Richarlison has been left out of Tottenham‘s Premier League squad.

Spurs manager Roberto de Zerbi said last week the Brazil forward had asked to leave the club and he looked close to joining former club Everton before Tuesday’s transfer deadline, but a deal fell through.

The 29-year-old has now been left out the club’s squad to play in top-flight games for the first half of the season.

It is understood Richarlison does not feature in Tottenham‘s plans this season, which was explained to the player before Tuesday’s deadline.

He is expected to leave the club in the coming days, with the transfer windows in Turkey and Saudi Arabia still open.

Richarlison joined Tottenham from Everton in the summer of 2022, having joined the Toffees from Watford in 2018.

He has entered the final year of his contract at the London club and, while he started Tottenham‘s defeat by Brentford in their opening game of the Premier League season, he was not included in De Zerbi’s squad when Spurs lost 2-0 at home to Newcastle United on Saturday.

After the game, De Zerbi said: “Richarlison, I don’t know. He said too many times he wants to leave.”

Earlier in August, the Spurs boss said that the Brazilian was uncertain about his future, noting that “it’s not easy to find another striker like Richarlison”.

However, Spurs recently signed Manchester City striker Omar Marmoush on loan and he replaced Richarlison against Newcastle.

Richarlison was Tottenham‘s top scorer in the league last season with 11 goals in 32 appearances and also provided four assists as he was a key figure during their struggle for Premier League survival, which was secured on the final day.

A charity shop volunteer has opened up about customer behaviour, charity shop pricing and what really happens to donations left outside after hours

Charity shops have never been more popular. Once seen as a last resort for bargain hunters, they have undergone a remarkable transformation in recent years, with increasing numbers of shoppers actively choosing second-hand over brand new.

Driven by the rising cost of living, a growing awareness of sustainability and a rejection of fast fashion, more people than ever are heading to their local high street charity shop in search of quality items at affordable prices.

Accompanying this transformation, platforms including Vinted, Depop and eBay have revolutionised the second-hand marketplace, with unprecedented numbers of individuals both purchasing and selling pre-loved items online.

Virtually anything can be discovered on Vinted, from a jumper you wore during your teenage years to artwork created by an actual guinea pig.

This explosion in interest has witnessed charity shops experiencing unprecedented footfall, with shrewd customers perpetually seeking an excellent bargain on clothing, footwear or furnishings. And with this increased activity has emerged a mounting boldness amongst shoppers to challenge pricing – placing numerous volunteers in an uncomfortable position.

Now, one charity shop volunteer has entered the discussion, offering her perspective on what she believes constitutes reasonable customer conduct regarding negotiating prices in store.

She explained: “I’m coming across more and more pieces on here and other communities complaining about charity shops, how their prices are too high and quality of stuff too low. How they no longer help the local community and they’ll all be out of business soon enough.

“I’ve been volunteering in a local charity shop for two years. It’s a regional charity for a local hospice, so have quite a few shops in the county. For me pricing is simple; shelf space is key and rotation of items need to be high to keep the cash flow high.

“95% of the stuff we price we do without looking stuff up, as between us we have a good knowledge of what previously stuff has sold at. For the other 5%, where something is unusual and/or potentially valuable, I’ll look up the sold prices online and put it on the floor for half of that.”

She continued: “We put the financial week on each tag, so if somethings been on the shelf a while we’ll reduce, and then reduce heavily until it sells (top tip: check out the week number in the label, the older the item is the more likely they’ll be open to a haggle).

“I don’t mind haggling if it’s done with respect and a smile. Extra points if they mention gords mid haggle. If they’re aggressive or rude, I ain’t gonna budge.

“As noted above, I’m more likely to agree to the haggle if an item has been on the shelf for more than a few weeks. Or of they’re buying multiple items in one go.”

The volunteer also disclosed what actually happens to donations left outside the charity shop entrance, despite the establishment no longer accepting additional contributions.

She explained: “It’s true that we don’t accept donations in the shop, we’ve got dedicated sites with parking too drop stuff off at. As we’re a hospice we get a lot of house clearances and stuff left to us in wills too, so all in all we have plenty of donations.

“People still leave stuff outside the shop after hours, usually stuff we can’t sell and it then costs us to dispose of it. The volunteers or workers don’t riffle through the best stuff to bag before it goes onto the floor (not that I’ve seen anyway! ).”

She continued: “We want to sell things, I want to make money for what I think is a good cause. Maybe we’re lucky as it’s a hospice that people donate decent stuff to.

“We get bequeathments where someone’s died that had a hobby they loved, so now and again we’ll get a load of vintage cameras or LPs, that are genuinely interesting to research and see what we can realistically get.”

She added: “Yeah of course eBay, marketplace have changed the market and that’s just technological progress. We get resellers in the shop quite regularly and personally I’m OK with it as I don’t care who buys our stuff, it’s all money for the charity.”

She continued: “We want to sell things, I want to make money for what I think is a good cause. Maybe we’re lucky as it’s a hospice that people donate decent stuff to.

The Little Britain icon has also acted on stage and written two novels

Matt Lucas has opened up for the first time about living with autism. The 52-year-old, best known for Little Britain, spoke on BBC Radio 2 about living with the condition his entire life.

As reported by The Mirror, Matt has never spoken about it publicly until now.

The Little Britain star told Romesh Ranganathan on BBC Radio 2: “I’ve never, ever spoken about this publicly, but I’m autistic, and so I enjoy periods of being very sociable, like you are in the theatre, and then I also enjoy those periods of solitude where I can just write on my own.”

Romesh then asked Matt: “Do you find that you need to recharge each battery, like you’re kind of flitting between those two things?”

To which he replied: “Yeah, and so on my days off, you know you do theatre six days a week, and on my day off, apart from resting and resting my voice and all of that, on my day off I like not to see people and give them a break from me, but just to have that recharge time is quite important to me.”

The NHS website states that being autistic can impact how you communicate with people and understand them, and how they understand you. The condition, which people are born with, can also affect how you think, learn and pay attention to things.

Although still best-known for his work with David Walliams on sketch shows such as Little Britain and Come Fly With Me, Matt has also appeared in theatre productions including Les Misérables, Me and My Girl and – later this year – Matthew Bourne’s production of Oliver! At London’s Gielgud theatre, which co-stars Romesh’s son. .

Matt is also the author of two novels and is currently working on a third: “It’s for adults”, he told Romesh. “The first two had been for kids, and it’s quite a long haul. I know what I want my fourth novel to be.”

He’s also appeared in a long list of films, ranging from Paddington to Bridesmaids and Gladiator II.

On stage, Matt says, he works hard at keeping things fresh and is always trying to discover new aspects of his character.: “I’ve played Thénardier in Les Misérables, on and off, for over 16 years. But every time, I try to find something new.

“I’m always finding new things in it,” he added, “And even 16 years on …I found things and thought, ‘Ah! Why have I never seen that before? That’s crazy. I’m going to play it like this…’

Matt adds that his ability to find new ways of playing a part is down to how well the writer has done their job; “If you’re in something that’s brilliant, and rich, and textured, that inspired other people in the show to keep their performances alive, and moveable, and evolving.”

“Then,” Matt adds, “your performance can evolve as well.”

Matt admitted that there are a couple of new roles that he would love to get his teeth into. He says that perhaps “one day” when he’s older he would like to play Tevye, the main character in Fiddler on the Roof.

He also has an ambition to play Mrs. Lovett, the killer’s pie-making accomplice in Sweeney Todd: “I’ve never seen it played by a man before,” he told Romesh, “I don’t know if the Sondheim estate would permit it.”

He hasn’t entirely stopped working with his old Little Britain partner though. In 2025, Matt reunited with David Walliams to present a twice weekly podcast entitled Making a Scene, in which they interviewed interview showbiz pals such as Stephen Merchant, Jack Whitehall, Rob Brydon, Alan Carr and Richard E. Grant.

Announcing the podcast in a video posted on social media, the pair joked about past controversies, such as the use of racially stereotyped characters in Little Britain and Walliams’s notorious rudeness when he was a panellist on Britain’s Got Talent.

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Andy Wilman says that Amazon chose the new hosting trio ‘on merit’ and, while women also tried out, ‘there were no boxes to tick’

The Grand Tour boss Andy Wilman says the “likeable” all-male trio of two You-Tubers and a train nerd are the perfect people to front the second era of the show.

The executive producer said that Amazon Prime did try out some female presenters during the casting process – but in the end went with established petrolhead influencers Thomas Holland, James Engelsman and Francis Bourgeois.

The three, who will be seen on the new series from tomorrow, are like younger versions of the former Top Gear stars who fronted the show for six series; Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May.

“It’s fresh but familiar, comfort food, isn’t it?” Wilman said. “When you try and reinvent, you go, ‘Right, well, isn’t it time to get a woman in that three lineup?’ But there’s something about three blokes with their interplay that they are off the leash with each other.

“I think there’s a sort of simplistic-ness about blokes – they then provide the entertainment. I think blokes have like emptier brains. I think a bloke’s brain is like the O2 when everyone’s gone home, and the lights are off, and there’s just like a little ball bouncing in the corner. If we swapped brains for a day, you’d go, ‘Is this all you do? Is this all you think about?’

“And if I swapped your brain, it’d be like an episode of Game of Thrones in my head. It’d be insane what’s going on. I’m generalising, but I’m standing by it.”

The TV executive, who went to school with Clarkson and relaunched Top Gear with him from 2002 to 2015, said Amazon had tried out some women for the roles but decided to stick with the tried-and-tested three-bloke formula.

“They did try some girls in the casting, but it came down to merit in the end. What there wasn’t from Amazon was, ‘We expect a girl in the lineup by the end of this process.’ There was ‘try some’, but go with merit. So that happened.”

“It wasn’t like ‘we’re better’ – but would you put a guy in with Trinny and Susannah doing What Not to Wear? No, you wouldn’t. They owned that turf. Girls speaking to girls.

“What there wasn’t, from Amazon, was, ‘We expect a girl in the lineup by the end of this process.’ There was ‘try some’, but go with merit – there were no boxes to tick.”

He said he hoped The Grand Tour‘s female audience liked the new hosts. “I hope they find that these guys are really watchable. They don’t have to fancy them, but they will like their intelligence.”

Wilman agrees the trio fit the same moulds as their predecessors – with Francis doubling for nerdy James, Thomas the 2.0 Clarkson and James just like Hammond. “These guys are noticeably younger,” Wilman said. “They probably can drive better – Francis is like a demon. They know their stuff, and they know what to say. So my instinct is people will like them.”

He said the contribution he and Clarkson made was to push for unknowns. “We didn’t want them to just hire famous people. Which can be a tendency with a streamer—get a big name.”

No, he has high hopes the new hosts will be a big hit. “One, they say their own words—nobody writes sh*t for ’em. Two, their passion about cars is exactly the same as Jeremy, James, and Richard’s. They get as much thrill out of a £100 car that’s breaking down as the supercars. They’re the same.”

With Thomas and James already having worked together on YouTube for years, the problem was finding the third person – but Francis, known for his love of trains, quickly won them over.

“He knows more about cars than he does about trains, so he’s authentic,” Wilman says. “He doesn’t disturb their dynamic, but like a school of fish, they all go the right way automatically.”

With the BBC last week announcing the return of Top Gear after four years off air, he hopes the new version of The Grand Tour is well-timed. “These guys have effectively got in first, and they’ll have got their feet under the table. This time they [Top Gear] are on the back foot because they haven’t got any presenters at the moment.”

The Grand Tour is available to stream on Amazon Prime from Friday 4 September

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He continued to abuse the victim after their relationship ended, including breaking into her home

A man who kicked his pregnant partner and continued to abuse her after their relationship ended has been jailed. Karl Evans was arrested in October 2024 after years of abuse.

For almost a decade, Evans would constantly phone and text the victim, demand access to her devices and monitored her movements by installing a tracker on her phone and cameras inside the home. The 34-year-old regularly assaulted her and, on one occasion, kicked her while she was pregnant.

After he was arrested, the victim broke up with him and moved to a new home. Evans, of Webb Gardens, Wimblington, near March, was released on bail. He was also served with a non-molestation order, which meant he was not allowed to contact or approach the victim.

However, at about 5.35am on November 15, 2024, Evans turned up drunk at her new home. He banged on her door several times while shouting and swearing, leaving her terrified. In December of the same year, he called her 22 times from a withheld number before verbally abusing her on one occasion when she answered the phone.

On January 25 this year, Evans appeared at the victim’s home again. She told him through an open window to leave, but he forced the window open and climbed inside. He then followed the victim upstairs. She called police, who arrested him at the scene.

Evans was sentenced to two years and two months in prison on Tuesday (August 25), at Huntingdon Law Courts. He had admitted controlling and coercive behaviour in an intimate relationship. He was also handed a restraining order.

DC Jake Boreham-Dennis, who investigated, said: “Karl Evans subjected the victim to years of controlling, intimidating and violent behaviour, leaving her living in fear.

“Despite being arrested and made subject to a court order designed to protect the victim, he repeatedly ignored those restrictions and continued his campaign of harassment and abuse.

“I would like to commend the victim for her courage throughout this investigation, and I hope this sentence provides her with some reassurance as she moves forward with her life.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal prosecutors have charged a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer with lying to investigators about the events leading up to the shooting of a Venezuelan man during the Minneapolis immigration crackdown earlier this year, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.

The person was not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity. The person said Christian Castro, the officer who authorities say shot Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in the leg in January, has been charged with making false statements to federal investigators.

The federal charges follow Castro’s release from jail last week after Texas’ governor refused to immediately sign an extradition warrant to hand him over to Minnesota authorities, who have charged him separately with assault and false reporting of a crime related to the same shooting.

Federal authorities had initially accused Sosa-Celis and another man of beating an officer with a broom handle and a snow shovel during the confrontation. But federal prosecutors dropped charges against the men after video evidence showed the officers may have lied about the encounter, and officials opened an investigation.

Earlier this week, a federal prosecutor working on the case told lawyers for Sosa-Celis and other victims that Justice Department officials blocked the prosecutor’s push to bring a more serious civil rights charge against the officer for the shooting, ProPublica reported.

But the person familiar with the investigation disputed the prosecutor’s characterization, saying the probe is continuing and no final decision has been made about whether additional charges will be brought. The prosecutor was fired on Thursday and is now under investigation for alleged obstruction of a grand jury probe, the person said.

An automatic email response from the prosecutor’s Justice Department said he was on leave. Other attempts to reach the prosecutor were not immediately successful.

The funeral of Jakub Matusiak – one of the five people in the Volkswagen Passat who died in the crash on August 22 – is set to take place in South Bank tomorrow (September 4). 

The incident, which involved a marked Cleveland Police vehicle and the Passat, which was travelling the wrong direction, also took the lives of PC Matthew Blades and PC Tom Clough. 

Pc Matthew Blades, 37, and Pc Tom Clough, 38 (Image: CLEVELAND POLICE)

Several schools, as well as Normanby Medical Centre on Normanby Road, have announced that they will be closing early due to the disruption expected by the funeral, which is taking place at St John the Evangelist Church on Normanby Road. 

And now, concerns are growing about how schools felt they had no option but to shut due to fears about road disruption or potentially dangerous behaviour.

Shadow Education Secretary Laura Trott said children should not be kept out of classrooms and called on Education Secretary Lucy Powell to “ensure that this does not impact on the honest and decent pupils, parents and teachers”. 

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council leader Alec Brown said it is “awful” that children’s education is being disrupted and said any dangerous riding, reckless driving, or antisocial behaviour is “not acceptable”.

Alec Brown, leader of Redcar and Cleveland Council (Image: Alec Brown/Facebook.)

A spokesperson for the council said the decision to close schools early followed discussions between local headteachers and the authority over anticipated traffic and transport disruption.

They said the decision was made after “careful consideration of the potential impact on home-to-school transport and the departure of pupils, staff and families at the end of the school day”.

They said: “Schools have worked with the local authority and transport providers to consider arrangements for pupils, including those who travel to and from specialist educational settings.

“We recognise that early closure may cause inconvenience for some parents and carers, and we thank them for their understanding and co-operation.”

Cllr Brown said he “fully understands that funerals are deeply personal occasions, and I respect the right of families to grieve” but is “deeply concerned over the school closures. 

“Our children should be able to attend school safely and without their education being affected by events happening elsewhere,” he said.

“Parents should not be put in the position of having to make alternative arrangements for their children because schools are worried about road disruption or potentially dangerous behaviour.

Two police officers are among seven people who have died following a devastating crash on the A66 in Teesside (Image: North News & Pictures Ltd)

“And potentially losing income for work.

“I think it is awful that our children’s education is being disrupted because of concerns about what might happen on our roads.

“If anyone intends to use tomorrow as an excuse for dangerous riding, reckless driving, road blockages or antisocial behaviour, my message is clear: that is not acceptable.

“Our children, teachers and families should not have to bear the consequences.

“As leader of Redcar and Cleveland Council, I am seeking assurances that everything possible is being done to keep our communities safe and minimise disruption.

“We can show compassion for grieving families while still being absolutely firm about protecting our children, our roads and our communities.”

Ms Trott added: “I have been informed that numerous schools in the area will close early – citing ‘transport disruption’ – due to commemorations for those who were not serving in the line of duty on 22 August. 

MP Laura Trott (Image: DAVID WOOLFALL)

“I do not think we should support this.” 

Planned school closures tomorrow include:

• Archway Academy Teesville: 11.45am
• St Peter’s: 12pm
• South Bank Primary School: 12pm
• Outwood Academy Normanby: 12pm
• St Margaret Clitherow’s Catholic Primary School: 12.15pm
• Mackenzie Thorpe School will be closed all day.
• Nunthorpe is due to remain open as usual.

At South Bank Primary, pupils using local authority transport will be collected from school at 11.30am.

Jakub Matusiak, 23. (Image: SOCIAL MEDIA)

Parents and carers have been advised to collect children from their usual collection points when their school closes.

Children who usually walk home alone can leave at an earlier time to normal.

A previous memorial for Matusiak near the crash site, featuring orange balloons, fireworks and masked bikers, sparked mixed reactions within the local community over the tone of the event.

Police investigations into the circumstances of the collision are continuing.

Earlier this week, a fundraiser launched for the families of the two Cleveland Police officers reached its target, surpassing £1.2 million.

A four-year-old boy who died in a Newark off-road bike crash has been described by his family as a ‘precious boy’

Family members of Robert Steele Junior paid tribute to him online after the young boy died in the Churchill Drive collision on Sunday in Nottinghamshire.

His loved ones said Robert, who was loved by many, was taken ‘far too soon’.

Nottinghamshire Police previously confirmed that emergency services were called to the scene of the crash where Robert, who was a passenger on the bike, was pronounced dead at the scene.

The off-road bike was involved in a collision with a car, and police said the off-road bike had been seen travelling in convoy with a second bike, whose rider reportedly left the scene before officers arrived.

A second suspect was arrested on Tuesday, September 1. A 24-year-old man, who was riding on the same bike as Robert, was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.

The man suffered serious injuries and remains in hospital, Nottinghamshire Police said in an update issued on Wednesday, September 2.

A second suspect was arrested on Tuesday, September 1.

Brian Cameron, of Chatsworth Road, Newark, has now been charged with causing death by dangerous driving, driving while disqualified and causing death by driving while uninsured and unlicensed.

Detective Inspector Jamie Moore, of Nottinghamshire Police’s Serious Collision Investigation Unit, previously said: ‘The boy’s loved ones continue to be supported by specialist officers and have been informed about this important update in our investigation.

‘I would ask that their privacy is respected as they try to come to terms with what has happened. This is a deeply distressing incident for all those involved and I’d also urge people not to speculate online about the circumstances.’

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There’s a famous line in The Big Short when a baffled Mark Baum, after hearing some finance bros casually admit to issuing fraudulent, high-risk loans to unqualified borrowers, asks his colleagues: “I don’t get it. Why are they confessing?”

“They’re not confessing. They’re bragging,” comes the response.

Naturally, people thought of this when ex-Premier League referee Mike Dean made his latest attempt to shove himself into the spotlight. On Jamie Vardy’s Having a Party podcast, he “admitted” to playing secret mini-games while officiating top-flight matches.

He claimed: “We used to say, ‘Right, we’ll kick off now, right? See how long we can go without blowing a whistle.’ Done that a few times in the Premier [League], before VAR obviously. Went 20-25 minutes without blowing a whistle a few times. Let it go, let it go, let it go.” He also said he would try and stay within the confines of the centre circle for as long as possible, once reaching the 15-minute mark on that particular side-quest.

It was for “a laugh”, he said. Harmless fun, apparently. Except of course it’s not; if these claims were true, it would indicate a very real breach of integrity at the top level and add fuel to the already-existing fire of fan distrust of referees and their practices. The virality of the clip in question means the latter has already happened.

There are accusations of match-fixing floating around on social media from those who are taking Dean’s word as fact. But let’s just remember who’s speaking for a second.

Refereeing body Pro Ref, formerly known as PGMOL, is understood to be baffled by Dean’s comments. Sources inside the organisation have no idea in which games he would have performed these claims, other than his suggestion that they took place in a pre-VAR era (so before 2019), which would have been under previous leadership. Furthermore, they have no evidence that his mystifying side-quests ever happened. His infamous and self-admitted “arrogance” means there’s a feeling he over-embellished at the very least, or even made it up completely.

Pro Ref also seems powerless to the situation given that Dean has not been a referee since retiring in 2023; he hasn’t been under the body’s employment for three years.

Any official complaint would go through the FA.

Fact or fiction, Dean’s insatiable appetite for attention has hurt his colleagues. He was notorious for his unique manner of refereeing football matches, forging a legacy that will be preserved by the compilation that does the rounds every year of him being wacky. Remember when he hid the match ball from Sergio Aguero? (Insert laughing emoji…)

But as one of his more esteemed colleagues – and his former PGMOL boss – would attest to, the best referees don’t draw attention to themselves. “As a referee, you want to go unnoticed, that things go smoothly,” said Howard Webb. That was ironically said in disappointment after the 2010 World Cup final, when he issued 14 yellow cards and a red to John Heitinga – not Nigel de Jong, somehow.

The point still stands. You don’t want a highlight reel; that’s not your job.

Dean has been the subject of actual refereeing controversies before, other than just being a character. He failed to intervene while on VAR duty when Tottenham’s Cristian Romero pulled the hair of Chelsea’s Marc Cucurella late in their 2-2 draw in August 2022 because he didn’t want to give his “mate” Anthony Taylor any grief.

He candidly admitted this was “pathetic” on his part. It still didn’t help the perception that referees’ loyalty to one another can impact games and even lead to a prevention of justice.

Upon his own retirement this summer, Taylor opted against taking a role in the media, telling BBC Sport in an interview that he felt his attributes were better suited elsewhere. Part of this was down to his dismay at referees-turned-pundits criticising their former colleagues, which adds to scrutiny that is already “off the scale”. He instead became the director of elite refereeing with the Turkish Football Federation, looking to help the Turkish game through its ever-developing referee betting scandal.

Dean, meanwhile, leads the way for referees in broadcasting. His role on Sky Sports’ Soccer Saturday explicitly scrutinises officials. There is a demand for this job and he is far from the only one to do it, so this is by no means a criticism of him.

But the spotlight can be addictive. To stay in it, you need to stand out – he now has to do this with his words rather than his on-pitch mannerisms. On this occasion, a funny anecdote has proved a damaging admission, true or not, both for him and all referees.

Times like this take me back to that famous Garth Crooks clip on BBC One’s Final Score, the rival to the show Dean is now a regular on, from 11 years ago.

“I think Mike Dean is a good referee, but he’s got one fault: he wants to be the star too often. It’s really getting on my nerves because he’s spoiling great games. It’s not about you, Mike, it’s about the games – people come here and pay good money to see football, not for you to get over-officious like a petulant school teacher.”

It’s aged pretty well.

Little Britain and Great British Bake Off star Matt Lucas has publicly shared for the first time that he has been diagnosed with a lifelong condition.

Little Britain star Matt Lucas has quietly navigated a neurodevelopmental condition throughout his entire life.

During a conversation with BBC Radio 2’s Romesh Ranganathan, Matt disclosed that he struggles with needing “periods of solitude” as a result of the condition.

The comedian revealed: “I’ve never ever spoken about this publicly, but I’m autistic – so I enjoy periods of being very sociable, like you are in the theatre, and then I also enjoy those periods of solitude where I can just write on my own.”

Romesh then asked Matt: “Do you find that you need to recharge each battery, like you’re kind of flitting between those two things?”.

To which he replied: “Yeah, and so on my days off, you know you do theatre six days a week, and on my day off, apart from resting and resting my voice and all of that, on my day off I like not to see people and give them a break from me, but just to have that recharge time is quite important to me.”

Autistic people can differ greatly from one another, each with their own unique strengths and challenges. Social situations can frequently prove confusing or draining, and many may feel overwhelmed in loud or busy environments.

Further characteristics include having intensely focused interests, as well as a requirement for routine and predictability. Many people find that repetitive behaviours offer reassurance and help them cope with the pressures of social interaction.

While Matt Lucas remains most widely recognised for his collaborative work with David Walliams on sketch programmes including Little Britain and Come Fly With Me, he has also graced the stage in theatrical productions such as Les Misérables, Me and My Girl and – coming later this year – Matthew Bourne’s staging of Oliver! at London’s Gielgud Theatre. By chance, the production also features Romesh’s son in a minor part.

Matt, who appears this evening in the latest series of Taskmaster alongside Richard Ayoade and Nina Conti, has additionally authored two novels and is presently crafting a third: “It’s for adults”, he told Romesh. “The first two had been for kids, and it’s quite a long haul. I know what I want my fourth novel to be.”

Regarding his theatrical work, Matt describes how he invests substantial energy into keeping performances fresh and continuously strives to reveal new facets of his characters: “I’ve played Thénardier in Les Misérables, on and off, for over 16 years. But every time, I try to find something new.

“I’m always finding new things in it,” he continued, “And even 16 years on …I found things and thought, ‘Ah! Why have I never seen that before? That’s crazy. I’m going to play it like this…’”.

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Matt credits his ability to unearth fresh interpretations to the calibre of the material: “If you’re in something that’s brilliant, and rich, and textured, that inspired other people in the show to keep their performances alive, and moveable, and evolving.”

“Then,” Matt continues, “your performance can evolve as well.”

Matt admitted there are numerous fresh roles he would love to take on. He mentions that “one day” he would be keen to play Tevye, the protagonist in Fiddler on the Roof.

He’s also voiced an interest in taking on the role of Mrs. Lovett, the murderous pie maker in Sweeney Todd: “I’ve never seen it played by a man before,” he told Romesh, “I don’t know if the Sondheim estate would permit it.”

That said, he hasn’t entirely severed ties with his former Little Britain partner. In 2025, Matt teamed up with David Walliams again to create a twice-weekly podcast called Making a Scene, which features discussions with entertainment industry pals including Stephen Merchant, Jack Whitehall, Rob Brydon, Alan Carr and Richard E. Grant.

When announcing the podcast via a social media video, the pair poked fun at past controversies, including the use of racially stereotyped characters in Little Britain, and Walliams’s allegedly difficult conduct while serving as a judge on Britain’s Got Talent.