A matter of months after Chris Martin and Dakota Johnson ended their long relationship, she called it a day with Role Model and has now been linked to Machine Gun Kelly
Fans are speculating that Chris Martin may have sent a cryptic message to his ex Dakota Johnson after stepping out in a telling outfit with a three-word message.
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The Coldplay frontman has been spotted for the first time since his ex was seen out with Machine Gun Kelly. According to reports, the pair were spotted on a ‘secret date’ with the newly-single pair snapped exiting a black SUV before walking into Taylor’s Swift’s New York apartment.
Chris has kept a low profile ever since he and Dakota ended their eight-year relationship in June, but it appears she hasn’t taken too long to move on. She was snapped with Megan Fox’s ex, days after reports that she and singer Role Model had called it a day.
Fans are speculating about Dakota and MGK’s relationship with one X user writing: “This might be one of the most unexpected celebrity plot twists of the year.”
Rocker Chris’ choice of clothing may have given some clues to his feeling as he wore a “love” badge on his sweatshirt and a blue “life rolls on” cap. In pictures obtained by Daily Mail Chris flashed a beaming smile and semmed relaxed as he left a meeting in central London with his manager.
It is claimed she became unhappy longtime beau Chris was “dragging his feet” over their wedding date, sources have claimed. Dakota, 35, was “sick” a date hadn’t been set after the pair got engaged years after starting their on-off relationship in 2017, following Chris’ divorce with actress Gwyneth Paltrow.
An insider told Page Six: “She was sick of him dragging his feet on setting a date for the wedding.” Chris, 48, had been married to Gwyneth for 13 years and has two children with the actress.
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Dakota has never been married previously and she doesn’t have any children. “Dakota wanted this relationship to work, she not only loves Chris, but his two kids, and that loss feels incredibly painful,” a source told The Sun.
“The decision to end things was amicable, but Dakota is finding it hard. Over the past year, it became clear that their relationship had stalled and wasn’t moving forwards. Settling down, as in Chris properly taking his foot off the pedal, isn’t going to happen. And, ultimately, it was one of the many straws that broke the back of them.”
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When news of the couple’s split emerged recently, an insider told the press: “They just haven’t been able to figure out to make it official. Dakota held a flame for them to be together because she loved him so much and loved his kids so much.
In a rare interview speaking about how their lives were together, Dakota told ELLE magazine back in 2021: “We’ve been together for quite a while and we go out sometimes, but we both work so much that it’s nice to be at home and be cosy and private.
“Most of the partying takes place inside of my house”.
Machine Gun Kelly, real name Colson Baker, was snapped by TMZ exiting a black SUV and walking into Taylor’s Tribeca pad on Sunday. Her previously opened up about about his whirlwind romance with Megan, saying that he didn’t believe in love until he met her.
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MGK was with actress Megan Fox for four and a half years. He welcomed a daughter, Saga, in March of last year with Megan. MGK and Megan, 40, had their baby girl just four months after their relationship reportedly ended following claims the actress discovered he had been communicating with other women.
Despite the breakup, a source revealed in late last year that Megan has been impressed by ‘how he’s stepped up for both her and the baby’.
The rapper discussed the impact the relationship with Transformers star Megan had on his 2020 album Tickets To My Downfall. “After I made the big chunk of the album, I did fall in love for the first time,” he said.
“That was my first experience with being open to love and stuff like that. I definitely wasn’t set up to believe that that’s something that could ever exist.”
Stock has been removed from Size? with a sign in the shop’s window directing customers to its Leeds branch.
“Thank you for your support,” the sign said.
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Size? has closed its branch in St Sampson’s Square, York (Image: Newsquest)
Size? opened in the St Sampson’s Square unit, previously home to the Cloggs shoe shop and Barratts footwear store before that, in 2018.
The brand launched in 2000 and grew from stores in Manchester, London and Brighton to more than 30 locations across the UK, Europe and North America.
It was set up by JD Group to test product collections in house before rolling them out across its other brands.
The group stated in its yearly results for 2025/6 it was converting its Finish Line estate to JD branding.
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It has also decided to shut its remaining Hip stores and move the brand to online-only trading. The Hip stores being closed are in Leeds and Manchester.
Group chief executive Régis Schultz said in a report on the results that sales across the company grew by 2.1 per cent in 2025/6 despite tough market conditions.
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Meanwhile, Joe & The Juice is yet to announce when its York branch would open if its plans for the site succeed.
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The store’s conversion is set to see the building transformed into a Joe & The Juice with seating for 65 people, 29 on the ground floor and 36 on the first.
Drinks including juices, shakes and coffees are set to be served along with sandwiches, according to a council report on the plans.
Applicants stated the conversion would result in a cleaner, more refined interior while preserving the building’s historic character.
Plans said: “By virtue of the proposed development, the external enhancements will facilitate the upgrade of the site for the operation of Joe & The Juice.
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“Allowing Joe & The Juice to operate in the space will bring increased employment and opportunities for local people and continued social and economic regeneration of the city.”
Council planning officers said the proposed development fell within the same use class as Size?, meaning the conversion only required a certificate of lawfulness rather than full planning permission.
Joe & The Juice was founded in Copenhagen in 2002 and now has more than 500 stores across Europe, the United States, Middle East, Africa and Asia.
The company has a number of outlets in London and South East England, along with ones in Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Liverpool, Manchester and Oxford.
Here’s what the stars have in store for your day (Picture: Metro.co.uk)
Venus in Scorpio is a complex alignment, and it’s here to stay. Get used to a bit of discomfort.
Aries, Gemini and Taurus, your relationships are in the spotlight. Don’t push those you love away.
Take from this comsic reckoning whatever you need, and leave whatever doesn’t serve you in the past. Remember, it’s only temporary.
Ahead, you’ll find all star signs’ horoscopes for today: Tuesday September 15, 2026.
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To order your unique personal horoscope based on your time, date and place of birth, visit patrickarundell.com.
Aries
March 21 to April 20
Sometimes when people are passionate, it comes from a really good place. Sometimes, there can be an agenda. Today, as Venus meshes with the powerbroker of the zodiac, Pluto, someone’s friendly words might be a completely genuine overture. So, if you do find this person intriguing, stay open to what they may offer financially or romantically, just not too open.
Use AI to go deeper into the stories you care about – powered by Metro and trusted publications.
April 21 to May 21
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We live in cynical times, but we frequently see how people will do their best to help others, which can be heartwarming. In other words, there doesn’t always need to be an agenda. With your ruler gliding through the most diplomatic part of your chart, your knack of connecting well with people is certainly being given a boost but stay mindful not everyone will trust it.
Someone may reach out for some help. You may be more than happy to oblige. However, today’s influences suggest a delicate balance between doing a good deed and feeling that you may be taken for granted. There is not a golden celestial rule that will apply to every situation, so you will need to weigh things up as they unfold but be a little guarded at least.
If you are drawn to someone just now, or in a close relationship, the desire to get closer can be very strong. The planetary mystique being created is very potent, difficult to ignore, and could lead to some intimate bliss. However, if an ongoing involvement has intense issues around control, power, or leverage, you may find yourself caught in a push-and-pull.
With the North Node and the influential Pluto in your sector of relating, your connections with others, of all types, take on a deeper meaning. There can be people who seem to tail out of your situation, or you can have profound thoughts about past ties which didn’t work, but also the potential to meet new players. Wherever you find yourself in this, trust your instincts.
Your words can land powerfully in the weeks ahead. It may even be the tone you use as much as what you say that someone can find particularly engaging. If you enjoy writing or recording videos, current energies can add an extra dimension to your ideas. Equally, if you say something in a more throwaway manner, someone may take you literally, Virgo.
Cosmic messages for Cosmic messages for Virgo today
Libra
September 24 to October 23
You might find yourself tempted by a luxury today. And whatever lush treat fits your budget can be just the thing. However, if you are tempted to be extravagant and spoil someone you fancy, to impress them, it might not quite work as you hope. That’s not to say it can’t be appreciated; after all, flattery can be lovely but just keep a little bit of yourself back.
An intriguing planetary match-up occurs today between the alluring Venus in your sign and your modern ruler Pluto, in the detached Aquarius. If you would like to meet someone special, this can both draw someone to you and make you pause before deciding to meet. Pluto is arousing potential vulnerability; Venus the desire for a new beginning.
If you are unsure about a friendship or a relationship, today could prompt you to do some deep thinking about what to do. For example, your beliefs and theirs might not quite align, and this can make you feel unsure. Equally, if you really feel that this is the end point, your dilemma may come most of all on how you handle this with them. Discretion may be best.
A friend may look to enthuse you about a business idea, and it could be very perceptive. The planet of money is in a shrewd location, but one where passions can be aroused. Pluto, the planet of transformation, is angling toward this, upping the ante and intensity. Whether you think it is a great idea or not, give yourself some space to draw your own conclusions.
If you got offered a new job or a financial incentive this week, that’s fabulous, and all the best, if so. However, if someone is offering you a potential role that really does appeal, carefully appraise the motive. Then again, if the charm is laid on to soften a sideways move or worse, stay cool, stay detached, but also don’t be soft-talked, Aquarius.
Venus in Scorpio is complex. And she is going to be there for a long time this year due to a retrograde, the first in the sign for eight years. Prepare for a period of being a truth seeker around all sorts of connections, but also a desire to liberate yourself from ones that have run their course. What you can do is develop a strong desire for escapism and travel.
Your daily Metro.co.uk horoscope is here every morning, seven days a week (yes, including weekends!). To check your forecast, head to our dedicated horoscopes page.
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GTA 6 – what do you think of Lucia and Jason? (Rockstar Games)
The Tuesday letters page is not yet sold on the characters of Jason and Lucia in GTA 6, as one reader has an issue with Crazy Taxi and modern multiplayer games.
Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk
Real characters I saw Rockstar talking today about how they wanted people to care as much about Jason and Lucia from GTA 6 as they did about Arthur from Red Dead Redemption 2 and I immediately had trouble imagining that.
For a start, I don’t think I’ve liked any GTA character as much as Arthur and I don’t think you’re meant to. Arthur is a good person and none of the GTA people are. Not that they need to be, to make the games good, but you just don’t have that sort of attachment to them. They’re funny, not likeable.
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Whether Jason and Lucia are funny or not I don’t know though. They were pretty dry during the Netflix footage, especially Jason, who seemed like a bit of a non-entity. Lucia seems to have a bit of spirit to her, but Jason was just mumbling this way through his lines. Not a fault of the voice actor, I don’t think, that just seems to be what Rockstar is going for.
We haven’t seen much story stuff yet, so we’ll have to see but I think there’s a danger of them not being one thing or the other. To be a good character in GTA you don’t need to be ‘good’ you just need to be memorable and so far Jason and Lucia haven’t done that for me. Horsehead
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Damned if you do I know the game is over a year old, and everyone has probably already moaned about this, but I wish they had done standard Grands Prix alongside the Knockout Tour in Mario Kart World.
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The free SNES tracks are great, but I can’t get over the rubbish Grands Prix. Nintendo should have done standard Grands Prix and then let Knockout Tour do the connecting roads. There are great tracks and it feels like they are almost hidden unless you do time trials or VS Race.
It’s a really great game but it’s just one of those cases where you wish they had made a different decision with this and it would have improved the whole thing. Simon
GC: It would have been better to have the option for lapped races but ultimately they were trying to do something different.
TikTok says For many years now, I have trusted your game reviews and have bought a few games based off them alone.
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Despite not having a PlayStation 5 (and never getting one) I read your Wolverine review with interest, with one of the reasons being that from what I’ve heard (off TikTok) that the game plays itself by having a constant yellow trail that leads you to where you need to go next which was absent from your review.
Is there any reason you didn’t mention it, please? EllDeePee
GC: If there’s a constant trail in the game, we never saw it; it must be one of the optional accessibility options that we never turned on. Unless you mean some objects having splashes of paint on them, to signpost routes, which works similarly to modern Resident Evil games.
Cheap Pass Game Press Ultimate for Gorgeous. I would try CD Keys, now Loaded. Look for Xbox live, now Game Pass Core, and it will take you to the right subscriptions.
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I’ve had Xbox Live for as little as £35 for the year, my latest one is Game Pass Ultimate for £45 though. Then you’ll want to purchase a month (or less if possible) of Game Pass Ultimate, you can buy a month for, what? £16 nowadays, or alternatively using Microsoft Rewards, for around 15,000 points. Or better still, they often try to entice you with a fortnight’s trial for only a quid!
So at best, after it gets its conversion down to around eight months, again my own experiences have varied… you’re getting seven or eight months for £36, that’s about five quid a month right there. Just don’t forget to cancel any Ultimate subscriptions after you’ve sorted it out, ‘cos as we know these companies aren’t your friends! big boy bent
Bunch of fives I am currently backing five video games on Kickstarter, yes five! They don’t all close at the same time though. Three of them are fully funded or nearly funded. Two of them I am hoping will be fully funded. One is Ungaland! which is a 3D prehistoric platformer, like the 3D platform games you used to get on the N64. The graphics are very good and the game is by a developer from Canada.
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The second game is Salene, which is a Metroidvania inspired by Celeste by a developer from the UK called Oliver Shannon. Salene has four days left of the campaign, at the time of writing this email. As a fan of Celeste this game piqued my interest. Both games are for Steam only, unfortunately. Andrew J.
Level playing field After your preview of Crazy Taxi it had me interested, that was until you mentioned there is different perks. This is something I feel is ruining online gaming for me, especially in arcade titles. I really miss the old games, like earlier kart/racing and Halo, that had no perks and upgrades and felt like a more level experience. I just recently got Sonic Racing CrossWorlds and been really enjoying it until you get higher ranked and you got gamers using perk setups that make them almost unstoppable.
Also, I couldn’t put my finger on why myself and friends can’t be bothered to keep playing Mario Kart World and after watching some pro players I realised that it’s the parkour system that lets you cut big chunks off track. It’s more about how many tricks you can pull off than traditional racing. As a casual gamer I don’t have the time to learn all these mechanics, so it just puts me off and it seems to be the same with my friends.
I wonder if this is another reason why so many are going back to retro gaming; it was just simpler times that was more fun. Rob
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Job swap ‘Sony continues to anger fans’ eh? At this point they must be doing it on purpose. Maybe they’re trying to crash their share price for some reason or someone at Sony has secretly got a beef with upper management. Whatever’s going on it’s starting to seem like Microsoft is running Sony and vice versa.
I really can’t think how Sony could’ve handled the last few months worse, short of just putting out a video saying they hate all their customers. And really, it’s not hard to read between the lines and see that they do. Banger
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Wait and see I see we’ve already reached the point where some games are so far off that they’ve got release dates as distant as 2029 and 2030 and the developer is still treating that as if it’s soon. Not that I care much for Diablo or Starcraft but why even mention them being in development until you’ve got something real to show.
Who wants to bet on Microsoft still owning Blizzard in three or four years? It was only the other week there were rumours they were going to sell the whole Starcraft franchise to a South Korean company.
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Microsoft is definitely the king of this though, as The Elder Scrolls still doesn’t have a release year and is 2028 at the earliest, probably 2029. And what about Fallout 5? It’s not clear they’ve even started it properly yet, so it’s gong to be 2031 probably.
Basically, anything that was started this year isn’t going to be out until 2031 at the very earliest and could easily be 2032 or 2033, even without any delays. My mind can’t comprehend that long a wait, considering we used to get dozens of yearly sequels all the time, just two generations back.
The whole situation is crazy and yet, as usual, nobody is doing anything about it. Games need to be shorter and with less emphasis on graphics. Those Blood Of Dawnwalker devs said they made their game in three years, and they’re a brand new studio. The game looks all right, so why can’t everyone do the same? Johnson
Inbox also-rans Absolutely loving Onimusha: Way Of The Sword. Wasn’t really on my radar but after the demo and positive reviews I’m glad I took the leap. Combat is the best I’ve seen in years. Black Pepper
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Just catching up with the Nintendo Direct and that Metroid Ravenous trailer was a big surprise. I bet that wouldn’t have got greenlit if it wasn’t already underway when Metroid Prime 4 bombed. Looking good though, hopefully this will sell as well as Dread. Austin
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Taylor Swift is joined by Tom Cruise to cheer on new husband Travis Kelce in Chiefs opening game of NFL season… but still makes surprise Emmys appearance
Taylor Swift made a surprise appearance at the Kansas City Chiefs’ game to cheer on Travis Kelce for the first time since their star-studded wedding after skipping the Emmy Awards on Monday night.
The songstress, 36, who married Kelce at Madison Square Garden on July 3, was spotted in her usual seat in the tight end’s luxury suite at Arrowhead Stadium for the Chiefs’ season opener against the Denver Broncos.
However, she had an extra special guest alongside her. Swift was joined by Hollywood actor Tom Cruise as her NFL husband’s suite boasted extra star power for his first game as a married man.
Swift and the Mission Impossible star were caught in deep conversation during the first quarter on the ESPN broadcast of the Monday Night Football showdown.
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The Opalite singer was also accompanied by a full entourage of friends and family. Her dad, Scott, sat on her other side, dressed in a bright red Chiefs sweater, despite his Philadelphia Eagles fandom.
Kelce’s mom, Donna, was also captured in the suite, which was brimming with members of the NFL star’s inner circle.
Taylor Swift was joined by Tom Cruise for Travis Kelce and the Chiefs’ season opener
Travis was back to action on Monday as the Chiefs opened their season against the Broncos
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Swift was also accompanied by an entourage of friends and family, including her dad, Scott (second left), and Kelce’s mom, Donna (far left)
While Cruise appears to have no ties to the Chiefs or any particular NFL team as a fan, he does have a few cinematic connections to football.
Not only did he play the title role in Jerry Maguire as a lovestruck agent based on the legendary Leigh Steinberg, but a much younger Cruise starred in All the Right Moves in 1983 as a high school football star in a dying Pennsylvania steel town.
Meanwhile, Swift’s attendance at the Chiefs season opener was cast in doubt with the 2026 Emmys also taking place on Monday evening.
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The hitmaker was nominated for a slew of Emmys this year. Her 2025 concert movie, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour – The Final Show, was nominated for five awards, including Best Variety Special (Prerecorded) and Best Directing for a Variety Special.
However, Swift snubbed the glitzy A-list ceremony after her concert movie failed to win in any of the categories at the Creative Arts Emmys, which were held earlier this month.
Instead, the pop star chose to cheer on her new husband as he started his 14th – and potentially final – season in the NFL.
But she still managed to make a surprise appearance at the glitzy awards ceremony, which were held at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, California.
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The 14-time Grammy winner made a cameo in a parody of ‘Law & Order,’ alongside her close friend and the show’s star Mariska Hargitay, who hosted the awards.
The skit spoofed her loyal fanbase’s frenzied speculation over the pop star’s potential attendance at the Emmys or the Chiefs game with Hargitay’s character Olivia Benson and her crew’s attempting to crack the case.
Swift has been a regular feature at Arrowhead Stadium over the past few seasons since she began dating Kelce in 2023.
However, Monday night’s season opener against the Broncos marked her first appearance in Kelce’s luxury suite as a married woman.
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The Opalite hitmaker skipped the 2026 Emmy Awards in favor of the MNF matchup
The Broncos matchup marked the tight end’s first NFL regular season game as a married man
Swift married the three-time Super Bowl champion in a star-studded ceremony at Madison Square Garden in New York City on July 3.
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Kelce opened up on his star-studded wedding earlier this month, sharing behind-the scenes details of the lavish bash.
‘At this point we are what one month out, it’s been so much fun,’ he told his brother Jason, who served as his best man, on their New Heights podcast.
‘It was insane, it was a night I’ll never forget. Me and Taylor are so thankful for everybody that showed up. From the vows to seeing everyone, and how much fun we had that evening, and hearing that being relieved through everyone’s stories of that night. It was just magical man.
‘I wish it could have lasted longer than that, once the drinks got served everyone started moving out.’
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Jason, a Philadelphia Eagles legend and ESPN analyst, joked that the stragglers had to be kicked out of the iconic New York arena when they tried to keep the drinks flowing and the party going.
Despite Jason’s quip, Travis gushed over MSG for providing the newlyweds with a private setting.
The couple invited some of the biggest names in pop culture and sport with the likes of Selena Gomez, Paul McCartney, Stevie Nicks, Tom Hanks and a host of Kelce’s teammates making up the star-studded guestlist, while Adam Sandler officiated.
Swift and Kelce tied the knot in a star-studded ceremony at Madison Square Garden
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But, despite the scale of the event, Travis insisted that the 20,000-seat arena provided an intimate setting as he thanked the MSG staff for keeping the details of the occasion under wraps.
‘I wanna thank everyone at MSG, we wanted to do it somewhere where we could have an intimate and genuine setting without a lot of distractions,’ he said. ‘We needed to have a private feel, and MSG went above and beyond to give us that.
‘I can’t thank everybody enough, not just who showed up but helped put that show on.
‘[…] It was very cool to see how everyone interacted with no phones, everyone is on guard, it makes everyone be in the moment and present. It was cool to see friends of my childhood and of Taylor’s all the way to people we encountered through our careers and became good friends with. We wanted it to be a beautiful ceremony and made sure everyone left there having some fun.’
The Trenchard Avenue project has been years in the making, and was pushed back several times after damage was caused by break-ins and blazes.
Last year it was revealed that asbestos had spread to all floors and as a result around 470 tonnes of asbestos had to be removed.
The Golden Eagle in Thornaby, which is being demolished (Image: PETER REIMANN)
Once the upper floors have been removed, the scaffolding will be removed and larger machinery will be brought in to demolish the ground and first floors.
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New drone pictures show how floor removal on the hotel, which remains surrounded in scaffolding on its upper floors, is now underway.
Piles of rubble can be seen on the roof beside the outer shell of what would have been supports for bedroom walls and the roof.
Meanwhile, work is also continuing nearby on a new £14m leisure facility connected to Thornaby Pavilion, featuring a five-lane swimming pool, gym, and a new 46-space car park.
The Golden Eagle in Thornaby, which is being demolished (Image: PETER REIMANN)
Town centre owner LCP Proudreed submitted plans to build 204.4m² and 167.2m² units on the land along with 40 parking spaces and some green landscaping.
However, the bid was refused by Stockton Borough Council over crime and anti-social behaviour concerns and fears it would “diminish the town centre’s cohesion”.
The Eagle has been shuttered for several years and is understood to have been run as a pub on the ground floor until the mid to late 2010s.
Before that, the site operated as a bar and hotel, the venue often hosted wedding receptions, birthday parties, and Christmas work parties over its decades-long run.
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The council took control of the hotel in October 2024.
Nightsleeper, which stars Peaky Blinders’ Joe Cole, has been confirmed to be returning for a second season with a star-studded cast.
Sally Lindsey, who is best known for playing Shelley Barlow in Coronation Street, has been confirmed to be joining the show.
The second series of Nightsleeper is currently being filmed in Belfast and will involve six episodes that are set to be broadcast next year.
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Sally Lindsey joins cast of Nightsleeper
Sally is not the only new star being added to the cast with Rupert Penry-Jones, who has starred in shows like The Feud and Those About to Die, also joining the show.
Madeleine Mantock from Charmed and Casualty and Ian McElhinney, who is best known for playing Barristan Selmy in Game of Thrones and Joe McCool in Derry Girls, will also be starring in Nightsleeper.
While the first season took place on an overnight train from Glasgow to London, the new series will take place on a ferry in the Irish Sea.
The ferry and its crew are set to be thrown into chaos in a cyber-attack with the ship’s engineer, Johnny, who will be played by Christian Cooke, having to work with the National Cyber Security Centre to avoid disaster.
Nick Leather, the show’s writer, said: “It’s so much fun to be embarking on a second Nightsleeper journey – and on a route I know so well, with the Belfast-to-Liverpool ferry as our new box of tricks.
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“We’ve assembled a wonderful cast.
“I can’t wait to welcome the audience on board for a non-stop night to remember.”
The director of BBC Drama, Lindsay Salt, has promised the second series will be “brilliantly gripping”.
She said: “Nick has delivered another brilliantly gripping story.
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“With danger lurking beneath the surface at every turn, viewers are in for a truly nail-biting journey.”
If you did not watch the first series of Nightsleeper, all six of the episodes are available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
Will you be watching the second series of Nightsleeper when it is released? Let us know in the comments.
Host Mariska Hargitay drew backlash online for her ‘cringe’ opening number at the 2026 Primetime Emmys.
As the Law and Order star sat on horseback, she sang a remixed rendition of ‘I Love Rock n’ Roll’ as she arrived to the Peacock theater surrounded by men dressed as televisions.
Fans rushed online to slam the star’s opening monologue, with one declaring: ‘#emmys the opening by Mariska, so cringe what,’ and another adding ‘It’s giving “your mom does stand up”.’
Earlier in the evening, stars are hit the red carpet as television’s biggest programs are honored.
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Zendaya graced the carpet in a floor length silver gown and donned her shortest haircut to date as comedian Meg Statler sent shockwaves through the crowd in a bizarre gold Emmys statue costume.
HBO Max’s The Pitt and Hacks are expected to sweep the evening’s biggest awards after seeing record-breaking nominations earlier in the year.
An emotional in memoriam segment will honor beloved stars who have passed this year including Dolly Parton, Catherine O’Hara and James Van Der Beek.
Follow the Daily Mail for the latest updates…
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The ceremony kicks off with musical number from host Mariska Hargitay… but some viewers weren’t so impressed
The Law & Order: SUV actress was joined by Knicks star Jalen Brunson for the performance, which saw her singing a parody of the classic song I Love Rock and Roll.
She then delivered a hilarious monologue during which she cracked a joke about not being able to pronounce the word ‘finale’ because her show ‘never had one’ and quoted Nicole Kidman’s famous AMC ad, which prompted an interruption from Kidman herself.
Some people weren’t entertained by the opening number, however, and took to X to bash it, branding it as ‘cringe.’
Rhea Seehorn earns the award for Outstanding lead actress in a drama series for her role in Pluribus
Allison Janney wins the award for Outstanding supporting actress in a drama series for her role in The Diplomat
She beat out fellow actresses Taylor Dearden, Fiona Dourif, Katherine LaNasa, Sepideh Moafi, Julianne Nicholson and Karolina Wydra.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer cast reunites on stage at 2026 Emmys
Former costars Sarah Michelle Gellar and David Boreanaz came on stage together to present an award 30 years after the show debuted, and boy, was it nostalgic.
Matthew Rhys snags the award for Outstanding lead actor in a limited or anthology series or movie
He won for his role in The Beast in Me.
Jean Smart wins the award for Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her part in Hacks
It was the actress’s fifth consecutive Emmy for her role in Hacks. An impressive feat, if you ask us.
The first award goes to…
Kate O’Flynn from Widow’s Bay won the award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.
Zendaya smirks coyly after being called ‘Mrs. Holland’
Euphoria star Zendaya kept a straight face until a photographer shouted ‘Mrs. Holland’ at her on the Emmys red carpet this evening.
Although Zendaya and Tom Holland have not openly confirmed their nuptials, it was reported that the actors wed in secret back in August at Beaverbrook estate in Surrey, England, with Zendaya thought to have worn a lace Schiaparelli gown with a long-sleeved and high-neck design.
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Battle of the skinny stars at Emmys 2026 as Hollywood’s Ozempic obsession continues
The Emmys 2026 kicked off award season in style – but it was the parade of skinny stars on the red carpet that caused the biggest stir.
Zendaya, Amy Poehler and Sarah Michelle Gellar were among the biggest names to descend on the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, California, on Monday night.
Brooks Nader flaunts her toned figure in a tight dress dress that has a sultry cut-out in the chest area and a thigh-high slit
Calista Flockhart is pretty in pink as she walks the Emmys 2026 red carpet
The well-known car enthusiast, who lives near Abergavenny, shared this in a new DriveTribe video.
In the film, he reminisces about the vehicles that became part of his personal collection after years of filming around the world.
Mr Hammond said: “Some people bring home fridge magnets. I brought home the cars.”
He fondly described the cars as “battered, slightly ridiculous, and full of very good memories” from his two decades of motoring adventures with Jeremy Clarkson and James May.
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(Image: DriveTribe / YouTube)
The video showcases Mr Hammond reflecting on some of the cars he retained after filming, and he also shares stories from the final days of The Grand Tour.
The presenter, who was brought up in North Yorkshire and attended Ripon Grammar School then Harrogate College of Art and Technology, has been in the spotlight for his vast vehicle collection and his connections to south-east Wales.
He runs the restoration business The Smallest Cog in Herefordshire and was recently reported to have dozens of cars registered at his home near Abergavenny.
His collection includes a variety of vehicles, from British classics and Land Rovers to American muscle cars and high-performance sports cars.
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Fans also recall his love for vehicles used in some of the trio’s most memorable TV specials.
The DriveTribe video follows the end of the original Grand Tour line-up, marking the closure of one of motoring television’s most popular partnerships.
The video, where Mr Hammond talks about the cars he couldn’t part with after filming, has sparked significant interest from fans.
While many cars used in the shows were sold, returned, or scrapped, a few special ones remain with him.
Sadly, being a good video game is not always enough (Square Enix/Nintendo/Capcom)
GameCentral reminisces about the many video games that were hampered by ill thought-out marketing schemes… or were barely advertised at all.
In a perfect world, putting in the effort to create a top quality video game (or any kind of product) should guarantee success, but that’s sadly not the case.
Too often a video game’s sales performance hinges not on its quality, but how it’s advertised. Even terrible games can enjoy strong launches if the trailers and general hype are doing their job right.
Sometimes, publishers such as EA and Activision will put plenty of effort into marketing new games but focus on the wrong areas. They’ll try and broaden a game’s appeal in the advertising and instead completely misrepresent why people should play it.
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Other times, they’ll pull ridiculous marketing stunts that do little to inspire confidence in what they are selling or they simply won’t even bother with marketing if they think a game won’t do well, dooming such games to rely entirely on good word of mouth.
Today, we want to remember the video games that suffered from absent, misguided, or just plain bizarre marketing and whether they managed to thrive in spite of it.
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Yoshi And The Mysterious Book
The game that inspired this list, Yoshi And The Mysterious Book initially looked like it would be another overly simplistic platformer for kids and hardly a good justification for purchasing a Nintendo Switch 2.
Turns out Nintendo severely undersold it, because Yoshi And The Mysterious Book’s levels are delightful toy boxes full of unique gimmicks that could easily have been the focus of entire games; ones that lend themselves perfectly to fun puzzle solving.
Nintendo’s marketing completely ignored the game’s best qualities, to the point where they still haven’t shared any sales figures, which is unusual for them. Despite being one of the best games of the year, and coming out shorty after Yoshi played a starring role in the Super Mario Galaxy movie, It’s believed to have not even cracked a million sales.
If anything, it was more bizarre that there were no co-op options for a game about Marvel’s gang of galactic outcasts, as trailers focused too much on Star-Lord’s (admittedly fantastic) mixtape of nostalgic 80s tunes, making the whole thing seem like a desperate recreation of the movies.
So, imagine our surprise when the game turned out to have some real ambition, boasting consistently entertaining tactical combat and, amidst the jokes, a sincerely heartfelt story about grief and coping with loss.
Despite developer Eidos-Montréal’s best efforts, and strong word of mouth, Guardians Of The Galaxy was branded a flop by Square Enix and contributed to the company’s decision to avoid future Marvel games and sell off its Western studios.
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The only silver lining is that, quite unexpectedly, the game is getting re-released on Switch 2, after being announced during this month’s Nintendo Direct.
Onrush, Split/Second: Velocity, and Blur
We’re bundling these three together since they’re all British-made arcade racing games that suffered from poor marketing decisions, which contributed to their awful sales.
Onrush by Codemasters was enjoyably unique, as it was more of a hero shooter with cars than a standard racer, and all four of its gameplay modes worked wonderfully. Unfortunately, it was barely advertised and some trailers made it seem very generic.
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Black Rock Studio’s Split/Second: Velocity also saw little advertising, despite having a great hook where you could trigger destructible environments mid-race to interfere with opponents and change the layout of the track. It also made the mistake of launching in May 2010, the same month as Red Dead Redemption and Super Mario Galaxy 2.
Bizarre Creations and Activision fell into a similar trap with Blur, as they tried to position the game as an adult rival to Mario Kart, complete with a trailer clearly meant to mock Nintendo’s racer as a stupid baby game, without explaining why Blur was supposed to be better.
Titanfall 2
Titanfall 2 is still revered to this day as having one of the best first person shooter campaigns and deservedly so. Even if very few people played it at the time.
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Unfortunately, EA did it no favours by barely marketing the game and what marketing it did have didn’t do enough to emphasise that it had a proper campaign, compared to the first game’s multiplayer focus.
EA also made the baffling decision to launch Titanfall 2 between two other multiplayer shooters for far bigger franchises – EA’s own Battlefield 1 and the similarly sci-fi themed Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare – thus dooming it to lacklustre sales.
DmC Devil May Cry
Capcom’s decision to reboot Devil May Cry and try to make it more appealing to Western audiences, by using British developer Ninja Theory and turning protagonist Dante into an unlikable git, was a bad call – especially with stuff like this joke, that seemed tailor made to antagonise long time fans.
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And yet DmC Devil May Crywas a good game, with more complex combat than it’s given credit for, while fulfilling Capcom’s aim to be a more accessible entry point for the series.
Had Capcom not tried too hard in rebooting the world and characters, the game may not have generated such undeserved hate for developer Ninja Theory. To its credit, Capcom didn’t sweep the game under the carpet immediately and launched a fantastic next gen upgrade that added a number of new features and options.
Regardless, Capcom did end up reverting to the original continuity with the next game, Devil May Cry 5, and considering that’s now the series’ best-selling entry, it’s safe to say the reboot will remain a one-off.
The image of a scowling Kirby became somewhat memetic (Nintendo/MobyGames)
Kirby
We’re including the Kirby series as a blanket case and long-time fans already know exactly why that is. For years, Nintendo of America seemed to think the best way to market Kirby in the West was by, and we’re not exaggerating here, giving him angry eyes.
Look up any box art comparisons of Kirby games and you’ll see the pink puffball’s joyful smile on the Japanese covers replaced with a furrowed brow and steely determination on the US covers, clearly done to make Kirby seem more hardcore than cute.
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Maybe the tactic worked, because the game is bigger in the US than Europe, but nowadays the box art for Kirby games remains the same across regions, as Nintendo of America instead relies on nostalgia and leans into the cuteness.
We don’t think Sony will be using animal carcasses to advertise the God Of War remakes (Sony/MobyGames)
God Of War 2
Before God Of War was about the contemplations of fatherhood and Kratos overcoming his anger issues, to be a kinder and wiser person, the series was primarily sold on its ultra violence and its hero being an amoral tryhard.
As one of the poster children for the 2000s era of video games, where a lot of the industry sold itself on being offensively edgy, Sony wound up rocking the boat by inviting press to a God Of War 2 event that involved shoving your hand into a dead, headless goat’s carcass and eating its insides.
Sony did clarify that the goat’s insides were filled with normal Greek food, but the dead goat was real and caused enough outrage among the mass media and animal rights activists for Sony to apologise for the debacle.
They may have been convinced to go to such lengths because the original God Of War wasn’t a big hit in Europe, as it came at the height of the rivalry between Sony Computer Entertainment America and Europe. The latter put purposefully little effort into pushing the first game, back when they had a lot more autonomy than they do now.
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The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time
The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time has a lasting legacy as one of the best and most important video games ever made, but it has one small blight on that legacy and it’s an infamous UK ad that asked fans, ‘Willst thou get the girl? Or play like one?’
Aside from being uncharacteristically antagonistic for the family friendly Nintendo, it fed into the stereotype that video games are only for boys. It felt like a weirdly old-fashioned form of sexism even at the time and seems even more unforgivable nowadays.
This did spark a small controversy and an attempt to have the ad removed, which didn’t work, but it didn’t hurt Ocarina Of Time’s launch and is now more of an odd curio, since the ads weren’t run in other countries.
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Dead Space 2/Dante’s Inferno
We should just put EA’s entire tenure during the Xbox 360 era on this list because the publisher was constantly guilty of relying on shock value and deliberately stirring up controversies to market its games.
For Dead Space 2, EA ran a Your Mum Hates Dead Space 2 campaign for the former, where it essentially put together a focus group of mothers and recorded their horrified and outraged reactions to some of Dead Space 2’s more violent moments.
Clearly, the goal was to make the game look cool and edgy to rebellious youths (EA even encouraged fans to post their own mums’ reactions on social media), but it was tasteless and lame even at the time and didn’t help the stereotype of video games being childish and exploitative. The strategy didn’t even work since, according to one of the game’s developers, EA branded Dead Space 2 a commercial failure.
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As for Dante’s Inferno, which was a God Of War clone based on The Divine Comedy, EA tried to capitalise on religious backlash to promote the game and staged a protest to make it look as if devout church goers found the game offensive.
The company later confessed the protest was fake and, much like Dead Space 2, EA’s efforts were for naught as Dante’s Inferno underperformed, prompting EA to cancel a planned sequel.
Acclaim seemed to love stirring up controversy when advertising games like Burnout 2 (Acclaim/MobyGames)
Burnout 2
Acclaim rose from the dead last year, to get back into video game publishing, and we hope for its sake that it doesn’t repeat the same marketing snafus it pulled before it closed its doors.
We could write a whole article about Acclaim’s ill-thought-out ideas to promote its games here in the UK, which only ever earned it controversy and a poor reputation.
For example, to advertise racing game Burnout 2, Acclaim offered to pay for peoples’ speeding tickets, which unsurprisingly made the UK government very angry, since it came across as Acclaim encouraging speeding.
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Acclaim filed for bankruptcy two years after it came out. EA, however, saw the potential in both the series and developer Criterion, as it acquired both and went on to release plenty more Burnout games.
Sadly, Burnout nowadays languishes in EA’s vaults (the last game was in 2018) and is unlikely to ever return now that Criterion has been reworked into a Battlefield 6 studio.
Acclaim’s self-described ‘deadvertising’ never caught on (Acclaim/MobyGames)
Shadow Man 2
Another infamous Acclaim promotion was for action adventure sequel Shadow Man 2… or Shadow Man: 2econd Coming to use its actual, much stupider name.
If you thought the speeding ticket scenario was bad, you’ll be amazed to learn that Acclaim’s marketing plans included buying advertising space on tombstones.
We don’t mean bespoke tombstones either. We mean Acclaim was offering families money to have Shadow Man 2 billboards placed on their dead relatives’ tombstones.
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Billed as ‘deadvertising,’ Acclaim argued that it fit the game’s dark and gory tone and even said the offer would ‘particularly interest poorer families,’ describing it as ‘a subsidy to burial costs to give their loved one a good send-off.’
As far as we can tell, nobody took Acclaim up on the offer and, much like Burnout 2, Shadow Man 2’s sales weren’t strong enough to save Acclaim from bankruptcy, proving that there is such a thing as bad publicity.
To our surprise, there is a new Shadow Man game in the works, though, called Shadowman: Darque Legacy from Australian developer Blowfish Studios. But it was only announced with a vague teaser trailer in 2023 and has seen no updates since.
The teaser for the next Shadow Man game only consists of dimly lit environments (Blowfish Studios)
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