The Walsh Sisters premiered on Saturday night, with BBC viewers sharing mixed reactions

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New drama The Walsh Sisters, adapted from Marian Keyes’s bestselling novel, made its debut on Saturday night (February 21).

Keyes launched her first book featuring the Walsh Sisters, entitled Watermelon, in 1995, before releasing its hugely popular follow-up, Rachel’s Holiday, two years later. Angels and Anybody Out There were published in 2002 and 2006, respectively.

The new BBC comedy-drama focuses on five sisters navigating their own triumphs and tribulations throughout their 20s and 30s, as they encounter some of the most difficult periods of their lives.

“This is a sisterhood full of in-jokes, hand-me-down resentments and more than a few old wounds. But their DNA, history and shared love of power ballads keep the Walsh sisters together in the face of heartbreak, grief, addiction and parenthood,” the official synopsis continues, reports the Mirror.

READ MORE: Where was BBC The Walsh Sisters filmed as ‘Hollywood’ arrives for Irish dramaREAD MORE: BBC The Walsh Sisters stars Irish legends from House of Guinness and Derry Girls

Derry Girls star Louisa Harland portrays Anna in the Dublin-based series. The programme also follows Rachel (Caroline Menton), Maggie (Stefanie Preissner), Claire (Danielle Galligan), and Helen (Máiréad Tyers).

The opening episode introduced audiences to siblings Anna and Rachel, who share accommodation in Dublin, where late evenings and chaotic mornings are commonplace. However, after a rowdy night out with their partners, Aidan (Samuel Anderson) and Luke (Jay Duffy), friction quickly emerged when Luke grew anxious over Rachel’s irresponsible conduct.

Anna subsequently disclosed to Rachel that she was engaged, prompting her sister to voice her reservations, given they’d only been together for a few months.

Later during the episode, the five siblings went out for drinks to mark Claire’s divorce. However, catastrophe struck when Rachel was rushed to hospital. The episode concluded with a startling cliffhanger as Anna and her fiancé, Aidan, were caught up in a horrific car crash.

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After watching the first episode, numerous BBC viewers voiced their grievances, as they felt that the novels were better at depicting the sisters’ narratives and endearing characteristics.

“Glad I read the books first. So much better than the TV adaptation,” one individual posted on X (formerly Twitter), with another stating: “I’m not sure why they decided to clump all the sisters’ stories together. It’s not working for me.”

A third remarked: “Everybody speaks the same terrible dialogue, but nobody looks even vaguely similar except they are all really unlikeable as people,” whilst another person similarly observed: “Who the f*** thought it was a good idea to give [Aidan] an American accent?!? Truly awful.”

In contrast, other audience members expressed optimism that the programme would strengthen as it progressed, with one individual noting: “This episode is just warming up… think the next episodes will be even better.”

The Walsh Sisters is available to stream on BBC iPlayer

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Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola spoke about the atmosphere at the Etihad after their 2-1 win over Newcastle

Pep Guardiola wants a repeat performance at Manchester City for the rest of the season – from the fans. Two goals from Nico O’Reilly earned a big win over Newcastle in the Premier League title race and Guardiola wants the Etihad as alive as it was on Saturday night for the rest of their run-in.

Recent matches in various competitions at the Etihad have seen empty seats at matches, with nine games in seven weeks proving too much for some supporters amid various issues around the matchday. But it was a full house for the fourth out of five confirmed meetings with Newcastle this season and the fans played their part in the Blues moving to within two points of Arsenal at the top of the table.

“Always I say to the players [that] we have to play for the fans – I have incredible respect for them,” said Guardiola. “Sometimes they cannot come for the price, for many reasons, because we play in midweek for example at 8pm, and the day after the kids have to be at school, the father and mother has to go to work.

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“And today, tomorrow is off, tomorrow is Sunday, so it’s perfect, and look at the opponent. We need that, I encourage them to come, we try to do our best, we don’t want to disappoint. Today the connection and vibe with our fans was the best of the season. We have five games left [at home in the Premier League], we need that vibe.”

Meanwhile Guardiola started his press conference by congratulating James Milner after the former City player set a new standard in the league. “Today he made an incredible milestone to become the player with most appearances in the Premier League – it’s incredible, hats off!” he said.

“This is consistency, this is love for the game. I know he will become an incredible top golf player, but what he has done is unbelievable. So on behalf of Man City, because he played here, James, congratulations.”

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The Carabao Cup Final will see Arsenal v Manchester City at London’s Wembley Stadium this March.

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The warning follows a 75 per cent increase in Google searches for “Yorkshire Moors” in the past week after the release of a new adaptation of Wuthering Heights.

The film, starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, has reignited interest in the dramatic Yorkshire landscape.

But outdoor experts are reminding visitors that the moors can be hazardous for those who arrive unprepared.

Natalie Wolfenden, author and outdoor enthusiast at GO Outdoors, said: “Moorlands are known for sudden weather changes, gale-force winds, uneven terrain, slippery paths, featureless surroundings and patchy mobile signal.

Stunning Sky in Swaledale by Adrian Morris. (Image: Adrian Morris)

“If you’ve been inspired to head outdoors after watching Wuthering Heights, make sure to take extra precautions so you’re properly prepared for these environments.”

Ms Wolfenden has shared seven safety tips for those planning a ‘set-jetting’ trip:

Plan your route
Before setting off, review your route carefully to make sure it’s suitable for your ability.
Check for any steep or rocky sections, as these can become especially slippery after rain. If there’s been prolonged rainfall, steer clear of boggy terrain, which may be waterlogged.

Footwear
Sturdy shoes with good grip are essential for the moors, which can be slippery and muddy year-round.

Visibility
Wear reflective clothing, especially in foggy conditions.

Carry a torch or headlamp.

Phone signal
Mobile coverage is patchy on the moors.

Fully charge your phone, download offline maps, and tell someone your route.

Weather
Check the forecast and be prepared for sudden changes.

Companions
It’s safer not to walk alone.

A walking companion can help in emergencies and share kit.

Emergencies
In case of emergency, dial 999 or 112, ask for the police, then request Mountain Rescue.

Remain where you are and follow instructions.

By following these guidelines, visitors can enjoy the breathtaking scenery safely.

Much has been done, by way of interviews and Instagram reels, to market Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights as a tale of ferocious passion and untameable desire. The question of precisely whose passion we see play out onscreen is a crucial one.

Fennel says the film reflects her personal reading of Emily Brontë’s arresting tale of generational trauma, possession and violence. I had a different experience when I first read Wuthering Heights. I became immersed in a decidedly unsexy story of abuse, and had “bad dreams in the night” over Heathcliff’s brutal nature.

Nowhere is Heathcliff’s brutality more explicit than in his treatment of Isabella Linton, who becomes his wife. Isabella is the sister (or, in Fennell’s interpretation, ward) of Edgar Linton, Heathcliff’s rival for Catherine (Cathy) Earnshaw’s affections.

Heathcliff and Isabella’s marriage is marked by severe domestic and sexual abuse. In Brontë’s novel, Isabella chooses to flee Heathcliff’s tyranny and construct a life for herself independent of him. As the literary scholar Judith E. Pike notes, this was a radical transgression of historical norms, in which Victorian morality would expect her to endure such treatment for love of her husband.

Returning to the novel recently, I was struck once more by Isabella’s decimation of her husband’s propensity towards cruelty. I believe any retelling of Wuthering Heights should be faithful to, as opposed to a taming of, its radicalism. Yet when faced with Fennell’s Isabella, I encountered not the daring figure of the source text, but a doglike submissive.

Dogged desire

The words of writer Katherine Angel came to my mind upon exiting the cinema. In her work Tomorrow Sex Will Be Good Again, Angel argues that, in the wake of #MeToo, a heavy burden has been placed on women to “say what we want, and indeed know what we want” when it comes to sex and desire. It was Angel’s bold question, “Why must the secrets of desire be uncovered?” that reared its head in me after seeing Isabella on all fours.

As Angel contends, “context is everything” when it comes to desire. At first glance, Isabella (portrayed by Irish actress Alison Oliver) is the epitome of the “born sexy yesterday” trope: a female character who is at once physically mature and attractive, but has the mental faculties of an innocent, naive child. Only just coming into the world in her preliminary scenes, Isabella is a lover of dolls and ribbons, elaborate dresses and hairstyles.

It is this infantilised state, to the point of absurdity (in one scene, she unknowingly creates a scrapbook with flowers and mushrooms evoking genitalia), that makes Isabella’s sudden yearning for Heathcliff (Jacob Elordi) all the more jarring. Capitalising on established fantasies of Elordi as the “I can fix him”“ archetype, Fennell renders Heathcliff the key to unlocking Isabella’s secret desires.

And yet, it is only when Heathcliff is spurned – after Catherine has (finally) put an end to their trysts – that the duty of sexually satisfying him falls to Isabella. From the moment he breaks through her bedroom window, he discloses all of his ill-intent towards Isabella.

Heathcliff not only desires her virginity (“Do you know what comes next?”) but her hand in marriage, all in the name of spiting Cathy. He repeats the refrain, “Do you want me to stop?” as he makes Isabella aware of the brutality he will bring down upon her. As he derides and undresses her, she clutches her crucifix and shakes her head to say, “No, go on.”

Deviating from Brontë’s story, Fennell’s Isabella is rendered a sexual submissive, a consenting party to her own abuse.

Making no attempt to leave him (as she does in the novel), Isabella relishes being the dog, literally leashed by Heathcliff. Rather than giving credence to Isabella’s words as they appear in the book – “The single pleasure I can imagine is to die, or to see him dead!” – in Fennell’s adaptation, Isabella’s deviant sexual desires are read through the words of her abuser: “I’ve sometimes relented, from pure lack of invention, in my experiments on what she could endure, and still creep shamefully cringing back!”

Fennell’s “uncovering” of Isabella’s secret desires helps the audience to decide, as posited by Angel, “whether a man’s actions were justified”. In order to realise her desires for Cathy and Heathcliff onscreen, Fennell’s Heathcliff must be exonerated. And he is, most grievously, through Isabella desiring to be his sexual submissive. Only then could the film’s ending play out: Heathcliff exudes Romeo as he lays beside a dead Cathy in her “skin room” tomb.

So Isabella’s desire is invoked, in accordance with Angel’s theory, as “proof that violence wasn’t, in fact, violence”. Fennel’s Heathcliff is not cruel and abusive, but a communicative and intentional dominant partner in a BDSM (bondage, discipline, dominance, submission, sadism and masochism) relationship which Isabella, as a submissive, enthusiastically consents to.

It is deeply troubling that the drive of Brontë’s Isabella, a survivor of domestic abuse, has been reread to dramatically absolve her abuser. The girl sobbing behind me as the credits rolled attests to the success of this exoneration. Really, she should be crying over the scripting of violent abuse as consensual play.

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Among the crews that responded to the hapless pair’s cry for help were one from Selby who had to travel more than 45 miles from their base to get to the emergency.

The dog and the owner got into trouble when walking near the River Wharfe at Bolton Abbey at the top of Wharfdale at lunchtime.

They ended up on the wrong side of the bank and unable to get back to the right side.

Five crews from Grassington, Ripon, Skipton and Ilkley as well as Selby combined to carry out a water rescue.

They used a sled and throwing lines to bring the dog and its owner back to safety.  Neither was harmed by the incident.

Cops have been searching the property at the Royal Lodge, in Windsor, Berkshire for the past two days.

Police searches continued at Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s previous home on Saturday, as the Government’s pledge to consider removing the disgraced royal from the line of succession was backed by the Liberal Democrats.

Andrew was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of misconduct in public office after allegations were made against him following the release of files related to the late paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein.

Despite being stripped of his title last year, the former Duke of York is still eighth in line to the throne and an Act of Parliament would be required to remove Andrew and prevent him from ever taking the throne.

Sir Keir Starmer’s Government will consider introducing such legislation once cops have finished their investigation into the King’s disgraced brother, the Press Association understands.

The Liberal Democrats would support the move to remove Andrew from the monarchy’s line of succession, and party leader Sir Ed Davey told PA it would be “intolerable” for Andrew to succeed to the throne and that the scenario is “not as remote as some people think”.

Any changes to the line of succession would require the agreement of other countries which share the UK monarch, including Australia, Canada and Jamaica.

It is also understood that an influential group of MPs will meet to consider launching a parliamentary probe into the role of UK trade envoys.

Any inquiry would start by focusing on potential governance issues within the wider system and lessons to be learned, avoiding specific commentary on Andrew – who spent 10 years in the role – until there is no risk of prejudicing criminal proceedings, PA understands.

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This weekend the royal family will be attempting to conduct their duties as usual, with the Prince and Princess of Wales due to appear in public.

On Saturday, Kate wore an England Rugby scarf to watch the team take on Ireland in the Guinness Men’s Six Nations at the Allianz Stadium Twickenham.

She was pictured chatting with injured England player Fin Baxter and RFU president Deborah Griffin in the seats before the game, in her first public appearance since Andrew’s arrest. Meanwhile, Lord Peter Mandelson – who has also had his two properties searched by police – was seen leaving his north London home on Saturday.

A taxi arrived as the former business secretary was seen leaving his front door carrying a tote bag.

He smiled at the taxi driver before entering the car, moving past a small group of waiting photographers.

Andrew spent 11 hours in police custody on Thursday, on his 66th birthday, before being released under investigation, after allegations he shared sensitive information with Epstein during his time as the UK’s trade envoy.

Detectives continued to search Andrew’s former home, Royal Lodge, in Windsor, Berkshire, on Friday.

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He has denied any wrongdoing over his links to the convicted sex offender, but has not directly responded to the latest allegations.

After his younger brother’s arrest, the King said in a statement that “the law must take its course” and the police have “our full and wholehearted support and co-operation”.

Charles attended the first show of London Fashion Week on Thursday, hours after Andrew’s arrest, and did not respond when asked for his reaction to the news. During a visit to a concert in Westminster that afternoon, the Queen also did not reply to a question about her brother-in-law’s arrest.

Thames Valley Police, who are leading the investigation, are yet to receive any “early investigative advice” from the Crown Prosecution Service in relation to the allegation, it is understood.

Detectives have asked Andrew’s former close protection officers to “consider carefully whether anything they saw or heard” during their service could be relevant to the investigation into Epstein and his associates.

The Metropolitan Police said they were working with counterparts in the US to establish whether London airports had been used to “facilitate human trafficking and sexual exploitation”.

On Friday, the force said no new reports of alleged sexual offences have been made since the release of millions of pages of documents related to Epstein by the US Department of Justice.

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Scotland Yard previously said they were looking into allegations Andrew’s protection officers turned a “blind eye” to his visits to Epstein’s island, Little St James.

Police are yet to identify any wrongdoing by close protection officers. Andrew’s primary accuser, Virginia Giuffre, alleged she had sex with him during an orgy with “underage” girls on the Caribbean island.

The former prince has previously vehemently denied all allegations made against him.

The 14 Commonwealth countries where the King is head of state are Australia, Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu.

Andrew had stepped down from public duties in 2019 after his disastrous BBC Newsnight interview about his friendship with Epstein.

This meant he had already ceased to be an active counsellor of state, who can deputise for the monarch if he is overseas on an official trip or ill.

But as counsellors of state are drawn from the line of succession, removing him from it would officially resolve any question over Andrew taking such a role.

Ireland scored 22 points inside the first 30 minutes – the fourth-most first-half points conceded by England at home.

That followed England going 17-0 down in 15 minutes against Scotland at Murrayfield.

“Fast starts are not about being physical and smashing them, that is a given, you are running out for your country,” former England scrum-half Matt Dawson told BBC Rugby Union Weekly.

“It’s the tactics. It’s about how you are going to play, where you will play and how they will play.

“It’s individual preparation and the understanding of how to play professional sport, not just rugby. Have you got that mentality to adapt from minute one?

“England, when it goes badly in the first 10 minutes, they are yet to find a methodology or a way out of it.”

Former England fly-half Paul Grayson added: “From nowhere England pulled out a performance that lacked accuracy, energy and emotion.

“The Twickenham crowd were making a heck of a racket at the start but 30 minutes in there were ironic cheers for making touch with a kick.”

Borthwick has been here before as England boss. In 2023 his side shipped 53 points at home to France but later that year they were minutes away from making a World Cup final.

“England had a chance against Ireland to show the Murrayfield nightmare was just a blip, but instead things were even worse, with the defence porous, accuracy non-existent, and the gameplan exposed,” said BBC rugby correspondent Chris Jones.

“All the momentum and confidence generated from that 12-month winning run has evaporated in the space of 160 minutes of rugby.

“England’s tactics have been picked apart by Scotland and Ireland, and Borthwick will need to react and adapt if they are to salvage their campaign in Rome and Paris.”

The area has a few bird hides that are ideal for birdwatching

With spring well on the way, you might be raring to get out into the countryside for a long walk. Whether you are interested in watching some wildlife or need somewhere to take the family to get some fresh air, Cambridgeshire has plenty of nature reserves to explore.

If you want somewhere new to take a walk at the start of spring, you might want to visit Woodwalton Fen National Nature Reserve. The site is owned by the Wildlife Trust BCN and managed by Natural England and is one of the only remaining areas of the ancient wild fens.

As Woodwalton Fen is a Site of Special Interest and a Special Area of Conservation, the reserve is home to thousands of species of animals and plants. Many of these cannot be found anywhere else in the country.

The nature reserve has three walking trails that you can follow depending on what you want to see on your visit. If you love birdwatching, try the Water Birds Trail that takes you to two bird hides and along the bank of the Great Raveley Drain.

Along the walk, you might be able to spot birds including reed buntings and sedge warblers as well as insects like pond snails and water beetles. If you are lucky, you could spot some otters by the Great Raveley Drain alongside common terns and kingfishers.

The Marsh Harrier Trail and the Bungalow Trail both go past the historic Rothschild Bungalow. It was built by Charles Rothschild, who is known as the “father of modern conservation”. The bungalow was built on stilts and used by Charles as a base for his field trips and activities like moth trapping.

After exploring the nature reserve and spending a few hours birdwatching, you could head to the nearby village of Bury to enjoy a meal in the White Lion. The pub is described as a ‘lively’ and ‘traditional’ pub that serves classic pub dishes.

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Woodwalton Fen is just outside of Ramsey Height, around a 50-minute drive away from Cambridge via the A1307. There is a free car park for visitors to use.