Bye

Simon Cowell's newest boyband, December 10, have released their debut video as they wow fans with a cover of a smash hit from another iconic group from the noughties

Culture

2 w. ago Gladiators star Legend is playing himself on BBC show and insists 'I'm the whole package'

Matt Morsia is best known as the cocky and panto villain character on BBC smash hit Gladiators, and now he has revealed once the cameras stop rolling, his persona doesn't change

Politics

2 w. ago Netflix adds 'most quotable comedy ever' and it's shooting up the charts

Two smash-hit comedy films have just been added to Netflix and the original cult classic is racing up the top 10 chart

Events

2 w. ago Peter Kay reveals more details on Phoenix Nights movie reboot as he reunites with co

PETER Kay has revealed more details on the Phoenix Nights movie reboot as he reunited with a co-star and revealed his AI de-ageing plan. The Bolton-born comedian, 52, launched the smash hit series which made him a star back in 2001 and now he's talking about bringing it to the big screen. Over two decades...

Politics

3 w. ago Dawn French's quiet life in tiny UK village after leaving behind £6.6m mansion

The Vicar of Dibley star and M&S Christmas advert favourite sold her 15-bedroom Fowey mansion for £6.6 million in 2021 and now lives a quieter life in a secluded Cornish village near the Devon border.

Economics

3 w. ago Uncle Buck star who's barely aged a day teases new 'frighteningly delicious project'

Back in 1989, Jean Louisa Kelly shot to fame as rebellious teen Tia Russell in the smash hit Uncle Buck. Now 53, she's excited about an exciting new movie in the works

Politics