Latest news with #MelGiedroyc
The Independent
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Modern Family star says he looked ‘crazy' when cut from Ab Fab cameo
Jesse Tyler Ferguson discussed being cut from an episode of Absolutely Fabulous early in his career, which made him look like a 'crazy extra'. Ferguson, known for his role as Mitchell Pritchett in Modern Family, appeared in the fourth season of Absolutely Fabulous in 2002. Originally cast as a reporter, Ferguson's scene was reduced to him frantically waving goodbye, making him feel like a 'maniac'. Ferguson recounted the experience on Mel Giedroyc 's podcast, Where There's a Will There's a Wake, explaining that his scene was cut, leaving only his out-of-context exit. Before Modern Family, Ferguson had acting debuts in the 2000 TV series Forbidden Love and the 2001 film Ordinary Sinner, and he is currently starring in Stephen Sondheim 's final musical, Here We Are, at the National Theatre in London.
Daily Mail
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Comedian reveals he accidentally poured 'scalding hot tea' on VERY famous royal while working as a waiter - leading her to let out a 'blood curdling scream'
Princess Anne let out a 'blood curdling scream' when scalding hot water was accidentally poured down the back of her legs at a 'fancy event', a comedian has revealed. Daniel Foxx told Mel Giedroyc on her Where There's a Will There's a Wake podcast that he once had a not-so-favourable encounter with the Princess Royal while working as a waiter. In a clip from the episode, the comedian says: 'I burned Princess Anne once. 'I used to work as a waiter when I was at university, and I was carrying a pot of hot tea at some very fancy event.' Foxx explains he 'span too quickly' around, and poured 'truly, scaldingly boiling hot tea all down the back of Princess Anne's bare legs'. He says she let out a 'blood curdling scream', adding that 'maybe a swear came out'. 'She leapt into the air. screamed, turned around. Obviously everyone in this function, I think it was the Woodland Trust or something, turned to stare at me. 'I was like "I'm so sorry" and thankfully a man thought he had knocked me - he hadn't - but he took the blame.' Foxx says the man explained that it was 'just water', to which Princess Anne replied: 'Yes, well it was rather warm.' It is perhaps no surprise that Princess Anne was victim of a hot water mishap, considering how many functions she attends as the UK's hardest working royal. In fact, when it came to marking her 75th birthday year, Princess Anne had only one request - to host as many charities as possible for a special gathering at Buckingham Palace. With 400 patronages to her name, the royal residence was packed for the 'charities forum'. 'This personifies what Her Royal Highness cares about,' a palace source said. 'She didn't want to do anything for her birthday but bring her charities together to hear more about their work and how she can help them.' The princess, wearing a sand coloured skirt suit, arrived at today's event after Colonel John Boyd, her Private Secretary, welcomed guests to the Palace's ballroom, telling them: 'There has been a significant amount of interest in HRH's 75th birthday celebrations. 'As you are aware the princess has given decades of time and support to more than 400 charities and patronages. 'It probably won't come as a surprise, given HRH's commitment to you all, that the way the Princess wants to celebrate this milestone is to replicate what she's done on previous significant birthdays and hold this charities forum again to once again understand how she can help you, at a time when the third sector is facing unprecedented challenges and transformations.' In her own speech to more than 216 guests from 111 different organisations, Anne was typically self-effacing, telling them hilariously: 'I'm not here because this was my choice. 'You very kindly asked me to become patron of your organisations, so it's an honour for me to have all of you here.' She also spoke about 'the pleasure I get from visiting and finding out a bit more about what you do.'
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Contestants sought for new ITV quiz show with £1million jackpot
A nationwide search is under way for contestants to join a new Saturday night quiz show. The ITV1 and ITVX series, Win Win with People's Postcode Lottery, will be hosted by comedy duo Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins. Producers are looking for "fun, enthusiastic" individuals with standout personalities to take part in the six-week series. The show's producers are seeking contestants for the new series (Image: Supplied) The show will be filmed in studio and will involve survey-based questions. A total of 40 contestants will take part in each episode. Mel Giedroyc said: "This quiz is so extra. "Imagine winning something like a car just by playing along with a gameshow you're watching on a Saturday night in your pyjamas? "I can't wait." Sue Perkins said: "If I wasn't hosting this, I'd be playing it at home; sat in my leopard print onesie, cuddling the dog whilst trying to figure out the nation's favourite chocolate bar. "Bring it on." Viewers at home will have the chance to win the same prizes as those in the studio. One contestant will also walk away with a guaranteed £1 million jackpot. Other prizes on offer include holidays, luxury cars, and tickets to major sporting and entertainment events. The ITV series is produced by Hello Dolly, and is described as the broadcaster's biggest-ever ad-funded series. It has been co-funded by People's Postcode Lottery and will air on Saturday nights. Katie Rawcliffe, director of entertainment and daytime at ITV, said: "We are delighted to have the brilliant Mel and Sue bringing this new format to life. "Forget shouting at the telly or rowing with your family about the answers – you can actually join in and be in with a chance of winning the same prize you're seeing on screen." Bhavit Chandrani, director of BE Studio from ITV, said: "This is our biggest ad-funded show yet and we're thrilled that by working with People's Postcode Lottery and Hello Dolly we're able to deliver such an interactive programme for viewers, who have real chances of bagging the same huge prizes they're seeing contestants win, from the comfort of their sofas." Imme Rog, executive board member of the Postcode Lottery Group, said: "We have 35 years of experience in creating and promoting successful TV formats in our other countries, and we are delighted to be partnering with Hello Dolly and ITV in bringing Win Win with People's Postcode Lottery to the British prime-time audience." READ MORE: Get to know Sophie from Darwen ahead of her Love Island appearance EastEnders star leaving with 'head held high' after shock soap exit news The Voice UK announces new coach with 'fantastic' track record for next series Victoria Ashbourne, CEO of Hello Dolly and executive producer, said: "We are thrilled to be working with People's Postcode Lottery and ITV to bring this innovative and exciting new format to life. "For the first time ever, viewers at home get the same winning experience as the contestants in studio – as a programme creator and producer that is super exciting." Casting is open now for applicants who are available to take part in the studio each week during the six-week series. The show promises a mix of humour, drama, and life-changing decisions.
The Guardian
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Mel Giedroyc immerses herself in death: best podcasts of the week
A playful Mel Giedroyc replaces Kathy Burke for a new series of the funeral-themed podcast, which effortlessly smuggles death into the celebrity chatshow format but never feels overly flippant. Her first guest is comic Suzi Ruffell, who reckons that her clumsiness might be what leads to her demise. Perhaps she'll rollerskate off a pier, making her plans for a beach-side vigil – complete with fish and chips – all the more apt. Hannah J DaviesWidely available, episodes weekly The TV historian steers a new series of her BBC podcast, bringing female scammers from the history books to life and viewing their misdeeds through a modern lens. Among them is 'Yorkshire Witch' Mary Bateman, whose fortune-telling hen (a hoax, of course) gave way to more insalubrious business practices. HJDBBC Sounds, episodes weekly Are the robots coming for your job? Tech expert James Chandler helps 'highly average human' George Butler make sense of AI in a digestible way – from speaking with a former war zone reporter about the future of media to diving into claims that tech can translate your pets' speech. Plus, you can send in questions. Hollie Richardson Widely available, episodes weekly Mark Pougatch and Paul Hayward team up for this series about the meaty tales and curious mysteries that began on pitches, fields and courts. First up: how rugby helped to unite South Africa post-apartheid, and the significance of Nelson Mandela donning the Springbok shirt in 1995. HJD Widely available, episodes weekly This updated Sherlock Holmes series puts a 2020s spin on things ('I'm neurodiverse … prepare to be cancelled!' declares our crack detective) while remaining pleasingly in step with the source material. For this five-part arc, Holmes and Watson must unpick a blackmail plot, featuring one of Conan Doyle's most notable female characters, Irene Adler. HJD Widely available, episodes weekly
The Guardian
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
How will you remember your loved ones? With the nationwide Celebration Day – or by shouting at squirrels?
It's 'Celebration Day' on bank holiday Monday and it's making me feel a bit … funny. Dreamed up in 2022, this 'civilian Remembrance Day', or British Día de los Muertos, is intended 'to honour those we have loved and lost, as well as those whose lives have inspired us', according to the website. Perfectly laudable, but something about the idea of being urged to celebrate our dead by Stephen Fry and Prue Leith, to buy a star-shaped badge in WH Smith and share memories on social media with the hashtag #shareyourstar makes me feel cringey. When I get an instinctive negative reaction to something (except maggots and Nigel Farage), I wonder if I'm being unreasonable. So, am I? Well, yes – no one is forcing me to join in or buy a badge (though they benefit really good charities, including Mind, Hospice UK and the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity). Plus, Mel Giedroyc is involved, and she can do no wrong in my eyes. On top of this, could Celebration Day be meeting a real need? We're not great, as a culture, with death and grief, though I think we've improved somewhat: from grief podcasts to death cafes and a flowering of extraordinary memoirs, we've found more spaces and ways to articulate and respond to bereavement, at least the fresh and seismic kind. But that's just the tip of the griefberg. I'm not sure we've processed all those pandemic deaths very well, for a start. Our desire to move on and not look back is particularly painful for those who lost their beloveds without any of the usual – vital – ritual and communion, and for those whose grieving felt frustrated, freighted with anger or distorted by trauma. Other types of grief defy easy categorisation and response, too: how about grief that feels disproportionate to the closeness of your relationship? When you were peripheral to someone's life, but their loss hits you hard, your grief can feel overblown, even intrusive. When the death of two less than intimate friends blind-sided her last year, the writer Daisy Buchanan described her 'disenfranchised grief'. Then there are deaths you 'should' have got over by now: prolonged grief is even considered a pathology in the United States. I know I'm not alone in feeling vaguely embarrassed mentioning my dead mum, imagining people thinking, 'Is she still going on about that?' So might a Celebration Day help? Anything that normalises talking about death more, or that shushes the inner voices that tell us our feelings are wrong, our grief is too intense, too prolonged, too mixed with other feelings or misplaced, is good news. Plus, grief of all kinds is notoriously not fun; indeed, it's conspicuously lacking in the kir royale and bunting department. Why not, indeed, pick a moment to celebrate? But we already do, without Prue Leith's prompting. The lovely online gallery Projecting Grief, which explores creative responses to bereavement, features some sublimely celebratory stuff, from Marianne, who used lipsticks her mum (who 'always had her face on') left behind to make explosively colourful photographs and sculptures, to Suchandrika, who created a standup show around her long-dead parents. Asking around, I discover a group of friends who organised a dance in honour of one of their number who died last year, sharing a memory of her every time they danced with a new partner. Then there's the family who throw outrageous pudding parties in memory of their sweet-toothed nonna. 'At some point we have to use her catchphrase, 'More cream, dear?'' A friend orders his late father's favourite rum baba whenever he sees it on a menu; another eats her gran's 'Alice Jones Memorial Ice-Cream' walking the seafront at Criccieth. There's a lovely specificity to these and I think that's partly what puts me off Celebration Day: it feels too generic for our special dead people. We miss them – from partners to piano teachers, however long they've been gone and however ambivalent our experience of their lives or their dying – for who they were. That's how we should celebrate them, whether that means getting a tattoo, shouting at a squirrel or pottering down the allotment. If the spirit moves you to celebrate on Monday, wonderful. But if it doesn't, no one needs a hashtag to celebrate the dead, how and whenever they like. Emma Beddington is a Guardian columnist
