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The Hairy Bikers star Si King has said he often catches himself expecting a phone call from his late best friend and co-star Dave Myers.

Myers, who found fame alongside King as part of the motorcycle-riding cooking duo on their TV show The Hairy Bikers, died in February aged 66 after being diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer. The pair became known for travelling the world on their motorbikes and their cookery books inspired by their travels.

Speaking on This Morning, King said that he’s still processing his friend’s death, and often wonders why he hasn’t heard from him.

“The amount of times that I’ve gone, ‘I’ve not heard from that toe rag’ and I’ll go, ‘Oh man’.

He added: “It was my best mate, and actually he still is my best mate, that never goes does it? But he is a miss. And it’s just a bit odd.”

Reflecting on his grief, King said: “It’s raw for anybody that loses somebody, but there are two things that are certain in life, you begin it and you end it, the bit in the middle is about what you do with it.”

“And Dave, I have to say, he loved his life. He lived it to the full and he was joyous to be around.”

King, 58, remembered how his friend of 30 years was always ready for new challenges and approached each day with enthusiasm – such as his time on Strictly Come Dancing.

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“Could he dance? Could he nelly, but it was just amazing to watch because it was a heart and soul performance, as you always got with Dave – that’s who he was,” said King.

In 2022, Myers revealed he had cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy.

King said the grieving process started for him when Myers was diagnosed but they concentrated on the treatment process together.

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“Grief is a very individual journey because it’s about an emotional adjustment of loss and the things that are no longer tangible, that’s quite an existential thing to get your head around,” he said.

The pair had been working on a new book, The Hairy Bikers: Our Family Favourites, before Myers’ death – but King has been spurred on to finish it in his friend’s honour.

“I really, really wanted to just as a mark of respect for my best mate and also it’s about legacy,” he said of finishing the book on his own.

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“It was about looking after that legacy and being the curator of that legacy is really important and to treat it with the respect it deserves.”

The book contains recipes that stuck with the piece during their travels over their two decades of travelling together.

Reflecting on meeting Myers in 1995 and going on to work together, King said: “We always used to say it was like winning the lottery but better.

“Because we were two working class lads from the north and it’s been such a privilege to see the world we live in and talk to the wonderful people that are sometimes completely diverse from the culture that we know and understand and are completely different.”

STRICTLY fans have joked theyre ‘calling the police’ after Craig Revel Horwood’s latest underscoring.

Judge Craig, 59, has come under fire for giving Montell Douglas, 38, only nine points during Saturday’s show while his co-stars opted for the highest score of 10.

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Montell, best known as Fire from the Gladiators reboot, performed to Skeleton Move by Master KG & Zanda Zakuza with her partner Johannes Radebe this weekend.

The show couple, who were granted their Couple’s Choice, topped the leaderboard – with ever-critical Craig’s nine preventing them from achieving a perfect score of 40.

BBC viewers were left fuming as they watched from home, with some angrily rushing to social media.

One tweeted: “Hello @metpolice? Craig revel horwood for not giving a 10 to Montell, thanks.”

Another added: “Come on Craig. It’s only a ten on Strictly. It’s not like it’s a Paul Hollywood handshake or something important like that.”

Someone else raged: “Omg F**K OFF CRAIG GIVING MONTELL A 9!!!! SHOULD HAVE BEEN 10! I’m cancelling my tv license cause I am fuming.”

One more concluded: “Craig, lad, come on, you know that should have been a 10 for Montell & Johannes.”

Montell joined the BBC reboot of Gladiators earlier this year as she took on the alter ego of Fire to show off her power and strength.

She shared her excitement about her Strictly signing, telling fans: “Strictly ARE YOU READY, Fire is here to light up the Ballroom.

“Wow I am so honoured to have been asked to do the show. It is such an amazing thing to be a part of and I can’t wait to get started.

“Hopefully a few of my Gladiator moves will come in handy with the Tango or Paso Doble!”

She previously competed in the Olympic Games, making sporting history to become the first female UK athlete to compete at both the summer and winter Olympics.

She is a former Team GB sprinter and Olympic bobsledder, and held the British woman’s record for the fastest 100m sprint at 11.05 seconds, smashing the previous record which was unbeaten for 27 years.

In 2010, Montell won Commonwealth Gold in the 4 x 100m relay in Delhi as well as holding a European Under-23 Silver Medal in 100m.

Strictly 2024 pairings

Here’s who is matched with who this series…

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Kit Connor has criticised his viral Heartstopper scene with Hayley Atwell.

The 20-year-old actor who rose to fame as secondary school student Nick Nelson in the Netflix teen series has reflected on filming a widely-circulated Heartstopper scene that sees his character confide in his aunt (played by Marvel star Hayley Attwell) about his boyfriend Charlie’s eating disorder.

In the scene, Connor’s character, who is 16 at the time, opens up to his aunt after he’s been struggling to support his boyfriend whose mental health is deteriorating. Nick has been single-handedly trying to manage Charlie’s eating issue without telling their friends or parents.

Attwell’s character comforts Kit and gives him a piece of crucial advice, telling him that he can’t carry another person’s burden to rescue them – and that he should ask for help.

When speaking about the scene in an interview withTeen Vogue, Connor, who doesn’t use social media, was shocked to find out the moment had gone viral online because he thought his performance wasn’t very good.

“Has it been circulating?” Connor asked the interviewer.

The actor explained the scene was difficult to film, because they only had an hour to shoot it, and he was surprised people liked it.

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“Hayley did really beautifully in that scene. Really. That was a hard scene to film because we had an hour to shoot it. And it’s not short,” he said.

“I was really worried about it to be honest… But I’m glad that people like it. I tried to watch it and I was like, I’m not very good in this scene.”

The release of Heartstopper’s third season coincidences with Connor’s broadway debut, which sees him play Romeo in a modern-day adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet alongside West Side Story’s Rachel Zegler.

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Directed by Tony-winner Sam Gold (Fun Home) and featuring music by Grammy-winner Jack Antonoff, the new production aims to cater to a younger generation.

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Connor will be following in the footsteps of his Heartstopper co-star Joe Locke, who also made his Broadway debut this February, starring in Hadestown.

Speaking about joining Heartstopper in 2022, Connor reflected on becoming famous in his teens and beginning to care about other people’s opinions of him.

“Heartstopper came out when I still kind of hadn’t finished puberty. I wasn’t done yet. I wasn’t fully cooked. People had never looked at me in the way that they started looking at me. And I had never led a show before,” he told Teen Vogue. “I’d never led a project really before. I was a child actor. No one was like, that’s a good performance. It’s like, oh yeah, he’s a kid. He did all right. He said the lines. He got them out. I cared a lot about the opinions of strangers and that’s a dangerous place to be.”

A BELOVED children’s cartoon gave fans a sneak peak at its 25th anniversary special before revealing that a spin off show will continue for at least two more series.

Spongebob SquarePantsis an iconic cartoon that has captured the hearts of kids and adults alike with his adventures in Bikini Bottom with their friends Patrick Star, Mr Krabs and Gary the Snail among others.

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At a SpongeBob SquarePants panel at New York Comic Con 2024, Nickelodeon revealed that The Patrick Star Show, the second SpongeBob SquarePants spinoff, has now been renewed for seasons four and five.

At the convention they also showed a half-hour 25th anniversary special, SpongeBob SquarePants, Snow Yellow.

In addition, they offered a sneak peak at the 25th anniversary special SpongeBob SquarePants, SpongeBob & Sandy’s Country Christmas.

The treats kept on coming as fans were also given a first look at The Patrick Star Show, Thanks But No Thanksgiving.

The series follows the starfish and his family and is currently in its third season, also airing on Nickelodeon.

The show’s stars Tom Kenny – who plays SpongeBob – and Bill Fagerbakke – who plays Patrick Star – appeared on stage to celebrate the show’s 25th anniversary.

Carolyn Lawrence, who plays Sandy Cheeks, was also there, as well as Rodger Bumpass (Squidward) and Clancy Brown (Mr. Krabs).

They actors were joined by executive producers Marc Ceccarelli and Vincent Waller.

Snow Yellow sees evil Queen Karen seek to try and claim the title ‘The squarest of them all’ for herself using cunning tactics.

The episode is due to air on Nickelodeon in November, along with The Patrick Star Show’s Thanks But No Thanksgiving.

In that episode, the Stars spend a happy holidays with Bunny’s family in Klopnod.

Meanwhile, in SpongeBob SquarePants – SpongeBob & Sandy’s Country Christmas, one of Sandy’s experiments ends in disaster, so it is up to the Cheeks family to team up to save Christmas.

It stars Craig Robinson as Pa Cheeks, Johnny Knoxville as Randy Cheeks, and Grey Delisle as Ma Cheeks.

Granny Cheeks, Rosie and Rowdy return to their roles as Sandy Cheek’s family. They also appeared in Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie. 

The Spongebob Christmas special premieres in December on Nickelodeon and Paramount+.

Catch episodes of Spongebob and The Patrick Star show on Nickleodeon.

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Mrs Brown’s Boys star Brendan O’Carroll has defended implying highly offensive racial slurs in his comedy.

O’Carroll, the 69-year-old Irish actor who plays the title character in the long-running BBC comedy, recently apologised for making a “clumsy” joke where a “racial term was implied” during rehearsals for the forthcoming Christmas specials.

It has since been reported that O’Carroll was in character as Mrs Brown when he began to utter the N-word before he was stopped by his on-screen daughter, who was also in character.

The BBC halted filming to launch an investigation after the remark was flagged to bosses. O’Carroll then said he “deeply regrets the clumsy line”.

It has now been reported that in an interview, O’Carroll argued in defence of such jokes and said it could only work when he was in character as the Mrs Browns Boys titular star Agnes Brown.

The Daily Mail reports that during a recent interview, O’Carroll cited a sketch that he did with American actor Tyler Perry in Netflix’s A Madea Homecoming, which contains the use of racial terms. As Madea, Perry – who is Black – plays an older woman who meets Mrs Brown.

The sketch sees the two characters with differing Irish and American accents misunderstand each other so that the word “knickers” is misinterpreted as a racial slur.

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The actor reportedly recalled that this sketch was a success, saying: “I did the movie with Tyler Perry and we were about four years in the planning of it.

“But we’d have Facetimes, and the scene that we do, the knicker/n***** piece, we howled laughing at it.

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“And we agreed that we wouldn’t get away with it – but [our characters] Madea and Mrs Brown would.”

“So we did it, and it became one of the highlights of the f***ing movie.”

Recalling the scene, O’Carroll explained, “In the movie Agnes says, ‘Now hold on, don’t be getting your knickers in a twist.”

Perry’s character Madea replies: “Did you call me a n*****?”

Mrs Brown then responds,”No, no, I said knicker.”

O’Carroll said the scene was “f***ing hilarious” and “the place fell apart laughing”.

The Independent has contacted representatives for Mr O’Carroll for comment.

At the time of the release of A Madea Homecoming in 2022, O’Carroll came under fire for his remarks about race while appearing on The One Show to promote the film alongside Perry. During the interview, O’Carroll said that Mrs Brown’s Boys had never had anyone of Perry’s “colour” feature on the show before.

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When asked if he thought his fellow guest could feature on Mrs Brown’s Boys, O’Carroll responded: “He’s very expensive and so far we haven’t had anybody his colour in there,” the Irish actor continued, pointing at his face on the word “colour”.

O’Carroll said that he would love the actor to appear on the show or for the pair to make another film together, while Perry laughed at the comment while repeating the words: “Nobody my colour.”

“Times have changed, change the world,” Perry. “Diversity rules, here we go.”

The One Show viewers were shocked by O’Carroll’s comment, which was described by one viewer as “offensive” and “racist”.

The remarks are in line with the tone of the Perry-directed comedy, which features several jokes about race and ethnicity.

In one scene, Mrs Brown greets Madea by crossing her arms and saying “Wakanda forever”, in reference to the Black Panther motto from the Marvel films.

Another clip shows the actor at dinner with Perry’s character, where she says “I’m Mrs Brown”, with one of the co-stars replying: “I’m a brown too.”

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During filming for the recent Christmas special, the BBC investigated the incident and halted rehearsals, which have since resumed at the corporation’s Pacific Quay studios in Glasgow. It is understood that the specials are still scheduled to air on BBC One this festive season in their usual Christmas Day and New Year’s Day slots.

A BBC spokesperson said: “While we don’t comment on individuals, the BBC is against all forms of racism, and we have robust processes in place should issues ever arise.”

A representative for O’Carroll told The Daily Mail: “We would also like to clarify that the ‘n’ word was absolutely not spoken, it was implied. Agnes (Mrs Brown) began the word but was stopped from finishing it by her daughter Cathy, as she (Mrs Brown) knew she would be.”

O’Carroll said in a statement: “At a read-through of the Mrs Brown’s Boys Christmas specials, there was a clumsy attempt at a joke, in the character of Agnes, where a racial term was implied. It backfired and caused offence which I deeply regret and for which I have apologised.”

ITV NEWS anchor Ralph Blunsom has died aged 66.

The broadcasting legend’s passing was shared last night by Granada Reports, the channel’s northern division.

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His death was confirmed on air by colleague Rob Smith.

Blunsom’s career had seen him also work for BBC North West.

Co-star Victoria Grimes was among those to post a heartfelt message on X.

She shared a photo taken in Granada’s newsroom at MediaCity UK and a snap of Blunsom with 1958-2024 written across it.

She wrote: “A candle burning in @GranadaReports newsroom tonight for our Ralphy.

“A first class journalist, hilarious good company and a loyal friend. We will miss you more than you can ever know.”

BBC Breakfast editor Richard Frediani said: “All my thoughts with the family and friends of Ralph Blunsom, the former BBC North West Tonight and Granada Reports reporter who has died.

“He was always a lovely, friendly, fun colleague and he will be missed by many.”

ITV news reporter Jam Williams-Thomas shared several photos with and wrote: “Ralph. I had the absolute privilege of being your colleague, but more importantly your friend.

“We shared so many funny times and I can still hear your laugh now.

“You were always a champion of me and others coming up in the industry. Love you lots mate and will miss you greatly.”