Latest news with #Lifetime
Boston Globe
3 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Kim Woodburn, British TV's no-nonsense ‘Queen of Clean,' dies at 83
Advertisement She was 60 years old at the time, and she nailed the audition, which involved scrutinizing a young woman's grimy flat in West London. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'Well, this is a flaming comic opera, isn't it,' Ms. Woodburn declared in the woman's terrifyingly filthy kitchen, as she recalled in her 2006 memoir, 'Unbeaten: The Story of My Brutal Childhood.' 'You look so clean yourself, and yet you live like this. Talk about fur coat, no knickers!' Her salty slang was one of the great pleasures of the show, which a Lifetime network executive once described as 'Queer Eye' meets 'Absolutely Fabulous' meets 'The Weakest Link.' The network imported the series to the United States for a few seasons. Ms. Woodburn, usually clad in a crisp white uniform and rubber gloves trimmed with pink feathers -- one reviewer described her as a cross between Mother Teresa and the British madam Miss Whiplash -- would shame and bully hapless homemakers week after week: 'Don't be a mucky puppy underfoot!' 'Scrub, dear, don't tickle!' 'What in the name of normal is all this?' Advertisement MacKenzie, wearing a white lab coat, played scientist, taking samples from sticky counters, from which she always seemed to discover evidence of E. coli, bubonic plague or toxic mold spores. Maggots were a recurring theme. Oprah Winfrey devoted an episode of her show to the pair, and they wrote a housekeeping manual -- a bestseller in Britain. Their show ran from 2003 to 2009 (the American version ran from 2004 to 2006) and spawned 'Too Posh to Wash,' a spinoff about personal hygiene. One of its six episodes featured a woman who never laundered her bra. The co-stars were an irresistible team, though Ms. Woodburn -- 'camp as Christmas,' as The Telegraph described her -- was the standout. After the series ended, she appeared on 'I'm a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here' (in which celebrities are 'trapped' in a 'jungle'; Ms. Woodburn came in second) and 'Celebrity Come Dine With Me' (celebrities cook each other meals; Ms. Woodburn got squiffy, or pretended to be). Most notoriously, she was in the cast of 'Celebrity Big Brother,' in which demi-celebrities are confined together in a house and viewers vote on who gets the heave-ho. Ms. Woodburn would regularly spar with her housemates. 'Go away, you adulterer,' she blasted one, Jamie O'Hara, a British footballer, whom she described as a 'chicken-livered bugger.' When she berated Coleen Nolan, another housemate, calling her 'a two-faced maggot,' security bustled Ms. Woodburn off the show. Advertisement Was it pantomime? Nobody cared. Her behavior and reputation as the rudest woman on television was the stuff ratings are made from, and viewers tuned in by the millions to watch her many dust-ups, which canny television presenters invited her to perform on many more shows. MacKenzie stayed in television, too, but had a less explosive career. 'R.I.P. Kim,' Anita Singh of The Telegraph wrote this week. 'You were spectacularly rude. And, more often than not, you were right.' Patricia Mary McKenzie was born March 25, 1942, in Eastney, a district of Portsmouth on the South Coast, to Richard and Mary Patricia (Shaw) McKenzie. Her father served in the Royal Marines. Her upbringing was horrific. Her parents separated when she was young, and Pat, as she was known, was physically abused by her alcoholic mother and occasionally by her mother's boyfriend. She had stints in foster homes, group homes and a convent. Blind in one eye, Pat suffered in school, which she left at 15 to go to work, turning over her earnings to her mother. At 16, she left home and worked where she could -- in pubs, hotels and department stores, where she sold cosmetics. In her early 20s, she changed her name to Kim, after actress Kim Novak, and to separate herself from her mother, who also went by Pat. In her memoir, Ms. Woodburn wrote of delivering a stillborn baby when she was 23 and burying him in a park in Liverpool, where she was living at the time, digging his grave with a wooden spoon. When the book came out, she was questioned by the police for concealing the baby's birth, but she was never charged with a crime. Advertisement Her first marriage, to an abusive, adulterous police officer, ended in divorce in 1975. She married Pete Woodburn, another police officer, in 1979. Kim Woodburn worked as a beautician and then as a social worker caring for girls in juvenile detention centers. After she married Woodburn, the two became live-in housekeepers for wealthy families in the United States, Norway and the United Kingdom. Pete Woodburn survives her. It was while Kim Woodburn and her husband were working for a Saudi Arabian sheikh at his house in Kent -- a dream job, she said, with the family in residence only six weeks a year -- when she went on the audition that would lead to her TV fame. The 'Queen of Clean,' as the British tabloids called her, was often called on to provide household tips. One of her top five involved dinner parties. Her advice: 'Don't have one.' This article originally appeared in
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Valerie Bertinelli shares make-up free bedroom selfie as she prepares for 'terrifying' return to acting
Valerie Bertinelli shared a candid make-up free selfie as she reflected on her 'terrifying' return to acting this week. The actress, 65, revealed she is scheduled to be on set the following day at 4:18AM for her first acting job in four years. Valerie shared a radiant snap of herself in bed as she anticipated the upcoming early rise, but stressed she was 'grateful' for the job, a gig for Lifetime. 'It's the small things that can always make me happy and grateful. Dancing sunlight streaming through a window in the morning? Happy,' Valerie - who recently revealed her size with - wrote in the caption with a smiling emoji on Sunday. '4:18a call-time tomorrow morning? Maybe not happy per se, but I'm so grateful to be working,' she added. 'What's something small that makes you happy and/or grateful?' the actress then asked followers. The post was tagged in Vancouver, British Columbia, hinting that's where the set is located. She also uploaded video of her laying in bed and wishing followers a good morning. 'I love the way the sun comes in my bedroom window,' she said before erupting into a giggle. 'Good morning!' Valerie revealed last week she is working on a new project for Lifetime - however did not reveal exactly what it was. She said it had 'an amazing script written by an amazing writer and the cast is beyond my wildest dreams.' The actress, who hasn't really tackled a major part in nearly a decade, said to make the most of the opportunity, 'I must break down all my barriers, shut out the outside noise and be openly vulnerable. It's the only way to let the real, authentic emotions flow.' 'I knew I was feeling a little fear. It's been a while' she said, explaining the photos attached to the post, 'But, I didn't realize how really terrified I was until I looked at these selfies that I took to send to production.' 'I thought I was doing a pretty decent job of walking and talking through the fear and anxiety but my eyes never ever lie. You can see the fear and doubt in them.' The One Day at a Time star, who won hearts at teen Barbara Cooper in the 1970s, said the fear was 'just my process.... I've been doing this for over 50 years, (it's like riding a bike, right?) but I just love this script so much and I wanna do it justice. There's always that thought that I'm gonna be the one that f*cks up the whole project, right?' She told her fans she would 'feel the fear and do it anyway' by transferring 'the fear and anxiety into joy and excitement. They're the same sort of feelings just on a different spectrum.' Bertinelli's mother put her in acting classes as a child to help her overcome her shyness and become more outgoing the actress told the Wall Street Journal in 2022, admitting that she was 'super-duper shy.' After some small parts, an appearance in the TV dramady Apple's Way put her in the path of producer Norman Lear to audition for the role of Barbara on One Day at a Time, opposite Bonnie Franklin and Mackenzie Phillips. The beloved sitcom about a divorced mom and her two daughters debuted in 1975 and won two Emmy awards. She and her cast members earned a People's Choice Award for their roles as over-40 single women looking for love in the sit-com Hot in Cleveland; Seen here with co-stars Jane Leeves and Wendie Malick in 2010 Bertinelli grew up with her character, going from a teen to married, working woman juggling work and family life. She won a Golden Globe award for her work in 1981 and 1982. She and her cast members earned a People's Choice Award and Screen Actors Guild nominations for their roles as over-40 single women looking for love in the sit-com Hot in Cleveland. Turning her love of cooking into a new career, Bertinelli won two Emmy awards for her Food Network show Valerie's Home Cooking in 2019.
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Valerie Bertinelli reveals jaw-dropping start time for new Lifetime project
Valerie Bertinelli has given fans an inside glimpse into the not-so-glamorous side of acting. The actress, 65, revealed she is scheduled to be on set the following day at 4:18AM. Valerie shared a selfie of herself in bed as she anticipated the upcoming early rise, but stressed she was 'grateful' for the job, a gig for Lifetime. 'It's the small things that can always make me happy and grateful. Dancing sunlight streaming through a window in the morning? Happy,' Valerie - who recently revealed her size with - wrote in the caption with a smiling emoji on Sunday. '4:18a call-time tomorrow morning? Maybe not happy per se, but I'm so grateful to be working,' she added. 'What's something small that makes you happy and/or grateful?' the actress then asked followers. The post was tagged in Vancouver, British Colombia, hinting that's where the set is located. She also uploaded video of her laying in bed and wishing followers a good morning. 'I love the way the sun comes in my bedroom window,' she said before erupting into a giggle. 'Good morning!' Valerie revealed last week she is working on a new project for Lifetime - however did not reveal exactly what it was. She said it had 'an amazing script written by an amazing writer and the cast is beyond my wildest dreams.' The actress, who hasn't really tackled a major part in nearly a decade, said to make the most of the opportunity, 'I must break down all my barriers, shut out the outside noise and be openly vulnerable. It's the only way to let the real, authentic emotions flow.' 'I knew I was feeling a little fear. It's been a while' she said, explaining the photos attached to the post, 'But, I didn't realize how really terrified I was until I looked at these selfies that I took to send to production.' 'I thought I was doing a pretty decent job of walking and talking through the fear and anxiety but my eyes never ever lie. You can see the fear and doubt in them.' The One Day at a Time star, who won hearts at teen Barbara Cooper in the 1970s, said the fear was 'just my process.... I've been doing this for over 50 years, (it's like riding a bike, right?) but I just love this script so much and I wanna do it justice. There's always that thought that I'm gonna be the one that f*cks up the whole project, right?' She told her fans she would 'feel the fear and do it anyway' by transferring 'the fear and anxiety into joy and excitement. They're the same sort of feelings just on a different spectrum.' Bertinelli's mother put her in acting classes as a child to help her overcome her shyness and become more outgoing the actress told the Wall Street Journal in 2022, admitting that she was 'super-duper shy.' After some small parts, an appearance in the TV dramady Apple's Way put her in the path of producer Norman Lear to audition for the role of Barbara on One Day at a Time, opposite Bonnie Franklin and Mackenzie Phillips. The beloved sitcom about a divorced mom and her two daughters debuted in 1975 and won two Emmy awards. The Golden Globe winner shared a lengthy message about her concerns with her fans on social media She and her cast members earned a People's Choice Award for their roles as over-40 single women looking for love in the sit-com Hot in Cleveland; Seen here with co-stars Jane Leeves and Wendie Malick in 2010 In 2019, Bertinelli won two Emmy awards for her Food Network show Valerie's Home Cooking ; Pictured in Pasadena, CA in May 2019 Bertinelli grew up with her character, going from a teen to married, working woman juggling work and family life. She won a Golden Globe award for her work in 1981 and 1982. She and her cast members earned a People's Choice Award and Screen Actors Guild nominations for their roles as over-40 single women looking for love in the sit-com Hot in Cleveland. Turning her love of cooking into a new career, Bertinelli won two Emmy awards for her Food Network show Valerie's Home Cooking in 2019.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Echo Valley' Is the Trashiest A-List Lifetime Movie You've Ever Seen
Stop us if you've heard this one before: A mother loves her daughter. The younger woman has issues, ranging from a bad boyfriend to substance-abuse problems. You'd never think it would happen to your kid — but it could! Still, only a fool would underestimate the strength of a mom's love. When the blowback from this problem child's dodgy associations threatens to wreck her life, the everymatriarch steps in. She will stop at nothing to protect her offspring. For decades, we called them 'maternal dramas.' Then, starting in the mid 1990s — scholars and scientists carbon-date the tipping point to somewhere around the broadcast of Mother, May I Sleep With Danger? — we began folding them into the category simply known as 'Lifetime Channel movies.' Yes, this basic cable network's stable of straight-outta-tabloid thrillers from that golden era ran the full gamut of a suburbanite's nightmares, from husbands with double lives to black-market baby trafficking. But the teens-in-peril subgenre was especially popular among their viewers, and for a while, stories about mothers going into rescue mode became synonymous with the channel's programming. (See: this parody.) More from Rolling Stone Apple WWDC 2025: A Fresh Faced Design and New Smart Features You Wanted Sydney Sweeney's Bathwater. Who Is She to Say No to Your Money? Trump Resumes Effort to Destroy Economy Don't let the premium branding, patina of prestige or star power fool you: Echo Valley, a real handwringer of a momma-paranoia melodrama, may open with the familiar Apple TV+ logo. (It drops on the streaming service on June 13th, after something slightly resembling a week-long theatrical run.) But this sizzling slab of cinema du grilled cheese from British director Michael Pearce (Beast, Encounter) is nothing if not a vintage Lifetime Channel joint, one which just happens to feature an Oscar winner and one of the biggest A-listers under the age of 30. It takes its name from the region of southern Pennsylvania where Julianne Moore runs a horse ranch, yet this purposefully trashy movie could easily have been called 'A Child's Cry for Help,' or 'Terror in the Family,' or 'For My Daughter's Honor, Plus Also She's a Drug Addict and Now There's a Psychopath Living in My House.' To be fair, unlike so many of those Lifetime heroines, you couldn't say that the protagonist's life looked perfect from the outside. Despite the fact that she owns a gorgeous spread and lives in a lovely, large country home, Kate Garretson (Moore) has been in a state of depression for a while. Her wife, Patty (Kristina Valada-Viars), died nine months ago, and Kate is barely able to get out of bed in the morning. Friends, like her kindly neighbor Leslie (Fiona Shaw), are worried about her mental health. The estate is starting to drift into serious disrepair. She's been regularly canceling the horseriding lessons she gives the area's wealthy kids, and is forced to hit up her ex-husband (Kyle MacLachlan) for money. All of these problems pale in comparison, however, to what's going on with Kate's kid. From the second that Claire (Sydney Sweeney) shows up at the house, asking to use her mom's iPad to check her texts — her phone got thrown in a river by her dickhead boyfriend (Edmund Donovan), but don't worry, it's all totally kickin' back no big deal, everything's super cool! — you can hear the warning sirens going off. The twentysomething has a slightly twitchy demeanor and facility for emotional manipulation that immediately telegraphs she's a drug addict. You can also tell that this isn't a new problem, and that Kate and Claire have done this particular tango a dozen or so times before. Except this time… remember how that aforementioned boyfriend tossed her phone into the water? She retaliated by dumping some of his stuff off a bridge. And well, there was a bag of narcotics in his jacket, and now that's gone, and this makes the couple's dealer, Jackie (Domhnall Gleason, so skeezy you can smell him), pretty angry. Like, beating up Claire in her mom's front yard kind of mad. Soon, Kate understands how much serious trouble her daughter is in. Luckily for Claire, her mom is the sort that will stop at nothing to make sure her baby girl is safe. By 'stop at nothing,' we naturally mean disposing of a corpse, arson, and stopping Jackie from siphoning what's left of her liquid assets. The things we do for our kids! On the surface, this may sound like a nice, trashy little diversion. We can confirm the 'trashy' part, and you know that any time you give Moore the chance to either weep, become enraged or, in a best case scenario, do both at once, it's going to reap some sort of dividends. (As for Sweeney, her supporting role is just north of being a glorified cameo. All apologies, Sydney stans and Euphoria fans.) Viewers can sense a third-act turn coming, and when it does, it's so overly complicated, ludicrous and unbelievable that you'll find yourself left with a palm-sized imprint on your face for days afterward. You might hear 'are you fucking kidding me?!' echoing throughout your living room several times before the end credits roll. You also might be better off bypassing this faux-Lifetime Channel throwback altogether and seeing if Mother, May I Sleep With Danger? is still streaming anywhere. Best of Rolling Stone The 50 Best 'Saturday Night Live' Characters of All Time Denzel Washington's Movies Ranked, From Worst to Best 70 Greatest Comedies of the 21st Century
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The Chrisley Family's New Reality Show Headed to Lifetime
It's official! The Chrisleys are coming back to television after months of Savannah Chrisley threatening to do so. The Chrisley Knows Best reboot is headed to Lifetime with Savannah and Chase Chrisley at the center of the action. They're ready to bring audiences into their new chapter, and of course, we've got all of the details on when you'll be able to see this lovely and law-abiding family back on your screens. Todd Chrisley and his wife are still sitting behind bars for their bank fraud and tax evasion case. They've been hoping, praying, and begging for a pardon from the President while their daughter plotted their family's television return. Now, their dreams are coming true thanks to Bunim/Murray Productions. Yes, the company behind that once brought us The Real World is now producing the Chrisleys' comeback show. According to their press release, the new series follows the family as they face the 'challenge of carrying on the Chrisley name and legacy.' So far, we know that's not going well. For example, Chase just got arrested for drunkenly fighting with a manager at a sports bar. The synopsis continued, 'The family faces a critical point in their lives that will either make the family bond stronger or leave it shattered forever.' Chase and Savannah will serve as executive producers on the series, and they're planning on showing their fight to get their parents out of jail. Who knows. Perhaps the cameras will be rolling when Todd and Julie Chrisley are finally set free from federal prison. The Untitled Chrisleys Project premieres on Lifetime later this year. In the meantime, Chrisley Knows Best is streaming on Peacock. TELL US – ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO THE CHRISLEYS' RETURN TO TELEVISION? ARE YOU SURPRISED THEY GOT PICKED UP BY LIFETIME? The post The Chrisley Family's New Reality Show Headed to Lifetime appeared first on Reality Tea.
