A MASTER of the acting craft, Timothy West played everyone from Shakespeare’s King Lear to Stan on EastEnders.

Yet perhaps his most cherished moments on screen were as himself — pootling in a boat on Channel 4 series Great Canal Journeys with Prunella Scales, his beloved wife of 61 years.

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Intelligent and witty Timothy, who died in his sleep on Tuesday aged 90, displayed a devotion to his wife that brought a lump to the throat.

Intended as a travelogue, Great Canal Journeys instead became a reflection on the couple’s decades-long love story — undimmed after Fawlty Towers star Prunella’s dementia diagnosis in 2013.

After a canal ride to Langollen, Denbighs, where they had spent their honeymoon 50 years before, she said: “We just fit, somehow. He never bores me. When he talks, it’s interesting or entertaining.”

Modest and gently spoken, he said: “She can’t remember things very well. But you don’t have to remember things on the canal. You can just enjoy things as they happen — so it’s perfect for her.”

‘Incredible talents’

He is survived by Prunella, 92, their two sons — actor-director Samuel and teacher Joseph — and his daughter Juliet from an earlier marriage to actress Jacqueline Boyer.

His children said in a statement yesterday: “After a long and extraordinary life, our darling father Timothy died peacefully in his sleep yesterday evening. Tim was with friends and family at the end.”

Timothy Lancaster West CBE was born in Bradford in 1934 and his actor parents Olive and Lockwood advised him to avoid the theatre at all costs.

But after stints selling office furniture, and as a recording engineer, at age 22 he became an assistant stage manager at the Wimbledon Theatre.

He would soon start acting — for much of the 1950s in provincial theatres before joining the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1962. He later went on to play Macbeth twice and King Lear four times.

He was also a French intelligence agent in 1973 film The Day Of The Jackal and took the title role in BBC TV biopic Churchill And The Generals in 1979.

His versatility saw him play Russian despot Joseph Stalin on stage, and greedy mill owner Bradley Hardacre in Eighties comedy Brass on ITV then Channel 4 — a satire of dour BBC working-class dramas of the previous decade.

He also played Stan Carter on EastEnders, and Coronation Street’s Eric Babbage, love interest of Gloria Price.

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With acting in his blood, he continued until the end. Hours after his death was announced, he was seen in BBC soap Doctors, as the neighbour of a patient who fell in their garden.

The BBC show tweeted that it was “a moving reminder of his in- credible talent.”

He met Prunella in 1961. Cast together in BBC play She Died Young, they bonded by doing crosswords and eating Polo mints.

Prunella, later famous as Sybil in Seventies sitcom classic Fawlty Towers, said: “We had a mild, Times-crossword flirtation, and he said, ‘Would you like to come to the pictures?’ I said, ‘Yeah, love to’.”

They kept in touch by post before a fateful date in Oxford. Timothy said: “We went punting, had a meal somewhere and the rest is history.”

The sad thing is you watch the gradual disappearance of the person you knew and loved

Timothy West

But in 2013, Prunella was diagnosed with vascular dementia, and Timothy cared for her in their home of 50 years in Wandsworth, South West London. The next year, they began their canal series.

Two years later, he said: “The sad thing is you watch the gradual disappearance of the person you knew and loved.

“Perhaps we have been to a concert, play or film and there is not much we can say because Pru will have a fairly hazy memory.

“I should think it is very frustrating for Pru. She is very kind and does not let on. It is frustrating for me, of course. We need each other.”

But they cherished her moments of lucidity, while viewers delighted in their affection and gentle ribbing.

With Pru’s speech and mobility failing, in 2019 they signed off with a tear-jerking trip to Oxford.

He said this year: “I would give anything to have the old Pru back. But the fact she doesn’t have to worry about anything very much is a crumb of comfort.”

Actress Dame Joanna Lumley said yesterday: “Timothy and Pru did an amazing job convincing people dementia was not something you should be always afraid of — rather something you could embrace and live with, and live with well.”

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MARRIED At First Sight’s Amy revealed the crude comment ex-husband Luke sent her on her birthday – leaving viewers in shock.

The couple parted ways at last night’s final vows with Amy brutally declaring their marriage “deceased”.

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Upset Luke didn’t lose hope though and sent Amy a turtle broach for a birthday gift after the show.

He told the boys that if she attended the reunion wearing it there could be hope for them to rekindle things, but if she didn’t then it would appear to be game over.

Needless to say, Amy didn’t wear the jewellery and coolly dismissed the present, with some viewers branding her cruel and cold.

However, when she revealed just why she was so angry with him, opinion shifted.

He allegedly sent her a note accompanying the gift, with a very concerning final line.

Amy recalled the contents of the letter: “I’ve been thinking about you. I miss you. I miss waking up next to you.

“It said ‘I keep saying no regrets. I keep having one regret. When you were cooking I wish I got down on my knees and terrorised your b*****e.”

“After that he said ‘PS write to me. I’d like that.”

The comment shocked just about everyone, with the experts branding it “inappropriate”.

Relationship expert Charlene Douglas said: “If Luke wants to win back Amy, he hasn’t gone about it the right way. She’s made it very clear she doesn’t like that sexual language.”

Amy then said: “I feel like I’m looking like a d***head being mean, but I’m sick of it, and that’s why at the final vows I thought f**k this.”

Viewers voiced their opinions on X, with one writing: “Luke, bro, no. You can’t tell someone you regret not ‘terrorising their b*****e’”

Another said: “I’d have phoned the police.”

A third wrote: “Why are men like this swear to god?”

A fourth said: “the b*****e comment is diabolical behaviour WHAT.”

Later in the episode, Amy asked Luke why he felt the relationship failed, to which he said “he hurt her trust badly” and they “misunderstood each other”.

Amy then thanked him for “owning that”.

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Ted Lasso star Jason Sudeikis has hit out at fans of the show who disliked the widely divisive third season, claiming that they didn’t “understand” it and “don’t have imaginations”.

Season 3, which aired in 2023, was accused by some of losing its way, despite receiving positive reviews from critics. Fans had criticised the show for having too many separate storylines and felt especially let down by the arcs for Juno Temple’s character Keeley Jones and Nick Mohammed’s Nathan Shelley.

In a new book about the Apple TV+ show called Believe: The Untold Story Behind Ted Lasso, the Show That Kicked Its Way Into Our Hearts by Jeremy Egner, it is suggested that there was a “small but hostile crowd of dissenters” about the third season.

Although the criticism is brushed off by co-star Brendan Hunt as being “easily compartmentalised,” Sudeikis decided to make a more blunt point.

“Much like live theatre, the show, especially Season 3, was asking the audience to be an active participant,” the 49-year-old is quoted as saying. “Some people want to do that, some people don’t. Some people want to judge—they don’t want to be curious.”

He adds: “I’ll never understand people who will go on talking about something so brazenly that they, in my opinion, clearly don’t understand. And God bless ’em for it; it’s not their fault. They don’t have imaginations and they’re not open to the experience of what it’s like to have one.”

“Everybody’s in better shape than when they started,” the Emmy winner continues. “Like a good Boy or Girl Scout at a campsite, we left it better than we found it. And if you don’t see that in that show, then I don’t know what show you’re watching.”

Despite the backlash against the show, Ted Lasso season 3 still earned 21 nominations at the 2023 Emmy Awards but only won in two categories for Outstanding Guest Actor and Outstanding Original Music.

Meanwhile, the show looks set to receive a greenlight for its fourth season, according to reports.

US media states that Warner Bros Television has picked up the options for the three original cast members, Hannah Waddingham, Brett Goldstein and Jeremy Swift.

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Waddingham stars in the show as AFC Richmond owner Rebecca Walton, while Goldstein plays hot-headed assistant coach Roy Kent. Swift is the meek director of football operations and father of five, Leslie Higgins.

MARRIED At First Sight’s Kristina has pulled on the heartstrings of fans after she broke down in tears during an emotional reunion with Kieran.

Kristina came face-to-face with her ex-husband as the couples were brought back together for a special dinner party in the E4 show.

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But the dog walker found her emotions getting the better of her once Kieran entered the room.

The pair sat and had a brief chat, before Kristina began to cry.

She told her ex husband: “I have really struggled. I feel like now I’m still just trying to adjust.

“I still pinch myself where I think, I was married. Do you know what I mean?”

Kieran told Kristina: “I think I’m quite numb.”

She then asked if he was “ever 100 per cent in it”, adding: “I feel it hasn’t really left an impact on you.”

Kieran told his ex wife: “Just because I don’t get as emotional as you, doesn’t mean that I’m not feeling anything. It’s sad for me.”

Kristina started to cry as she said: “I feel like I put my life on the line for you but nothing stands out for you.”

She then stormed out of the room, closely followed by her girl pals.

Sitting out the back, Kristina told Emma, Sacha and Lacey: “I don’t want to cry.

“He’s so f***ing forgetful. What did this journey mean to you? Because it meant the f***ing world to me.”

Kieran was shown looking concerned before admitting: “I’ve got to watch how I tread. I hate seeing her upset, I hate it.

“I just feel bad for her, really f***ing bad.”

Once Kristina had calmed down, Kieran appeared and they sat down together for a chat.

He then tried to reassure his ex wife that he cares about her before apologising for upsetting her.

“If I didn’t care, I wouldn’t be here,” Kieran told her.

“I don’t want to see you upset. I just…I’m sorry you feel the way you feel.

“I’ve not given you the time you need or the attention you need and I’m sorry for that.”

Kristina and Kieran quickly became fan favourites when the 2024 series of MAFS UK kicked off.

However, Kristina soon starting struggling with the lack of intimacy in their relationship.

Kieran later made the heartbreaking confession that “the spark had gone” and they split during a commitment ceremony.

Meanwhile, Kristina was left crying for a second time during the reunion episode on Wednesday night.

Kieran admitted he had briefly dated someone new after their split.

One viewer wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: “The fact he dated someone right after the experiment was over shows how little he cares about Kristina.”

Another added: “I really feel for Kristina man. She loved Kieran.”

And a third chimed in: “Ohh god I feel for Kristina.”

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In an effort to relate to working-class Americans, Whoopi Goldberg has revealed that she too struggles with money.

The 69-year-old Oscar winner and co-host of ABC’sThe View admitted during a recent episode of the popular daytime talk show that she can’t afford to stop working. “I appreciate that people are having a hard time. Me, too. I work for a living,” Goldberg said on Tuesday (November 12). “If I had all the money in the world, I would not be here, okay? So, I’m a working person, you know?”

“My kid has to feed her family. My great-granddaughter has to be fed by her family. I know it’s hard out there,” the Sister Act star added.

Goldberg – who rose to fame in the 1980s as a comedian, before landing breakthrough roles in both film and on Broadway – has hosted The View since 2007. While she has cemented herself as one of the most prominent figures in television, Goldberg’s career successes span far beyond the daytime talk show. In fact, she’s one of the few recipients of an Emmy Award, Grammy Award, Academy Award, and Tony Award – collectively known as the EGOT.

The New York native, born in 1955 as Caryn Elaine Johnson, came from humble beginnings. Her mother, Emma Johnson, was a nurse and a teacher while her father, Robert James Johnson Jr, was a Baptist clergyman. She was raised in the public housing project Chelsea-Elliot Houses in the Manhattan neighborhood of Chelsea.

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After dropping out of high school at age 17, Goldberg moved to California in the 1970s where she worked odd jobs such as a waitress, bank teller, bricklayer, and a mortuary cosmetologist. While living in Berkeley, she joined the city’s oldest theater troupe, the Blake Street Hawkeyes, and developed her 1983 one-woman show, The Spook Show.

It was there that director Mike Nichols discovered Goldberg and became a mentor for the comedian as they developed her show for Broadway. The show, retitled to Whoopi Goldberg, ran from October 1984 to March 1985. According to Broadway World, the show earned $1,973,901 over its 156 performances. Her show was also taped for an HBO special, titled Whoopi Goldberg: Direct from Broadway, for which Goldberg was credited as producer through her company, Whoop Inc.

The audio recording of Goldberg’s one-woman show earned her the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album in 1986, the first Black female comedian to win the recognition. While Goldberg went on to star in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum in 1996, her theater career has since progressed far beyond acting. In 2002, she won the Tony Award for producing the musical Thoroughly Modern Millie, a Broadway smash hit that reportedly made back around 80 percent of its $9.5 million capitalization during its two-year run.

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While Goldberg got her start on the stage, she has since become one of the most prolific on-screen actors of all time. During performances of her one-woman Broadway show, she caught the attention of filmmaker Steven Spielberg, who offered her the lead role of Celie in 1985’s The Color Purple – her film debut. The Color Purple, based on the novel by Alice Walker, became a critical and commercial success, grossing more than $98.4m at the worldwide box office. The movie was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, including a nomination for Goldberg as Best Actress. She ultimately won the Golden Globe for her role as Celie, once again becoming the first Black woman to win the category.

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Goldberg made history yet again in 1990 when she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as psychic Oda Mae Brown in Ghost. The Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze classic became the highest-grossing movie of the year, earning more than $505m worldwide.

Perhaps one of her best-known roles is Deloris Van Cartier, a lounge singer who goes undercover as a nun to escape the mob, in the 1992 musical comedy Sister Act. The film made $139.6m at the U.S. box office, grossing $231.6m worldwide. In 1993, Sister Act was named the most rented film across the country.

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The movie even spawned a successful franchise, so much so that Goldberg was able to negotiate a salary for Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit between an estimated $7m and $12m – making Goldberg the highest-paid actress in Hollywood at the time. The sequel grossed about $60m in the U.S. and almost $100m worldwide.

Throughout the 1990s to 2000s, Goldberg made several appearances in film, notably voicing Shenzi the hyena in Disney’s 1994 animated classic The Lion King – the third-highest earning animated film in history, grossing $968.5m worldwide.

On television, Goldberg appeared in five seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation, co-starred with Jean Stapleton in Bagdad Cafe, and hosted her own syndicated late-night talk show, The Whoopi Goldberg Show.

In 2007, Goldberg joined The View as moderator and panelist, alongside creator Barbara Walters, Joy Behar, Sherri Shepherd, and Elisabeth Hasselbeck. In a 2016 report from Variety, Goldberg’s one-year contract was estimated to be worth between $5m-$6m.

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Aside from her role as an entertainer, Goldberg has also made a fortune as an entrepreneur. In 2022, she launched her brand of cannabis products, Emma & Clyde, named after her late mother and brother. She also co-founded a line of holistic menstrual relief products, Whoopi & Maya, in 2016, though it ceased operations four years later. After parting ways with a former business partner, Goldberg announced in July 2024 that Whoopi & Maya was being revived under her WhoopFam company.

Following her move to California in the 1980s, Goldberg purchased a Victorian-style house built in the 1890s for just $335,000. In 2015, she sold the two-story home for $1.275m after owning it for 30 years. Goldberg then moved to the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, where she lived for another two decades before selling the five-bedroom home for $8.8m in February 2018. She also purchased a rustic vacation home in Vermont in 2003 for $950,000. Goldberg reportedly listed the historic property in November 2012 for $1.5m.

After landing her gig on The View, Goldberg relocated back to New York City, where she bought a full-floor loft in SoHo for $4m. She sold the two-bedroom apartment in 2010 for just under $3m. In a search for more privacy, Goldberg moved to the New Jersey suburbs, purchasing a $2.8m mansion in the gated community of Llewellyn Park.

Goldberg has been married three times. Her first marriage was in 1973 to drug counselor Alvin Martin, though they parted ways in 1979. She was later married to cinematographer David Claessen from 1986 to 1988, and tied the knot with union organizer Lyle Trachtenberg in 1994, though their union lasted only one year.

She welcomed her only child, daughter Alexandrea Martin, with her first husband in 1974 when she was just 18 years old. Goldberg’s daughter, who also became an actor and producer, has since given the actor three grandchildren and a great-granddaughter.

Earlier this year, Goldberg shared that she will be bequeathing “everything” to her now 50-year-old daughter during a May episode of The View.

“One of the great answers is children learn by what they see,” Goldberg said at the time. “My mother worked her behind off and so that’s why I feel the way I feel and I’m leaving my kid everything that I have.”

Most TV adverts for sweets, crisps and chocolate shown when children are likely to be watching are placed by firms who claim not to promote their products to that age group.

The disclosure, in new research by the University of Liverpool, has prompted claims that food giants such as Mars, Haribo and PepsiCo are in “flagrant” breach of their own codes of behaviour.

The academics found that 80% of all ads for confectionery and snacks shown on UK TV before the 9pm children’s viewing watershed were from those three firms, plus Kellogg’s and Mondelez.

Their analysis of ads shown on 76 channels also revealed that 49% of all such ads are broadcast between 5.30am and 9pm, when viewing by children is at its highest.

“The discrepancy between these company commitments and the large number of their ads aired before the watershed suggests a flagrant disconnect between their marketing policies and what actually happens in practice,” said Rebecca Tobi, the senior business and investor engagement manager at the Food Foundation.

The findings are contained in the thinktank’s annual report, published on Thursday. Its analysis of ads for sweets and snacks shown in July and August 2022 found that 13 different food and drink firms had ads shown during those hours, of which five firms provided 80%.

Haribo accounted for the most – 25% – with ads for products such as Starmix, closely followed by Mars UK (20%) with ads for products such as Galaxy, Snickers, Maltesers and M&Ms. Tobi highlighted that Haribo’s corporate responsibility report says: “Haribo does not advertise in any media primarily directed to children under 16 years.”

Similarly, PepsiCo’s UK-responsible marketing policy states: “We do not promote or market HFSS [high in fat, sugar and salt] products to under-16s across any media.”

The findings illustrate why Labour ministers have decided to ban the advertisement of junk food – anything judged HFSS under its nutrient profile model nutritional assessment rules – on TV before the 9pm watershed, and at any time online, from 1 October 2025.

“This is yet another example of the opaque marketing strategies of some of the biggest players in the food industry and illustrates why the government is right to protect children and young people” said James Toop, the chief executive of Bite Back, the campaigning arm of Jamie Oliver’s organisation.

“These companies have been spending too much money and effort advertising unhealthy products to children.”

Earlier this year, before he became the health secretary, Wes Streeting criticised food firms for using marketing to manipulate people into buying products that contributed to bad diets.

“As citizens we are highly manipulated by the marketing that’s thrown at us. Certainly in terms of children, parents will experience the ordeal of going around the supermarket and being tugged down [by children] to get that KitKat cereal or chocolate bar,” he said in February.

Tobi urged Streeting to force all food firms to disclose what proportion of their sales came from healthy or unhealthy products. While some big firms agree, most are opposed. The last Conservative government considered making such disclosure mandatory, but relented and made it purely voluntary in the face of pushback from the sector.

“Good data drives good decision-making yet ingrained food industry secrecy means, as things currently stand, neither policymakers nor businesses have a clear idea of who is selling what,” Tobi said.

The Food and Drink Federation, which represents major producers, said manufacturers took obesity and poor diet seriously and accepted that they had a role in tackling these issues.

A spokesperson said: “Companies have made significant progress to create healthier options for shoppers, based on government guidelines and the high fat, salt and sugar regulations. Thanks to substantial investment, FDF members’ products now contribute far fewer calories, salt and sugar to the British grocery market than they did in 2015.”

The industry complied with all advertising rules on unhealthy food, they said, adding: “The food and drink industry is open to working with government to consider how we can collectively report on progress in a transparent and consistent way, and we recognise that this is important in gaining a better understanding of the food system.”

The Department of Health and Social Care said: “We are committed to tackling [obesity] head on, shifting our focus from treatment to prevention as part of our 10-year health plan.

“We have already made a strong start by restricting junk food advertising on TV and online, limiting schoolchildren’s access to fast food, and confirming that we will take steps to ensure the soft drinks industry levy (sugar tax) remains effective and fit for purpose.”