MIRANDA Hart says she farted within ten minutes on her first date with her new hubby — before they bonded over sloppy pizza.

The comedian, 51, who wed Richard Fairs earlier this year, told a podcast: “We were chatting, all very fun from the off.

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“Then the pizza comes but it had shunted up to one end, mozzarella was leaking everywhere.”

Miranda said she “went on and on getting full-on teenage grumpy”, but was delighted that “shy and sweet” Richard was too.

She added: “We formed this delicious connection.

“It kickstarted the freedom for us to start meeting and connecting.”

When Richard texted about another date, she said: “I was like he does like me because I was who I was, and probably farted within ten minutes.”

She has been off screens recently as she battles chronic fatigue.

Earlier this month, the BBC favourite revealed she had secretly got married following a debilitating health battle.

The Miranda star, 51, then shared a first look of her husband after she was spotted enjoying a bike ride with a mystery man months before confirming her nuptials.

Now she had shed light on their relationship history – and everything wasn’t completely smooth.

In her new book, she told that she “briefly” split with the building surveyor before he popped the question in Kew Gardens.

In her tome, I Haven’t Been Entirely Honest With You, Miranda wrote: “I admitted that I was longing for love within a romantic relationship too, for that one person who truly got me, but my hope for that was very, very slim.”

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The character has lots of crossover with me – I’m not very different.” Comedian and actor Felicity Ward is talking about her role as the lead in the new Australian iteration of The Office – she plays the David Brent/Michael Scott character – and I can’t help but raise a sceptical eyebrow.

Before me sits a veritable siren, all platinum curls and scarlet lipstick, poured into a gorgeous 1950s-style spaghetti-strap white dress with black polka dots. A dress that – without wanting to sound like a total and utter perv – showcases her magnificent decolletage. Ward is instantly likeable, too: magnetic and warm in a way that induces me to share an inappropriate period anecdote within the first few minutes of meeting. Though she started out her career as an actor, Ward is best known these days for her work as a stand-up (she’s currently touring the UK with her latest show, I’m Exhausting) and has the charisma and comic timing to match.

Hannah Howard, the new Aussie incarnation of the infamous buffoon of a boss, is poles apart from Ward. For one thing, she’s frumpy – decked out in the kind of office-wear millennials used to go nuts for in the Noughties (think boot-cut black trousers, ill-fitting pencil skirts and unflattering shirts that make Ward look a decade older than her 44 years). For another, in true Ricky Gervais spirit, she is painfully un-self-aware – a walking ball of slapstick cringe comedy who elicits near constant grimaces from her long-suffering employees. How, I ask, do you in any way resemble this car crash of a character?

“All of the annoying parts of her are just me,” she insists. Ward describes a scene where the script called for her to hula hoop, and she begged to do it around her neck instead of her waist. “They asked if I could fling it off. So I did, and I managed to hit one of the other actors in the head and smash a lamp as well. Yeah… there’s not a lot of delineation when it comes to attention seeking. Like, that’s this guy” – Ward gestures towards herself – “all day long.” (When she burps loudly and somewhat proudly several times during the interview thanks to a hastily consumed ginger beer, I can just about start to see the resemblance – though it’s still a bit of a stretch.)

Initially premiering on Amazon Prime with an eight-episode run, the Australian Office relies on the same mechanism as both its predecessors to act as the literal heart of the narrative: the underlying love story between Tim and Dawn/Jim and Pam (in this case Nick and Greta, played by Steen Raskopoulos and Shari Sebbens respectively). The overlying plotlines, meanwhile, could have been plucked from either of its American or British cousins: Hannah organises a “charity” pyjama dress-up day but plans to keep the money to avoid mandatory remote working being introduced; Hannah attempts to create a video awards entry to prove her commitment to “diversity”, in which she shoehorns in every ethnic minority she can find to toe-curling effect. Tone-wise, though, it undoubtedly shares more of its DNA with the warmer, fuzzier US version than the bleaker British original (“I mean this as a compliment: you cannot impersonate British cynicism,” says Ward firmly).

Covering similar ground to two established and beloved shows clearly comes with its challenges – “I know that people are going to have very strong opinions about this regardless” – but Ward is pragmatic about the inevitable judgement that’s coming her way. “When people ask, ‘did you feel the pressure?’ I’m like, ‘no, not at all,’” she says. “This is the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me.” It likely helped that she hadn’t seen a single episode of the American Office before filming, and only started watching it once the initial Australian series was in the can. Yet, curiously, the Michael Scott character – played by Steve Carell and loosely based as it was on the David Brent original – had somehow managed to permeate. “We did this take, and one of the background actors said, ‘Oh my god, that was so Michael Scott,’” recounts Ward. “And I’d never seen an episode. So basically I’m calling myself Steve Carell now.”

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The biggest difference with this latest reimagining is, clearly, gender. Not only is the central character female, Hannah’s right-hand man – Rainn Wilson’s Dwight and Mackenzie Crook’s Gareth in the American and UK shows – is a right-hand woman, Lizzie, played by Edith Poor. It’s a natural evolution, says Ward. “If you’re going to make a show again – and this is the 13th remake of The Office, by the way – it makes sense to do something completely, radically different.” Were there alternative comedic furrows that could be ploughed thanks to casting women instead? “It didn’t happen very often, but occasionally… There was some improvisation where Hannah would flirt with someone very, very slightly. And it’s just a different dynamic than if a male boss is doing it.” Fewer #metoo vibes, for a start.

Mainly though, Ward is keen to stress that putting women at the centre doesn’t inherently change the humour of the show. “The wonderful thing is there is nothing implicitly female about it; it just happens to be a female boss,” she says. “There are so few female chump characters, and it’s such a joyful thing to do, to be incompetent and happy about it. It’s rich idiot fodder – which is my safe space.”

And yet, conversely, it was because “there were so many women involved” that the show didn’t have to feel like it was specifically expressing a woman’s story, argues Ward. “That, I think, is a superpower in itself,” she says. “Don’t get me wrong, I love women’s stories, I’m obsessed with women’s stories – but there is room for someone who is just being terrible at their job, regardless of gender.”

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When she mentions “so many women”, she means it: everyone from head writer Julie De Fina and director Jackie van Beek to all of the directors from Amazon were female. Look down the list of producers, and it’s a list of seven women. Even if it didn’t necessarily shape the jokes, it certainly changed the atmosphere while filming. “When you have all these other women in the room, it just means that you’re not so conscious of your own voice,” says Ward. “You’re not representing all women every time you speak. You’re just representing yourself. And you can be flawed, or you can be funny, or you can be whatever you want. And when there are loads of other women in positions of importance, you’re not worrying, ‘Oh, are they going to think it’s weird that I say I’ve got my period…?’”

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We’ve already joked about the tired trope that all women stand-ups ever talk about is their periods, but Ward leans into it now, telling me about an all-female writers room she worked in years ago. “The head writer was talking, and then she stopped, and she was like, ‘Sorry, I’ve just got the worst period cramps.’ And everyone instinctively reacted: someone grabbed a water bottle, a banana, paracetamol, ibuprofen, a tampon. It was really beautiful,” she says wistfully.

Ward has been in the business long enough to know what a rarity working with women at the helm is. After 20 years of hard graft, she’s also been in the business long enough to truly appreciate landing a starring role in an established sitcom. “I felt like I was in a playground every day,” she says. “To get the lead in any sitcom is unbelievable. To get the lead in The Office is insane. But then to turn up and just be told, be as funny as you can, for 10 hours a day, for nine weeks – that’s the dream.” If it sounds like a polished, PR-ready answer, it feels anything but – Ward wells up as she recalls these days on set, and the prior two decades of hard grind that got her there. Her voice trembles – just for a moment – before immediately switching to self-deprecating mode. “God, sorry, I’m such a pussy! I cry at everything.”

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There’s no need to apologise; if anything, it makes her even more likeable. If anything, it makes me even more sceptical that she’s “not very different” to Hannah Howard’s “female chump” of a bad boss. But I guess I’ll just have to finish watching the series to find out.

All eight episodes of ‘The Office Australia’ are available to watch on Amazon Prime from 17 October 2024

THEY think it’s all makeover . . . it is here, with this gallery of famous faces virtually unrecognisable in TV and movie roles.

Hollywood starlet Sydney Sweeney, 27, has shocked fans by posting a shot of herself with straggly brown hair and bulging biceps after working out to play former US boxer Christy Martin in an upcoming biopic.

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It came in sharp contrast to the Euphoria beauty’s usual blonde look.

But as wigs, prosthetics and body transformations evolve, she is far from the first movie A-lister to get a whole new appearance for a role.

Here, Thea Jacobs challenges you – with a few helpful clues – to match these shots from filming to the stars below.

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Answers – disguised stars revealed

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Pokémon voice actor Rica Matsumoto has addressed rumours that the popular anime ended because of a rift between its leading stars.

Matsumoto, played the voice of Ash Ketchum, a young boy who pursues his dream of becoming the best at the monster based battle game.

Accompanied by his sidekick and beloved Pikachu, voiced by actor Ikue Otani, Ketchum goes on a series of adventures that have spanned over 1,300 episodes. The popular show first aired in 1997, and came to an end last year.

Last week, Game Freak, one of the co-owners of the Pokémon franchise, was subject to a huge data breach, leading to the details of thousands of employees being leaked.

Among the information was a leaked transcript that is alleged to point to “strained relations” between Matsumoto and Otani.

According to Dexerto, the leaks claimed that the company had considered recasting Matsumoto due to the tension between her and Otani impacting the morale of the team.

Matsumoto responded to the claims saying “someone is making this up”.

In a post on X/Twitter, she wrote: “Don’t worry, nothing like this has happened. I’ve been friends with Iku-chan since she was a newbie, and she even came as a guest on Rika’s fan club tour.

“For those of you who don’t know me, I wonder if you enjoy writing something like this. No one is happy about it. I think it’s in poor taste and childish.”

Fans posted their support in the comments as one wrote, “That’s right. Rika Matsumoto and Ikue Otani have always been the two of them as Satoshi and Pikachu, so the bond between Satoshi and Pikachu will never be broken!”

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Another added: “I am so happy that you and Ōtani-san are still good friends. I have ignored (and will continue to ignore) these supposed leaks, and I am glad that you have too.”

The post that purported to reveal the leaks has since been deleted. However, the anime community have continued to speculate that there may be some truth to the suggestions with Otani reprising her role as Pikachu in Pokemon Horizons, while Matsumoto does not appear to be returning.

EMMERDALE newcomer Samantha Power has teased a future return for Tina Dingle after she took over the role.

Viewers watched stunned tonight as Tina made her dramatic comeback – 28 years after her last appearance.

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Only this time she wasn’t played by original star Jacqueline Pirie, instead Samantha Power has taken over the role.

The Brassic and Ackerly Bridge actress crashed the funeral before clashing with her on-screen family.

And despite Tina being carted off by the police for breaching her probation – she will be back – and it may not be for just a short stint.

Asked if she wants to make a return following her stint, Samantha said: “Definitely! 

”Emmerdale is an amazing place to work and Tina is just fantastic to play so I would love the opportunity to come back and cause more mischief.”

Samantha also opened up about her nerves on taking the role.

She said: “Yes! I absolutely do remember Jaqueline who played Tina. She was absolutely fantastic, I remember her character vividly! So I am very lucky to get the chance to pick up where she left off!

“I was so nervous. It’s an iconic role to fill so I wanted to do it justice.

“My husband said he had never known me to be this nervous! My first scene on my first day was at the graveside with ALL the Dingles! That’s a lot right! 

“Luckily everyone was so nice and welcoming! I have to say a special shout out to Lisa Riley, the nicest human being! 

“When I met her at the screen test I felt so safe, she couldn’t have been more giving and supportive and encouraging and that continued daily on set! I loved working with her!”

However Tina is hiding a big secret – that’s connected to Mandy – with actress Lisa Riley teasing it would develop into a big story for her character.

And now Tina has made it clear she wants her share of Wishing Well cottage – will she get it?

Samantha added: “Well, she has no filters and she will literally do anything to make sure she gets her way including her claim to the house. She is not one to be trusted! I loved it!”

And she added that Tina would meeet her match in brother Cain and cousin Mandy.

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“With Mandy and Cain for sure!” she said. 

“Tina is really good at manipulating people, especially the Dingles so I don’t think any of them are safe.”

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Dave Bautista has mocked Donald Trump’s “tough guy” pose, calling the presidential candidate “a weak, tubby toddler.”

Bautista, 55, rose to fame as a WWE wrestler before building a career as an action star in movies including Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, the James Bond film Spectre and both instalments of Dune.

On last night’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, late-night host Kimmel quoted a recent New York Times poll that found Trump is leading rival candidate Kamala Harris by 17 points among male voters. “But is he the strong, alpha man these men believe him to be?” asked Kimmel. “Not according to one of the toughest guys I know, he isn’t.”

Bautista then presented a short segment while working out in a gym. “A lot of men seem to think that Donald Trump is some kind of tough guy,” said the former wrestler. “He’s not.”

The Dune star went on to point out several of Trump’s frailties, including the fact that “he wears more makeup than Dolly Parton,” had “his daddy pay a doctor to say his widdle feet hurt so he could dodge the draft” and has a gut that looks like “a garbage bag full of buttermilk.”

Bautista went on to mock Trump for selling “imaginary baseball cards pretending to be a cowboy fireman” when in fact “the guy is barely strong enough to hold an umbrella.”

Bautista concluded the segment by listing various things that Trump is afraid of, including “rain,” “dogs,” and “Meryl f***ing Streep,” before adding: “Mostly he’s terrified that real, red-blooded American men will find out that he’s a weak, tubby toddler.”

Elsewhere in the episode, Kimmel roasted Trump for declaring himself to be the “father of IVF” during an all-female town hall on Fox News.

During the Cumming, Georgia, town hall, with moderator Harris Faulkner, which aired on Wednesday, Trump labeled Alabama Senator Katie Britt “a fantastically attractive person,” before telling the crowd: “I’m the father of IVF.”

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The GOP presidential candidate’s campaign later said he was joking.

“So they loaded in the women, about 100 women – this is the first time Grover Cleveland has been around this many women since they started padlocking the doors at Miss Teen USA – and it was quite an interview, very well done,” Kimmel quipped.

He continued: “They got to the hot button subject of IVF. Now the Supreme Court caved to the far-right on abortion, many believe, rightly, that IVF is next on the list.”

While Trump claims to support the fertility treatment, Democrats warn that the overturning of Roe v Wade and rollback of abortion rights could pave the way for Republicans to take aim at IVF access next.

“Now that [Trump] learned what IVF is – which I’m still not sure he does – he wants to pretend he’s not just a big proponent of IVF, he wants people to know he’s the biggest proponent of IVF,” Kimmel continued.

“Now he’s claiming to be the father of IVF, which has been happening since 1978,” the host added, noting the date the first child was conceived using the fertility treatment.

Kimmel then threw a jab at Trump’s parenting. “This guy won’t even admit he’s the father of Eric – he’s the father of IVF,” he teased. “Maybe it’s short for Ivanka in his brain.”

Vice President Kamala Harris also mocked Trump’s self-prescribed title calling it “quite bizarre.”