DAVID Wicks returns to the Square next week in EastEnders, a decade after his exit.

David Wicks – played by Michael French – is back in Walford, but what brings him back?

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Cindy (Michelle Collins) is left reeling to see David back in Albert Square and keeps out of sight.

Cindy tells her ex husband George Knight (Colin Salmon) about why David being back has her rattled.

He advises her to front it out.

After meeting with Reiss Colwell (Jonny Freeman), David is soon distracted when he gets a shocking blast from his past.

He is stunned to see Cindy is very much alive and standing in front of him.

A shocked David has a lot of questions for Cindy as they catch up on the past two decades.

Meanwhile, Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt) is horrified when Bianca Jackson (Pasty Palmer) reveals that David is back in Walford.

Later, Ian goes to see Anna Knight (Molly Rainford) to make amends and tells her that he’s got a big plan for Cindy.

Soon, Cindy is forced to juggle several different tricky situations.

Whilst David and Bianca have some deep conversations.

Elsewhere, Junior Knight (Micah Balfour) starts to talk to George about his mystery woman, as his feelings for Cindy weigh heavy on his heart.

George is intrigued as Junior admits that what started as a fling has developed into something much more serious, and he believes the woman feels the same way. 

George gives him some fatherly advice, not knowing he’s talking about Cindy. Will he figure out it’s her?

EastEnders airs Monday to Thursday at 7:30pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

EastEnders stars who QUIT

MICHELLE Collins has seen her second EastEnders stint boost her bank balance. Yet what stars have quit this year?

The Sun exclusively reported how Michelle, 62, was down to £20,000 in her company accounts when she agreed to a shock back-from-the-dead return to Albert Square last year.

Her character, Cindy Beale, was presumed dead off-camera in 1998.

Yet what about the 2024 exits?

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Earlier this summer, loyal soap fans appeared to note how Stevie Mitchell had “quit” the long-running series.

It came after Alan Ford enjoyed just six-months on-screen.

Bobby Beale actor Clay Milner Russell also left this year after five years in Walford.

Fans also feared Martin Fowler actor James Bye would “quit out of boredom” over recent storylines.

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Additionally, a host of stars have quit the BBC soap for Hollywood fame.

One of the most successful stars to come from the BBC One soap is Rob Kazinsky.

He played Stacey Slater’s brother Sean Slater from 2006 to 2009, he has starred in Hollywood blockbusters Pacific Rim and Captain Marvel.

Ben Hardy, who quit EastEnders as Bobby Beale almost a decade ago, went on to break Hollywood the following year, when he starred as Archangel in X-Men: Apocalypse.

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Since then, he has played Roger Taylor in Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, and he starred in Michael Bay’s Netflix movie 6 Underground.

Michelle Ryan played Zoe Slater until 2005.

She starred as the lead in short-lived American series Bionic Woman from 2007 to 2008.

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When Game of Thrones first aired, back in 2011, it did so with a parental advisory rating warning for “strong violence, gore, sex, sex references, nudity and language”. It was, in short, made for adults. But by the time that show ended, its audience seemed largely composed of teenage boys, hopped up on a heady cocktail of dragons, zombies and boobs. I wonder, then, what those same viewers would make of the sight of that show’s hero, Jon Snow (Kit Harington), receiving a very specific form of adult shower in the new season of the BBC’s banker drama Industry? In a world of swords and sandals, capes and cowls, this really is television for grown-ups (just don’t watch it with your parents).

Having successfully stripped the Square Mile of any remaining aspirational glamour, Industry returns this week for its third season. In the years since the show was commissioned, the tide of TV seems to have turned, leaving Industry an immutable, urine-soaked rock, battered by the retreating shoreline. The show has always been that rare thing: a drama that doesn’t compromise for the sake of its audiences. Its pilot episode kicked things off with a piece of misdirection, following a character who, by the end of the episode, would be dead. Arriving on BBC One with full HBO credentials, and Girls creator Lena Dunham directing the opener, it was a stark mission statement. This wasn’t going to be a simple black comedy lampooning the artificially high-stakes world of corporate finance – it was going to stare into the dark heart of humanity. What’s followed is three unflinching seasons: characters who make bad, selfish decisions and hurt one another, a professional milieu of almost grotesque vapidity, and an alienating landscape of arcane jargon and bullpen manoeuvring.

But would anyone take a punt on a project like this now? “I think Industry increasingly seems like a Black Swan event,” the show’s co-creator, Mickey Down, tells me. He’s referring to the famous allegory of risk analyst Nassim Nicholas Taleb, about unpredictable outliers. “Even when we got the show commissioned, it felt like a Black Swan event, but now, the idea of us getting to make something like this on HBO or any major network is just totally for the birds.” In its place, according to Down’s co-creator, Konrad Kay, are “big tentpole things, with big tentpole names, that are going to attract an audience: that’s where we’ve got to now, because people are basically just scared.”

But the fear itself isn’t entirely new, and Industry was a real risk for HBO back in 2017, when it was announced. Down and Kay were TV novices, coming off the back of a few years spent as traders in the City. Handing them the keys to a primetime show (“The 9pm Sunday timeslot,” comes Kay’s appraisal, “still holds lots of sway in terms of cultural cachet”) was the sort of knife-edge decision that Pierpoint, the fictional investment bank in their show, pays its analysts top dollar to consider. And yet it happened, just a year after HBO had also ordered a pilot for Succession – a similarly insiderish, grown-up look at media oligopoly, and a show that, despite being its contemporary, Industry is often aptly touted as a successor to. But for all the garlands and rave reviews, Kay points to a problem. “A show like Succession is a cultural behemoth, but compared to something like Yellowstone, it’s a niche experience, a niche show.” And so, such adventurous commissioning decisions started to feel less swanlike, and more dodo-esque.

The rise of streaming has also seen a commensurate tendency for platforms to forgo fresh ideas and instead squeeze their existing Intellectual Property (IP) like they’re attacking the last remnants of a travel toothpaste. Disney has released numerous shows within the Star Wars universe (The Acolyte, The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, Andor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, The Book of Boba Fett etc), while its exploitation of the Marvel back catalogue is equally comprehensive (WandaVision, Agatha All Along, Secret Invasion, Hawkeye, Ms Marvel etc). Across the channels, some of the biggest shows of the past couple of years have been offshoots of major franchises – House of the Dragon or Rings of Power – or adaptations of video games, like Fallout, The Last of Us, Halo or Resident Evil. And this trend isn’t going to change any time soon: spin-offs from Suits, Dexter and Daredevil have all been announced for 2025, while there’ll be new instalments from the worlds of George RR Martin and Stephen King.

Over on HBO, for which Industry has been a critical darling if not an enormous ratings success (the second series averaged 1.4 million viewers per episode in the US, compared to the 7 million who would tune into Young Sheldon), September’s big new title, The Penguin, is part of the infinite Batman saga, and the start of a new commitment between HBO and DC Studios. “There’s way less risk being taken,” Down says of the TV landscape at large. “There’s way less appetite to develop new ideas.” The fact that HBO still adopts a linear model, broadcasting shows via weekly episodes in a specific timeslot, might account for its commitment to more grown-up programming. The demographics for more traditional modes of consumption skew older, while streaming platforms (HBO’s proprietary endeavour, Max, is not likely to launch in the UK until at least 2026) cater to younger viewers. “Why would you take a chance on something when it could fail? I think that’s really the attitude at the moment.”

It puts a lot of pressure on Industry, as a bastion of countercultural televisioneering. The third series takes the show into new territories, and Down and Kay agree that it is the apotheosis of the style they’ve been honing across the show’s first two outings. “Even though series two was good, I think it was a slight overcorrection,” says Down, “in that all the stuff that makes Industry interesting was pushed down a little bit in service of plot.” And so this latest chapter combines the uncompromising, authorial vision of the show’s “punky”, in Kay’s words, debut with something more accessible. “I feel like there’s a looseness to [season three],” Kay adds. It is a looseness that takes the show in diverse narrative and subtextual directions. In addition to seeing Jon Snow getting weed on, the drama explores the fallout from abusive familial relationships, the spiral of addiction, and, as ever, the cutthroat world of financial wheeler-dealering. “I think [the new season] makes a little bit more of a concession to intelligibility, fun, entertainment,” confesses Kay. “All of the stuff people actually do want TV to be.”

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One of these concessions was the casting of Harington as the show’s first legitimate “star”. “He slipped into Industry with zero ego,” says Down. But Harington’s character – a fragile entrepreneur called Henry Muck – has little of the square-jawed, brooding intensity of his Thrones role. Muck is another in Industry’s long line of weak, self-destructive men. In this latest season we see Robert (Harry Lawtey) grappling with his place at Pierpoint and in the world, Eric (Ken Leung) spiralling out of control, and Rishi (Sagar Radia) becoming the focus of an episode that makes The Bear seem like a stress-free brain bath. This is a macho world dealing with the end of unchecked masculinity, and while it is often painful to watch, it is also starkly funny. “As Kit said himself,” explains Down, “in 10 years on Game of Thrones he didn’t tell one joke. He was playing the most earnest f***ing bloke on the planet!”

From earnestness, Harington turns now to something more cynical. Even if the world of high finance occasionally feels like watching droids on a spaceship, most of Industry is set on something recognisable as planet Earth. Our fears, our emotions, our failings; ambition, jealousy, greed. With its third season, Industry has cemented its place in the sweep of TV drama, as something maturely terrestrial that avoids the temptation to treat its viewers like children.

‘Industry’ season three is out now on BBC iPlayer

THE BBC yesterday apologised to Amanda Abbington as it finally published the findings of its report into Strictly bullying claims against Giovanni Pernice.

Actress Amanda, 50, is now poised to sue the Beeb for loss of earnings and damages.

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She told The Sun: “I want to take the time to consider the report in detail with my advisers before deciding what happens next.”

After months of speculation, the bombshell 30-page report was seen as “vindication” by Amanda.

The team for Italian pro Gio, 34, believe he too has won after being cleared of the majority of complaints.

The probe found he used swear words and “belittling” language and gave negative feedback.

It also found two moments of “inappropriate behaviour of sexual banter in the workplace”.

One incident in which he grabbed his crotch and made a lewd gesture breached BBC guidelines.

Last night a source said: “Amanda is delighted and relieved, and feels her decision to speak out and complain has been rewarded.

“She hopes other celebs might come forward now, safe in the knowledge they, too, will be ­listened to.

“She has been through hell and lost work as a result of going public, and is considering taking further action against the BBC for damages and loss of earnings.

“Amanda suffered enormously, got formally diagnosed with PTSD, and feels the BBC breached its duty of care guidelines by not protecting her sooner.

“It’s hard to put a figure on how much she could expect if things go her way, but it could be up to £300,000.

“Obviously this would be the BBC’s worst nightmare; this has already been a costly investigation, and Strictly’s reputation has taken a walloping.”

The inquiry saw two ex-Met officers review hours of rehearsal footage from the last series. They also examined texts and screenshots between the pair.

Other celebrities who danced with Giovanni spoke to investigators, including Laura Whitmore, Ranvir Singh, Michelle Visage and Richie Anderson.

Debbie McGee, his 2017 dance partner, is said to have defended him in her interview.

Yesterday the BBC said in a statement: “The BBC has now concluded its review.

“We take any allegations of bullying and harassment very seriously and this review has taken time due to its complex nature and our desire to ensure a rigorous and robust process was undertaken.

It’s hard to put a figure on how much she could expect if things go her way, but it could be up to £300,000

Source

“Strictly Come Dancing is a family show and we rightly expect very high standards.

“While competition can be tough, rigorous and demanding, we want the show to ultimately be a joyous and transformative experience.

“It is a great shame if this hasn’t been the case for everyone who has appeared on the show. We have assessed the complaints and we have upheld some, but not all.

“We want to apologise to Amanda Abbington and to thank her for coming forward and taking part. We know this would not have been an easy thing to do.”

The Sun first broke the story last September when we revealed rowing behind the scenes, prompting Amanda to threaten to quit.

She later did, citing personal medical reasons.

The Sun on Sunday then revealed she had been diagnosed with mild PTSD, and had met other former contestants to share their experiences of dancing with Giovanni.

He quit this May, and the next day we revealed a formal legal investigation was under way.

Bosses have struggled to sign female stars following the claims, and there were fears the show would be pulled from schedules in its 20th year. Viewing figures are currently down on last year.

Responding to the BBC’s statement, Amanda said coming forward “was not an easy thing to do”.

She added: “In the days, weeks and months since I contacted the BBC, I’ve been accused of being a liar, a troublemaker and of being ‘mad and unstable’.

“I’ve also received rape and murder threats and a bomb threat was sent to my place of work.

“My family and children have also been subjected to threats and intimidation.

“Despite this vile abuse, I’ve never regretted coming forward, and today’s apology from the BBC is a vindication of my complaint.

“It’s not just a vindication for me, but for the other people who have contacted me since I made my complaint to express concerns about their own experiences on Strictly Come Dancing.

“I hope those who have felt unable to speak out now will be more confident that they will be listened to and believed.”

She said the BBC had invited her to meet with senior management and she would be considering this.

Amanda added: “This apology means a great deal to me.

“So too does the fact that the BBC have acknowledged the steps that were put in place to support and protect me and past contestants were ‘not enough’.

“What matters most now is that lessons have been learned and that the BBC makes the changes they’ve promised, to ensure others don’t experience the same ordeal that I and others like me did.”

We are pleased this six-month review has not found any evidence of threatening or abusive behaviour.

Giovanni’s spokesman

Giovanni’s spokesman said: “We are pleased this six-month review has not found any evidence of threatening or abusive behaviour.

“Giovanni is relieved that the overwhelming majority of allegations put to the BBC have not been upheld and looks forward to continuing his work on Dancing With The Stars in Italy this season.”

Sources believe he could now be cleared to make a shock return to Strictly — though those close to him say he has also been left “burned” by his experience.

One friend added: “Giovanni feels he was thrown to the wolves, and is very bruised by some of the claims made by previous partners against him.

“He has always maintained his innocence so right now the thought of going back to Strictly seems outlandish.

“Only four allegations against him were upheld for bullying, plus two sexual complaints, but he feels there was context to these, and he was only ever joking.

“Not to belittle Amanda’s experience, which is valid, but Giovanni feels like he could have been supported better too.”

In July the BBC’s Director General took the unprecedented step of apologising for the claims emerging.

Tim Davie said he was “disappointed” to hear several celebrities had complained about poor treatment.

“He said the show’s professionals should not cross the line between being competitive and “unacceptable behaviour”.

“There will be a degree of competitiveness and will to do well, but there are limits and the line should never be crossed,” he said.

“We never tolerate unacceptable behaviour of any kind.”

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