Showbiz 10: It’s a boon for Boom

This week’s top ten Showbiz stories are rounded up by ATV’s own drag queen, Penelope Teeth.

10 Strictly Come Dancing regular Karen Hauer this week announced she’s married her partner Jordan Wyn-Jones in a ‘fairytale’ wedding. The couple tied the knot, Entertainment Daily report, in ‘an intimate ceremony at Chewton Glen in Hampshire on Tuesday.’

“I haven’t seen my family for the last two years so it’s really touching to bring them here and be able to share this amazing moment with them.” – Karen Hauer speaking to Hello Magazine

9 Radio 2‘s ambition to be hip, young and with it continues to send listeners over to Boom Radio, and more are likely to follow with their traditional Friday night offering being slaughtered.

Michelle Visage is to host a Friday evening show on BBC Radio 2 amid yet another schedule shake-up. The ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ judge will present the 7pm to 9pm slot on Fridays to get listeners into the “best mood” before the weekend.

Boom’s success continues with the launch of a sister station Boom Light playing Easy, 50s and Standards.

8 Brenda Edwards has spoken about the death of her son on social media following the revelation Jamal Edwards died from drug abuse.

“I have sadly learned that the cause of Jamal’s devastating passing was due to cardiac arrhythmia caused by having taken recreational drugs and I wanted to address this myself to everyone who loved, admired and respected my son. Since finding out the news I’ve been in a state of shock, and I’m still trying to process it, but it’s so important to me that I do address it as no mother or any loved one should have to go through what Jamal’s sister, Tanisha, and I have been through since he passed.”

“Jamal had the world at his fingertips – a zest for life and he was unwittingly taken away far too soon. Yet we have to come to terms with what has happened, and Jamal is proof that this can happen to anyone. These types of substances are extremely unpredictable, and we can only hope that this will encourage others to think wisely when faced in similar situations in the future. His passing has shown that any one bad decision on any one occasion can lead to devastating consequences.

“It’s so important that we help drive more conversation about the unpredictability of recreational drugs and the impact they can have. How it takes just one bad decision to destroy lives. I would do anything to have my son back but that is not possible so if I can help save one life, then we will have achieved something.”

7 Brookside actor James Caroll sadly passed away this week. Earlier this year he was back in the spotlight playing Mary Taylor’s friend Colin in ITV soap Coronation Street.

The late actor was best known to soap fans for playing Brian ‘Bumper’ Humphreys on Channel 4’s Brookside between 1988 and 1991. ‘It’s believed that the late actor died suddenly, with no cause of death confirmed yet’, notes The Mirror.

In 2020, it was reported that James had been battling pneumonia but the former soap star went on to make a full recovery, the newspaper added.

6 Ruth Langsford  – This Morning’s longest serving host – is set to return to the show this summer, however for the first time in years she won’t be partnered with husband Eamonn Holmes who has moved over to host GB News’ breakfast offering.

Ruth will be back to present This Morning across the summer alongside Rylan Clark while Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield go on their annual break.

5 Sticking with ITV Daytime and Kate Garraway host of Good Morning Britain, and also a regular presenter on Smooth Radio, admitted she’s been feeling ‘exhausted and very fretful’ as she revealed her husband Derek Draper had been ‘in and out of hospital’.

“Hopefully the wonderful health teams will help him improve but I woke up early feeling exhausted & very fretful.” Garraway posted on social media.

4 Ex-EastEnders actor Adam Woodyatt has spoken about his new lifestyle since quitting the soap in 2020.

Woodyatt noted that he ‘absolutely loves’ his life in a motorhome and has stated that he has absolutely no plans to move out of it any time soon after living in it for more than a year. He also has no plans to return to Albert Square, he hasn’t asked the BBC and they he said haven’t asked him. He was last seen in a Jon Sen created farce of a plot where his longest remaining friend in Walford, Sharon Watts, tried to poison him leaving viewers finding the most ridiculous of plots hilarious.

3 Jorgie Porter has announced she’s pregnant. The Hollyoaks actress shared the happy news to her Instagram after her previous heartbreaking miscarriage of quadruplets.

The Theresa McQueen performer was carrying quads last year when she tragically lost all four babies.

2 There are rumours that stateside children’s series Sesame Street will see one of the characters get a Covid-19 shot to help their health… Right, ok.

I can’t wait to see Big Bird getting a massive needle up its arse – I mean you can’t inject a wing…

1 Get on track with BBC Two. The fifteen-billion-pound railway – now nineteen billion and still rising – stretches 120km across London in what has become an extraordinary construction project – one of the biggest in Europe and one of the most ambitious engineering feats in Britain since the time of Brunel.

For over ten years cameras have followed the engineers, technicians and transport staff who are under pressure to deliver their section of the project, including construction fixes in the tunnels, safety testing of the stations and the testing the complex bug-ridden train software, in a bid to make it safe for passengers.

Guiding us through this labyrinth of construction and testing is Crossrail’s new CEO Mark Wild – the person tasked with getting Britain’s flagship engineering project back on track. With an in-depth knowledge of railway engineering and new leadership techniques, his reputation is on the line should the opening of the railway be delayed further. Join Pradeep Vasudev the project’s head technician responsible for integrating the complex lines of code that powers the signalling and train software – the area responsible for delaying the project by years.  Pradeep and his lead technicians run thousands of tests to debug the safety critical software that allows the trains to run on the track.

The first episode ends with train testing in the tunnels and across the tracks of London’s commuter network – running into problems, leaving lots more work for the team to do if they’re delivering the railway by 2022.  With the project almost four billion pounds overbudget and nearly four years late, every hour is critical in the race to launch the railway.

The Fifteen Billion Pound Railway: Inside the Elizabeth Line, tonight (Sunday 12 June) at 8pm on BBC Two. The second episode airs 19 June.