Pop Buzz UK

Stories about the Beckhams are like London buses, there’s none for ages, and then 3 come along at once. One is about David Beckham, one is about Victoria, and one is about that shadow on their marriage, Rebecca Loos who David allegedly had an affair with a few years ago.

We start with David, who has apparently agreed to climb Mount Kilimanjaro for children’s charity UNICEF. The 19,340ft African mountain is now on Becks agenda after U2 front man Bono is reported to have badgered him in to climbing it to raise money.

No date has been set for the climb, with Becks having commitments with LA Galaxy and insurance issues needing to be worked out. It’s thought the climb will take six days, and Beckham will have to be at the height of fitness to even attempt the feat.

Meanwhile, proving their life isn’t all about football and charity, Victoria Beckham has revealed that she likes to get drunk all the time.

(more…)

Last week it was reported that Davina McCall was planning to quit being presenter of Big Brother after the forthcoming ninth series had finished. She’s now come out to deny this, and claim that she’d only leave in her coffin.

The News Of The World newspaper had claimed that McCall had eventually decided the time was right to move on, and was eyeing up a serious acting career instead. However, it seems now, after Davina’s denial, that the story was concocted from the fact that McCall has recently changed agents.

Speaking at the London première of the Sex And The City movie, she told reporters:

“I’m not leaving Big Brother. They would have to kill me before I’d stop doing it.”

This will please some but others will be wishing the rumours were true, and that she was indeed going. Her interviewing technique has always split fans right down the middle.

The new series of Big Brother is set to kick off on June 5th, and a few details are being fed to us addicts to try and increase the anticipation. First of all we have the new eye logo, which changes every year, and is pictured above. It shows the same eye as always but in a splintered effect, all coloured black except one slice of red.

(more…)

For eight years now, we’ve been watching Davina McCall presenting the UK version of Big Brother, but it seems that finally, after this next series, Big Brother 9, she’s going to call it a day and quit the hit Channel 4 show.

While the reality show is much more about the contestants, and the interplay which goes on between them while in the house, Davina has definitely added something to the show, and made it her own. When she had to have the odd day off, and another presenter stood in for her, it just wasn’t the same.

But everyone was a fan, and all the while the show has been running, Davina has had her critics, and had to endure many accusations of being lazy or just plain dull on the show. Many people on Internet forums dedicated to the show roundly criticised her interviewing skills, as she’d often let the big questions escape unasked, and the viewers screaming at the television.

So why is she quitting? Well, according to the News Of The World, she has decided that the time is ripe for a change of career, and no longer wants to be a presenter. She’s giving up in an attempt to forge a serious acting career instead.

(more…)

Last November, Richard and Judy shocked every student and OAP in the UK when they announced that they would be giving up their daily teatime Channel 4 show. They decided not to renew their contract when it came to an end in 2008, in order to pursue new ventures.

They have since announced a new show on a new look UKTV channel, which sounds like it’ll be exactly the same as their Channel 4 show, which was in turn, exactly like This Morning.

It’s not yet known which channel the new show will be on, but with UKTV already having rebranded UKTV G2 as Dave, a move which I discussed and obviously celebrated last September, it could be an old channel given a brand new face.

Judy Finnegan said:

“When we announced our decision to leave our current television series after seven years, we were very touched by the number of people - friends, family, guests, viewers and broadcasters - who told us how much they wanted to see us continuing making programmes together.”

I’m afraid I won’t be following them over to the new channel, as after 20 years of doing the same dull crap, I think I’ve had enough of the pair, and want to see someone new doing something innovative. But what will be taking over Richard and Judy’s old timeslot on Channel 4?

(more…)

With the first news on the next UK Big Brother just being revealed, it appears that Poland is just about to dose of Big Brother 3, after programme makers Endemol sold the series lock, stock and barrel to the Polish broadcaster TVN.

While we in the UK are looking forward to the ninth series of the biggest and best reality television show, Polish people are just about to experience what is rightly considered the best ever series.

If you need a reminder, BB3 was the one where Jade Goody, the most successful Big Brother contestant ever, appeared, and showed off her flabby body for all to see in a late night drunken game.

She didn’t end up winning it though, with Kate Lawler proving to be the most popular house mate at the end of the 12 week series.

Endemol has until now just sold the rights to the show’s format rather than a whole series in its entirety, so this is an unusual move on their part.

(more…)

Just a year after moving out to Los Angeles, it looks like the Beckhams American dream could be about to end, as rumours emerge of a desire to leave LA and head back to the UK.

Last January it was announced that David Beckham had signed for the LA Galaxy, ending his successful stint at Spain’s Real Madrid, and signalling a future in the States for the footballer and his untalented wife.

At the time, Beckham secured a five year contract worth £120,000 (about $250,000) a week, but seeing as he spent most of his first season “playing” at the club on the bench, I’m not sure that was such a good investment.

The celebrity couple were welcomed to LA by Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, who threw a massive party for their new showbiz mates… although it didn’t work and Becks hasn’t signed up to become a Scientologist.

Now, according to a source speaking to OK! Magazine, Becks is eyeing a possible return to the UK, stating he would be happiest if someone bought out his contract with Galaxy, enabling him to play in England while still earning the same sort of money.

(more…)

I’m as much a fan of the Carry On series of films as the next man, having grown up with the repeats of them every Sunday evening on television, but I’m not sure how I feel about the possible return of the series, and who is being lined up to appear in it.

It seems that a new film is being planned, called ‘Carry On To The Next Round’, and comedian Russell Brand, along with Girls Aloud singer Sarah Harding are just two of the big names being lined up to star in it.

For those who don’t know, the Carry On films were bawdy, rude, and slapstick movies which basically revolved around trying to fit as much sexual innuendo in to a 90 minute film as possible.

The series did very well during the 1960s and 1970s, with the ever present cast of people like Sid James, Hattie Jacques, Charles Hawtrey, Kenneth Williams and Barbara Windsor. Although they were low budget parodies, us Brits used to love them… simple times.

The 1980s brought with it a whole new generation of people, and with Margaret Thatcher leading the country, and yuppies ruining it, the clamour for cheap and cheerful laughs came to an end, and so did the series.

(more…)

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.

(more…)

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.

(more…)

I wrote last week about the lack of available Wii consoles in the UK this Christmas. Unlike the PS3 and Xbox 360, which are both in ready supply everywhere around the country, you’d be hard pushed to find a Wii in any store.

It seems that now, retailers are making the most of the lack of supply, and great deal of demand. When they do get stocks of the Wii in, instead of just offering it on a first come, first serve basis, they are bundling the basic console with games and accessories, which consumers have to buy, and pay a high rate for, if they want to get their hands on a Wii.

MCV carried out research that shows some retailers charging £400 ($850) for a Wii, and extras, which is over double the recommended retail price of the stand alone system.

The trade paper found GameStation, Zavvi, HMV, Toys R Us and Woolworths refused to sell just the consol on its own, selling them only as part of bundle, charging from £250 with two games at HMV to a £400 bundle with five games at GameStation.

Ths has obviously caused controversy and anger amongst gamers, and also parents of children who want nothing more than a Wii for Christmas, and won’t settle for the alternatives such as PS3 and Xbox 360.

(more…)

British supermodel Sophie Anderton has been exposed by a British newspaper as a high class prostitute and coke dealer. The News of the World set up a rendezvous with the former ‘I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here‘ reality television star, where she offered to spend the night with one of it’s reporters for £10,000, and also tried to sell them cocaine.

30 year old Anderton came to the public’s attention as a lingerie model for Gossard, and more recently, as a contestant on 2004’s I’m A Celebrity. She has since made a habit of appearing on reality TV shows, having been on ‘Celebrity Love Island’, ‘Fear Factor’, and ‘Cirque De Celebrite’.

This isn’t the first time she has been featured in the tabloid press, with multiple appearances, normally for the wrong reasons. She actually admitted to spending the night as a high class hooker once, but it seems she may now be making a habit of it.

She is also a well known cocaine addict, but as thought to have kicked the habit before entering the jungle on I’m A Celebrity last year. Clearly, from what she told the News of the World, and from the pictures they secured, she is back doing it.

(more…)

The Dr Who world moves at quite a fast pace, and I’m not even talking about when the good doctor is in his tardis travelling through time and space. So here for your pleasure is another round up of the latest Dr Who news!

David Tennant has revealed the secret of the cult show’s massive success, telling The Daily Record:

“The Doctor is unlike any other long-established character, in that you can bring your own ideas and personality to the part. In a way, you have to reset the Doctor to zero every week.”

That’s true, and as the Doctor changes, it becomes a new show each time, keeping it fresh for viewers and actors alike. That’s why I’m hopeful that the show has enough life left in it to keep going for years to come.

Talking to The Stage, Tennant also singled out Russell T Davies, the main man behind the relaunch of the show, saying:

“The standard of the writing and of the stories is extremely high. I might tweak the odd line here or there, but I’d never dream of pointing out to the writers, in that hackneyed phrase, that my character wouldn’t say this or do that. Russell [T Davies] is the best, so why play around with the best?”

High praise indeed, and again he’s correct. The Russell T Davies scripts are always of the highest quality, and the direction he’s taken the show in over the last few years has never failed to impress.

(more…)

I’ve made no secret of the fact I’m not a big Jeremy Kyle fan, as I find him one of the most obnoxious people on television. I’ll stand by my appraisal of him as Jerry Springer without the humour or class.

For those outside of the UK, or not a member of the underclass, Jeremy Kyle has a chat show, come agony aunt type programme, which wholly exists to grab the dregs of society off the streets and place them on our televisions for everyone to laugh at. Here’s a spoof clip on YouTube which should help you realise what the show is like.

Jeremy’s role in all this is as the ringmaster and master of ceremonies who conducts his prey as they admit to being a druggie, or of cheating on their partner, or if Jeremy had his way, of being the worst human being ever to have lived on Earth. He pretends he cares, but you can see in his eyes he’s just in it to provide some cheap entertainment for the masses and give himself a nice pay packet.

So I’m overjoyed this fine Monday morning to learn that his ex wife Kirsty Rowley has spoken to a Sunday newspaper and dished all the dirt on him. And it turns out our friendly Jezza is no angel himself, and is actually a “hypocritical liar”.

(more…)

I’m a big fan of the Red Dwarf series, with it’s hilarious take on Sci-Fi films and television series. So I’m gutted to hear that the BBC has turned down the chance to make a ninth series of the hit show.

Series creator Doug Naylor recently issued a statement about the decision at the ‘Dimension Jump’ convention:

“Some time ago, BBC2 decided not to take up their option for a potential Series IX, instead they said they were keen to pursue other projects.”

“They also told us that they weren’t interested in buying the TV rights for the Red Dwarf film, despite liking the script, as they weren’t convinced the film would be a success.”

(more…)

Is Billie Piper about to return to the scene of her greatest triumph and reprise her role as Rose Tyler in cult BBC drama Doctor Who?

Reports are suggesting the actress has been offered £20,000 to make a comeback in a three-episode story arc at the end of the next series.

An insider at the BBC said “We are all very excited that Billie is on course to come back. We’re very close to getting her to sign.”

Piper made her name as a serious actor on the show firstly alongside Christopher Eccleston and then the ubiquitous David Tennant. Their on screen chemistry was astoundingly good and she certainly helped him settle in to the role as the good Doctor.

(more…)