Evan Rachel Wood had some strong words for the team behind the new Practical Magic sequel.

The Westworld actor appeared in the original film alongside Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman, and while the majority of the cast were invited back for the upcoming sequel, Evan’s role was recast, with Joey King taking over as Kylie Owens.

While Evan called Joey “a sweetheart” she wasn’t as effusive about others involved in the cult classic’s follow-up.

“I really appreciated Joey King reaching out to me, because no one who worked on the original film did,” Evan shared on her Instagram Stories. “She’s a sweetheart.”

Evan and Alexandra Atrip played Sandra Bullock’s character’s daughters in the 1998 film, but neither reprised their roles in the sequel.

Joining Joey’s Kylie in Practical Magic 2 is Game Of Thrones star Maisie Williams, who has taken on the role of Antonia.

Evan was 11 when she played Kylie in the 1998 witchy favourite, and although the film is set over 25 years later, the character is now being played by an actor 10 years her junior.

At the premiere of her new Ryan Murphy TV show The Shards in July, Evan admitted she felt “sad” that she wasn’t asked back for the sequel.

“We bonded with that cast so much as children, and so to miss out on the opportunity to look at that cast and look at that house as an adult and see the history in our eyes, it’s something that can’t be faked,” she told Entertainment Tonight on the red carpet.

“I’m sad that doesn’t get to exist, especially for the fans.”

She also called out the makers of the sequel for not following the original source novel.

“I think in the book, it would’ve made sense to bring me back. I think in the way they’re redoing it and approaching it, it didn’t make sense,” she said at the premiere.

Evan immediately spoke out on Instagram when the sequel was announced, clearing up why she was not part of the cast.

“I offered my services, even if it was one scene or one line,” she wrote. “I was told they are re-casting. I am sorry to disappoint the fans. It was not in my control or my choice. I would have happily rejoined my sisters.”

Practical Magic 2 is out in cinemas on Friday 11 September.

We now know high-intensity yoga is one of the best exercises you can do to boost sleep quality.

And, according to new research, it turns out you can even rely on movement to help counter the effects of pulling an all-nighter.

Sleep deprivation is no joke and is thought to impact one in three adults globally. Poor quality sleep can impact negatively on our physical and mental health, as well as increasing the risk of accidents.

“Sleep loss affects nearly every aspect of how we think and function, but many people can’t simply stop what they’re doing and get more sleep,” said Professor Marc Roig, from McGill University’s School of Physical and Occupational Therapy.

So, researchers from his team set out to discover whether exercise or a short nap could help mitigate against some of the effects of sleep deprivation on the brain.

The relatively small study involved 54 healthy young adults who stayed awake for 30 hours under lab supervision.

They were then assigned to one of three groups: a 20-minute cycling session, a 90-minute nap or doing nothing.

Three days later, researchers tested their memory for images they had viewed immediately after each intervention and found those who had exercised or napped had better memory recall.

In fact, they performed about 22% better on memory tests after 30 hours without sleep, than those who did neither.

“Our findings show that even a brief bout of exercise may help preserve one of our most important cognitive abilities,” said Prof Roig.

What’s more, brain recordings revealed that exercise and napping helped memory recall in different ways.

While napping appeared to help the brain recharge, making it easier to take in and remember new information, exercise helped the brain use its remaining resources more efficiently.

Researchers suggested the findings could inform fatigue-management strategies in workplaces where sleep loss is common and mistakes can have serious consequences – for example, in healthcare settings.

“A nap isn’t always possible in the middle of a shift,” said first author Madhura Lotlikar, a doctoral candidate in McGill’s Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery.

“Exercise is accessible, inexpensive and easy to implement. That makes it a promising tool to help people stay cognitively sharp when sleep is limited.”

Previous research has also found that physical activity might counter some of the negative impacts of poor sleep. The study authors said, at the time, that people who did at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity exercise per week “were, to some extent, protected against the detrimental health effects of poor sleep”.

Regular exercise can also improve sleep quality overall.

If you’re chronically sleep deprived, and it’s causing you distress or impacting wellbeing, speak to a specialist who can offer tailored support to your circumstances.

The pioneering activist and writer Gloria Steinem has died at the age of 92.

On Thursday morning, her spokesperson confirmed that the feminist trailblazer had died “peacefully at her home in New York City, surrounded by some of the many who loved her” a day earlier.

Paying tribute, they wrote on Instagram: “Gloria’s near-century on earth were years well-lived, and she continued working for equality until the very end.

“Gloria’s greatest gift was her ability to listen to others, to make others feel seen and heard. Her words, actions, and example gave people permission to be their truest selves. Gloria lived true to her independent spirit, always with curiosity and a great sense of humour.”

In the early 1960s, Gloria began her professional journalism career, first making a name for herself with an article highlighting the mistreatment of the so-called Bunnies living at the Playboy mansion.

From there, she covered issues such as abortion and women’s rights in major publications before co-founding the feminist magazine, Ms, in 1972.

Meanwhile, her writing on the subject of the fight for women’s equality made her a pivotal voice in the second-wave feminism movement, and she also lent her voice to a number of other causes, including protesting apartheid in South Africa in the 1980s, campaigning for accessibility to reproductive rights and, more recently, speaking out in support of the trans community.

Her spokesperson’s tribute continued: “She spent her recent years doing the two things she loved most: being in community with others and writing. She has welcomed hundreds of guests into her living room for Talking Circles, a tradition she insisted will continue long after she is no longer with us.

“As Gloria wrote in her forthcoming book, An Unexpected Life, ‘I have now lived for more than fifty years in this brownstone, in rooms that have witnessed lives before mine, and will know others after I am gone’.

“This book, along with her commitment to her home becoming a centre for social justice movements, are among the many gifts Gloria has given the world with the hope they have ripple effects for generations to come. Gloria often quoted the adage: ‘The flap of a butterfly’s wing can change the weather hundreds of miles away’. Gloria loved the tradition of lighting signal fires on hills to light the way to the other side of the mountain. Lighting your own candle for Gloria makes you part of this global and celestial community circle.”

Gloria’s team added that, in lieu of flowers, anyone hoping to pay their respects should make a donation to Gloria’s Foundation, a charitable organisation set up to preserve her New York apartment as a gathering place for social justice organising.

After two and a half years away from our screens, Guy Ritchie’s TV spin-off of his 2019 film The Gentlemen is back with more shoot-outs, swearing and eccentric characters.

In its second outing, the eight-part Netflix series once again centres around Theo James’ Eddie, after he inherits his family’s country estate and discovers it’s home to an enormous weed empire.

Season two brings back Kaya Scodelario, Joely Richardson, Vinnie Jones, Giancarlo Esposito and Ray Winstone, as well as introducing more larger-than-life characters hellbent on making Eddie’s life harder and more violent, played by the likes of Hugh Bonneville and Maya Jama.

So far, critics have mostly welcomed The Gentlemen’s return for all its brash and bloody escapism, with many suggesting the new episodes have a darker tone more reminiscent of MobLand.

However, some reviews have pointed out that the second season’s pacing issues do mean that it verges on the “slow” side at times.

This is what the critics are saying about season two of The Gentlemen…

“It comes with lashings of laughs, romance and a constant undercurrent of danger, courtesy of the duke’s gangster cohorts. If it all sounds rather similar to the debut series, then viewers will be pleasantly surprised.”

“Exquisitely shot, The Gentlemen season two is full of absurd characters, gunfights, hijinks (including million-dollar birds and shocking beheadings) and a couple of steamy romances.”

“The stakes are higher, the violence is bloodier and the tension is ramped up in the darkly humorous second season of Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen, which adds memorable new characters while sidelining one of the leads from season one in a surprise move that actually improves the series.”

“Flecks of Ritchie’s signature bold, brash, British style are still there – but where are the gags? The hijinks? There’s nothing even close to those heady chicken heights. This new eight-parter has lost the Ritchie quintessence the first so impeccably captured.

“All that being said, I had a cracking time watching the good and the bad of it all. At least with that ‘more is more’ approach, you’re seldom bored.”

“There’s a certain comfort in Ritchie’s commitment to the bit, a sense of reassurance in the knowledge that in these restless times, his fetishisation of the gentry and preoccupation with uninhibited wide-boys remains immutable.

“But it ain’t half slow, ma’am. For all its international hijinks, its oi-oi-saveloy geezerisms, you may still find yourself wishing the whole thing would, in the words of Bobby, ‘gerra faaackin’ move on’.”

“Through shrewd editing, handwritten effects, sound and narrative structure, new episodes feel playful and unserious despite its often sombre and hard-hitting undertones, with Ritchie’s tonal balance across it all being nothing short of impressive.

“Clearly, the best way to deal with the bad things in life is to sprinkle in as much absurdity and humour as possible, and Ritchie never lets us forget that.”

“This is an entertaining action romp with vivid production design and striking sets. It’s jam-packed with brutal shootouts and fiery combat that’s a lot of bloody fun and, somehow, hardly monotonous. The impeccably styled characters of its world live in lavish mansions, speak in zippy dialogue, and cherish crude British slang.”

“While season one of The Gentlemen stuck to the blueprint of Ritchie’s film, Season two expands in all directions in the vein of his more sober crime drama, MobLand. Expanding into the international world of criminals means that whatever equilibrium was found after Season one has been undone.”

“This is fast-food television: it might not leave you fully sated, but sometimes it’s exactly the kind of well-made nonsense that will satisfy a craving.”

“This is a show far too in love with carnage, wisecracks, lavish cinematography and fast editing to hold on to any depth or seriousness for too long. You come to this for chases, showdowns and more baroque deaths than you can shake a shooting stick at (you just know that when a tiger is introduced in episode one it will be lunching on human flesh before the credits roll).”

“You shouldn’t ever have to be patient with a show like The Gentlemen – you should be entertained by every scene. Be patient, however, and the second half of season two reveals that all this aimless noodling has a point to it, and as the strands tie together the story takes on a darker, harder edge, with proper stakes, real consequences.”

“Season two feels like an entertaining but somewhat shallow eight-episode interlude before The Gentlemen’s already-commissioned third season, rather than a well-rounded instalment on its own.”

“Over the course of The Gentlemen season two, both the billionaire Stanley Johnston and cannabis kingpin Bobby Glass explain that Duke Eddie Horniman must suffer to achieve his full potential.

“Unfortunately, viewers have to suffer with him as Guy Ritchie tosses aside most of the humour and quirky characters that made his Netflix series so much fun in favour of doing a beat-for-beat retelling of The Godfather and The Godfather Part 2.”

“The Gentlemen prioritises the easy gratification of vaguely witty dialogue over actual jokes, big twists over character development, and cheap thrills over earned tension. The result is a brash show that, not unlike the English aristocracy, isn’t working nearly hard enough.”

Both seasons of The Gentlemen are now streaming on Netflix.

Internet personality Amelia Dimoldenberg has announced she’s bringing her YouTube interview series Chicken Shop Date to an end.

On Thursday morning, the British comedian confirmed that the upcoming episodes of Chicken Shop Date will be her last, more than a decade after launching the format as a column when she was just 17 years old, before turning it into a popular YouTube series.

Since the show exploded in popularity thanks to an appearance from future Oscar winner Daniel Kaluuya, who agreed to take part as he was a fan of the series, Amelia has interviewed everyone from Billie Eilish and Cher to Paul Mescal, Andrew Garfield and Sir Paul McCartney, all in the usual chicken shop setting.

“When I was 17, I thought that I might meet the love of my life on a date in a chicken shop,” Amelia said. “Since then, I’ve spent my entire 20s sat across from the most incredible people, people I’d always dreamt of meeting.

“All of them charmed me (some more than others), and I definitely charmed them.”

She continued: “To me, the show is my very own rom-com, and I have loved being able to share it with you. I am so grateful to everyone who has followed me on this journey and found a bit of joy in these episodes.

“I never thought I’d end Chicken Shop Date. I thought maybe it would be a part of my life forever, and in some way it always will, but I feel like it’s now time to move on from this adventure and onto the next one.

“But before I say goodbye forever, I want to celebrate everything Chicken Shop Date has been for me with you all, and a few final dates… coming very soon.”

A press release also teased that “the final series will be a celebration of everything that has made Chicken Shop Date a cultural phenomenon, with a last line-up of eclectic guests joining Amelia in the chicken shop before she closes this chapter”.

Following Chicken Shop Date’s surge in popularity, Amelia has become an official red carpet and online presenter for the Oscars, and recently made a cameo as herself in The Devil Wears Prada 2.

During an appearance at the Edinburgh TV Festival last month, she teased that she was writing a rom-com about a journalist who falls in love with an actor she’s assigned to interview, as well as a Skins-inspired teen series for the BBC.