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ITV viewers have been stunned by the harrowing new series Until I Kill You, which tells the true story of nurse Delia Balmer’s shocking ordeal of realising her boyfriend of three years was a serial killer.

The series, based on Balmer’s 2017 memoir Living with a Serial Killer, stars Motherland ‘s Anna Maxwell Martin as Balmer and Vigil actor Shaun Evans as serial killer John Sweeney. It depicts everything from the beginning of the pair’s relationship to all the moments Balmer tried to leave Sweeney, up until when he attacked her using an axe.

While episodes have been airing on ITV1 since 3 November, the series is fully available to watch in its entirety on ITVX.

Already, viewers have proclaimed Maxwell Martin’s performance to be the “best” of her career.

“Anna Maxwell Martin is outstandingly good in this. What an actor, able to straddle comedy and serious drama so brilliantly. She should be winning everything (and should have been for a long time),” said one viewer on X/Twitter.

Another said the actor is an “absolute powerhouse” in the series, and is “right up there with the best British actresses”.

“Just watched pt 1 and halfway through pt. 2 tears in my eyes and shouting at the TV. Anna Maxwell Martin MUST GET AN AWARD FOR THIS,” wrote one viewer.

“#DeliaBalmer is a freaking warrior!” said another viewer. “To go through that trauma and be treated appallingly by the Met and survive. I just binged #untilIKillYou because I did not want to stop watching. Every award should go to this production and #AnnaMaxwellMartin is fabulous!”

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Another person praised the series for portraying coercive control in such a nuanced light.

“Until I Kill You is a terrifying watch,” they said. “Coercive relationships are extremely difficult to identify when you’re in one and fooled. My heart goes out to anyone who is trapped in an abusive relationship. Please seek help.”

Balmer and Sweeney met in a pub in London’s Camden in 1991 and instantly got along when they learnt of each other’s love for travelling.

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When their relationship began, Sweeney would gift Balmer flowers and shower her with affection. Balmer later realised that these attempts at showing love were manipulative as he gradually became more controlling and physically abusive as time went on.

Writing in her memoir, Balmer remarked that the changes happened slowly at the beginning. “I should’ve known something was wrong but I am too soft and trusting. I’d never come across anything like it before,” she wrote.

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Balmer attempted to get out of the relationship but she feared for her safety. She briefly left Sweeney in 1994 and changed the locks on her front door. She asked the police to investigate a suspicious bag hidden behind a bathroom panel, which she describes in the book as a “body disposal kit meant for me”.

Despite Balmer’s attempts to warn the police, Sweeney broke into her home and held her hostage for four days, tying her to a bed and threatening her with a gun. When Sweeney did leave the flat, Balmer fled to report what had happened to the police. They arrested Sweeney for holding her hostage but allowed him out on bail.

In harrowing scenes recounted in both the book and series, Sweeney then attacked Balmer with an axe, until she was saved by a neighbour who rescued her by striking Sweeney with a baseball bat.

In the subsequent trial, Balmer said: “He had the axe above his head ready to finish me off. Then the man next door came out and risked his life. I had just curled up ready to go.”

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Sweeney was arrested in 2001 and was given four life sentences for the attempted murder of Balmer, and for having four guns when he was arrested while on the run.

In 2010, while serving this sentence, he was charged with the murder of two women and sentenced to life imprisonment. According to the BBC, authorities believe he may have killed three more women who had gone missing in the area between 1970 and 1990.

The national domestic abuse helpline offers support for women on 0808 2000 247, or you can visit the Refuge website. There is a dedicated men’s advice line on 0808 8010 327. Those in the US can call the domestic violence hotline on 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org

AS MAFS nears to an end viewers of the hit dating show have been given a glimpse of the final dinner party, showing that things go from bad to worse between show stars Adam and Polly,

The careers advisor, 28, tied the knot with barber Adam Nightingale, 35, as part of this year’s series of the E4 show.

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But their relationship has been fraught with arguments with Adam admitting Polly isn’t his type and Polly wanting more affection from him.

Now, tempers seem to boil over at the dinner party, as the couple exchange stern words, with barber Adam even pushing his chair over and Polly marching off.

Polly could be heard calling Adam a narcissist after he says to her: “If you’re going to frustrate me and moan at me all day, why would I want to come home and have sex with you?”

He then says: “Narcissist?” after Polly accuses him of being one, before getting up and letting his chair crash to the floor.

After he returns to the dinner table, the couple continue to argue.

Polly ends up storming off, but has some final words for Adam as she stands wine in hand at the end of the table.

She shouts: “You’ve led me on, you’ve f***** me about, and you’ve p***** me right off.”

Their row comes after fans were left convinced Polly and Adam were no more, after two telling signs.

Firstly, Polly was flogging her wedding dress for £1,800 on Vinted at the start of October.

She’s since knocked the price down on the lace Justin Alexander number to £1,130, in a bid to get it sold.

Polly shared a playful message from a potential buyer, who said: “Hiya, hun, does Adam come with the dress?”

Polly replied on her Story by writing: “Coming for you on Vinted now babes,” and tagged Adam.

Then in another split ‘clue’ spotted by fans, Polly shared a beautiful tribute to Adam on Instagram.

Married at First Sight’s best moments

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Married at First sight has brought eight explosive series of drama to the small screen. These are some of the best moments

• When series 8 couple Rozz Darlington and Thomas Kriaras brought secretly brought a sex toy to the couple’s dinner party. Unbeknownst to their fellow cast members who they were having dinner with, Rozz wore a vibrating egg gadget whilst husband Thomas had the controls.

• Nikita’s exit in series 6. Nikita was removed from the show early on due to her behaviour, which led to her husband Ant re-entering the experiment with Alexis.

• A slightly more heart warming highlight from series 6 was watching Dan and Matt’s relationship unfold. Dan and Matt were the first same-sex couple on the show, and their relationship was both ground-breaking and adorable.

• Emma and James’ wedding in series 1. They were the first couple to ever get married on the UK version of the show. Emma and James, had a beautiful ceremony that set the tone for the series.

• The dinner party showdowns are always a MAFs highlight with explosive arguments and unexpected alliances forming.

The post featured a photo of the couple on their wedding day and Polly says: ” I can’t believe I’m writing this because I genuinely didn’t think we’d get here. It’s final dates!

“I just want to say to Adam more than anyone thank you from the bottom of my heart for going through this incredible, once in a lifetime journey with me.

“There really is no one else I’d of wanted to do it with. As much as I wound you up, frustrated you, irritated you, I did also make you laugh, be more vulnerable, smile, be goofy and laugh at all your jokes (some that weren’t even funny )

“I am incredibly proud of Adam’s journey as well because I think it’s clear to everyone boy I pushed that man and he worked at it. But I am also very proud of myself.

“I have worked on things I’ve had troubles with for many years and still battling them now on a daily basis as they’re not just relationship based, they’re deeper than that.

“But to be working on them slowly but surely is better than being ignorant to it.

“Please also remember what you order on your tv’s every night doesn’t even come CLOSE to what we were doing, filming, talking about every day.

“Adam said in his vows that it would be a rollercoaster and my god it has been. But I’d certainly queue again.

She concluded by saying: “Will final vows make us realise what we’ve got or will we crumble at the last hurdle?”

Fans were quick to comment how lovely a couple they were and shower Polly with support but others believed it was a sign that they had split up.

One fan wrote: “One of my favourite couples, but I’m thinking from the way you worded that, that you arnt together now”

Another said: “Ahhhh maaa goodness me! This post you and Adam separate or together ! Mad about you both ! Can’t wait to see it all unfold!”

A third added: “I don’t think you will make it but I so hope I’m wrong!”

But Polly replied: “it’s a reflective post haha, doesn’t give anything away but thank you xx”

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Piglets, the ITV sitcom about trainee cops, has been renewed for a second season despite being critically panned and branded “highly offensive” by a police body.

The series, set in a police training college, stars Sarah Parish and Mark Heap as the two superintendents overseeing the training of a fresh batch of recruits.

Speaking in the Reading Between The Lines podcast, one of the show’s actors Ricky Champ revealed that ITV are sticking with the series despite being critically panned.

“Piglets has been commissioned for series two,” he said. “It’s crazy because we got absolutely slammed.”

“The first series came out and it was met with absolute venom – across the board. Vemon from all these critics. We live in a very critical world at the moment, especially for comedy.”

“Immediately, I thought, ‘That’s that done.’”

However, Champ said the show received good viewing figures despite the negative criticism, “and “ITV obviously noticed that”.

The show was critically panned across the board upon its initial release in July, with The Independent’s TV critic Nick Hilton writing in his two-star review that the comedy was just “not funny”.

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“Piglets looks like a rush job,” wrote Hilton. “The characters are underdeveloped, their relationships undercooked. The comedy is puerile and intermittent; too many of the jokes are missing a proper punchline. From The Thin Blue Line to Black Ops, it’s proved difficult to make an effective television comedy about the police – and Piglets does nothing to change that.”

When the show came out, the show’s title, which references the derogatory term “pig”, was called “highly offensive” by Tiffany Lynch, the acting national chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales.

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She said: “It is a disgusting choice of language to use for the title of a TV programme.

“I find it incredulous that this has passed through checks and balances at an organisation made up of people who at any time have or may need the support and assistance of the police.”

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Lynch called the title “inflammatory against a landscape of rising threats and violence against officers”, adding: “We should not be put at further risk for viewing numbers, our officers deserve respect, not humiliation for the job they are undertaking.

“It is incredibly dangerous to incite more negativity and misinformation against a public sector service that’s already under so much pressure.”

Responding to the criticism, ITV said: “Piglets is a fictional new comedy about a police training academy and the title is not intended to cause any offence, it’s a comedic and endearing play on words to emphasise the innocence and youth of our young trainees.”

FANS of Channel 5’s new police drama Ellis have already been left begging for another series.

The brand new programme has already got fans hooked just two episodes into the series.

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Having been tipped to rival ITV’s acclaimed Vera, it appears that fans think it is doing just that after insisting it is on the way to becoming the same level as the long-running Brenda Blethyn drama.

Played by Sharon D Clarke, DCI Ellis uses her knowledge and expertise to solve a number of mysterious local crimes.

With the show now two episodes in, obsessed fans have already begun issuing their pleas to Channel 5 to renew it for another go-around immediately.

One fan wrote online: “Absolutely hoping for a series two already.”

Someone else penned: “Hope theres another series. I love this.”

As a third echoed: “Me too.”

The glowing reviews continued to pour in as another person wrote on X: “I think she could be up there with #Vera after a few more series.”

Before someone else shared: “I’m really liking #Ellis on @channel5_tv great drama gotta love a powerful woman he puts everyone in their place.”

Speaking about what sets Ellis ahead of similar shows, lead writer Sian Ejiwunmi-Lee Berre said: “A lot of big detective shows are very site-specific.

“Whether it’s Death in Paradise, Midsomer Murders, or even
Inspector Morse, it’s about the place.

“This is about her. And she brings her very specific understanding of how people work to wherever she goes; her mantra is that everything is made different by love, fear, hate, or anger, and she digs into the character of a town.

“So, the changing character in each episode is the town – and obviously the people in it – but the town itself has a particular flaw.”

The full synopsis for Ellis explains: “Ellis and Harper arrive in the town of Callorwell to investigate the disappearance of a local detective.

” Leighton needs Ellis to control the case: the DCI of the station is off with stress, and the force recently arrested the head of a major criminal gang but bungled the case and had to let her go.

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Since its launch back in 2011 Vera has gripped ITV viewers with its crime stories – and dozens of actors have appeared in the show, including:

“Jenny’s colleagues are indifferent to her disappearance, believing she left of her own free will, but Ellis – and Jenny’s husband – feel something is amiss.

“More so when she learns that when Jenny disappeared, she was days away from submitting a complaint of bullying against her colleagues.

“Rife with a toxic culture, the station blocks Ellis at every turn forcing her to reach out to the enemy.”

Ellis airs at 8pm Thursdays on Channel 5.

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Amy Dowden has said it will be “tough” watching JB Gill perform without her this weekend.

The Strictly Come Dancing professional, 34, was replaced by Lauren Oakley in the BBC dance competition after being rushed to hospital with a shin fracture on 2 November.

Gill’s performance on Saturday, 9 November, will coincide with the one year anniversary of Dowden finishing chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer, which kept her from the Strictly stage for a year.

Speaking on ITV’s Lorraine, Dowden revealed she had planned a special Strictly performance with Gill to celebrate her anniversary and is devastated it can no longer take place.

“Saturday is going to be tough because I really wanted to be dancing on that floor to show myself how far I’ve come in one year,” she said.

The professional dancer explained she had wanted to dance the samba with her celebrity partner because she felt the “joyful carnival happy dance” was perfect to mark the occasion.

In May 2023, Dowden was diagnosed with an “aggressive” form of stage three breast cancer after finding a lump in her breast the day before her Maldives honeymoon with fellow professional dancer Ben Jones.

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She underwent a mastectomy, chemotherapy and fertility treatment in those nine months and was eventually told she had “no evidence of disease” in February 2024.

Elsewhere in her chat with Lorraine Kelly, Dowden said:“I am going to do my best not to cry,” as tears filled her eyes. “I am gutted it’s had to end this way,” she added. “I feel I have let JB down.”

Dowden will be replaced by fellow professional dancer Lauren Oakley as Gill’s dance partner for the remainder of the competition. However, she hinted on BBC’s It Takes Two that she hopes to appear back on the Strictly stage before the end of the season.

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“Hopefully I will be back dancing, hopefully in a group number by the end of the series,” she said. “Fingers crossed.”

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The professional dancer added to Kelly on Thursday, 7 November: “I have had a lot of setbacks. I am used to picking myself back up.”

Dowden has explained the shin injury wasn’t a repeat of any previous injuries or previous treatment for breast cancer and she said she would be JB’s “biggest cheerleader” as he continues with “the amazing Lauren”.

Oakley told Dowden earlier this week: “We’re still a team. Love you. You did the groundwork, I’ll carry your partnership forward and hopefully make you proud.”

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Saturday Night Live star Bowen Yang has apologised to Ariana Grande for opening his mouth “too much” during a kissing scene in a recent sketch on the show.

Grande hosted the 12 October episode of the show, which featured musical performances from Stevie Nicks. It was the first time that the Wicked star had hosted SNL since 2016.

Among the sketches on the episode was a skit called “Charades with Mom,” Grande starred alongside Andrew Dismukes as the parents of Michael Longfellow who were meeting their son’s boyfriend, played by Yang, for the first time.

As the title of the sketch suggests, a game of charades soon starts but gets out of control and becomes competitive very quickly. Eventually, a fight breaks out between Grande and Yang’s characters but they soon make up and engage in an overly passionate kiss with each other.

Yang, who also stars in Wicked, has since apologised to the “One Last Time” singer for the kiss during the sketch, which he admitted he opened his mouth too much for.

On his Las Culturistas podcast, Yang told Grande, who was his guest: “Just to switch gears: I really have to apologise to you in person. I opened my mouth up too much when we kissed on SNL.”

The 31-year-old pop star said: “You absolutely did. I was shaking with laughter. No, no, no, not in a bad way! Not in a bad way — just in a disarming way.”

“I kissed you too much,” added Yang, to which Grande replied, “You know what? That’s okay. … We were dropped in, and it felt like what these people needed at that time. It felt like what these characters required, and I’m all for it.”

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Grande also revealed that the kiss wasn’t originally scripted but had the idea to add it after rehearsals. “I didn’t say anything because I was like, ‘Oh, everyone’s gonna think I’m absolutely insane and too comfortable,’’’ she said. “But I was like, ‘Oh, how funny would it be if we kissed at the end?’”

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“And then Bowen texts me a few hours later and was like, ‘It’s totally fine if this is way too crazy, but we were talking and thought it would be so funny if we kissed at the end,’” Grande said. “And I was like, ‘Wow. I was thinking that.’”

“It was absolutely too open,” Grande later joked. “No, I’m kidding! For the characters, I think it was perfectly open.”