For two of the show’s stars, Rachel Shenton and Nicholas Ralph, who plays vet James Herriot, read out letters from the fans.

Producers of the Channel 5 series have previously said they frequently receive letters from viewers about how the ‘ show has brought joy, comfort and relief in challenging times.’

Earlier this year, fans were invited to write a letter to the favourite cast member to be read out, with the first ‘reading’ taking place today.

Today, the two stars, who play onscreen husband and wife, took time out from filming to read out some of the letters to the delight of fans.

The letter stated: “You are all my friends on the other side of the screen”, prompting Rachel to say, ‘Aww, that is very sweet’.

The letter continues: “Watching All Creatures Great & Small is like wrapping yourself in a blanket, with a big cup of tea. A little every day escape and something that gives me breathing space in a world that is upside down.”

Nicholas responded: “We do have a lovely time making the show.

“I hadn’t come across All Creatures Great and Small before, and I think in the earlier auditions it actually worked in my favour, because I think if I knew how big it was, I would maybe be slightly more nervous.

“The overriding feeling was just one of excitement. It’s just been an incredibly rollercoaster since then, and its still incredibly joyful to do.”

The writer of the letter commented on the show’s Instagram page: “Yay!! That’s my letter. And Rachel holding it in her hands. Thank you for your answer. Made my day, or week, or year.”

More letters will be read out in the near future.

READ MORE: Exploring beautiful Grassington where All Creatures is filmed

The drama is filmed just over an hour away from Bolton in the beautiful village of Grassington, just over the border in Yorkshire and for fans who cannot wait, a trip to the village, which is transformed into Darrowby, maybe the next best thing, or to re-watch the series on Channel 5 catch-up.

As well as the new six episode series, there will be Christmas specials.

The series is inspired by Herriot’s timeless books, which have sold over 60 million copies globally and remain a cherished part of literary and television heritage. 

Ethel Caterham has marked her 117th birthday surrounded by friends and family after a remarkable year which included meeting the king and becoming the world’s oldest living person

The world’s oldest person is celebrating her 117th birthday after a year of “many firsts”, including meeting the King and holding his hand.

Ethel Caterham, who lives at Hallmark Lakeview Care Home in Lightwater, Surrey, is spending the day with her family and friends to mark the occasion on Friday.

In a statement, she said: “Thank-you for all of the kind birthday wishes. Even at 117, I’ve had many firsts this year, from stroking a llama to holding hands with the King. I’ve had a lovely day celebrating with my family and friends, and I look forward to seeing what next year brings.”

Mrs Caterham was visited by Charles, who held her hand as he introduced himself, in September last year just after her 116th birthday. She became the oldest living person in April 2025 after the death of Brazilian nun Sister Inah Canabarro Lucas at 116.

Advertisement

During the meeting with Charles, she recollected his 1969 investiture as the Prince of Wales when he was 21, adding: “All the girls were in love with you and wanted to marry you.”

Mrs Caterham was born on August 21, 1909 in Shipton Bellinger, Hampshire, five years before the start of the First World War, as the second youngest of eight siblings. She is the last surviving subject of Edward VII, who died in May 1910. In 1927, aged 18 she travelled to India and worked as an au pair to a military family until she was 21. She met her husband Norman, who was a lieutenant colonel in the British Army and died in 1976, at a dinner party in the UK in 1931.

They lived in Salisbury before being stationed in Gibraltar and Hong Kong. Mrs Caterham set up a nursery school while in Hong Kong and raised two daughters, both of whom died before her. One of her sisters, Gladys, lived to be 104.

Mrs Caterham drove until she was 97 and enjoyed playing contract bridge in her centenarian years. She survived Covid in 2020 aged 110.

The title of the oldest person ever is held by French woman Jeanne Calment, who lived to 122 years 164 days, according to Guinness World Records.

HONG KONG (AP) — Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung are two prominent Hong Kong activists who helped lead the group behind the city’s massive annual vigils commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. They were charged in 2021 with inciting subversion under Hong Kong’s national security law.

The former leaders of the now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China are awaiting a verdict in a case that has drawn international attention, with critics saying it highlights the erosion of freedoms in the territory under the law imposed by Beijing.

Here’s a brief look at the two activists:

Lee Cheuk-yan

Lee, 69, was the former chair of the Hong Kong Alliance. During the 1989 student-led Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement, he brought donations from Hong Kongers to Beijing in late May. When troops and tanks entered the heart of Beijing and opened fire to end the protests in June, he was at a hotel that night hearing the gunshots, he said in his testimony at court. The crackdown killed hundreds, possibly thousands.

Lee later boarded a plane to return to Hong Kong but was asked to leave the plane by police before it took off. He was detained. He was allowed to go back to Hong Kong on June 8 after being questioned and signing a letter of repentance, he said.

His experience made him devote himself to letting the world know about what happened. Beyond his Tiananmen activism, Lee is also a veteran labor activist in the city and a former lawmaker.

The national security trial has focused on the alliance’s core demand of “ending one-party rule.” The prosecution alleged that the group’s advocacy was about inciting others to use unlawful means to overthrow the leadership of China’s ruling Communist Party. Lee denied he held enmity toward the party leading the country, saying his desire to see it reform stemmed from his love for the people.

“I have no enmity in my heart, only love,” he said.

Chow Hang-tung

Chow, 41, began going to the vigils when she was just a primary school student. A natural sciences graduate of the University of Cambridge, she later studied law and became a vice-chair of the alliance.

Before the alliance voted to dissolve in September 2021, police had sought details about its operations and finances in connection with alleged links to pro-democracy groups overseas, accusing the group of being a foreign agent. But the group refused to cooperate, insisting it was not.

Chow, alongside two other core members of the group, was convicted in 2023 over their refusal and received a sentence of 4 1/2 months each. But last year, the trio overturned their convictions at the city’s top court.

While Chow was behind bars, she became one of the first people to be arrested under a newer, homegrown national security law in 2024. Authorities alleged she and several others had used a Facebook page to publish seditious posts, saying they were targeting a “sensitive date.”

“Speaking the truth has become inciting hatred, seeking justice has become exploiting suffering, accountability and limiting power have become violating the constitution, and returning power to the people has become subverting the state,” she argued in her closing statement.

Channel 4’s Taskmaster is back with Greg Davies and Alex Horne in the hotseats

Channel 4 ‘s Taskmaster is returning for a new series in a matter of weeks and the confirmation comes after Greg Davies admitted how his co-host “genuinely annoys” him.

Welshman Greg, who is from St Asaph, will return to Channel 4 alongside Alex Horne on Thursday, September 3 for series 22.

But recently, the 58-year-old stand-up comedian admitted there are things his co-host does that “genuinely annoys” him.

Greg told Metro: “I think he deliberately sits down and thinks: ‘I know how to get Greg into character, and it’s to properly wind him up.’ He says things that have no structure, punchline [or] comic premise, and it genuinely annoys me.

“[The scoring] is my revenge. It’s the little things he doesn’t like. When I give two contestants the same score, if you look into his eyes, his little brain is on fire with rage because he wants things put into boxes.”

But hopefully there won’t be too much squabbling between them when the series returns with a number of famous names among the cast including Peep Show’s Isy Suttie, Doctor Who’s Matt Lucas, ventriloquist comedian Nina Conti, stand-up comedian Chloe Petts and The Bad Guys’ Richard Ayoade.

The tasks this time around will see the celebs “crawl through secret tunnels, look for faces on toast, go on holiday with shoes and make interesting use of their armpits”, reports Digital Spy.

In an interview with Polygon in June, Greg said their “roles have become organically defined, rather than in those first few seasons — sorry, series — when we sat down and decided what the dynamics should be and how we should respond”.

He added: “They were almost ‘eggy’ in comparison to where we are now, which is that we both know the limits of our roles and what the dynamic is. It feels a lot more fun now, to be honest, because we know the [Taskmaster] world and the limitations to the world.”

Taskmaster has been expanding across the globe in recent years, with the YouTube channel almost doubling its views across 2025.

Earlier this year, it was announced that a Polish version is on the way, which is the 14th international version.

The upcoming season of Taskmaster UK will return to the UK on Thursday, September 3 at 9pm – its usual time slot – and will then drop an hour later on the Taskmaster YouTube channel around the world.

Taskmaster returns to Channel 4 on September 3

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has been taken to a hospital in the capital, Islamabad, following complaints about his poor health.

Khan was taken from Adiala jail and sent to Shifa International Hospital under heavy security, according to his party. There is yet to be official confirmation he has been transferred.

The move complied with a ruling by a three-judge panel of the Supreme Court which had ordered that the cricketer-turned-politician be taken to the hospital within 48 hours to be examined by physicians.

This is the most significant relief Khan has received from the courts since he was imprisoned in 2023 on corruption charges, which he says were politically motivated.

As well as being transferred to hospital, this court order also specified Khan should be allowed to see his family, which he has not been able to do in months. On Tuesday night, his sister visited him in prison.

Khan’s political party, Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), is normally quick to claim court decisions that go against him are politically motivated. It has not publicly been drawn on speculation that the Supreme Court’s decision indicates political manoeuvring behind the scenes.

The area around Shifa International Hospital has been sealed off by police with barriers, officers and police vans in place. Outside the hospital the BBC saw cars being moved with a truck to clear the street while police cars and armoured vehicles patrolled.

The Supreme Court told Khan’s party not to conduct press conferences outside the hospital. This is a warning not to politicise his hospital stay.

The 73-year-old’s lawyers have said he’s suffering from various health conditions, including poor eyesight, and has been unable to access specialist medical care.

In February, Khan’s lawyer said his client had 15% vision left in his right eye after prison authorities failed to take action – an allegation the government disputed.

In Tuesday’s court order, the panel wrote: “We are mindful of the constitutional and legal obligation… to safeguard the life, health, dignity and security of the prisoner.”

Judges said an eye specialist would be involved in Khan’s hospital treatment.

The judges and members of PTI issued warnings to supporters not to gather outside the hospital – that would be a breach of the court order.

Khan, who previously captained the Pakistan national cricket team, served as the country’s prime minister from 2018 to 2022.

He was imprisoned in August 2023 and has faced charges in more than 100 cases, ranging from leaking state secrets to selling state gifts – all of which he decried as politically motivated.

Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi were both sentenced to 17 years late last year.

His jailing triggered large-scale protests by supporters, which were met with a crackdown by authorities.

Despite his jailing, Khan remains a significant presence in Pakistani politics with a large number of supporters.

In Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, Gillian Anderson plays Billy, a reclusive actress famous for playing a classic “final girl”. That’s the last woman left alive to confront the killer in a slasher movie. “It’s all about flesh … and fluids,” she explains when discussing the appeal of the fictional Camp Miasma franchise, the series of slasher films at the heart of this affectionate meta-slasher.

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun’s follow-up to the critically acclaimed queer horror film I Saw the TV Glow (2025). That film focused on the lifesaving, bittersweet pleasures of cult TV series like Buffy the Vampire Slayer for queer, trans and non-binary fans.

For Schoenbrun, I Saw the TV Glow represents that “egg crack” moment where trans people recognise their difference. The film’s neon-infused, dreamlike quality reminds its characters that “there is still time” for them to accept their authentic selves via graffiti scrawled throughout the world.

I Saw the TV Glow’s deliberately downbeat ending is largely left aside for most of Teenage Sex and Death. But its introspective and heady yearning remains solidly in place. Here, Schoenbrun turns to the slasher genre as inspiration. The protagonist, young queer filmmaker Kris (Hacks’ Hannah Einbinder), clearly represents Schoenbrun themself and their own experiences as an emerging trans filmmaker.

After Kris’s first indie film, an overly intellectual slasher entitled Jouissance (psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan’s word for overwhelming ecstasy or transgressive pain or pleasure), she is hired to reboot the fictional 1980s slasher series Camp Miasma. Kris’ tracks down the original film’s star Billy Presley (Anderson) who, lives cloistered away Norma Desmond-style in isolation. She’s living at Camp Tivoli in the Pacific Northwest, where the original Camp Miasma was shot.

Kris hopes to convince Billy to return (à la Jamie Lee Curtis in 2018’s Halloween) to the franchise for her own queer-infused reboot. Yet her fascination with the original film and its star has a shattering impact on her work. She learns that Billy’s experience on the film as a young ingenue led to her withdrawal from acting (and society) soon after its release. Evocative 1980s flashbacks reveal that Billy perhaps lost her virginity for real during a pivotal sex scene.

Billy and Kris explore their desire for each other and confront their past feelings of shame around sex. However, they are not alone at the abandoned set of Camp Miasma. The ghost of Little Death (Jack Haven) stalks them in their waking and sleeping hours.

Little Death is a spear-wielding supernatural terror in an HVAC suit. It wears a large square air vent as a head mask. Little Death is the horrific incarnation of trans-vengeance – a former trans camper bullied and drowned in the lake. Having lived concealed for years in a hole at the bottom of the frozen lake, Little Death emerges seasonally to murder oversexed teens.

The haunting of the slasher

The film is haunted by slasher history. Little Death amalgamates Angela (Felissa Rose), the trans-teen anti-hero of Sleepaway Camp (1983), and Friday the 13th’s Jason Vorhees (1980).

Jouissance is laughingly a “retelling of Psycho from the perspective of the shower curtain”. But it’s also haunted by the academic legacy of gender analysis from scholars like Carol J Clover and Barbara Creed.

Schoenbrun (via Kris) moves past the need to psychoanalyse horror film, shifting instead towards recent queer and trans scholarship – including my own – that highlights the pleasures of spectatorship for LGBTQ+ audiences.

Trans culture itself is also haunted by a problematic past with camps. The real-life exclusion of trans women from the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival (1976-2015), led to the emergence of Camp Trans as a counter-protest-festival, as writers like Susan Stryker and Michelle Tea have documented.

In an interview at Cannes this year, where the film won the Queer Palm, Schoenbrun stated that the film is “all about sex”. The film and its central protagonists clearly become immersed in a psychosexual frenzy of self-discovery.

Just as the film endeavours to celebrate the pleasures of slasher film tropes unabashedly, Camp Miasma/Tivoli provides a space for Kris to come to terms with her own aversion to sex. She declares at one point: “I’m bad at sex, I never have been able to lose myself.” Billy retorts: “there is no bad at sex.”

By experiencing Billy’s prior trauma on film, Kris realises that the practice of switching point of view shots between killer and victim provides a cathartic way to disassociate from the suggested real-life sexual assault. Billy states she went “far away” in her head to the point where she begins to “receive a signal” – a way of viewing the experience from the “killer eye” POV of Little Death, allowing for a reconfiguration of the trauma itself.

With its melding of stylised painted sets and a blurring of fake and real set locations, Schoenbrun’s fondness for nostalgic hyper-reality is finely honed here.

Sonically, the film’s wistful soundtrack and its visual immersion into 90s pop consumerist tropes is reminiscent of both Cronenberg’s body horrors and Araki’s work from New Queer Cinema).

As with I Saw the TV Glow, the film’s conclusion shifts into the symbolic and adopts a tone of estrangement, perhaps revealing that, despite its affiliation with the genre, Teenage Sex and Death is not a slasher film per se. Rather, this is that “something else” that I and other researchers believe has come to define queer horror, as it continues to emerge as a powerful force for speaking about the horrors and pleasures of difference.

An American woman is accused of plotting to bomb New York’s State Capitol to try and kill senators in support of ISIS.

Jessica Bowie, 35, of Albany, New York was arrested by the FBI as undercover agents pretended to help her build a nail bomb she would use to ‘destroy as much of the building as possible’ as senators met.

FBI agents gave Bowie $200 (£147) to buy bomb making material from a local hardware store.

They even drove her to the Home Depot store, and when she emerged from the store she allegedly said she hoped those were the right kind of nails.

‘I hope the nails are big enough… because the nails work as shrapnel, right?’ she allegedly asked the two undercover agents.

She was also caught on camera making several visits to the New York State Capitol grounds and taking photographs of the building.

She was arrested on Wednesday, prosecutors say, adding Bowie planned to conduct the attack and then flee to Syria to live in ISIS-controlled territories.

Describing the New York State Capitol building as her target, Bowie stated: ‘I want to destroy as much of the building as possible and kill the senators while they are meeting.

‘I want them to lose a lot of important documents as well’ and ‘I want it to have a affect on the American system. And destroy some of the taghut [those against Allah].’

On one social media account Bowie expressed anti-American sentiment said, ‘Praise be to Allah for September 11 and ‘When I can migrate, I will poison these infidels.’

Bowie also recorded and disseminated to others online her ‘Bayah,’ or formal oath of allegiance to ISIS. 

Bowie allegedly told undercover agents she had converted to Islam five years ago, going ‘from a little girl waving an American flag after 9/11’ to now having stickers of the falling towers.

‘As alleged, Bowie plotted to deploy an explosive device at the New York State Capitol, intending to kill public officials and to destroy ‘as much of the building as possible’ before fleeing to ISIS‑controlled territory in Syria,’ said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg.

‘The FBI detected and stopped an alleged plot to attack the New York State Capitol and kill elected officials,’ said FBI Operations Director Matt Fodor.

‘According to the criminal complaint, the defendant in this case swore allegiance to ISIS and wanted to follow up with additional horrific acts of terrorism.

‘This case is yet another example of how this FBI is built to not only identify threats of terrorism quickly, but to stop their alleged plots before they are able to harm the American people.’

MORE: Trump berates female reporter in front of boy he was honouring at the White House

MORE: Napping on the job is a dystopian workplace trend — ignore the tech bros

MORE: Ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad sentenced to death almost two years after fleeing Syria

GARY, Ind. (AP) — Tens of thousands of residents in northwest Indiana were in survival mode Thursday as they endured a ninth day without power, throwing out spoiled food, lining up for hot meals and searching for places to charge their phones.

In Gary, Indiana, schools remained closed after the deadly Aug. 11 storm downed trees and power lines. Residents turned to social media to find open laundromats and working Wi-Fi, while others sought food, diapers and cleaning wipes for low-income neighbors.

Meanwhile, heavy rains in central Ohio brought flash flooding that covered roadways Thursday morning in Columbus, the state capital, where emergency crews rescued motorists from stranded cars and saved a 12-year-old boy who was swept off a bridge.

Northern Indiana Public Service Co. said 68,000 customers were still without power as of Thursday morning, the majority of them in Lake County beside the Illinois border. The utility said it has restored power to 306,500 others since Aug. 11. But power is not expected to be fully restored until Tuesday in some places, including Gary.

Courtney Page-Tan, an Indiana University Indianapolis professor who studies community resilience, said health concerns grow each day of a prolonged outage. With many people using generators, poor ventilation can lead to carbon monoxide poisoning. In addition, those reliant on medical devices risk having them lose their charge, while refrigerated food once safe to eat could pose health risks as it spoils.

“Nine days is a long time for a community to be without power,” Page-Tan said.

Residents are exhausted from days without power

Shatiya Hardin, a hair stylist in Gary for 25 years, has been unable to open her salon since the storm. She said residents in her lower-income neighborhood initially took the outages in stride. But now patience is wearing thin.

“We’re always in survival mode in Gary. And I think that’s probably why it wasn’t so much of an uproar because the first few days, it was like, ‘OK, we’re used to this …. but this is the second week now,” Hardin said. “It’s not OK for us to continually be in survival mode, doing the best that we can.”

More than a week after the initial storm, many residents in East Chicago, Indiana, who lost power regained it, but then lost it again. Kevin Mejia, who has a community Facebook page, was in that category Thursday.

“If I make one post, I get 500 comments,” Mejia, 30, said. “A lot of people have been reaching out to me for food: ‘Hey, I threw out hundreds of dollars in groceries.’ Elderly people don’t know who to turn to.”

He’s been sleeping on the floor because his mattress is too warm. With no power, his window air conditioners are silent.

Raydia Martin, assistant director of the Flourish Community Hub at Flourish Church in Gary, said the “silver lining” has been the response from volunteers and community groups.

Hayden Panettiere‘s on-off boyfriend Brian Hickerson, who was at the scene when she was pronounced dead this week, has finally broken cover after the beloved child actress’s shock passing from a suspected overdose.

The 37-year-old real estate agent, who was arrested for domestic violence multiple times throughout their relationship, was pictured outside his grandmother’s house in South Carolina on Tuesday, two days after Panettiere was found ‘unresponsive’ in an armchair at a nearby apartment where Hickerson was also staying.

Panettiere was just 36 years old – and, with her untimely death, has come a reexamination of her tumultuous romance with Hickerson.

Indeed, the Daily Mail has unearthed a series of intimidating messages Hickerson allegedly sent Panettiere amidst the most abusive throes of their relationship.

It was the summer of 2020, and Hickerson, himself an aspiring actor, was facing a host of charges stemming from alleged domestic violence incidents with Panettiere.

But, in an apparent attempt to influence his girlfriend into dropping the charges, Hickerson warned Panettiere that he had a trove of damaging information ready to use against her, police said at the time.

The 37-year-old real estate agent was pictured outside his grandmother’s house in South Carolina on Tuesday, two days after Panettiere was found ‘unresponsive’ in a nearby apartment

Actress Hayden Panettiere, 36, died on Sunday following a suspected overdose. Her on-off boyfriend, Brian Hickerson (left), was at the South Carolina apartment where she was pronounced dead (pictured in 2018)

‘It is very simple, it is a very simple fix, between me and you, you gotta make one phone call,’ Hickerson allegedly texted Panettiere.

‘Time to go to war, I guess,’ another message read. 

In the end, Hickerson pled no contest to two felony counts of injuring a spouse or girlfriend, with the remaining charges dropped and Hickerson serving 33 days in jail.

Perhaps the biggest question now is why, after that brief prison stint, did Panettiere reconcile with the convicted felon and abuser, especially after she detailed his years of violent abuse in her memoir earlier this year.

The on-off couple were photographed together as recently as March 2026, and a heavily redacted police report from the scene of her death this week referred to Panettiere as Hickerson’s ‘girlfriend’.

Strangely, Hickerson had nothing but kind words to share about the actress upon the  publication of her memoir in May, despite Panettiere writing of one incident in which he ‘[busted] up my face so badly I [didn’t] leave the house for weeks.’

In hindsight, it may have been a subtle sign that their relationship timeline was far blurrier than suspected. 

On Monday, TMZ reported that Panettiere had kept their reconciliation a secret for the sake of her book. The next day, her estranged mother, Lesley Vogel, told NBC News that she ‘always knew they were together’ despite reports of the pair being on and off.

Although an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Panettiere’s death is still ongoing, friends have expressed their regret that those in Panettiere’s inner circle did ‘very little’ to convince her to sever ties with Hickerson.

‘Many people close to her didn’t think Brian was great, but nobody got through to her enough for her to end the relationship completely,’ an insider exclusively told the Daily Mail.

‘Everyone ended up doing very little. No matter how bad it could be, people close to her couldn’t and wouldn’t reason with her enough to make her change for the better. She didn’t have anyone who was her wake-up call.’

Hickerson was widely unliked by Panettiere’s friends, who often ‘made comments that she needed to get away from him,’ another insider shared. 

Panettiere was open about her struggles with addiction and postpartum depression in the years before her death (pictured in 2010)

A source told the Daily Mail that Panettiere’s inner circle did ‘very little’ to convince her to break up with Hickerson following his multiple domestic violence charges (pictured in 2018)

Advertisement

‘Obviously, she had confided in people because it got around town. There were so many people that tried to get her away from him but she kept going back,’ they added.

‘It’s probably one of those trauma bonds. It’s a cycle and I think she got caught up in a vicious cycle.’

Panettiere was newly single and recently out of rehab when she first crossed paths with Hickerson at a Los Angeles bar in 2018, she recalled in her memoir.

The star had infamously relinquished full custody of her three-year-old daughter Kaya to her ex-fiancé, Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko, as her struggles with postpartum depression and addiction to opioids and alcohol made motherhood an impossible struggle.

She described being swept off her feet ‘at lightning speed’ by Hickerson, who only had one small acting credit from 2017 to his name at the time.

Within weeks they were living together at her Los Angeles home – dancing in her living room, redecorating, playing board games and watching ‘practically every Netflix series ever made.’

‘I finally began to feel beautiful again,’ she wrote, praising his smile and sense of humor. ‘I also started to feel safe, loved and cherished. It was like Brian and I were two best friends living together under one roof.’

It wouldn’t be long, however, that their relationship would take a violent turn.

Panettiere and Hickerson began dating in 2018. He was arrested multiple times throughout their relationship, eventually pleading no contest to two felony counts of injuring a spouse or girlfriend in 2021 (pictured in 2019)

Chris Applebaum, who directed the music video for Panettiere’s 2008 song Wake Up Call, explained to the Daily Mail that Hickerson’s ‘abusive and horrible’ behavior was a not-so-hidden secret to Panettiere’s close friends and family.

‘I knew about [Brian], but I never crossed paths with him,’ Applebaum said.

‘I knew all about him and how he was so abusive and horrible, and we know what happens in those kinds of relationships. The victim will always protect the abuser, and there’s horrible dynamics in that way.’

Hickerson was arrested in Los Angeles and charged with domestic violence for the first time in May 2019 and released on bail. He pleaded not guilty to one count of felony domestic violence later that month, and the case was dismissed at the end of September.

The following year, on Valentine’s Day, Hickerson was arrested for domestic battery in Wyoming after a physical altercation with a woman, later identified as Panettiere.

Hickerson pleaded not guilty to the charge in April of that year. In July 2020, Panettiere obtained a restraining order against him, sharing in a public statement that she hoped others would be inspired by her to walk away from abusive partners.

Three months later, Hickerson was arrested on seven felony charges and one misdemeanor charge stemming from allegedly abusive incidents that occurred between May 2019 to January 2020, including one count of dissuading a witness from prosecuting a crime.

It was during a February 2021 preliminary hearing in Wyoming, covered by the Daily Mail, where the snapshots of the intimidating text messages and videos allegedly sent by Hickerson to Panettiere were read aloud in district court.

A mugshot of Hickerson (seen) was taken following his February 2020 arrest for domestic battery in Wyoming, a misdemeanor in the state

He ultimately pleaded no contest to two felony counts of injuring a spouse or girlfriend in 2021, while the other six counts were dropped. He was sentenced to 45 days in jail and four years’ probation, plus $500 in fines and mandatory domestic violence classes.

Hickerson also faced serious financial issues after his domestic violence arrests, ultimately filing for bankruptcy in July 2022. In court documents obtained by the Daily Mail, he listed his total assets as $25,700 and his liabilities at nearly $60,000. 

Hickerson said he only had $6,250 in his checking account and the only property he owned was an iPhone, a printer, $2,000 in clothing and $100 worth of jewelry. His debt included nearly $20,000 in credit card expenses and about $18,000 in medical bills. The case was later closed. 

Amid their tumultuous relationship, Panettiere made the bold decision to get sober from alcohol and drugs. Although the actress had a long history of abusing substances, revealing that she began taking ‘happy pills’ as early as 15 years old, her addiction worsened while she was battling postpartum depression.

In 2020, she entered a treatment center for what ultimately became an eight-month rehab stint. Panettiere later described her sobriety journey as an ‘everyday battle,’ though the status of her sobriety on the day of her death remains unclear.

According to a redacted incident report obtained by the Daily Mail on Tuesday, Hickerson allegedly showed police a ‘bag of medication’ that Panettiere had been taking at the time of her death. Narcan, a nasal spray used to reverse the effects of opioid overdose, was also reportedly found inside the apartment.

While Panettiere was open with her fans about her years-long struggle with addiction, however, it seemed she was less willing to fully acknowledge her toxic relationship. So much so, Panettiere apparently kept details about their relationship hidden from even her closest friends.

‘Everyone knew she was still seeing Brian [Hickerson], but no one knew if it was serious. She didn’t like to talk about him,’ a third source told the Daily Mail. ‘Brian is a dirt bag. She has dated tons of dirt bags.’

In March 2022, Panettiere was knocked to the ground while trying to break up a fight between Hickerson and patrons outside the Sunset Marquis hotel in Los Angeles. At one point, Panettiere appeared to yell ‘Brian, jail!’ in a possible attempt to warn Hickerson about his probation.

In May 2022, Panettiere was knocked to the ground while trying to break up a fight between Hickerson and patrons outside the Sunset Marquis hotel in Los Angeles

Advertisement

At one point, Panettiere appeared to yell ‘Brian, jail!’ in a possible attempt to warn Hickerson about his probation

The following year, Panettiere told to the New York Times that the pair had recently become sober and reconnected as friends. Still, she was hesitant to define their relationship, admitting to the outlet, ‘There are feelings there, yes.’

Indeed, questions surrounding the status of Panettiere’s relationship with Hickerson had been looming in recent months up until her passing. Those questions, however, were answered on Tuesday, when the redacted incident report from her death referred to Panettiere as Hickerson’s ‘girlfriend.’

Just last March, they were photographed traveling side-by-side at Los Angeles Airport. Two months later, Hickerson made several bombshell statements to TMZ about his past abuse, and his hopes to one day marry Panettiere.

‘Man, I mean, I think it speaks for itself… I got arrested for abusing her,’ Hickerson said in May.

‘And I wouldn’t blame her friends for being pissed off at me… I had a lot to drink and I got physical with her. I got arrested. I spent the night in jail and that’s just what happens when you lay hands on women.’

Hickerson said he ‘had a couple opportunities to apologize’ to Panettiere for what happened.

‘Our relationship now is… I think it’s just a mutual respect thing. She’ll always hold a special place in my heart and, you know, I hope the same for her,’ he said. ‘We’re just good buddies.’

He added that he ‘of course’ thought about marrying the actress but admitted that he and Panettiere ‘probably wouldn’t be good together.’

Panettiere was photographed arriving at a book signing for her memoir, ‘This Is Me: A Reckoning,’ in May 2026 in New York City

But when later asked her thoughts about Hickerson’s dreams for marriage, the actress scoffed at the idea.

‘I don’t think that’s going to happen,’ Panettiere told TMZ.

Meanwhile, Hickerson made legal moves to rewrite his criminal past nearly one month before Panettiere’s death.

According to court documents obtained by the Daily Mail, Hickerson filed a petition with the Los Angeles County Superior Court to change his felony charges to misdemeanor charges. Under his four-years’ probation terms, Hickerson was ordered to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings ‘at the minimum rate of 1 per week,’ according to court records, and complete 26 anger management sessions.

Hickerson completed his probation on August 1, and asked the court to expunge the charges from his record. However, on August 13, a Los Angeles judge denied Hickerson’s petition.

Three days later, Panettiere was found dead in an apartment block located in Greenville, South Carolina. She was described as ‘unresponsive’ and in ‘cardiac arrest’ after a suspected overdose, according to a recording of the 911 call obtained by the Daily Mail.

On Tuesday, police confirmed that Hickerson, along with his brother Zach Hickerson, were in the apartment with the actress. An officer at the scene said Zach was ‘very emotional’ amid the distressing scene, but Hickerson didn’t show any upset until Panettiere was declared dead.

The star’s father, Alan Lee ‘Skip’ Panettiere, confirmed his daughter’s death in a statement shared on Sunday, announcing the ‘tragic passing of our beloved Hayden.’

‘She was an incredible light and a force of nature who brought immeasurable love and joy to all who knew her – and to the millions who watched her onscreen.’

But when it came time for Panettiere’s mother to break her silence about her daughter’s death, she took the opportunity to cast blame on her daughter’s abusive boyfriend instead.

‘This person in her life that we have been trying to get rid of for quite some time was with her at her death and that was Brian Hickerson,’ Vogel told NBC News.

‘There is a lot of history in the past that Brian has enabled Hayden many times and this is why her father and I had been concerned for a long time about him,’ she said.

Panettiere’s mother said her daughter had ‘sadly lost her way’ and that she ‘wish it were different.’

‘I wish she had stayed true to herself because she had many incredible attributes.’