Pop Buzz UK

Jeremy Beadle, the man best known for being a notorious television prankster, has sadly died of pneumonia in hospital at the age of 59. Beadle had previously battled cancer of the kidney, and then leukaemia, both of which he fought and beat, but died in hospital after contracting pneumonia and being admitted to hospital earlier this week.

The TV funnyman leaves behind wife Sue, daughters Cassie and Bonnie, and stepchildren Leo and Claire.

Beadle was born in Hackney, east London in 1948. He had an unsettled childhood, having to spend multiple times in hospital being treated for a rare genetic disorder called Poland syndrome. This condition stunted growth in his right hand, a disability for which he was mocked in later life.

He started a writing career after a number of different jobs came to nothing, and a career on radio and television beckoned. When he was young, he provided material for stars such as Terry Wogan, Noel Edmonds and Kenny Everett.

He became a well known celebrity in his own right after becoming a presenter on Game for a Laugh, where alongside Matthew Kelly, Henry Kelly and Sarah Kennedy, he would set members of the public up in small pranks.

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The first, and probably last series of Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack came to an end last night, and no-one either watched or cared. Apart from me obviously, as I am addicted to the show, in whatever format it takes.

Celebrity Hijack was conceived to replace the normal unmissable Celebrity Big Brother. That was canned by nervous Channel 4 bosses after last year’s Shilpa Shetty and Jade Goody race row, which almost sparked an international incident.

Instead of celebrities entering, and living in the house as contestants, they now took the role of Big Brother over, and controlled the lives of 12 young and gifted people. The format worked, and I actually enjoyed tuning in every night, but it wasn’t unmissable, and was clearly lacking some drama.

John Loughton, current voluntary youth worker, and future politician ended up as the winner of the show and the £50,000 prize money. He got 54% of the vote, and it was a good result, with the nice guy winning, and someone who you know won’t piss the money up the wall.

If I’d have been a betting man, I would have put my money on Amy to win, but maybe that’s just because her smile makes her look angelic. How Emilia came second, I’ll never know, as although I quite liked her, the crowd didn’t, and she even got booed on her way out of the door.

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Daniel Radcliffe is the star of Harry Potter, no hang on, he IS Harry Potter, and so is one of the most eligible bachelors in the UK right now.

In fact, Prince William himself is probably the only young man more in demand. So there’ll be cheers around the world to the news that Radcliffe has split up from long term girlfriend Laura O’Toole.

Radcliffe is 18, and worth about £20 million at least, with the promise of a further £25 million from the final two (or could it be three) Harry Potter films, so as well as being a good looking guy, he’s minted in to the bargain. Quite a catch then.

Unfortunately, it seems him and O’Toole just couldn’t make it work between them.

The couple met during the West End production of Equus at the beginning of last year. Radcliffe was playing the lead role of Alan Strang, while O’Toole was the understudy for the part of Alan’s girlfriend in the play.

Despite Laura being four years older than Radcliffe at 22, or maybe because of it, they fell for each other quickly, and started seeing each other. The play ended in May, but the pair were spotted enjoying each others company for at least six months afterwards.

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Well okay, fourth favourite son after John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison, but still, it’s news.

Ringo Starr was born and brought up in Liverpool before joining The Beatles and seeing his whole world turned upside down. Obviously with money, came the opportunity to leave Liverpool, and head off in to the sunset, which of course, all four of them did.

But wait, what’s this I see? Ringo has a new album to promote and so all of a sudden starts playing on his Liverpool roots again, and even turns up to perform at the city’s Capital of Culture launch.

The whole of Liverpool, glad to see the return of one of their local heroes, obviously unfurled the red carpet for him, and gave him the kind of welcome Liverpool is renowned for, although I gather Ringo got to keep his wheels, and his teeth, intact.

While playing the gig at St. Georges Hall, he even went as far as telling the crowd that he was close to returning to live in the city, and wanted to return to his home town. Which went down great, except that he was lying though his teeth.

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Not down together again, no that just be a bit too weird at this late stage in the game. No, it finally looks like Paul ‘Macca’ McCartney and Heather Mills (formerly McCartney) may be ready to talk about an out of court divorce settlement, and therefore do away with the need for a lengthy, drawn out, expensive and media frenzied High Court battle.

The former Beatles singer is rumoured to have made several phone calls to his former, estranged wife, and had conversations ahead of their five day hearing in February.

Macca is thought to be more keen on an out of court settlement now that Mills is thought to be representing herself. She split with her lawyers from legal firm Mishcon de Reya last year.

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I was absolutely gutted when Iain Lee quit his brilliant show on LBC Radio, and changed my schedule due to him no longer being on air 6 days a week.

This all happened at the end of November, and no-one really knew when he would be back on radio.

Luckily, it didn’t take long for Virgin Radio to snap him up, although he only secured one show a week, that of the 10pm - 1am slot on Sunday nights.

I can fully understand why Virgin chose that slot for him, and only gave him one show a week, because it’s a music station, whereas Iain specialises in talk radio. The good thing is he’s gone from local radio to national radio, which is a definite step up.

Iain started on the 6th January, and has now done two shows on the station, both of which I have listened to. So far, I’m quite impressed, although it’s obvious Iain is going to take a bit of time to settle in, and get a feel for both the station, and time slot.

Agent Chris, Iain’s producer and sidekick on LBC has unfortunately gone, and it’s now Dave or Dayyyyve in the assistant’s chair. I actually quite like him, but it’s obvious he’s not used to speech based radio. The chemistry between the two is gradually getting better, and as long as it continues to improve, I think it could work.

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Anyone who regularly reads Pop Buzz UK will know I’m a massive fan of the current incarnation of Doctor Who. Not only do I try and write about the big news on the show, I read, comment, and link to Watching Doctor Who whenever possible.

So today’s news/announcement is virtual music to my ears, and ensures I will have some reason to turn the television on for the next few years at least.

Russell T Davies, the head honcho and chief writer behind the new Doctor Who, has reportedly promised fans that the series will be around for years to come.

He said:

“I reckon the long-term future of Doctor Who is safer now than any other drama on telly.”

“A secret history of phone calls, dinners and face-to-face conversations had led me to feel sure of its place on British TV.”

“For Doctor Who, there are many New Years to come. And that’s a promise.”

That’s quite a promise, and great news for the legions of Doctor Who fans who have been worried by the constant and unyielding rumours over the last few months that the sci-fi show may be canned for the second time in its history.

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Regular readers of Pop Buzz UK will be well aware of my hatred for Jeremy Kyle, his show on ITV, his guests, his smarmy attitude, and everything else which comes wrapped up with the cult of Kyle.

In the past I have laughed at Kyle as Jon Culshaw has done a brilliantly accurate yet scathing impression of him on Dead Ringers, and then gone to town on the hypocritical piece of work as his ex-wife sold her story, and called him a lying, gambling addict.

And now the news is even better, as The Jeremy Kyle Show has been named the worst programme the daytime television schedule has to offer… yes, it’s even worse than Loose Women!

And this isn’t just the worst programme on TV currently, oh no, even though that would be humiliation enough for the irritating cheeseball, it’s been named as the worst EVER.

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Who would have thunk it? The Queen, yes that dear old 80 year old woman who somehow manages to get her face on our stamps, is a closet gamer, and enjoys a bit of Wii every now and again.

According to reports this week, she became fascinated with the Nintendo Wii console after seeing her grandson William playing with the one he received from on-off girlfriend Kate Middleton for Christmas. So she did what any self respecting grandmother and pensioner would do, and had a go.

The game in question was Wii Sports, and she was said to specifically enjoy the ten pin bowling mini game.

According to Blorge, a royal insider told tabloid news reporters that:

“When she saw William playing a game after lunch at Sandringham she thought the Nintendo looked tremendous fun and begged to join in. His only difficulty now is prising it away from the Queen’s clutches. She showed all the signs of becoming a Nintendo addict.�

I just can’t see this happening so it’s either made up entirely or an invention by Nintendo to keep their console in the news.

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Tonight should have seen the launch of the latest series of Celebrity Big Brother, but due to the race rows which blighted last year, that has now been replaced by Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack.

The new format launches tonight at 9pm on E4, and features 12 housemates between the ages of 18 and 21.

The celebrity part comes from various celebrity guests who will play the part of Big Brother, and going on the most recent reports, also play an active role in the show itself.

I previewed the show in full a few weeks ago, but since then some new details have been revealed, and some definite changes have been made to the original format.

First of all we have the 12 housemates, all young, all gifted, and all chosen to argue and fight in the same way as every normal Big Brother housemate is.

We have seven boys, and five girls, which includes circus performers, a boxer, a beauty queen, an entrepreneur, a racing driver and a politician.

Some of the celebrities have also been revealed, with the show kicking off under the guidance of Little Britain star Matt Lucas. Others to be given a role include art critic Brian Sewell and comedians Jimmy Carr and Joan Rivers.

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