The Gilded Age is back for more more society scandal as it returns tonight
Christine Baranski and Cynthia Nixon star in lavish period drama The Gilded Age, which is returning to Sky tonight with its brand new series after two years off our screens
Fasten your corsets, The Gilded Age is back on screen tonight (Mon 23 June, Sky Showcase 9pm), the closest thing we've had to fill the void of Downton Abbey. Created by Lord Julian Fellowes, the genius behind worldwide smash Downton, this New York City-set period drama has all the usual scandal and secrets we've come to expect. Christine Baranski and Cynthia Nixon play sisters Agnes and Ada, rigidly conventional aunts to orphaned Marian (Louisa Jacobson), who came to live with them.
Set in the late 19th century, it's a period of immense economic and social change, when empires were built. As season three begins, following the Opera War of 1883, the old guard is weakened and the Russells stand poised to take their place at the head of society. Bertha (Carrie Coon) sets her sights on a prize that would elevate the family to unimaginable heights while George (Morgan Spector) risks everything on a gambit that could revolutionise the railroad industry - if it doesn't ruin him first.
Across the street, the Brook household is thrown into chaos as Agnes refuses to accept Ada's new position as lady of the house. Peggy (Denee Benton) meets a handsome doctor from Newport whose family is less than enthusiastic about her career. As all of New York hastens toward the future, their ambition may come at the cost of what they truly hold dear. With lavish locations and costumes, feisty heroines, dowagers and dames, dashing men, class clash, pearl clutching, society gossip, rebellion and upstairs / downstairs drama, this ticks all the boxes for period drama fans.
The Gilded Age is airing on Sky Showcase tonight at 9pm.
There's plenty more on TV tonight - here's the best of the rest..
DEATH IN THE DESERT: THE NURSE HELEN MYSTERY, CHANNEL 4, 9pm
With new evidence finally released, this fascinating documentary pores over the shocking case of a British nurse who died in suspicious circumstances in Saudi Arabia in 1979. Helen Smith, 23, apparently fell from a balcony at an expat party - her body was found on the marbe courtyard outside the block of flats. Foul play was quickly dismissed, but speculation was rife and the case became an international mystery. Was she murdered?
Helen's family never believed what they were told. At first they thought Helen had committed suicide - until it emerged that the body of a Dutch tugboat captain, who had allegedly been with Helen just beforehand, was found next to her, impaled on a spiked fence. Now, 45 years on, director Keely Winstone has obtained hundreds of previously classified government documents, revealing what the British government really knew about Helen's tragic death. Helen's brother Graham says: 'We were close. I saw her off at Heathrow. That was the last time I ever saw her.'
CELEBRITY PUZZLING, 5, 7pm
It's not often you see Carol Vorderman stumbling over an answer, but she is at one point finally stumped in this brand new play-along game show. She is a team captain, with actor Sally Lindsay heading up the other team, while Jeremy Vine takes the hot seat as host. A battle of logic and wordplay, this episode sees Carol joined by Ore Oduba and Sally joined by Gareth Malone.
Rounds include In Other Words, where teams must decode two-word answers using only initials and cleverly crafted synonyms. Then it's Thirdle, where stacks of words are missing their third letters, and in Cinema Cypher, film titles are obscured by symbols. Heat Map brings a QWERTY twist, while Funundrum sees teams unscrambling anagrams, and Memory Bank gets the cogs turning. Jeremy says this is 'the most relentless puzzling ever televised'. A bold claim, and not entirely true, but it's certainly an addictive format that will have you shouting answers at the telly.
EMMERDALE, ITV1, 7.30pm
Assuming Cain knows, Jacob mentions Sarah's IVF. Cain is furious that Jacob is more in the loop about his granddaughter's life than he is. Belle overhears Tracy making preparations for Nate's funeral and seizes the opportunity to ask if she's now allowing Cain to attend. After Tracy confirms that he's still banned, Belle takes it upon herself to change her mind. Robert feels guilty about Victoria's black eye and decides to move out, but Victoria is worried about him.
EASTENDERS, BBC1, 7.30pm
Phil is worried about Nigel when he goes out barefoot, and his fears are exacerbated when he returns home to find chaos in the kitchen. The situation gets dangerous when Nigel and Phil grapple over a pan of boiling water. Yolande asks at The Vic if they can host Patrick's 85th birthday. Nicola and Teddy are concerned when they find out Barney failed a chemistry exam due to the stress. Kat confides in Jean that she's hurt over Alfie not communicating.
CORONATION STREET, ITV1, 8pm
At Bernie's suggestion, Aadi throws a midsummer party. Carla hands Betsy the keys to the factory, asking her to lock up but Betsy gets distracted by Brody, Dylan and Lauren, and forgetting to lock up, they head for the party. When Brody shows Dylan a bottle of LSD, telling him he intends to make some money, Dylan's concerned. There's romantic tension between Amy and Aadi, but a misunderstanding leaves Aadi hurt. Kit tells Bernie that he's had the DNA results through.
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Scottish Sun
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Vid shows Disneyland Paris ‘wedding rehearsal' ahead of ‘marriage' of ‘confused' girl, 9, to Brit man before his arrest
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In the video filmed on Saturday at dawn, a flower-covered stage, lavish décor, a grand cake and musicians can be seen. But what they witnessed next would leave them horrified - appearing on stage as the 'bride' was a nine-year-old girl. The child, reportedly of Ukrainian nationality, was carried out as she could not walk in the extravagant bridal dress. Advertisement Disney staff immediately called police upon spotting a "scared and confused" child in a big dress with four-inch heels taped to her feet, reports French newspaper Le Parisien. Disneyland Paris was reportedly deceived about the nature of the event, as reported by The Sun earlier today. The park said it had rented out the grounds of the Sleeping Beauty Castle under the impression that a genuine wedding rehearsal would take place - not an event involving a minor. The event cost the organisers $130,000 (£111,000), BFM reported. Advertisement The organiser is said to have assumed the "identity of a Latvian national", using "false documents to secure the conclusion of the contract for privatising the park", BFM TV reports. According to Le Parisien, the man, 22, had presented himself "as a future Irish groom living in Germany". French cops confirm husband killed wife then took own life in horror murder-suicide at holiday home Cops are said to have immediately arrested the "groom", who later insisted that the purpose of the ceremony was to create a video for social media. But Disney staff said recording is strictly forbidden, adding that "the man may have devised this subterfuge to obtain images of the park". Advertisement The girl's 41-year-old mother, reportedly Ukrainian, was also arrested. She said she wanted her daughter to feel like a Disney "princess" for the day, according to DW News. 200 adult guests and 100 children aged five to 15 were said to have been recruited online through ads describing a "chic and elegant" "rehearsal" wedding, Le Parisien reported. They were allegedly paid €200 each and told to "enter the room, sit down, stand up, applaud and participate naturally and elegantly in this event filmed in a festive and classy atmosphere". Advertisement A statement issued by the prosecutor's office in the local town of Meaux read: "Four people were arrested and questioned: the groom, who was believed to be the organiser of the event and is presumed to be British and aged 22; the mother of the child, a 41-year-old Ukrainian woman; and two Latvian nationals aged 55 and 24." A 55-year-old man claimed he was hired to play the role of the "bride's" dad for 12,000 euros (£10,266) - and only discovered her age at the event, local news reports. The prosecutor's statement added that "police custody of the British suspect and a Latvian national was also extended on charges of fraud and money laundering". A criminal investigation has been opened, according to the prosecutor's office. Advertisement It added that a medical examination confirmed the child had not suffered any violence. 7 The man posing as the 'groom' claimed he was the director of a production company and they were shooting a video Credit: Instagram 7 A guest said they were left utterly 'stunned' when they realised the bride was a child Credit: Officials say they are still trying to understand the nature of the event. Advertisement The man posing as the "groom" claimed that he was the director of a production company and that they were shooting a video, a police source told Le Parisien. A witness, who said they had been a guest at the event, told the newspaper: "We all thought we were going to attend a wedding... "Everyone was stunned, no one expected it. Disneyland did things very well. "They cancelled everything as soon as they realized the bride was a child. We were shocked to see that." Advertisement Witness Yeleen, who attended the ceremony as a guest with her daughter, said: "I saw a little girl dressed in white. "I saw her hair prepared with curls and a lady picking her up in her arms. "At that moment, I was shocked. I realised when I saw the child. It was atrocious." The prosecutor's office said: "So it wasn't a wedding, but a staged wedding filmed with around a hundred extras. Advertisement "They privatised Disneyland Paris, pretending it was a real wedding." They are set to appear before a judge at Meaux judicial court on Monday as part of a formal judicial investigation. 7 The iconic Sleeping Beauty Castle Credit: AFP 7 Around 12 million tourists are said to visit Disneyland Paris each year Credit: Alamy
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
British man arrested for fake wedding to nine-year-old at Disneyland
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Metro
an hour ago
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‘ITV putting a trans person on primetime signals that we're not going anywhere'
It's a strange time for Jordan Gray right now. On the one hand, she's got a brilliant new sitcom coming out on ITV – several years in the making – and is heading to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with a long-anticipated follow-up to her Edinburgh Comedy Award-nominated 2022 show, Is it a Bird? On the other, well, as anyone with a sense of humanity will know, it's a scary time to be trans. First, the good news: Transaction, her TV show, is brilliant. Written by and starring Jordan, it's a six-part sitcom set in a supermarket night shift. She plays Liv, an affirmative action transgender hire who turns out to be a nightmare, but they can't get rid of her because, as the comedian puts it: 'What could be worse than firing a transgender person?' To say Liv is a nightmare is an understatement. She can be spiky, manipulative, punishing and lazy; it's refreshing to see a trans character not being presented as 'a suffering saint or a sexualised villain', as Jordan puts it. Liv does have an arc, though. 'She's a lone wolf character but really just wants to have a family, and then she finds this little weird dysfunctional family,' says Jordan. As in many of the best sitcoms, the cast is made up of characters thrown together from different walks of life (including Nick Frost as the relatable manager who's well-meaning and tries his best to be an ally but doesn't always get it right). And it's no accident that it has, in places, some of the spirit of Community (the surreal NBC sitcom set in a community college) and Tina Fey's 30 Rock. 'Those are my two favourite shows of all time,' says Jordan. 'So it has to hold up to that standard of joke frequency and ideally joke quality.' All those years of doing live comedy have taught her that making people laugh is absolutely the priority, and whatever agenda there is in there has to come second. As with Community, Transaction has some episodes that dash off in unexpected directions: there's film noir, sci-fi and, as you would hope from someone who does musical comedy with as much panache as Jordan does, there's one with a lot of music in it. With thousands of members from all over the world, our vibrant LGBTQ+ WhatsApp channel is a hub for all the latest news and important issues that face the LGBTQ+ community. Simply click on this link, select 'Join Chat' and you're in! Don't forget to turn on notifications! Essex-born Jordan first shot to fame after reaching the finals in The Voice in 2016, gaining a new layer of credibility and acclaim with her hit live comedy show, Is It a Bird? This, in turn, led to a memorable appearance on Channel 4's Friday Night Live, in which she stripped naked at the end of a song. The response (from the grimmer sections of the internet) inspired the title of her new live comedy show, Is That a C*ck in Your Pocket, or Are You Just Here to Kill Me? She got a barrage of death threats, and she'll go into some detail about how that felt. 'This next show could have been very just cathartic and vitriolic and angry,' says Jordan. 'But it's me holding open a wound for an hour at a time. The poster and the artwork look like it's very aggressive – I'm holding two guns – but it's coming from the other side.' Then, in April, the UK Supreme Court ruled that you had to be biologically female to be legally recognised as a woman. A lot of women like Jordan, particularly those who are experiencing any sort of health concerns, are terrified they'll be put in the wrong hospital ward, or might end up falling through the cracks of a broken system. More Trending She does her best to be diplomatic and understanding towards those who consider the ruling a victory, and says it's interesting that elements of Transaction feel as if they were written a few weeks ago. 'When it feels like our lives are being made functionally unlivable, suddenly ITV's putting a transgender person right on the screen at that prime time, and that's really cool. It's a lovely signal for transgender people that we're not going anywhere. In fact, we've got to bop and weave and survive this next bit,' she says. 'When society has given you the signals that it's maybe time to throw in the towel because it's just going to get harder and harder, there's always dark thoughts in the background. And we're trying to be civil and trying to be happy all the time, trying to put on a brave face on it. I'm proud of myself and the work I've done, and everything is still underpinned with joy.' View More » Transaction is on ITVX and ITV2 from Jun 24. Jordan Gray: Is That a C*ck in Your Pocket, or Are You Just Here to Kill Me? Assembly George Square Gardens, Edinburgh, Jul 30-Aug 24, Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: I came out to my dad – he handed me a letter MORE: A stranger's question to my 7-year-old left me furious MORE: Erasure's Andy Bell: 'Kissing Boy George on stage was one of the only things I've done on purpose'
