BBC One drama Babies tells the story of Lisa and Stephen, a couple in their 30s whose dream of starting a family is tested when they suffer multiple miscarriages

The eagerly awaited series, Babies, is set to make its debut on the BBC.

Described by the broadcaster as a “tender yet urgent love story exploring the emotional resilience of a couple navigating the heartbreak of pregnancy loss”, the series starts tonight on BBC One (March 30), reports the Mirror.

The six-part drama centres on Lisa and Stephen, a couple in their 30s whose aspirations of building a family together are put to the test following a series of miscarriages. Despite navigating grief through their pregnancy losses, their relationship “shines through with humour, warmth, and unwavering commitment”.

Meanwhile, fractures begin to appear in Stephen’s relationship with his friend Dave, who is contending with his own struggles.

Who is in the cast of Babies?

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Paapa Essiedu – Stephen

Paapa Essiedu’s profile is soaring at present, and his lead role as Stephen in Babies looks set to cement his TV fame.

The actor has been a fixture on television for more than a decade, earning recognition for his portrayals of Alexander “Alex” Dumani in Gangs of London and George in The Lazarus Project.

More recently, he has appeared in Black Doves, Black Mirror and tech thriller The Capture, where he shares the screen with Holliday Grainger. Paapa has also been cast as Severus Snape in the forthcoming Harry Potter series.

The star, who is married to actress and comedian Rosa Robson, revealed to the BBC that, ahead of filming Babies, he consulted specialists in the field to deepen his understanding of the subject. “If it makes one person able to talk about pregnancy loss when they previously couldn’t, I think the show will have been a success,” he said.

Siobhan Cullen – Lisa

Irish actress Siobhan Cullen takes on the central role of Lisa in the drama.

The actress is widely recognised for her theatrical work but has also appeared on television in productions such as The Clinic, Bodkin, and The Long Call.

She may be best known to audiences as Caroline Sheridan in the comedy drama The Dry, which chronicled a woman’s recovery from alcoholism, and as Elvira Clancy in the dark comedy Obituary.

Following her casting as Lisa, Siobhan revealed she consulted women in her personal life about their own paths to parenthood. “Many of them have gone through something similar to Lisa, and they were very generous in sharing their experiences and the journey to becoming a parent,” she told the BBC.

Charlotte Riley – Amanda

Charlotte Riley portrays Amanda, who is in a new romance with Stephen’s friend Dave.

In recent years, the actress, who is married to Tom Hardy, has appeared in the US sci-fi series The Peripheral and the psychological thriller Malice.

She is also set to appear alongside Idris Elba and Jared Leto in the forthcoming Masters of the Universe film, taking on the role of Queen Marlena Glenn, a former astronaut from Earth.

Jack Bannon – Dave

Jack Bannon portrays Amanda’s boyfriend Dave in Babies. The actor has achieved success in cinema with productions including Kids in Love and The Imitation Game, and has featured in television programmes such as Ripper Street and The Loch.

His notable TV roles include Endeavour, where he portrayed Sam Thursday from 2013 to 2018, and Pennyworth, a crime drama that delved into the formative years of Batman’s family butler.

Babies starts at 9pm on BBC One on Monday (March 30) and all episodes are available on BBC iPlayer.

Wall Street was poised to open the week with gains on Monday as oil prices continued their climb and prospects for an end to the Iran war remained uncertain.

Futures for the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq all climbed 0.6% before the opening bell. Wall Street closed on Friday with its fifth straight losing week, its longest such streak in nearly four years.

Benchmark U.S. crude jumped $1.20 to $100.84 a barrel. Futures for Brent crude, the international standard, climbed 2.1% to $107.54 a barrel. Before the war, Brent had been priced at about $70 a barrel.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday threatened widespread destruction of Iran’s energy resources and other vital infrastructure if a deal to end the war with Tehran is not reached soon.

In a social media post, Trump said “great progress is being made” in talks with Iran to end military operations but bristled that if a deal is not reached and if the strategic Hormuz Strait is not immediately reopened, the U.S. would broaden its offensive by “completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!).”

About one-fifth of the world’s oil passes through the Hormuz Strait.

On the ground, the war showed no sign of letting up: Tehran struck a key water and electrical plant in Kuwait, and an oil refinery in Israel came under attack. Israel and the U.S. launched a new wave of strikes on Iran.

There was little corporate news to trade on early Monday, though shares of Sysco tumbled 5.7% after the nation’s largest food distributor said it would acquire supplier Restaurant Depot in a deal worth more than $29 billion.

The acquisition would create a closer link between Sysco and customers that rely on Restaurant Depot for supplies needed quickly in an industry segment known as “cash-and-carry wholesale.”

Restaurant Depot shareholders will receive $21.6 billion in cash and 91.5 million Sysco shares.

Markets in Asia closed broadly lower Monday as worries continued about soaring oil prices and the potential for further escalation in war with Iran, but shares rose moderately in Europe.

France’s CAC 40 rose 0.4% at midday, while Germany’s DAX added 0.3%. Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.9%.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped 2.8% to finish at 51,885.85. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.7% to 8,461.00. South Korea’s Kospi dove 3.0% to 5,277.30. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.8% to 24,750.79, while the Shanghai Composite reversed course in the afternoon and was up 0.2% at 3,923.29.

In Japan and the rest of Asia worries continue to grow about the effective lack of access to the Strait of Hormuz as the region relies greatly on such access for oil shipments.

Investors are now bracing for the war to last for some time, which would likely set off inflation in global markets, and eventually may stunt Asia’s economic growth.

“Although we do not expect the conflict to be protracted, we anticipate heightened volatility in the near term,” said Xavier Lee, senior equity analyst at Morningstar Research.

Alarm has been resounding in Japan about the declining value of the yen. In currency trading, the U.S. dollar inched down to 159.51 Japanese yen from 160.32 yen. The euro cost $1.1482, down from $1.1510.

“In addition to the crude oil futures market, speculative activity is also said to be increasing in the foreign exchange market,” Vice Finance Minister Atsushi Mimura said.

“As we have already stated, we will respond on all fronts, and our focus is spread in all directions,” he told reporters, without giving specifics on the possible action.

___

AP journalist Ayaka McGill contributed to this report.

BBC radio presenter Scott Mills has revealed how close he was to losing his job before he was named as Zoe Ball’s replacement on the BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show

Scott Mills admitted he very nearly didn’t land his dream role on the Radio 2 Breakfast Show after replacing Zoe Ball on her morning show on the airwaves. However, despite being with the organisation since 1998, he has confessed his time was almost cut short by furious bosses long before his axing this week.

Scott was talking to Dermot O’Leary when he revealed how his boozy antics almost cost him his job years before news of his sacking. He opened up on the altercation that had followed a night out after the Brit Awards. after Dermot played a clip of Scott slurring his words on his early morning Radio 1 show in 2001.

He confessed that was the moment he was almost removed from his role by bosses, admitting: “That’s called how to really nearly lose your job at BBC. I had got carried away so much at the Brit Awards, because I had never been there before, and time just fast-forwarded, and somebody went, what time are you on air?

READ MORE: Scott Mills sacked: Bombshell letter BBC boss sent to staff over ‘sudden’ sackingREAD MORE: Scott Mills’ husband and life off radio as he is sacked by the BBC over personal conduct

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“And I said, ‘Four?’ and they went, ‘Well, it’s two now’. Oh no! It was horrendous.” Scott claimed his actions were “naive and stupid”, explaining how his bosses were “quite rightly” furious. “And also, there was a thing, at Radio 1 then, called the den,” he went on.

“This probably wasn’t allowed, but why go home when you can have a couple hours of sleep in the den? I mean, I was young, I’m in my 20s, right?”

Scott’s admission comes as it was revealed he is no longer contracted by the BBC. The BBC said today (Monday): “While we do not comment on matters relating to individuals, we can confirm Scott Mills is no longer contracted to work with the BBC.”

Lorna Clarke, Director of Music, released a statement to staff too, reading: “I wanted to personally let you know that Scott Mills has left the Breakfast show, and the BBC. I know that this news will be sudden and unexpected and therefore must come as a shock.”

Scott’s previous roles saw him presenting the 2-4pm slot on BBC Radio 2 as well as the early start on Radio 1. After the announcement he was replacing Zoe Ball, who had presented the breakfast slot for six years, Scott revealed how she had helped him 20 years ago.

He opened opened up on a small mistake Zoe made years ago, which, in an unexpected turn of events, helped propel his career forward. He explained to her: “I will never forget how you really took me under your wing and you really looked after me because I didn’t know one person there.”

He continued to tell how Zoe overslept into her early morning show leading to him filling in as her substitute. He described the mishap as the “biggest favour” of his career since it gave him the opportunity to hold down the fort for a day.

“Because of that I then covered that breakfast show,” he gushed. “Whether it was in for you or for Sara (Cox), or then for Grimmie (Nick Grimshaw) or Chris Moyles, I did it for well over 20 years, all because you overslept.”

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The Southbank Centre’s 75th anniversary programme will also include You Are Here – a spectacular takeover of the site created, directed and designed by Danny Boyle, Paulette Randall, Gareth Pugh and Carson McColl (3 May)- as well as Harry Styles’ Meltdown (11 – 21 June), Goalhanger: The Rest Is Fest (4- 6 September) and Anish Kapoor returning to the Hayward Gallery (16 June – 18 October).

Before the decision was made to allow Cardinal Pizzaballa full access to the church, Netanyahu said worshippers of “all faiths” had been asked not to visit sites in Jerusalem’s Old City, which had been subject to strikes from Iran, and that police had acted out of “special” safety concerns in this instance.

The 53-year-old replaced Zoe Ball as the presenter of Radio 2’s breakfast show in January 2025 after a long career at the broadcaster.

The Eastleigh-born DJ was taken off air on his Radio 2 show last Tuesday (March 23) while the BBC assessed the information.

The Mirror reports that his contract was terminated over the weekend.

Scott Mills has been sacked by the BBC following allegations about his personal conduct.

The 53 year old took over the Radio 2 breakfast show from Zoe Ball in January 2025. https://t.co/ABGXXdtIwh

— BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) March 30, 2026

In a statement, the BBC said: “While we do not comment on matters relating to individuals we can confirm Scott Mills is no longer contracted and has left the BBC”.

The career of Scott Mills

Mills began his career at the age of 16 as a DJ on his local Hampshire commercial radio station, Power FM.

He was given an opportunity to present a week’s worth of shows, and based on the success of this, he was offered the ‘graveyard’ slot of 1am to 6am.

This made him the youngest permanent presenter on mainstream commercial radio.

He moved from Power FM to GWR FM Bristol and then Piccadilly Key 103 in Manchester on the late-night slot.

Mills moved onto the mid-morning show there before working for new London station Heart 106.2 in 1995.

He then joined BBC Radio 1 in October 1998 to present the early breakfast show which was broadcast between 4am and 7am.

In January 2004, Mills moved to a weekend afternoon slot, which was followed by a further move later that year to the weekday early-evening slot, which was vacant due to Sara Cox’s maternity leave.

Cox did not return , and Mills became a permanent presenter of the early evening programme, which was renamed The Scott Mills Show.

The programme moved to an afternoon slot in April 2012 when Mills swapped presenting duties with Greg James.

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Whilst at Radio 1, Mills also provided holiday cover for other presenters as well as hosting The Official Chart between June 2018 and August 2022.

Mills joined Radio 2’s weekday schedule in 2022 when he replaced Steve Wright as the host of the afternoon slot.

Prior to that, he worked on Radio 1 and hosted a weekend show on BBC Radio 5 Live.

Russia has kicked out a British diplomat that Moscow has accused of spying.

The diplomat had his accreditation revoked and was told to leave the country within two weeks.

The FSB, Russia’s security service, claimed the British diplomat “provided false information about himself”.

Moscow also accused him of attempting to gather information about the Russian economy during informal meetings.

The FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said it had detected an “undeclared intelligence presence”.

It added the diplomat was “carrying out intelligence and subversive activities that threaten the security of the Russian Federation”, according to Russian media reports.

In a statement, the Russian Ministry of Affairs said Danae Dholakia, the British Chargé d’Affaires in Russia, was summoned over the claims that a diplomat had “knowingly provided false information about himself when applying for entry into our country”.

The statement read: “Russian authorities also received information indicating that this employee belonged to the British intelligence services and identified evidence of his involvement in subversive intelligence work in our country.”

It continued: “The British side was informed that previously uncovered instances of some British diplomats deliberately providing false information about themselves had already prompted our harsh response.

“They were also urged to convey to London a strong recommendation that British citizens, especially embassy staff, provide only accurate information about their past when applying for visas.

“It was particularly emphasized that Moscow will not tolerate the activities of undeclared British intelligence officers in Russia, and our uncompromising position on this issue will continue to be formulated in accordance with national security interests.

“Furthermore, a warning was issued that if London escalates the situation, the Russian side will immediately respond accordingly.”

Russian state media published a photograph of the diplomat accused of attempting to obtain information.

“In order to avoid negative consequences, including criminal liability, the FSB of Russia recommends that compatriots refrain from holding meetings with British diplomats,” the FSB said.

Britain dismissed the claims as “complete nonsense” and accused Russia of an “aggressive and co-ordinated campaign of harassment”.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: “The accusations made today by Russia against our diplomats are complete nonsense.

“Russia has pursued an increasingly aggressive and co-ordinated campaign of harassment against British diplomats, pumping out malicious and completely baseless accusations about their work.

“The UK does not stand for intimidation of British embassy staff and their families.”

Read more from Sky News:
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Fugitive accused of killing two police officers ‘shot dead’

When a British diplomat was expelled in January for spying, London branded the claims “baseless accusations”.

Western diplomats in Moscow say intrusive surveillance and harassment are frequent, and a guide known as “Moscow Rules”, developed by Western spies in the Soviet era to guard against complacency, has been updated for modern Russia.

Russia has imposed Soviet-style restrictions on most British diplomats, requiring them to give notice of plans to travel beyond a 75-mile radius.

The entry of Yemen’s Houthi rebels into the war on the side of Iran has stoked fears that the oil crisis affecting global trade could get worse.

Threats of Iranian mines and missiles have kept the crucial Strait of Hormuz largely closed, with oil tankers held up leaving the Gulf and sending the price of a barrel skyrocketing.

Saudi Arabia, one of the biggest exporters of oil in the world, has instead been sending millions of barrels of crude oil a day through Bab el Mandeb, another narrow waterway on the other side of the country.

This avoids Hormuz and takes ships further away from Iran.

However they still pass close to Yemen, where the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have stocks of missiles and drones that can be used to harass shipping – as they did between 2023 and 2025.

If shipping through the Bab el Mandeb Strait – which connects to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal – is disrupted, it could exacerbate the already fraught economic situation caused by issues with the Strait of Hormuz.

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Oil price at near four-year high

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What have the Houthis done before?

Between November 2023 and January 2025, the Houthis attacked more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones.

Two vessels were sunk and four sailors killed during the campaign.

Military ships were deployed to the area to try and safeguard commercial shipping, including the UK’s HMS Diamond Type 45 destroyer.

While there, it shot down Houthi drones, including one notable operation where it shot down seven.

Closure of Bab el Mandeb strait could have ‘clear and significant’ economic effects

Sarah Taaffe-Maguire

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Business and economics reporter

@taaffems

A full or even partial shutdown of shipping through the Red Sea would have clear and significant economic effects globally and here in the UK.

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Even renewed attacks, without the militant group taking over the key shipping route, would have major impacts.

We don’t even have to imagine what they may be; we need only look back a few years.

Houthi attacks around Christmas 2023 resulted in more dangerous conditions, which led insurance costs to spike.

Adding to this cost pressure was the fact ships were routed around Africa via the Cape of Good Hope, adding between 10 and 14 days to a journey.

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As a result, booking a slot to ship goods shot up in price.

Longer journey times and changed routes also led to supply chain disruption, with businesses scrambling to get items on ships and onto shelves in time.

Supply chain woes also resulted from the Ever Given container ship blocking a vital entry point to the Red Sea, the Suez Canal.

It was this blockage that formed part of the initial surge in price rises in 2021 and 2022 that gave rise to the cost of living crisis.

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Major container carriers rerouting to avoid Red Sea

Africa’s largest container port – Tanger Med in Morocco – said on Monday that it is preparing for increased calls by ships as tensions in the Middle East continue.

It comes as major ​container carriers including Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd and CMA CGM said they are rerouting vessels around the Cape ​of Good Hope in South Africa, avoiding the Bab el Mandeb Strait and the Red Sea.

Idriss Aarabi, managing director of Tanger Med, said higher fuel costs have added further pressure on freight rates due to the longer voyages.

He said carriers have introduced war-risk, emergency conflict and deviation surcharges of between $1,500 (£1,133) and $3,300 (£2,493) per standard container.

Bab el Mandeb: In numbers

20: That’s how many miles wide the strait is.

25%: Around a quarter of global container trade passes through the strait on its way to and from the Suez Canal.

12%: How much of the world’s total trade typically passes through the Suez Canal.

The southbound carriageway was closed between junction 5 for Westhoughton and junction 4 for Farnworth after a police incident was reported at 7.35am.

Police confirmed the woman was injured following reports of a concern for welfare.

The road closure caused severe delays throughout the morning, with all traffic temporarily held in both directions.

A spokesman for National Highways said: “The M61 in Greater Manchester is closed southbound between J5 (Westhoughton/ Bolton) & J4 (A6) due to a police led incident.

“Traffic is stopped northbound between J4 & J5. Emergency services are in attendance.”

Traffic monitoring service Inrix also reported “severe delays” and a full closure on the southbound side from J5 to J4 during the incident.

Northbound traffic was released shortly before 9am, but southbound lanes remained closed until just before 10.25am.

A diversion route was put in place during the closure, directing motorists off the M61 at J5 onto the A58 eastbound, then south onto the A6, before rejoining the motorway at J4 via Watergate Lane.

The M61 southbound has now re-opened, and traffic has returned to normal.

No further updates on the woman’s condition have been released.

It is easy to overlook the fact that over 90% of medical treatments are not backed by strong evidence. People can find it frustrating – even infuriating – when a review concludes that the evidence for a treatment is too weak to say whether it helps or harms.

This has been the case with the NHS England’s recent decision to restrict new prescriptions of cross-sex hormones for 16- and 17-year-olds.

The struggle to base clinical decisions on solid evidence is not new, nor is it unique to gender medicine. Archie Cochrane, a pioneering Scottish researcher, awarded obstetrics and gynaecology a wooden spoon in 1979 for the worst use of scientific evidence in clinical practice – a damning verdict that prompted the field to overhaul how it evaluated and applied research. It led to the first evidence-based textbook, a global movement and an online library.

Other medical fields have also struggled to meet this challenge, often through no fault of their own. Paediatrics, for example, faces a difficult balancing act when trying to produce clear, reliable studies.

To understand the complexities involved, look no further than your medicine cabinet. Paracetamol (acetaminophen) is considered the pain relief and antifever medicine of choice for infants and children. Weight-adjusted doses are scaled down safely from adult quantities, making it a versatile and trusted option across all age groups.

Aspirin, by contrast, occupies a more cautionary position. Its use in children and adolescents – particularly for viral illness, such as influenza or chickenpox – carries a well-documented risk of Reye’s syndrome – a rare but potentially fatal condition. Authorities actively advise against prescribing aspirin to anyone under 16, unless there is a specific clinical reason to do so.

These differences show that doctors cannot treat children as if they are just small adults. Evidence in children’s medicine is built up slowly. It includes treatments that work for all ages, some just for children, some with weak evidence, and some that cannot be fully studied for ethical or legal reasons.

In 2023, my colleagues and I at the University of Sheffield synthesised evidence on child and adolescent obesity to inform World Health Organization guidelines. While evidence on obesity treatments is generally plentiful, we faced challenges identifying published experiences of children regarding medical treatments.

Data for adolescents was limited and the experience of children of ten or under was entirely lacking. Without evidence, policymakers avoid “risky” options. But without policy support, researchers have little reason to study them.

How a verdict is reached

Looking beyond the complete absence of evidence, how does a health organisation decide evidence is “too weak”? Rather than a snap judgment, their verdict usually factors in four related concerns, each one lowering confidence a little further.

The first, most obvious reason is that studies may not have been designed or carried out very well. If parents know which children received the real medicine and which received the dummy version during a cough syrup trial, they may consciously or unconsciously report that the treatment looked better — or worse — than it really was. This design flaw makes it difficult to trust its conclusions.

Much of what medicine thinks it knows about treatments in children comes from observational data — records of what happened to patients in real-world clinical settings. Although valuable, these studies carry a trap. Children who receive a particular treatment are rarely typical. A rule of thumb is to ask whether a comparison is fair: were children who received the treatment genuinely similar to those who didn’t? If that question can’t be answered clearly, the finding deserves healthy scepticism.

A second concern arises when different studies asking the same question arrive at different conclusions. It is not enough to trust the majority verdict or the larger studies. It takes time to build a picture for each age group one study at a time — gathering enough to answer the question for an “average” child, if such a child ever exists.

Third, evidence may not match the question being asked. In the early 2000s, antidepressants were prescribed to children and teenagers with depression, largely based on evidence from adult studies. Close examination revealed that children taking some antidepressants showed higher rates of suicidal thoughts than those on a dummy pill.

Finally, studies need sizeable numbers of participants to narrow down uncertainty. Small studies of these antidepressants found that they appeared to reduce suicidal thinking. However, the true benefit of antidepressants lay somewhere between substantial and negligible – undermining confidence in study findings. Larger studies were needed.

Regulators in the US and the UK faced a dilemma: act on uncertain evidence or wait for better data while children continued to receive a potentially harmful treatment. Decisions still needed to be made. The regulators could not truly know when they decided to withdraw some of the antidepressants whether they had ultimately saved lives or denied young people much-needed treatment.

Thankfully, the evidence base in medicine, including paediatrics, is continually improving. Obsolete treatments are squeezed out of the health system, uncertainties about established treatments are reduced and new treatments are evaluated. A verdict for now is not a verdict forever. Identifying the causes of uncertainty helps direct attention to where future tipping points lie.